Memories of 1920s Skidmore, the current exhibit in the Harris Lobby, features the scrapbook of Agnes Ritchie, Skidmore class of 1929. This unbound scrapbook was donated by her daughter Connie Talcott Smith, who is also a Skidmore graduate, from the class of 1963. The Department of Special Collections owns a number of alumni scrapbooks, and these first-hand depictions of life at Skidmore in years gone by are a perennial favorite of students and staff. Due to their format they are difficult to exhibit well, so when this scrapbook arrived without a binding we were delighted to be able to share it in the exhibit cases.

Agnes Ritchie’s arrival at Skidmore coincided with Skidmore’s first decade as a college, a time that is understandably unique to the school’s history. It was when Skidmore developed the foundations of its character as an institution, tried to find its bearings as a newly minted college, and struggled to survive financially. Some of the supporting materials in this exhibit will touch upon those issues, but of course they would hardly have been expected to be at the forefront of Agnes Ritchie’s mind as she arrived at Skidmore a young woman eager to explore and enjoy all that life has to offer at that stage of our lives. Please enjoy your time visiting with Agnes and Skidmore of the 1920s.

The exhibit will be on display through March 31, 2014. You may also peruse a digital "flip book" of Agnes' scrapbook online.