Secondary Source Significance

The secondary source that provides unique information of some significance, is an article from a news paper titled, "Early Days At Rollins Had Drawbacks." This secondary source provides great access to information concerning the early campus life at Rollins as well as social customs of the time. This source, I feel, opens up a window to how Rollins represents the changes occurring in the US as a whole, during the Guilded Age.

This source was written in 1975, so however it isn't recent, it does provide a biased view of the events and customs of the 1890's. This source is valuable to my research because it provides information about the gender roles, the social rules, and the new industrial approaches that made higher education more accessible to both sexes and more people overall. This source, also, although in the form of news paper clippings, provides validity for the information because it was published and widely circulated, implying some small level of legitimacy in the information.

Also, this source portrays a view of Rollins not often seen. The article mentions the strict rules, especially when concerned with "when and where the two sexes could meet" and what the students could and could not do. The author also describes how the women's dorm was finished in 1891 and the students were forced to be inventive with ways to furnish it because there were no funds left. This article also includes a little comparison of the early years (1860-1870's) when the college lacked facilities like running water, and an efficient heating system, reflecting some of the problems found in northern cities as well, and mentioned a general modernization in the decades following.

http://archives.rollins.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/students&CISOPTR=123