CLASS OF 1871

Marvin Davis Bisbee, librarian at Dartmouth from 1886 to 1910, died of pneumonia August 28, 1913, at the summer home of his daughter, in Windham, Me.

He was born in Chester, Vt., June 21, 1845, the son of Abner and Cynthia (Rolph) Bisbee. He prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, graduated from Dartmouth in 1871, and received the honorary degree of A.M. m 1909. He fitted for the ministry at Andover Theological Seminary and Chicago theological Seminary; was ordained in 1874; and became pastor of the Congregational parish in Fisherville, now Penacook, N. H., remaining for three years. From there he went to a church in Cambridgeport, Mass., of which he was pastor from 1877 to 1881' when he became associate editor of TheCongregationalist, Boston. In 1886 he returned to Dartmouth as librarian, succeeding the late Professor Pollens. Though he was titular professor of divinity, 1887-93, and of bibliography, 1893-1910, the duties of the librarianship took nearly all his time until his retirement on a Carnegie pension in 19.10. Later he served for two years on the faculty of the Chicago Theological Seminary, as director of extension courses and in charge of the library.

He was a member of the American Historical Association, the American Bibliographical Society, the New Hampshire Historical Society, and the American Library Association. He was married August 27, 1873, at Springfield, Vt., to Susan Augusta Silsby of that town. Mrs. Bisbee died several years ago, and the only surviving member of the family is the daughter, Mrs. Carl M. Gates, wife of a Congregational minister in Portland, Me.

The funeral was in Hanover, August 31, Professor B. T. Marshall in charge; the address being by Professor G. F. Ward of Chicago Seminary, a cousin of Mr. Gates.

The Congregationalist of September 11 contained the following obituary of its former associate editor:

'' Professor M. D. Bisbee of Dartmouth was one of the many men who, in the long history of The Congregationalist, have served faithfully and efficiently in an editorial capacity, and who helped to give character and influence to its uttterances when he was associated with it. Like the late Rev. Morton Dexter, he left a pastorate to become associate editor of this paper, and from 1881 until 1886, when he accepted his call to Dartmouth College, he was responsible, under the dilection of Dr. Dexter and Mr. Richardson, for several departments, besides contributing much original material. He is still remembered pleasantly in the Congregational House as a man whose modest bearing, friendly spirit, sound judgment, and wide interest in Human and Christian affairs made him respected and influential wherever he went. Many Dartmouth students are indebted to him for counsel and help. His scholarly abilities are attested to by the fact that he was a member of a number of learned societies.''

(The foregoing was contributed by Professor Bisbee's classmate and colleague, Professor Charles F. Richardson, secretary of the class. It is with great sorrow that we must add a brief note of the latter's death on Oct. 8, at Sugar Hill, N. H.)