Tower Room

Masculine tradition in the fireside readings held fortnightly in the Tower Room of Baker Library was disclaimed for the first time on January 20, when Mrs. Ramon Guthrie, wife of the Dartmouth professor of French and former actress on the Paris stage, read a group of modern French poems in her native tongue. In conjunction with Mrs. Guthrie's readings, Prof. W. B. Drayton Henderson, of the English department, gave the English translations.

These fireside readings form an important part of Tower Room activities during the winter months. Conducted in the shadowy half-circle of a fireplace, they have been designed by Miss Elizabeth Marsh to quicken the printed word with the beauty and emotional appeal of the spoken word. During pauses in the reading of poems or a play, coffee and cigarettes are served to the undergraduate and faculty listeners. As a departure from the faculty readings already given by Professors David Lambuth and Franklin McDuffee and that to be given next by Prof. Ernest B. Watson, arrangements are being made to have one or two visiting poets and one undergraduate poet read from their own works.

Previous to the inauguration of the fireside readings on December 9, a series of weekly talks on personal adventures in the reading of books was delivered on Tuesday afternoons by various members of the Dartmouth faculty. "Some of My Personal Adventures in Reading" was the topic of talks by Professors Ramon Guthrie, Royal Nemiah, Malcolm Keir, John Poor, and Kenneth Robinson. Prof. Leon B. Richardson spoke on "Reading as a Dissipation" and Prof. George F. Thomas on "Some Readable Books in Philosophy." Throughout October and November an average of 37 students attended these talks, which were designed to create interest and suggest the personal factor in reading.

Exhibitions of books, prints, and reproductions of famous paintings form a continuous activity of the Tower Room. Two displays in each wing and a central display, featuring the Book of the Week, in the Kenerson Alcove bring to the student's eye many items that it would never run across among the thousands of books assembled in Baker Library. These exhibitions, varying in duration from three days to two weeks, not only bring together books from all corners of the library because certain books are unusually intering or most important on a given subject, but they have as one of their main concerns the visual appeal that books make through bindings, typography, and illustration. Appreciation of books with the eye and ear as well as with the intellect is the aim of the Tower Room in its winter program, and to this end exhibitions supplement public readings and inviting quarters.

of the table displays are brought about by happenings of local, national and world-wide interest. From the time College opened in September until the close of the Presidential campaign one table in the East Wing was devoted to the issues, personalities, platforms, and general literature of the political battle. The same table is now devoted to international problems, such as war debts, disarmament, and economic theory. Plays and operas to be seen during Thanksgiving recess were displayed late in November, and new books suggested as gifts were shown just before Christmas. The works of William Butler Yeats were on display when the poet lectured in Hanover, and a table of books on the Dance preceded the appearance of Hans Wiener and Otto Ashermann in Webster Hall. Other table displays have been devoted to the Russian experiment, French Book Club selections for 1931-32, journalism, dogs, book binding, skiing, Chinese and Japanese art, furniture, sport, and travel.