53. OGLETHORPE UNIVERSITY, 

on Peachtree Rd. about 12 miles north of downtown Atlanta, is a coeducational institution which offers courses leading to the degrees of B.A., B.S., and M.A. Experimental work in courses other than those usually included in a standard liberal arts curriculum has earned for the school the title "The Unique University." The enrollment for the year 1939-40 was about 600, and the faculty numbered 35.

The extensive campus of the university covers more than 600 acres of meadow and woodland, including 80-acre Phoebe Lake, which is used by the students for swimming, boating, and fishing. On the well-landscaped quadrangle near the entrance are grouped the three main buildings, the Administration Building, Lupton Hall, and Lowry Hall, all constructed of Georgia blue granite and white limestone in a Gothic style. In the tower of Lupton Hall are an illuminated clock and chimes on which concerts are given. Lowry Hall is a copy of old Corpus Christi College at Oxford, England, the alma mater of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia. Hermance Stadium, not yet completed, is also being constructed of blue granite, trimmed with carved limestone. The finished section seats about 5,000, only one-ninth of the total seating capacity planned.

A complete radio broadcasting station, WJTL, was installed and began operation at Oglethorpe on May 24, 1931, for the purpose of offering college courses to people who were unable to attend classes on the campus. The expense of offering free lecture courses, however, proved to be too great, and the station was sold in 1935 to a private commercial organization which operates it as WATL in downtown Atlanta.

The Oglethorpe University Press owns a printing shop equipped with a Babcock optimus press, linotype machine, and two job presses, which are operated entirely by student labor. Besides college publications, the press has published novels and volumes of poetry.

A medical school was opened October 1, 1941, and now has a freshman class of about 75 students instructed by eight full-time faculty members. Plans have been made to add more advanced work as the present class proceeds and additional students are enrolled.

Oglethorpe University traces its history back to 1823, when at a meeting of the Hopewell Presbytery a movement was begun to found a manual training school. In 1835 this school became Oglethorpe College, and a handsome building was erected for it on the outskirts of Milledgeville, then the capital of the State. Among the distinguished men who served on the faculty of the old college were Joseph LeConte, a noted geologist, James Woodrow, a brilliant scientist, and Samuel K. Talmage, an able minister and teacher. Its most famous graduate was the poet Sidney Lanier, who received his degree in 1860 and acted as tutor until the following spring, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army with the Oglethorpe cadets. In 1862 the college was closed and its buildings were used as barracks and a hospital until they were destroyed by fire during the Federal occupation of Milledgeville.

Although Oglethorpe's endowment had been lost with the failure of Confederate bonds, an effort was made in 1870 to reopen the college in Atlanta, but after a few sessions it was forced to close again for lack of funds. It was not until 1912 that a movement was begun for the present institution by Thornwell Jacobs, who toured the South lecturing to raise funds for the enterprise. The charter was granted in May 1913, and Jacobs was named president of Oglethorpe on January 21, 1915, when the cornerstone of the first building was laid. Classes met the following fall.

The Crypt of Civilization is a vault beneath the Administration Building containing records and materials of twentieth-century civilization collected and stored with the hope of preserving them intact for 6,000 years. Four years were spent in assembling and preparing the articles, which were treated in accordance with the methods of preservation recommended by the United States Bureau of Standards. Included in the collection are hundreds of books transferred to microfilm, recorded music and speeches, motion picture films, a projector, a phonograph, a typewriter, a radio, an electric generator, a sewing machine, and a microphone, as well as miniature models of mechanical inventions and numerous articles of every-day use.

The crypt is 20 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 10 feet high, built upon a ledge of granite near the surface of the ground. The granite walls and ceilings are lined with vitreous porcelain enamel, and metal shelves hold the receptacles containing the various articles. The door to the chamber is of stainless steel.

On May 26, 1940 the vault was closed and the steel door welded into place. A complete description of the crypt, giving its exact location, has been translated into every known language and sent to libraries in every country in the world. The date fixed for the opening is the year 8113 A.D.

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