“This is the institution of the people; more and more it is conducted for the people; and increasingly is it to live, not merely with, but in the people – an integral part – a vital organ – of the people.”

So said Dr. Patterson Wardlaw about the University of South Carolina in a 1939 article in The Carolinian titled “The Future of the University.” As a longtime faculty member and the university’s first dean of education, Wardlaw played an integral role in shaping USC’s history around the time of its centennial and is the namesake of the building in which the College of Education resides.

Now, thanks to Wardlaw’s great-granddaughter, Lee Wardlaw Jaffurs’, recent donation of a wealth of his materials, students and researchers will get an even deeper look into his life as well as the history of higher education at the University and abroad.

“My dad passed away five years ago, so there is no one left alive who knew Patterson Wardlaw (his grandfather),” says Jaffurs. “So, it's time to share his personal materials with as many students, professors, and other historians as possible.”

Wardlaw was hired at the University in 1894 to serve as professor of pedagogics and assistant professor of ancient languages. Promptly upon his arrival he opened the “normal department” for training teachers. A few years later in 1899, Wardlaw’s devotion to improving teaching and education in South Carolina led him to begin offering free summer courses to teachers after their school years ended, which are among some of the first summer classes offered. He became the first dean of the School of Education in 1907, and the school continued to grow while under his leadership.

“We've long had a small but important collection of Wardlaw's papers that attest to developments in the state's educational system

during the early twentieth century -- a period of economic and social change,” says Nathan Saunders, Director of the South Caroliniana Library, where the materials are held. “This new addition will more than double the size of our existing holdings and help us better understand both educational practices and teacher training at a critical moment in South Carolina higher education history.”

The donated items include materials such as textbooks Wardlaw used in the classroom, grade books, his application to become a professor at the University in 1894, his diplomas, day books, calendars and other records detailing his work in the College and at the University, a journal detailing his experiences studying at the University of Berlin in 1888, and even his doctoral hood.

“Going through the materials felt like a combination of Christmas morning and a treasure hunt,” says Jaffurs. “I learned a lot about my family – not only their personalities, but their struggles and disappointments and frustrations – as well as simple joys and major accomplishments – over the years.”

While researchers and students have been able to make great use of the current Patterson Wardlaw collection, which primarily consists of his published writings and some of his papers, these items provide a richness and depth that will make the collection even more useful.  

“I — and other researchers and teachers — will be able to use these materials for years to come,” says Christian Anderson, professor of higher education and director of the University’s Museum of Education. “For example, when I teach about the influence of the German university on American university in the late 19th century, I will be able to use examples that are very close to home — Patterson Wardlaw’s journals about his experiences studying at the University of Berlin in 1888.”

These materials provide not only a look into Wardlaw’s own life, but also a glimpse of what the University, and higher education, looked like while he was alive. It’s clear from his writings that Wardlaw cared a great deal about the University, and the initiative of education. Now students and researchers can see even more tangible objects that attest to that passion.

“These materials from Lee Wardlaw are an incredible gift to the University and to the College of Education,” says Anderson. “Students in my class on the History of Higher Education are currently researching the history of the College of Education and as such, they can immediately make use of these items.”