Ticknor's View of Dartmouth

We have been posting to this blog regularly for nearly 17 years. For a long time it was twice a week, but then we switched to once a week. So, we have made a lot of posts. That's why we couldn't believe it when we realized we had never posted about this amazing image in our collection. It was purportedly drawn by a young George Ticknor when he was eleven years old and a student at Dartmouth (yes, really--he graduated in 1807 at age 16). His father was an early graduate of Dartmouth and a major donor, and his grandfather lived nearby in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The caption says:

This view of the principal buildings of Dartmouth University is humbly inscribed
to the Honorable John Wheelock, Esquire, L.L.D. President by
George Ticknor, Delineator
and Member of the Sophomore Class, aged eleven years.

It all seems kind of incredible that a thing like this would exist, but it all checks out. We know Ticknor was a child prodigy and that when his father sent him to Dartmouth to study he specifically asked John Wheelock to look after him since he was still so young. It is dated July 1803. Ticknor was born in August 1791, so the age is correct, and when we checked the "Catalogue of Officers and Students at Dartmouth University" from October of 1803, George is listed as a member of the Sophomore Class. We don't see any reason to doubt it. We particularly love the detail in the bottom right corner of what we guess is John Wheelock with a dog while someone nearby swings what may be a cricket bat.

To see Ticknor's drawing, request Iconography 001317 online through the catalog and then visit our reading room.