Although the Robert Toombs Oak no longer stands on UGA’s north campus, there is a sundial to mark its place right outside of the Chapel and very close to Demosthenian Hall. There is a great deal of legend behind the oak tree, which was named in honor of Robert Toombs, the Secretary of State of the Confederacy. Toombs, who attended UGA from 1824-1828 and was an active member of the Demosthenian Literary Society, caused several problems due to his poor behavior during his time at university and was kicked out twice, the last time just a semester before graduating. Before his final dismissal, he had been chosen as the class speaker at his graduation ceremony. Toombs, determined to fulfill this duty and hoping to annoy university faculty and staff one last time, stood by the oak tree outside of the chapel during graduation and gave a loud speech, so boisterous that those in attendance left the ceremony and walked outside to listen to him speak. The oak became known as Robert Toombs Oak, and it is said that when the Confederate general died on December 15, 1885, lightning struck the tree. The oak tree was chopped down, and the Demosthenian Society took a part of the stump to keep in their hall. Today, the Demosthenians still incorporate the stump into their meetings by standing on it to make election speeches.  Their sister society, the Dialectic and Philanthropic Society at the University of North Carolina, has another portion of the tree as well. The spot where the oak tree once stood is now denoted by a sundial, and a historical marker in honor of the Robert Toombs Oak was also placed beside Demosthenian Hall in March 1985.

A statue in honor of Abraham Baldwin, the founder of the University of Georgia, stands on north campus in front of Old College, the oldest building on campus and the heart of the original campus layout. The statue, standing at seven feet, six inches and weighing 400 pounds atop a five foot tall base made out of Georgia granite, was unveiled on September 16, 2011. It was paid for by the UGA Alumni Association, which raised over $100,000 to commission the project, and the statue itself was created by two sculptors from Marietta, Georgia, Teena Stern and Don Haugen. The project was headed by UGA political science professor Loch Johnson. Dr. Johnson came up with the idea after seeing several monuments on campus at Yale University that commemorated founders and notable people with full body statues. This is significant as Abraham Baldwin graduate from and tutored at Yale. Baldwin also modeled the layout of the first UGA campus after that of Yale.

For our project, we will be focusing on domestic life of Americans during WWI and WWII. We will not put a whole lot of focus on to specific conflicts or battles, but rather use our findings to illustrate what life was like domestically for German- Americans (racial treatment in both wars), the Japanese- Americans (post Pearl Harbor treatment, internment), the men who were recruited to fight, the women who worked as nurses or engineers, and everyone else who kept America running. General themes will include racial tensions and social distrust, Athens- Clarke County’s role, UGA student and faculty involvement then, and commemoration efforts.

Working title:

American Homefront Response to the World Wars

Each of us will be researching specific parts, but with a few subjects that are in common. We will cast a wide net for preliminary research, and then fine- tune our results into a cohesive, multi- faceted narrative for the public:

 

Our search terms:

Matthew:

Preflight Naval School, Athens GA

UGA involvement in both wars

 

Daniel:

Internment Camps for Japanese and Germans (WWII Oglethorpe// Tybee Island Internment     Camps// Arizona camps)

[Mention of Pearl Harbor to frame internment and tension]

 

Dylan:

Recruitment posters for both wars (Who was target? What demographics?)

Memorial Hall (WWI)

Memorial celebrations and anniversaries (Newspaper Archives// Erika Doss’s Memorial Mania)

 

Faith:

Other Memorials in Athens// Blue Star Memorial

Racial tension// Changing German- sounding surnames after WWI

Dobbins ARB (Rickenbacker Field)// Lockheed// Possible local Athens bases and factories

All of us:

Social responses of UGA students

UGA students involved as nurses, workers, and in the armed services (demographics)

War bonds// War Bonds advertisements (WWI specifically)

 

Exhibition

We plan on working our exhibition around traumatic events on-campus here at UGA. We want to examine how students and faculty both handle and commemorate local tragedy.

Responsibilities

Kaitlin: Letters (Russell Library)
Bailey: Video and Audio (Brown Library)
Avery: Newspapers

The plaque here sits directly behind the Arch at Broad Street. It is the first thing that greets you when walking into the University. The plaque that is standing today was placed in 1991, however the first plaque was erected in 1952 by the Georgia Historical Commission. The 1952 plaque and the current plaque both contain a factual error regarding the term “chancellor” in the text. Since 1932, the term “president” has been used instead. This plaque has been questioned by many for its famous if not infamous line of “During the War for Southern Independence, most of the students entered the Confederate Army.”. The plaque goes on to detail various pre-war and postwar presidents using the civil war as a defining moment in the University’s history. The reason behind why the plaque references the Civil War so much is unknown, but the term used is what causes such a large issue. Calling it the “War for Southern Independence” is a glorifying name for the side that was pro-slavery.

 

Bethany: Mammy Institute, Black Mammy Institute in Athens, Search for similar institutions in Atlanta

Glenn: African American/Black Education, Domestic Education, Samuel F. Lewis

Rebekah: Racial backgrounds of the administration, fate of the institute, black mammy memorial association

Darcy: Barrow (UGA Chancellor), Knox Institute, Athens High and Industrial School

 

Whitney, Jin, Peyton, and I will be focusing on student involvement during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and we intend to weave the Memorial Garden in by discussing the lack of direct representation for these wars on UGA’s campus.  To begin our research, we decided to break the time periods of 1950-1954 and 1960-1975 into 4 chunks, and each look at a 5 year period in the Red & Black and Pandora yearbooks to see if we can find evidence of protests or student support, and find any information about specific students who participated in the war efforts.  We intend to interpret these wars with specific attention to race and perhaps gender.  We are thinking about Horace Ward’s well-timed (for UGA) draft notice and deployment to Korea, and we intend to investigate this and other possible instances like this, to tell a story that incorporates Civil Rights Movement events.

Meigs Hall is named in honor of Josiah Meigs who was the first president of the University of Georgia from 1801-1810. Meigs in his tenure designed the first curriculum for Physics for UGA. He was also noted for envisioning and laying out a plan for the landscape of North Campus, the oldest part of the University of Georgia. Meigs then served as U. Surveyor General and commissioner of Land under President James Madison. As the Commissioner of Land, Meigs was responsible for setting up daily weather observations at stations around the country under his control. Meigs also later would go to become a member and President of the prominent Columbian Institute. He later became a professor and founding trustee of George Washington University in Washington D.C. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C.

Josiah Meigs is remembered in many various ways around Athens. The University of Georgia annually awards a teaching honor called the Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professorship. Meigs Street in Athens is named after Josiah Meigs. Meigs Hall was built in 1905. Over the years, the Biology, Psychology, and Germanic and Slavic Languages Department have all been housed in Meigs Hall. Today, it is the home of the Institute of Higher Learning.

The Bishop House is named after Thomas Bishop who designed the house in 1837. Thomas Bishop was a farmer and merchant in Athens in the mid 1800’s. He ran a grocery store in town and was noted for his impressive landscaping skills around the house. The Bishop House was one of the first in Athens with running water and also at one time included a carriage house, smokehouse, and vegetable gardens. The Bishop House was designed in the Greek Revival style and was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1968. Bishop House was put on the National Register because it is noted as a fine example of Greek Revival architecture and for its connection to Thomas Bishop a prominent 19th century figure in Athens. University of Georgia bought Bishop House in 1942 and over the years has been use as studio spaces and offices for the Art Department, the main home of the Classics Department, and a residence hall for faculty and students. Today Bishop House houses UGA College of Environment & Design faculty offices and their financial office staff.

Waddel Hall is named after Dr. Moses Waddel. Dr. Waddel was called to be the President of the University of Georgia in 1819 when the university was struggling and at its lowest point. Taking the presidential reigns with only seven students enrolled in the university, Waddell was successful in raising enrollment to over one hundred students. The hall that now bears his name is the second oldest building on the university’s campus. The building was completed in 1821 and has served several different purposes over its many years. The building was once called “Philosophical Hall”. The building has also spent several years as a dormitory for students. Its walls have served as the location of the A&M college, the home of Thomas W. Reed, the location of the Dean Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law, and now currently, it houses the office of Special events.