History of The Marcolian
The students of Marietta College have published a newspaper since 1875, but it has not always been called The Marcolian.

The newspaper of Marietta College was originally called The Olio.

Following World War II, it was decided that the newspaper needed a new name. A campus contest was held to decide the name, and the winner was Marcolian, a contraction of Marietta College.

Francis W. Herdman, who was a junior at the time, won $10 for the name. The first issue to be called The Marcolian was published on Oct. 13, 1945. Herdman went on to teach English literature at the college for 30 years (1959-89)

The change was announced in the first issue. Below is a reprint of the article:

Oct. 13, 1945
Hail The Marcolian
The “Olio” is no more! Hail to the “Marcolian.”

The recent world war has made advisable many changes in our way of living. To a certain degree the name “Olio” suffers extinction as a result of the war, because during the war years people were forced to use a substitute for butter, and now they cannot chase the memory of it from their minds. To many “Oleo” is that rather undesirable substitute, and they smile when they hear the name “Olio.”

More than that, the name “Olio” has really outlived its original and appropriate meaning. Webster's dictionary defines “Olio” as meaning a “hodgepodge; any mixture.” When the name was first given at Marietta College is was given to a quarterly magazine that included a mixture of prose, poetry and miscellaneous items. When this publication was combined with the “Blue and White,” the campus newspaper, 1932, the name “Olio” was retrained for the newspaper that resulted, and has remained as such until the present.

As the paper is no longer this type of a mixed publication the name has no real meaning.

In search of a new name, a contest was conducted among Marietta students with a $10 cash prize for the name selected. The 40 names submitted were studied by a judging committee composed of Miss Dorothy Blair; Prof. George L. Sixby; Prof. Merrill R. Patterson; Robert Strecker, President of the Student “Body; and Wesley Callender, Editor of the newspaper.

This board narrowed the felid down to three entries, and with the old name “Olio” in case many still preferred it, placing the four on ballots. Each student was given a ballot in assembly Oct. 9. This vote resulted in a triple-tie, necessitating a revote in Chapel Oct. 11. The re- vote gave the paper the name “Marcolian.”

The student who was $10 richer for having submitted the winning title is Francis Herman, a junior.

And so this is the first issue of “Marcolian.” The staff is still experimenting in order to produce the most satisfactory publication possible and requests that any person having criticisms or suggestions put them in writing and send them to the paper.