Cameron DeJong, a 2002 Elon graduate, recently donated a copy of the March 1892 edition of “The Elon College Monthly” to Belk Library. The 20-page publication featured stories for faculty, staff and students, including one titled “Popular Errors in Training our Girls.”
DeJong, pictured at right with head librarian Kate Hickey, noticed the publication for sale on Ebay in the summer of 1999 and placed a bid. “The item was being sold by someone in Virginia and pretty soon I found out I was in a bidding war, but I was determined to get it.” While he says he ended up paying about $50 for the magazine, “the value of it goes much beyond that for me.” He never met the person who was selling the magazine and says it was mailed to him from an address in Tidewater Virginia.
DeJong, who lives in Bath, N.C., says he decided to donate the 110-year old magazine to Elon because the library had the resources to care for it. Hickey says the publication will be kept with other historical Elon materials in the library’s climate controlled archives. It will also be placed inside an acid-free storage pamphlet to preserve it.
DeJong also said he viewed the donation as his way of giving something back to Elon. “Since I’m just out of school, I’m really not able to donate financially, so I thought this was a way to do something good.”