Special Collections and Archives preserved items from the Union and Johnstone ahead of demolition
To pave the way for growth and progress, sometimes you have to tear down the past. Such is the case with the Edgar A. Brown University Union and Johnstone Hall, which were demolished on the Clemson University campus last summer. While those buildings are now gone, they will not be forgotten, thanks to efforts by Special Collections and Archives to preserve artifacts from the buildings.
Nick Richbell, head of Special Collections and Archives, and Sean Baker, exhibits and artifacts curator, were given the opportunity to walk through the buildings and take items to preserve in their collections. The items included brochures and other promotional pieces from Graduate Student Government, handmade banners used by candidates running for undergraduate student body president, commemorative plaques from the walls of Harcombe Dining Hall, signage from the old Edgar’s Pub that was once in the Union, and even plastic plates and napkins marked with the Tiger Paw.
Among the items selected for preservation were these bowling balls and pins, mailboxes, pool table racks, and arcade coins. Paired with archival photos, they provide a snapshot of what was once student life at the Union and Johnstone Hall.
A version of this article originally appeared in Clemson News.
Racks
The first pool tables on campus were installed in Holtzendorff Hall in 1916, but these eight-ball and nine-ball racks come from the pool tables that were a staple at the Edgar A. Brown University Union from 1975–2023.
Mailboxes
These combination lock mailboxes were state of the art when they were installed in the post office branch in Johnstone Hall in 1955. The post office operated in Johnstone Hall from 1955–2023.
Bowling ball and pins
Although the Edgar A. Brown University Union’s bowling alley was not completed until 1975, President R.C. Edwards proposed a student union with a bowling alley as early as 1959. This bowling ball and pin are all that remain from its nearly 48 years of operation.
Arcade coins
Tokens like these were required to play the many games that came and went over the decades in the Edgar A. Brown University Union, including The Who’s Tommy Pinball Wizard, Pac-Man, Cruis’n USA, and Dance Dance Revolution.
Captions by Sean Baker
Series 100: Clemson University Photographs Collection, Clemson Special Collections and Archives.
