A Better Chance at Dartmouth and beyond

In 1963, 23 headmasters of prestigious preparatory schools met with the intention of expanding their student bodies to underrepresented and disadvantaged students, which eventually led to the creation of the Independent Schools Talent Search Program (ISTSP). That same year, faculty and staff at Dartmouth proposed that the College begin a summer academic program targeting deprived teenagers.

In a joint effort between the ISTSP and Dartmouth, the ABC (A Better Chance) Program was formed with the goal of giving students from underprivileged backgrounds the skills needed succeed in competitive preparatory schools, and eventually attend college and pursue leadership roles in society. Dartmouth took the lead in providing students with an intensive summer program to help bridge the gap between their prior educational institutions and their future boarding schools, while the preparatory schools were expected to prepare admitted students from the program for college.

In the summer of 1964, 55 boys came to Dartmouth as ABC students, and the number of talented and qualified students steadily grew, as well as the number of colleges and universities. By 1969, over 1,400 students had been placed in private preparatory schools through the program. However, the growing numbers of qualified students quickly outpaced the space and resources of the participating private schools, making clear that the program needed to expand. The public school ABC Program was formed to meet the increased need, and involved housing 10 to 14 ABC students in a predominantly white community with a strong public school system that could still give students skills to excel in college.

The public school leg of the program kicked off at Hanover High School, and was modeled after the boarding school experience. Students lived with a high school teacher, their family, and two Dartmouth undergraduates. The program was an immense success. By 1970, 15 communities had developed their own ABC residences, serving 196 public school ABC students. Interestingly, the Hanover High School program was also the first to admit female students, showing the opportunity for the program to successfully implement co-education.

Posted from an online exhibit curated by Anneliese Thomas '19, recipient of a Historical Accountability Student Research Fellowship during the 2019 Winter term. The Historical Accountability Student Research Program provides funding for Dartmouth students to conduct research with primary sources on a topic related to issues of inclusivity and diversity in the college's past. For more information, visit the program's website.

The Love of Irish

As a part of celebrating Irish-American Heritage Month during March, we're taking this opportunity to highlight one of Dartmouth's most beloved sons of Éire. Sidney Joseph "Irish" Flanigan (seen here on the right next to classmate Lou Lewinsohn) was a member of the class of 1923, a social butterfly, and an inveterate jokester. While a student, he was a member of Phi Delta Theta, Green Key, Casque and Gauntlet, the debating team, the Dartmouth Players, and served as manager of the hockey team. His senior year on campus, he was chosen as the unofficial mayor of Hanover by the student body in a mock election, likely in part because of his campaign's pro-alcohol stance that good-naturedly thumbed its nose at Prohibition.

After graduation, Irish was nearly as active in Dartmouth matters as he had been during his undergraduate days. He served as his Class President, Assistant Class Agent, and Newsletter Editor for almost fifty years. He was also the President of the Alumni Council and the Dartmouth Alumnni Association of Westchester County and even did a stint as Secretary for the New York City Association. In 1953, he co-founded Aquinas House and later took a leave of absence from his career in insurance to fund-raise nationally for a building for the Catholic student center. Nearly a decade later, he was inducted into the Sovereign and Papal Order of the Knights of Malta, one of the highest awards that the Catholic Church can bestow upon its laity. He also received the Dartmouth Alumni Award around that time, the citation for which read, "Dartmouth is written on the heart of Irish Flanigan, just as he is close to the hearts of thousands of Dartmouth men."

One of the reasons for Flanigan's stature among his fellow alumni was his self-sacrificial philosophy of life. He once said to his classmates, "Regardless of one's station, it is given to all to be generous. But the word self must be shoved far into the background so that the heart will have room to enjoy the real happiness and pleasure that comes only in doing for others -- without thought of praise, favor, or reward." Irish Flanigan passed away in his sleep on September 22nd, 1973. In a move that his classmate Charles Zimmerman characterized as "typical" for Flanigan, he had spent a good part of that very day "extending kindness and good cheer" towards two friends who were laid up in the hospital.

Zimmerman went on to pay tribute to Flanigan in his obituary in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine's Class Notes, saying "1923 and Dartmouth have lost an irreplaceable son, one who brought good cheer, good faith, good spirit, and goodness to everything and to every one he touched. All of us are better because of him."

To learn more about Sidney Joseph "Irish" Flanigan's amazing life, come to Rauner and ask for his alumni file.

A Creative Voice for Women

This month is Women's History Month and we are celebrating on our Instagram account, @raunerlibrary, by posting images of amazing women who have made Dartmouth College what it is today. We also want to take a moment here to celebrate one of the phenomenal females from our collections who don't necessarily have a Dartmouth affiliation. Hazel MacKaye was the daughter of Steele MacKaye and a member of a family whose creative and cultural output ran impressively down through four generations. We have the family's papers here at Rauner, including numerous boxes dedicated solely to Hazel.

Although we've posted about Hazel before within the context of the women's suffrage movement, which is arguably how she is best known by the general public, she was a successful theater professional in her own right outside of her activity as a suffragist. As an actor, she toured with Winthrop Ames's Castle Square theater company and appeared in several plays written by her brother, Percy MacKaye.

Hazel's primary vehicle for artistic expression was the pageant play, which she employed to support the suffrage movement. She also wrote pageants for the YWCA (and served as their Director of Pageantry and Drama), had a pageant published by the Department of the Interior, and taught drama at Brookwood Labor College for several years.

Sadly, like so many creative visionaries, Hazel struggled with severe depression for most of her life. Eventually, at the age of 48, she had a major depressive episode and entered a care facility in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She would spend the rest of her life there and later at a similar facility in Greens Farms, Connecticut, before passing away in 1944 at the age of 63.

To explore Hazel's legacy, including her numerous notebooks containing observations and information about pageantry and theater, come to Rauner and ask to see relevant boxes from the MacKaye Family Papers (ML-5).

The Crime of Loving Liberty

A few weeks ago, we facilitated an event at the invitation of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding. The Rauner session was one of many events and activities planned by the Center for its 'Round the Girdled Earth program that will run through August of this year. For the months of January and February, the program made a virtual stop in Latin America and the Caribbean, and so we shared some of our materials from the archives and rare book collections that were relevant to that region.

Among the items we shared was the alumni file of Luis Torroella, a member of the class of 1955 and a Cuban national. After graduation, Torroella joined the Cuban underground in an attempt to overthrow the corrupt Batista regime in his homeland. Reports vary as to whether he was an employee of Batista's regime while fighting against it, but it is generally acknowledged that after the revolution he became the Assistant Minister of Finance in the new government. However, his love for Cuba ultimately proved to be his undoing. When Castro and the revolutionary government embraced Communism, Torroella openly opposed the change and eventually resumed underground resistance.

Luis Torroella was arrested by the Cuban government on June 7th, 1961, on charges of working for the Batista regime, fleeing the island in 1960 to promote uprisings, and being the leader of a group of twelve men who were planning to assassinate Fidel Castro. After being moved from La Cabaña prison in Havana to Puerto Boniato prison, Torroella was shot to death by representatives of the Cuban government on October 31st, 1962.

After the news of Torroella's execution reached the US, the Washington Daily News published an uprecedented editorial titled "A Friend Dies." In their brief but moving address to their readership, the newspaper editors asserted that "Luis' crime was that he loved liberty, and all of us who enjoy freedom can never repay and must never forget our debt to those who, like him, die for it." Eleven years later, his daughter, Cynthia Torroella, followed her father's footsteps into Hanover as a member of the class of 1977.

To learn more about Luis Torroella '51, ask to see his alumni file.

Dartmouth Dining Association staff and the "Dartmouth Experience"

“One would not expect that the woman who scans students’ I.D.s at Food Court and the man who sprinkles sand on the icy sidewalks would have a voice on Dartmouth campus” – Erin Loback ’99, News Editor, The Dartmouth

Dartmouth is a large and ever-changing entity. While the “Dartmouth Community'' is something that is often talked about around campus, there is not much consensus on who this “community” encompasses. During my term of residence at Rauner, I continue to wonder whether the staff of Dartmouth College are widely considered to be part of this community. Quotations like the one above lead me to believe that they are not.

For example, Local Union 560 has been present on Dartmouth’s campus since 1966 and is composed of the service workers at the college, such as those who work in Dining Services, FO&M, and other service departments. Those who make up these departments are often from areas outside of the Upper Valley and come from working class backgrounds, sometimes hailing from a familial line of Dartmouth staff. Over the course of 55 years the union that represents these workers has achieved fair pay and benefits for those who keep the campus running, but not without trial or tribulation. Despite these advancements, those who are in the union are some of the lowest paid staff at Dartmouth and yet they are often the first to receive the blows from an economic crisis.

Following the 2008 market crash, Dartmouth announced a $100 million budget cut and, as a result, would be laying off staff in the near future. The proposed layoffs fueled a debate on campus about what exactly was the “Dartmouth Experience”. President Kim emphasized “preserving the most important aspects of ‘The Dartmouth Experience’” whilst conducting cuts and layoffs. Students Stand with Staff, an unrecognized student organization that stood in solidarity with the service union, launched a poster campaign in response to both the layoffs and the capital campaign. The posters displayed a picture of a Dartmouth student with a staff member with the phrase “This is __ and they are a part of my Dartmouth experience.” While this campaign was met with mixed response, it called into question a lot of the issues that I have identified in my research this winter. Dartmouth, in its most recent iterations, does not seem to think that the people who labor to keep the college alive are integral to the Dartmouth experience.

As a fellow, I have focused on those who work in Dining Services because, of all the service staff, they often have more time to build meaningful relationships with students. Dartmouth Dining has evolved greatly over the last two centuries and, through my research, I have noticed a shift toward commercialization and automation that coincides with similar trends in the American economy. Despite these changes, Dartmouth Dining employees still pride themselves on catering to students' needs and playing a role in their wellbeing. For example, in 1994, Union President Earl Sweet told The Dartmouth that the union decided against a sick-out because “we [the union] work for the students. We don’t want to do work stoppages or do anything to hurt the students.” It is clear through this interview and others that many Dartmouth staff members deeply care about the student population that they are serving and often form meaningful long lasting relationships. If Dartmouth service workers are not only providing the services outlined in their job descriptions, but also emotional support to students, why are they not seen as integral to the Dartmouth experience?

To examine the Dartmouth Students Stand with Staff records, ask for MS-1239.

Posted for Londyn Crenshaw '22, recipient of a Historical Accountability Student Research Fellowship for the 2021 Winter term. The Historical Accountability Student Research Program provides funding for Dartmouth students to conduct research with primary sources on a topic related to issues of inclusivity and diversity in the college's past. For more information, visit the program's website.

Et Tu, Dartmouth Women’s Clubs?

The epigraph from the Boston Dartmouth Women’s Club'sFavorite Dartmouth Recipes, published sometime in the 1960s, reads:

"Upon what meat doth this our Caesar

feed that he has grown so great"

–Shakespeare

Neatly bound in Dartmouth green with a rustic illustration of the lone pine on the cover, the cookbook appears to be a benign, domestic gesture of support on the part of Dartmouth wives and mothers to the college. Mary Carslile, wife of Samuel R. Carlisle class of 1930, is the author of the forward and begins with: "The members of the Boston Dartmouth Women's Club have long felt, modestly, among themselves, that much of the excellence that is Dartmouth is largely due to the fact that the wives and mothers of Dartmouth men are superb cooks." It seems that Carslile chose this quote to suggest women in domestic roles have a strong influence over creating powerful Dartmouth men. Carlisle even cites astronaut Alan Shepard as having a mother who was a club officer and therefore "helped to prepare him for his success.

The Boston women produced and sold this cookbook to bolster the club’s scholarship fund, which may have been an important, albeit indirect, way for them to help shape the future of Dartmouth’s community. However, Carlisle makes it clear that these current club women are not traditional “good girls.” She writes that the original club name, The Dartmouth Matron’s Club, was “soon seemed too staid for the gay doings of the club” and that to raise money the women use all kinds of methods, “most of them legal.” She refers to the club as “Dartmouth Alumnae group,” and puts the word “alumnae” in bold as if to emphasize that these women graduated from the college themselves. Yet, Carlisle tempers her bold statements by writing that the club’s name change and the fundraising strategies were all to promote the scholarship fund, the club’s ostensible purpose, rather than reflect anything about the women in the club.

Carlisle’s diction continues to reveal the tension these women felt between realizing their ambitions and divulging their true personalities and maintaining a veil of passive, proper domesticity:

"We expect that every mother of a Dartmouth boy will own one, that every Dartmouth man will present one with the engagement ring to the girl of his choice; that it will have a place next to the Bible and the Constitution in every Dartmouth home; that it will be placed in every library and every creative kitchen in the United States."

A cookbook is inherently a domestic object, and motherhood and marriage fall into the domestic, feminine sphere. However the Bible and the Constitution are arguably the two most important texts in American history. In comparing the cookbook to those texts, Carlisle elevates the book’s status beyond the domestic sphere and suggests something about the book and it’s creators set out important moral and social values. Perhaps the women thought that this domestic veil was the best way for them to subtly assert their own power in their husbands’ and sons’ lives.

But Carlisle may have encoded a more radical message in her forward. She notably attributes her epigraph to Shakespeare generally rather than reveal that the line is spoken by the shrewd traitor Cassius in the play Julius Caesar. Cassius conspires to kill Caesar to prevent him from becoming a tyrant. Perhaps this epigraph is Carslile’s subtle message that the women of the Boston Dartmouth Women’s Club are not complacent in their seemingly ancillary role that they must play to achieve influence over the College and, by extension, their husbands and sons.

Whether or not Mary Carslile was channeling Cassius in 1966, it is true that the women’s clubs affiliated with Dartmouth didn’t just produce cookbooks. In fact, there was a time when women used these fundraising clubs as a way to escape their domestic duties. Equally important as what went on in the clubs is why there was a need for them in the first place. Dartmouth women have long fought to be included on campus and still struggle to find spaces where they are entirely free to be ambitious. From long before co-education, women-only organizations like the Boston Dartmouth Women's Club served as important early venues for the more elite Dartmouth women to convene and indirectly influence the college.

To see the cookbook, ask for DC History TX715 .D37.

Posted for Cecelia King '23, recipient of a Historical Accountability Student Research Fellowship for the 2021 Winter term. The Historical Accountability Student Research Program provides funding for Dartmouth students to conduct research with primary sources on a topic related to issues of inclusivity and diversity in the college's past. For more information, visit the program's website.

Seeking Truth as a Rule

While preparing for a class this last week on the History of Africa from 1800 to the present day, we explored a small collection that immediately drew us in. The collection consists of the papers of Fela Sowande MBE, a Nigerian musician and composer, who was born in Nigeria in 1905. After receiving an initial education in Lagos, Nigeria, he traveled to London in 1934 to study European classical and popular music.

Over the next several decades, Sowande would accumulate an impressive resume of musical performance and accomplishment: In 1936, Sowande was solo pianist in a performance of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." He also played as duo-pianist with Fats Waller, and was theatre organist for the BBC, as well as organist and Choirmaster at Kingsway Hall, London. Later, he studied organ privately under Edmund Rubbra, George Oldroyd, and George Cunningham and became a fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1943.

Sowande also won several prizes, obtained a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of London, and became a fellow of Trinity College of Music. During World War II, he worked as musical advisor for the Colonial Film Unit of the Ministry of Information, providing background music for educational films. From 1945-1952, Sowande was an organist and choirmaster at the West London Mission of the Methodist Church. Sowande's orchestral works include "Six Sketches for Full Orchestra," "A Folk Symphony," and "African Suite for string orchestra"; these all display clear characteristics of African rhythms and harmonies.

Later in life, Sowande moved to the United States, where he taught in the Department of Pan-American Studies at Kent State University. One of my favorite documents from the collection is his "Standard Rules for the Student," which he presumably distributed at the start of his college courses. He first drew it up at Howard College in 1969 and then eventually "restructured" it during a visit to Dartmouth College in the summer of 1975. One of his rules seems especially relevant to our current climate: "Seek TRUTH and pursue it, to the extent of remaking your own mind no matter the cost, should it become necessary." To explore the Fela Sowande Papers, ask to see MS-78.