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The team's daily routine was to start classes at 7 am and attend until 1:30 pm. They could then play and exercise for awhile. Then in the afternoon they would continue their studies until 10:45 pm. They may participate in extracurricular activities except fraternities, which was theorized would interfere with their studies. The average student typically studied 15 hours' class work a week, but the brain team would apply 25 to 30 hours a week. The average student attended college 8 months a year, but Jacobs' team would attend the college 11 months out of the year. The courses taught at the university would be on the sciences of astronomy, geology, paleontology, and anthropology. They would be on various types of art and would also include physical exercise, shorthand, Greek, French, German, Italian, Spanish and philosophy.<ref name=GFT10_14_1939>{{cite news |author= |title= Intellectual Giants to spend six years learning everything |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74930327// |work= Great Falls Tribune |page= 6 |location=Great Falls, Montana |date= October 14, 1939 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref>
The team's daily routine was to start classes at 7 am and attend until 1:30 pm. They could then play and exercise for awhile. Then in the afternoon they would continue their studies until 10:45 pm. They may participate in extracurricular activities except fraternities, which was theorized would interfere with their studies. The average student typically studied 15 hours' class work a week, but the brain team would apply 25 to 30 hours a week. The average student attended college 8 months a year, but Jacobs' team would attend the college 11 months out of the year. The courses taught at the university would be on the sciences of astronomy, geology, paleontology, and anthropology. They would be on various types of art and would also include physical exercise, shorthand, Greek, French, German, Italian, Spanish and philosophy.<ref name=GFT10_14_1939>{{cite news |author= |title= Intellectual Giants to spend six years learning everything |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74930327// |work= Great Falls Tribune |page= 6 |location=Great Falls, Montana |date= October 14, 1939 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref>


One winner of the six-year Oglethorpe scholarship, Marshall Asher Jr of [[Athens, Texas]], gave details of his experiences as one of brain team. He explains that in the summer following his high school graduation he entered a state-wide contest for a six-year scholarship to Oglethorpe and won a position in line for the education. It was as a result of scoring high on a comprehensive set of exams covering a wide range of subjects that were taught in high schools. In the middle of September 1939 he was notified to report to Oglethorpe to replace a member of the experiment that dropped out. When he arrived the first thing that happened was that he met the other ten young men who were participating in the program. Then he was notified of the conditions regulating the scholarship. He was guaranteed a room, board and regular school fees if he would follow the rules of the experiment. The most important one was that he was to buy all the necessary books and keep them in his position. The next rule set up was that he was to attend a designated church each Sunday that was assigned by Jacobs. Other rules to be followed was that he could not smoke, drink liquor, gamble or swear. He was to remain in his room every evening, except Saturday, to prepare for the next day's lessons. Other rules were that he was to follow a daily schedule with time allotted for classes, meals, exercise, reading in the library, studying and sleep. He was told that the education that he was to receive would include every subject taught in the university and would take six years of study at 11 months a year. He was told that he would take twice the load of the average student and be expected to make grades of at least 90. At the end of 20 months he was the lead student with an average grade of 95 and was one six students remaining in the rigid rule project. He had received a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree. All the students that would graduate at the end of the six year period would receive the special degree of doctor of arts and sciences.<ref name=TPN6_26_1941>{{cite news |author= Marshall Asher Jr |title= Texan leads brain team, qualifying far B.A. in 20 months |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74955070// |work= The Paris News |page= 10 |location=Paris, Texas|date= June 26, 1941 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref>
One winner of the six-year Oglethorpe scholarship, Marshall Asher Jr of [[Athens, Texas]], gave details of his experiences as one of brain team. He explains that in the summer following his high school graduation he entered a state-wide contest for a six-year scholarship to Oglethorpe and won a position in line for the education. It was as a result of scoring high on a comprehensive set of exams covering a wide range of subjects that were taught in high schools. In the middle of September 1939 he was notified to report to Oglethorpe to replace a member of the experiment that dropped out. When he arrived the first thing that happened was that he met the other ten young men who were participating in the program. Then he was notified of the conditions regulating the scholarship. He was guaranteed a room, board and regular school fees if he would follow the rules of the experiment. The most important one was that he was to buy all the necessary books and keep them in his position. The next rule set up was that he was to attend a designated church each Sunday that was assigned by Jacobs. Other rules to be followed was that he could not smoke, drink liquor, gamble or swear. He was to remain in his room every evening, except Saturday, to prepare for the next day's lessons. Other rules were that he was to follow a daily schedule with time allotted for classes, meals, exercise, reading in the library, studying and sleep. He was told that the education that he was to receive would include every subject taught in the university and would take six years of study at 11 months a year. He was told that he would take twice the load of the average student and be expected to make grades of at least 90. At the end of 20 months he was the lead student with an average grade of 95 and was one six students remaining in the rigid rule test project.
<ref name=FWST12_30_1941>{{cite news |author= |title= Brain Team of university threatened |url=
|work= Fort Worth Star-Telegram|page= 4 |location=Fort Worth, Texas|date= December 30, 1941 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref>
He had received a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree. All the students that would graduate at the end of the six year period would receive the special degree of doctor of arts and sciences.<ref name=TPN6_26_1941>{{cite news |author= Marshall Asher Jr |title= Texan leads brain team, qualifying far B.A. in 20 months |url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/74955070// |work= The Paris News |page= 10 |location=Paris, Texas|date= June 26, 1941 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{open access}} }}</ref>


[[File:JamesOlethrope.jpg|thumb|upright 0.5|James Olethrope]]
[[File:JamesOlethrope.jpg|thumb|upright 0.5|James Olethrope]]

Revision as of 20:04, 2 April 2021

Thornwell Jacobs
Dr. Thornwell Jacobs, president of Oglethorpe University, sealing the last object holder to go into the Crypt of Civilization.
Born(1877-02-15)15 February 1877
Clinton, South Carolina
Died4 August 1956 (aged 79)
Clinton, South Carolina
Occupation(s)Presbyterian minister, author, educator, business executive
Known foreducator, "time capsule"
Parent(s)William Plumer Jacobs
Mary Jane (Dillard)

Thornwell Jacobs (February 15, 1877 – August 4, 1956) was an educator, author, and a Presbyterian minister. He earned degrees from the Presbyterian College of South Carolin and also attended and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.

Jacobs reestablished Oglethorpe University becoming its president and developed special intense educational programs. At the university he conceived the Crypt of Civilization time capsule idea for a historic time collection of 1930s cultural objects sealed in a specially designed place on campus for people of the 82nd century to find to see how the people on Earth lived in the 20th century.

Early life

Jacobs was born at Thornwell Orphanage in Clinton, South Carolina on February 15, 1877. The orphanage was organized and developed by his father, Reverend William Plumer Jacobs. Mary Jane (Dillard) Jacobs was the wife of William and Jacob's mother. Jacobs studied the printing trade while a boy. Later in 1895 when he was 18 years old he earned the Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts degree from Presbyterian College of South Carolina. After that he attended Princeton Theological Seminary that is located in the state of New Jersey and graduated from there in 1899.[1][2]

Adult life

Oglethorpe University, c 1920

Jacobs served as a Presbyterian pastor in Morganton, North Carolina, at the Presbyterian Church from 1900 to 1903. After this time he became vice president of Thornwell Orphanage and began fund raising for the organization.[3] In 1905, Jacobs became involved in religious publications in Nashville, Tennessee. He visited Atlanta after the Atlanta massacre race riots of September 1906 and then in Nashville wrote a novel based on it about the mulatto as a third race, Law of White Circle which was published in 1908.[4]

In 1909, Jacobs returned to Atlanta for a fund raising project to benefit the growth of Agnes Scott College. Later he then decided to establish a Presbyterian college in Atlanta. He planned to reestablish the old Oglethorpe University that his grandfather, Ferdinand, had been a faculty member of and told him stories about of the educated people that came from the institution.[2] Some of them were governors, some of them were poets, some of them were ministers, some of them were farmers, and some of them were merchants. It had been an educational college like Princeton, Yale and Harvard.[5] Oglethorpe University was chartered a Presbyterian institution in 1835.[6] The college had been closed during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and was not reopen until Jacobs intervened and reestablished it in 1913 to 1916.[2] He restored and rebuilt the old college from a fund he raised of $500,000 (equivalent to $14,000,000 in 2023).[7] He became its president on January 21, 1915,[8] and continued in that position for nearly 30 years until 1944.[9]

Educational experiment

Oglethorpe University, c 1939

Jacobs in 1939 set up an Exceptional Educational Experiment training for an 11-man 'brain team' at Oglethorpe University. He selected young men from the top 10 percent of recent high school graduates for his intense university program. In the unique educational experiment, team members were to stay in college six years, do two to three times as much work as an average student and Jacobs planned that they would learn at least four times as much. He theorized his students would go through the sum of human knowledge available at the time much sooner finding the task no harder than ordinary studies to ordinary students. When done it was anticipated the students would have a half dozen ways to make a living to earn above average wages. There was a 21-year-old assistant coach by the name of Frederick Goss who had to leader title of Don. Jacobs raised funds to finance the students through the six years involved.[10]

The team's daily routine was to start classes at 7 am and attend until 1:30 pm. They could then play and exercise for awhile. Then in the afternoon they would continue their studies until 10:45 pm. They may participate in extracurricular activities except fraternities, which was theorized would interfere with their studies. The average student typically studied 15 hours' class work a week, but the brain team would apply 25 to 30 hours a week. The average student attended college 8 months a year, but Jacobs' team would attend the college 11 months out of the year. The courses taught at the university would be on the sciences of astronomy, geology, paleontology, and anthropology. They would be on various types of art and would also include physical exercise, shorthand, Greek, French, German, Italian, Spanish and philosophy.[11]

One winner of the six-year Oglethorpe scholarship, Marshall Asher Jr of Athens, Texas, gave details of his experiences as one of brain team. He explains that in the summer following his high school graduation he entered a state-wide contest for a six-year scholarship to Oglethorpe and won a position in line for the education. It was as a result of scoring high on a comprehensive set of exams covering a wide range of subjects that were taught in high schools. In the middle of September 1939 he was notified to report to Oglethorpe to replace a member of the experiment that dropped out. When he arrived the first thing that happened was that he met the other ten young men who were participating in the program. Then he was notified of the conditions regulating the scholarship. He was guaranteed a room, board and regular school fees if he would follow the rules of the experiment. The most important one was that he was to buy all the necessary books and keep them in his position. The next rule set up was that he was to attend a designated church each Sunday that was assigned by Jacobs. Other rules to be followed was that he could not smoke, drink liquor, gamble or swear. He was to remain in his room every evening, except Saturday, to prepare for the next day's lessons. Other rules were that he was to follow a daily schedule with time allotted for classes, meals, exercise, reading in the library, studying and sleep. He was told that the education that he was to receive would include every subject taught in the university and would take six years of study at 11 months a year. He was told that he would take twice the load of the average student and be expected to make grades of at least 90. At the end of 20 months he was the lead student with an average grade of 95 and was one six students remaining in the rigid rule test project.

[12]

He had received a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree. All the students that would graduate at the end of the six year period would receive the special degree of doctor of arts and sciences.[13]

James Olethrope

Oglethorpe's tomb

Jacobs had located in the churchyard of the Cranham rectory in England in 1923 the burial place of British General James Edward Oglethorpe, namesake of the old university and founder of the colony of Georgia and the first governor of the state.[9] He made an effort to have his body's remains and that of the general's wife's moved to Atlanta where they were to be reburied in a tomb on the Oglethorpe campus,[14] but there was opposition from Georgia organizations and English authorities that caused this to not come to fruition.[15] Jacobs expressed a hope that the remains of Lord and Lady Oglethorpe could be moved to America someday in the future.[16]

Crypt of Civilization

Main article: Crypt of Civilization

Jacobs originated and conceived the Crypt of Civilization idea for a historic time treasure trove of 1930s cultural objects sealed in a specially designed room at Oglethorpe University.[17] The room was removed of oxygen and sealed off with welded steel doors in 1940 with the intention of the civilization of the 82nd century to find.[2][9][17] According to the Guinness world records it was successful in being first record of 20th century cultural objects buried away for any future occupants of Earth or visitors that may come to the planet.[18] He planned and designed the permanent storage space to preserve information of the early 20th century in 1930s. He discussed this proposal in an article in Scientific American, November 1936, because he was astounded by the shortage of information on people that lived in communities and settlements that were established as a basis for nations and empires that came about later.[19] Jacobs devised a plan to present a story of customs of humans on Earth and put it down in a detailed written design. He wanted to show the acquired knowledge of people, especially of the United States, up to the present time.[19]

Jacobs put Dr. Thomas Kimmwood Peters in charge of the project in 1937 because of his experience as a scientist, photographer, and inventor. For the next three years most every conceivable phase of living was investigated and cataloged. There were 960,000 pages of book knowledge microfilmed by specially designed cameras of Peters innovation. There were included to show the level of scientific achievement 250 motion pictures about industries, processes of manufacture, surgical operations, scenes of everyday life, fiction films, documentaries, a motion picture history of the United States from 1895 and a still photography history from 1840. Additionally to show the way of living in the 20th century fashions in 30 inch high miniature models were made dressed by prominent costume designers, complete with patterns for full-length reproduction in the future. Also included was a complete five-and-ten-cent store, dishes, newspapers, chewing gum, optical instruments, musical instruments, cataloged musical recordings, scale models of railroad locomotives, automobiles, yachts, ocean liners, airplanes, air-conditioning systems, and samples of food with associated drinks.[20]

The permanent closing of the crypt by welding the entrance door in place sealing it had ceremonies performed May 27, 1940. So that the Crypt of Civilization project and the tomb's location would not be lost, a series of records were made in all the world's major languages and then sent to repositories, libraries, and universities in key parts of the world. The Crypt was closed permanently on May 28, 1940. It is not intended to be opened again until at least May 28, 8113 C.E.. Because of this Oglethorpe University project Jacobs is known as the Father of Modern Time Capsules.[21][22]

George Edward Pendray is the one responsible for the Westinghouse Time Capsule that was buried in 1939 for the New York World's Fair that took place in 1939 and 1940.[19] He "borrowed" the original idea from Jacobs.[23] Originally Westinghouse's project was named time bomb because of its shape, but due to the time period of World War II this was not acceptable and Pendray then coined a new term of time capsule.[24][25] The date of 8113 C.E. was calculated by Jacobs from the first accepted historical fixed date, 4241 B.C.E. This is the time that chroniclers and scholars believe was when the Egyptian calendar became established. The Crypt's projected intended opening is in 6177 years.[9] This was what Jacobs determined as the number of years between 4241 BCE and 1936 CE. He then added the same number of years to 1936, concluding the year as a midway time, and then decided the opening date of the crypt should be no earlier than 8113 A.D.[21]

Death

Jacobs died August 4, 1956 in Atlanta, Georgia. He is buried at the First Presbyterian Church cemetery in Clinton, South Carolina.[26]

Works

  • Sinful Saddy (1907)
  • Law of White Circle (1908)
  • Midnight Mummer (poems) (1911)
  • The Oglethorpe Story (1916)
  • Life of William Plumer Jacobs (1918)
  • New Science and the Old Religion (1927)
  • Islands of the Blest (poems) (1928)
  • Oglethorpe Book of Georgia Verse (1930)
  • Diary of William Plumber Jacobs (1937)
  • William Plumber Jacobs Memorabilla (1942)
  • Red Lanterns on St. Michael's (1940)
  • Story of Christmas (1941)
  • Drums of Doomsday (1942)
  • Step down, Dr. Jacobs (1945)
  • When For The Truth - Reconstruction Days in South Carolina (1950)

References

  1. ^ Marquis 1966, p. 443.
  2. ^ a b c d Paul Stephen Hudson (15 August 2013). "The New Georgia Encyclopedia / Thornwell Jacobs (1877-1956)". New Georgia Encyclopedia. University of Georgia. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  3. ^ "Jacobs Rites at 5 Today was Educator and Author". The Greenville New. Greenville, South Carolina. August 7, 1956. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  4. ^ "The Law of the White Circle". Jackson Daily News. Jackson, Mississippi. January 7, 1909. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  5. ^ "Lo! A university is rising from the dead". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. May 11, 1913. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  6. ^ "The New Georgia Encyclopedia — Education — Oglethorpe University". Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  7. ^ "Oglethorpe founder No. 1 money raiser". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina. December 8, 1940. p. 47 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  8. ^ Webb Garrison (May 11, 1986). "Capturing time in a bottle". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 121 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  9. ^ a b c d "Article on Paul Stephen Hudson". Archived from the original on 2011-07-09. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  10. ^ "'Brain Team' hopes to learn just about all college has to offer". News-Journal. Mansfield, Ohio. October 13, 1939. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ^ "Intellectual Giants to spend six years learning everything". Great Falls Tribune. Great Falls, Montana. October 14, 1939. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. ^ "Brain Team of university threatened". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Fort Worth, Texas. December 30, 1941. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. ^ Marshall Asher Jr (June 26, 1941). "Texan leads brain team, qualifying far B.A. in 20 months". The Paris News. Paris, Texas. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  14. ^ "Georgia's first governor to be reiherenterred". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. September 30, 1923. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  15. ^ "Will Adorn Grave of Oglethorpe". The Atlanta Constitution. Atlanta, Georgia. January 27, 1925. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  16. ^ "Still Hopes to bring Oglethorpe's body to U.S." The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. October 27, 1923. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  17. ^ a b Keith Phillips (August 29, 1990). "Crypt Entombs Secrets of 1930s for Habitants of 82nd Century". The Salt Lake Tribune. Atlanta, Georgia. p. 61 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  18. ^ Dean 2010, p. 18.
  19. ^ a b c "History of the Crypt of Civilization". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  20. ^ "Detailed History / The "Archaeological Duty" of Thornwell Jacobs / The Oglethorpe Atlanta Crypt of Civilization Time Capsule". Retrieved 2021-02-08.
  21. ^ a b "Oglethorpe University - International Time Capsule Society". Archived from the original on 2008-06-20. Retrieved 2008-07-05.
  22. ^ Jarvis 2002, p. 232.
  23. ^ Jarvis 2002, pp. 153–156.
  24. ^ Jarvis 2002, p. 155.
  25. ^ "Time capsules leave behind remnants of our lives". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. July 29, 1993. p. 121 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  26. ^ "Dr. Thornwell Jacobs". The Index-Journaln. Greenwood, South Carolina. August 7, 1956. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.

Sources

External links

See also

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