Gabby Nettles began her meteoric rise with LMC after stopping into the West & Fondren property in Houston, TX. After years of serving customers in a call center, she was seeking a more personal approach to customer interaction. So when she saw a beautiful new LMC property was looking for incredible team members, she knew it was meant to be.
In her two short years with LMC, this leasing juggernaut has been recognized for excellence multiple times, including making the President's Club twice in a row. She also was named 2017 Leasing Superstar, and was a 3-time Top Performer in Q3 and Q4 in 2017 and Q2 in 2018. We are incredibly lucky to have hardworking, caring team members like Gabby who have a passion for their residents and their fellow employees. Let's hear from Gabby a little bit about her experience and what she loves most about working for LMC!
What is your official title and job description?
In August 2016, I started as a Leasing Professional and within 18 months I was promoted to Leasing Manager. In my current position I work closely with our newest LP's to motivate and teach how to close leases, market and promote the Community the LMC way.
What is your LMC story (how did you land at LMC)?
After a long drive in traffic in the Westchase district, I stopped at the corner of Westheimer and Fondren where I saw a beautiful property under construction with a sign that said " Join a stellar team". After sending my Leasing Superstar resume to Lucy Simon, Simmons, Simmone and Simone, finally I received an e-mail from Lucy Simone inviting me to interview. I then met the newest members of what I would later refer to as my family. The interview was nothing like I had ever experienced where I was asked questions like "What makes you happy" and "What goals are you trying to achieve", we laughed and even got to know more about each other. I knew at that point I had LMC and they had me.
Tell us your favorite thing about working at LMC?
The LMC hugs! I feel like everyone that works for this company is a long lost cousin that has been looking for me. I have never been more excited to come to work!
What's your favorite LMC Core Value?
What are you most looking forward to in LMC's future?
I have so much potential to grow with LMC. I would love to move forward and continue to teach and motivate other LMC team members all the things that I have learned in my career. It makes me tickled, delighted, and happy of just the thought of my future with LMC!
LMC is a very special place to work, largely because of the special people who work here. Our company culture is infused with spirit, enthusiasm, passion, and vitality. Thank you for being an amazing example of that, Gabby!


Travel guide publisher Moon Handbooks is giving away free ebook copies of its newest niche guidebook, Volunteer Vacations in Latin America by Amy E. Robertson. (Download the entire book at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Kobo.) It's all in celebration of In honor of April, National Volunteer Month.
As anyone who has ever volunteered abroad before knows, it is crucial to do your own research before you sign up. Robertson's new book is a resource which makes that process easier – and more fun, since it is always fun to read guidebooks before you travel.
My travels in Latin America began in 1998 as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer, working with the Ministry of Education in Nicaragua for two years, and continued as a trip leader for American Jewish World Service, guiding groups of young volunteers throughout Central America. So I was excited to see that Robertson had devoted an entire book to volunteer opportunities in the region. She covers Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.
I asked Robertson a few questions about writing this book and about where my readers and I should go on our next volunteer vacation.
JOSHUA BERMAN: What is unique about volunteering in Latin America? Why did you choose to focus this book on this particular region/collection of countries?
AMY E. ROBERTSON: I love Latin America's rich culture and heritage (Mayans! Incas! Aztecs!), the beauty of its natural environment (Beaches! Volcanoes! Galapagos Islands! Patagonia!), and the warmth of its people. Having lived in Latin America for eight years, it is a region that is very close to my heart. It is also close enough to North America – where Moon Handbooks and many of their readers are based – to easily embark on short-term volunteer adventures, which are the focus of the guide. No jet-lag, and you can reach many of the destinations covered in the guide with just a few hours flight.
JB: What was the most interesting thing you learned while researching this book?
AR: While many of us are aware of the large US-based organizations that offer service trips, I was amazed to see how many small local initiatives are equipped and eager for international volunteers. In addition to the usual volunteer suspects of teaching English or protecting sea turtles, there is a wealth of truly unique volunteer opportunities out there: planting cardons to help provide food for the endangered chinchilla population in Chile; installing solar panels to provide electricity to rural communities in Nicaragua; monitoring the coral reef by scuba diving in Honduras; offering swimming and surf lessons along with environmental education to youth in Peru.
JB:What/where are the best programs for high school Spanish students looking for something to do during the summer?
AR: There are language schools throughout Latin America which combine language study with volunteering, and most start with a minimum one-week commitment. A typical program involves Spanish lessons in the morning, and volunteering in the afternoon.
Many non-profits can also connect their volunteers with Spanish lessons, either at a language school or with private tutors. In Volunteer Vacations in Latin America, I've noted when organizations offer or can arrange language lessons.
Volunteers coming alone usually need to be 18 or older, but many organizations welcome both families and student groups. To make the most of the experience, would-be volunteers should look for placements which include lots of interaction in Spanish with locals (working with people rather than wildlife can be an advantage here), and choose a homestay for their accommodation, to maximize their exposure to the language (and culture!).
JB: What volunteer opportunities did you find in the Maya region? Any particular ones you recommend?
· Long Way Home, an organization in the Kaqchikel Maya town of San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala that focuses on construction with sustainable design and appropriate materials, and environmental stewardship.
· Mayan Families which supports indigenous and impoverished Guatemalans with a variety of development programs near Lake Atitlan.
· Trama Textiles which supports 17 weaving cooperatives in the Guatemalan Highlands.
· Guacamaya, a language school by the Mayan ruins of Copán in Honduras, whose volunteer opportunities include helping out at an elementary school that serves the local Chortí Maya population.
Two international organizations which operate programs in Mayan regions of Guatemala are A Broader View and International Volunteer HQ.
JB: What's the most important thing to study/remember/know before departing on a volunteer vacation in Latin America (besides your book)?
Study – as much of the local language as you can before you go. Even the basic pleasantries will enhance your trip, and the more you know, the more you will be able to get out of the experience.
Remember – it isn't about handouts or patronage – your service is about working in solidarity with project organizers and beneficiaries for a better future.
— Joshua Berman is a freelance writer, Denver Post columnist, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. He is based in Boulder, Colorado. All photos by Joshua Berman, taken during AJWS Alternative Break trips to Mexico, El Salvador, and Honduras.
— Amy E. Robertson is a travel writer and author of several guidebooks for Moon Handbooks. Her work has also been published in Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveler and Budget Travel, among others. She has a background in international development and nonprofit management, has worked in both private and nonprofit sectors, and has served as an international volunteer in Bolivia, Ecuador and Honduras. Her latest book, Volunteer Vacations in Latin America, is available through your favorite bookseller, and the e-version can be downloaded free from moon.com during the month of April.


text:
Q: Transforming text to uppercase I've found an example of a transform stream here that transforms text to uppercase:
Upper.prototype._transform = function (chunk, enc, cb) {
  var upperChunk = chunk.toString().toUpperCase();
  this.push(upperChunk);
  cb();
};

Is my understanding correct that such approach might lead to errors when multi-byte encoding is used because a character bytes can be split between two chunks?
Wouldn't it be better to gather all chunks and then on end transform them? Something like this (not sure it'll work)
var body = [];
request.on('data', function(chunk) {
  body.push(chunk);
}).on('end', function() {
  this.push(Buffer.concat(body).toString());
});

Is transform function not used in this case?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Doctor Who: The Massacre
Jun. 4th, 2006 at 8:29 AM
I was intrigued by this story after the positive write-up given it by Cornell, Day and Topping in The Discontinuity Guide. Although the film of this Hartnell story is lost, I managed to get hold of a fan "reproduction", with black and white pictures of scenes from the programme montaged against the original sound-track. I watched it late last night, and was not wildly impressed. But this may have been due to just being too tired to take it in properly - I went back to a couple of key scenes this morning to check points for this review and suddenly found myself being drawn into it much more.
Is this the only Doctor Who story featuring just the Doctor and a single, male, companion? Indeed the Doctor himself features only in one and a half episodes out of four, with William Hartnell credited as the Abbot of Amboise in the middle two episodes, though of course Steven (and the audience) are unsure about whether he is really the Doctor in disguise. Peter Purves really has to carry the entire story until half way through the last episode, and is just about up to it.
In some ways it's actually the basic Doctor Who plot - Tardis arrives in the midst of fiendish political plotting, our heroes make friends with one of the locals and have to sort out the goodies from the baddies. The interesting wrinkles are that the setting is not an alien planet but an obscure corner of French history, the 1572 massacre of the Huguenots, and that the baddies win. Looking at its place in the original broadcast sequence, it came immediately after The Dalek Master Plan in which not one but two companions were killed off, so fitted into a bleak rather than comic phase.
But it really does come alive in the fourth and final episode, when the Doctor reappears without deigning to explain where he has been. He and Steven actually leave Paris with ten minutes of story yet to go, leaving time for them to have a row, Steven to walk out of the Tardis in disgust, Dodo Chaplet to walk into it by mistake, and then Steven to return. In his brief moment on his own, the Doctor delivers a soliloquy which sounds much much better than it looks in script:
Steven: I tell you this much, Doctor, wherever this machine of yours lands next I'm getting off. If your researches have so little regard for human life then I want no part.
Doctor: We've landed. Your mind is made up?
(The TARDIS doors open.)
Steven: Goodbye.
Doctor: My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're all too small to realise its final pattern. Therefore, don't try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe.
(Steven walks out of the Tardis.)
Doctor: Even after all this time, he cannot understand. I dare not change the course of history. Well, at least I taught him to take some precautions. He did remember to look at the scanner before he opened the doors.
Now they're all gone. All gone.
None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan, or Vicki. Yes. And there's Barbara and Chatterton... Chesterton! They were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now Steven.
Perhaps I should go home, back to my own planet. But I can't. I can't.
Anyway, we've been watching The Dalek Invasion of Earth as well, and loving it. More on that in due course.
doctor who,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Ashly Audio Appoints Rep Firm Frequency Sales
Ashly Audio has named Frequency Sales as its manufacturer's rep in Chicago, Milwaukee, and the surrounding regions of northern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin.
Gene Williams
Frequency Sales will represent Ashly's full catalog of products, which includes amplifiers with on-board processing, stand-alone Protea-based processors, and customizable interfaces, including intuitive fader-style controls and iPad apps. Frequency Sales specializes in live sound, studio and project studio recording, and installed sound.
"In sales, everyone knows that developing strong client relationships is key, and the folks at Frequency Sales really distinguish themselves in that regard," said John Sexton, Ashly's director of sales for North America. "In the research that led to our decision to partner with them, Frequency Sales clients consistently praised how committed the staff members were to meeting their needs. We're happy Ashly's customers will receive that same level of service in and around Chicago."
Added Gene Williams, president of Frequency Sales, "Although we are focused on understanding technology and how it can help solve our clients' problems, our strengths go well beyond that to considering the context in which the technology will be working, figuring out the best way to design and implement solutions, and training integrators and end users. Ashly Audio has the best technical solutions in the industry, and their client-centered philosophy is perfectly aligned with ours. It's a great fit, and we look forward to growing the Ashly user base in our territory."
BrightSign Extends Series 5 Player Family with New Models—Facts and Features
Here's How ClearOne Clarifies Audio Capabilities in Videoconferencing Spaces
Here's What to Know about Sony's Four New Crystal LED Displays
Genelec to Unveil Ceiling, Pendant Mounting Smart IP Loudspeakers


text:
Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives
Spotlight (on Books)
Contact Special Collections and University Archives
Tag: vpi
March 14, 2019 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema African American History, Music, University History
A Mystery Banjo and the Racism in Our Past
Recently, I've been working on identifying artifacts and university memorabilia in our collections, and I came across a beautiful, four-stringed tenor banjo and its case. I did not anticipate that an item so innocuous as a musical instrument would lead down a path into learning about the university's racist past, including minstrelsy and blackface.
To start, I could find no information about the banjo's former owner, so I investigated the banjo and case themselves for clues. Handwritten on the banjo head is "The Collegians, VPI, Blacksburg, VA.", and the peghead identifies it as a Bruno banjo. Handwritten on the banjo's case are the initials, "L.A.H."
Collegians banjo, c1924
"The Collegians, VPI, Blacksburg, VA", banjo head, c1924
Banjo peghead, c1924
Banjo case, c1924
L.A.H. initials on banjo case, c1924
Searching through names related to our collections, I found the Lewis A. Hall Papers, Ms1983-009, very promising given his initials and his connection to Virginia Tech. Looking thru the collection, my excitement rose almost immediately when I found a reference to the Collegians – the band the banjo is advertising – in the printed items. Then I opened the folders of photographs and found a beautiful picture of the Collegians themselves, with one man holding this very banjo! A portrait in the collection is of Hall, and it's clear he's the same man holding the banjo.
The Collegians letterhead, c1924, Lewis A. Hall Papers, Ms1983-009
Photo of the Collegians, 1923-1924, Lewis A. Hall Papers, Ms1983-009 – from left: Robert B. Skinner (drummer); J.B. Cole (trombone); Arthur Scrivenor Jr. (piano); Lewis A. Hall (banjo, manager, and director); H. Gaines Goodwin (saxophone); Bill Harmon (saxophone); and S.C. Wilson (trumpet, not pictured)
Portrait of Lewis A. Hall, Lewis A. Hall Papers, Ms1983-009
Interested in finding out who else is in the photo, I pulled the Collegians folder in the Historical Photographs Collection. I found a copy of the same photo, dated 1923-1924, identifying the musicians from left: Robert B. Skinner (drummer); J.B. "Yash" Cole (trombone); Arthur Scrivenor Jr. (piano); Lewis A. Hall (banjo, manager, and director); H. Gaines Goodwin (saxophone); Bill Harmon (saxophone); and S.C. Wilson (trumpet, not pictured). This picture is also used in the 1924 Bugle yearbook.
Collegians photo, 1923-1924, Historical Photographs Collection
Back of Collegians photo, 1923-1924, Historical Photographs Collection
There were two other pictures in the folder of Hall and the Collegians, dated 1922-1923, from left: L.A. "Lukie" Hall (tenor banjo); J.B. Cole (trumbone); R.S. "Bob" Skinner (traps); W. "Bass" Perkins (clarinet, violin, leader); Tom S. Rice (piano); W.D. "Willie" Harmon (saxophone); F.R. "Piggy" Hogg (saxophone, traps, manager); and S.C. "Stanley" Wilson (trumpet, not pictured).
Collegians photo #1, 1922-1923, Historical Photographs Collection
Collegians photo #2, 1922-1923, Historical Photographs Collection, from left: L.A. Lukie Hall (tenor banjo); J.B. Cole (trumbone); R.S. Bob Skinner (traps); W. Bass Perkins (clarinet, violin, leader); Tom S. Rice (piano); W.D. Willie Harmon (saxophone); F.R. Piggy Hogg (saxophone, traps, manager); and S.C. Stanley Wilson (trumpet, not pictured).
Collegians photo #2, 1922-1923 (back), Historical Photographs Collection
After discovering the owner's name, I wanted to know a bit more about both Hall and the Collegians. To the latter first – A dance orchestra at VPI formed in 1918 as the Southern Syncopating Saxophone Six. They were later renamed Virginia Tech Jazz Orchestra and known as the College Six. In 1922, they became the Collegians, and in 1931, they finally became the Southern Colonels. Today, the jazz band continues to perform, as part of the Corps of Cadets Regimental Band, the Highty-Tighties.
Second, Lewis Augustus Hall was born Lewis Augustus Hall in 1903 in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended VPI from 1920 to 1924. In addition to playing for the Collegians (also called the Tech Orchestra), he was a member of the Norfolk Club, Cotillion Club, Tennis Squad, the American Society of Mechanical Engineering, and the Virginia Tech Minstrels (more on this below). He also served as athletic editor for The Virginia Tech, the predecessor of the Collegiate Times, assistant manager of basketball, and manager of the freshman basketball team. Finally, he rose thru the ranks of the Corps of Cadets, graduating as Lieutenant of Company F. In 1924, he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. Upon graduation, Hall joined the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, retiring as assistant vice-president in 1968. He married and with his wife Virginia had two sons. Hall maintained a connection to Virginia Tech, serving on the board of directors for the Virginia Tech Alumni Association for 15 years and earning the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1977. He died in 1982.
As mentioned above, Hall performed in the student club, the Virginia Tech Minstrels. I've heard of minstrel shows before and knew that students at Virginia Tech had held them. But this was my first time coming across them inadvertently, so it was a shock to learn that the owner of this banjo was a member of a minstrelsy.
If you aren't aware, minstrel shows in the United States were a performance typically including skits, jokes, and music – predominantly performed by white people in blackface as a spoof, full of stereotypes and racist depictions, of Black people and their cultures. The 1924 Bugle (pp. 346-347) discusses the group and even depicts members in blackface. The Collegians are also listed as the group's orchestra and a photo of the group includes Hall holding the banjo.
Hall's and the Collegian's involvement in minstrelsy shows that even an item as seemingly innocuous as a musical instrument can shed light on a part of our history that we – especially those of us in positions of privilege – do not always acknowledge. Yet, minstrel shows at Virginia Tech continued well into the 1960s, and this form of racism (and others) continues in America into the present day.
After Hollins College recently addressed controversy of blackface depictions in their yearbooks, Virginia Tech released the University Statement on Offensive Photographs to address the racist imagery in our past. Also, the University Libraries prepared a statement for our digital yearbook repositories to affirm our commitment to the Principles of Community and providing historical documentation to researchers.
My research about a mystery banjo took me down a path I could not imagine. I was at first excited to discover the owner's identity, then horrified to learn about his and the instrument's connection to racist entertainment. But in the end, the journey led me to learn more about this form of racism and how its legacy continues to impact American society. As the University statement says, "The history of our nation and the Commonwealth of Virginia has a common storyline starting with slavery and segregation, and moving toward our ultimate goal of treating everyone with respect and cherishing the strength that comes from diversity of identities and lived experiences. We, as a society, are somewhere in the middle of this process."
For more information about blackface and minstrelsy, please read "Blackface: The Birth of an American Stereotype" from the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture blog, A People's Journey, A Nation's Story, as well as Vox's interview with author John Strausbaugh, "The complicated, always racist history of blackface" by Sean Illing.
(This post was edited May 22, 2019, with additional information about blackface and minstrelsy, the statements on offensive imagery in the Bugle yearbooks, and a revised title.)
January 19, 2017 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema Local/Regional History, University History
Presidential Inaugurations and Virginia Tech
Well, tomorrow is the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, so I decided to scour our collections for items pertaining to presidents. At Special Collections you can find all sorts of material related to presidents – presidents of the U.S., presidents of organizations and businesses, and, of course, presidents of Virginia Tech. If you search our blog and our finding aids, you'll find all sorts of posts and collections referencing all these presidential types. But I'd like to highlight items related to the presidential inaugurations of the U.S. and VT presidents that we maintain.
United States Presidential Inaugurations
The Highty-Tighties, Virginia Tech's very own Corps of Cadets band, has performed for numerous U.S. presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt at an exposition in 1902 and in the pre-inauguration celebrations for Barack Obama's first term in 2009. They have also gained national recognition through their performances at twelve inaugural parades, starting with Woodrow Wilson's second inauguration in 1917 and ending with George W. Bush's second in 2005. The band was also invited to play at William Howard Taft's inauguration in 1909, which they were unable to attend, according to letters in Pres. Paul B. Barringer's records, RG 2/6. During the mid-20th century, these parades doubled as band competitions, and the Highty-Tighties won first prize three years consecutively in 1953, 1957, and 1961, the last year of the inaugural parade competition. Special Collections has photographs and other items related to the Highty-Tighties at a few of the parades in the Historical Photograph Collection.
Highty-Tighties at Pres. Woodrow Wilson's 1917 inauguration
Highty-Tighties in front of Pres. John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy at the 1961 inauguration
Highty-Tighties at Pres. Richard Nixon's 1969 inauguration
Letter regarding Highty-Tighties' first prize win in Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1957 inauguration parade
Special Collections also holds invitations to several U.S. presidential inaugurations in our manuscript collections. We also have materials related to the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's 1861 inauguration and a tintype from Abraham Lincoln's 1864 re-election campaign. Below are inaugural invitations and programs for Zachary Taylor in 1849 from the Robert Taylor Preston Papers, Ms1992-003; Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 in the John Henry Johnson Scrapbook, Ms2009-053; and Richard M. Nixon in 1969 in the Earl D. Gregory Collection, Ms1972-004.
Zachary Taylor 1849 inauguration invitation from Robert Preston Papers, Ms1992-003
Invitation to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 inauguration, p. 1, in the John Henry Johnson Scrapbook, Ms2009-053
Program of Pres. Richard M. Nixon's 1969 presidential inauguration, specifically for Congressional Medal of Honor winners, from the Earl D. Gregory Collection, Ms1972-004
Insert from program of Pres. Richard M. Nixon's 1969 presidential inauguration, specifically for Congressional Medal of Honor winners, from the Earl D. Gregory Collection, Ms1972-004
Here are items from the press packet for the inauguration of Harry S Truman in 1949 in the Evert B. Clark Papers, Ms1989-022:
Invitation for Pres. Harry S Truman's 1949 presidential inauguration in press packet for Evert B. Clark
Program for Pres. Harry S Truman's 1949 presidential inauguration in press packet for Evert B. Clark
Ticket for Pres. Harry S Truman's 1949 presidential inauguration in press packet for Evert B. Clark
Front of press pass for Pres. Harry S Truman's 1949 presidential inauguration in press packet for Evert B. Clark
Back of press pass for Pres. Harry S Truman's 1949 presidential inauguration in press packet for Evert B. Clark
Virginia Tech Presidential Installations
Being the repository for the University Archives, Special Collections, of course, maintains items related to the inaugurations or installations of the university presidents. For example, we have a video of James D. McComas' inauguration in 1988 as 13th president of Virginia Tech. Several of the records of the presidents have files related to their inauguration ceremonies, including Walter Newman in RG 2/10, Boxes 2-3; T. Marshall Hahn in RG 2/11, Box 97; and William E. Lavery in RG 2/12, Boxes 1-2. Additionally, items related to the installation ceremonies are located in the Record Group Vertical Files and the University Libraries library catalog.
Program for Pres. Walter S. Newman's 1949 presidential inauguration at Virginia Tech
Program for Pres. T. Marshall Hahn's 1963 presidential inauguration at Virginia Tech
Program for Pres. William E. Lavery's 1975 presidential inauguration at Virginia Tech
Program for Pres. Charles W. Steger's 2000 presidential installation at Virginia Tech
Announcement for Pres. Timothy Sands' 2014 installation at Virginia Tech, page 1
February 25, 2016 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema African American History, University History
The Man, the Myth, the Mascot: Floyd H. Meade, Virginia Tech's First Mascot Performer
Floyd "Hardtimes" Meade with his trained turkey at a 1921 football game
Floyd "Hardtimes" Meade. Many of you Hokie fans may know that name. We've mentioned him on this blog before in "Thanksgiving traditions at Virginia Tech" and "When Orange Became The New Black (and Maroon the New Gray)". He's best remembered as the university's first mascot performer, who dressed up as a clown in orange and maroon, and as the man who introduced the turkey to football games, influencing the HokieBird mascot.
But of course, Floyd Meade was more than that. People who knew the man recalled his activities at Virginia Tech to Col. Harry Temple, who wrote the epic history of Virginia Tech, The Bugle's Echo (see also Harry Downing Temple Papers, Ms1988-039). But little about Meade's family life has been discussed until now, thanks to the proliferation of genealogy websites, a search through digitized census, military, and vital records online reveals some important details about him and his family.
Floyd Hobson Meade (also Mead) was born October 2, 1882, in Blacksburg to Denie (also Dina) Meade. His father may have been either William Meade (on his marriage certificate) or Joe Dill (on his death certificate). Floyd also had a brother Emmett (b. 1880), sister Octavia (b. May 1885), and probably another brother named Alex (1887-1896). Emmett also worked at Virginia Tech, in the Mess Hall as a waiter and later the Machine Shop as a machinist.
According to Temple, Meade briefly lived with the family of Cadet N. W. Thomas, who brought him to campus in 1889. The students loved him, and after that, Meade started advertising the school's athletic games. By 1896, he traveled with the football team on their trips as a mascot in the orange and maroon clown costume. (Temple, pp. 254-255) At this time, he also began working at the college in the Mess Hall (Temple, p. 448).
The 1899 Bugle shows a collage of College Characters
Floyd Hard Times Meade, from the 1899 Bugle.
In 1913, Floyd started bringing live turkeys to football games, inspired by the team's informal nickname the Gobblers. He trained the birds to pull carts, walk on a leash, and flap their wings and gobble on command. Temple even recounts after a victorious Thanksgiving Day game against V.M.I., that the rotund turkey was cooked and served in the Mess Hall! Meade also played music for himself and for the cadets – Temple states he was a regular one-man-band playing a guitar, bass drum, and harmonica all at once (p. 3115-3116).
Floyd Meade, 1921. Notice carefully the two-toned color of his outfit – probably maroon on the left and orange on the right!
On August 25, 1913, Floyd married Lucy M. Turner, daughter of Giles Turner and a cook in private service. Floyd and Lucy were both involved in the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America. In 1905, he joined Tadmore Light Lodge #6184, the Blacksburg chapter of the fraternal organization. We have the Blacksburg Odd Fellows Records, Ms1988-009, which includes a membership book with an entry for Meade. Minutes and attendance records list him as Past Noble Father (the highest degree or rank in the organization), and a number of other documents refer to Meade's service as secretary of the organization. Lucy Meade was a member of the Household of Ruth, the female auxiliary of the Odd Fellows. (Floyd's membership entry and other Odd Fellows items are on display through the end of February in our exhibit on the first floor of Newman!)
Odd Fellows Membership Book Entry for Floyd Meade, c. 1905
Odd Fellows and Household of Ruth dues book, includes Lucy Meade, 1919
Floyd's life wasn't always good though, and on April 24, 1929, Meade's mother Denie died at around the age of 72. In December, Floyd lost his job at Virginia Tech, according to Temple. So students took up a collection to help with his family's living expenses, and alumni wrote letters to try and change administrators' minds – to no avail. (Temple, p. 3846-3847) Then, tragedy struck once more, when Lucy died on June 28, 1931, around age 45 of heart disease.
Floyd continued to work as a cook or waiter in restaurants around town and even served as head waiter at the Lake Hotel in Mountain Lake. By 1940, he was working as a janitor in private service. The next year, Meade died on February 8, after a car accident.
Floyd Meade (seated) and unidentified man (possibly nephew Emmett Meade, Jr.)
In 2003, Meade's life provided the inspiration for Lucy Sweeney's musical Hard Times Blues, which was performed in Roanoke and at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg. After researching him myself, I hope hope HOPE there's a revival one day soon!
Update, Aug. 31, 2020: In 2019, Lucy Sweeney donated a copy of her play Hard Times Blues and files related to her research and the 2003 production. These are available in the Hard Times Blues Collection, Ms2019-038.
Blacksburg (Virginia) Odd Fellows Records, Ms1988-009, Special Collections
Biographical Vertical Files, Special Collections
Faculty/Staff Photograph Collection, Special Collections
Floyd Meade and Lucy Turner's marriage certificate, FamilySearch.org
Floyd Meade's draft card, FamilySearch.org
The Bugle's Echo by Col. Harry Temple, Special Collections
U.S. Census records for Floyd Meade and family in 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 (on FamilySearch.org) and 1940 (available on Ancestry.com)
U.S. Census records for Denie and Emmett Meade in 1880, FamilySearch.org
Death certificates for Denie, Floyd, and Lucy Meade (available on Ancestry.com)
Alex Meade's death certificate, FamilySearch.org
U.S. Census records for Emmett Meade in 1930 and 1940(available on Ancestry.com)
December 17, 2015 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema Faculty
The Life and Art of G. Preston Frazer
G. Preston Frazer, 1969 (Walter Gropius/G. Preston Frazer Papers, Ms1992-052)
Recently, we were relocating some large paintings for an exhibit in Special Collections, and as I researched the artist, I felt he deserved a spotlight here. The artist is G. Preston Frazer (1908-2003), an Associate Professor of Art at Virginia Tech from 1939 until 1974. Frazer graduated from Virginia Military Institute with a B.A. in Liberal Arts in 1929, before earning a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Hawaii in 1935. Two years later, Frazer received a master's degree in Architecture from Harvard University.
Cover of Frazer's Six Pencil Drawings of Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.,1939 (G. Preston Frazer Collection, Ms2009-098)
Frazer began focusing his career on art, following work at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute and the Megiddo Expedition in Palestine. In 1939, he published Sixteen Pencil Impressions of Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., inspired by his time in the then-territory. That year, he also began teaching in the architectural engineering department at Virginia Tech, but left to serve with the Second Armored Division of the U.S. Army during World War II, participating in the Normandy landings on D-Day. Upon leaving the military in 1946, Frazer had reached Major in the General Staff Corps and earned the Belgium Fourragere (twice), the French Medal of Liberty, and a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. He served in the Army Reserves until retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1968.
Returning to Virginia Tech in 1946, Frazer taught art in today's College of Architecture and Urban Studies until his retirement in 1974. The university established the G. Preston Frazer Prize, awarded annually to art graduates, and the College continues to award students for their work in the G. Preston Frazer Architecture Fund/Architecture 2nd Year Competition.
One of the paintings by Frazer that Special Collections displayed is Hercules Shooting the Stymphalian Birds (photograph from exhibit below). A letter in the G. Preston Frazer Collection (Ms2009-098) explains where the idea came from: "One of my favorite sculptures is an archer shooting a bow – The large life size one by Bourdelle is in the Metropolitan, NY. I went to see it every time I was in NY, and I named it 'Hercules Shooting the Stymphalian Birds.'" (You can see this sculpture online on the museum's website, also below.) He continues, "I painted (oil on canvas) a figure (life size [-] Mike Sr, was the model) – of 'Hercules Shooting the Stymphalian Birds' (a canvas about 5 ft. by 8 ft.)"
Herakles the Archer by Antoine-mile Bourdelle from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hercules Shooting the Stymphalian Birds by G. Preston Frazer
Frazer worked on the painting from his studio overlooking Virginia Tech, where students would visit to see his projects. He recounts a funny incident during his painting, "One of the students who came in saw the buildings and said 'Oh, that is Burress Hall, V.P.I. I hope Hercules shoots it & burns it down! (said jokingly of course.) It was in the Joan [sic] Fonda anti-establishment, anti-war period, etc. I explained that Hercules was shooting the Stymphalian Birds. Hercules's labors were good deeds. Hence instead of just shooting the Bow, he was destroying Birds which were enemies of Humans!!"
In addition to Hercules and the aforementioned G. Preston Frazer Collection (Ms2009-098), Special Collections has a painting Frazer made of Icarus and the Walter Gropius/G. Preston Frazer Papers (Ms1992-052), with photographs and correspondence between Frazer and Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus School. The G. Preston Frazer Artwork (Ms1992-055) contains a beautiful sketchbook of scenes in Spain in 1953 and several artworks. For your viewing pleasure, I end this post with a few of those pieces, including scenes from Blacksburg and the Virginia Tech campus. More can be seen on online at ImageBase.
Sketch of Main Street in Blacksburg, Virginia by G. Preston Frazer
Sketch of Virginia Tech by G. Preston Frazer
Church in Blacksburg, Virginia (sketch) by G. Preston Frazer
McBryde Hall (sketch) by G. Preston Frazer
August 13, 2015 jojacks2 Uncategorized, University History
When Orange Became The New Black (and Maroon the New Gray)
1896, a Formative Year for Virginia Tech Football
With a new school year about to start, and Lane Stadium soon to be filled with cheering fans, we cant resist offering a little lesson from Hokie History 101. Well, this piece may belong in a 200-level course, since weve included a few obscure facts that the average fan isnt likely to know.
In recognition of its broadening curriculum in science and technology, the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1896 became the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute. The new name being more than a mouthful, it was shortened in popular usage to Virginia Polytechnic Institute, or VPI.
The schools fledgling football program underwent changes of its own that year. Early on, the college had adopted school colors of black and cadet gray, but when worn on a striped football jersey, the colors resembled a prison convicts uniforma similarity that undoubtedly became a source of ridicule from opposing teams.
Norbon R. Patrick, a guard on the 1893 team, poses in the jersey
that necessitated a change of school colors.
A committee reviewed the colors used by other colleges and decided that burnt orange and Chicago maroon would provide a unique color combination (as indeed it did and continues to do). The new colors debuted not in the opening game of 1896, but in the second game, at home against Roanoke College, on October 20.
The black jersey sported by the 1895 team, just prior to the schools name change,
featured the letters AMC encircled by a large C in white.
The first orange-and-maroon jersey featured an oversized V under a smaller P, reflecting
a de-emphasis of the word Institute in popular usage of the schools name.
Changes came to fan support, as well. By the 1890s, the college cheer, or yell, had become a popular means of boosting enthusiasm at campus athletic events. As long as they incorporated the name of the college and / or team, the words in these yells werent as important as the rhythm and tone. Cheers relied on creative, invented words–words that were easy and fun to yell–as is evident in the first yell adopted by VAMC:
Rip, Rah, Ree,
Vah, Vah, Vee,
Vir-gin-i-a
A. M. C.
Virg-gin-i-a
Ree, Ree,
An abridged, peppier version of the longer yell seems to have been used more frequently by fans at games:
Rip, Rah, Ree!
Va, Va, Vee!
Virginia, Virginia!
A-M-C!
By the 1895 season, the students had adopted a new, somewhat more complex college yell, published in the 1896 Bugle:
Hicki! Hicki! Hicki!
Sis! Bom! Bar!
A. and M. College,
Wah! Who! Wah!
Vivla! Vivla! Vivla! Vee!
Virginia! Virginia! A. M. C.!
The "Wah! Who! Wah!" bit may have been a little too reminiscent of the "Wah-hoo-wah!" yell of University of Virginia fans, and the 1896 Bugle records a separate yell that was used to cheer the 1895 football squad :
Do! Do! Ha! Ha! Dom-i-di-i-dee;
Wah! Wah!
Hip Hip, Hip, Hurrah!
Virgin-u-a!, Virgini-u-ah,
Wee! Wee!
A. M. C.-c-c-c-c-c-boom!!!! Football
The schools new name rendered these yells obsolete, but rather than simply incorporate the new name into existing yells, the Athletic Association sponsored a contest for a new yell (which, as things turned out, is fortunate, or we might otherwise all be cheering Lets go, Hickies! or be members of the Do Do Nation today). The composer of the winning entry would receive a five-dollar prize.
Oscar Meade Stull (1874-1964), a senior majoring in applied chemistry and serving as cadet first lieutenant and adjutant, put his imagination to work in composing a cheer that used fun, invented words and incorporated the schools new name:
Hoki, Hoki, Hoki, Hy!
Techs, Techs, VPI!
Sola-Rex, Sola-Rah.
Polytechs Vir-gin-i-a!
Rae, Ri, VPI!
Oscar Meade Stull, '96, the first person to ever hear
the What is a Hokie? question.
Stulls submission became the winning entry and is said to have made its debut when the cadets traveled to Richmond and participated in the laying of the cornerstone for the citys Jefferson Davis monument on July 2, 1896. As Stull recalled some 60 years later, I was surprised when my yell was accepted, but I needed the five spot. In addition to the fiver, Stull earned a lasting place in Virginia Tech history. The legacy was an unexpected one. In a 1956 letter to Virginia Tech library director Seymour Robb, Stull wrote, I am more surprised in recent years that [the Hokie yell] has endured for 60 years!
According to various histories, 1896 also marked the year in which Floyd Hard Times Meade (1882-1941) came to be associated with the football team. Just 14 years old at the time, Meade worked part-time in the campus mess hall and was adopted as an unofficial mascot by the team. As mascot, Meade frequently performed at games dressed as a clown in orange and maroon, his antics probably not so dissimilar to mascots of later years. Meade would later figure prominently in the evolution of the teams mascot and traditions. But his is a story for a future blog post.
The traditions begun in 1896 served the team well. The VPI gridders won that first orange-and-maroon game over Roanoke College 12-0, and the team eventually went 5-2-1, ending the season with a 24-0 rout of then-archrival VMI. The eight-game season was the longest played since the teams founding, and though it would be nearly a decade before VPI regularly played that many games a year, the success of that season proved the feasibility of scheduling more games.
It would take some time for an e to be added to Stulls hoki, and though his cheer incorporated the names Techs and Polytechs, the school seems to have made little effort in promoting the use of these names. The Cohee, an 1897-1898 publication of the Athletic Association, makes no mention of the names; the press most often referred to the team simply as V.P.I. or by generic terms such as the Blacksburg eleven. It would be several years before VPI teams came to be known more commonly as Techs, Polytechs, or Techmen; more than a decade to be known as The Gobblers; and still longer to be called The Hokies, but the seeds for all that has followed were sown in 1896.
August 6, 2015 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema African American History, Faculty, University History
Climbing the Water Tower: How Women Went from Intruders to Leaders at Virginia Tech
In the early 1920s, the first female students at Virginia Tech were not quite welcome. They had special rules to follow, there were no dormitories for women, and male students would throw water on them as they passed by the dorms. But one day, Ruth Terrett, a civil engineering student, decided to show the men she could do just as well as them. She donned a cadet uniform and climbed the university's water tower, a tradition the male cadets undertook to prove their strength and ability. That day, Ruth proved that women, when given the chance, could do what men could.
Women throughout Virginia Tech's history have encountered many obstacles, and have consistently overcome them. Sam Winn and I recently searched through Special Collections' holdings to document these women and their achievements in the university's history. Our work culminated in an exhibit at the Alumni Associations Women's Weekend and a slideshow, entitled "Climbing the Water Tower: How Women Went from Intruders to Leaders at Virginia Tech." Let me share with you a few of those milestones now, or you can view the PDF of our slideshow here.
Women join the student population
Many people know the story of the first female students: twelve women, including five full-time students, enrolled in 1921. Two years later, transfer student Mary Brumfield received a bachelor's in applied biology, earning her master's from VPI in 1925, the first woman to achieve either degree. But, did you know women began attending VPI several years earlier? They were allowed to sit in courses during the fall and spring for no credit and were admitted to summer classes, starting in 1916. 1921 was still a milestone year as it was the first all courses were open to women seeking a college degree, because there was "no good reason for not doing so," as the university bulletin states.
First female graduates: Mary Ella Carr Brumfield ('23; '25); Ruth Louise Terrett ('25); Lucy Lee Lancaster ('25); Lousie Jacobs ('25); Carrie Taylor Sibold ('25)
The first coeds, it must be admitted, were more than likely all white, given that segregation was legal due to Jim Crow laws and the Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upholding separate but equal racial segregation in the public sphere. It's not clear when women of color were first admitted to the university, but international students from Mexico, China, Puerto Rico, and other places were already attending VPI by the 1920s. We believe the first woman from India to attend VPI was Kamini Mohan Patwary, who earned a master's in statistics in 1955. However, it wasn't until 1966 that the first six African American women matriculated, thirteen years after the first African American man and 55 years after the first women. In 1968, Linda Adams became the first African American woman to graduate from Virginia Tech. (Read more about her on our previously blog post.)
There wasn't much for women to do athletically in the early years, so Ruth Terrett, mentioned above, started an informal women's basketball team before graduating in 1925. Women joined the cheerleading team in 1941, but were not officially recognized as members until the 1955-1956 school year. The first intramural women's sport was basketball in 1967. Three years later, swimming became the first intercollegiate sport for women, and women were allowed to compete on the gymnastics team.
Because the Corps of Cadets did not admit women, Patricia Ann Miller was denied permission to enroll in Corps classes. Despite this, in 1959, she became the first woman commissioned during graduation when she successfully applied for a commission from the Army Women's Medical Specialist Corps. Finally, in 1973, the Corps formed the L Squadron, exclusively for female cadets. Deborah J. Noss became the first female squadron commander and Cheryl A. Butler the first Black female cadet (and first Black female squadron leader the next year). In 1975, women were admitted to join the cadet band, and four years later, the L Squadron was disbanded to order to integrate women into the formerly all-male companies. In 1987, Denise Shuster became the first female regimental commander and in 2005, Christina Royal the first African American female regimental commander.
Female students who were not athletes or cadets had other ways of breaking the glass ceiling. In 1953, Betty Delores Stough became the first woman to receive a doctorate, in parasitology. Jean Harshbarger was the first woman elected class president for the Class of 1974. In 1968, Jaqueline D. Dandridge was the first woman of color in the homecoming court, and Marva L. Felder became the first Black homecoming queen in 1983.
Patricia Ann Miller receives commission in 1959
Linda Adams (Class of 1970)
Cheryl Butler (left) as commander of L Squadron, c. 1974
Jean Harshbarger with Congressman WIlliam C. Wampler, c. 1974
Marva Felder, 1983 Homecoming Queen, and William Billups
Renee Dennis, c. 1983-1987
Denise Shuster, 1987
Women join the workforce
What about the women working at VPI? Ella Agnew is often remembered as the first female home demonstration agent in the nation in 1910. When VPI became the headquarters for the Virginia Cooperative Extension in 1914, Agnew and the other agents became staff of the university. Agnew was also the first woman to receive VPI's Certificate of Merit in 1926, and Agnew Hall was the first campus building named after a woman, in 1949. However, few realize she was not the first woman to work at Tech. In 1902, Frances Brockenbrough became Superintendent of the Infirmary, and the next year Mary G. Lacy became the first female Librarian and Margaret Spencer the President's Secretary.
Other female agents worked for Extension during its early years at the university. In fact, although the African American division was headquartered at Hampton Institute, the agents were considered non-resident staff of VPI, first listed in the 1917 university catalog. One of these women was Lizzie Jenkins, who became the first Black female home demonstration agent in Virginia in 1913.
Women faculty members are first listed in the university catalog for 1921-1922. Mary Moore Davis ranked as a professor and worked as a state home demonstration agent in the Extension Division. She also established the home economics degree program at VPI. The first Dean of Women was Mildred Tate, who served from 1937 to 1947, and the first female academic dean was Laura Jean Harper, who in 1960 became the first Dean of the School of Home Economics. (Read more about her on our previously blog post.) Heidi Ford in 1970, Ella L. Bates in 1974, and Johnnie Miles in 1974 became the first female African American faculty members at Virginia Tech.
Women began achieving executive positions in the 1980s and 1990s. Sandra Sullivan was named Vice President for Student Affairs in 1982, and Peggy S. Meszaros served as the first (and currently only) female Provost from 1995 to 2000. Women started serving on the Board of Visitors in 1944, when VPI and Radford College merged. However in 2014, Deborah L. Petrine became the first female Rector in the university's then 142-year history.
Ella Agnew, Mary Moore Davis, and Maude Wallace, May 1947
Laura Jean Harper
Heidi Ford
Peggy Meszaros
Deborah Petrine
Women by the numbers
Virginia Tech has gone through enormous changes since its founding in 1872, especially in the growth of opportunities for women. Women on the staff have grown from one female administrative officer in 1902 to five women faculty members (only 4.7% of the faculty) in 1921 to 1,525 or 39.5% of the faculty in 2014. The student population has grown from 12 women or 1.3% of the students in 1921 to 13,241 women or 42.4% of the student population in 2014.
According to the Digest of Education Statistics, in Fall 2013, women accounted for 54.6% of enrolled students, 48.8% of faculty, and 54.5% of total employees (including faculty) in degree-granting public institutions in the U.S. However, the Digest also shows that women received only 30.8% of the degrees conferred by STEM schools in 2012-2013. So, as far as women have come, there's still more to do.
June 18, 2015 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema University History
Ringing in the Junior Year
As a relatively new employee at Virginia Tech, I've been learning about the university by working occasionally on records in the University Archives. Currently, I am working on memorabilia and documents regarding the Ring Design Committee and the annual Ring Dance in the Virginia Tech Ring and Class Collections, RG 31/13/3. You may already be aware of the tradition of the Virginia Tech class rings, but if not, then let me share what I've learned from our materials!
One of several ring molds for the Class of 2005
Each class at Virginia Tech designs their own class ring, rather than having one school ring for multiple classes. The tradition began in 1911, when the classes of 1911 through 1914 designed the first class rings at Virginia Tech. Each class since then designs and premieres their rings in the fall of their Junior year. A committee of class officers and student body appointees works with the Virginia Tech Alumni Association and a vendor to design a ring unique for that class but with traditional elements, such as eagles, the American flag, campus buildings, and a chain symbolizing class unity surrounding the school name and stone. Each ring collection since 1991 is named in honor of a distinguished alum or important associate of the university. (On a related note, the Class of 2011's class gift to the university is a statue of a class ring merging the designs from the 1911 and 2011 class rings, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the tradition.)
In addition to ring proposals and committee planning documents, the University Archives has many wax molds like in the picture above and ring brochures, exemplified below.
Class of 1965 Ring Brochure
One of the ring brochures discusses a a new tradition started in 2012 by alums of the Class of 1964. The Hokie Gold Legacy Program allows alumni to donate or bequeath their class rings to be either displayed or melted down for reuse in new class rings. The Class of 2014 received the first class rings made with the donations. This is a really neat initiative to bring together the past, present, and future students at Virginia Tech and to promote sustainability through reuse.
Another part of the Virginia Tech class ring tradition started in 1934. Each class holds a Ring Dance in the spring of the Junior year to symbolize the transition from junior to senior. At the dance, each student wears their date's ring on a ribbon of one of the class colors. The Corps of Cadets form the shape of the class year and perform a sabre arch. Then, couples exchange their rings, during the song Moonlight and VPI, written by Fred Waring and Charles Gaynor for Virginia Tech. Over 30 years ago, one company of the Corps of Cadets released a small pig onto the dance floor after the ring exchange as a prank, and the Virginia Tech Swine Club continues the tradition to this today! At the end of the night, attendees go to the Drillfield to watch fireworks, hear the playing of Silver Taps, and witness the firing of the Corps cannon, Skipper. The students also receive gifts with the class logo and ring dance theme, such as t-shirts, drink glasses, and koozies.
The University Archives receives some memorabilia as well as invitations and tickets to the Ring Dance and Ring Week:
Class of 2014 Ring Week List of Events and Ring Dance Ticket and Invitation
T-Shirts for the Classes of 2013 and 2014
Various items given out to Classes from 1991 to 2015
Drink glasses for various classes
If you want to see some of the class rings, check out the Virginia Tech Alumni Associations website. Also, visit the History of Virginia Tech (2010) website to learn more about university traditions.
(This post was updated on Jan. 12, 2021, with a link to the finding aid for the Virginia Tech Ring and Class Collections, RG 31/13/3.)
February 12, 2015 January 12, 2021 LM Rozema Faculty, New Acquisitions, University History
John Redd Hutcheson, 9th President of Virginia Tech
Portrait of Dr. John Redd Hutcheson, circa 1940s, from the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001
Recently, Special Collections received a new collection, the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, containing letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, and more documenting the life of Virginia Tech president John R. Hutcheson.
Although only president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI, as Virginia Tech was then known) for two years from 1945 to 1947, John Redd Hutcheson (1886-1962) devoted himself to serving his alma mater and the people of Virginia. He enrolled at VPI in 1903 at the behest of his brother Tom. In order to pay for college, the brothers lived in the dairy barn on the college farm, where they milked 17 cows a night for 8 cents an hour each (roughly $2.15 an hour in 2015!) After saving his earnings, Hutcheson moved into the barracks and then waited tables in the school dining hall. He received a bachelor's degree in 1907 and master's in 1909.
Following several years teaching high school in Virginia and Mississippi, Hutcheson received a letter from Joseph D. Eggleston, VPI president and director of the Virginia Agricultural Extension Service (now Virginia Cooperative Extension), urging Hutcheson to join his staff. He accepted, becoming an animal husbandry specialist in 1914. In 1917, Hutcheson was appointed assistant director and two years later succeeded Eggleston as director of the Extension. Over the next 25 years, Hutcheson helped to organize the Virginia Farm Bureau and Virginia Agricultural Conference Board, to reestablish the Virginia State Grange, and to develop a long-range program for developing the state's agriculture. All of his work developing the farm and home demonstration program in Virginia earned Hutcheson an honorary doctorate from Clemson University in 1937, along with his brother Tom, VPI professor T.B. Hutcheson.
Article entitled "Clemson's First Honorary Degrees Go to Hutcheson Brothers of V.P.I.", about John R. and T.B. Hutcheson, May 12, 1937, from the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001
In 1944, the Board of Visitors appointed Dr. Jack (as Hutcheson was affectionately known) acting president of VPI, and the next year he succeeded Dr. Julian A. Burruss as the ninth president. During his tenure, the student population swelled following the end of World War II, and he was responsible for making accommodations for the new civilian population (made up almost entirely of veterans), who outnumbered the cadet students for the first time in VPI's history. Temporary trailer courts were established on campus to house the veterans, and Dr. Jack would personally visit them to ensure they had fuel for their homes.
Article discusses the nomination of John R. Hutcheson as V.P.I. president, Roanoke Times, August 15, 1945, from the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001
The enormity of his duties necessitated the creation new executive positions during Dr. Hutcheson's presidency. He created the office of admissions, director of student affairs, director of buildings and grounds, and a university business manager position. The Board of Visitors, at Dr. Jack's suggestion, appointed Walter S. Newman as the university's first vice president – all within two years!
Page 2 of obituary for John R. Hutcheson, [January 1962], from the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001
Unfortunately, just 16 months into his presidency, Hutcheson entered the hospital and had to take sick leave. Newman became acting president until Sept. 1947, when he succeeded Hutcheson. Simultaneously, the Board of Visitors elected Dr. Jack as the first chancellor of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the next year named him the first president of the newly formed VPI Educational Foundation, Inc. (now the Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.) Dr. Jack remained chancellor until 1956 and president of the foundation until his death in 1962.
The legacy of Dr. Hutcheson's tenure at Virginia Tech is still visible today from the continuing work of the Virginia Cooperative Extension to the numerous offices he created still operating. And of course, you can visit Hutcheson Hall on the Blacksburg Campus, dedicated to John R. and T. B. Hutcheson in 1956.
Look for the completed finding aid in the next week for the John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001. In the meantime, you can find out more about Dr. Jack in the John Redd Hutcheson Papers, RG 2/9 and Edgemont Farm Papers, Ms2003-022, documenting the administration of the Hutcheson family farm.
(This post was updated Jan. 12, 2021, with a link to John R. Hutcheson Family Collection, Ms2015-001.)
November 7, 2013 archivistkira Local/Regional History, University History
A Moment of "Solitude"
Last week, I was over at Solitude for a meeting, so I have the building on my mind. In the four and a half years since I came to Virginia Tech, it's found little ways to pop up every once in a while through reference questions, outreach opportunities, and occasional visits. And every time, I learn something new.
Solitude, 1890s, then a private residence.
You can see many more pictures of the building online, as well as interiors from when the building was a private residence. The original house, part of which is still part of the modern structure, was built in the early 19th century by the Preston family of Smithfield. The first known expansion was in 1851, when the house belonged to Robert Taylor Preston, son of Virginia Governor and Colonel James P. Preston. Robert, who lived in the house until his death, wrote a locally famous call to arms from the house in 1863.
Robert Taylor Preston "Call to Arms," 1863, pg. 1
Robert Taylor Preston "Call to Arms," 1863, pg. 2. His note finishes with "Come therefore men of Roanoke & join us of the mountain & drive back the invader of our homes & firesides or die in the attempt…Shall we march without our neighbours I trust not"
Following the Civil War, the property remained in Robert's hand. However, in 1871, he sold it to the state to be the basis for the new land grant institution, Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, with the condition that he and his wife could remain in the house. Preston died in 1880 and his wife. Mary, in 1882.
After Mary's death, Solitude was the campus infirmary. By the 1890s, the house was private residence for faculty and it continued to be so well into the 20th century. After World War II, when the need for married student housing was on the rise, there were trailers on the surrounding land. The house itself was used as a club for students. It later reverted to a private residence and then, in the 1970s, was used by various departments on campus. In the 1990s, the building was closed while funds were raised for renovations. And in 2011, Solitude was reopened and is currently used by the Appalachian Studies Program.
This, by the way, is the VERY short history of the house. We have many, many resources in Special Collections on everything from renovations to photographs, newspapers stories to documents created in the house, and the complex history of the Preston family. If you're curious, you should pay us a visit, But the real treat is visiting Solitude. Renovations may have hidden much of the older building, but it is still there underneath, overlooking the Duck Pond. The oldest building on campus is still with us today, as a gentle reminder of Virginia Tech's long history.
September 19, 2013 archivistkira Local/Regional History
Blacksburg, A Century Ago (Give or Take)
It's the start of a new school year here in Blacksburg. The library, like the rest of campus, is seeing plenty of students, both new and seasoned. Our post this week is for those of you still learning your way AND those of you who think you know all the secrets. We're taking a trip back in time and sharing some photographs of Blacksburg from about 1895-1925. As you'll see, things have come a LONG way!
Before 1900, Main St. saw its fair share of horse traffic. This photograph was taken from the road, looking at the old Preston and Olin Building/then VPI machine shop.
Far in the distance at the center of the frame is the VPI machine shop. This photograph was taken on Main St. looking west, possibly near the Post Office.
C. 1900, the Post Office and Hack Depot shared a building on Main St., several blocks away from campus.
If you stood smack in the middle of Main St., right past the College Ave. intersection (think: right in front of Moe's–please don't try it!) and looked up hill, this is what you'd see before 1900. No Main St. or Alumni Mall entrance to campus.
Ellett's Drugstore was on the corner of Main St. and College Ave., in the current Sharkey's space.
Blacksburg, c.1904. In those days, Main Street ended at College Ave. At the bottom center of the frame are a set of metal gates–essentially the entrance to campus! The brick building on the left is where you'll see Sharkey's today. The building on the right is the current Moe's. And hey, at least VPI won the game!
This image is actually the front of a postcard, sent in 1917, but taken before then. By then, the metal gates from the 1904 photograph were actually brick structures with a sign and Main St. was no longer a dead-end, but open to traffic!
By 1930, some more familiar surroundings were build in Blacksburg. The 5-10-25 Cent store is at the current site of Moe's. To the right of it, on College Ave., you can see The Lyric Theatre in current home.
Our historical photograph collection in Special Collections covers a wide variety of University and local history places and spaces. It can show you a lot about how Blacksburg and Virginia Tech have changed. And even if you can't visit us, you can check out a large selection of images online:http://imagebase.lib.vt.edu/index.php. There's plenty of history to discover!
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How do I add / amend my contracts bank account details?
How do I add / change individual UDA / UOA targets for each performer?
How do I add / create a Location ID?
How do I add a Foundation Dentist (FD) to a contract?
How do I add a part-time Foundation Dentist (FD) to a second contract?
How do I add a PDS plus service payment to a PDS contract?
How do I add a performer to a contract?
How do I add Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to a PDS Plus contract?
How do I add the Total Contract Value (TCV) and activity targets to a contract?
How do I add two Foundation Dentist (FD) trainers to a Vocational Trainer (VT) on a contract?
How do I amend a contract that has already closed?
How do I amend the activity target for a contract?
How do I change a contract to 'Data Collection Only'?
How do I change a Foundation Dentists (FDs) status to a performer?
How do I change a performers' health body code?
How do I change my contracts practice name?
How do I change the provider of a contract?
How do I change the Total Contract Value (TCV) for a contract?
How do I change the Vocational Trainer (VT) attached to a Foundation Dentist (FD)?
How do I check how much a contract was paid in a certain month?
How do I check the contract type?
How do I check the total debt owed by a contract?
How do I check whether a 'Contract Provider Change' has been successful?
How do I check which performers are listed on a contract?
How do I close a contract?
How do I close a performer record?
How do I continue the set up of a contract that I previously started?
How do I create a new contract?
How do I create a new EDI site number?
How do I create a new performer?
How do I find a contract on Compass?
How do I find out who a Foundation Dentists (FDs) Vocational Trainer (VT) is?
How do I make a payment on top of the initial Total Contract Value (TCV)?
How do I place an override on a contract?
How do I process an Advance payment request (Urgent payment request)?
How do I record a levy adjustment?
How do I record a payment adjustment for over / under performance?
How do I remove a Foundation Dentist (FD) from a contract?
How do I remove a performer from my contract?
How do I view information regarding a Foundation Dentist (FD)?
How do I view reports on Compass?
How do I view the Total Contract Value (TCV)?
What are the different employment types on Compass and how can they be amended?
Why am I not able amend the Business Owners on a Partnership and tick the Business Owner/Responsible Dentist indicator?
What help is available to learn how to use Compass?
How do I request an EDI PIN number to start submitting my claims electronically?
How do I scan an attachment on Compass?
How do I update my personal details including my National Insurance (NI) number?
How do I view my activity performance?
How do I view my estimated Net Pensionable Earnings (NPE)?
How do I view my monthly schedule?
Can I change my Compass username?
How do I activate my Compass account?
How do I add or remove a Responsible Dentist?
How do I change my Compass administrator?
How do I change my memorable word / password on Compass?
How do I disable / enable a participant's Compass account?
How do I find out who my Commissioner (Area Team / Local Health Board) Compass administrator is?
How do I give a 3rd party access to view my contract on Compass?
How do I unlock my Compass account if I'm locked out?
What are the different user roles available on Compass?
What criteria applies for creating a Compass login?
What should I do if I have forgotten my Compass username?
What should I do if I've lost / not received my Compass activation email or I no longer have access to my registered email address?
Which internet browsers support Compass?
Why can't I complete the activation of my Compass account?
Will a Commissioner need more than one log in for Compass if responsible for contracts in more than one area?


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At Osaka Seafood Steakhouse, you will enjoy our unique cuisine and friendly atmosphere. We serve only the freshest, highest quality food. For an unforgettable, entertaining dining experience, sit at our hibachi grill and see our teppanyaki chefs put on a show for the entire family. For sushi lovers, our sushi bar offers many daily specials or ask our sushi chefs to prepare your own custom roll right before your eyes. For a traditional Japanese dining experience, relax in our spacious dining room. Here you will be pampered by our gracious servers.
The Freshest Meat & Vegetables!


Se muestran los artículos pertenecientes al tema Alfred L. Werker.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, in all its official and unofficial forms, is one of the most popular personality tests in the world today. It is widely used in by human resource managers, student counselors, and by just about any other kind of person who needs to assess others. Indirectly, it frequently determines whether people are hired or promoted, or get the break for which they have been waiting. Yet, for all its widespread use, I remain deeply skeptical of the basic concepts behind Myers-Briggs testing. Not only does it seem too simplistic and scientifically unsound, but, if my results are any indications, it fails to give a consistent enough picture of personality to make it reliable.
As you may know, Myers-Briggs testing is based on four axes: Extraversion (E) and Introversion (I); Sensing (S) and Intuition (N); Thinking (T) and Feeling (F), and Judging (J) and Perception (P). The poles you are closest to can be put into a four-letter abbreviation that summarizes your general tendencies, such as INFJ.
But why these four scales, I have to wonder? Does anything in the study of psychology suggest these four dichotomies over any others? Why, is there not a fifth category, such as visual versus written learning methods? Or physical versus mental activity, or types of organization?
While some additional implications are added to the four axes in the less superficial versions of Meyers-Briggs, the basic structure seems largely arbitrary. The categories are clearly not based on anything impartial. If I show people four blue circles and two red squares, those who are not color-blind or altogether sightless will agree on what they are seeing, but I doubt that people unaquainted with Meyers-Briggs will naturally divide personality into four types, or that, if they do, their four types will correspond to Meyers-Briggs. That's why, for all the popularity of Meyers-Briggs, many psychologists do not give it much credence.
Similarly, when I notice that Meyers-Briggs gives sixteen basic types of personality, my first reaction is that at least that's four better than horoscopes manage. The comment is unfair, since people can be anywhere along these four scales, which provides for more variety, but the impression of over-simplicity remains. What, I always wonder, is not being measured by Meyers-Briggs? And what is distorted because it registers on the tests but the tests are unable to diagnose it successfully?
As for the either/or questions that make up many forms of Myers-Briggs testing, don't get me started. For many people, these are false oppositions. Albert Einstein, for example, preferred solitude for work, but could be extremely gregarious when his work was done. I suspect that most people do not think in terms of either/or on many questions of preference, either – I certainly don't.
Another point that is deeply misleading is the common contention that Myers-Briggs testing is based on the work of Carl Gustav Jung. Being one of the few people I know who has ever read Jung, I strongly suspect that this claim stands only because almost no one is acquainted with Jung.
In fact, the main precursors to Myers-Briggs that you find in Jung are some simple diagrams with two axes (Intuition / Sensation and Feeling / Thinking), and a separate discussion of extraverts and introverts. The addition of Judging/Perception is the work of Myers and Briggs, and so is the codification – Jung was throwing out conceptual ideas rather than ones that could be observed and given a score. These conceptual ideas can be useful – which is why "extrovert" and "introvert" became part of everyday English – but Jung shows no signs of seeing his axes as something that can or should be directly analyzed. In many ways, Myers and Briggs have gone so far beyond anything that Jung intended that the insistence that their work is in any way Jungian seems nothing more than a rather desperate attempt to evoke the name of one of psychology's great names to bolster a rather dubious theory. In other words, it's a marketing ploy — and, personally, I tend to mistrust anything with misleading advertising.
However, the real reason I distrust Myers-Briggs testing is that my results can vary widely, not only from test to test, but also from day to day. Looking at the first four online tests I found when searching under "Myers-Briggs," I received four results when I took them one after the other: ENFJ, ENFP, ESTJ, and INFJ. Similarly, taking the first one on two separate days, my results were ENFJ and INFJ. For the second test, on subsequent days I registered as an ENFP, INFJ, and INFP.
These results do show some general patterns. For example, I definitely register as relying on Intuition more than Sensing, Feeling more than Thinking, and Judging more than Perception. However, Sensing, Thinking, and Perception do show up, depending on the test I take and the day I took it. As for the extravert/introvert distinction, I seem evenly divided, even when other aspects stay the same.
Possibly, I am more mercurial than most people, or my personality is close to being balanced on the four axes. However, the fact that different variants of Myers-Briggs produced only broadly similar results, and none of them could produce consistent results from day to day makes me incline me to suspect that the problem lies either in the tests or their theoretical framework. If Myers-Briggs was an accurate indicator of personality, then surely it would have some way to register people whose temperament varied. Furthermore, if the results corresponded closely to any objective reality, then more consistency should be present.
Of course, none of these tests were the official Myers-Briggs ones, but online ones whose thoroughness and reliability are questionable. However, I have taken Myers-Brigg tests in the past under more formal conditions, and their reliability was no better. So, again, I suspect the tests are the problem.
At any rate, common sense and direct experience both cause me to be highly skeptical of all forms of Myers-Brigg testing. Like I.Q. tests, Myers-Brigg tests seem to be dubiously conceived, and far more influential than their equally dubious results would warrant.


Making friends onboard Viking River Cruises. All photography is the property of EuroTravelogue™ unless specifically attributed. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
If you know me, then you know how I love to savor the journey as well as the destination, and my last voyage, my "Danube Waltz" with Viking River Cruises was no exception! Soon after our cruise began, I realized that I was having the greatest time of my life, not only because my dream of a Christmas market cruise through Europe was coming true but because of something even more special—paramount to any journey as far as I am concerned—the friends I've met along the way; those special people who touch our hearts and enrich our lives immensely. Actually, it comes as no surprise really because the intimate gathering places onboard the Viking longships create the perfect settings to cultivate and nurture those new found friends from afar. From the Viking crew to the traveling guests, chances are you're going to bump into each other quite often—an exchange that I welcomed and embraced at every chance encounter. Here's my story of some pretty special people I've met during my voyage.
Sharing a potato pancake with our concierge Verona.
Beginning with the crew, I have fallen in love with many of them not only because of the exceptional service they provided but because they became dear friends while onboard the ship. Chief among them is our concierge Verona. From the moment you arrive to the moment you disembark, her mission is clear—to pamper and see to everyone's needs onboard. Not only was she there to accommodate every request and grant every wish, but no matter the occasion, she rose above and beyond the call of duty in all she did. She was never too busy to help, even with the smallest request such as posing for a picture or sharing a potato pancake with me in Bratislava—a memory to last a lifetime.
Then there was our cruise director Jochgum or Joey as he preferred since he believed most of us could never pronounce his real Dutch name. Not only did Joey see to entertaining us onboard with special presentations and our daily briefings, he was out and about on all of our excursions making sure we were armed with the knowledge and ready for the day. He was our lifeline to the ship ensuring we knew where to go and where to return, and just being there to offer his assistance if we needed it. Always there to give us "insider" tips about the destinations too, he is an absolute invaluable member of the Viking crew! One of my unforgettable magical moments was when we were sailing into Budapest, the city of gold, with Joey's narrative echoing on the top deck and throughout the ship explaining in full detail the history of the city and its iconic landmarks.
Me and Wilhelm, our hotel manager onboard the Viking Skadi.
Lastly, Wilhelm our hotel manager was a giant lovable teddy bear with the disposition of a puppy. As with Verona and Joey, Wilhelm saw to our every comfort as well. Always appearing with a smile on his face and ready to give you his undivided attention, he had the ability to make you feel special and was a true delight on our voyage. Some of my favorite moments were during our Austrian lunch onboard where he greeted all of the guests with his tantalizing and scrumptious introduction to Austrian cuisine. He was our first stop along the buffet line and served up the best bratwursts yet! Another unforgettable moment was during our sailing into Budapest when Wilhelm was on top deck handing out blankets and cups of glühwein to keep us warm. He has a heart of gold!
One of my favorite times of the day was after dinner when I would retreat to my little corner of the Viking lounge to catch up on writing and sharing reports of our adventures for the day. As I worked, I loved listening to the melodious sounds of Sylvia at the piano whose voice resonated above the din of the room. She serenaded the guests with the sounds of Christmas as well as the classics and socialized with all of us while on break—a lovely creature! Each night was bliss!
A chance encounter as we sailed through the Wachau Valley in Austria. Suddenly, the "Viking Social" club emerged from our cabins at the same time to snap some photos of each other. I don't think we could have planned this any more perfectly. Pictured here are Brittany, JohnnyJet and Natalie.
Two incredibly special friends, Chris and Lisa Owen of Chris Cruises.com.
I was excited to take part in the first-ever "Viking Social" whose mission was to report on our enchanting Christmas market cruise throughout the week. Viking even gave us a special introduction in the "Welcome Aboard" letters. Not only was I going to see my friends from Viking again but finally came the chance to meet fellow journalists and social media extraordinaires whom I've known virtually for a few years but never had the pleasure to meet face to face. As we worked and played, we spent a lot of time getting to know each other and by the end of the cruise, I can honestly say that each is even nicer and kinder in person than I could have imagined.
As I mentioned above, our fortuitous encounter with the "Viking Social Club" as we sailed through the Wachau Valley in Austria. Pictured here are Carrie, Jessica and Deb of The Planet D.
Dave and Deb of the PlanetD emerging from the Winzer Krems Winery in Dürnstein, Austria.
Iain of Mallory on Travel enjoying a glass of wine at the Winzer Krems Winery in Dürnstein, Austria.
Finally many of the guests onboard quickly became my friends, friends I never knew I had. Among these is one very special couple from Vermont, Kathy and Fred who I shared many an afternoon with in the Viking Lounge and on the Sun Deck as we sailed through the Wachau Valley in Austria. And, I met another special lady who just happened to be a fan of EuroTravelogue. I knew she was going to be onboard this sailing and couldn't wait to meet her face to face. What a pleasure it was after corresponding electronically in the weeks leading up to the cruise. I only wish I could have spent more time with her.
Here I am with Fred, one half of perhaps the sweetest couple I had met onboard. Fred and I are enjoying the views of the Wachau Valley in Austria while his wife Kathy snaps this photo of us. Photo: Kathy Hall.
We also met a wonderful group of folks from New Orleans and Connecticut who collectively comprised "our gang." Each day, we gathered in the lounge to regale the group with stories of the day, play games, enjoy the evening entertainment and so much more. These very special people are now friends for life!
A real surprise and delight that I discovered onboard was the number of guests I had met throughout the cruise who shared their love for the Viking product in many a conversation. I was astonished to find out how many were repeat guests—a dream come true for any product supplier in the industry—who have sailed up to five times in the past and had up to three more river cruises booked for next couple of years. Two couples I met even had their Viking Oceans reservations made for the inaugural sailing of the "Viking Star" in 2015.
As you can see, the journey and friends you meet along the way are just as enriching as the destinations themselves—a winning combination for the perfect holiday and an integral component of the Viking river cruise experience. I urge you to seek out such experiences, reach out to guests and crew, spark up a conversation, share a piece of yourself and invite them to do the same.
It was wonderful sailing with you Jeff! What wonderful memories we have of that trip!
The feeling is more than mutual my friend! I have a lot of wonderful memories too and so happy that we had the time together and to get to know Lisa too!! Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Viking seems to make their cruises very special so I'm not surprised they have repeat cruisers.
I love the stories of the people you've met - from other passengers, crew and travel professionals. In addition to the destination, it's the people we meet during our travels that make each place memorable.
Over the years, I've kept in touch, sporadically, with many people - from locals to travel people. But I was very surprised on Christmas Day when we got a call from our Cape Town guide. It just made our day.
Truly all of these folks contributed immensely to my experience onboard the ship!! How wonderful that you've kept in touch with some folks and that you received a call on Christmas day from one of them!! That must have sent you over the moon!
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your stories!!
The people you travel with (especially if you'll be travelling together for more than 3 days) must be an enjoyable lot and it seems so in this cruise of yours. Happy for you!
Hi there Marlys. I couldn't agree with you more and to add to you sentiment, I loved bumping into all them over and over again. Actually, the bonds you build when familiarity sets in are immeasurable and strengthen with each encounter! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
Hi there Paula and thanks so much for stopping by. I truly had one of the best experiences of any of my trips!! It was a fabulous journey!
Looks like a great cruise. We traveled on the Freya a few weeks before you and loved the experience. You are so right about how special people can make a special journey~!
Hi there Irene!! You know, the people onboard our cruise inspired me to write this ... I just had to share with the world how special all of them were!! So happy you sailed the Freya weeks before...I bet you had a wonderful time too!! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing your experiences. I love to read comments just like this!
Excellent post, Jeff - it made me pause and think of many of the lovely people that we have met over the years on our travels. Many of my best travel memories are the people that we have met along the way!
Hi there Lisa! It was these very same people who inspired me to write this post while onboard! One afternoon I just had a revelation when I realized how these kind folks have really added to the overall experience, making truly an unforgettable time for me! I am eternally grateful for having met each one of them!
Hi Lisa and thank you for your kind compliments! What ship were you sailing on? The Embla? Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!!
Excellent article Jeff! I was also amazed by the people I met - staff, crew, fellow travelers and bloggers/photographers/videographers I met. The cruise itself was fabulous but the people and the friendships can last a lifetime. Much better than when they make you unfairly leave the boat after the cruise ends!
Ha Kay! I couldn't agree with you more about being made to leave the ship on the last day! :) All too often we're so excited about the places we're setting out to explore, but we can't ignore the endless encounters and friendships we'll make along the way for sure! Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!


Song Fight Orchestra was started by Jim of Seattle, with each participant submitting a 30-45 second song that picks up from the previous segment. Very cool idea and a great job by everyone so far! I thought I was the last of the first round, so at the end I brought in some concept of reflection/rebirth with a recapitulation of Jim's The Wrong Girl. This will go on, apparently, through the year.


Why are you having a workshop?
We believe that we have a lot to say to the photography industry concerning art, work flow, production and client relations. We hope that sharing our mission & process with others will inspire fellow photographers. This workshop aims to encourage attendees to capture better moments on film, streamline their workflow, and engage their clients well.
Attendees will arrive on Sunday evening at 7pm for drinks & an introduction at the A Bryan Photo studio. We will spend our mornings in studio learning from the A Bryan Photo team. In the afternoons you will have the chance to learn new film cameras while photographing families & couples. Each evening we will all enjoy dinner together at great local restaurants and dialogue about the day. By the conclusion of the workshop, we will also offer personalized sessions with each of our team members. This is a great time to go over any specific questions about each individual's business.
We are recommend booking a room at either the Tutweiler or the Westin. Both are downtown and we will be picking up attendees each morning from these hotels should you choose to not rent a car. The studio is about a mile from the Tutwiler and a 1 1/2 miles from the Westin should you choose to walk.
Let us know if are interested in sharing a room and we may be able to connect you with a fellow attendee.
Where is the workshop and how do I get there?
The workshop will take place at our studio in Birmingham, AL. If you are flying in we recommend you check out Southwest Airlines' fares. All major airlines fly to Birmingham daily as well. Should you choose to rent a car or drive, there is metered parking in front of the studio ($.25 per hour), and you may want to bring some quarters. If you don't rent a car, you will need to get a cab to your hotel from the airport. Expect to spend $20 each way.
Check or Credit Card. A deposit of $750 is required to reserve your spot. The remaining balance of $1250 is due the week before the workshop. Proceed to Sign Up to reserve your spot.
$2000 / This includes three days of education as well as 4 rolls of film, processing, and scanning while here in Birmingham. An additional lab fee will be applied for additional rolls shot ($30 a roll).


Matthew Fiedler is a fellow with the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy. His research examines a range of topics in health care economics and health care policy. Prior to joining the Brookings Institution in January 2017, Fiedler served as Chief Economist of the Council of Economic Advisers, where he oversaw the Council's work on health care policy, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance expansions and health care delivery system reforms. Fiedler currently serves on a technical review panel for the Congressional Budget Office's health insurance simulation model. Fiedler holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore College.
Matthew Fiedler is a fellow with the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy. His research examines a range of topics in health care economics and health care policy. Prior to joining the Brookings Institution in January 2017, Fiedler served as Chief Economist of the Council of Economic Advisers, where he oversaw the Council's work on health care policy, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act's health insurance expansions and health care delivery system reforms. Fiedler currently serves on a technical review panel for the Congressional Budget Office's health insurance simulation model. Fiedler holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore College.


James Carman was born and raised in New Brunswick, NJ. Attended Rutgers University before enlisting in the United States Air Force in 1958. After completing his military obligation, worked for the City of New Brunswick, NJ Fire Department for 30 years before retiring in 1991 as Fire Director. James relocated to West Palm Beach, FL in 1991, as an Assistant Fire Chief in the West Palm Beach Fire Rescue, and appointed to Fire Chief in 1994. Chief Carman served until 2001 in West Palm Beach Fire Rescue, WPB, FL. During his time in West Palm Beach he has served as a board member in many non-profit organizations such as United Way of PBC, American Heart Association, Boys & Girls Clubs of PBC, Zoning Board of Appeals in WPB, Nonprofits First, and Northwest Community Consortium, Inc.