If you like to doodle and use fancy pens, you can print out a form to fill out by hand.  Or if you prefer to type, you can fill out an online form.  We think future students will especially appreciate hearing about the concrete details of your day -- what did you see or hear on May 15? who did you spend time with? what did you do for fun? did you cook or eat anything special?  what did you learn?

Submit your comments online OR Print out a form for handwritten comments, doodles, etc.

We hope your contributions will help future students imagine themselves traveling back in time to 2022. We got the idea from a similar project that has been underway in England since 1937, and you can learn more about it from the archive at the University of Sussex that holds all those observations. 

Remembering One Day in 1892 --

In 1892 (as for this year), May 15 was a Sunday, and for many on campus it was a day for sports.  

Charles Hamilton (HC 1893) had plenty to think about that Sunday.  He had been selected to be Hanover's delegate to a YMCA summer school in the coming July, and Indiana's YMCA state secretary was on campus that day.  Probably they met at the YMCA building (still standing, near the water tower) to talk about what he should expect in July.  The "Young Men's Christian Association" was then focused mostly on Christianity, but a movement was growing to embrace physical fitness more, and sports might have been part of their conversation.  As it turned out, the summer school Charles would attend reflected the shift toward athletics.  A participant reported that "a person going through the woods" at the camp "constantly meets men, singly or in groups, studying the Bible," and men were "frequently" seen elsewhere kneeling in prayer.  Still, there was an athletic director, and he made sure that basketball games were going on "constantly."  There was also swimming and boating, tennis and baseball.

The latter may have captured Charles Hamilton's interest, especially if he was the Hamilton who played on Hanover's baseball team.  Some YMCA leaders singled out baseball for exposing young men to "pernicious habits, such as Sabbath playing, betting, drinking, and the like," but the College didn't seem to worry too much, and Hanover's team played that Sunday.

The team concluded a six-game series in Madison that day, and everyone seemed to have a good time, judging by a local reporter's description. Although Hanover won only two of the games, the team had "great reason to feel encouraged," the reporter thought.  They had few seniors on the team, so they anticipated "putting to good use the experience they have lately acquired" for a strong season in 1893.  The students in the stands were "not grumbling" either - since Hanover had beaten Butler University, at least.  The Butler men may have harbored some resentment about how a previous game had turned out.  (During a downpour in the eighth inning of Friday's game, Hanover had "sprung the rules" on the visitors in that the umpires called the game at the end of the seventh while Hanover was ahead rather than during the eighth after Butler had made another run.)  Still, by Sunday everyone seemed to think the opponents were "a fine set of fellows, and gained the good will of all Hanoverians." 

Historical records can tell us a lot about Hanover in 1892, but I wish we knew more. Did Charles Hamilton enjoy the game? Or was he one of the players who was injured?  Was he looking forward to learning about evangelism over the summer or to learning about basketball? What did he have for lunch, and how much homework did he have due the next day?

We hope you can share details like these for May 15 of this year!

See also

• Marie Ester Brandt, May 15, 1852
• Winfield Scott Smith, May 15, 1918
• Family Day, May 15, 1971

Note: The photos above were taken about 1892, of unidentified baseball players (in front of the Crowe-Garritt house and on the steps of Old Classic Hall).