A Very Special Time Capsule

Spilled beer (brown), now dried

In the world of Special Collections, legends of strange items occasionally drift through the office -- books bound in human skin (no, we don't have one), seal harpoons (yes, we do have one of those!), and other tantalizing snippets. This past week, we rediscovered one of the most Dartmouth-y time capsules ever: a beer can.

During the 1970s, Dartmouth was rapidly changing with women and computers improving campus life. Computer programmers developed Dartmouth's time sharing system, where multiple persons could make use of Dartmouth's computers at the same time. It was completed in the winter of 1977, and the programmers decided to create a lasting time capsule in honor of their creation. They chose a can of Miller beer.

The label on the can reads:

This time capsule was placed in the Kiewit Basement on 26-Feb-1977 to be opend [sic] in 100 years on 26-Feb-2077. The Sysprogs wish you greetings. 

The holes

Sysprogs is a common abbreviation for "systems programmers." Each of the programmers on the project signed  his or her name on two labels on the other side. Many signed their class years after, showing that many students from the class of 1980 were involved with the project.

In May 2005 (only 28 years in!), we discovered that the archival box was -- horror of horrors -- getting moldy. Our Collections Conservator Deborah Howe suspected a leak from the full can of beer. She drained it via two small holes at the bottom of the can.

Today, you can view the can (and the other items in the box, like a small statue of Paul Revere and a super old-school hard drive), by asking for DA-181, Box 4271.

Bound Out

When you think “town records,” you may think of nothing more than mundane city information and tax records. But delving into 19th-century Hanover town records offers quite the surprise. We discovered a deed of indenture, signed by representatives of the town of Hanover, regarding the fate of a 4-year-old girl by the name of Martha Eastman. The town deemed her mother, Josephine, as “not employed in any lawful business” and unable to provide sufficiently for her daughter. During this era, it was not uncommon for the local government to contract the poor into work. Oftentimes, poor adults were provided with room and board, but were required to work off their debts, usually on a poor farm. There were no centralized child services; rather, the town would indenture children, such as Martha, with an individual or family who was willing to take them in.

Martha was “bound out” to be trained as a seamstress and spinster for 14 years (until the age of 18) and to “faithfully serve” Mr. Abraham Perkins, the leader of the Shaker community in Enfield, New Hampshire. According to the arrangement, in exchange for Martha’s servitude, the Shakers were responsible for ensuring Martha’s education and training until the age of 18 when they would provide her with nothing less than “comfortable and decent apparel” – and, we assume, a chance to join the community for life. The Shakers are now mostly known for their furniture, communistic culture, and their belief in celibacy, gender equality, and passivity. For young Martha’s sake, we do hope her upbringing was as wholesome as the Shakers advertised!

Sifting through the other contracts regarding the poor, we found another that involves a boy: Moses Eastman. Moses was another illegitimate child of Josephine, and he was 8 years old at the time he was taken from her to be contracted into service. Unfortunately, he was not sent to Enfield with his sister. Instead, Moses was indentured to Laban Chandler of Hanover, a local farmer, for 13 years (until age 21). We found no additional record of Moses Eastman, besides Chandler’s census information which reported Moses to be Canadian. Also in this census, we know Josephine passed away “as a county pauper” in 1846, the same year that her children were bound out, although there is no apparent record of the cause.

After exhausting several leads on Josephine, her children, and their “masters,” we came to a dead end. Further searching through the Hanover and Enfield records here in Rauner offered no more insight as to where her children grew up, or whom they became. Perhaps in the future, we may stumble upon more clues …  for now, all we can do is wonder whatever became of Martha and Moses Eastman?

To see the Deeds of Indenture for Martha and Moses, ask for the Hanover Town Records, DH-1, Box 10801, folder 18.

Posted for Regan Roberts '16 (congratulations!)

The Special Relationship: Churchill and Roosevelt

The phrase, Special Relationship has come to describe the “exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States.” The phrase first earned its political associations in 1946 when Winston S. Churchill, the former British Prime Minister, referred to Britain’s relationship with the United States during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency as “special.” Since then the phrase has been used to describe other relationships between British and American political figures such as Heath and Nixon, Thatcher and Reagan, and Blair and Clinton.

However, there is a lesser-known yet equally special Churchill-Roosevelt duo that established their personal and political relationship decades before their contemporaries were ever acquainted.

Winston Churchill, the American novelist and Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, first began their relationship around the turn of the twentieth century during a meeting of the Vermont Fish and Game League in September of 1901. Churchill had been invited to address the meeting and Roosevelt attended as the guest of honor.

By 1901 Churchill was already considered a best-selling novelist. He had published two historical novels prior to the release of The Crisis that launched him into literary infamy. The Crisis became the best-selling novel of 1901 and a fan favorite of Theodore Roosevelt. Even before the two men met on Isle La Motte on Lake Champlain, Roosevelt had reached out to Churchill in a note praising The Crisis. Churchill, who supported Roosevelt’s political platform and quietly rallied behind his presidential aspirations, was equally a fan of Roosevelt.

Perhaps it was their similar political beliefs, fondness for the outdoors or respect for one another’s craft that forged the early stages of their relationship. For whichever reason the best-selling novelist and the young politician developed a lasting friendship that survived both of their evolving careers and political ambitions long after their first meeting at Isle La Motte. Roosevelt went on to become President of the United States after McKinley’s death and secured a full term when he won the 1904 election. Churchill also entered the political world during the Progressive Era and served in the New Hampshire state legislature in 1903 and 1905 but was unsuccessful in his run for governor of New Hampshire.

In the papers of Winston Churchill we have several letters between Churchill and Roosevelt, discussing visits to the White House, congratulatory messages on literary success and new additions of family members as well as informing on political situations. In a letter dated September 20, 1906, Roosevelt writes to Churchill asking for “I want you to come alone to lunch with me or else give me a couple of hours when I can go over at length the whole political situation with you.”

If you would like to learn more about their Special Relationship you can request Robert W. Schneider biography of Churchill, Novelist of a Generation, by asking for Rare PS1298.S3. ML-16 will get you Churchill's papers.

Phoebe's Traveling Head

Phoebe, the cottage maid follows its eponymous title character through her daily routines. It could be any other children's book from 1811. But the second half of the title -- Exemplified in A SERIES OF RURAL FIGURES -- makes Phoebe unforgettable.

Each chapter of Phoebe comes with a "figure" that illustrates what Phoebe does in that chapter. Unlike today's paper dolls, only Phoebe's head is removable. After taking Phoebe's head from one figure, you can gently push it into a paper pocket in the next figure. She reads in her bower, goes to market to sell things (and gets extra money just because she's beautiful...), and makes lace.

She also sings some songs that were clearly written by an adult: "How pleasant my labor, to wander away, / The treasures of Nature to gain; to support a poor mother, to toil thro' the day, / And a poor little sister to maintain. / How sweet is the task, for the parent we love ..."

We wish we had some of the other titles advertised on the back: HUBERT, The COTTAGE BOY (the sequel to Phoebe); LUCINDA the ORPHAN, or the COSTUMES; The History of LITTLE ELLEN, Or the Naughty Girl Reclaimed; and especially Frank Feignwell's Attempts to Amuse his Friends (which you just know will go poorly for Frank).

Our copy of Phoebe was clearly well-loved over the past two hundred years -- her face is a bit smudged, and there are some doodles in the text. To play with Phoebe, ask for Rare Book PR3991.A1 P4 1812.

Pseudo Medicine?

At Rauner we have several large manuscript collections which focus on New Hampshire politicians, one of which is the papers of Charles W. Tobey. Tobey, a former governor and senator from New Hampshire, spent more than twenty years in Washington. During that time he was a member of many important committees that influenced the direction of the country, including the Senate Crime Investigating Committee, the Banking and Currency Committee and the Interstate Commerce Committee. However, it was a subject close to home that became the focus of some of his political pursuits in the late 1940s. His daughter Louisa was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1942, and a few years after that, his son Charles, Jr. was diagnosed with cancer, two diseases for which there were few effective treatments.

In response, Tobey did two things. He introduced a bill designed to amend the Public Health Service Act to include research for "the prevention and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Neurological Diseases," in 1949, and he turned to several doctors who promised help through unconventional treatments: Dr. Elias R. Leikind and Dr. Robert Lincoln.

Dr. Leikind received his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School and practiced medicine in New York City. His medical thesis was that "there is an inflammatory process in the pelvis, male and female, that gives evidence of its diseased state not in an abnormal condition in itself but with various symptoms distantly removed in other parts of the body." Reactions from the established medical community were less than favorable. However, Louisa (Tobey) Dean and her husband Sterling were strong supporters, recommending Leikind to the many people contacting Louisa on a daily basis needing help. When Leikind was finally allowed to present his thesis in a paper in front of the Monroe County Medical Society in 1949, the Society concluded that Leikind's treatment was "without scientific proof or merit." Leikind relied heavily on anecdotal evidence from his patients and he lobbied relentlessly, to no avail, be be heard and accepted by the broader medical community.

Dr. Robert Lincoln, on the other hand, fared better than Leikind initially, and even had the support of the Surgeon General. Lincoln's research focused on bacteriophages, viruses that "parasitically attack and destroy specific bacteria." The first patients he treated where people who suffered from sinusitis but Lincoln soon discovered that his treatments were also successful for more serious illnesses, including cancer. Charles Tobey, Jr. had been diagnosed with "the second most vicious form of cancer known to man," and his doctors had given him one or two years to live. After Lincoln's treatment his cancer went into remission and Charles, Jr. and his father Senator Tobey became fervent supporters of Lincoln, trying often, unsuccessfully, to get the traditional medical community, including the American Cancer Society and the National Research Council, to support Lincoln.

If you want to look deeper into the fight between traditional medicine and experimental treatments, including testimonials from patients, ask for ML-3.

For the Love of Beauty

OUCH! This poor guy is benefiting from the latest in medical technology. Too bad he lived in the 16th century.  This early example of skin grafting, where the skin is peeled up from the arm and then grafted to the face, is from Gaspare Tagliacozzi's De curtorum chirurgia per insitionem (Venice: Apud Gasparem Bindonum, 1597), the first western book to describe the techniques of plastic surgery. The skin had to remain attached to the arm to facilitate blood flow until the graft took to the face. The straight-jacket like outfit immobilized the arm relative to the face. It couldn't have been comfortable.

Tagliacozzi was ahead of his time in many ways. He was a strong advocate for sanitation, and worked to minimize scars from grafts. His work pioneered plastic surgery in Europe.

You can see this book in our current exhibit, "The Doctor Will See You Now," on display in the Class of 1965 Galleries in Rauner through June 13. The exhibit was curated by students from Sienna Craig's First-Year writing seminar, "Values of Medicine." After the exhibit comes down, ask for Rare QM21.P528.

Green Key Like it's 1937!

Here at Dartmouth, Green Key has become synonymous with spring time fun. The weekend is full of live music and dancing. College kids take a break from their studies to enjoy the festivities. The past, however, reveals the slightly more formal origins of our modern Green Key.

This ticket from 1937 is a reminder of a very different kind of Green Key event. In 1929 the Green Key Society decided to host a Spring Prom to help fund raise for their group. The success led to an annual event. This Green Key Prom was a ticketed affair that only lasted a single night. Musical acts were added throughout the years. The event became a full weekend as more acts and events were added and frats held parties during the concurring weekend. This prom/house party weekend eventually evolved to what we on campus are familiar with today. While this ticket is a neat keepsake to help remember a different time, you can fortunately enjoy the festivities this weekend without needing a ticket of your own!

To learn more about Green Key Weekend, ask for the "Green Key" Vertical File. The ticket can be found in the "Dances, Ball, Cotillions" Vertical File.

Posted for Angela Noppenberger '17