Washington and Lee University
Over the summer, Leyburn Library displayed student handbooks from 1800 to the present. The early handbooks were small booklets that the students could carry with them at all times in the inside pocket of their jackets. For a number of years, the handbooks were presented by the YMCA, an organization in which President Robert E. Lee had played a role. They contained a welcome by the University president, information about student life and conduct, the courses taught that year, a section for taking notes, and plenty of advertisements so gentlemen could find their way to the local drugstore, train station, photographer, boarding house, tailor, etc.
In the 1900s, the format and content changed. The student handbook became a manual of policies and procedures, covering the Honor System and focusing on unaccepted behaviors.
In 2000, a new publication took the place of the former student handbook—The New Student Guidebook. It has information on what there is to do at W&L. Rather than being handed out when students arrive on campus, this publication is sent to students before they arrive. And of course, they can now find the information online as well.
—Yolanda Merrill, humanities librarian