File:1876 Catalogue of Monroe High School - DPLA - 576eab18e7a8ded6517bdf508fac33a6 (page 15).jpg

The note written on the front by none other than J. D. Hodges (who was once the Principal of the Monroe School) indicates that the catalogue originally belonged to him: “Don’t let this catalogue get lost! I would not take five Dollars for it.” The Librarian of the Union County Public Library at the time of the donation was Kathryn Morrow and she quipped in a news article, “We, today, wouldn’t take several hundred dollars for it…”. (Monroe Journal, May 30, 1956, p2) The catalogue includes a description of the school and the grounds (page 10), describing the building as “new, tasteful, substantial brick…constructed in the form of a cross, three stories high…”. Page two lists the Trustees, the Board and the Executive Committee and includes the well-known names of S. H. Walkup, J. D. Stewart, T. D. Winchester and W. H. Fitzgerald. Page three gives the names of the faculty members such as Miss Sallie C. Fife, Instructor of Music, and so forth. Pages 4-6 gives the names of the students totaling a little over 250 in number. The majority of the students were from Monroe and the surrounding areas of Union County but there were students from Abbeville and Wild Cat, South Carolina and places in North Carolina, such as Fayetteville. Pages seven-nine give the “Course of Study” and included Astronomy and Rhetoric. The latter pages, besides the description of the school and grounds, lay out what the school offers in the way of facilities and other advantages; admission policy; the school terms; expenses, government of the school; prohibitions (passing letters, notes fell onto this list); testimonials and more.