{"id":2790,"date":"2026-10-02T00:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T00:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=2790"},"modified":"2026-10-13T00:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T00:20:39","slug":"college-opens-history-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/10\/02\/college-opens-history-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"College opens history exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jack Davis<\/a> \u00b7 Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Grove City College once forbade students from walking on college-owned grass. (GCC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Grove City College\u2019s history is now an on-campus exhibit, allowing the public to see it in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gallery, titled \u201cCelebrating a Legacy of Faith and Freedom,\u201d is full of artifacts and artwork from the college\u2019s 150 years of history, from its founding, April 11, 1876, to the present, and will be open until Nov. 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit is in the Pew Fine Arts Center gallery and is open to the public from 4-8 p.m. on weekdays. It will also be open during Homecoming, Saturday, from 1-4 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hillary Walczak, director of college archives and galleries, and her team spent the past year designing this exhibit. Using a combination of photographs, models, videos and artifacts, the exhibit captures the wide scope of the college\u2019s history. From the college\u2019s construction to the creation of extracurricular activities, the exhibit conveys the fullest and most immersive picture of the college\u2019s history to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit also features Grove City history that the public most likely does not know. Each piece of the exhibit, Walczak said, is meant \u201cto connect (the audience) to the various mediums and walk through campus history one moment at a time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the exhibit follows the history of the college on a large, year-by-year basis, from its first years as the Pine Grove Normal Academy to its sesquicentennial anniversary celebrated in the spring of 2026, Walczak also wanted to display the college\u2019s story through the personal experiences of the students and administration who made the college what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibit highlights the legacy of the college through glimpses of campus culture and the obstacles Grove City has experienced. Notable challenges that the college has endured include two world wars and the landmark Supreme Court case, \u201cGrove City College vs. Bell,\u201d which made national news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe college’s legacy can be seen through the many ups and downs,\u201d Walczak said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Grove City College website, artifacts displayed in the exhibition range from different aspects and eras of the college. Some artifacts included in the exhibit are pictures and uniforms from decades past, the headpiece of a former Willie the Wolverine costume and parts from the \u201cUSS Grove City College Victory,\u201d a ship christened during World War II.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of the exhibit, the college says, is to \u201cshow how much things have changed since 1876 and how much has stayed the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walczak designed the exhibit for an audience outside of current Grove City College students. While not exclusively aimed at alumni, Walczak explained that she designed the exhibit for alumni to feel nostalgic. According to Walczak, the exhibit also gives an opportunity for alumni to connect to different eras of the college while feeling nostalgic for the campus where they went to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe hope that people are able to stop in and learn something new,\u201d Walczak said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jack Davis \u00b7 Contributing Writer Grove City College\u2019s history is now an on-campus exhibit, allowing the public to see it in person. The gallery, titled \u201cCelebrating a Legacy of Faith and Freedom,\u201d is full of artifacts and artwork from the college\u2019s 150 years of history, from its founding, April 11, 1876, to the present, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[186,7],"tags":[178,250,122,18,241],"class_list":["post-2790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-news","tag-2026-edition","tag-campus","tag-jack-davis","tag-news","tag-oct-2-2"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass.webp",1880,1475,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass-300x235.webp",300,235,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass-768x603.webp",768,603,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass-1024x803.webp",1024,803,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass-1536x1205.webp",1536,1205,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/10\/Walk-on-grass.webp",1880,1475,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"puruckermt24","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/puruckermt24\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jack Davis \u00b7 Contributing Writer Grove City College\u2019s history is now an on-campus exhibit, allowing the public to see it in person. The gallery, titled \u201cCelebrating a Legacy of Faith and Freedom,\u201d is full of artifacts and artwork from the college\u2019s 150 years of history, from its founding, April 11, 1876, to the present,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2968,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2790\/revisions\/2968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}