Dartmouth Students Arrested in Alabama

In Martin Luther King's May 22, 1962 address to the Dartmouth Community, he made a call to action for leadership from religious institutions. It was his assertion that, "It is one thing to rise up with righteous indignation when the Negro is lynched in Mississippi, or when a bus of Freedom Riders is burned in Anniston, Alabama. But a white person of goodwill in the North must rise up with as much righteous indignation when the Negro cannot live in his neighborhood simply because he's a Negro; or when a Negro cannot get a position in his particular firm; or when a Negro cannot join his particular fraternity; cannot join a particular academic society."

Among the many Dartmouth students who heeded King's call were John Liutkus '65 and Roger Daly '67. In the winter of 1965, Liutkus and Daly worked with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in voter registration drives in Selma, Alabama, during which time they were both arrested and jailed. Liutkus wrote to the Rev. George Kalbfleisch, Director of Undergraduate Religious Life at the College, on January 25, 1965, with the details of a march on the courthouse to deliver an injunction that would prohibit the Selma sheriff from "intimidating and arresting voters." He expressed the difficulties he encountered in his role as leader, noting that, "You are not only responsible for yourself, but also all the people who are looking to you for leadership. You have to make decisions that affect dozens, and even hundreds of people. What you say or do may result in people getting beaten and there would be no way of helping them." He went on to say that he would likely be in jail again before Rev. Kalbfleisch received the letter, a prediction that came true less than a week later.

The Dartmouth followed Liutkus and Daly's activity heavily in late January and early February of 1965, featuring statements from the men on their condition and the circumstances surrounding them as well as an excerpt from one of Liutkus' letters to Rev. Kalbfleisch. Liutkus' work with SNCC was part of a year-long leave of absence that would end in September of 1965.

Posted for Jessica Krug '11

Elizabeth's Court Revealed

Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth is, at first glance, an unimpressive pair of volumes bound in blue leather. However, a closer look at the gilt fore-edge of each book reveals patches of color peeking through. When the books are opened, the gilded edges shift and the colors resolve into exquisitely detailed scenes of Elizabethan England.

In the first volume, a very recognizable portrait of Henry VIII is paired with a view of Hampton Court Palace, a tiny red-coated guard standing watch in the background. As the reader moves through the history of Elizabeth's life, Henry VIII disappears and Elizabeth I, paired with a view of London from Westminster Abbey, comes into view on the book's other side.

The technique of painting the edges of books is known as fore-edge painting (the fore-edge being the edge opposite the spine), and was popular in England around the time that Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth was published in 1819. Before each volume was bound, the text block was slightly fanned open, then clamped in a vice so an artist could paint the scene. After the painting was finished, the book was allowed to spring back to its normal shape and the edges were gilded, protecting the painting and concealing the color until the book was opened again, this time to the surprise and delight of its reader.

Ask for Rare DA355 .A5 to see this transformation for yourself.

Posted for Anne Peale '11

Cane Rush

Spectators Watching Cane Rush

Canes have a long and varied tradition at Dartmouth. During the 18th and 19th centuries freshmen were not allowed to carry canes. The carrying of canes was reserved for upper class students only, as it was a symbol of maturity, class and distinction.

Cane rush is one of a number of rushes that have come and gone in the history of the College. These rushes (different from rushing a fraternity) usually involved the physical removal or capture of some item or items. The competitions usually took place between the freshman and sophomore classes.

Members of the Class of 1886 following the
Cane Rush of 1883 against the Class of 1887

In 1868 the faculty abolished a long-standing tradition called football rush because they found it disruptive and destructive to both students and property. Its loss was much lamented by the students who felt the need for some physical outlet for energies that had been bottled up in the course of study. In the spring of 1869 they replaced the football rush with a new custom, cane rush.

For cane rush, freshmen would appear in a prominent place, often at chapel, carrying canes. The sophomores would then respond en masse trying to remove the canes from the freshmen. As with football rush, this was not a gentle competition and usually resulted in damage to property and persons. Cane rush was banned by the Faculty on several occasions, but this had little effect and the tradition appears to have carried on into the early-20th century.

A piece of a cane removed from a member of the Class of 1885

Ask for Rauner Photo File: Cane Rush, and Rauner Vertical File: Cane Rush

100 Years of Winter Carnival Posters

In celebration of 100 years of graphic design fun and folly, the Friends of the Dartmouth College Library and the University Press of New England are happy to announce the publication of Winter Carnival: A Century of Dartmouth Posters. The book features full-color plates of each of the Winter Carnival posters housed in the Rauner Special Collections Library and essays by Steven Heller, Gina Barreca '79, Jay Satterfield and Peter Carini.

An exhibit in Baker-Berry Library accompanies the publication. The text for the exhibit is taken directly from the book and the images are from Rauner Library's vast collection of photographs documenting the history of Dartmouth. The essays are both celebratory and critical of the posters and of the social milieu that created them. We could never hope to capture the full spirit and history of Winter Carnival in a single exhibit, so we have opted to try to illustrate the sentiments expressed in the book. While you are there, don't miss the 40 posters hanging down Berry Main Street by the circulation desk!

A Foley House New Year's Resolution

Aegis, 1971

In January 1971, Foley House, then a fraternity within Dartmouth's Greek system, published a resolution to cease to exist as a fraternity but remain a social organization on campus arguing: "the brothers and sisters of Foley House believe that the fraternities should not and can not play a significant role in Dartmouth College's future as a coeducational institution." It was not a surprising statement from the house that had been bucking the system for several years. Foley House was among the first of the Greek houses to break with their national chapters over race black balling and, in 1966, they dropped their Greek letters and renamed themselves in honor of History Professor and fraternity alumnus, Al Foley. In 1969 they went co-ed before the College by accepting two women as members during one of Dartmouth's co-education weeks--the women were students at Dartmouth, they reasoned.

Aegis, 1971

At the time of the "resolution," Pilobolus founding-member Robert "Moses" Pendleton, and future Congressman Paul Hodes were both members of the house. But, like so many New Year's resolutions, this one was short lived. Foley House remained in the Greek system for another 15 years. The organization still exists as an affinity house devoted to communal living.

Through the College Archives, you can piece together a rich history of many social organizations on campus. Perhaps you should resolve this year to visit Rauner and explore the history of a part of Dartmouth important to you.

Robert Frost's Christmas Cards

In his December 24, 1929, letter to Robert Frost, Joseph Blumenthal, head of the Spiral Press, writes that he and his wife feel privileged to have the pleasure of using Frost's poem "Christmas Trees" for their Christmas card that year.

Apparently Frost himself thought the idea a good one; in 1934, he and the Spiral Press began a formal collaboration on annual Christmas chapbooks, which was to last through Frost's final Christmas in 1962. Used by the Blumenthals and Frost, as well as collectors, friends and family, the cards were illustrated by a number of artists, including a favorite illustrator of Frost poems, J.J. Lankes.

Shown here is the cover of the 1941 card, with a Lankes print about to be used in the upcoming publication of A Witness Tree, in 1942. Frost inscribed this card to Dartmouth librarian Harold Goddard Rugg:

Picture of a Witness Tree
As in my book about to be;
Which see

1951 Christmas card inscription to Mrs. Eberhart, wife of poet Richard Eberhart

1942 card, with a hand-colored illustration by J. O’Hara Cosgrave

Come to Rauner to see the entire collection.

Winter; or, The Causes, Appearances, and Effects of the Great Seasonal Repose of Nature

Robert Mudie, born in Scotland in 1777, was a teacher, author, editor and illustrator, who wrote or compiled nearly 90 volumes in his lifetime. Among them is Winter…one of his 4-volume series on the seasons.

Of particular interest in this book, as well as several other of Mudie’s works on the natural world, is the frontispiece by George Baxter. Baxter, born in England in 1804, is credited with developing the first commercially viable system for producing color prints. His method combined intaglio and relief printing methods, starting with a key engraved metal plate and employing as many as 20 subsequent color blocks or plates. Using oil ink to print, allowing each color to dry before adding the next, and demanding perfect registration, Baxter’s intention was to create fine color prints at a price that would make artwork more commonly available.

Baxter patented the Baxter Process in 1835, and later sold licenses to other artists of the time. After Baxter’s death in 1867 the process fell out of use, with the introduction of faster, and cheaper, chromolithography.

Ask for Illus B334muw.