NAILS FROM DARTMOUTH HALL

Out of the ashes of the burning of Dartmouth Hall in 1904 came these handmade nails—and a whole new sense of urgency in alumni giving. After the fire Melvin O. Adams, class of 1871 (and famous for his defense of ax murderer Lizzie Borden), appealed to Boston- area alumni for reconstruction money. “This is not an invitation,” he wrote. “It is a summons.” As a result, alums raised $100,000 to rebuild. The successful campaign was the culmination of a decade of alumni cultivation by President William Jewett Tucker, class of 1861. The College rode this wave of alumni support into the modern era by starting three new alumni ventures in three years—the Association of Class Secretaries, the predecessor to the Alumni Fund, and the alumni magazine. Today among Ivy schools, only Princeton (61 percent) leads Dartmouth (49 percent) in participation rate of alumni giving.