Dartmouth 250 On Solid Ground

Comparing this 1928 map of the town to the 1851 map, you can see how both the town and College have grown, but particularly how the College on the Hill has crept out and now encompasses most of the northern part of the town.

This inset from a 1905 map shows the town and the College as they were in 1851.

This document served as both a map and a kind of passport for a group of Native-American students making their way to Eleazar Wheelock’s Moors Indian Charity School, the direct predecessor to Dartmouth College.

Dartmouth Hall in ca. 1913

Perhaps to get his bearings in the first days of college, young Clifford Orr, Class 0f 1922, sent a hand-drawn map of campus home to his mother.

Kicking off the second semester of the 1949-1950 Great Issues course was George F. Kennan of State Department. Just two years earlier, Kennan had written the notorious “X Article” that laid out the U.S. Cold War strategy of containment.

This is thought to be the earliest view of Dartmouth College. Note the group of students playing an early form of stick ball in front of Dartmouth Hall that looks more like cricket than baseball.

When Frederick Baker moved into his freshman dorm in 1934, he had to pay $15.00 for a desk and chair. His account of his first days at Dartmouth show an odd mix of boredom and excitement.

By 1893, the Dartmouth curriculum had shifted to emulate the German university system. Specialized fields of study, electives, and even modern literature arrived in Hanover.

In 1829, every student would have moved through the same set course of study. No modern languages, and no modern literature.

This was Samson Occom’s copy of the first Hebrew grammar printed in America. Occom lovingly inscribed his name and identity across the pages. He was Wheelock’s star pupil and de-facto co-founder of Dartmouth College.

David Bradley, Class of 1938, was a member of the 1940 Olympic Ski Team. Later, as a professor at Dartmouth, he wrote and published a treatise on ski jumping. Bradley was one in a long line of Dartmouth affiliates who contributed in one way or another to development of skiing as a sport.

Fred Harris and other founding members of the Dartmouth Outing Club, the first collegiate outing club in the United States.

A scroll map of the Connecticut River in a box for easy use in the field and equipped with a compass.

John Ledyard was the original Dartmouth outdoorsman. Not happy with his Dartmouth experience, he famously left the College and paddled down the Connecticut River to the sea. From there he joined Captain James Cook’s second voyage.

There was a time when all you had to do to get into Dartmouth was go to the right prep school. The principal could then sign a simple form vouching for you, and you were in!

A rare bit of documentation showing a woman’s perspective on Winter Carnival, this scrapbook was lovingly assembled by Cornell student, Barbara Patric. Later that year she married her Winter Carnival date!

This flyer sent out to campus visitors has advice on dressing “For the Carnival Girl.”

This guide to campus housing shows a range of room costs for Richardson Hall in 1934.

This excerpt of the Board of Trustee meeting minutes details a vote by the Board to support a resolution put forward by the Undergraduate Council that fraternities must do away with their discriminatory clauses by 1960. The Council was led by David McLaughlin who would go on to become the 14th President of Dartmouth College.