As students go through the rituals of pre-registration on campus, this week, it’s fun to look at an image of registration from the Fall of 1961, in Darby Gym, when everything was done by hand, face-to-face.

What curricular requirements would have been on the minds of students in 1961 as they selected their courses?

The College had just made some important changes to these requirements the year before:

  • It eliminated 3 requirements (e.g. 1 course in English & Speech, 1 course in Modern European History, and a numerical distribution requirement).
  • It added four new required courses:  Humanities I (first semester) and Humanities II (second semester), Historical Studies I (second semester) and Historical Studies II (third semester).
  • It kept in place required coursework in science, foreign language, fine arts, religion or philosophy, and physical education.
  • It also retained the requirement of passing a swim test (or, alternatively, completing a course in swimming).
  • Lastly, the college created a new “junior liberal arts exam” that 3rd year students would have to successfully pass to graduate (beginning with the class of ’63, who were no doubt excited to be pioneers in this regard).