A lot changes in 150 years.
Carleton was founded in 1866, when news traveled via telegraph wire, slavery had been abolished only a year earlier, and Northfield, still a frontier prairie town, had just become a railroad stop. In those early days, Carleton’s students arrived on campus in horse-drawn buggies and studied at the school’s preparatory academy before they could begin the college curriculum: Latin and Greek composition, the classics, anatomy and physiology, and mathematics.
Today, first-year students arrive via jets and freeways from all corners of the world to study a broad variety of fields that showcase just how much the world has changed since 1866: Political science students discuss the policies of America’s first black president. Biology students analyze microscopic DNA segments. Music and media studies students consider the influences of Beyoncé’s Super Bowl halftime performance, which aired before a TV and web audience of millions. English students read “classics” that hadn’t yet been written in 1866.
Even as the world and Carleton have evolved, though, some aspects of our campus life have remained constant. Foremost is Carls’ dedication to learning for its own sake, in pursuit of a meaningful, rewarding, and productive life. Scientific discoveries will continue to change how we see the world, technological advances will improve the ways we traverse it—in mind and in body—and cultures and pastimes will shift until today’s pursuits become quaint. But Carleton will go on, bringing the light of learning, the joy of discovery, and the challenges of seeking the unknown to future generations.
This commemorative issue of the Carleton College Voice looks back at where we’ve been in the past 150 years and suggests where we might go from here.