Forged by Flame

WHEN DARTMOUTH HALL BURNED 100 YEARS AGO, A BUILDING WAS LOST—AND A MAGAZINE WAS BORN.

100th Anniversary of DAM

It's not far-fetched to say this magazine arose, phoenix-like, from the ashes of the Dartmouth Hall fire of 1904. President William Jewett Tucker, class of 1861, shrewdly recognized that the outpouring of alumni support to rebuild the iconic structure could be parlayed into a vigorous alumni movement that would transform Dartmouth into a modern, vibrant college. In his hands the fire became a motivational tool to fund his ambitions.

One legacy is this magazine, started in 1905 as The Dartmouth Bi-Monthly. (The name was changed to the Dartmouth AlumniMagazine, or DAM, in 1908, when it became a monthly. In 2000 the magazine went back to a bimonthly schedule.) The magazines mission was simply stated in the premier issue: "The Bi-Monthly will make every effort to do what it can in maintaining the interest of alumni, officers and friends of Dartmouth in each other and the College."

The founding editor of the new magazine was future Dartmouth president Ernest Martin Hopkins, class of 1901. Though Hopkins' pioneering editorial mix of College news, opinion, sports, Class Notes and obituaries was a hit with his readers, the magazines birth also raised a question: Was this a magazine for the alumni or a house organ for the administration? Hopkins, who was plucked for the editors seat from his job as the presidents secretary, was the ultimate administration insider. As a magazine editor he had to prove to his readers that The Dartmouth Bi-Monthly was theirs. Tucker wanted alumni feedback on his expansion program, and it was important to him that "the various questions intimately connected with the growth of the College ought to be discussed openly by the alumni," he wrote.

Hopkins' success was documented by a resolution passed by the Class Secretaries Association in 1907 that read: "This magazine has not only established its usefulness, but already holds an affectionate place in the hearts of alumni, who are ever hungry for news from the old College." The tradition of editorial independence lives on today. As a result, DAM is one of the few alumni magazines with editorial content not dictated by its college administration.

Charles Widmeyer '30, editor from 1943 to 1973, used the term "editorial freedom" to describe how he determined the publication's contents. As Widmeyer saw it, the magazine has "a clear responsibility to itself along with higher responsibilities to the alumni and to the College. Without such self-interest, on which its integrity and credibility are based, it cannot do its job."

Widmayer viewed the editors desk as a destination for Dartmouth's vast array of opinions, but he was unwavering in his stance that the editor had the final say on content. "An editor is importuned to print many things, and he must have his own selective process," wrote Widmeyer. "Giving a sympathetic hearing to what is important to others does not compromise his freedom as an editor."

The only time in 100 years that the College administration leaned heavily on that freedom resulted in a national public relations nightmare. The New York Times described the incident on November 23,1982: "As part of an effort to project more good news in articles written about Dartmouth College, its president, David T. McLaughlin, has done something that no one can remember an Ivy League university president doing." McLaughlin, in effect, had dismissed the editor, Dennis A. Dinan '61.

In the aftermath of the firing, the magazine's editorial freedom was codified by a charter signed by the trustees in 1983. Among its provisions was the establishment of an official role for the editorial advisory board. The charter has made a difference in the quality of the magazine, says Pulitzer Prize-winner and former class secretary Bob Conn '61. "As a regular contributor to two magazines at Wake Forest, I understand the independence issues," he says. "DAM has published a number of tough articles in recent years that probably could not have been published at Wake Forest."

The tradition of editorial freedom isn't the only legacy of Hopkins' stint as editor. While his magazine looks dated by today's standards, his editorial instincts about what readers considered important in 1905 are not that much different than what is important to today's readers.

The idea of using the magazine as a forum to encourage alumni to speak out about Dartmouth issues goes back to the founding of the magazine. For example, lest anyone think the current debate over the importance of scholarship versus teaching at Dartmouth is something new, you can pickup an issue from 1905 and see that the conflict goes back at least a century. Back then this magazine was concerned that academic credentials "helped many men secure teaching positions who have no ability to teach."

"The Ph.D. degree undoubtedly signifies depth of learning, but knowledge may be very deep without having length or breadth," warned an editorial. "Such knowledge is of little use in a college instructor." In a subsequent issue, history professor Sidney Fay put the magazine in its place, writing, "I do insist that we should regard college teaching as a profession, similar to law or medicine, and expect those who practice it to have a proper preparation. There is no better evidence than the Ph.D. degree."

Opinion pieces written by the faculty on important issues of the day were part of the original magazine editorial mix as well. What has changed has been the scope of faculty interests: from College affairs to a variety of social, political and economic issues of the day.

Cover "art," however, was a long time coming. After running the College seal on 240 consecutive issues, groundbreaking editor Sid Hayward '26 finally ran a photo of Baker Tower (taken by Richard Frame '28) on the cover in October 1932. The move didn't play well with everyone. First in line to complain was Frames classmate, Robert Rockhill, who wrote, "I am constitutionally opposed to the use of glazed paper in magazines of some intellectual content and, I suppose, to photographs in such magazines." College librarian Nathaniel Goodrich compared the same issue of DAM to OutDoorAmerican, Radio News and AmericanRifleman—three magazines he evidently despised. "The combination of color and halftone gives me a jar...the resulting effect is cheap."

Times have changed, and so has the magazine. Todays emphasis on design and strong photography has won praise from readers and design professionals alike. Readers have also evolved, and today the magazine must compete for their attention against a slew of publications and other mail that come into alumni homes everyday.

As Dartmouth became less provincial after the Second World War, Widmeyer expanded the scope of the magazines coverage by adding analysis of timely issues with titles such as "The Atomic Threat" and "The Postwar Veteran." Widmeyer also pushed the magazine into an orbit beyond that of the immediate Dartmouth family. Under his tenure DAM became a founding member of a national consortium of alumni magazines that commissioned articles by intellectual heavyweights such as Bertrand Russell, Magaret Mead and Arnold Toynbee. In 1957 DAM joined eight other alumni magazines in launching "Operation Moonshooter" to cover the big issues of higher education. The "operation" was such a success that within a decade it had evolved into the independent corporation that today publishes the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Despite the success of Operation Moonshooter, the magazine never forgot that its essential appeal to readers was Class Notes. In 1958 Widmeyer noted that although reader surveys continually ranked Class Notes as the most-read part of the magazine, "debate now rages in college magazine circles as to whether class notes have a place in an alumni magazine, but Dartmouth Alumni Magazine continues to be their staunch advocate, while admitting that ways must constantly be sought to freshen them and to avoid much-satirized trivia."

Today some alumni magazines have dropped their Class Notes altogether or run only a few pages of them. DAM remains committed to publishing the best possible Class Notes anywhere. Every other month some 70 class secretaries generate several thousand words that fill nearly one-third of every issue. In a readership survey conducted in 2004, readers once again reiterated their love of the notes and of the alumni profiles in the feature well. Clearly, alumni like reading about each other.

"Class Notes are the raw material of literature," this magazine observed in a cover story published in 1992, and it remains true even today. "They are about births and deaths, habits and mores, and all the human verities. 'Literature is detail,' said novelist Dorothy L. Sayers, and what are Class Notes but the amalgamation of human detail?"

Class Notes "are nothing less than a coda to the Old Testament, wherein we learn who begat whom and when (and where they went to school)," John Pierce '71, publisher of the Old Farmer's Almanac, wrote in the same issue. "Class Notes offers us believable (well, they are real people), empathetic characters that grow over time and eventually die."

In short, DAM's Class Notes demonstrate that alumni themselves drive the magazine. And while all alumni do eventually die, as Pierce wrote, their stories live on—and will continue to do so—in the pages of their alumni magazine.

1905 DAM proclaims Walt Whitman, who delivered the 1872 Commencement poem "As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free," the most "striking or original personality" ever to appear at any commencement in America.

1917 "Approximately 2,000 anti-typhoid shots are given to 700 students. DAM calculates that 5,000,000,000,000 bacteria were injected into the collective student body at a [total] cost of $39.29."

1925 In his annual statistical summary of the incoming class written for DAM, Dean of Freshmen E. Gordon Bill compares the average I.Q. score of incoming legacies with the average I.Q. of the general student population. "I hoped the average for the sons of alumni would be either very high or very low, so I would have something to write about, but I am sorry to report that the average was almost exactly the average for the whole class."

1935 After 42 years at Dartmouth, retiring Dean Craven Laycock, class of 1896, is profiled. Laycock, a professor of public speaking before he became dean, offers this tidbit to wannabe toastmasters: "Too many speakers spoil their general effect by not knowing when to shut up."

1935 In a profile of quirky Outing Club benefactor the Rev. Johnny Johnson, class of 1866, it is noted that while his $55,000 endowment was the lifeblood of the DOC, some of his other donations "had no practical value." Among the oddities Johnson sent the club were 100 pairs of extra-large Army breeches, dozens of cheap green neckties, hundreds of corncob pipes and one keg of Worcestershire sauce.

1952 DAM reports that the Alumni Fund will not be asking graduates to dig deeper into their pockets. Having examined the Colleges books, the Alumni Council decides the goal for 1952 should be the same as it was in 1951: $500,000.

1968 Robert Reich '68, a selfproclaimed "conservative establishment hippie" (and future Secretary of Labor), publishes an explanation of the hippie ethic for readers over 30.

1972 Following the Colleges decision to admit women, the first letter on the topic received by DAM suggests that "Men of Dartmouth" is no longer an appropriate alma mater. A decade later the administration agrees that a change is needed, but without a replacement song in the wings there is no harmony on how this should be accomplished.

1981 Among the 185 Indiansymbol letters published during a 15-year span is this ditty by Ted Geisel '25 (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss):

The Indian symbol fanaticsWith their Wah-Hoo Wah-Hoo-Wahs Are beginning to give meA pain in the Aah-hoo-Aahs

1990 The magazine runs a "traditions quiz" that asks alumni to distinguish between traditions that have failed, traditions that are still around or fake traditions made up by the magazine staff as trick questions. Not only do a number of alumni claim they participated in the fake Jack Frost Tradition (participants swim in the Connecticut River and then race to the President's House to steal his Christmas wreath) but several claim to have been named Jack Frost.

1994 Included in a list of 128 Dartmouth gifts to the world assembled by DAM are the Republican Party (founded by Amos Tuck, class of 1835), the Argentine navy (bought and paid for by William Porter White, class of 1790) and goldfish-swallowing (a fad pioneered by Farnham Greenleaf, class of 1916, in his room in Richardson Hall to win a 25-cent bet).

1997 As one of the many alumni who made it into literature, Michael Corleone '49 (as portrayed by Godfather actor Al Pacino), appears on the cover. One member of the class claims Corleone couldn't be a '49 because he never saw him on campus. Novelist Mario Puzo would beg to differ.

2004 There are no agnostics in the senior class, according to a magazine poll. Forty-nine percent of seniors say they believe in God. Fifty-one percent claim to be atheists.

NUMBER OF EDITORS SINCE 1905: 11 NUMBER OF BACK ISSUES: 897 POUNDS OF PAPER NEEDED TO PRINT THE LAST ISSUE OF DAM: 34,551 COPIES OF THIS ISSUE MAILED: 49,365 NUMBER OF CLASSES SUBMITTING CLASS NOTES: 76 NUMBER OF TIMES BAKER TOWER HAS APPEARED ON THE FRONT COVER: 53 NUMBER OF POETIC ENTRIES CONTRIBUTED TO THE CLASS NOTES BY HAL RIPLEY '29: 180

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP FOR 100 YEARS DAM HAS REPORTED ON THOSE SPECIAL THINGS THAT MAKE DARTMOUTH, WELL, DARTMOUTH.

Lee Michaelidesis the managing editor of DAM. He's been with the magazine for 19 of its 100 years.