The Robert R. Newlen ’75 & John C. Bradford Special Collections at Bridgewater College will display an exhibition highlighting life at the College throughout the 1970s through Monday, March 31, 2025.
Curated by Special Collections Librarian Stephanie Gardner and Special Collections intern Alex Thompson ’25, the exhibition, “Find Yourself in the 1970s: Snapshots of Life at Bridgewater College,” will include archival photographs, artifacts and interpretive text, which tell the story of life as a Bridgewater College student during the 1970s. Visitors will explore the decade’s fads, fashions and college traditions like Homecoming and May Day, the latter of which has evolved into SpringFest.
“For our alumni, it will be an enjoyable experience, a trip down memory lane,” Gardner said.
Opportunity is possible for more thoughtful reflection as visitors learn about Bridgewater’s connections to some of the decade’s prominent social topics like racial diversity, feminism and the Vietnam War.
“It is a challenge to interpret an entire era,” Gardner said. “But, by representing what [Thompson and I] see while working in the College archives, I hope viewers will be able to connect with larger themes, some of which are still relevant today.”
To honor Bridgewater students who lost their lives fighting in the Vietnam War, Gardner and Thompson will create an abridged interpretation of the Missing Man Table, which is also known as the Fallen Comrade Table, for display in the exhibition.
Other notable exhibits include photographs of Carlyle Whitelow ’59, a beloved BC professor and coach and the College’s first Black faculty member; papers of Dr. Beth Glick-Rieman ’44, a former Church of the Brethren minister who, as Person Awareness Coordinator, presented a feminist perspective within the Church; and campaign buttons for Richard D. Obenshain, a 1956 alumnus who died in a plane crash while campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat.
The exhibition is free to the public and will show on the lower level of the John Kenny Forrer Learning Commons from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
Founded in 1880, Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Bridgewater College is home to approximately 1,450 students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate majors and minors and four graduate programs housed within three distinct schools.
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Rebecca Barnabi
