{"id":1092,"date":"2012-09-05T13:13:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-05T13:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/libraryarchives\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2023-12-20T14:23:30","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T14:23:30","slug":"frederick-lewton-recollections-of-early-days-at-rollins-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/2012\/09\/05\/frederick-lewton-recollections-of-early-days-at-rollins-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Frederick Lewton: Recollections of Early Days at Rollins College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Rollins students and faculty at Lakeside Cottage, 1889-1890<\/em><\/p>\n

Frederick Lewton (pictured above, next to the young man with the oars) was one of the College’s first students, enrolling in the fall of 1886.\u00a0 In 1954, during a program celebrating the founding of Rollins, he read some reminiscences from his student days; we hope he would have been pleased to serve as a “guest blogger” and have them shared here, with some photos from our collections.<\/p>\n

Mr. Lewton began his talk by recalling the changes on campus as the College’s first buildings appeared:\u00a0 Knowles Hall, Pinehurst Cottage, and the Dining Hall, all of which were completed in 1886.\u00a0\u00a0 He continued:<\/p>\n

The fourth building constructed on campus was Lakeside Cottage.\u00a0 It was not completed until a few weeks before the second year of the College began on October 5, 1886.\u00a0 Only a few rooms were furnished at first, just enough for the men and boy students who were from out of town.<\/em><\/p>\n

Professor J. H. Ford and his wife were in charge of the cottage they made us happy and comfortable.\u00a0 We younger students felt we were lucky because with the Ford daughters, Ruth and Gertrude, in the cottage, it was almost like home. . .<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Professor of Greek John H. Ford (on the right), with Music Professor Ida Hubbard and Rollins Treasurer Henry\u00a0 Huntington at Pinehurst Cottage, 1891<\/p>\n

In those early days all class rooms were in Knowles Hall, in which were the administration offices, chapel, and later on, the library.\u00a0 I earned my tuition expenses by ringing the great chapel bell, from rising time at 7 AM until 11 PM for all lights out, with rings for the study periods and meals in between.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Knowles Hall, circa 1888 [destroyed by a fire in 1909]<\/em><\/p>\n

There was as yet no electricity and all buildings were lighted with kerosene lamps.<\/em><\/p>\n

After the lean-to kitchen at Pinehurst was vacated, it became the College’s infant library.\u00a0 When the library was moved to Knowles Hall in February 1887, it was turned over to the Chemistry professor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Equipment for the chemical laboratory was very meagre, so that we students, under Professor Norman J. Robinson, made much of our own apparatus.\u00a0 Beakers were made by cutting off the tops of bottles.\u00a0 This was done by wrapping around a turn of strong cord at the desired place, sawing the cord back and forth to make a hot ring around the bottle, then plunging the bottle into cold water, and ‘click’ the top came off instantly.<\/em><\/p>\n

English with Professor Annie Morton, and Mathematics with that fine old whiskered gentleman, Professor Nathan Barrows, are remembered as meaning really hard work, but enjoyable class work.\u00a0 My greatest delight as a student was in the subject of Natural Science, directed by Professor Eva J. Root, who opened to us the scientific side of the plants and animals that most of us already knew.\u00a0 [<\/em>Note:\u00a0 Miss Root is the woman on the lower right, in the above photo at Lakeside Cottage.]\u00a0 The class in Astronomy, also taught by Professor Root, had the use of a fine telescope, the gift of George R. Lyman of Minneapolis.\u00a0 By its use we were taught to recognize and name all the stars of the first magnitude.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Discipline was strict at Rollins in those early days.\u00a0 All lights on the Campus were out at eleven PM., and no one was supposed to leave his room after that hour.\u00a0 One night I was out of bounds and caught my first sight of the beautiful constellation Leo, then not observable until after one or two AM.\u00a0 In the Astronomy class the next day I was about to express my joy of my first view of Leo, when I realized that to prevent discipline, I must needs curb my enthusiasm.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Frederick Lewton (far left) with his Astronomy class in 1890. <\/em>Professor Root is looking into the telescope.<\/em><\/p>\n

Neither tobacco nor liquor was allowed on the Campus, nor were cards permitted.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the teachers kept a ‘Demerit’ book, which I have found in the old records.\u00a0 Some of the causes for demerits noted in this book are:<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absence from class<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absence from chapel<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At railroad on Sunday<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Talking in class<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Out of room study periods<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Leaving campus at night<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Throwing water on beds<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Stealing oranges<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Smoking<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Profanity<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Playing cards<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dirty room<\/em><\/p>\n

A 16 year old Jacksonville boy who accumulated 67 demerits in his first 7 weeks, was sent home; also a Miami boy was dismissed since he picked up 39 demerits in his first month, mainly because he was found to have been out all night 5 times.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The <\/em>Book of Demerits and a sample record for a student who had been smoking, “out of his room,” and “swearing at Stetson game” (an infraction costing 5 demerits, which were later erased)<\/em>.\u00a0 In 1889, when Mr. Lewton attended Rollins, any student receiving 20 demerits during a term would be “removed from the school.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Rollins was one of the early co-educational colleges, but here the discipline was also strict.\u00a0 The boys and girls met in class rooms and at meals, but otherwise did not roam about the Campus.\u00a0 The boys could visit the girls’ dormitory on Friday evenings, and sit in the parlor, could also accompany the young ladies to church and then straight home again on Interlachen Avenue.\u00a0 While President Hooker was a strict disciplinarian he was a very kindly gentleman.\u00a0 He gave time and permission for lots of good fun.\u00a0 There were picnic parties to Wekiva Springs, boat trips on the lakes and through the run between Lakes Osceola and Maitland.\u00a0 Before the present canal was cut through it was quite an achievement to navigate a boat load of girls through the run with its many cypress knees and moccasin snakes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Frederick Lewton at the oars during a boating party on Lake Virginia in 1889.\u00a0 His sister, Ivy, is on the far right.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, when I see the comradeship of boys and girls on the Campus, holding hands or arm in arm, I think of the contrast with student life at Rollins 68 years ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

After leaving Rollins in 1890, Frederick Lewton had a varied career, working as a botanist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and later as the Curator of Textiles and Medicine at the U.S. National Museum.\u00a0 He received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Rollins in 1930, standing on stage beside another honorary degree recipient:\u00a0 Thomas Edison.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Frederick Lewton, 1930<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr. Lewton became the College’s part-time archivist in 1954.\u00a0 In a brief autobiography he wrote, “My student days in Rollins in its early period, and my youthful life in Florida give me a rich background of memories which I find most helpful in my present work for the college.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Frederick Lewton, from the 1958 Tomokan yearbook<\/em><\/p>\n

He served as the College archivist until his death in 1959.\u00a0 Mrs. Lewton later wrote fondly about her husband’s work in the Archives, saying, “He enjoyed it so much as he loved Rollins.”<\/p>\n

To read more about Mr. Lewton, please visit our Golden Personalities page at http:\/\/asp3.rollins.edu\/olin\/oldsite\/archives\/golden\/Lewton.htm<\/a> .<\/p>\n

~ by D. Moore, Archival Specialist<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Rollins students and faculty at Lakeside Cottage, 1889-1890 Frederick Lewton (pictured above, next to the young man with the oars) was one of the College’s first students, enrolling in the fall of 1886.\u00a0 In 1954, during a program celebrating the founding of Rollins, he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":375595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22,73,74,120,131,154,173,186,190,255,270,272,276,277],"class_list":["post-1092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-astronomy","tag-demerit","tag-demerits","tag-frederick-lewton","tag-george-r-lyman","tag-henry-huntington","tag-ivy-lewton","tag-knowles-hall","tag-lakeside-cottage","tag-pinehurst","tag-prof-annie-morton","tag-prof-eva-j-root","tag-prof-john-h-ford","tag-prof-nathan-barrows","wpcat-1-id"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378209,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions\/378209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/libraryarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}