1898

1890s Grinnel Football team with dogIf I could time-travel to Grinnell, I would choose to go to 1898, when my maternal grandfather met my maternal grandmother. According to their Grinnell yearbooks, William Lindsay was a four-year letterman in football and baseball. Did they meet after a game? Mary Kinnick was active in a number of women’s debating clubs. Did they meet at a debate? That era was pre-in loco parentis (which ended circa 1970), where the College rule was that no young woman could allow any young man to “escort” her anywhere on campus. Did they break the rule? (I doubt it.)

Grinnell football team circa 1897

Douglas McCormac ’66
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Issue: 
Prompt: 
If you could travel forward or backward in time to experience Grinnell during a different era, when would you want to visit and why?