Alumnus Preserves Generations of University History Through Calyx Donation
More than a century of Washington and Lee student life comes alive at Fancy Hill through a nearly complete Calyx collection donated by Stephen Scully, ’76.
By Jada Arredondo, ‘29
June 15, 2026
(Stephen Scully’s donated Calyx collection on display outside the Fancy Hill tavern. | The Generals Redoubt )
For Stephen “Steve” Scully, ’76, Washington and Lee University has never been just a place, but a story handed down from generation to generation. Now, thanks to the donation of his extensive Calyx yearbook collection to Fancy Hill, Scully has enabled future generations of students to continue that story.
Years before Steve or his older brother, Christopher Scully, ’75, ever thought about college, their parents traveled with friends to Fancy Dress in the 1950s. Scully’s mother, who was pregnant at the time, returned home with an unexpected refrain echoing in her ears.
“People would keep telling her wherever she went, ‘If it’s a boy, send him to W&L,’” Scully recalled.
The suggestion lingered. Years later, after growing up in New Rochelle, New York, the Scully brothers visited Lexington for a campus tour. While Christopher interviewed with the dean of admissions, the younger Steve found himself paging through several Calyx yearbooks in the admissions office.
“I began to stare through them and think, ‘Wow, this is a cool place,’” he said.
Christopher enrolled first and graduated in 1975, followed by Steve in the Class of 1976. A history major, baseball and football player, Calyx sports editor, and self-described lover of university tradition, Scully immersed himself in many of the experiences that continue to define his relationship with Washington and Lee fifty years later.
That connection only deepened as his children arrived in Lexington. John Scully, ’09, ’12L, became a Double General, while Patrick Scully, ’12, later continued his education at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce. Both sons married fellow Washington and Lee alumni.
As his family’s ties to the university grew increasingly multi-generational, Scully spent years assembling Calyx yearbooks from across Washington and Lee's history.
Then, in 2009, an extraordinary opportunity emerged.
Scully and his wife discovered that the University Registrar’s nearly complete run of Calyx yearbooks was headed to auction. Recognizing the significance of the volumes, he didn’t hesitate to pursue them.
“I checked my bank account and bid every dollar I had,” he recalled.
With that acquisition, what had begun as a handful of historical artifacts became a tangible record of the university’s past.
“Knowing that I would be able to protect the history and those books was the world to me,” he said.
For Scully, the Calyx volumes are far more than annual snapshots of student life. They are windows into the changing character of Washington and Lee — moments preserved in photographs, traditions, personalities, and campus experiences.
He frequently revisits editions from major periods in American history, especially those published before World War II. Reading them can be a moving experience precisely because modern readers know what came next.
“Some of those boys were going to fight,” he reflected. “Some weren’t coming back.”
Yet, Scully delights in the details preserved within the volumes: football teams traveling south by train to face prominent opponents, Fancy Dress celebrations from another era, changing campus architecture, Mock Convention, and countless moments of student life captured in photographs and doodles.
“You kind of see the university change,” he said. Some changes were welcome; others made him appreciate even more the traditions worth preserving.
When Scully learned more about The Generals Redoubt’s mission to preserve Washington and Lee’s unique heritage, donating the collection became an obvious next step. He already knew Kamron Spivey, ’24, TGR’s executive director, and had previously discussed the yearbooks in passing. Fellow Houstonian and TGR founder Rex Wooldridge, ‘64, ultimately encouraged him to make Fancy Hill the collection’s permanent home.
Scully had only one condition: the books couldn’t be sequestered in storage. Protecting heritage, he believes, matters only if people can readily access it.
Thanks to Scully’s generosity, students, alumni, and visitors can now explore decades of university history firsthand. The collection, including the inaugural 1895 edition, is prominently displayed outside Fancy Hill’s historic tavern.
In many ways, the donation reflects the same feeling Scully experienced as a teenager standing in the admissions office, turning the pages of old Calyx volumes for the first time: the realization that Washington and Lee’s story lives not only in its buildings and traditions, but in the people who preserve them — and occasionally in the pages of a yearbook.
Help Complete the Collection
Thanks to Scully’s donation, along with a subsequent donation of recent yearbooks from the university, Fancy Hill now houses a nearly complete collection of the Washington and Lee Calyx.
The collection is still missing the following editions: 1900, 1943, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.
Anyone who may be able to assist in locating these volumes is encouraged to contact The Generals Redoubt.
(Christopher Scully ’75 and Stephen Scully ‘76 in front of Washington Hall | 1976 Calyx)