Trojan Family Magazine

In 1918, many of USC’s male students were preparing to ship off to World War I. The Trojan (the predecessor to today’s Daily Trojan) brimmed with romanticized descriptions of life in U.S. military camps as the nation grappled with its participation in a war its president had desperately tried to avoid.  The daily coming and going of USC students was so different from today’s campus scene of skateboards and scooters, flip-flops and smartphones.

Or was it?

A tour through historical copies of The Trojan shows some striking parallels between USC student life in 1918 and 2018. Take a look below — and if you’d like to look at some of the archival stories yourself, visit the USC Digital Libraries and click “Collections,” then scroll to the University of Southern California History Collection.

Student LifeUniversityUSC History