Sweet Briar College in Black and White

Sweet Briar College in Virginia is my alma mater. Last Tuesday, the school announced its plans to close in August 2015. Alumnae were stunned by this news and currently are fighting the decision. Sweet Briar College will always be home to its graduates. Here are some images - in black and white - that depict life inside Sweet Briar's gates throughout the years:

Meta Glass, Third President of Sweet Briar College.

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“Wearers of the SB - These women won enough points in hiking, athletics, and Lake Day to wear their SB."
Photo from 1919 Briar Patch.
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Head of Riding.
Photo from 1925 Briar Patch.
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The reflecting pool outside the Mary Helen Cochran Library [Sweet Briar College] in 1945.

Photo: W. Huston Moores (June 8, 1945). 

Architect: Ralph Adams Cram.

Source.

"Sweet Briar House has been home to the presidents of the College since its founding in 1901. The former estate residence has been on the Virginia Landmarks Register since the 1970s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The original house was built in the late 18th century by Joseph Crews. Originally known as Locust Ridge, the structure was a two-story, six-room farmhouse of red brick. . . . 
Called 'Sweetbrier' for the abundance of wild roses on the property."
Text source: Sweet Briar College.
Photo from 1948 Briar Patch.  

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Mary Helen Cochran Library - Sweet Briar College.
Architect: Ralph Adams Cram.
"Students Wearing Shorts for the First Time in Front of the Library, 1953
[written on back in pen]: 'When Bermudas were first worn!' ”
Source.

The steps outside Benedict, an academic building on campus of Sweet Briar College.

Architect: Ralph Adams Cram.
Photo appeared in 1954 edition of the Briar Patch.

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"Looking at Reid [my dormitory freshman year] from across the Upper Quad." 
Sweet Briar College.
Photo from 1954 Briar Patch.

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"Students enjoyed a sunny day at the [Sweet Briar College] Boathouse in 1956."

Photo and text via Facebook.

Formal dance in the Williams Gymnasium - Sweet Briar College.
Photo from 1957 Briar Patch.
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"Students, including Shanaz Anwar Ali from Pakistan, using the study carrels in the lower - level stacks in the Mary Helen Cochran Library, 1960."
Source.

Note the shopping bag from Miller and Rhoads - a beloved former department store in Virginia.
"Sweet Briar students disembark the bus, returning to campus from Lynchburg."
Photo from 1963 Briar Patch.
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"1968 - a professor"
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Sweet Briar College - the Junior Benches.
Photo from 1968 Briar Patch.

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"Talking with a boy on the steps of Reid [dormitory]."
Photo from 1968 Briar Patch.

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Orientation. 
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"1969 - student teaching"
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"Students wait at the Train Station" - Sweet Briar College.
Photo from 1970 Briar Patch.
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"Students walking between classes, currently outside Babcock" (1970).
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Sweet Briar College - “Welcome to Bedlam.”
Photo from 1973 Briar Patch.
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"Walking in the Benedict archway."
Photo from 1974 Sweet Briar College Alumnae Bulletin.
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Front gates of Sweet Briar College.
Photo from 1974 Alumnae Bulletin.
The gates have been moved to a different location on campus.
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1976 - Sweet Briar College bookstore.
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1978. I believe this is former art history professor Aileen Laing on the left.
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Mary Helen Cochran Library  - Sweet Briar College (1981).
Architect: Ralph Adams Cram.
Photo by David I. Abrams.
Source.

Sweet Briar used to make the best yogurt!
"1984 Alumnae Magazine - cows from the Sweet Briar Dairy." 

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On left - Colleen Bradley Bell, Class of 1989. Current U.S. Ambassador to Hungary.
Sweet Briar College - 1985.
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Lacrosse at Sweet Briar College, 1986.
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1986 - ANCR Champions, Sweet Briar College.
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Writer, producer, director Callie Khouri [Thelma and Louise; Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood] gave the commencement speech at Sweet Briar College on May 22, 1994.
Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images.
Source: "The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever," NPR.

1997 Dave Matthews Band concert on the Dell, Sweet Briar College.
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Poet, educator, civil rights activist Maya Angelou at Sweet Briar College.
Sweet Briar College Alumnae Magazine Spring 1999.

Astronaut Sally Ride - the first American woman in space - with former Sweet Briar President Muhlenfeld. 
Sweet Briar College Alumnae Magazine 2001.
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American feminist film critic and author Molly Haskell, Sweet Briar Class of 1961, spoke on campus in November 2013. In 1993, Ms. Haskell was named Sweet Briar's Distinguished Alumna.
Sweet Briar Magazine - Winter 2013.

"She who has earned the rose may bear it."

Image source: Sweet Briar College Alumnae Magazine 2002.

#SaveSweetBriar - http://savingsweetbriar.com/