In the ninety-nine years that The Johnsonian has been publishing, there have been thousands of headlines highlighting current events throughout the twentieth and twenty–first centuries.
The Mar. 1, 1924 issue ran with the front page highlighting the upcoming basketball season, as well as details regarding how to enroll for summer classes and the upcoming fall semester. The exam schedule for that semester takes up the middle of the page, telling students that their exams would be ending on Mar. 1, and that one exam session would be taking place that Saturday.
Mar. 1, 1930s headlines included an advertisement for a presentation about Oxford, England held by James Pickney Kinard, Winthrop’s second president and Kinard Hall namesake. Following in the style of The Johnsonian’s early issues, basketball scores and highlights from games were featured on the front page. The class of 1931 also advertised a musical revue that they were debuting the evening of publication; students and local performers danced, sang, and acted out a love story that was described as “rollicking, sparkling, joyous entertainment”.
The impact of World War II was also highlighted in The Johnsonian’s issues. In the Mar. 1, 1946 issue, staff writers highlighted the Red Cross fundraising drive they held for the war effort. A column ran underneath it discussing nuclear weapons and how they could impact the world after the Nagasaki bombing months earlier. The Mar. 5 1943 issue hosted many advertisements targeted at the cadet reserves that were staying in Rock Hill during the war.
The front page’s headline of the Mar. 3, 1986 issue could have been from this year, as it speaks volumes about Winthrop students’ passion for societal issues; a sit-in was arranged after slurs targeted towards Black students were written in Thomson Hall. This issue’s entire opinion section was dedicated to racial equity and exercising students’ freedom to call for change at the university — a call The Johnsonian is still making.
In the Mar. 6, 1990 issue, staff writers recount the Vietnam War as told by a veteran who was hosted by West Thomson to talk to the residents there. He discussed with students how the war impacted Americans — both those at home and overseas — as well as his own near death experiences. This issue also included safety tips for Spring Break, as well as coupons for local businesses and a discounted ticket rate to Walt Disney World.
Looking back at The Johnsonian’s history allows both the staff and readers to reflect on what college life was like throughout the twentieth century and now the twenty–first century. It also creates the possibility of predicting trends and recurring themes for future issues of The Johnsonian. Some topics, like the 1990 issue of Eastern Europe impacting American life, have remained at the forefront of pop culture. Others, such as the worry of Saturday final exams in 1924, have become distant memories of Winthrop’s yesteryears.
The information used in this research was found in the Winthrop University Digital Commons.
The Johnsonian would like to thank Louise Pettus Archives for the continued free access to earlier issues, as well as countless artifacts from Winthrop’s adolescence. With access to these items, the student body of Winthrop University might learn from the past and use this information to create a brighter future.
