One of the many things I do here at Wellesley is serve on an e-board. An e-board (executive board) are the elected representatives of an organization. I am the historian for WCD (Wellesley for Caribbean Development).
As the historian, my job is to dig up as much from WCD’s past as possible in order to create a detailed history report. One that future members of the org will have to reference whenever they need it. Also, it is fun to know your history; where you came from and what the goals of the organization originally were.
Per my role, I ventured to the library to see if I could find cool stuff about WCD in Wellesley’s old yearbooks. I sat there for almost two hours looking at yearbooks from 1998 to 2010 to see if I could chronicle WCD’s existence. Looking at the WCD photo above made me think about past members and what they were doing now. What were their visions for the club?
At the same time, I kept finding out stuff about Wellesley that I did not know. Going to a school like Wellesley which has a lot of history is fun. It makes it seem as though Wellesley has always been there, changing the way the world views women. It is also fun to see the ways the school has stayed the same and ways it has changed. Traditions, buildings, events on campus and faculty. Some professors here have been teaching at Wellesley for a very long time. It was great to see them age in the yearbooks that I saw. But many things have also changed. With WCD for example, we changed our name from Women for Caribbean Development to Wellesley for Caribbean Development. We did this to reflect and respect the identities of our members who do not all identify as women. As for Wellesley in general, a lot has changed. But that may be for another day.
Looking at the yearbooks, also gave me a weird sense of nostalgia. But, also made me excited about the future of Wellesley, and as WCD historian, the future of WCD. People before us have done amazing work and it is important that we continue their legacy.
So, if one day you are bored, I encourage you to go to the library reference room and look through the old yearbooks. You never know what you might find.
-laissa