Campus houses unique treasures

There are hidden treasures all over campus waiting to be found by the industrious students of Auburn.

One such treasure trove has been collected in the Special Collections and Archives in the Auburn Library, and students are not only allowed, but encouraged to see these historical artifacts.

"Students are welcome to come here," said Greg Schmidt, Special Collections librarian and library preservation officer. "I mean, they're paying our salaries, of course. If a student wants to come and do research on a number of topics, they can do it."

There are many Auburn artifacts that shed light on Auburn's history, including a rare set of candlesticks made by William Spratling, an Auburn graduate who became a famous silversmith in the early 1900s.

Other artifacts include rat caps worn by freshmen in the '50s and '60s, Old Springfield rifles used by ROTC students in the 1800s and even a Confederate flag from the 37th Regiment, which was made up of Auburn students.

"This is a battle flag for the regiment that was formed out of Auburn," Schmidt said. "This is the 37th Alabama that fought in Corinth, Miss. and Vicksburg and Hatchie Bridge and Iuka, and it ended up with us."

In fact, the archives have memorabilia from both the Confederate and Union armies.

"Confederate collections and Civil War collections are one of our strengths, so we have lots and lots of diaries and letters," Schmidt said. "We have the Civil War saber of James Dowdell, the commander of the 37th."

There are books from the 1400s, around the time the printing press was invented, and from the 2000s, because the people in the archives work to anticipate what will be rare or valuable later.

"They're welcome to look at rare books if they need to look at them," Schmidt said. "We don't check books out, though. They can't come here and get our first edition Catch-22, but they are welcome to come here and read it."

Schmidt said he appreciates all the history that surrounds him in the archives, and he enjoys finding new things to admire in the records.

"Sometimes when I'm out working at the reference desk, I'll just pull out a file and look at it and find little treasures like funny bands that played here in the 1960s all dressed up and Jimmy Buffet," Schmidt said. "All the standards: Chicago, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones. We have photos of all their performances here."

The special archives holds a wealth of history and knowledge, but if you want a more tech-savvy way to enjoy the history of Auburn, the Jonathan B. Lovelace museum may be the place for you.

The museum is a collection of the history of Auburn athletics and was recently upgraded and given a place in the Auburn Basketball Arena.

"It started to become where it was time to upgrade it so it could appeal to more generations of people," said Randy Byars, director of athletic facilities.

Byars said the museum was more traditional before it was moved to the Arena, and there were many upgrades to the new location, including an interactive video screen where you can choose the video you want to watch through a sensor embedded in a miniature goalpost which reads the position of your hand.

"It's a technology we found when we were doing the design" Byars said. "We knew we wanted to do videos, but the question was how would people select them? Push buttons is more '80s, I guess."

Byars said it was important to everyone involved that the museum become more accessible to young people, which was why the technology was included.

"Jay Jacobs, our athletic director, wanted the new museum to appeal to a wider audience, to younger folks who don't like standing around reading labels and looking at old stuff all the time," Byars said.

The museum is updated every year so it will be able to represent not only the history of Auburn athletics, but the achievements we continue to make as well.

"We've got to honor that past," Byars said. "We've got to see where we came from and know where your roots are, but you don't want to make it all about that."

There are many unique projects going on even now that make this University an intrepid pioneer of new technologies.

One such project includes the one-of-a-kind solar car the Sol of Auburn Team made under the direction of team sponsor Sushil Bhavnani.

"This follows on the heels of other cars that we've built, but this hybrid vehicle that's solar, and biodiesel is a practical alternative to other cars that we've built which were race cars," Bhavnani said.

Bhavnani and his Sol Team members made five solar cars which were used to compete in a transcontinental solar car race against other solar car teams, but they decided to forego the race this year to make something unique.

"They (the other cars) were always really elegant, beautiful, hard to believe they could accomplish as much as they could type vehicles, but they were not practical and this is our take on taking that knowledge and that technology and allowing it to mature," Bhavnani said.

Bhavnani said there were unusual challenges he did not foresee because of the uniqueness of the vehicle, but he and his team were able to make the changes needed for the car to work.

"Instead of going 400 miles on the sun every day like the previous vehicles were capable of doing," Bhavnani said. "This one's got a slightly lower range on solar energy, but it is a practical vehicle with a practical driver's posture and a regular look to it."

Bhavnani said he hopes the vehicle will help pave the way for more sustainable energy sources in consumer vehicles.

"Our goal is to prove that there are alternatives that are viable," Bhavnani said. "When you look at student projects, it's a far cry from something that is ready to be used in a production sense, but this points the way to that next step."