Those Early Days of Alumni College

Here at Dartmouth the attempt to present new information and new ideas to the alumni has a long history. It goes back at least to 1921 when, under the inspiration of President Hopkins, Roscoe Pound and Ralph Adams Cram spoke mornings for a week to an interested audience. The speakers in 1922 included Charles A. Beard and William Lyon Phelps, and their audience was put up in Wheeler Hall, with the added in- ducements of a June vacation, golf, the canoe club, Hanover out-of-doors, and the library. For 1923 it was repeated, again in June, and then apparently dropped, perhaps because, before the automobile, Hanover was really "in deserto."

In the fall of 1936 some of us became convinced that Dartmouth should appeal to the alumni for more than money, not knowing about the earlier trial until we were told by Mr. Hopkins. He chose a committee made up of Dean Bill, Ford and Peggy Sayre of the Inn, Al Dickerson, Sid Hayward, Charlie Widmayer, and Herb Hill, who drew up a program for June 1937 that depended on the faculty for its speakers. The results were not wholly good, but good enough to justify a program for 1938. More publicity was thought needed, plus a Director, who became Professor Hill. The fees were somewhat reduced, to as low as $26 for the week, meals included! Reunion classes were persuaded to stay over, and extra, outdoor activities were built up. Nobody who was there will ever forget the tennis and golf tournaments, to say nothing of the ferocious croquet sets or the Hanover Off-Key Singing Society or the rousing discussion of the talks. At any rate, attendance more than tripled, and 1939 plans grew.

These included three items—an extension of the talks to alumni clubs, first in New York and Boston; special activities for children, even baby-sitters; readings to do before coming. Talks without preparation were not thought desirable. Further growth was the result, with nearly 100 in attendance, and real programs for the winter of 1940, in Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities. The 1940 June program saw larger crowds, and the moving of the Holiday to the 1902 Room of Baker, to care for the 250 who came.

The year 1941 brought changes. Only the older classes had reunions at Commencement, and the younger classes had them the following week. The Holiday was forced to use dormitory rooms, and all the college eating places were kept open. Even so, attendance kept growing, and over 300 alumni and their families were back, a number repeated in 1942 in spite of the war and the need to hold the Holiday in May. The program for 1942 was typical for those pre-war years. It began Monday evening with an introduction by President Hopkins, and went on that evening and then mornings and evenings through Friday with talks and discussions by Professors Arthur Wilson, Allen Foley, Howard Meneely, John Amsden, John Pelenyi, Curt Behrendt, Earl Sikes, Malcolm Keir, and Kenneth Robinson.

1942 saw a new development in the Winter Holiday, held in January with no set program of talks but one of visiting different classrooms, like L. B. Richardson's or Bancroft Brown's, or Al Foley's. The week was crowded.

The war then put off the Holiday for 1943, 1944, and 1945. The seventh session of 1946 was repeated throughout the month of July, as were reunions, and attracted some 450 to its meetings. 1947 then set the pattern for future years.

After the Commencement weekend, the Holiday began, and ran Monday morning through Friday, and at times Saturday morning. The speakers were partly from the faculty, but alumni too were called on and the 25-Year Class for a long time ran a symposium with its members serving as panelists. All the other activities were continued and the audiences filled the 1902 Room, and for some meetings 105 Dartmouth, Baker lawn, or Webster Hall. A typical program was that of 1956, with talks and discussions by Professors Wagner, Foley, Ross, Stewart, Carr, Cusick, and President Dickey. Friday saw two symposiums by the Class of 1931, one on medical care by Drs. William Conklin, Joseph Rushton, Rolf Syvertsen, Edward Burge, and Ralph Hunter, and one on the economic outlook by John Benson, John Martin, and Spencer Miller, aided by Dean Upgren of the Tuck School and Dean Kimball of Thayer.

For years the Holiday was a great feature. It changed, as it should. In 1959 it broke up into small discussion groups, led by members of the faculty, which went over the lecture and the reading done in advance. But Hanover was getting too crowded. Reunion classes were much larger, and were added to by the Alumni Council. Valuable as it was, the Holiday appealed more to them but less to the alumni for whom it was created. Finally in 1963 the decision was made to end the June affair, and to move the Alumni College to later in the summer. At the same time the Director, Professor Hill, resigned, and so did what was left, after 27 years, of the original Committee.

Under new leadership the Alumni College has gone on to continued success, but its 1971 session might be called not the Bth, but really the 32nd, or if we count the beginnings of the 1920's, the 35th. Dartmouth, once the only men's college to have such a program, has made "continuing education" a part of itself, and has led the way to making it a part of all good education.

Professor of History Emeritus

Prof. Herbert Hill, first Director