Recently more photographs were added to the Historical Images of the Health Sciences Campus collection in Scholarly Commons, Augusta University’s institutional repository. It is often thought-provoking when looking at photographs from the past, including photographs of buildings that are no longer standing. The below photos are of the former Faculty Pavilion that once stood where today’s Critical Care Center stands as part of the Augusta University Medical Center.
The Faculty Pavilion began as the Residents’ Quarters around 1957 for the residents working at the Medical Center, which was then known as the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Hospital. Sometime in the 1970s the building was no longer used as housing for the hospital residents and became administrative offices for faculty and was renamed the Faculty Pavilion.
As seen in the above photos, the Faculty Pavilion had a courtyard with a fountain which provided the campus an outdoor venue for employee and student events. The Department of Occupational Therapy was located in the Faculty Pavilion. In the Spring 1994 issue of the MCG Today, the OT department’s founding chair, Dr. Nancy Prendergast said the following:
“Especially in the faculty pavilion, I think we were the entertainment for the campus…So many of our learning activities are fun. I remember once, our students had to plan an activity, and they organized an Easter egg hunt in the fountain area of the faculty pavilion. They hid eggs everywhere—even in the fountain and on top of the lights. We were out there, getting eggs out of the fountain, looking under bushes, shimmying up the lamp posts. Faculty from other departments just came out and stood on the balconies to watch us.” (MCG Today, Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 12)
The Faculty Pavilion was torn down in the early 1990s in order to make room for the Medical Center’s Critical Care Center which opened in 1992. To see more photographs, see the Health Sciences Campus – Events and Scenes and the Health Sciences Campus Buildings – Extinct collections in Scholarly Commons.
– Renée Sharrock, Curator
The photograph I’ve chosen this month is a part of the J. Louis Sayre personal papers (ARCHS 128), a collection dedicated to an Augusta musician and music teacher. Back in 2005, Reese Library set up an exhibit in celebration of J. Louis Sayre’s life, music, and his impact on the Augusta community. Recently, one of his descendants inquired about him, and was delighted to check out the abundance of materials we have here in Special Collections. The J. Louis Sayre collection consists of clippings, photographs, brochures, advertisements, flyers, letters, post cards, and sheet music.
Louis Sayre was known as “Augusta’s Music Man.” He worked his way up through city government as a secretary, clerk, stenographer, commissioner of public works, and then secretary to the Mayor. Sayre was appointed organist and choirmaster at St. John’s Methodist Church in 1904. He served at the church for thirteen years. In 1925, he was appointed director of the Academy of Richmond County Band and conductor of the Georgia Railroad Concert Band.
If interested in the history of music here in Augusta or J. Louis Sayre’s life in particular, please book an appointment to come and see ARCHS 128 in Reese Library’s Special Collections & Institutional Archives.
-Maranda Christy, Special Collections Assistant
About the Heritage Unit: The University Libraries have a department devoted to the preservation and archival keeping of the campus’ unique histories. The Historical Collections & Archives (HCA) is located on the 2nd floor of the Greenblatt Library on the Health Sciences campus. Special Collections & Institutional Archives is located on the 3rd floor of the Reese Library on the Summerville campus.
