The Atlanta Journal- ABAC to Christen 4 Buildings At Home-coming Dec. 3

In The Atlanta Journal, November 28, 1955, there appears an article depicting the respect found for Mary E. Creswell, as one of first dormitories on campus was named after her. The article titled “ABAC to Christen 4 Buildings At Home-coming Dec. 3” delves into the chosen candidates to have their names immortalized around campus by the board of regents. The article describes the honorable work of Mary E. Creswell by explaining how she was both the “first dean of women of Abraham Baldwin and headed the home economics department there for many years”(The Atlanta Journal).

The excerpt regarding Mary E. Creswell is followed by three other names that have been chosen to represent a building on campus. Each name is highly esteemed and creable with their contributions and groundbreaking movements that have shaped Georgia. In this, the audience realizes the authority and validity that Creswell holds as her name stands next to public figures such as Susie T. Moore, a state regent and member of the board of regents.

The University saw the naming of these buildings as such a moment in history that the University president, George P. Donaldson, created a service held at each building. UGA felt indebted to Creswell as they honor her in the highest way by naming one of the few dorms after her. In fact, the dormitory still stands to this day, and is referred to as Creswell Hall, forever allowing the students at the University to remember her name and appreciate her legacy.

Mary E. Creswell held such a powerful name that the University incorporated it in many different ways. Oddly enough, the first female calf born in the Agricultural Department at UGA was also named after Creswell. In a recent article it describes how they “decided to go for a strong female representative of the University of Georgia, Mary Ethel Creswell was not only the first dean of the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS), she was also the first woman to graduate from UGA with a bachelor’s degree” (Bohen). Her name is held to a standard in which powerful moments and monuments are named after her, as she was such a powerful woman that established many firsts not only at the University itself, but nationally.