Sanborn House

With the housing at Dartmouth of the different departments under roofs of their own has come the creation of anew magnificent domicile for the work of the English department. With the growth of the College and a threatened lossof personal contact between instructor and student, thisbuilding in all its fineness is a machine to keep such athreat from realization. The personal coziness, the quietluxury, the air of seclusion these beckon to the studiousmen, and they also invite the less studious.

ALMOST continuously from 1835 to 1885, Professor Edwin David Sanborn, familiarly known to his students as "Bully," was one of the dominating figures of the Dartmouth faculty. For over twenty years a teacher of Greek and Latin, he was later transferred to the Professorship of Oratory and Belle Lettres, conducting all of the courses then offered in what is now the Department of English. His vigorous and original methods of teaching, suffused with sympathetic interest in his pupils, brought him great popularity with the undergraduate body. His home on Main street, presided over by his charming wife, Mary Webster Sanborn, and his witty and beautiful daughters, Mary and Kate, was a center of hospitality both to students and colleagues and to such visiting celebrities as found their way into Hanover in those days of the small but earnest college.

TO RESTORE CLOSE ASSOCIATION

Sanborn House, the new home of the English Department made possible by the munificent bequest of Edwin Webster Sanborn '78, is a splendid memorial to Professor Sanborn, Mrs. Sanborn, and their two daughters. Recognizing the changed character of the Dartmouth of today from that of the mid-nineteenth century, and realizing that with the rapid expansion in numbers of both students and teachers there had come a loss in intimate contact between them, Mr. Sanborn set aside from the remainder of his large gift to the College, the sum of $400,000 for the erection of a building which should in some measure restore that former close association. The purposes of the building, as stated in his will, are "to serve and promote the interests of the Department of English ... to house a library on English and topics related thereto ... to be a homelike center for those especially interested in English literature and for the convenience of advanced students in that subject, and a place for conference and discussion on such topics." In the planning of Sanborn House and its equipment, Mr. Sanborn's desires have been kept constantly in mind.

The new building, of red brick in the Georgian style of all our more recent structures, stands at the southwest corner of Baker Library, to which it is connected by an underground corridor, and balances architecturally Carpenter Hall. It is L-shaped, with the main entrance on the south side, and contains three main floors and a mezzanine. The ground floor is occupied by a large lounge or waiting-room, a dramatic museum, a kitchen, and thirteen faculty studies. The lounge is finished in pine in the American colonial style, and the rugs, chairs, davenports, and tables which furnish it are of that period. The museum, arranged by Professor E. B. Watson for the use of students in courses on the drama, contains a series of models of Greek, Medieval, and Elizabethan theatres, and a large collection of prints and engravings illustrative of the history of the drama. The kitchen is electrically equipped for the furnishing of light refreshments, and is connected with the main floor by a separate stairway.

The arrangement of the top floor is like that of the ground floor, but the details are entirely different. The lounge, panelled in dark oak in the late Tudor manner, is one of the most attractive rooms in the building. Large oak tables, heavy but comfortable chairs, and deeply cushioned davenports fill the center of the room, and the departmental secretary has her desk at one end. Bookshelves running nearly to the ceiling at the other end of the room will later be filled with standard literature and books of reference. Above the fireplace is carved the coat of arms of William Shakespeare, and colored medallions in the leaded windows represent in smaller size the arms of Chaucer, Milton, Dryden, Addison, Burke, and Sheridan. From the west end of this lounge opens a small seminar room, in modified Norman style, with mullioned windows, flagged floor, panelled ceiling and medieval fireplace.

STUDIES FOB THE FACULTY

The remaining space on this floor is taken up by seventeen faculty studies, similar to those on the ground floor. These studies form one of the unique features of the building. Those used by instructors on temporary appointment are uniform in finish and equipment, but the professorial studies have all been treated individually to suit the personal tastes of their occupants. For example, they include, among others, an early Tudor room in stone and plaster, oak-panelled Elizabethan rooms, a green-walled room in the style of Adam, and several American colonial rooms in pine. ]VTost of these studies contain fireplaces and built-in bookshelves, and all are ample in size, well-lighted, and comfortable. In all of them the furniture has been chosen to harmonize with the architectural details. In every case they present the appearance not only of convenient places in which to work but also of homelike rooms in which to receive one's friends. It is hard to conceive of better facilities for conference between teacher and student than are here afforded.

The entire east wing of the main floor is occupied by a living-room, beautifully designed in the Georgian manner and finished in natural butternut. Alcoves, both on the floor and in the galleries, are lined with bookshelves which will hold a large library of English and American literature. Already several hundred volumes are in place and plans are under way for filling up the remaining space. The furniture is after Chippendale, and consists of many large davenports, easy lounging chairs, and tables. This room, which is open on every afternoon and evening, is treated as a club room reserved exclusively for the use of members of the Department of English and of students majoring in English. It affords opportunity for frequent and informal association between faculty members and undergraduates as well as between undergraduates who have literary interests in common. A member of the Department of English is always present to act as host. Tea and coffee, served at cost, are available at certain hours. From the north gallery of this room, and also from the main staircase, entrance is had to the special library on the mezzanine floor, reserved solely for Honors students and accessible for them at all hours.

There are about one hundred and eighty juniors and seniors majoring in English this year, of whom thirty-five are Honors students.

THE WREN ROOM

In the other wing on the main floor is a reception room in the manner of Sir Christopher Wren and equipped with furniture of the Restoration period. A finely carved mantel, a crystal chandelier, and an elaborately embossed ceiling are features of this room. Here are hung the excellent portraits by Tenney of Professor and Mrs. Sanborn. From this room one enters the Sanborn Memorial Room, an exact replica of Professor Sanborn's study in the Main Street house, which was later used as a college dormitory (Sanborn Hall) and torn down during the past winter. The woodwork of the mantel, window casings, and inside shutters was transferred from the original room, as well as the celebrated scenic wallpaper, remembered by so many generations of Dartmouth men. This paper was imported from France in the early years of the nineteenth century and no doubt adorned the study walls long before Professor Sanborn owned the house. Three of Dartmouth's early presidents Brown, Dana, and Tyler had been previous occupants of this home, and presumably they also, when weary of college duties, rested their minds in contemplation of these Italian skies and seas. The paper was carefully removed some fifteen years ago and preserved for its present use. The furniture in this room consists of choice antique pieces handed down in the Sanborn and Webster families. Space does not permit mention of more than one of them a maple slant-top desk built by Capt. Ebenezer Webster, father of Daniel, and first brought to Hanover by the widow of Ezekiel Webster when she came to spend her declining years with her daughter, Mrs. Sanborn. The frontispiece in this number of the MAGAZINE shows one side of this memorial room.

At the north end of this floor is another seminar room in modified Norman style. The leaded windows, similar to those in the top floor lounge, contain representations of the coats of arms of Byron, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Shelley, Scott, Landor, and Jane Austen.

The entire building is admirably adapted to the purposes Mr. Sanborn designed it to serve, and furnishes the English faculty and students a beautiful home in which to pursue their varied interests. It has already proved its worth, and promises to become increasingly useful as the years go by.

SANBORN HOUSE EXTERIOR

THE CHRISTOPHER WREN ROOM

SEMINAR ROOM MAIN FLOOR

THE SHAKESPEARE BOOM THIRD FLOOR