Baker's Contribution
As vital a portrait as can be created of a A man who died 100 years ago is that achieved by the current exhibition in Baker Library on the life and career of Daniel Webster. Thanks to the College's preeminent collection, which includes the famous graduate's letters, books, speeches, portraits, statuaries, and even his buggy and beaver hat, the impression of his vigorous personality and achievement is made remarkably vivid. The chronological arrangement of the display, which covers events from Webster's early days in Salisbury, N. H., to his funeral in Marshfield, Mass., in October 1852, reveals his rise to fame in local, then national, settings; as well as happy and tragic happenings in his personal life.
Webster's tall pigeon-holed desk flanks one side of the main entrance to Baker, and his buggy, which had to be taken apart and reassembled, is on the other. Material in the cases in the west wing of the library traces his life during college, teaching days in Fryeburg, Me., his study of law in Boston, practice in Boscawen and Portsmouth; and his part in the Dartmouth College Case. His college years are well represented. A Ticknor print shows the campus as it looked when Webster crossed it. His United Fraternity badge; a record of college charges, as well as those due a local storekeeper; his portable writing desk, firebucket, and hour glass are some of the items in the first display cases. A very rare possession is a copy of his first printed oration, which-he gave on the Fourth of July, 1800, before the citizens of Hanover. A copy of his speech to the United Fraternity, made at Commencement time, and some early compositions in the Dartmouth Gazette, which Webster "superintended" or edited, are also shown.
It was while he was practicing in Portsmouth that Webster began to attract attention as a lawyer and rising statesman, but it was his part in the Dartmouth College Case that brought him a national reputation. Letters urging him to support John Wheelock's side in the dispute; Webster's reply, declining; and his own bound notes of the case (a volume which is extremely valuable) are some of the tangible survivals of this crucial contest. A rare pamphlet is a resume of Webster's arguments, printed for private distribution, which was circulated while the verdict of 1819 was still pending. Of special interest in this section is the Eulogy on Webster, given by Rufus Choate, Dartmouth 1819, in 1853. It was Choate's quotation of Webster's plea, "It is a small college . . that brought the saying to the attention of posterity.
The next division of the exhibit is marked, "Emergence as a National Figure." As an orator, lawyer, presidential aspirant, Secretary of State, and a bereaved man writing in the first shock of his wife's death, Webster's life at this time is revealed by a wealth of material in the form of letters published speeches, lithographs, and contemporary volumes. A first edition of Webster's "Reply to Hayne," published in 1830, is one of the most valuable of these items, along with a letter from James Madison to Webster, praising the "Defender of the Constitution" for his stand in his Hayne speech. While Secretary of State and upon the completion of the Treaty of Washington, which established our boundaries with Canada, Webster wrote the results of the voting in the briefest letter of the exhibit, to his friend George Ticknor 1807: "The work is done 39 to 9."
On the east side of Baker's lobby is the material dealing with the last years of Webster's life. It was during this period that he gave his famous "7th of March" speech in 1850, urging calmness and moderation upon the North and South. A unique item in this part of the College's display is a page taken from the first edition of this speech, with Webster's written corrections for the second edition. Here also is a weary letter to his niece's husband, Professor Sanborn, in which Webster regrets that he cannot attend the Commencement of 1851 at Dartmouth, which would have been the 50th anniversary of his own graduation. Among other items shown are an edition of his last published speech; one of his last letters, written in the fall of 1852; and a moving sketch of Webster's funeral at Marshfield, executed by the English artist, Charles Martin.
Many of Webster's personal possessions are displayed: a generous sized coffee pot; a super corkscrew; half of a cane presented to him by the Earl of Lonsdale in 1839; a paper weight from a set given him by Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of England; decanters; a shot pouch and homemade bullets; his clock, pipe, silk stockings, wine glasses, and a small leather trunk, initialed in hob nails, which Webster used for a dispatch box. There are also books from his library; a silhouette by the French artist, Edouard; and a portrait autographed to his niece, Mrs. Mary-Ann Sanborn, whose son, Edwin Webster Sanborn 1878 left the College many of its Webster memorabilia and documents.
This exhibition honoring Daniel Webster on the centennial of his death was arranged by Edward C. Lathem '51, Assistant to the Librarian. It will continue through November.
