Archives: History

May 04, 2009

Amherst-Williams 150th anniversary game coverage

The much-anticipated celebrations surrounding the 150th anniversary of the first intercollegiate baseball game garnered coverage in a number of outlets. Former Boston Globe columnist Gordon Edes wrote a nice piece on the re-enactment game for Yahoo! Sports, Charlie Quigg covered the events for MLB.com, and of course, the College has its own coverage in a piece called “Muscle and Mind, Part Two.” The piece links to a set of Sam Masinter’s photos and a video of the introduction to the game.

Brian Meacham '97 at 11:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 15, 2009

Town of Amherst turns 250

If you thought that this past Friday the 13th was the birthday of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and the NAACP only, you forgot one: the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, founded 1759, turned 250.

Yesterday’s Springfield Republican reported some of President Marx’s remarks at the Atkins’-catered town celebration:

Keeping with the family theme Amherst College President Anthony W. Marx said “as a daughter of Amherst founders, we are proud to be part of the community.”

And he said in these dire financial times “we will need God’s help” and the government, but he also said “we need each other” to survive.

For more information on the year-long celebration, visit http://www.amherst250.org.

Mina Suk '99 at 12:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 04, 2009

Celebrating 150 years of Amherst-Williams baseball

On May 3, Pittsfield, Massachusetts will again host an Amherst vs. Williams baseball game, when the two schools gather to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the first intercollegiate baseball game, played July 1, 1859.

“It’s only fitting that this game be played here because of the rich, very rich history that Pittsfield has and has enjoyed as it relates to Major League Baseball,” said Mayor James M. Ruberto on Monday.

The game will be televised on the ESPN U network, the Berkshire Eagle reports.

Besides the anniversary game, a three-inning “vintage game” — played by alumni of the two colleges in period uniforms under 19th century rules — will be held. The two colleges also played a vintage baseball game at Wahconah Park in 1976, but this time noted baseball historian John Thorn will be on hand to teach the squads the rudiments of 19th century baseball.

The chess match between Amherst and Williams originally played the day after the baseball game - which Amherst won, 73-32 in 25 innings - will be re-enacted, as well.

The schools have played each other 292 times, and Amherst leads the series 164-125-2. Each team has won 12 times since 2000.

Brian Meacham '97 at 11:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 16, 2008

Win Smith '71 on the Merrill Lynch sale

Monday was a remarkable day in what is turning out to be a remarkable week (and year) on Wall Street. Lehman Brothers, which started as a dry goods store in Alabama in 1850 and eventually evolved into a globally recognized investment bank, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Our friends over at EphBlog reflected on the Williams connection to Lehman Brothers

Perhaps more stunning was the news that Merrill Lynch, one of the worlds preeminent investment banks (and my first employer after Amherst!), was sold to Bank of America.

Merrill is a company with deep Amherst ties. It’s founder, Charles E. Merrill ‘08, attended Amherst for two years before enrolling in the law school at the University of Michigan (Incidentally, Charles Merrill was the father of the noted poet James Merrill ‘47).

While even people distant from the financial world have heard of Merrill Lynch, few know that the full name of the company is Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. The “Smith” in that list is Winthrop H. Smith ‘16, who eventually served as the managing partner at the firm from 1940 until his death in 1961.

His son, Winthrop H. (Win) Smith, Jr. ‘71, was also a high level executive at Merrill Lynch, serving as the Chairman of Merrill Lynch’s international businesses. He retired in 2001 after E. Stanley O’Neal was elevated to chairman and CEO of the Company (O’Neal was replaced by John Thain in 2007 after Merrill’s tremendous losses in the sub-prime mortgage market were revealed). I had the pleasure of meeting Win Smith once, when I first arrived at Merrill as a summer intern, as he regularly carved out time to meet individually with Amherst students and alumni who were new to the company. It was easy to see why Win Smith was genuinely respected and liked throughout Merrill Lynch by those who came in contact with him. I recall several managers in my end of the company privately expressing disappointment when Smith was not chosen to succeed David Komansky as chairman and CEO.

Smith appeared on CNBC just hours after the sale was announced. In an interview with Maria Bartiromo, he pulled no punches:

SMITH: … and, frankly, I feel a lot of anger. I feel a lot of anger for the former CEO Stan O’Neal, and for the board of directors, who really acted incredibly irresponsibly and got us into this position and dealt John [Thain] the hand that he was dealt today.

BARTIROMO: … Where did Stan O’Neal go wrong and the board of directors at Merrill Lynch?

SMITH: Well, I think it started really day one …

Watch the whole thing. Smith goes through a laundry list of things that went wrong, including the failure of the company’s management to act back in 2006, when it became evident Merrill Lynch was overexposed to certain markets.

Smith also mentioned that it was a sad day. While most people probably feel little sympathy for the plight of banks in the current market (and understandably so), there is something sad about seeing a company such as Merrill, which was really built from the ground up by people like Charles Merrill and Winthrop Smith, Sr., succumb due to the poor stewardship of those entrusted with running the operations. I feel a little bummed too: While Merrill was never perfect, it was a great place for a young trader to work and learn. Merrill also took great pride in its independence as its rivals, such as Salomon Brothers and JP Morgan, combined with commercial banks in the wake of the Gramm Leach Bliley Act.

It’s also a surprise. Merrill, while taking its lumps, had always been good in navigating through rough waters. While Merrill had suffered severe losses recently, most expected the company to make it through after John Thain purged most, if not all, of the company’s bad exposure. In the end, the Stan O’Neal management’s appetite for risk was not tempered with any modicum of prudence and John Thain was probably wise to entertain a well-capitalized buyer. Bank of America, for years longing to be a player in the global capital markets, was the clear winner on the day.

Hat tip: Bess Levin ‘06 at Dealbreaker

UPDATE 9/22: Josh Glasser ‘10 also noted the sale of Merrill Lynch in the Student with a nice biographical piece on Charles E. Merrill.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 02:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 11, 2008

Historic alumni keep turning up

Three men who graduated from Amherst College in the 1880s and 1890s were the subject of some writing in recent weeks.

The Springfield Republican, for example, yesterday reviewed a biography of Charles Swan Walker (Class of 1885, according to the Biographical Record). According to the article, Walker was “the only person ever to earn a doctorate of philosophy from Amherst College.”

But perhaps the strangest twist in Walker’s life occurred while he was a professor of mental science and chaplain at the Massachusetts Agriculture College, which was commonly known as Mass Aggie and later became the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. One day while giving a sermon at the school’s chapel, a student named Harlan Fisk Stone led a rush out of the chapel, Fatherley said during a recent interview. Walker tried to stop the students, but Stone hit Walker and successfully led the students out of the chapel.

Walker succeeded in having Stone expelled from the college, Fatherley said. Stone then went on to Amherst College, where he befriended Calvin Coolidge. The connection eventually led to Stone becoming chief justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

This is the first I’d read of Stone 1894 having spent time at Mass Aggie, but clearly meeting Coolidge 1895 was an important point in Stone’s life—and apparently it was Walker who precipitated that meeting, however indirectly.

Coolidge himself was the subject of a retrospective in the Rutland Herald last week written by Cyndy Bittinger, executive director of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. On the occasion of Coolidge’s 136th birthday (he was born July 4, 1872), Bittinger writes,

His mother gave birth to him in a simple dwelling attached to the store his father ran for the local farmers. Not many U.S. presidents come from such humble dwellings. …in this top-heavy, powerful, executive-run government, we expect only those who have come from well-connected, wealthy parents to run the gauntlet and succeed. You need a leg up, an advantage, a genealogy that places you among the elite. That is why the Coolidge story should resonate just as Obama’s now has become a best-seller on the New York Times book list.

Parker Morse '96 at 01:46 PM

May 21, 2008

Sabrina watch: New York City

Parker has covered the recent heist of Sabrina by a daring group of ’08s here and here.

Some of my classmates now living in New York City reported a Sabrina appearance in that city on Tuesday evening. Could someone send us a report and some photos? Leave a comment or contact us at amerst@gmail.com or dnardo@gmail.com … no questions asked!

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 02:32 PM | TrackBack

May 10, 2008

2007-2008 admissions cycle breaks records

Taking a quick break from the excitement over Sabrina’s liberation from the Bunker, I wanted to post a quick item on this year’s record breaking admissions cycle.

The alternative title to this post could be “Why Brian, Parker and Dave are lucky to have been born in the ’70s” since it is clear we would have faced an even tougher challenge getting into Amherst had we been competing with the ever improving quality of recent applicant pools.

Katie Guthrie ‘11 of the Amherst Student filed a report that covered the key angles.

The headline statistics? The overall acceptance rate for the class of 2012 is a paltry 14.2%, while the regular decision acceptance rate was even lower: 12.5%. The average SAT is now over 1440. This year’s incoming class also contains more students of color and more international students.

While the growing population of 18yr old college applicants is certainly a factor in the increase in applications (many colleges are enjoying record applications), certainly credit must be given to the initiatives at the College and the leading position it has taken to regarding access to a top-quality college education.

The article also notes some other important factors. Namely, the College deliberately cut back on the number of students accepted this year, after last year’s surprisingly high yield.

It will be interesting to see how the pool fluctuates during the summer. College officials have anticipated that the lack early decision application options at Harvard and Princeton mean that the College has likely accepted students who will also be admitted to those institutions. That’s encouraging news for anxious waitlist members. Congratulations to all the new members of the Class of 2012!

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 02:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Sabrina attracts attention

The alleged heist of Sabrina from the College repository by the class of 2008 attracted a great deal of attention yesterday. Having the campus “covered in leaflets,” according to a story in Saturday’s Gazette, may have had something to to with it.

As the Gazette put it,

Sabrina—or more appropriately, stealing Sabrina—has a long history at Amherst College.

Rebecca Binder ‘02 did some digging and found reports of some of the more legendary exploits, including the train-by-the-baseball-game incident in 1922, the hidden in a barn incident (starring future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Harlan Fiske Stone, class of 1894), and this lengthy Times article from 1911, titled “The Thirty Years’ War.” Binder reports that much more can be found in the Times archive by searching “Sabrina Amherst”.

The Gazette went on to quote a College spokesperson:

“We understand the students say they have the Sabrina,” said Caroline J. Hanna, Amherst College’s director of media relations. “We’re looking into it.”

A more direct, if somewhat less official, quote came from President Marx at the Senior Dinner, held Friday evening. According to Lawrence Hamblin ‘08, Marx said,

“Some group of you, in this room, have my nymph! And I want her back!”

Parker Morse '96 at 11:34 AM

May 06, 2008

Douglas C. Wilson '62, 1940-2008

Doug Wilson ‘62 passed away on May 5. For those of us lucky enough to have met Doug during our time at the College, this is particularly sad news. A wonderful person, an ardent supporter of Amherst and invaluable College historian: Doug was each of these things and much more. The College news release is here.

Parker reports that the Daily Hampshire Gazette has also posted a long obituary. Unfortunately, even online access to the obits there requires a paid subscription.

Certainly, there will be an outpouring of remembrances of Doug over the next few weeks. We welcome our readers to share their reflections here in the comments. All of us here offer our condolences to Doug’s family and friends.

UPDATE 5/7: The College has set up a website (password required) where members of the Amherst community can share memories about Doug. For those who are unable to view the page, here are two quick excerpts which convey the impact Doug had on our community:

“Doug was the kind of person we too often take for granted, and one whose absence will be sorely felt.” —Steve Vladeck ‘01

“He was a gentle, very smart, and loyal man. Our world is less rich with his passing.” —Professor Ron Rosbottom

UPDATE 5/9: The Globe’s obituary for Wilson is up, highlighting his time with the College, as well as the oft-mentioned fact that he was the first reporter to break the story of Nixon’s resignation in 1974, while reporting for the Providence Journal.

UPDATE 5/15: Wednesday’s Providence Journal, the paper Wilson worked for when he broke the Nixon story, published a laudatory column about Wilson’s newspaper days, “Almost famous for a day”.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 12:54 PM | Comments (4)

April 12, 2008

Williams baseball game postponed

The 149th anniversary baseball game against Williams scheduled for today (Saturday the 12th) in Pittsfield has been postponed due to weather. It will be played at Waconah Park on May 4th, where it will be the last regular season game for both teams before the NESCAC tournament. The home doubleheader with Williams scheduled for Sunday is still on.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:56 AM

April 05, 2008

Baseball going back to Pittsfield to play Williams

The Berkshire press (which is to say, the Berkshire Eagle and some New York sites) is reporting today that next weekend, the 149th annual playing of the oldest series in collegiate sports—the Amherst-Williams baseball game, believed to have been, in 1859, the first-ever intercollegiate baseball game—will return to its original site, or at least the same town.

According to the Eagle:

When Amherst College challenged rival Williams to a “friendly game of ball” in the summer of 1859, the two schools couldn’t agree on a site until the Pittsfield Base Ball Club stepped up and offered its playing grounds, a field located near the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and North Street.

Of course, as noted in this News 10 report, there is a coffee shop on that location now, so the game to be played on Saturday, April 12 will be held at Waconah Park in Pittsfield. Before the game, a representative from the College Baseball Hall of Fame will designate Pittsfield “The Birthplace of College Baseball” and a sign with that logo will be unveiled at Waconah Park.

After today’s win over Hamilton, this year’s Amherst team stands at 10-5-1; a doubleheader with Hamilton tomorrow and a Tuesday afternoon game at Keene State stand between the them and next weekend’s Williams matchup. The Pittsfield game will be followed by a doubleheader against Williams at home on Sunday the 13th.

Amherst won the 1859 game 73-32 after 25 innings. The Eagle suggests that this year’s return to Pittsfield might be a “dry run” for a more elaborate commemoration of the 150th year.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:48 PM

December 10, 2007

Happy Birthday Dickinson and Dewey

Two figures with Amherst connections share a birthday today, the poet Emily Dickinson, born December 10, 1830, and Melvil Dewey, the creator of the first book classification system, born December 10, 1851.

Dickinson, whose grandfather helped found the College and whose father and brother served as its treasurer, was born in Amherst and spent the majority of her life there, at the Dickinson Homestead, now overseen by the College as the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Dewey, a member of the class of 1874, devised his classification scheme while working in the College’s library as an undergraduate. He developed the system further while serving as Acting Librarian at Amherst after graduating, and went on to help found Library Journal and the American Library Association. More information on Dewey and Amherst can be found in a back issue of the College’s library newsletter.

Brian Meacham '97 at 06:45 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 23, 2007

Marx issues statement on Solomon Amendment

Ten days ago, the College released a statement by President Marx on Amherst’s policy regarding military recruiters on campus. This issue had been a fairly hot topic amongst most institutions of higher education in the last two years until a recent Supreme Court ruling essentially resolved the debate.

The short story: Some colleges and universities had been refusing to allow military recruiters on campus in protest of the “don’t ask don’t tell policy” which essentially forbids homosexuals from serving in our armed forces. In particular, some law schools had been doing the same when military recruiters came looking for new JAG lawyers by refusing to allow the interviews to take place on campus property. The government fought back by threatening to enforce a law know as the Solomon Amendment, which would allow the government to pull all financial support from any school that barred military recruiters. In dealing with the law schools, the amendment is a powerful remedy. Not only can the government pull funding from the law school, but it can also pull funding from the entire university to which the law school belongs. For many universities, the penalties (which I believe also include fines) would be in the 8 figure range, if not higher. Litigation ensued regarding the constitutionality of the law. In the FAIR v. Rumsfeld decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Government. I’ve skipped some details, but that’s the general setup.

That brings us to President Marx’s statement; you can find the whole thing here.

This is the key paragraph:

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that schools must open their campuses without restrictions to military recruiters if the schools wish to receive federal funding—funding that helps support the first-class scholarship and research taking place at Amherst every day. As a result, we have opened Amherst to military recruiters without precondition. We will also sign formal agreements with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at UMass to ensure that our students may participate in its programs. We do not wish to hold the college apart from the armed forces, but rather to honor those who defend our nation.

Additionally, Marx announced he would continue the debate regarding the Solomon Amendment via programming in February: Marx will convene a panel of recent alumni who have served or are currently serving in the military. Marx also announced that the college would host General Wesley Clark and Northwestern University military sociologist Charles Moskos for a colloquium debate on reinstituting the draft.

I think that this is the right path for the college to follow, for a number of reasons. Even though I do not believe that the military should bar homosexuals from serving in our armed forces, I do believe that the military deserves the same access to schools receiving federal funding that other employers receive; I suspect that many who read this will disagree with that position and we certainly welcome all comments and opinions on this issue.

Moreover, I like the College’s stated position because it also implicitly reaffirms something that I think we all believe: Amherst students are intelligent enough to engage the issues and make their own choices when it comes to their respective career paths; the College should not interfere with that process.

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not highlight an article in the November 7 edition of the Amherst Student which adds a bizarre twist to this story (the article is only available via print copy as of this writing). Student Publisher Suvayu Pant ‘09 reported on the November faculty meeting in and article entitled “Faculty Backs Enviro-Studies.” Despite the title, the article was a summary of the meeting, which covered a number of topics. Pant’s article contained the following paragraph (to which I have added emphasis):

[ …] Marx told the faculty that the College will continue its policies on on-campus military recruitment, even after the Supreme Court ruled against policies like the one the College currently holds. In 1987, the faculty decided that military recruitment officers would be welcome on campus, but must explain their “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” on homosexuality. However this policy infringes on a Supreme Court ruling mandating that institutions of higher education be more open to military recruitment. This breech of law could cost the College $600 million in fines. But Marx said the College’s values dictate that it insist military recruiters explain their don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.[ …] Nonetheless, Marx said the College should not discriminate against students interested in joining the military.

It does not take more than a cursory glance at the above paragraph to notice a significantly different tone from the official college statement. I have many questions about what is reported above (is $600 million really the College’s exposure here?), but assuming everything that Pant reported was accurate and putting aside the moral arguments, was the College seriously considering risking a $600 million dollar penalty? While I have no reason to question whether Pant accurately reported the content of the meeting, the notion that the College would even consider taking such a massive penalty, in this case a fine roughly equal to half the current value of the endowment, is absurd. Did Pant’s article contain some sloppy reporting, or did Tony Marx radically change his position in the span of one week?

Comments on any or all of the above are welcome.

UPDATE 11/24: The Student has issued a correction regarding Suvayu Pant’s article. I discuss that correction here.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 01:09 PM | TrackBack

September 15, 2007

Roosevelt Island Sabrina, part 2

I wanted to quickly highlight a comment to our earlier post discussing Sabrina’s appearance on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

The author of Roosevelt Island 360 (RI 360), a neat website/blog dedicated to reporting the happenings on and history of that sliver of land in the East River, has kindly given us an update. Although we should have been the ones to reach out to Bruce Becker ‘80 for more information, we are indebted to RI 360, who has done our job for us and received a very nice response by e-mail from Becker.

Becker, after sharing Sabrina’s history with RI 360, reveals how the sculpture arrived on Roosevelt Island:

The castings were made from a mold of 19th Century casting I located in Rochester Vermont that was in perfect condition. The Roosevelt Island installation is the first casting made of solid bronze and is a stunning setting for her, adjacent to the river and The Octagon.

He also notes that other Sabrinas can be found on the sites of several projects designed by his architecture firm, Becker+Becker.

Sabrina has been installed at a number of other projects designed by Becker and Becker over the past 15 years. Copies can be found at the courtyard of a New York City Housing Authority project at Avenue D and 8th Street in Manhattan, the Times Square Hotel, Urban Horizons (the former Morrisania Hospital) in the Bronx, Avalon Grove in Stamford, The Crescent Building in Bridgeport and The Marvin in Norwalk, CT. None of these installations incorporate the original statue which has been the object of class rivalries at Amherst College.

RI 360 closes its post on the topic by suggesting that a student or alumnus should approach Becker about photographs of the various Sabrinas for a web collage. A great idea, but it might be more fun to work a self guided Sabrina tour into your next trip to the New York metropolitan area and experience some of them yourself. If any Amherst undergrad (or alumn) would like to be our correspondent and take on that road trip, we’d love to see any Sabrina photos that you take.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 11:04 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 09, 2007

Sabrina lands on Roosevelt Island?

Sabrina (or a compelling replica of the sculpture) has apparently found a home on Roosevelt Island, that tiny sliver of land smack in the middle of New York City’s East River.

The sculpture is located on the grounds of The Octagon, a landmark refurbished and converted into a condominium complex. The inquisitive Roosevelt Island resident that happened upon Sabrina has done the research on the sculpture’s history and connected all the Amherst dots back to Bruce Becker ‘80, the condominium developer, (and even linked to Brian’s post on Sabrina’s 2005 reunion appearance here) and notes the coincidence with Amherst’s own Octagon.

I am assuming that this Sabrina is indeed a replica, but please leave us a note in the comments if you can add to the story of Sabrina’s new home.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 12:45 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 24, 2007

Town to ask College for relief?

I do not recall any significant “Town versus Gown” issues while I was a student at Amherst (ignoring, of course, the noise complaints that frequently broke-up parties at Mayo-Smith, Seelye and Hitchcock!).

With that in mind, this article that appeared yesterday in the Springfield Republican caught my eye. The article reports that Amherst town officials recently had to dip into the town’s reserves to cover a budget defecit of over $237,000. After noting that the three colleges within the town do not pay any property tax, the article concludes with this paragraph:

Town Manager Laurence R. Shaffer is continuing conversations with Amherst and Hampshire College, seeking assistance for services used by those schools, as well having ongoing conversations with the University of Massachusetts. Shaffer could not be reached for comment.

Maybe these “continuing conversations” are preliminary and pleasant. However, given the “systemic issues” with the town’s financial picture mentioned in the article and with an ameliorative bill apparently tied up in the Massachusetts state legislature, this may be a story to keep an eye on. I am a poor source of history when it comes to the relationship between Amherst College and the town, so if anyone can add any context to this story, or any additional facts, please leave a comment below or contact us at amerst@gmail.com.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 07:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 07, 2006

Not so silent Cal

Last week, the Library of Congress’s American Memory site remembered the anniversary of Calvin Coolidge 1895’s inauguration as President of the USA. The LOC has a significant exhibit on the Coolidge era, notably including a number of audio clips of the famously laconic Coolidge speaking.

Parker Morse '96 at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

Paging President Ward

After months of headlines about materials failures and substandard work in the tunnels of Boston’s Central Artery Project (aka The Big Dig,) this month’s collapse of a ceiling panel, which took the life of a passenger in a car beneath, has brought calls for “a new Ward commission.”

A quarter century ago, it was the Ward Commission—formally, the Special Commission Concerning State and County Buildings—that dragged Massachusetts public contracting out of the age of corruption and into the modern era. That commission came about after the new University of Massachusetts at Boston campus started to crumble, just one of a number of glaring problems with public buildings.

… that body shone a light on the seamy underside of the contracting and construction process, chronicling the bribery, kickbacks, and quid pro quo contributions that were commonplace.

The chairman who gave his name to the commission, of course, was the late John William Ward, who had just resigned as fourteenth president of the College when he became head of the commission. According to his Wikipedia biography,

For Ward, history was made when individuals put their ideals into action, and for this reason Ward spent much of his career exploring contradictions in ideology, especially emphasizing the contradiction between the individual’s freedom to act in socially responsible manner and the increasing bureaucratization of life that limited the possibility of such action.

Ward’s time at the College was controversial due to his protests of the Vietnam War through nonviolent civil disobedience at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, but it was his work on the Commission that infuriated local power. The Commission was sometimes accused of being a “witch hunt,” and its conclusion, that “corruption was a way of life in Massachusetts,” could not have pleased many.

While Ward’s emphasis on “putting ideals into action” is certainly shared by President Marx, it seems unlikely that he, like Ward, would be called on by the state. Among other reasons, Ward had been president for eight years before stepping down, while Marx has only been in office for three years. For another, Ward was a Harvard graduate and a Boston native. Ward’s idealism is still at work at his secondary school, Boston Latin, where the Ward Public Service Fellowship allows students to spend a summer working “in the office of an elected or appointed public servant in state government, municipal government, the judicial system, or even the major press.”

Ward is also remembered by a named professorship at the College, and an exhibition room in the Frost Library.

Addendum, 24 July: The Sunday (July 23) Globe includes an editorial on the subject by Ward Fellowship chairman Mark Wolf.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:58 PM

July 06, 2006

'46 to '96

At Alumni Weekend, back in June, my class, 1996, hosted a joint panel with the class of 1946, back for their 60-year reunion.

In preparation for the panel, members from both classes answered a survey asking three questions:

What have been the most valuable Amherst influences on your career(s) and personal life?
Did you view the social atmosphere as adequate while at Amherst? Explain.
What was the reason you went to Amherst? List as many reasons as you can.

The anonymous answers to those questions are available as PDFs: 1946 and 1996. Two trends are clear: my class, which largely answered the survey online, submitted much shorter answers, largely one- or two-sentence answers. The class of ‘46 sent entire stories. Also, my class viewed the last question differently; we answered with reasons why we chose the College over other places we might have applied to or been accepted at. The class of ‘46 tended to talk about how they got in, and the application process was clearly very different then!

Discussion at the panel was varied. One point often mentioned was “the War.” Nearly everyone from the class of ‘46 spent some time in the armed services during World War II before returning to Amherst, and in every case this colored their approach to their remaining college years. Fraternities were often mentioned in the older class’s answers, but not always positively; some noted their tendency to isolate members from the rest of the campus. There was quite a bit of discussion of the fraternity system, particularly when one of the ‘96 panelists admitted having belonged to an “underground” fraternity during his days in Amherst.

Another topic raised (but not discussed at length due to time restrictions) was the different experience of students of color at Amherst between 1946 (when the College was not only all-male, but almost entirely white,) and 1996.

I could’ve listened to further discussion for quite a while, but I was encouraged to see that both classes shared a desire to find out more about where the College has been and where it is going, and active concern about its relevance in today’s world.

Parker Morse '96 at 02:27 PM | Comments (1)

October 07, 2005

Shaw University "brings home" wife of founder

Henry Tupper graduated from the College so long ago we can’t find a class year for him, in the first forty years when the College was still a sectarian institution influenced by the Abolitionist movement and recent graduate Henry Ward Beecher 1834.

Tupper is not listed among the “College founders and presidents” in the College’s Wikipedia entry, but he founded the institution now known as Shaw University in 1865. As a Baptist chaplain during the Civil War, Tupper carried the College’s ideal with him; a recent article in the Raleigh News & Observer explains:

“In his writings [Tupper] talked about crawling around on his belly to minister to fallen soldiers,” said Martel Perry, the university’s executive vice president. “He was very moved by the bravery of the black soldiers and the cause for civil rights. After the war, he looked for a place to start a school for free Negroes.”

That school became Shaw, the oldest of what are known known as “HBCUs,” or Historically Black Colleges and Universities, named after Elijah Shaw, who gave the largest contribution towards the purchase of its present site, in 1870. (Anyone know if Shaw was also an Amherst alumnus?)

Just before the war ended, Tupper married Sarah Baker Leonard. The future Mrs. Tupper was described in Sunday’s program as a college-educated woman of exceptional beauty, grace and musical talent.

This weekend is Shaw’s 140th Homecoming, and as the News & Observer article explains, they have another homecoming to celebrate: Sarah’s remains are being brought back to Raleigh to be re-interred next to Tupper’s on the Shaw campus.

“After [Tupper] died, there wasn’t a very close connection between her and the university,” Perry said.

Nonetheless, university officials placed an empty tomb and gravestone beside her husband’s on the school grounds and would honor both of them each year during a graveside service.

(Can anyone fill in more details about Tupper, so we can add his name to the Wikipedia entry?)

Parker Morse '96 at 09:14 PM | Comments (3)

September 26, 2005

Romer '52's work leads to memorial in Deerfield

In February we noted a lecture by Professor Emeritus of physics Bob Romer ‘52 about his work researching the lives of slaves in the pre-Abolition Pioneer Valley. According to a recent article in the Springfield Republican, Romer’s talks on the subject early in the year inspired “the Deerfield-based Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and […] its director, Timothy C. Neumann, who took the idea and ran with it.”

Romer [told] about the Rev. John Ashley, who was minister in Deerfield 1732-1780 and owned a slave named Jenny. Romer noticed that Jenny died within a month of Ashley’s widow Dorothy, but in the burial grounds there is a big stone to mark where Dorothy was laid to rest and nothing for Jenny.

Neumann said he was looking for something special to mark the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s 135th year of existence and 125th anniversary of its museum that now stands at the center of Historic Deerfield. When he heard of Romer’s remarks, he and his staff decided it was time to memorialize the African Americans who lived in Deerfield.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:52 PM

September 25, 2005

Weekend puzzle

An article in this Sunday’s Boston Globe tells the story of a Hopkinton couple, Francis Cady and Helen Fair, due to be inducted in the Hopkinton High School Hall of Fame. The article includes this puzzling anecdote (emphasis ours):

“The coach of the girls’ basketball team, Marion Harris, lived on a farm in Leominster,” said Helen, “and she invited the team there, and we had quite a feed. I can still picture her prying open that big barn door. She graduated from Amherst College and took us there, too, and we were so good that we beat the Amherst women’s team.”

This is puzzling because Cady and Fair graduated from Hopkinton High School in 1937 and 1938, respectively, and the anecdote implies that not only did Marion Harris graduate from Amherst College before then (pre-dating coeducation by nearly fifty years,) but that the College had a women’s basketball team.

It seems most likely that the reporter was the victim of yet another mix-up between the College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and this is only notable because the confusion usually goes the other way. If anyone can provide evidence for a more interesting explanation, we’d love to hear it.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:05 PM

August 05, 2005

William S. Clark 1848: "Boys, be ambitious!"

Traveling north on East Pleasant Street in Amherst, after passing Professor Rabinowitz’s house and just after Strong Street on the right, a curious installation can be seen at the crest of the knoll on the left. Between the road and the older dorms of UMass is a circular installation of stones and black-painted silhouettes.

This afternoon, my curiosity got the better of me, and I stopped to figure out what it was and snap a few pictures. I discovered the installation was a memorial to William S. Clark, Amherst College class of 1848 and, among many other things, a former president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (an institution better known, these days, as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.)

I was in a hurry and took fairly few photos; the best are posted here. I may add more to that set later. For more on Clark, see his Wikipedia entry, which clearly just skims the surface of a colorful life (and several connections to the College.) The quote in the title stems from a more traditional memorial to him in Japan. If you’re passing through Amherst and headed up to Puffer’s Pond, you might stop by here to see the unique installation created in his memory.

The text of the main plaque is as follows:

WILLIAM S. CLARK (1826-1886): Educator, scientist, politician and outstanding citizen. Dr. Clark was a major presence in Amherst in the 19th century, and remains a larger-than-life figure throughout Japan to this day. The collaboration between faculty and students in landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo, Japan, which led to this memorial to Dr. Clark, is a fitting tribute to the man who helped found and became the first functioning president of both institutions. This central stone symbolizes his enduring influence on his students. Important aspects of his life are described on plaques at vectors emanating from this focal point.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:10 PM

April 04, 2005

Strange Amherstiana on eBay

This week sees a couple of strange items in the unending flow of Amherstiana available on eBay. First, we have a letter of acceptance for the class of 2009, boasted to be the first of many such letters to be auctioned off by a high school senior who seems to think it’s funny. Perhaps it is; we’ll see if anyone agrees and bids more than the one cent at which the auction currently stands. I hope the student enjoys him/herself at MIT.

Second, and much more interesting, is a 150 year-old suit said to be worn by John De Witt Weaver of the class of 1857 at his Commencement. This two-piece suit is described as a mix of hand-stitched and machine-stitched, with a variety of different fabrics “including homespun.” The suitcoat has ten buttons and a watch pocket, and the pants feature a brass buckle and red trim. The bidding, which began at $199, is currently up to $255.

Brian Meacham '97 at 09:51 PM

March 28, 2005

Mead Art thief back behind bars

Myles Connor of Blackstone, Massachusetts, who spent ten years in prison for a 1975 theft of two paintings from Mead Art Museum, has been arrested once again while trying to steal $700 worth of watches from a Natick, MA jeweler. Connor is thought to have a connection with the Gardner Museum theft, which has been gaining attention recently, as the fifteenth anniversary of the theft has passed without any word on the location of the paintings.

Brian Meacham '97 at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)

March 10, 2005

Emily Dickinson: the video game

At this year’s Game Designer’s Conference, three top video game creators were given the challenge of designing a video game based on Emily Dickinson, the “Belle of Amherst.” The three presentations included a writing-simulation in which the player would “collect symbols from an environment based on Dickinson’s Massachusetts,” a game in which a player would roam throughout a 3-D rendering of Dickinson’s house, and the eventual winner, a game where the player is Dickinson’s therapist, emailing and IM’ing with Dickinson and keeping tabs on her, not unlike taking care of a brilliant but isolated tamagotchi. Read all about the challenge in Wired News, though it’s too bad “The Sims: Recluse” won’t be out anytime soon. Thanks to Parker for the tip.

Brian Meacham '97 at 10:04 PM

Lord Jeff, the musical

I’ll admit this has been around for three years without me noticing, so I’ll share it with you in case you haven’t seen it either:

A flash animation of Lord Jeffery Amherst, as comic opera, enacted by bunnies. (But not the Angry Alien type of bunnies—this is done by Wing Mui ‘05.)

It’s probably work-safe (the audio track is a recording of the 1992 Concert Choir) but the interpretation might be considered PG-13 (for cartoon violence and substance abuse) and requires a sense of humor. Thanks to Emily Reich ‘96 for pointing it out.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:59 AM

February 24, 2005

Romer '52 researches slavery in the Pioneer Valley

An article in the February 23rd Daily Hampshire Gazette (paid subscription required, unfortunately) recounted a talk given at the Amherst History Museum’s Strong House (next to the Jones Library on Amity Street) by Professor Emeritus of Physics Robert Romer ‘52.

Romer retired from the faculty and his editorship of the American Journal of Physics (where I worked as an editorial assistant in the summer of 1995) in 2001, and began studying the history of the Pioneer Valley as a volunteer house-tour guide in Old Deerfield.

Romer said he had no idea that there had been slaves in the Pioneer Valley until he discovered a minister in the area had owned three.

“It was not an original discovery, but it was news to me,” said Romer. His curiosity aroused, he began to dig into tax lists, church records, wills, letters and inventories. Romer soon discovered that any minister in the Valley who could afford it had two or three slaves.

“I began to collect slave-owning ministers in the Valley. I’ve got about 20,” he said.

More quotes from the article are found in the extended entry. Romer’s website at Amherst includes more material on slavery in the Pioneer Valley.

Most residents do not associate the Pioneer Valley with slavery, says a local historian, but they have also never heard of Jenny.

For 70 years Jenny was a slave in the household of a prominent area family.

Listed along with household furniture in a family will, Jenny was never mentioned in letters. When she died in 1808, she was buried in an unmarked grave.

If not for Robert Romer, Jenny might have remained forgotten.

…

Before a crowd of 30 at the Amherst History Museum’s Strong House on Amity Street, Romer began with the observation that the museum building may have once housed slaves. Simeon Strong, the former owner of the Strong House, was probably not a slave owner, said Romer, but the 1790 census listed a former slave or a “free person of color” living in the Strong house, he said.

…

Romer had a sheaf of handouts for his audience, including a residential map that he had compiled of the Main Street in Deerfield. Calling it his “1752 snapshot of slavery,” the map showed there had been roughly 21 slaves owned by 12 different families on Main Street alone.

Romer said every time he drives along Main Street in Deerfield, the information would run through his mind. He urged his audience to think about the implications of his survey.

“Keep it, make copies for friends, study it,” said Romer of the map. “Take it with you when you visit Deerfield. As a tourist they’re not going to give you anything like this, not yet.”

…

Over the course of his research, Romer found that area residents had several misconceptions about slavery in the Pioneer Valley, including the idea that slavery had not been an important part of the local history. The fact that ministers were among the people with the most slaves, suggested that being a slave owner was an important status symbol and was acceptable to settlers in the area, he said.

Another misconception was that Massachusetts slaves had been treated like friends of the family or as beloved servants, he said. Documents in which black people were listed as possessions along with furniture and livestock suggested otherwise.

Parker Morse '96 at 12:50 PM

January 05, 2005

Anniversary of the Death of President Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth President of the United States and member of the class of 1895, died 72 years ago today in Northampton. A 1996 article from Yankee Magazine, an official biography, a postcard of the old Phi Gamma Delta house where Coolidge lived, and Coolidge Hall, the 1964 dormitory named for the college's most distinguished alumnus.