Eleazar's Gown Arrives

A recent addition to the Dartmouth museum is an academic gown believed to have been worn by Eleazar Wheelock, first president of the College. The gown was presented to the College by the' State Historical Society of Wisconsin, which had received it from Mrs. George B. Miller of Milwaukee through the Colonial Dames of Wisconsin.

Mrs. Miller's family goes back to the Rev. Davenport Phelps, whose step-mother was Eleazar Wheelock's daughter, Theodora. Dr. Phelps wore the gown, and it is thought highly probable that Wheelock also used it, since it is identical with the robe shown in the picture of Eleazar Wheelock possessed by the College. The gown has been described as more academic than Episcopal, and is believed to be the one which Dartmouth's founder had made in London.