W < THEN plans for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Goucher College were in progress, the library staff was faced with the problem of preparing a library exhibit in keeping with the theme of the celebration, the educational program of the college. It was necessary that the exhibit not only represent the educational program, but represent it in concrete terms which even the casual visitor could understand. Since the use of verbal symbols, particularly in the form of written and printed materials, is a most important factor in liberal-arts education, and since such materials are the stock in trade of any library, books and other printed materials were adopted as the symbols of the educational program. A display of books used by the students between i888 and I894, and those used by students today was decided on as representing not only the educational program of the college, but also the important part played in that program by the library. The librarian had already begun to collect textbooks used by members of the first classes, as a part of the record of college history. A systematic attempt to add to them was now made. A study of the description of courses in the college catalogues from I888 to I894 added a few more titles to the list, titles which were available either in the library's own collection or in other local libraries. These same descriptions of courses, together with information supplied by alumnae, gave a fair idea of the nature of the collateral reading done in that period. Modern materials for contrast were assembled from the syllabi used currently in courses in the college, and from suggestions made by members of the faculty in the departments concerned. Of course, not all departments could be represented in the exhibit. The fact that the collection of early textbooks was not complete, that not all the departments at present offering courses were represented in the curriculum before I894, and limitations of space, all played a part in the final selection. In the end, seven departments were included: psychology, philosophy, French, economics, physics, chemistry, and biology. It seemed best to limit the exhibit to elementary courses, because, in some cases, only an elementary course was offered in the early days, and because the use of advanced courses might place more emphasis on the advance of knowledge and less on the educational program. For each of these seven departments a textbook, studied in the early years, and other representative books, when others were
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