Then & Now: Move-in Day
1955
A first-year welcoming committee of rising juniors, also known as the “sister class,” dressed in white and greeted students, helping them get settled.
Students were instructed to send their trunks ahead of time via railway, but also to pack suitcases with necessities in case the trunks didn’t arrive by move-in day.
The Wonder Box, a student-run used furniture store in the basement of Blanchard Hall, was open for the first few weeks of school. Enterprising students could purchase chairs, rugs, lamps, and more to fill their dorm rooms.Radios, record players, and electric clocks were the only electric appliances allowed in dorm rooms.
2013
Orientation leaders—upperclass students selected to assist incoming students—welcome first-years.International students and those who live a great distance from Mount Holyoke can mail large packages filled with their belongings, but most students arrive in tightly packed cars.
Students venture off-campus to purchase dorm-room goods, descending on the Holyoke Mall or the large retail stores of Hadley.
Only heat-generating electronics (space heaters, toasters, electric blankets) are prohibited from dorms. Students arrive with radios, small refrigerators, televisions, DVD players, computers, fans, and much more.
This article appeared in the fall 2013 issue of the Alumnae Quarterly
November 5, 2013
I loved this. made me think of when my first day in 1837. I want to go back to college!!!