HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE:

A BicentennialBook. Essays in Celebration of theTown's 200th anniversary. Edited byFrancis Lane Childs '06. Hanover 1961.275 pp. $5.00.

Hanover is one of several towns on both sides of the Connecticut River which are this year celebrating the bicentennial of their chartering. Any observance of this sort is quite apt to be ephemeral, but the Hanover Bicentennial Committee happily decided early in its planning to sponsor the publication which after long and loving labor has resulted in the volume we notice here.

The first thing to remark, as the editor's "Foreword" reminds us, is that this work makes no pretention of offering a formal or orderly presentation of the history of the town. Frederick Chase's History of DarmouthCollege and the Town of Hanover (1891) and John King Lord's History of theTown of Hanover (1928) carry that story into the 1920's, and someday somebody should do a supplementary volume, or better still, a complete integrated reworking.

This bicentennial volume is authored by some twenty-two different individuals, thirteen men and nine women. Some ten of them are present or retired members of the College staff or faculty, and the other twelve include a grade school teacher from Hanover Center, Hanover housewives, and a well-known writer of children's books. Only one may be counted as a professional historian, but the writing seems to have all the strength and few, if any, of the weaknesses of an amateur undertaking.

The subject treatment is topical and ranges in time from an early geologic period — perhaps 300 million years ago —to tie formal installation in 1960 of a Lutheran pastor for a new parish of that faith and a discussion of public school expenses for tie same year, as well as the transformation in 1961 of the Christian Science Society into the full status of a Church.

Coverage includes old houses and inns, libraries, newspapers and other publications, churches, schools, transportation on the land and on the river, and a host of characters - interesting or significant or both —ranging from Laura Bridgman (about whom there is an entire chapter) and Mills Olcott to Christie Warden (with also a whole chapter on the murder), "Hamp" Howe, and Increase Kimball whose "unbalanced mind" led him at one time to membership in the '"Rolling Pilgrims." Some of the most interesting material for this reader, and I think for any alumnus who remembers the town at all clearly, concerns the peregrinations of so many of Hanover's old houses.

This suggests mention of the illustrations included in the volume which are very helpful in identifying some of the houses mentioned and in recapturing the look of the town fifty or one hundred years ago. There are nearly fifty pictures, along with an early map of the town, and they have been very carefully selected. Older alumni will rejoice to be reminded of the big barn of the Agricultural College on East Wheelock Street or Hayes Hall in Etna where town meetings were held until 1922 or the lovely old ruin on the River road, "The Haunted House" - all now completely gone.

It would be a pleasant task to comment individually on the several authors and their work but space does not permit. Definitely deserving of special mention, however, is the general editor, Professor Emeritus Francis Lane Childs, who in addition to writing two chapters performed so effectively the always delicate task of cutting and editing the writing of others. Great credit must so to Professor Childs for the final form and appearance of this book, along with a bow to Ray Nash for its most attractive design and format.

It is always the privilege of a reviewer to note sins both of commission and omission This reviewer is happy to confess that he lias found no sins of commission worth mentioning except perhaps, in lighter vein the variation in the spelling of the name of the chairman of the Hanover Bicentennial Committee, though after all this is in good eighteenth century tradition. On the side of omissions this reviewer regrets the absence of an index and of a list of illustrations though these omissions are quite understandable. He also regrets the omission of footnotes and perhaps some general bibliographies, though this is in line with the popular character of the book and the absence of these impedimenta should in no wise be taken to suggest any lack of careful research or absence of authority.

In closing, let us gladly bear witness that the volume is a fine piece of work - attractive, informative, and entertaining. Hanover's bicentennial year will really not be complete unless you read it!

Copies of the Hanover Bicentennial Book are still available and may be ordered, at$5.00 per copy, by writing to the HanoverBicentennial Committee, Crosby Hall, Hanover, N.H.