Posing on the staircase in Trible Library during their 50th Reunion at CNU are (L-R) Row 1: Patty Lottinville, Doris McCauley Smith, Ernie Bretana, Nancy Staton Thomas & Joyce Gold Conner; Row 2: Orvin Melson, Pat Baldwin, Ellen Rankin Lasher, Claude Stanley & Pat Garrow.
The first 50th Reunion at Christopher Newport, honoring the Class of 1963 (photo above), might never have happened had there been no Volume 2, No. 6 (May 27, 1963) issue ofChris's Crier. The records of all of CNC's earliest students had been lost, possibly when Smith Hall was razed. Further, the 1963 commencement program was one of several 1960s and early 1970s programs missing in our campus's library. Professor Barry Wood had names of some of the 1961-63 students in his old grade books, but minimal contact information about them. CNU's Alumni Association had only two names of 1963 degree recipients, but one of those graduates was deceased.
Fortunately, in 2007, six years before this first 50th Reunion was scheduled (May 20, 2013), I had found and copied for my research all 9 of the 11 issues of Chris's Crier housed then in the Archives of the Captain John Smith Library. As valuable as the entire collection was, most valuable of all was this final issue. The names of the class members recorded there, plus the students' plans for academic year 1963-64, were subsequently printed on page 36 ofMemories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, 1961-1971, published in early December, 2008 (see below).
Finding this class of 1963 information in that issue stimulated me to begin a very long search (still continuing) for CNC's First Decade students (whom I've dubbed "First Decaders"). Therefore, by 2013, I had many names, along with contact details, of the 1963 class members. CNU provided a first-class Golden Celebration for the attendees at no charge--a wonderful, memorable two-day event. The Friday dinner was attended by 11 former students, 4 of their former professors (Georgia Hunter, Graham Pillow, Jim Windsor, and Barry Wood), 15 CNU officials (including President and Mrs. Trible), and over a dozen other guests. Class members who also attended the following morning's 2013 CNU commencement were again treated royally--provided a continental breakfast, dressed in academic gowns, given souvenir academic stoles, seated close to the stage, and applauded by the audience of thousands.
Despite its limitations and faults--including hand-written headlines, amateur art work, unnumbered pages, and at times illegible typing--our first student newspaper, Chris's Crier, deserves a place of honor in the history of Christopher Newport.
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Published July 3, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Second Year, Issue 5,
Pages 3 - 6 of 6
(dated May 1, 1963).
by A. Jane Chambers
Above are the 1964 Tridentportraits of CNC's second Student Government Association (SGA) officers, elected April 24, 1963, to serve during the 1963-64 academic year: Jay Dunn, President (left), Guy Futrell, VP (top right), Michele Miller, Secretary (mid right), and Janie McHugh, Treasurer (bottom right).
This fifth issue of Chris's Crier is the longest issue of the nine that we have of the eleven written, which is why we have published it here, with comments, in two parts. As in almost all issues of Chris's Crier, the pages aren't numbered and readers aren't always told that a given article is continued on another page, or given the correct page numbers. Errors like these sometimes cause confusion. On page 3, for example, the editorial "The Perspective of Responsibility" seems to end at the top of the second column. But on page 6, we discover another full column of that article and also learn its author's name, which should have followed the title on page 3.
Despite such errors, issue 5 of Volume 2, like all issues of this fledging student newspaper, is a valuable source of information about the earliest years of CNC's history. The major topic covered in this issue is the SGA--specifically CNC's first SGA, headed by student Jim Cornette, who wrote the spirited "Responsibility" editorial (pp. 3 & 6) and also the "Student Government Calendar of Events" (pp. 4 & 6), detailing 27 actions taken by the first SGA during CNC's second year, 1962 - 63. If you read nothing else in this issue, please take a few minutes to read that impressive list.
The first SGA initiated virtually every campus activity--from athletics (e.g., organizing and sponsoring bowling and basketball leagues and a softball team) to socials (including a Christmas party, a Spring Fashion Show, and a Museum Picnic). It created an annual Miss CNC contest (photo right), started the Circle K Club, visited area high schools to talk about CNC, painted and decorated the Student Lounge, and even sent personal Christmas cards to faculty and administrators. The SGA also conducted elections for the next year's SGA officers and Honor Council members.
This issue of Chris's Crierprovided information used in my article "The First Student Organizations" in the book Memories of Christopher College, the First Decade (p. 88 f.). Several articles about the early years of the SGA that are on our website are also indebted to this issue and other Crier issues. To see these, open the website tab ARCHIVES and then the sub tab FIRST DECADE HISTORY. Scroll way down almost to the bottom.
SGA President Jim Cornette crowns Charlotte Anderson as the first Miss CNC during the 1962 Christmas party. Watching are contestants (from left) Virginia Carey and Lorena Elder.
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Published June 19, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Second Year, Issue 5
(Vol. 2 , No. 5, dated May 1, 1963)
Pages 1 & 2
by A. Jane Chambers
Because this issue of Chris's Crier is six pages long, I am posting itin two parts, with pages 1 & 2 in this post and pages 3 - 6 in the next post. Do you know what the drawing included in the Chris's Crier masthead represents?
The first article on page 1, "Building Plans," is about construction of CNC's first 6 building (not yet named). The construction order is correct for Newport Hall (completed 1964) and Gosnold Hall (completed 1965). After that, the order is incorrect. Do you know the actual order in which the gymnasium (Ratcliffe), "another classroom" (Wingfield), the "library, with adjoining administrative offices" (Smith) and the "Student Center" were built? Do you also know what things listed for the Student Center were not included?
The second and third articles are about SGA activities ("Picnic" and "Elections." The SGA is the major subject on pages 3 - 6, which will be covered in another posting, along with photos of the 1963-64 SGA officers. The last article on page 1, "New Profs" mentions two Ph.D.s who would join the faculty in 1963-64. Dr. Sanderlin would stay until his retirement; Dr. Scammon would leave after two (or three?) years. Do you know who the additional full time new faculty would be in 1963-64? Don Riley ("accountant-business," Bill Neal ("chemistry"), and Jane Chambers ("English").
Circle K and the Riverside Nurses are the main subjects on page 2. The "Circle K News" shows the first service club at CNC as a busy group--not only attending the district convention in Roanoke in spring 1963 but also planning to be a "host club" for an upcoming international Circle K convention in Norfolk. Notice also the club's service projects. A 1964 Tridentphoto of the officers for 1963-64 is at the top of this article.
The "Nurses News" article suffers from some bad typing and white-out correcting, but reflects the humorous side of a very demanding nursing program. It also shows that the staff of Chris's Crier wanted the nursing students to be an important part of the overall student body at the new college.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Second Year, Issue 2
(Vol. 2 , No. 2, dated December 7, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
The newspaper photo with caption above is courtesy of Jo Berry Sinclair (Class of 1963). The photo was published in the fall of 1962 by The Daily Press in either its morning newspaper (The Daily Press ) or its afternoon newspaper (The Times-Herald ). Not all members of this first Glee Club, which included both sexes, are in the photograph.
New in this second issue of the 1962-63 Chris's Crier are an improved masthead, advertisements for local businesses--though not very well done (pp.2 & 3), and a more professional listing of the paper's staff (p. 2). Continued growth is evident in articles about additional student organizations: the Glee Club (p. 1), for both sexes, and the Basketball League (p. 3), for male students, with 4 teams that would use the Magruder Recreation Building in Hampton for games. Thriving well were Circle K (p. 1), with officers elected, and the Bowling League, for both sexes (p. 3), also with officers elected and games underway. And the second freshmen class elected its officers with a fairly good turnout of voters (p. 1).
Having a book budget of $27,000 to spend (equivalent in 2020 to $235,996.53), CNC's library was growing too (p. 1), having added 1000 new books, with more to be added in academic year 1963-64--the year that I would join the English faculty at CNC. Part of my job that year would be working in the basement library in the old Daniel building, helping spend some of that money on more library books, which I certainly enjoyed doing.
The article on page 3, "Pro Athlete at CNC," interested me very much, especially since I know First Decader Sam McIntyre (A.A. degree, 1964). The Crier article led to my writing the article "CNC's First Professional Athlete: Baseball Player Sam McIntyre," with additional information about Sam.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Second Year, Issue 1
(Vol. 2 , No. 1, dated October 23, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
In CNC's second year (1962-63) six issues of Chris's Crier were published; however, our university's library has only four of them: numbers 1, 2, 5, & 6. Numbers 3 and 4 are missing. Lorena Elder (later, Smith) was again the editor, at least for numbers 1 and 2. Numbers 5 and 6 were co-edited by Jo Berry (later, Sinclair) and Jay Dunn. Chris's Crier had a faculty advisor the second year--new English instructor Betty Kantor (later, Stuart).
GROWTH is the underlying theme of Vol. 2, No. 1, beginning with major increases in the sizes of the student body (page 1) and the faculty (page 4). Addition of an Evening College and Riverside Hospital's student nurses significantly increased student and faculty sizes. Addition of a vital Student Government Association (SGA, page 3) would lead to growth in many directions, reflected in later issues of the student newspaper. The newly formed Bowling League (page 4) marked the beginning of intramural sports at the college. The first student service club began too in this year: The Circle K Club (page 4). And the new college also offered students the broadening experience of having a classmate from another nation: "Mark" Tsugiyama, from Japan (page 3).
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Published April 17, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Issue 5
(Vol. 1, No. 5, dated May 4, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
Issue 4 ofChris's Crier (April 19, 1962) announced the date (May 7), time, and place of CNC's first Student Government Association election, the four SGA officers to be elected, and the number of Honor Council members to be elected (4 male and 4 female). Announced also were the eligibility rules and the fact that there would be a special campaign edition of Chris's Crier before the election.
Issue 5 (May 4, 1962), the campaign edition ("Extra!"), was also the final issue of Chris's Crier for the academic year 1961-62. It was very short, with only one page of text and two pages of hand-drawn campaign ads. Column 1 of page 1 listed the candidates for the SGA offices and gender-separated Honor Councils, then gave a reasoned argument for Howard Clark for both SGA Vice President and Honor Council member. Column 2 argued for a slate of candidates running on Jim Cornette's ticket.
The May 7 election required a second voting, as explained in the caption to the above Times-Herald photograph in the May 16,1962 edition. Jim Cornette, who had run unchallenged for SGA President, easily won that post, and Howard Clark, whose supporters had campaigned well for him in Chris's Crier, defeated Cornette's VP running mate, Tommy Sellers. However, a run-off election had to be held the following week to decide who would be the SGA Secretary (Charlotte Anderson won) and Treasurer (Pat Baldwin won).
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Chris's Crier - 5th Edition
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Chris's Crier - 5th Edition
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Published March 6, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Issue 4
(Vol. 1, No. 4, dated April 19, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
Articles in this fourth issue of Chris's Crier provided some of the material used in two of my articles in our 2008 book Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade (Memories) andused also with additional information in my later articles about first decade history that were published on our CNC First Decaders website and are now in the website's Archives, under the sub tab First Decade History (near the very bottom).
The Crier article "SGA OFFICERS TO BE ELECTED" (p. 1) introduces a major event that would be covered fully in subsequent Crier issues in the first and second years of the College and gives us the date of the election of the first SGA officers (May 7, 1962). My Memories book article "The First Student Organizations" includes facts about the first SGA (pp. 89-90) taken from this series of SGA articles in the Crier, and our website includes photos, officers' memories and other details about the first (1962-63), second (1963-64), and third SGAs at CNC (1964-65).
The brief article "CNC LIBRARY; BIGGER AND BETTER," also on page 1 of issue 4, provided important factual material included in the first paragraph of "From Basement Rooms to the Captain John Smith Library" (Memories, pp. 152 - 155) and later in my longer essay on the website, with photographs, "CHRIS'S CRIER: Windows into CNC's Early History (Part 3)--The Basement Library."
The major article on page 2 of issue 4, "COAT-OF-ARMS FOR CNC," featuring the three odd sketches reproduced above, is about choosing a symbol for our college. The idea that the symbol could be "in the form of a coat-of-arms" was suggested to the students by Dr. Augustine Maissen, Assistant Professor of German and Spanish. A native of Switzerland, Dr. Maissen recommended a coat of arms because that was a European tradition followed by virtually all institutions and municipalities there.
We did not use this Crier article in Memoriesbecause the idea of a coat of arms quickly died in CNC's second year--probably because Dr. Maissen did not return to CNC. According to Professor Emeritus Barry Wood, he left because he was particularly fond of skiing but found nothing in Virginia approximating the Swiss Alps. It's probably good that he left us, however, because had he remained longer, we might have become the CNC Crocodiles!
Dr. Maissen did leave the College something of great value, however: he designed the first CNC seal (above left), which was used until 1971, when CNC had its first baccalaureate class. Local artist Allan D. Jones Jr. gave us our symbol at the end of the second year (1962-63), when he was commissioned by the City of Newport News to create a mural in the West Avenue Library, in downtown Newport News, depicting the Jamestown Landing of 1607. Jones's sketch of the head of Captain Christopher Newport is shown above right. And the full figure of Captain Newport (with his historic hook) was quickly adopted for the masthead of The Captain's Log, the second student newspaper, in 1963-64. The name "Captains" was chosen in connection with our first intercollegiate sport in 1965, men's track.
I used the Crier article "COAT-OF-ARMS FOR CNC" extensively in the first half of my website article "The CNC Crocodiles? Selecting Our Symbol and Name."
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Chris's Crier - 4th Edition
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Chris's Crier - 4th Edition
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Published February 21, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Issue 3
(Vol. 1, No. 3, dated March 13, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
Issue 3 of Chris's Crier was published only 18 days after issue number 2 (Feb. 23). Number 3 focused on subjects introduced in the second issue--selecting the school's colors, forming the first social club (the German Club, which would organize dances), holding a student-faculty contest (the first Bridge Tournament), and beginning the first religious organization at the new college (The Wesley Foundation, connected with the Methodist Church). Issues 2 and 3 together provided information I used in Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade (2008) about CNC's school colors ("Permanent Choices," p. 92) and first social club, The German Club ("The First Student Organizations," pp. 88 - 89). No other book about CNC mentions these two topics, to my knowledge.
The basement lounge was a place to socialize, eat, and study. Notice the suspended lights and water pipes below the ceiling. The two photos here are from the ADS section of the 1964 Trident, CNC's first yearbook.
Having briefly introduced CNC's first faculty (10 members) in issue 1 of Chris's Crier, in this third issue the staff began publishing detailed articles about individual instructors. Since virtually all students were required to complete freshman English, the two English instructors, Fay Kenyon Green and Lawrence B. Wood, Jr., were the first of the ten the staff interviewed. The article on Colonel Green (U.S. Army, ret.) is on page 1 and that on very young Barry Wood is on page 2.
The bulk of page 2 is about the championship game in the Bridge Tournament first mentioned in Number 2 of Chris's Crier. In a parody of the well-known newspaper column "Goren on Bridge," CNC's biology instructor Georgia Hunter (the only woman on the faculty then) is humorously given the last name "Goren" and math instructor Robert (Bob) Vargas is called "Ace" Vargas. The other two bridge players were students. Why was a card game given so much attention? Partly because Bridge was the favorite card game in the 1960s, but also because CNC's temporary home (the former Daniel Elementary School building) had no gymnasium, no cafeteria--not even a lawn where students could at least toss balls back and forth.
Shortly after classes began at the new college, the first students, with Director Cunningham's approval, had transformed a fairly large empty room in the basement of Daniel into a lounge. They had painted its walls and made curtains for its half-sized windows. It was quickly equipped with tables, chairs, a Coke machine, a snack machine, and a radio often playing popular music on local station WGH. It was the favorite place to relax and socialize before, between, and after classes. And every weekday there were students and faculty there who were playing Bridge.
We hope to get FEEDBACK from both the very earliest CNC students (those at the college in 1961-63) and the later First Decaders--or any other readers of our website. Send your comments--brief or longer, one sentence or a few paragraphs--via one of the email addresses below. Thank you!
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Chris's Crier - 3rd Edition
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Chris's Crier - 3rd Edition
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Published February 7, 2020.
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier :
Issue 2
(Vol. 1, No. 2, dated February 23, 1962)
by A. Jane Chambers
Fall 1961 photograph of CNC’s original faculty, courtesy of Barry Wood. ROW 1 (L - R): Ernest Rudin, Instructor of French; Col. Faye Green (US Army Ret.), Instructor of English; Allen Tanner, Adjunct Instructor, Business & Economics; Barry Wood, Instructor of English. ROW 2 (L - R): Dr. Augustine Maissen, Assistant Professor of German & Spanish; James Liston, Instructor of Chemistry & Physics; Robert Vargas, Instructor of Mathematics; Robert Usry, Instructor of History. ABSENT: Georgia Hunter, Instructor of Biology; Bernard Smith, Adjunct Instructor of Business & Economics.
The first issue of Chris's Crier was published on November 16, 1961--two months after classes began (Sept. 18). The second issue was not published until three months later (Feb. 23, 1962)--probably because of the long Christmas Recess (Dec. 19 - Jan. 3), followed by two more weeks of classes, final exams (Jan. 22 - 30), and then the beginning of a new semester. Despite this time gap, both issues focused often on the same subjects--faculty, students, social life at CNC the opening year (including student-faculty interaction), parking, student involvement in Chris's Crier, and the college's future--to name a few.
After you've read this second issue, and perhaps reread the first issue, ask yourself if you found them historically important, or not worth reading. What (if anything), for example, might current readers learn by comparing enrollment numbers for the two semesters? by noting the number of students on the first Dean's List? By reading about the process of choosing the paper's name, the school colors? By reading about the first Student Orientation? Or CNC's future site? Mr. Cunningham's comments to the first students? Or student Jim Cornette's essay on "Flat"?
We hope to get FEEDBACK from both the very earliest CNC students (especially those at the college in 1961-62) and the later First Decaders. Send us your comments--brief or longer, one sentence or a paragraph-- about any one item in one issue, or any topic in both issues, or about the two issues in general.
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Chris's Crier - 2nd Edition
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Chris's Crier - 2nd Edition
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Published January 24, 2020
The Historical Importance of Chris's Crier,
CNC's First Student Newspaper
(1961 - 1963)
by A. Jane Chambers
CNC's first home, the former John W. Daniel Elementary School building on 32nd Street in downtown Newport News.
BACKGROUND
One of the first requests made by the small group of students who entered the newly opened Christopher Newport College of the College of William and Mary in September of 1961 was that they be allowed to produce a student newspaper. With Director H. Westcott Cunningham's approval, in mid-November the first issue of that paper appeared--with five hand-drawn question marks instead of a name (photo left below), hand-drawn headlines for the articles, and a request for students to submit suggestions for a name "worthy of this newspaper and the institution which it will represent" (Vol. I, No. 1, p. 1).
The second issue of the fledgling newspaper (Feb. 23, 1962) had the stenciled name Chris's Crier (photo right above), headlines typed in capitals, and this confident prophecy: "In the years to come Christopher Newport College will grow and stand high in the ranks of American colleges" (Vol. I, No. 2, p. 1). There were five issues of Chris's Crier in CNC's first year (1961-62) and six issues in its second year (1962-63) although two of those (numbers 3 and 4) are missing in CNU's library. All nine issues are housed in the Archives of Trible Library. The staff of Chris's Crier had no faculty advisor the first year, but had English instructor Betty Kantor (later, Stuart) as faculty advisor the second year.
Student Lorena Elder (later, Smith)--now deceased--was editor of the newspaper its first year, her freshman year (1961-62), and the first half of her sophomore year (1962-63). But also working part time for CNC librarian Bette Mosteller that second year, Lorena (photo right) had to leave the editor's position though she still supported the paper as a typist. Two on Lorena's staff that second year, Jo Berry (later, Sinclair) and Jay Dunn, followed her as co-editors of Chris's Crier the second semester. Staff size and newspaper size grew in the second year, as did CNC's student body.
HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
Lorena Elder Smith, first editor of Chris's Crier.
While doing research in 2007 for the book Memories of Christopher Newport College: The First Decade, I discovered the nine issues ofChris's Crier in the temporary CNU library Archives in the not-yet demolished CNC Student Center. The yellowing sheets were filled with extremely valuable early CNC history. For example, various issues from both years of Chris's Crier provided virtually all of the information I used for my Memories essay "The First Student Organizations"--four pages (88 - 91) about CNC's first social club (The German Club), its first Student Government Association, and its first service club (Circle K)--including names (student officers, faculty sponsors), dates, places, and activities sponsored.
Had I not found those issues of Chris's Crier, I also would not have been able tell the story of how CNC's school colors were chosen (Memories, "Permanent Choices: The School Colors and Name," p. 92). Nor would I have had the information I gave about CNC's first student paper (page 126 of "The First Student Publications: Chris's Crier and the Trident").
The most valuable information I found, however, was in the last issue of Chris's Crier (Vol. II, No. VI, May 27, 1963)--the names of all the students in CNC's Class of 1963. The students' names and future plans are inMemorieson page 36. The records of all of these students had been lost. No copy of their commencement program was in CNU's library. Barry Wood had names of some of these students in his 1961-63 grade books, but he had not taught all of them. CNU had two names of the degree recipients, but one of them was deceased. Without this list in Chris's Crier, there might not have been enough 1963 alumni found to have the first 50th reunion at CNU in 2013. Finding the list caused me to begin a very long search, still continuing, for all of the First Decade students whose records have been lost.
THE COMPLETE FIRST ISSUE
Keep in mind as you look at this 3-page first issue of Chris's Crier that all issues of this newspaper were printed on a hand-cranked duplicating machine called a mimeograph machine (image left below) that worked by forcing ink through a stencil (photo right below) onto paper. The material to be duplicated was typed on a manual typewriter (with ribbon removed) or drawn onto the stencil with a stylus. The stencil was then attached to a rotating drum holding the ink. Stencils were extremely thin and easily torn. Special styluses had to be used to create drawings such as cartoons, special lettering, or other features by hand; thus the hand-drawn material was often quite primitive. Usually no more than 100 - 150 copies of an issue of such a newspaper could be produced from one stencil before it wore out or tore. If more copies were needed, a new stencil had to be "cut" (typed and/or drawn on).
We will publish, in order, the additional full issues of Chris's Crier on this website during 2020. We have created a tab (top left column of HOME) for housing them after each such publication.
Link to Christopher Newport University home page: http://cnu.edu