WEBSTER’S TOP HAT

Daniel Webster, class of 1801, was the original cat in the hat when he donned this beaver-fur top hat custom-made for him in Boston in 1852. A famous orator, Massachusetts senator and U.S. statesman, Webster failed to win the presidency as a candidate three times, but he argued more than 200 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won about half of them. In Dartmouth College v. Woodward in 1819, he argued for nearly four hours in front of the justices, ending his presentation with perhaps the most famous words in Dartmouth history: “It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college, and yet there are those that love it.” He won the day, ensuring that his alma mater did not become a public university. Webster’s name appears across the campus, and Rauner Library’s vast Webster collection includes his hat, silk socks, a hat rack made of antlers, and his open carriage.