Class Year

2012

Files

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Document Type

Student Research Paper

Publication Date

Spring 2010

Description

At Gettysburg College, any student who strolls through Pennsylvania Hall, Musselman Library, and the College Union Building cannot help but notice the colorful retro-style posters highlighting the accomplished alumni of this historical institution. Some students dream and joke of being included among these men and women, a television star, a children’s author, and a Civil Rights activist among them. Sadly, for every pop culture icon and Nobel Prize winner, there are those who go unnoticed. Pictures of founders and theologians such as Samuel Simon Schmucker and Henry Baugher remain, but there could not be more of a general disinterest in their accomplishments or their lives. Since the mid-twentieth century, the Lutheran enrollment at Gettysburg has steadily withered, and people identified with denominations, sects, and religions (or none at all) have arrived to take their place. The founders are no longer honored as good Christian men, just some guys who wanted to build a liberal arts college in “the middle of nowhere,” Pennsylvania, and very few people know even that much. Is there one place on campus where the Lutheran heritage endures? That is the question on my mind as I walk up the steps, passed the pillars, and through the doors of Christ Chapel. [excerpt]

Course Information:

  • Course Title: HIST 300: Historical Method
  • Academic Term: Spring 2010
  • Course Instructor: Dr. Michael J. Birkner '72

Hidden in Plain Sight is a collection of student papers on objects that are "hidden in plain sight" around the Gettysburg College campus. Topics range from the Glatfelter Hall gargoyles to the statue of Eisenhower and from historical markers to athletic accomplishments. You can download the paper in pdf format and click "View Photo" to see the image in greater detail.

Keywords

Gettysburg College, Hidden in Plain Sight, Christ Chapel, Christian missionaries, missionaries in India

Disciplines

Public History | United States History

Department 1

History

Campus Location

Christ Chapel

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COinS