The personal student handbook of Lavinia Brock

Lavinia Brock’s student handbook alongside other memorabilia. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Lavinia Brock attended Newcomb College. She documented her life through the art of scrapbooking. She organized the scrapbook chronologically and included items such as news articles, college handbooks, ribbons, awards, letters, invitations, sorority and fraternity formal invitations, souvenirs from events, play programs, and photographs. She captioned a majority of these items with short descriptions and dates. The scrapbook spans from the beginning of her freshman year at Newcomb in 1954 through the summer and the beginning of her sophomore year in 1955.

The first page of Lavinia’s scrapbook contains a small book labeled “The Newcomber.” It appears to be a handbook for incoming freshmen, providing them with everything from the school chants to the rules and regulations that are expected to be upheld while the ladies go about their scholarly business. Inside the booklet, I found Lavinia’s schedule, which she carefully tucked away behind a picture of a man who I am hypothesizing to be a Newcomb faculty member.

Lavinia’s class schedule. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Her schedule lists basic classes for freshmen, such as English, Math, and Physical Education. However, Lavinia had been placed into a second year French class, which allows me to assume she took (and perhaps enjoyed) the language in high school. Lavinia’s full name is listed at the top of the schedule card as “Brock, Lavinia Camille.” Each class name, level, section, credit hours, day of the week, and appropriate classroom has been carefully handwritten in the appropriate slot. Although I cannot definitively say that Lavinia was a neat and organized individual, the general appearance of this card and her entire scrapbook suggest to me that she took great care of her belongings, perhaps in hope of them one day becoming permanent mementos of her four years at Newcomb College.

Lavinia’s dorm assignment. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Also hidden in between two pages of the student handbook is a small piece of paper that informed Lavinia of which dormitory she would reside in during her freshman year. She lived in Josephine Louise (no surprise) in room 331, and her roommate’s name was Martha Ann Coon.

Lavinia smiling broadly for the “Guy and Girl of the Month!” article. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Lavinia kept a scrapbook of a very important time in her life. Between the years of 1954-1957, she attended Newcomb College. She was very involved on campus. She was cheerleader, which were called “The Green Backers”. It seems as though being elected as a part of the cheer team as a freshman was a great accomplishment seeing that it was publicized in the newspaper. I hypothesize the Lavinia was well known and had a social personality considering she was featured as the “Girl of the Month” only about two months into her freshman year of college. On a following page of her scrapbook, Lavinia included a clipping from The Houston Chronicle, which shows a photograph of four girls (including Ms. Brock), announcing their return home from Newcomb College for the holidays.

Lavinia’s holiday homecoming. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Lavinia also expresses the important relationships and connections she has formed during her freshman year by including portraits of her close friends on pages 92 through 97. Each portrait has a name written under it, and some pictures capture multiple people, including Lavinia, at specific and/or memorable times during the year. I presume that these were important people in Lavinia’s life, and most likely played a major role in her freshman year.

Portraits of Lavinia’s friends. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

She seemed to have a passion for different kinds of performances. She kept a number of the programs from various performances that she attended. She also documented who she went with. Not only did she involve herself with these activities, she also was supportive of her classmates and friends. Lavinia includes pictures of both the football and basketball teams in order of their seasons. The football team is pictured on page 76, and the basketball team is pictured on page 80. I presume that these two teams were significant to her because she most likely cheered for them.

Lavinia commemorates a play she saw with Jake Coon, a Tennessee Williams play, and two of Tulane’s sports teams. Photos provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

She seemed to be very popular among the gentlemen of Tulane. She went to a number of Fraternity date parties and formals. She went to the Theta formal as well as the SAE formal. She also kept all the invitations to her date parties with other Fraternities and Sororities. She has an in depth record of when each one was and who she attended them with.

Memorabilia from dates and fraternity formals. Photos provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Later on in her scrapbook, she included a program entitled “Tulane University School of Business Administration Student Awards”, and in the program Ben Stone’s name is listed and Lavinia has underlined it. I assume that Lavinia had a close relationship with Ben Stone considering she attended many formals with him and attended a ceremony in which he was being honored.

The end of Lavinia’s freshman year is signified by the “Shreveport Journal Society” article on page 101, which includes a picture of Lavinia and another woman, mentioning that the two are classmates at Newcomb College and will be sophomores in the fall. The article is dated August 5, 1955.

An article from 1955 featuring Lavinia. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Seeing as she was a very social girl, Lavinia had many friends. At the time it seemed to be rather common for girls to marry during college. At the beginning of their second semester at Newcomb Lavinia and her friend signed an agreement, pictured, that the first of them to be pinned would buy the other a fifth of whiskey. Although we do not know what happened to this particular friend, Lavinia received three wedding invitations. She was always surrounded by friends as indicated by her frequent social gatherings.

Lavinia and Bart’s marriage-whisky pact. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University

Wedding invitations from friends. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Lavinia also seemed to have made an effort to keep in touch with family and friends from home while she was away. She received telegrams and even included a picture of her mother and father from a day at the beach.

News from home. Photos provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Being very social it makes sense that she would be active in Newcomb Panhellenic organizations. While going through rush, she kept track of all of her “Rush parties” and ultimately she decided to join Kappa Alpha Theta. Being in a sorority organization was good for her. She was able to bring her passion for the arts into her sorority. She documents the “Kappa Alpha Theta Skit” in her scrapbook, which leads me to believe she was extremely happy when the chance for performance arose in Greek life.

Kappa Alpha Theta initiation items. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

A script from a Kappa Alpha Theta initiation skit. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Being involved in Greek life helped her self-confidence, not that she needed it. She was very modest about all of her encounters with other sororities as well. She was nominated to be in a “Beauty Court”.

Lavinia’s nomination to the beauty court. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

She absolutely loved being a part of a Greek organization. Usually Rush is a very stressful and unpleasant time to be in a sorority but it didn’t seem to bother Lavinia. She documents that Rush was a success, not mentioning anything negative about the process.

Mementos from Lavinia’s rush experience. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Participating in her sorority was a very big part of her college career. The majority of her pictures in the scrapbook are from sorority events, such as her formal.

Photo from the Theta formal in 1956. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Although she was very occupied by her sorority Lavinia still had time for her passions. She continued to stay involved in cheerleading and was excited when she was reelected to cheer. Cheering was important to her, and she even kept the “Constitution” of the Green Backers.

Lavinia’s re-election as a cheerleader, a copy of the constitution, and football memorabilia. Photos provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Mardi Gras is a big deal in New Orleans but in 1957 Lavinia chose to travel during Mardi Gras instead.

Lavinia made note of a holiday away for Mardi Gras. Photo provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

Despite the time away, Lavinia obviously experienced and felt a connection to New Orleans culture. She also includes many items that are characteristic of New Orleans such as New Orleans restaurant napkins on page 71, and Mardi Gras beads on page 82.

Souvenirs from restaurants and Mardi Gras. Photos provided by the Newcomb College Scrapbook Collection at Tulane University. 

I believe that this scrapbook was made for Lavinia herself. It is a contained space where she has preserved many of her fond memories from this time in her life. I hypothesize that the purpose of it is so that she can look back on it and be reminded of her experiences, as well as share it with others.

[Editor’s Note: This article was captured as part of the class “Media Histories” taught by Vicki Mayer in collaboration with the Office of Alumni Affairs at Tulane University.]