News       
from ABAC

Michael D. Chason
Director of Public Relations
ABAC 30 -- 2802 Moore Highway
Tifton, GA 31793-2601
Phone 229-391-5055
Fax 229-391-4781
mchason@abac.edu

 

Green Bar Divider

IMMEDIATE                                                                                              January 28, 2008

 

Sophomore CLASS OF 1922 MAKES HISTORY


TIFTON— As a part of its 100th birthday celebration, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College will fill a time capsule with ABAC memorabilia.  Apparently students on the campus in 1922 had a similar idea.  They just used a ketchup bottle.

John Tanner, who works for Sodexho, the company that manages the ABAC grounds, was on a back hoe digging up a tree stump in front of Tift Hall last week and made an unusual find.  He saw a Heinz ketchup bottle sticking out from underneath the roots of the stump.

Tanner pulled the bottle gently out of the dirt and roots and was shocked to see two pieces of tablet paper inside the bottle.  The paper was dated March 1, 1922 and the line at the top of the paper said the 1922 Sophomore Class.  Underneath were the handwritten names of 38 students, each in his or her handwriting.

Names included Absolon Baker, Lewis Rigdon, Edward Shiver, Essie Hutchinson, Isa Mae Marchant, Mary Fletcher, Alma Clegg, Lacy McCraine, Allie Sue Hunt, John Crumbly and others.

ABAC Public Relations Assistant Ashley Williamson and Pam Leonard, Executive Assistant to the President, matched the size and shape of the bottle on the internet with the exact type of bottle Heinz used during that time frame.

“There has to be a terrific story behind this bottle,” ABAC Public Relations Director Mike Chason said.  “It’s unbelievable that we found it during the 100th birthday celebration.”

Chason said the area high school called the Second District A&M School was located on the existing ABAC property from 1908-1924.  The school became the South Georgia A&M College in 1925, the Georgia State College For Men in 1929, and assumed its present title in 1933.

ABAC will celebrate its 100th birthday throughout 2008.  A series of events will be held Feb. 18-22 including a time capsule presentation on the front steps of Tift Hall on Feb. 22.  The bottle and the two sheets of tablet paper will be a part of a Centennial Collection on display in the Baldwin Library. This year’s Homecoming on April 3-5 will also include special birthday events for alumni.

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