Most Presbyterian College students have heard the story about a Presbyterian minister named William Plumer Jacobs who founded an orphanage and a college in what was once a rough post-Civil War railroad town. They may even have learned that his efforts to do so were derided by some townsfolk and labeled “Jacobs’ Folly” before he succeeded in founding both their alma mater in 1880 and Thornwell Orphanage (now Thornwell Home and School for Children) in 1875. (“Founder’s Library”). – Read more –

June 2016
On Sunday, April 17, Presbyterian College held its Fourth Annual Class Ring Ceremony in Edmunds Hall. This was a special time for students approaching graduation, when they celebrated their time at PC and affirmed that their ties to the college would continue beyond commencement. As the college’s news release about the class ring ceremony states, “the PC ring signifies not only the accomplishment of graduating from PC and becoming part of our alumni association, but also represents everything the College stands for and all of the experiences of being a student here that we all have shared . . . [I]t signifies honor and service that PC students experience, embrace, and live out long after they leave this place” (“Class Ring Ceremony – Alumni”). – Read more –

February 2016
In February, we celebrate Valentine’s Day, when friends, family members, and romantic partners find ways to express their love for one another. But it’s also possible to love a place, and even to feel that in some way the place returns that love! For many of us, Presbyterian College is that kind of place, and perhaps the building that most truly represents PC is Neville Hall. In honor of the Month of Love, here is a love letter to Neville Hall. – Read more –

January 2016
Hello from the Presbyterian College Archives. It’s been a while since Blue Notes has been updated (sorry about that!), and there’s been quite a lot going on. Here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening in the last six months. – Read More –

July 2015
Presbyterian College’s 2015-16 academic year will be the first since 1980 without at least one member of the Inman family as part of the college’s faculty or staff. John Inman, a professor of biology since 1980, and Teresa Inman, a library staff member since 1981, both retired at the end of June. The two of them have made invaluable contributions to our campus, and here in archives we’d like to take this opportunity to tell you a little bit about what they mean to the college. – Read More –

December 2014
This month we are sharing a post from Abbie Bagwell who was our intern this fall in the Archives & Special Collections at Presbyterian College. Abbie, a senior from Inman, first visited the Archives with Dr. Anita Gustafson’s History of the South class. After attending a presentation in the Archives about the founding of the college newspaper, Abbie expressed interest in completing an internship with us. – Read More –

July-August 2014
Joseph Miller Gettys was born in 1907 at Water Oaks, his family’s 150 acre farm near Tirzah in York County, SC. He was the eighth of eleven children. All of his siblings completed college degrees, and several completed advanced degrees. Dr. Gettys attended Erskine College in Due West, SC. Upon his graduation he enrolled in the Erskine Seminary for one year then was offered a three year fellowship at the New York Biblical Seminary. He moved to New York City, earning a BA and a masters degree in systematic theology there. He then attended New York University and completed a doctorate of philosophy in 1938. – Read More –

May 2014
In preparation for Commencement in 1936, class historian and poet, Hugh Holman wrote a poem that was published in the commemorative Commencement program given to the seniors that year. Hugh Holman went on to become “a versatile South Carolina man of letters,” wrote Ben Hay Hammet in 1959. – Read More –

March 2014
An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina with their Indian frontiers, shewing in a distinct manner all the mountains, rivers, swamps, marshes, bays, creeks, harbours, sandbanks and soundings on the coasts, with the roads and Indian paths; as well as the boundary or provincial lines, the several townships and other divisions of the land in both the provinces; the whole from actual surveys by Henry Mouzon and others . . . – Read More –