A Parrish Thanksgiving

When Collier's needed a good holiday cover, they knew who to turn to: Maxfield Parrish. In the early 1900s Collier's was becoming the most popular of the muckraking magazines. It was required reading for millions of Americans. Along with several other prominent painters and illustrators, Parrish was a regular contributor for major holiday issues. Parrish's cover art, sometimes melancholy, usually sentimental, and ever hopeful, helped to set the mood the magazine was after. We have proofs from many of these in our Maxfield Parrish collection. Here are three covers devoted to the Thanksgiving issue. They evoke a quintessential American holiday.

Incidentally, the editor of Collier's at the time was Norman Hapgood who would later marry Elizabeth Reynolds. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood became Dartmouth's first woman faculty member in 1918!

 To see them, ask for ML-62, Box 12.

"Is It You?"

This is a line uttered by actress Jane Seymour in the 1980 romantic drama film Somewhere in Time. In the movie, Seymour portrays the fictional character of Elise McKenna, an actress living in the early part of the 20th century who falls in love with a writer from 1971, portrayed by the late Christopher Reeves. It is a tale of star-crossed love and was based on the novel "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson.

Matheson based Elise's character on the actress Maude Adams who was a famous stage actress in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, Adams is best known for portraying Peter Pan on the American stage in 1905.  However, as an actress she was in demand, touring the country in plays such as The Little Minister, Quality Street, Joan of Arc, and The Legend of Leonora. She retired from the stage in 1918 and did not return until 1931, when she played in a production of The Merchant of Venice in Ohio.

At its release Somewhere in Time was not a critical success but has over the years become a cult movie whose followers meet once a year at the famed hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan where the movie takes place.

Matheson used many characters from Maude Adam’s life for his book, including basing Elise’s manager in the book on Charles Frohman, the man who oversaw Adam’s career. He also gave his protagonist the name of a roommate of Adams'.

We have here at Rauner a small collection of Maud Adams’ papers. The collection is particularly rich in photographs of Adams on and off the stage.

Maude Adams retired again from acting in the 1930s and became the head of the drama department at Stephens College in Missouri where she taught until 1949.

To view the collection, ask for MS-285.

Dough for the Big Game

Charles Sylvester was a member of Dartmouth's class of 1905 and the son of a shoe maker in Haverhill, Massachusett. Throughout his years at college, he kept up a regular correspondence with his sister and his mother, writing at least once a week, often twice.

His letters open up a view into college life not usually well documented: the day-to-day struggles of a student of modest means. The letters from his freshman year are focused on the many jobs he takes on to earn money, alongside his commentary on Dartmouth's social world. Football, of course, dominates most of the conversation. On Thursday, October 17th, 1901, he writes:

The college will be depopulated within a few days, about five hundred fellows are going to the game, probably more. Those who haven't the "dough" are borrowing and those who have are lending with an open hand. Chase is going and is going to Groveland [MA], Sunday. Don't I wish that I were. I shall not, however, borrow any money.

That Saturday, the day of the game, he reports:

Wouldn't I have liked to have seen that game. The college--what there is left of it--is crazy. They telegraphed the results up just as soon as it was ascertained.

He clearly wasn't one of the guys with the "dough."

You can read all of Sylvester's letters by asking for MS-853.

Sine of the Times (well, they are periodicals ... )

On May 28th of 1993, Edward P. Sine '51 passed away at his home near Seattle, WA. Originally from Buffalo, NY, Sine had graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth and then gone on to earn an M.B.A. at Columbia University. Soon after, he became an investment analyst and never looked back, finding quite a bit of success in the field. Although Sine made his fortune in finance, he was deeply influenced by a professor of Comparative Literature during his time in Hanover. Professor Herbert Faulkner West '22 made such an impression on Sine that his former student once said that West was "the greatest teacher I have ever known. His compassion, his understanding, and, above all, his humanity, made him a giant among his fellow educators."

In February of 1993, a few months before he died, Sine wrote a letter to the college, informing them that he wanted to make a bequest in honor of Professor West. The gift he gave was a kingly one: 3,000 original watercolors and drawings by noted British illustrators and 6,000 books illustrated by them, about them, or referring to them. At the time, the gift made Dartmouth one of the best research institutions in the nation for the study of the British illustrated book. As Sine said in his letter, he was "particularly delighted that [the collection] is going to Dartmouth College, where it can remain as a permanent tribute to the memory of my friend and mentor."

Although we have relied upon the Sine collection quite often for teaching purposes, and have blogged about it on occasion, we wanted to promote a little-known sub-category of the collection, namely, Sine Serials. The Sine Serials collection consists of impressive runs of mostly 19th-century British magazines and periodical publications that contain numerous fascinating and engaging illustrations. One of those magazines, Punch, is often considered to be the quintessential British illustrated humor magazine. The first issue of Punch was published in July of 1841; the magazine remained in publication for over 160 years, with only one brief hiatus in the 1990s. Punch's name was a reference to the puppet Mr. Punch of "Punch and Judy," a traditional slapstick puppet show often associated with British culture. Among Punch's achievements is the first use of the word "cartoon" to refer to comic drawings.

To explore any of the fascinating titles in the Sine Serial collection, search the catalog using the keyword "Sine Serials" and limiting the result to Rauner Library. To look at issues of Punch in particular, ask for Sine Serials AP101 .P8.

"An Acquisition"

On March 13, 1862, Henry B. Atherton, captain of Company "C" 4th Regiment Vermont Volunteers wrote a letter home to his wife Abbie. It was just one of many letters he had written since he had been requested by the Governor of Vermont to raise a company. He and Abbie had only been married a year and were separated when they were still newlyweds. What made this letter different from the others was that it mentioned an "acquisition":

I am writing at Colonel Veasey’s headquarters. I have made an acquisition today, viz: Henry Turner a contraband 16 years old, bright and active. He left his Secesh Master yesterday. His mother with four children and three grown women have gone to Washington. The boy will go with me wherever I go and finally, I presume to Vermont.

Henry Turner was part of an exodus of black families fleeing slavery after they discovered that the Union soldiers were across the river in Virginia. We do not know why Atherton hired Henry, nicknamed "Vort." Unions soldiers were allowed to have servants and Turner stayed with Atherton in that capacity. In his diary for the day Atherton wrote, "Take a little contraband, 15yr. old from the Provost Marshall’s for a servant with his mother’s consent. His name is Henry Turner [Vort]."

On April 16, 1862, Atherton was severely wounded at Lee’s Mills during General McClellan’s peninsular campaign and resigned on August 12, 1862. It was then that Turner came home with Atherton to Vermont. By all accounts, Turner was accepted into the family. He lived with the Athertons in Cavendish, Vermont, where Henry Atherton’s mother Roxane taught him to read and write and made him clothes.

By 1864, Turner had mastered writing and he wrote a letter to Atherton appearing to ask for a wage increase of "one dollar," which Atherton agreed to pay him. That same letter also includes news written by Atherton’s brother Joseph who felt that "Vort has worked hard for the Dollar but has not made so much progress in writing as he ought to." With Henry Atherton being occupied with his legislative duties, Turner worked primarily with and for Joseph on the farm and sawmill.

When he was suitably prepared, Turner attended the Duttenville district school, the same school Henry Atherton had attended as a boy. We do not really know what became of Turner, although, in another letter he sent the family in 1879, he describes his work in Boston as a driver for "the richest man in Cambridge."

Henry B. Atherton’s correspondence is part of his papers (MS-1409), which we have recently acquired and processed.

Doing What Has to Be Done

This coming Monday, November the 11th, is when the United States of America celebrates Veterans Day. This federal holiday shares the date with holidays celebrated by other countries such as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day. Whereas those holidays traditionally mark the anniversary of the end of World War I, Veterans Day celebrates the service of all US military veterans. Dartmouth has historically seen significant participation in wars that have involved the United States, especially the world wars. In World War I, a total of 2,672 Dartmouth alumni were in uniform as well as another 700 in the Student Army Training Corps on campus. The number of Dartmouth participants in World War II was even greater; a guesstimate by the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine in August of 1942 affirmed that more than 6,300 alumni would have enlisted within the year.

Here at Rauner we have an amazing collection that bears testimony to and honors the memory of military veterans who served during that war. This collection of World War II narratives contains letters, postcards, V-mail, newsletters, transcripts and newspapers clippings of personal narratives of Dartmouth men involved in World War II. The narratives, mostly in the form of letters, document the lives and activities of Dartmouth affiliated men and women in civilian life, military training and in active military duty in all theaters. Many of the narratives are short, but some provide details about life during the war. The letters were sent to various members of the Dartmouth community and collected into a group following the war, most likely by Maude French and Harold G Rugg. The primary recipients are Alan Ackerman Beetle, Class of 1936; J. (James) Moreau Brown, Class of 1939; Maude French, Art Librarian; Harold Goddard Rugg, Assistant Librarian; Herbert Faulkner West, Professor of Comparative Literature and William Maynard, Professor of Romance Languages. Also included are an assortment of pamphlets, guides and ration books.

In a letter that Ernest M. Hopkins addressed to "Dartmouth Men in the Armed Services," dated December 20, 1944, the President of Dartmouth College at the time emphasizes the "mingled feelings of pride in you, anxiety about you, and affection for you that we here have for you there." For each one of the alumni in service at the time, Hopkins goes on to say that he realizes "what it means that among the thousands of you who serve, some live daily amidst deadly hazards, other in suffering of mind or body or in dire discomfort, and still others in demoralizing boredom. This knowledge makes us living comfortably at home very humble concerning the little that we can do but vicariously very proud because of the spirit in which you are doing what has to be done." Today, we feel the same measure of humility and gratitude for all who have and continue to put themselves in harm's way while serving their country.

To see the World War II Narratives collection, come to Rauner and ask for MS-460. To see Hopkins's letter to the alumni servicemen, ask for the World War II vertical files.

"Camouflaging" Mrs. Hapgood

On September 27, 1918, the Dartmouth Board of Trustees officially appointed Elizabeth Hapgood instructor in Russian, making her the first woman to be appointed to the faculty. It was not a noble effort on the part of the College to diversify its faculty or a movement for gender equality. Instead it was a decision made out of desperation, fraught with worry and angst.

You see, Dartmouth wanted to start teaching Russian. World War I and the Russian Revolution demonstrated a need for government officials and business people with an understanding of the culture and ability to speak the language. Dartmouth was ready to help create these future internationalists, but they hit a problem. They couldn't find any men capable of teaching Russian.

By happenstance, there was a highly qualified, 24-year-old Russian speaker with teaching experience in Hanover at the time who was available. The only difficulty for Dartmouth was that she was a woman--and that kind of freaked them out. Louis Dow, who headed the Department of Romance Languages, and President Ernest Hopkins sent a flurry of memos back and forth lamenting that there was not a man to teach Russian, and debating the future consequences of putting a woman on the faculty. At one point, Dow exclaimed, "I wish there was some way of 'camouflaging' Mrs. Hapgood." They finally relented and made the hire, but not after some disturbing soul searching.

To learn more about the hiring of Elizabeth Hapgood and the stories of other women who broke through Dartmouth's faculty gender barrier, come to the Woman on the Faculty: A Dartmouth Centennial conference this Friday, November 8th, at Occom Commons!

After that, you can learn more by asking for the Elizabeth Hapgood Affliates File, and the correspondence between Dow and Hopkins in DP-11, Box 6743, Folder 20.