1907's Gift to the College

The two-masted brig Dartmouth sailed to Hanover on the inspiration of the Class of 1907 which presented this painting of the ship last June to mark its 60th reunion. Designed by the builder of the Constitution, the Dartmouth was one of the three ships involved in the Boston Tea Party, and she is commemorated by a bronze plaque on the wall of the New Bedford, Mass. Storage Warehouse, close to her launching site.

Last year, to mark the Dartmouth's 200th anniversary, the New Bedford Stamp Club issued a cachet taken from the plaque, and the cachet came to the attention of enthusiastic collector Leon Sprague '07 of Newington, Conn. He arranged to commission Artist Ruth Edwards of Westport, Mass., to do a 36" x 28" oil of the ship, and Mrs. Edwards began research which led from Bedford and Dartmouth, Mass., histories to Lloyd's Register of Shipping, 1776. And now Dartmouth possesses a portrait of a proud lady named Dartmouth, thanks to the Class of 1907.

Ruth Edwards' painting of the historic brig "Dartmouth"