Friday, March 27, 2015

Pogo Goes to Dartmouth

A cartoon figure in a Dartmouth jacket yelling "Vox clamantis in desert!"
A few weeks ago a researcher was in trying to track down an article from Look Magazine about Dartmouth. He knew it was by John Lardner (son of Ring Lardner, Jr.) and an approximate date, but not much more.  We found the article individually cataloged by one of our intrepid archivists of yore. The real thrill was the illustrations by Walt Kelly featuring his legendary character, Pogo.

The article, "The Young Stay Young at Dartmouth," appeared in the June 2, 1953, issue and was unexpectedly timely. As Dartmouth moves to ban hard alcohol from campus, we read that:
The fact is, though, that no one gets very shaky at Dartmouth, on drink. In and out of the fraternities, it is a beer school, not a hard liquor school. To get hard liquor in bottles--New Hampshire being a non-package state--you have to go three miles down the pike and across the Connecticut River into White River Junction, Vt. Few Dartmouth men have the ready cash or the inclination to make this run often, for that purpose.
A cartoon showing a bustling Dartmouth campus, with two animals-like figures looking on.
 To see the article and all of Walt Kelly's illustrations, ask for DC History LD1441.L373.

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