Creation of the High Point College & University Historical Timeline

In 2024, High Point University will celebrate a major milestone in its Centennial, marking 100 years since High Point College first opened its doors to students in September of 1924. But did you know this extraordinary institution was a second attempt at a Methodist college in this area? Although our predecessor, Yadkin College, ultimately failed, it laid the groundwork for a local Methodist college which was important to residents and church leaders of the day.

Three major advocates for High Point College—Reverend Joseph F. McCulloch who spent nearly a quarter-century planning and fundraising for the College, John C. Roberts who offered significant financial support, and Robert M. Andrews who entreated the conference to act and create the institution for which he was then voted first President—were instrumental in making it a reality.

From the early days of the rainy, muddy red clay opening of Roberts Hall, High Point College carried on the spirit of Yadkin but with greater resilience, going on to weather a century of hardship. The Great Depression bankrupted most of the country, the college being no exception, and World War II halted university operations by devastating enrollment for several years, yet High Point still managed to emerge strong, entering into a golden era which spanned many years of growth. High Point College became High Point University in 1991, and the growth and progress we have made since then, particularly under the leadership of Dr. Nido Qubein since he was asked to be President 2004, is nothing short of astounding.

The Centennial Timeline: A Journey Through HPU’s Past

Librarians at HPU Libraries have long maintained the University Archive, a climate-controlled room in the lower level of Smith Library where we preserve, organize, and digitize important documents and realia from the university’s past. In recent years we created a full-text searchable online presence for the digitized archive content using OCLC’s ContentDM platform.

For the Centennial, however, we wanted to communicate the rich history of the institution both visually and chronologically, creating an experience for users which immerses them in the major milestones of the university in a way that feels like a journey through time. To do so we undertook a major project in the creation of an interactive historical timeline showcasing key items in the archive while linking out to more detailed narrative content and primary source documents to tell a more complete story of our robust history.

Timeline Creation Process

Most of the work toward creating the Timeline was completed in summer of 2023. We first formed an informal Timeline Committee made up of six faculty and staff members from the Library and Office of Communications (see the end of this post for full credits). The first phase of the project involved selection of software. We tested several products, but it quickly became clear that ChronoFlo was best suited to our needs, not only for its impressive visual display of events, but for its flexibility for the end user.

Information Sources Used

Early in the project, decisions were made about how to organize the vast amounts of information, and how to determine which events were most pertinent to “qualify” to be included in the timeline. For guidance, we relied heavily on several published books on campus history—all of which are available for checkout or online reading:

• Country College on the Yadkin: A Historical Narrative by Virginia G. Fick, published 1984.
• A Brief History of The First Twenty-Five Years of High Point College by Dr. J. E. Pritchard, written 1953. References within timeline events to “First 25 Years” point to this book.
• No Easy Task: The First Fifty Years of High Point College by William R. Locke, published 1975. References within timeline events using the acronym “NET” point to this book.
• Remembered be thy Blessings: High Point University: The College Years 1924-1991 by Richard B. McCaslin, published 1995. References within timeline events using the acronym “RBTB” point to this book.
• High Point University: Our Faithful Transformation 2005-2020 by HPU Press, published 2021.

We also used narrative from major University publications like the Zenith Yearbooks and the Hi-Po student newspaper as well as blog posts based on archival research by HPU librarians. Most of the media came directly from these sources or from the University Archive.

Eras of the University’s History

We used the information from the books to further break the university’s history into nine “eras” which include the following:

• Yadkin College Years: 1850-1923
• Early College Years: 1924-1936
• World War II Years: 1937-1947
• College Years: 1948-1964
• Golden Decade: 1965-1975
• Later College Years: 1976-1990
• Birth of a University: 1991-2004
• Transformation: 2005-2023
• Centennial: 2024

The timeline was then populated with hundreds of events, each assigned categories and tags for easy navigation.

Timeline Access and Navigation Instructions

The Timeline is embedded below but you can also access the full-screen version here.

Use the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of the screen (or on your mouse) to progress through the timeline. You will see the eras changing as you scroll—with the years it covers listed at the top center, and the background image changing to reflect the era you are currently exploring. Click any event for more information and photos (you can then click into photos to see a detailed view). When viewing a detail panel you can use the arrows to navigate forwards and backwards chronologically, or close the panel to go back to the timeline home screen.

Alternate views, including a full-screen list and pinboard, can be accessed via icons at the top right. The vertical scroll bar at the right side of the screen will take you down to a mobile-friendly list view.

Searching & Filtering

The search icon at the bottom right of the home screen allows you to zoom in and out and fine tune the timeline to display best on your browser. You can also do a keyword search there and/or filter by main categories. Some panels include video or audio files as well as links out to blog posts and archival content.

Each entry has a main “category” assigned, supplemented by “tags.” The major categories include: academics, athletics, faculty, buildings, programming, publications, student life, historical events (for context), campus growth, access to innovators, events, presidents, and graduation. Tags allowed us to further differentiate entries by their impact in relevant areas. Both categories and tags appear at the top of each panel. You can click either a category or tag to filter the timeline to only show related events.

Our hope is that our work on the timeline will make the history of High Point College and University more accessible for the campus community and beyond for years to come.

-Blog post by Leanne Jernigan, Head of Technical Services, HPU Libraries

Credits and Acknowledgments

Staff members from the Library and Communication departments contributed to the creation of the timeline:

-David Bryden, Director of Library Services, leveraged his extensive knowledge of university history to lead the creation of the timeline. David’s father was a biology professor at High Point College, and his own career at HPU Libraries has spanned 30 years. He concentrated on the Yadkin Years, Early College Years, Golden Era, and Birth of the University.

-Jeri Rowe, Senior Writer, Office of Communications, took on the “Transformation” years, developing the content from the many accomplishments of Dr. Qubein’s leadership.

-Woody Gibson, who spent 38 years at High Point University as a faculty member, soccer coach, golf coach, sports media director, and Director of Athletics, supplied the much of the historical information for the “athletics” category.

-Sarah Taylor, Technical Services and Archives Librarian, contributed valuable primary source research from the University Archives, added most of the events to the timeline and made sure they were assigned appropriate categories and tags.

-Leanne Jernigan, Head of Technical Services, lead the selection of technology and helped with the layout, design, and editing of the timeline. She also developed the “World War II Years” era of the timeline.

-Robert Fitzgerald, Interlibrary Loan Librarian, served on the Timeline Committee, giving feedback on design and historical context.

-Christina Cavanaugh, Print Shop Manager, optimized the resolution of the timeline images and videos.

-Elaina Huffman, Senior Director of Branding and Special Projects, Office of Communications, served on the Timeline Committee, giving valuable feedback throughout the process.