The print edition looks a bit different today, huh?
One hundred school years ago, just six years after what would become ACU was founded, the Optimist was born.
The front page of Vol. 1, No. 1, looked just like this one today, except the entire page was one opinion piece by Robertson Lafayette Whiteside, the president emeritus of the university, on the dangers and responsibilities of education. The headline and story design style were incorporated in later issues.
In that opening column, Whiteside wrote that a college-educated person, an intellectual giant, without a personal duty to God, can be corrupted to further his or her personal gain, and as Christians we ought to stay rooted in the Bible’s teachings so we may use our education responsibly.
As the reader, now 100 years in the future, flips through the rest of the eight-page issue, he or she will notice many more differences.
The entire issue featured small, simple headlines and literally no photos. Ironically, many of the advertisements in that first, imageless issue are for photo studios and development.
Nine ads for Tyson & Coffman, which apparently was a general store out in Clyde that sold everything from shoe repair to Japanese rugs to furniture, are thrown in in the middle of pages to separate stories. They looked just like several short news briefs, and would be confusing in today’s newspapers.
“Don’t forget Tyson & Coffman when you want photos. Clyde, Texas,” read the ninth and last ad at the bottom of Page 8.
The university’s president and administration used to write quite a bit more of the publication’s content. In other stories, they were referred to with the title “Bro.” Some unsigned news briefs were more brief than news.
The Optimist’s editor in chief and assistant editors had yet to be selected, and a short piece on Page 4 calls for students to apply to be on staff:
“If you would like to be the editor or one of the assistant editors – you had better get on the ground early and get to work.”
Also in that original issue, published on Aug. 1, before the school year started, is a call for readers to subscribe for the full year for a whopping 50 cents. It promised that the next issue would be “particularly interesting to all who have an interest in the school” because it would include how the semester began, school news, as well as “all the jokes concerning the students,” and would be flooded with college spirit.
But we don’t know how the next issue actually looked. A fire in the administration building destroyed a lot of the old records in 1929, leaving us with only one issue on record before 1916. Thankfully, it is Vol. 1, No. 1.
It’s all very interesting, at least for those of us carrying on the tradition. Looking back on our predecessors’ work is enlightening as we see how much media, and this school, has changed over time.
At the time of the first issue, the school had just started using the Abilene Christian College name, but wasn’t accredited as a junior college yet. Its campus was in downtown Abilene, and fewer than 300 students were enrolled. Of course, this is impressive considering six years earlier, our dear Christian college opened as the Childers Classical Institute, with an enrollment of 25 students in grades 1-12.
However, the lede (beginning of a story) for a front page news story more than 84 years ago shows some things never change:
Jan. 31, 1929: ‘Pre-Law Club Is Organized For Students:’
“A. C. C. not only has preachers, teachers, doctors and pretty girls; but it also has lawyers.”
This front page of this edition, the first in our four-issue “Throwback Series,” is our tribute to those who did the same work in the 100 years before us. To see the PDF version online, go to: www.acuoptimist.com/2013/02/the-optimist-print-edition-02-27-13/
The front page, and the front page only, of this and our next three issues will take the shape and design of past issues. It’ll still include all of our usual news coverage.
We’ll also include gems from the era, some of the most interesting or funny headlines or stories during that time. After all, we do have “all the jokes concerning the students.”
– Mark Smith, editor in chief
Tyson & Coffman for tailor work. Clyde, Texas.
