Brown and White, First Week of Class 1966

Following the 100 year old Freshman Handbook, here is the front page of the Brown and White from the first week of class in 1966. This 50 year old newspaper provides a glimpse at what freshman orientation and the beginning of the semester were like. The newspaper is searchable and available in its entirety through The Brown and White Archive as part of Lehigh’s Digital Library. This archive contains every issue of the Brown and White from its founding in 1894 to 2015.

The top image is of a freshman cap or “dink,” which was a prominent part of the regulations highlighted in the recently digitized 1916 Freshman Handbook. According to the article, upperclassmen regularly attempted to steal freshmen’s dinks, which would greatly inconvenience the freshmen victims.

Also of note are the plans for the opening of Mart Library, which is now part of Fairchild Martindale Library. The Mart Library was dedicated to engineering and the sciences, was estimated to cost $1.5 million, and eventually opened in 1968. 50 years later, plans for a major transformation of Fairchild Martindale Library are in the works.