Last month, members of the grounds keeping crew launched research of storerooms in the bottom floor of Brown Hall. Though the room remains largely unexplored, initial reports suggest that many lost relics, such as the paper copies of the unfinished IDEA surveys and William Jewell’s half-eaten last meal, could be hiding within the great maze. While such items have yet to be recovered, a much more significant discovery was made this past week. Greene Hall, the building demolished to make way for Pryor Learning Commons, was unearthed in Room 3.
Anthony Vaughan, senior and leader of the research, was thrilled.
“It’s amazing. I knew it was Jewell policy to never throw things away, but an entire building? We couldn’t believe it,” said Vaughan.
Vaughan and his team are now working on a strategy to remove the structure.
“The doorway to Room 3 is quite small,” said Vaughan. “We’ve considered dividing Greene up into smaller parts, widening the doorway and scaring it out with a Responsible Self assignment.”
The reason behind storing Greene inside of Brown is still not clear.
“Records make no mention of Greene after initial teardown,” said Alice Chambers, member of the Resource Re-Use Committee. “Why not somewhere more practical like White Science Center or the to empty top floor of Browning Hall? We’re still looking for the answer.”
Founded in 1956, the Resource Re-Use Committee was created to oversee the expansion of William Jewell’s storage policy.
“It was revolutionary for its time,” said Chambers. “Up to that point, essential items such as preserved toads or old lightbulbs were kept in the basements and garages of teacher’s houses. As the College grew, and the flaws of the practice began to show, it made more sense to keep our resources crammed into closets on the Hill.”
Vaughan already sees possible uses for Greene Hall once it’s extracted.
“I know we’ve been running out of space for old pianos in Gano. Perhaps Greene could become their new home.”