The Tucker Heritage

DR. TUCKER'S DARTMOUTH. By Robert French Leavens '01 and Arthur HardyLord '10. Hanover: Dartmouth Publications, 1965. 273 pp. $7.50.

Among the numerous publications dealing with the history of Dartmouth College this present volume is the first to attempt an exhaustive record of a single administration. The complete and authoritative histories of the College by Lord and Richardson stressed the importance and significance of the main events of Dr. Tucker's administration but by the very limitation of space were forced to forgo much interesting detail that is here made available.

This book has two authors, but they were not collaborators; in fact, they never had the opportunity of working together. Mr. Leavens, at the urging of his classmate President Hopkins, began the compilation of material for this history nearly 30 years ago, but because of ill health and his desire to allow no scrap of evidence to remain unexamined he left the manuscript only half completed at his death in 1961. His voluminous notes and plan for the rest of the story were forwarded to the College, and Arthur Lord, son of Professor John K. Lord, great-grandson of President Nathan Lord, and boyhood neighbor of Dr. Tucker, was persuaded to undertake the responsibility of finishing the work. His diligence, his knowledge, and his great skill carried it through, and the book has a unity that belies its divided authorship. President Ernest Martin Hopkins, who knew Dr. Tucker more intimately than any other Dartmouth graduate, provided shortly before his death the warm and wise foreword with which the book opens.

This is a history, not a biography. (It is a curious fact that nowhere in the book is given the exact date of Dr. Tucker's birth or of his death.) It is the record of an administration, but since every phase of that administration is the direct product of the President, the man himself comes through in full stature. The account traces the development in the space of sixteen years (1893-1909) of a small college oriented to the nineteenth century into a large college modernized and transformed to fit the twentieth, a development which in many ways typifies the changes taking place generally in American education at the turn of the century. Yet seldom in any other educational institution have progressive changes of comparable importance been so much the result of the character and power of a single man as these at Dartmouth under the leadership of William Jewett Tucker. "The New Dartmouth," as it was spontaneously called both within the College and outside it, was distinctly "Dr. Tucker's Dartmouth.'

The authors have never lost sight of this. In all that happened they point out that he was the center; it was his broad vision, wise judgment, tactful persuasion, and marvelous ability to win the support of all — students, faculty, trustees, alumni, and the general public - that brought about the desired results.

The material presented is treated by topics rather than by years, although there is one general chronological division. The first half of the book, by Mr. Leavens, deals with the events of the first seven years, 1893-99; the second half, by Mr. Lord, with the "years of fulfillment," 1900-09. Identical or similar subjects are developed and expounded in both sections. Introductory chapters deal with Dr. Tucker's inauguration and with his early setting of goals for the College in both the immediate and the distant future, and an analysis of his plans, definite yet flexible, for accomplishing those goals. Concluding chapters treat his resignation because of failing health and the literarily fruitful years of his retirement, followed by a concise appraisal of his administration.

The topical treatment allows scope for such matters as the President's ideas about curriculum and faculty and his means of improving both. The faculty, previously composed of independent individuals, was organized into departments and increased from 22 in 1892 to 69 in 1909. It was upgraded, strengthened and diversified by bringing in new, young, trained men. Scholarship as encouraged but the main emphasis was put on teaching ability. New subjects were introduced into the curriculum. The old program of required courses throughout the four years was shifted to a modified elective system and later into a group system - elective within limits. Both faculty and trustees were organized for the first time with committees for the greater efficiency of necessary business, and an administrative staff was developed over the years including a dean, a registrar, and a superintendent of buildings and grounds. We are given detailed descriptions of the individual faculty members of the period and considerable information about the courses taught.

Another topic thoroughly threshed out is that of buildings and finances. Dr. Tucker's clear insight into the financial difficulties of the College of his time, and his courage in leading his somewhat reluctant trustees into the then untried policy of making the institution itself productive of income by investing its funds in dormitories were evidence of his keen business instinct. Nine new dormitories were built and four more reconstructed out of older edifices. The endowment funds of the College rose from $1,028,929 to $2,842,254 during his regime.

These are but two illustrations of the manner in which this history enlightens with abundant and meticulous detail the progress of the College under Dr. Tucker. Other important matters given attention include Commencement and Baccalaureate addresses, special College events such as the Webster Centennial and the Dartmouth Hall burning and rebuilding, the Presidential speaking engagements, athletics, student discipline, alumni relations, founding of the Tuck School, desirable size of the College, and - in the words of a country auction - "other things too numerous to mention." In fact, if there is any matter relevant to College purpose, organization, or procedure in this period on which you wish to be informed you will find the answer here.

It is a book of great interest, but for those of us older alumni who were fortunate enough to have been students during Dr. Tucker's administration there is something lacking. We read the many fine quotations from his speeches and writings, we absorb the full descriptions of his appearance and his deeds, and he rises once more in our recollective imaginations - but we are conscious that we still see and feel something that has not been given. As President Hopkins says in his foreword:

"The true record of his work could never be compiled because the material for this could only be found in the kindled souls, the quickened minds, and the bigger hearts of men who knew him. Words can no more describe the personality of a great man than they can sound a great symphony or picture a great painting.

"In all that has been written about him there is no complete picture, and could not be, of this man whose personality and character were as powerful an influence, even, as his extraordinary ability and his indefatigable industry. The composite man - that is, the whole man - was too great, too varied in his genius, and too far-reaching in his vision to be understood entirely or to be described accurately."

This review is not the place to record minor errors, but there is one mistake in the book of enough importance to be corrected here. I refer to the caption under the upper picture on the leaf following page 187: "The west side of campus, 1911-1914." The date should read 1907-1910, and the large building at the right in the photograph, identified as "Parkhurst Hall . . . built in 1911 on the site of Professor O. P. Hubbard's old home," is not Parkhurst at all, but Tuck Hall, erected in 1902 on the site of the old Proctor House and still standing on the same spot, remodeled in its top story and given its present name of McNutt in 1929.

Winkley Professor of the Anglo-Saxon and English Language andLiterature Emeritus.

President William Jewett Tucker