Why Read the Dragon?

'Nid Byd, Byd Heb Wybodaeth’

‘A World Without Knowledge, Is No World’

In the same way that our academic knowledge is gained from books, an awareness of our predecessors and an esprit de corps is gained from student magazines; in Aberystwyth, 'The Dragon'.

First published in 1878, six years after the founding of the university, the Dragon served as the student mouthpiece for sharing views, informing the student body and raising awareness of current issues. It was how the students conveyed their opinions on issues as diverse as the segregation of education and socialising to commemorating the students who lost their lives in World War One.

Researching the role of Aberystwyth in the First World War was my introduction to the Dragon and the first time I sat with the hundred year old document in the Aberystwyth University Hugh Owen library was a revelatory experience. The words written by our academic forebears capture the resolve of the students and the gravity of the situation in a way that it would be impossible to capture if writing retrospectively.

“The Session has begun amid circumstances of unprecedented gloom; death has been amongst us and War overshadows us increasingly. .. Nevertheless we feel that it is the duty of every one of us to maintain a cheerful courage and to fail in nothing in the zest and enthusiasm which is the very soul of our college life.  Though our 'great task of happiness' is somewhat harder than usual we must not falter in it, but pursue it with even greater vigour than in normal times. Such at least shall be the aim of The Dragon.”

The opening paragraph of volume XXXVII, above, is from November 1914, less than four months after the declaration of war and at a time when students, the same age as current undergraduates had left the university to fight in France. The resolve of the students remaining in Aberystwyth and the ones editing 'The Dragon' is shown throughout the war years and should be seen as particularly important as it shows the war from the perspective of students, at a time when none had a knowledge of what the war would entail. There was, at this point no conception in anyone's mind of the scale of the first industrial war, or the previously unknown effects of technological advances upon the scale of destruction and suffering seen.

Although the officially sanctioned magazine of the university, the Dragon could be contrarian in its views and maintained its integrity in the face of opposition from the university's governance. When issues divided the management and the students, such as the desire for mixed gender social areas, the Dragon agitated for what was right, not the party line. The nature of the magazine, with student editors and student contributors, all for students to read contributed to an atmosphere of camaraderie and the view, from the students' perspective that their years in Aberystwyth would be the best of their lives.

The annual change of editorial staff meant that no agenda was pursued and the magazine was able to maintain editorial enthusiasm because the staff were volunteers for a year, and doing it because it was what they wanted to be doing with their time.

The Dragon offers possibly the most revealing written insight into the history and culture of  Aberystwyth University and its alumni available. The fact that these archives exist and can be accessed by students and staff of the university for research or even to gain an awareness of the students who went before us should not be taken for granted or forgotten. Thanks to the dedication of the student contributors and editors, as well as the decades of archivists caring for the collection, Aberystwyth's future generations have this link to their past.

Blog by Otto Jones - AberForward Project Assistant

Bibliography
'The Dragon' Volume XXXVII. Various contributors. Aberystwyth University Archives, online at: 
https://cymru1914.org/en/view/journal/4127592