Page under development
Let’s keep these memories alive! This is a page for throwback fun, where we can reflect on our lives as students at Smith, and how people, events, and artifacts of those days helped shape who we are today. As our 50th Reunion approaches, we probably will solicit classmate input through surveys or polls.
Holy cow, it’s our Freshman Handbook! Back in 1973, when first-years still were called Freshmen, the College sent us this handy-dandy orientation volume. It includes a welcome letter from President Mendenhall, a glossary of campus terms (“rope test,” “watch,” etc.), information about extracurricular activities, and paid ads from some of our favorite Northampton shops. Remember Angotti on Green Street and The Cedar Chest on Main? The handbook is available to peruse digitally in the College Archives. Click the image at right to see the handbook there.
Today we can unlock our phones with our faces, but do you recognize this item? Hallmates shared a rotary phone with a long cord and a dial lock. We had to wait until the long distance rates went down at 11:00pm before calling the parents.
We only had been on campus a couple of weeks when Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in Houston’s Astrodome. Following King’s historic victory, Franklin King House residents hung a banner renaming the residence “Billie Jean King House,” and students paraded joyfully through campus and downtown.
The energy crisis of the mid-1970s meant we encountered fuel shortages and long lines at gas stations. Thermostats were turned down and many of us slept in heavy socks and Lanz flannel nightgowns.