Leon Burr Richardson '00
LEON BURR RICHARDSON '00, New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus—"who wrote Dartmouth's history and also helped to shape it during a half-century of: distinguished service to the College—died at Dick's House on October 25. Professor Richardson, who was 73 last April, had been in failing health for some months.. A heart attack while attending a committee meeting on October 13 resulted in his being hospitalized at the college infirmary, and twelve days later, in the early morning hours, he passed away. Since the early 1900's no member of the faculty had played a more influential or varied role in the life of the College than "L.B." Richardson. Forthright and independent in personality, and remarkable in the versatility of his talents, he held a commanding position at Dartmouth, and was widely respected beyond Hanover, as chemist, teacher, man of letters, alumni leader, and authority on the history and purposes of the liberal college.
Two achievements in particular assure Professor Richardson of a lasting place in the history of Dartmouth. In 1924, following a year's investigation of college and university programs in the United States, Canada, England aud Scotland, he presented to President Hopkins his famous report, A Study of the Liberal College, which provided the basis for the modern Dartmouth curriculum. In 1932 Professor Richardson's two-volume History of Dartmouth College appeared, and by virtue of this prodigious and very readable piece of work he took his place with Chase and Lord and has since been acknowledged as the modern historian of the College.
These widely known accomplishments, so constantly associated with Professor Richardson's name, tended perhaps to obscure the fact that he was also a great teacher. His large lecture course in general inorganic chemistry was taken by thousands of Dartmouth men over the years, and even though students were held to a high standard of performance, it. was a popular part of the curriculum. It was in these lectures that Professor Richardson had the widest scope for the dry, unsmiling wit that won him the affectionate nickname of "Cheerless."
Of all the incidents in his long teaching career, Professor Richardson was perhaps fondest of recalling the time, in his earliest years at Dartmouth, when in order to impress the unruly men in his class he undertook to explode a ten-inch test tube of chlorine dioxide instead of the usual threeinch tube. Surprised to get no result at all, he kept on talking and held the test tube in a flame. The ensuing explosion was like that of a twelve-inch gun, and although the blast deafened him for about an hour, he nonchalantly finished out the lecture amidst the visible respect and awe of his student audience. Several members of the class expressed concern that the professor should take such a risk, and he obliged them by never repeating the experiment.
His teaching of chemistry at Dartmouth began in 1902 and extended over 46 years until his retirement in 1948. During this period he was the author of several textbooks in the field of chemistry. His General College Chemistry was first published in 1927. The third edition in 1940 and the fourth in 1947 were written with Prof. Andrew J. Scarlett '10 of the Dartmouth chemistry department. Professors Richardson and Scarlett collaborated also on BriefCollege Chemistry, published in 1942 and revised this year, and on laboratory manuals to go with these textbooks.
Professor Richardson's other writings included a volume on Samson Occom, published by the College in 1933 under the title of An Indian Preacher in England, and a biography of William E. Chandler,Republican, published in .the American Political Leaders Series in 1940. Among his shorter writings were numerous brochures and articles on Dartmouth and Hanover history, teaching, and liberal arts education. In recognition of his varied writings, Dartmouth in 1933 conferred the honorary Doctorate of Letters upon Professor Richardson, who was cited for his "indefatigable industry and breadth of culture" and for his vital contributions to the College.
Professor Richardson found time also to take an active and leading part in Dartmouth alumni affairs. He was a member of the Alumni Council for six years, from 1934 to 1940, and was a frequent guest speaker at Dartmouth alumni dinners throughout the country. It was at one of these alumni dinners that he made the headlines by berating college professors for their dullness and asserting that the principal defect of the undergraduate is that he is a human being. In 1935 he became Secretary of the Class of 1900, a position he held up to the time of his death. In 1936 Professor Richardson gave an address at the Dartmouth Night celebration at which Dartmouth Hall was rededicated, and in June 1950 he delivered the traditional Fifty-Year Address on behalf of his class.
The community of Hanover also was the beneficiary of his talents and hard work. He was for six years a member of the Board of Education, and from 1940 to 1949 he served as a trustee of the Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital, filling the position of vice president during the last five years of this period. In 1943, on the occasion of the hospital's 50th anniversary, he wrote the historical brochure published by the hospital trustees. The following year, Governor Blood asked him to serve on the New Hampshire War Records Committee.
Among scientific and academic honors, Professor Richardson was president of the New Hampshire Academy of Science in 1922. He was a member of the Council of the American Association of University Professors for three years, served as president of the Dartmouth chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and for two years was Examiner in Chemistry on the College Entrance Examination Board. He was a prominent member of the American Chemical Society, and also belonged to Gamma Alpha scientific fraternity, Alpha Chi Sigma chemical fraternity, and Lamda Chi Alpha and Gamma Delta Chi. In the summers of 1928 and 1929, Teachers College of Columbia University invited him to be Lecturer in College Education^
LEON BURR RICHARDSON was born in J Lebanon, N. H., on April 14, 1878, the son of Orlando J. and Mary (Burr) Richardson. On both sides his ancestors had lived in New England since the 1600's, and the Richardsons were settled not far from Hanover at the time Eleazar Wheelock was founding Dartmouth. After his early schooling in Lebanon, Professor Richardson entered Dartmouth in 1896 and did so well in the relatively new subject of chemistry that he was invited to stay on as a graduate assistant. He earned his Master's degree in 1902 and in that year was named a regular instructor. In 1904-05 he did further graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1917 at Cornell. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1910 and to full Professor in 1919. In 1946 the Trustees elected him New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry. When he retired in 1948 and acquired emeritus rank he was the senior member of the faculty.
During the years since his retirement, Professor Richardson had continued to keep busy, digging through historical records in the Baker Library archives and reading voraciously, as he always had, in a wide variety of fields. In a recent library bulletin to the faculty there appeared this paragraph about "L. B.":
"If in one of those questioning moments that seem occasionally to overtake even members of a library staff we have asked ourselves, doubtingly, how worthy is our lot, there was always reassuringly at hand the image of Professor L. B. Richardson poring over the new book tables, bringing to life the things that had been put there. An almost daily visitor to the Library, a prodigious and discriminating reader, he laid out a widely ranging trail traceable for years to come by the presence of his signature on literally hundreds of book cards. Any man could do worse than follow it."
Professor Richardson was married in 1906 to the former Millicent Warnock of Roxbury, Mass. Her death last December was a grievous blow to him. Their three sons, all of whom attended Dartmouth, are Robert C. Richardson '28 of Riderwood, Md.; Edward L. Richardson '29 of Marblehead, Mass.; and Stuart Richardson '37 of Freeport, Maine. One grandson, William F. Richardson, also survives.
Funeral services were held at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College on Sunday afternoon, October a 8. President Dickey, President Emeritus Hopkins, administra- tive officers of the College, faculty col- leagues, community friends, and represent- atives of the Class of 1900 were among those who paid final tribute to the man who was a towering figure in Dartmouth's modern era.
LEON BURR RICHARDSON '00, New Hampshire Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, who died at Dick's House on October 25, following a heart attack.
AN INFORMAL PICTURE of Professor Richardson with his good friend. President Emeritus Hopkins, as they met at Baker Library a few years ago.
