Page 651

A GREATER GETTYSBURG 1918 and 1944). Indicative of the link which long persisted between the College and seminary, as late as 1922 the Spectrum still included pictures of the latter's faculty and student body; the seminary faculty continued to be pictured through 1926.336 Following the return of women students, the 1938 Spectrum was the first to feature photographs of campus queens, chosen to officiate at the May festival which was part of mother's weekend. The Y.M.C.A. and later the S.C.A. published the Students' Handbook or G-Book through 1940, after which for several years it became an independent publication under the auspices of the Student Council. One of the issues referred to the book as the freshman's Bible. Successive editors did include in it more and more information immediately useful to a newcomer. Some material, such as lists of faculty and histories of buildings, could be found in the catalogue, but much could not. Only in the G-Book was there practical advice on what to do, and what not to do, during the first few days and weeks on campus: how to deal with customs and fraternities, and how important it was to begin immediately working hard and intelligently. A new campus publication, called the Blister, began to appear on a bulletin board in Glatfelter Hall in November 1921. Although one may view this every-morning (actually, almost every morning) effort as a successor of the nineteenth century burlesques, in its critical, occasionally caustic, commentary on campus affairs it was certainly not the libelous sheet which its predecessors usually were. Its fare, compressed onto one letter-size page, included an editorial, a cartoon, a poem, a bit of humor, and brief news items. Its producers promised to reveal their identities at the close of the year, by means of a picture in the Spectrum. By that time a new anonymous staff had taken over. Early in 1922 the faculty met to consider the case of this new "bulletin-board publication." Their decision was refreshingly sound. They would recognize the Blister "as a legitimate student enterprize and offer the cooperation indicated as necessary for its successful operation." Given the heavy schedule of publication which it adopted, the Blister had a surprisingly long life, until early 1929.337 The same cannot be said for its competitors, most 338In 1934 a paper company chose the 1935 Spectrum from among five hundred yearbooks as the model which it planned to use in its solicitations during the next year. 337The U.L.C.A. survey team called the Blister a "scandal sheet." Gettysburg was the only Lutheran college with such a publication. "Little resentment is expressed toward this publication by students or faculty," they noted. "It gives a chance to bring irritating questions before the college. These are commented upon and soon forgotten. Unless the satire becomes too personal and ironical, such a publication is refreshing to a campus and conducive to original thinking." Ibid., 2:398. 65