by Wendy Robicheau, Archivist In June 1852, Acadia College mourned. A distressing calamity took place on the treacherous Minas Basin, cutting short the lives of one-quarter of the student body and half of the faculty. Two more men were swept away with them. Had not one man survived, we would have never known the story of what happened that day. The legendary tale began early on the day of the...
At least three people witnessed the accident on the Minas Basin, although it is unclear if two of the witnesses came forward at the time. Kings County inquest documents for 1852 no longer exist for the month of June, hampering research efforts to uncover what happened. Presumably an inquest was held each time the bodies were recovered, but this is speculation. Archivist Wendy Robicheau uncovered...
by Wendy Robicheau, Archivist While researching the early days at Acadia College, I found a program for the Anniversary Exercises (that tended to happen annually in June). Interspersed between the students’ orated essays, were musical interludes. A research side-quest was born, asking ‘what music occurred on campus in the earliest years?’ and ‘how did the students learn that music?’ In 1852,...
A program of the public exhibition provides details of the papers given before a crowd on June 4. Nine students spoke that day. Essays written by four of those nine students were later published in the Christian Messenger, giving us insight on their writing style and classroom learning. Archivist Wendy Robicheau highlights those four essays. The second speaker of the day was Henry King, of Onslow,...
Two days of examinations performed under the watchful eyes of faculty and Governors’ alike proved successful for the College. Now the anniversary celebration could finish with a public exhibition when the students demonstrated their learning to the community. Archivist Wendy Robicheau found several surprises when researching the public exhibition. Nine of the sixteen students enrolled at Acadia...
Anxious to put the disagreeable past behind them, President Cramp and Professor Chipman tailored a report to the Maritime Baptist community that encouraged support. Both men were highly skilled at crafting a positive message. For the Christian Visitor, they wrote of the Anniversary of Acadia College, The examination of the several classes into which these have been arranged, was conducted by the...
Opening the College to the community so they could celebrate the work being done in class was a brilliant move. It attracted money. It attracted students. It got attention. Who made this decision is unclear, but the College did not open to the public in this way until after President Cramp arrived in 1851. Archivist Wendy Robicheau looks at the exams being given on campus, 173 years ago today....
Rev. Dr. John Mockett Cramp arrived on campus in the late summer of 1851 as the new Acadia College President. Did he know what he was getting into? He had visited Wolfville in June 1846, met the faculty, and examined the construction of the new College building. But the situation was so very different when he took up residence. Did he recognize the campus he had visited only seven years ago?...
Over the next few weeks, the 173rd anniversary of an Acadia tragedy will be marked and unfold in real time through a series of articles on this blog by Archivist Wendy Robicheau. On 7 June 1852, four Acadia students, one professor, and one Acadia Governor set out on a day-long geological expedition to Cape Blomidon. With them were two boatmen, who navigated the small vessel from Wolfville harbour...
This Mi’kmaw History Month, it’s important to acknowledge the gaps in our collections in Archives & Special Collections related to Indigenous peoples. In our collections, there are some perspectives that are overrepresented due to the history of library and archival collecting practices. Other groups are underrepresented, including perspectives on Indigeneity, Blackness, women, and diverse...
