War Memorial Fund records
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteAt the close of World War I, Harry Hodgson, an Athens businessman and a 1893 graduate of the university, spearheaded an ambitious War Memorial Fund drive among alumni and others to raise a fund for the completion of a hall on campus to honor the University of Georgia men who died in World War I. Considered the university's first major capital campaign, the War Memorial Fund drive eventually raised nearly one million dollars, including contributions from the Rockefeller Foundation and a $60,000 donation from the university's wealthy friend and benefactor George Foster Peabody of New York. By 1925, the recreational facility building that was begun on Lucas Hill 15 years earlier was completed and renamed War Memorial Hall. A bronze plaque, inscribed with the names of the university alumni who lost their lives in the war, was installed in the hall's majestic rotunda. Chancellor David C. Barrow composed the words that rim the rotunda: "In loyal love we set apart this house, a memorial to those lovers of peace who took arms, left home and dear ones and gave life that all men might be free." War Memorial Hall, later known simply as Memorial Hall, served as the official student recreation center for the University of Georgia for nearly 60 years, until the completion in 1984 of the Dean William Tate Student Center. Scope and ContentThis collection consists of documents (1919-1933) relating to the establishment and maintenance of the War Memorial Fund at the University of Georgia. The fund financed the building of War Memorial Hall (now known as Memorial Hall). Organization and ArrangementArranged in chronological order. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationWar Memorial Fund records, UA0018, University Archives, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries. General NotesRG 1-6 Related Materials and SubjectsSubject TermsRelated Collections in this RepositoryRelated material: War memorial fund : report of the Campaign Committee to the Society, Ga Room LXH1 .A4 1922. |
Special Collections Libraries
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-1641