Changes across the ages: The Picket evolves over the years

Changes Across the Ages: The Picket evolves over the years

By KEEGAN BREWSTER

September 17, 2015

(THE PICKET)—After many changes throughout the years, The Picket is going digital and will not be publishing a print edition.

The Picket’s stories will be published on an app, available now for Android and will be released in iTunes in October.

(Picture above from 1985 Picket newspaper)

The Picket has changed drastically since its beginning in 1896, when its stories were either about new additions to the school or schedules. If there were any pictures in the paper at the time, they were drawings.

It changed within four years to be formatted more like a novel, with the paragraphs as wide as the paper so it was just the beginning an article on the front page. Sometimes, the articles were actually literary pieces and sometimes they were news pieces. The photos were still only drawings and the advertisements were only in text.

In the 1920s, The Picket went back to traditional newspaper style in columns, without any pictures.

(Picture above from 1968 Picket newpaper)

In the 1930s, the pictures were still drawings, but they were more detailed. Stories were on faculty news, the exam schedule, alumni news and other similar stories.

Pictures started to appear more often in the 1940s and dominated the cover pages. Stories were about school happenings, organizational news and World War II. There was even an article about the draft status of Shepherd University students.

In the 1960s, there were more articles on the front page, with more pictures and bigger headlines. Up to this point, headlines were only slightly bigger than the article print but that changed around this time. Articles included stories about student elections, theater festivals, the Vietnam War and campus construction.

(Picture above from 1945 Picket newspaper)

During the 1980s, a social section with photos from events, started to appear, along with comics. The front page usually had a box with small pieces of information about events happening on campus soon, similar to the emails students receive now from Student Affairs. Articles were on topics such as sports, new majors and funding cuts. Pictures were prevalent during this time.

During the 1990s, photos were prevalent still and have continued to be. Articles were separated into sections more often, such as the Bulletin Board, Campus Wire and Ram-blings. Articles covered campus events, funding cuts and new faculty members.

(Picture above from 1923 Picket newspaper)

The changes will continue as the Picket transitions to digital this semester.

Keegan Brewster is a staff writer for The Picket. She can be reached at kbrews01@rams.shepherd.edu and followed on Twitter @keequinnb