Salem College - Sights and Insights Yearbook (Winston-Salem, NC)

Page 13 text:

sw were placed in companies of twenty. C) er i-aeh were two Tii- toresses who were always available for euinl ' orl or eounsel. The stiidenls were assisjned aleoves in the common dormitory where thev li ed until time to retiini home alter their education was completed. How astonishetl a nineteenth (cntnrs .Salem t irl would he il she could sec us al Salem today. Now there are two Salcms, an academy and a college, each with its own campus. Numerous dormitories and other buildings have been added, and sunns dorm rooms replaced alcoves to house us. Comfortable recreation rooms are available Dating parlors are replaced instead of prim dating parlors, and chaperones with gay recreation rooms. are no longer needed for trips off campus limits. Salem has changed. But she has changed within the bounds of tradition. The new buildings still have the early . merican archi- tecture with red tile roofs, eyebrow windows, and white-hooded doorways. ' I he wrought iron rails. May Dell and its spring. Sisters dormitor -. and the clock on the Moravian Church all contribute to the strength of Salem ' s tradition. And the emphasis here has always been the saine; it is on each of us. as individual girls. The continuing aim has been that we prepare ourselves for a gracious but responsible lile. . . . M ' hat a silly question. Mother. Of course there will he plenty of space in my room for chairs. . . .

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M s New scholars arrived in town accompanied by fathers. In seventeen hundred and seventy-two, one hundred and eighty- one years ago, and before the founding of our Republic, the village of Salem was settled. Soon after the land was cleared of forest, a school for the daughters of the Moravian settlers was begun. It wasn ' t long before little girls in the village were excused from their household duties in order to attend the new day school. Naturally, a school where young girls could learn housekeeping attracted widespread attention in those early days. When re- quests began to come from other communities that the school be opened to their daughters, the first principal was appointed. In 1804 the school was first referred to as the Boarding School for Female Education. New buildings were built as girls began to come here from all over the South. With the arrival of new students, who were any age from eight to twelve, great interest was apparent in the communitv. The new scholar would arrive in a coach or sometimes on horseback ac- companied by her father or brother. The side- saddle room where the saddles were stored until time to return home can still be seen today in the Alumnae House. Unlike the freedom enjoyed by us today at Salem, the pupils y . . . Gills! What are you doing out on the streets in public '

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