Roanoke College - Rawenoch Yearbook (Salem, VA)

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FOREWORD A history ol an institution is a story ol that institution, The story may be a long and documented one, it may be a brief sketch etching the highlights, or it may be just a story- slovv, moving, colourless, graphic, but nevertheless a story vvhich tells ol and alludes to the events which made the story possible. The story of a college is a story ol human beings, with the power and the vveakness ol humanity in the back- ground. The background may be drab but, if the foreground is strong, the picture is strong. Roanoke College began as an impulse in the soul of one man, Roanoke College became a matrix ol men ol like calibre. It is with Roanoke College and the men of Roanoke College,vvho made it the mould ol idealism that it is, that this volume ol the Ravvenoch vvould deal, and it is from the men vvho are continuing the traditions of Roanoke that this volume would prophesy. Roanoke-matrix ol men . . . QMEQNQ

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M NK i I .,..:.,X .L I A,- vfiixt-T.1, 'n'o.z...fJ' Cf it f X..L..f Ei.-,f:f 29 1 N: 1' DR. DAVID F. BITTLE Roanoke College began as an impulse in the soul of one man . . . that man was David F. Bittle.1'his man had founded The Virginia lnstitute in Augusta County in 1842, it was an lnstitute and little more. But it was the germ cell of Roanoke College. Three years later the name was changed to The Virginia Collegiate institute, but it was still the lnstitute located in Augusta County. The school was removed to Salem in 1847 in order to secure the support of the Lutherans of Southwest Virginia. The location was new but the lnstitute was still a preparatory school. -lhen youth entered. The student body wanted a college and in a body they demanded a college. The alternative was that none of them would return the following year. Revolt against authority, it is true, but it was the event which made the story that is Roanoke College possible. Dr. Bittle, who had gone away beiorethe school had been removed to Salem, was recalled to be the President of the new College, Roanoke College-the name chosen in honour of the nearby river. And Roanoke began under its new charter with Dr. Bittle as president and Professor oi lntellectual and Moral Science, S. Carson Wells was Professor of Mathe- matics and Natural Philosophy, and I-i. G. Von l-loxar was Professor of Ancient and Modern Languages and Literature. The Faculty and Curricula of Roanoke College in1853.1'he Library consisted of less than two hundred volumes, most of which were printed in Cierman. Thus Roanoke began with Dr. Bittle at its head. The Civil War broke ten years later and Roanoke was one of the few Southern colleges to function during this period. Dr, Bittle alone maintained the school. A man of giant physique, he rode out into the countryside to procure food, he drove cattle over circuitous routes to escape the Federal Troops, and discharged his executive and scholastic duties at the same time. The man who constructed the matrix. . . Roanoke College developed during the decade that followed the war and students came from all parts of the United States to attend. ln 1876, Dr. Bittle died in action. QMS-N0