By Jennifer Shrader

Staff writer

LaGrange College will re-create a bit of history Tuesday when it moves into the Frank and Laura Lewis Library.

A campus “book brigade” will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. where students and invited guests will help move books to the new building from the old library, the William and Evelyn Banks Library.

The last book brigade, into Banks, was in 1963.

“The last move took less than a day and this process has taken several weeks, so you can see the library’s growth,” said Charlene Baxter, public and technical services librarian, who has been at the college for 32 years.

The new library, which will open in time for the college spring term, is named for longtime librarian Frank Lewis and his wife, Laura.

“I worked with Frank for a number of years,” Baxter said. “To move into a building that’s named for him and Laura is very special. We’re really passing the torch of learning.”

Library director Lauren Pinkerman plans a line from the current library, on the northeast corner of “the Hill,” to the new building near the southwest corner. Several items symbolizing technology, such as CDs, will be passed along with the books to symbolize the advances in technology since 1963.

About 75 students and alumni already have signed up to take part in the move, including Ted and Sharon Alford, who graduated from the college in 1965 and 1976, respectively. The couple participated in the first book brigade and Sharon Alford says the move represents an important part of their own history: it was one of their first dates.

“We were both in college and we’d just started dating,” she said. “We saw (Tuesday’s brigade) in the paper and wanted to carry on the tradition.”

The Alfords have been married 45 years and their sons, Matt Alford and Terry Alford, as well as other family members, also are college alumni.

Sharon Alford and her husband both are retired educators, but she admits the college’s dismissal of classes for the day in 1963 was one of the biggest reasons they took part in the move.

“We moved every book, a few at a time, by hand,” she recalled. “Afterward we all took a break on the grass and had fellowship. We had a sing-along. Back then, they called it a hootenanny.”

Notes from the 1963 move show it was planned almost to the last detail.

“It is hoped that, if everyone cooperates, the work may be finished by noon or early afternoon,” instructions from that time note.

The moving day began with an assembly and remarks from then-college President Waights G. Henry.

It appears that participation in the first move was mandatory, with some notable exceptions.

“Married women, students who commute from out of town and those who take less than 10 hours of work will be excused from participation in the move if they turn their names in at the desk of the old library …,” the original instructions state. “Any such students, however, who would like to help will be welcomed.”

The first move even had a dress code:

“Sports clothes (as defined in the [Student Government Association] handbook) may be worn to the assembly.”

And according to published reports, students not only had a sing-along after the move, but were entertained during the process by “two of the college’s most talented guitarists, Robert Whelchel of Chickamauga and George Timmons of Altanta.”

“They strolled along the ‘line’ between library buildings and played folk songs and college ditties,” a published report stated.

Tuesday’s book brigade will end with an assembly inside the new library with remarks from current President Stuart Gulley and Aaron Hill, Student Government Association president.

The library eventually will be the connection point between the main campus at Vernon and Broad streets and the south campus on Forrest Avenue. A pedestrian bridge at the library over Vernon Street will be named for Gulley and his wife, Kathleen.

“We hope (with the bridge) the library will become the heart and center of campus, like any library should be,” Baxter said.

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.