June Plans
THE 1969 Commencement weekend, June 13-15, will mark the "official" start of Dartmouth's Bicentennial Year. More specifically, the opening event of the College's extended observance of its 200 th anniversary will be an outdoor program at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, in an area in front of Hopkins Center.
Lord and Lady Dartmouth will be present as guests of honor and as participants in the opening ceremony, to be presided over by Trustee Charles J. Zimmerman '23 chairman of the Bicentennial Committee. Greetings to Dartmouth's namesake guests from England will be extended by Bruce B. English '69, president of the senior class, representing the students of the College; Dean Leonard M. Rieser '44, representing the faculty; Alumni Council president Howland H. Sargeant '32, representing the alumni; and President Dickey, on behalf of the official College.
President Dickey at that time will present to the Earl of Dartmouth a solid gold copy of the Dartmouth College Bicentennial Medal, authorized by act of Congress and struck by the U. S. Mint. One other gold medal, made for President Dickey, will remain in the permanent possession of the College. Five thousand medals in bronze are being struck for general sale.
Lord Dartmouth will respond to the greetings and the presentation, and he and Lady Dartmouth will then unveil a bronze plaque recording the Bicentennial event. With the raising of the Bicentennial Flag on the campus the 200th anniversary year will officially be opened.
The flag, bearing the Bicentennial insignia in green on white, will fly throughout the year from a flagpole to be erected near the Senior Fence as the gift of the Class of 1929. This large flag, eight by twelve feet, and a smaller version to be carried in parades and other ceremonies are being donated to the College by Robert H. Castle '40, president of the Chicago Flag and Decorating Company. Mr. Castle is the donor also of a large Bicentennial banner to hang in the central window of the Top of the Hop throughout the year and to serve as a backdrop for special anniversary gatherings. After the Bicentennial Year the Class of 1929 flagpole will fly the Dartmouth College Flag, and the present campus flagpole for the American Flag will be moved closer to it.
Dartmouth Fanfare
On the evening of Saturday, June 14, the weekend festivities will continue with a Dartmouth Fanfare, to begin at approximately 9:30 after the Glee Club concert. Designed as a joyous occasion, it will begin with the ringing of bells and the music of trumpeters. A torchlight parade up Main Street and around the campus will assemble the crowd to hear Governor Walter R. Peterson Jr. '47 read the State of New Hampshire's official proclamation saluting Dartmouth on its 200th year. This will be followed by fireworks, and the festivities will be climaxed by the ascension of a giant hot-air balloon from the center of the campus. This feature of the evening is being made possible by Ralph W. Burgard '49, an amateur balloonist. Advance word on this campus spectacular does not indicate whether it will be a manned or unmanned flight.
At the Commencement exercises the next morning the Bicentennial theme will continue. The main address will be delivered by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller '30 of New York. Another principal address will be made by President Kingman Brewster Jr. of Yale University, who will bring greetings from the academic world. He will speak also as the president of the university which produced Eleazar Wheelock and therefore had a part in the founding of Dartmouth College.
Class reunions following Commencement will carry on the Bicentennial theme in special panel discussions, and the Glee Club will present its Bicentennial Show each night of the Reunion Week.
The original Moor's Charity School still stands intact in Columbia, Conn.
