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Chapter one traces the dining hall’s evolution from wartime facilities to demolition for the library, while chapter two outlines Civil Defense-era federal use and the establishment of computing 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Willliam Buchanan  \nPresented to That Club, November 21, 1994 Updated for the Fortnightly, June 7, 1995  \nPrologue  \nT he following is what is now known about a  \nnameless project in a building that has vanished  \nfrom the Washington and Lee University campus. It involved Lexington housewives in activities so secret, they are still forbidden to disclose them.  \nWhen entering upon and terminating their contracts, these workers were required to sign non-disclosure agreements pledging never to reveal their activities there. They have never been excused from it.  \nMy efforts to secure information from the existing bureaucracy met with a series of runarounds and a final insistence that, despite the end of the Cold War and the disclosure of similar operations elsewhere, revealing what the Lexington ladies did in that space would endanger national security. This account, therefore, is based on information secured from persons not encumbered by that pledge.  \n\n| William Buchanan, a 1941 Washington and Lee University graduate, earned his Ph.D. from Princeton. After U.S. Navy service in World War II, he taught political science at the University of Southern California and the University of Tennessee before returning to teach at W&L in 1966. He retired in 1990 and died in 2003.\u003Cbr>This article is based on his 1994 paper to That Club, a more informal discussion group, but merges updated information he uncovered and included in his Fortnightly paper seven months later. | |\n| --- | --- |\n\n2 Te eeret Laaies’ aseeent  \nCha Pter one What everyone Knew  \nB efore the Second World War, most W&L  \nfreshmen and others of us who did not belong  \nto fraternities ate at the University Dining Hall, familiarly called the Beanery, in the building that is now [in 1994] the Bookstore and snack bar [and since 2007, Holekamp Hall] . The tables were served effectively, even aggressively, by football players on scholarship.  \nIn 1943 a new dining facility was erected to serve the military personnel then occupying the campus. It and the print shop beside it faced the back of Washington Hall. After the war it became the University Dining Hall, accommodating about 250 persons, served cafeteria style, and the old Beanery became the supply store. The new dining hall was an unimpressive cinderblock structure, painted red, and recognized from the start as temporary. Its entrance was located approximately where the wide bridge to Leyburn Library leaves the  \nback quadrangle now. It had an open basement facing the back campus access road and parking lot, at that point in space which is now Northen Auditorium. The Buildings and Grounds Department stored equipment and parked trucks there.  \nThe evolution of the building’s uses are difficult to trace. Once the flood of returning veterans abated and fraternities resumed serving most students, the need for extensive sitdown dining facilities on campus was alleviated. In December 1953, the trustees authorized the closing of the dining hall, leaving the cinderblock building available for other purposes. For a time, on the main floor, the Reserve Officers Training Corps band stored its instruments, pushed back the tables and practiced in the eating area.  \nIn 1976 the building, then listed on campus maps as “Registrar’s Office and Computer Center,” had to be demolished to make way for the University (now Leyburn) Library.  \nTe ola eanery (right), whieh beeaee Washington Annex II, housing aaeinistrative offiees on its eain level. elow that was the “seeret laaies’baseeent,” apparently a baekup eenter for unspeeifieafeaeral governeent operations in ease of eeergeney. At the far left is Reia Hall, W&L’sjournalise builaing; eenter left is Annex I, whieh haa a elassrooe, a eopy eenter anafaeulty ana aaeinistrative offiees. Photo taken shortly before the builaing’ was aeeolishea to eake way for the new library; eourt","cbCaieE9P8kUleEy","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieE9P8kUleEy","pdf",359551,"English","# Prologue\n# Chapter One: What everyone Knew\n## Pre-World War II dining and the Beanery\n## Wartime dining hall and postwar repurposing\n## Trustee authorization to close the dining hall\n## Demolition for the University Library\n# Chapter Two: What a Few Knew\n## Federal tenant and Civil Defense context\n## Trustee approvals and lease details\n## Computer Center under President Cole","[{\"question\":\"What is the purpose of the prologue in this issue?\",\"answer\":\"The prologue explains what is known about a vanished project on the Washington and Lee campus and why information remained restricted, emphasizing that the account relies on sources not bound by non-disclosure agreements.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the building’s use change before Civil Defense involvement?\",\"answer\":\"The text traces a shift from the Beanery dining setup to a wartime dining facility, then to postwar cafeteria service, later closure authorization, and eventual demolition for the University (Leyburn) Library.\"},{\"question\":\"What did the “Office of General Services” contract enable at the campus?\",\"answer\":\"It provided a framework for using university facilities in case of an emergency caused by an enemy attack, leading to approved, confidential federal use of the dining hall basement spaces.\"}]","The Secret Ladies’ Basement - Issue 24 - Spring 2020 - prologue and chapters overview | PDF",1792215597]