PROFILE OF AN ARCHIVIST

ABOVE: Early edition of the Wesleyan Quarterly.

LEFT: First issue of the Wesleyan Magazine

OF AN

“The thing about an archive is you don’t usually know you’re going to want to have one until you’re well beyond wishing you had one,” laughs Melanie O’Kelley, Wesleyan’s high school librarian and archivist. “The fact that a school our age has an archive is rare, and that is a credit to the foresight of administrators in the early days on the Peachtree Corners campus.”

The mission of archives for any organization is to document and preserve history to share with future generations. Items stored in the archives have played a critical role in telling the story of Wesleyan School as we grew from a K-8 school in Sandy Springs to a K-12 community in Peachtree Corners. Without the archives, much of our history would be lost.

In the school’s early days in Peachtree Corners when the high school was newly formed, Headmaster Emeritus Zach Young and then High School Principal Brian Kennerly were vocal advocates about collecting items for future archival purposes, recalls O’Kelley. As the school was being miraculously built around students and faculty, there was an awareness that history was being created every day. Extra emphasis was placed on collecting materials that might one day be important to the school’s history and organized into a formal archive.

“If we don’t keep collecting, cataloging, and preserving our history, we lose it for future generations,” says O’Kelley. “Archival work is always a work in progress, and we’re never done. As long as the school continues, there will always be an opportunity to capture the moments of significance each school year. Those items may one day be how a future generation shares the rich history of Wesleyan.”

Located on the top floor of Wesley Hall adjacent to Chapman Library, the dedicated space for archives was originally planned into the blueprints for Wesley Hall. “We have had designated space for collecting and organizing our history for almost as long as we have been on this campus,” said O’Kelley.

Filed with archival quality boxes, file folders, and even special tissue paper to help protect documents, the archives are currently maintained by O’Kelley with the help of Carey Morgan, library assistant. O’Kelley and Morgan have been instrumental in aiding the school community in homecoming events, class reunions, and the recent celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Peachtree Corners campus.

So, what’s the strangest, most unexpected item in the archives? “Oh, by far the broom!” laughs O’Kelley. “Zach Young was notorious for sweeping sidewalks, and we have one of his brooms in the archives.“

Other notable items include original developer maps from several properties the early board members considered when moving the campus; a shovel from the groundbreaking ceremony for Cleghorn Hall; uniforms from the days in Sandy Springs as Wesleyan Day School; and the Bible commentary the minister of Sandy Springs United Methodist Church gave to Young during the service to celebrate Wesleyan Day School’s new venture as Wesleyan School. ■

What’s in your attic?

The Wesleyan School archivists are always looking to grow the school’s collection. Do you have any items meeting the following criteria?

If you have items you’d like to donate to archives, please contact Melanie O’Kelley at mokelley@wesleyanschool.org. A “first” (i.e. game ball from a sport’s first championship).

An example of something that has changed (i.e. different uniforms).

Photographs that are clearly labeled for date, occasion, and all individuals photographed.

BETTY CRAWFORD

JULY 3, 1949 - JULY 10, 2021

Written by Matt Cole, retired executive headmaster for major gifts and planned giving

Courageous, funny, inspirational, and determined are the adjectives that Wesleyan folks would use to describe parent, longtime trustee, and trustee emeritus, Betty Crawford. Betty cast a long shadow at Wesleyan from the campus at Sandy Springs through the move to Peachtree Corners and forming Wesleyan into what it is today. Although a long drive from her home in Sandy Springs, Betty and her daughter, Michelle Adams ’00, made the drive happily.

As a child, Betty competed with her horse in barrel races. She was a tomboy who was never afraid to go toe-to-toe with the boys. That spirit, courage, wisdom, and wit defined her life. When Wesleyan was looking for land and making the uncharted move to Peachtree Corners, the small board met every week. She never missed a meeting. Few knew that at the same time, Betty was battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. As Wesleyan finally bought the land and prepared for the move, Betty was in the middle of her cancer treatment at the University of Nebraska. Betty was told she had a 25% chance to live. According to her, she thought that was about the same likelihood Wesleyan had of making the move succeed. But, as she stated in her retirement speech as a trustee, both she and Wesleyan made it very successfully.

Betty truly understood the role of a perfect trustee. Her daughter recounts many nights when Betty would spend her evenings stuffing envelopes for the development committee, brainstorming in a trustee meeting, or counseling in a parenting meeting. In all those jobs, Betty made it fun for everyone with her marvelous wit. She used her wit to tease herself and make difficult tasks and decisions seem more manageable. A fellow trustee recounted her wit was so powerful that it would be 15 minutes before the room understood its full impact. Betty was also very generous and was always the first trustee to make a pledge to every building campaign — including the current campaign, the Campaign for Students.

When her son-in-law, Stephen Adams, was opening a business in Sandy Springs, Betty recommended that Stephen invite the mayor of Sandy Springs, who declined the invitation. Adamant that the grand opening would be done properly, Betty called the mayor and kindly told him that he would be coming and that she appreciated his attendance. Despite her small stature, she commanded respect because of her kindness.

In her final years, Betty dealt with shingles, respiratory problems, and the concurrent illness of her beloved husband, Jim. Yet, she never lost her fighting spirit or her great humor. As a strong Christian, she was a woman of faith which carried her through more than 20 years of “sick days.” Wesleyan has lost one of its true heroes. When we talk of standing on the shoulders of giants who have come before us, she is one of those giants. ■