Of Soldiers and Sailors: The Unnoticed History Behind Athens' Most Unavoidable Monument

To create effective work, one must understand rhetoric. This applies to any area of composition: writing, painting, graphic design, commercial broadcasting, filmmaking, etc. For this campus history project, the very focus is on such rhetoric, which can be a tricky subject when dealing with history. After all, history standing alone tends to bore audiences after prolonged periods of time. The challenge, then, is to know one’s audience and use that knowledge to create something that will hold its interest. My choice was the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on the College Green. My task was to find a way to present a sample of the monument’s history that would be easily accessible. To do that, I had to consider my audience, the long history of the monument, and what information would be relevant.

Working with any type of historic landmark almost always yields an audience interested in history. From history buffs to curious passers-by, they want to feel the connection to the past. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument, like much of Ohio University’s campus, is over one hundred years old, making it an excellent source of that connection. As a result, the first decision I had to make was how to present the information. My priority was to find a way to appeal to history-intrigued individuals without seeming like a textbook excerpt. In order to create an authentic and interesting feel, I chose to make a series of faux newspaper articles: three pages depicting the front page of fictitious editions of The Athens Messenger. I took information from actual articles written at the time and even included advertisements and pictures relevant to the era.

This ties into the overall tone and look of the piece. By impersonating a historical newspaper and using authentic articles, it more accurately conveys the information as if it were current. This type of relationship is important to anyone who is interested in history in the way that people who like to read want to feel engaged by the book. The use of time-specific fonts, advertisements, and articles make the project more like a replication of old, local history.

However, the drawback to having such a large period of time to work with is deciding what information to include. Putting in too much would come off as rambling, while not enough information would seem cheap. To find the proper balance, I found a link from the Ohio University website that gave articles of the most important events surrounding the monument, accompanied with photographs of the time. The first page tells of the monument’s erection, the second of the delivery of its artillery, and the third of an incident where the artillery was fired off at night, causing damage to surrounding buildings. While not a comprehensive history of the monument, the project tells of the most significant events concerning it, which most of the general public at OU would not otherwise know.

I chose the Soldiers and Sailors Monument for that reason. I have seen it on campus numerous times, yet I never knew much about it. I felt that something so prominent and invested in campus history must have a rich history behind it. In fact, it is the kind of history behind this statue that I find to be most interesting. It is trivial, but still a part of our history. It is a very “niche” type of history—one that deals with minor events on a small scale. But, like learning random, useless information, things always seem more interesting when not mandatory or overused.