Article 5: Baylor University Alumni Financial Support: An Archival Case Study on How Campus Expansion Persisted in a World War II Economy

The year 1940 brought with it the recognition of Baylor University’s 95^th birthday and the inception of a decade of institutional change. The Daily Lariat, Baylor’s campus newspaper, published an article in celebration of this birthday occasion, entailing an excerpt which read, “Baylor is built on the gifts of her loyal friends and alumni. She has grown from a small one-building school at Independence to the largest Evangelical religious school in the world. It is now felt that Baylor is on the threshold of an even greater expansion than any of us have dreamed. Her alumni and friends will not fail her” (Gailey 1940, 2). In a decade of great financial need, former students were called upon to pick up the burden of not only ensuring institutional stability but engaging in the growth and development of campus.