United Colleges - Vox Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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...honourary editor ' s message Work on Vox ' 61 began about one year ago. Capable leadership by the Editor and tireless effort put forth by Vox staffers have combined to develop detailed and imaginative plans into this comprehensive report of the year’s activities at United College, 1960—61. Vox ' 61 reflects a marked trend of recent years to be a kind of college annual. Editors of recent years have expressed concern about this trend. Perhaps, they have suggested, Vox is not really fulfilling the primary function intended by its founders: Vox was established as a publication devoted to significant writing and comment by College students and faculty. Certainly the emphasis placed on this im¬ portant function of Vox can be no more than a reflection of the measure of the creative activity within the College. There is therefore some satisfaction in noting that contributions to Vox ' 61 ' s photography, art and literary competi¬ tions were more numerous than is usual. Those selected for awards and publication suggest the continuing high calibre of creative works sub¬ mitted by students of the College, and hold the promise that United College graduates will continue to make significant contributions in fields of Canadian art and literature. Work on Vox ' 62 has already begun. The Editor hopes to significantly increase the em¬ phasis on creative work. We hope that your summer plans will include time for writing, art and photography. We hope that you will plan to enter these works in Vox ' 62’s creative art and literary competitions. Ron. J. Riddell 5

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Wilfred C. Lockhart think continually of those who were truly great. Who, from the womb, remembered the soul ' s history Through corridors of light where the hours are suns Endless and singing . The names of those who in their lives fought for life Who wore at their hearts the fire’s centre. Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun. And left the vivid air signed with their honour”. Stephen Spender. What is your ambition? What do you hope to do with your life and what is the record you wish to leave behind you? Somewhere in your years in College you have had to ask yourself this question; sometime throughout these days you have had to sit down with yourself alone with this problem. In that place and in that hour, you have reflected on the ultimate mystery of life itself, on the fact that you exist, and are called on to live out a life in a world and at a time not of your choosing. Surely you would be less than human, if in your search for an answer, you have not been tempted to assume that you and you alone, give meaning to your own exis¬ tence and hence the only concerns that have validity are those which serve your own ends, your own comfort and your own security. ...principal ' s message On the other hand I do not wish to believe that it is possible for anyone to pass through the halls of United College without being stirred and challenged to think, as Spender suggests of those who were truly great”; those whose inner spirits were quickened to a consciousness of the nobility and grandeur of human existence. It would be sad to assume that a person could share this adventure of learning and allow the aspirations of the human spirit to be smothered under the traffic of learning. If this has happen¬ ed we have indeed failed you. The information that has been imparted to you here in the College in any area of human thought and endeavour is really only incidental. It is important but not crucial. You can gain all this from any good library. Our hope is that you have been forced to probe deeper than the level of knowledge and that you have been awakened to an awareness of a quality of life that belongs to greatness; a greatness that is born of the consciousness that no life is mean¬ ingless and that each is called to a fulfilment that will issue in the enrichment of our common existence. One could express no higher hope for this generation of students at United College than this might be truly said of you ”Born of the sun they travelled a short while towards the sun, And left the vivid air signed with their honour”. 4

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...united’s history Mr. Alfred D. Longman has been an instructor in the Collegiate Department since 1924, and was Dean of Men ' s Residence from 1926 to 1948. Presently, he is compiling material for a history of the College. He has written the following thumbnail historical sketch of United College for Vox. Manitoba was a province scarcely a year when its name became enshrined in the first Presbyterian college to be built in the Canadian west. When Manitoba College opened on Novem¬ ber 11, 1871, it was not the first school to serve the Selkirk settlers, since Anglican Parish schools, improvised class-rooms, and mutual assistance arrangements, had supplied facilities until near the mid-century. After these Scottish pioneers had waited forty years for a Presbyterian minister, Reverend John Black’s arrival in the settlement in 1851 gave a tremendous impetus to educational and church work. However, it was not until two decades later that Reverend George Bryce direc¬ ted the establishment of the new college. It first opened in the Kildonan Parish School but after several weeks moved to the upstairs of Donald Murray’s house. In 1872 it moved into the siding-covered log building erected by the settlers. In 1874 the college moved into Winni¬ peg where it occupied a house at the south-east corner of Main and Henry streets for one year. It then purchased Franklin House at the north¬ west corner of the same intersection and used it for six years. In 1881 four acres of land at Ellice and Kennedy were purchased as a site for a perman¬ ent home. Opened in 1882 and doubled in cap¬ acity in 1892, the new building housed Manitoba College until it was purchased by St. Paul’s College in 1931. Wesley College and the provincial Univers¬ ity received their charters in the same year, 1877. Reverend George Young had opened the first Methodist church in 1868 and the Wesleyan Institute, a primary and secondary school, in 1873- The College opened its first classes in Grace Church in 1888, but moved the next year to 12 Albert Street. One year later it occupied a brick house at Edmonton Street and Broadway where it remained until 1895- Hopes for a larger and permanent location materialized in January, 1894, when plans were approved for a $75,000 building to be built on the city block between Spence and Balmoral streets and lying north of Portage Avenue. This is the structure, opened on January 6, 1896, which today houses Wesley and Graham Halls. Long and careful study led to the amalgama¬ tion of the two colleges in June, 1938. Since that decision the unification and consolidation of United College has progressed steadily. The two extensive building undertakings of the past decade seem to have created in the colleg e a sense of stability and in the community a sense of confidence. At today’s high point in the development of the College, well-wishers will pray that the three chosen mottoes, Floreat” - Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas” - Lux et veritas floreant”, portend a continuation of the search for truth and the yearning for maturity and fulfillment. 6