Acadia National Park : The founders-DORK,ENOT, JDRJr. Bryan, John Art Department U.R South Carolina 803-777-4236 The Founders Since the formation of the Sieur de Monts National Monument, varied views have been offered regarding the relationships between park Founders. Many published accounts have stressed qualities of George B. Dorr, Charles W. Eliot, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. that were incompatible with their partners in the establishment of Acadia National Park; others focused on shared character traits. It is also possible that their conservation achievements were the product of an antagonism that may or may not have been acknowledged. This file offers a sampling of their character traits both as seen by others and at times by the Founders themselves. Mount Desert Island historian Judith S. Goldstein refers to this threesome as "the Triumvirate," a term that-given its classical historical associations--may have made one or more of the Founders uncomfortable. Contained therein is a paper I delivered at the Jesup Memorial Library that emphasized the commonalities of the Founders. A central argument is that for patrician males born during the arc of mid 19th-century America, their novel use of emotional language suggests a degree of intimacy that may reflect a deeper reservoir of shared character traits than what is reported in the historical record. Ronald H. Epp Ph.D. 2021 BOIAM2S send 2161 I DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR som STATE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON Bar Harbor, Me., Oct. 29, 1917. Mr. Horace M. Albright, Acting Director National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. Albright: I want to add just a word about the development of the Park. People are taking great interest in it, not only the people here but in a very wide circle. If I can show results within the next few years and what it may be made to mean to a great public, that interest will grow and bring its own re- sults in turn. If it stays inert, not opening out and developing its points of interest, its opportunity to give, , that interest will drop. It is extremely important for the Monument that I should be able to secure certain noble frontages I have in mind upon the ocean. For bringing this about I am dependent on the interest aroused, for they will be costly; but they are not out of reach if that interest can be kept quick and moving. The development here has got to be what we call in agriculture 'intensive', calculated to bring a large return from a relatively limited area. The Monument lends itself to this remarkably. There will be scarcely a hundred acres in a single tract in the whole Monument that will not be fitted to 2. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON make its own contribution of interest or beauty, different from the rest. And the landscape effects I am planning for, and am already in part securing, are unique -- in the world SO far as I know -- and singularly striking. This is due to the boldness of the Elaciated rock formation and the picturesqueness of the foregrounds made by the frost-split granite, covered with moss and lichens. And it is also due to the character of the vegetation, which leaves no bareness anywhere and is rich in northern forms. In this it is un- like the White Mountains, which are relatively bare in detail, and unlike any of our southern landscapes. The park, with such a path system as I am planning and have got already started, with its woods and springs and the ocean presence, ought to become one of the great health resorts as well as recreative areas of the country. It has remarkable possibilities in that direction, needing only proper hotels and a few years development of the park to make it so. And it is capable of being made as well a great biological station, exhibiting in & concentrated space the flora and fauna of the whole northeastern region of the continent. People are taking great interest in this aspect of it also, and I ought to be able to Secure generous support for it on this ground as well, when I can show results. I calculate there are now about ten thousand acres in the Monument with what I now have ready to add to it; I hope to 3. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON make this twenty thousand presently including in it something like thirty square miles. This will take in the whole moun- tain range and its adjoining valleys, together with good wharfages and sea approaches, and a considerable extent of shore. On the historic side, keeping alive the memory of a singularly interesting period in the settlement of the country and of the part France took in that settlement, the Monument has a distinct mission. It can enrich the national life with memories and associations we have been losing sight of. This back-ground of history, I find, interests everyone who comes here very greatly and is already becoming through the Sieur de Monts Publications a feature of the Monument. I have these publications on distribution at two places, the Govern- ment office and at the Sieur de Monts Spring entrance to the Monument, of which Secretary Lane can tell you. It interested him more, he told me as he was going off, than any other thing he saw here, in its combination of the wildness of nature and the human touch. There, opposite the entrance to the Emery path which leads to Sieur de Monts Crag and on over Dry Mountain to the Island summit, I have placed a simple little building sixteen feet square with & sanded floor and with a round oak table I gave for the purpose in the middle; the Crag looks down on it. On the table these publications are kept, spread out, and the door is open. A constant stream of people already passes there in summer time and carries off these pamphlets. It 4. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON has become, from a seemingly remote and unfrequented spot one of the most frequented spots on the Island within the last two years, it being first opened to the public on the creation of the Monument. Placed where the Monument is, with its railroad, motor, and water connections -- and air connections doubtless present- ly -- it is bound to be a point of great resort in the future, as it is developed and takes on a park-like aspect. Villa residence is already occupying the shore as far as the Penobscot, in practically unbroken occupation. The time is not distant when the park will present the only trect of really wild land upon the whole coast. The problem is, as I stated in my paper, to maintain its atmosphere of wildness and of natural beauty in the presence of the many thousand people who will annually visit it. Another matter I am studying over now is to make resort to it inexpensive, so that people of moderate means or on salary can come to it freely. This is a matter that I talked over with Mrs. Lane when she and Secretary Lane were here, I can get people boarded now at not exceeding fourteen dollars a week, and this is the first year -- owing to war prices -- when it would have been as high. But to provide for people at such rates on a large scale new accommodations will have to be provided, and it is this question, of location and the cost of building, which I am working on. The railroads will make special rates for such visitors to the park, I have ascertained. 5. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE WASHINGTON So will the steamboat lines. With regard to food supply, the conditions are extremely favorable if the supply be properly organized. The supply of fish from the ocean, bought direct from the fishermen, is abundant and cheap. It is also a luxury to those who do not live within reach of it at other times. The market-garden industry also has sprung up now to such an extent in this region, stimulated by summer residence and the advent of the motor, that farmers fifty miles away -- in the neighborhood of Bangor -- club together and send a motor down two or three times a week, while the neighboring farmers, on the main- land as well as on the Island, make daily trips. Boat freight from Boston and Portland is also low and can be used for anything which is not quickly perishable. And as soon as people know what can be counted on in the way of demand there will be no difficulty in providing for people inexpensively on a large scale. On a lesser one they can be cared for now in the park's immediate vicinity. For the park is surrounded by resort and fishing villages, placed upon the shore. And every natural condition is favorable to low prices, cheap transport and good food. Yours sincerely, G.B.Dosr Thrumphi UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Rample 3 REGION THREE H.P.S. SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO 4.5 Can't January 19, 1942. Sarta Mr. George B. Dorr, Superintendent, Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, Maine. Dear Mr. Dorr: I have just read, with highest satisfaction, the Service news re- lease for Sunday, January 11, signalling the virtual completion of your plans for enlargement of Acadia National Park, culminating nearly a half century of effort devoted to its creation, planning, development, and enlargement. Many years ago at Mesa Verde National Park, Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., told me, in intimate detail, the story of your conception for preserving for the nation a superb area of the coastlands of Maine--the story of George B. Dorr and Acadia National Park. He said that his long friend- ship for you, your diligence and devotion to the cause, your courage in the face of expressed opposition of long entrenched wealthy residents, and your gifts of property beyond your ability to give, had stimulated his desire to "chip in" and assist you in the realization of your ideals for the Service and the nation. One who has worked diligently through more than a third of a cen- tury to advance certain plans and ideals in Mesa Verde National Park, likewise endorsed and generously supported by Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., congratulates warmly the patriarch of our Service, on realizing his ideals and objectives for Acadia National Park. May health, happiness, and enjoyment of the fruits of your fore- sightedness and diligent effort comfort you through the years that lie ahead. Sincerely yours, Jurse Lundbaum Jesse L. Nusbaum. Sevin archaeol Region U.S. Counthouses 3, n.c. jental Iii A.M UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Acadia National Park Bar Harbor, Maine January 27, 1942. Mr. Jesse L. Nusbaum, Senior Archaeologist, Region Three, National Park Service, U. S. Courthouse, Santa Fe, N. M. Dear Mr. Nusbaum: Your letter, with its kind words and memories of old times, brings me great pleasure, a double pleasure for it tells me of yourself as well as brings most welcome greetings. An operation for glaucoma a few years since cost me the power to read and to write ao that for this I must depend entirely upon others now, but with their aid I am writing out my recollections of the past, connected with this region and the Park, which I trust you some day my read. The field which you have made your own, the study of the past, through what in oneway another it has left behind, interests me profoundly always from whatever source it comes and I congratulate you on having in your work such a source of interest, an interest that only grows as one goes on. I wi sh we might meet again and talk, but that seems far away, too far even to dream of in these days, so I send you in return for yours warmest greetings and remain Yours most truly, GBD-0 Bluffs ACADIA Dedication of Cadillac Mountain Road Completes Fulfilment of George at in- arious A Boyhood Dream Bucknam Dorr's Life-long Mission- Devoted to Preservation of Mount have The Come True Desert's Primitive Beauties. ology, e par- By B. MORTON HAVEY ouglas aterial T HE history of a nation was changing. A chapter ine of long since been passed down to us by parents and of war was passing into the shadow. Island grand-parents. But the ogre of reconstruction-with its trials ich, in Our first picture of Mount Desert, in truth, is all that and diversities-beckoned its unfortunates to come; to had been visioned-and more! pass over the grill of turbulence, which is the aftermath Gate- of strife between countries and peoples. Our first inspiration-and it is still in the years of th the youth, you will remember-is to lend the hand of man nning, Is it to be wondered that at such a to the great task of conserving all Abbe, time in the affairs of our United the fine things before us, passing ory of States a quiet isle off the coast of them down to posterity for pos- Walter our own State of Maine should, in terity's sake alone. show a its very solemnity and peace, It is the work of a life-time! ge an- carry impressiveness and in- Are we decided? rst in- spiration? Can we devote our life, mind istance Is it to be wondered that this and body, to this vast under- ren K. bit of land-l'Isle des Monts taking? Can we educate our- deserts--its mountains silent in selves for this single purpose? 1 Park primeval sleep, should summon With this single objective in val, its anew thought of centuries view? Can we make an actu- e first past: Black-robed priests ality of this wish of our in romantic guise, forebears? steeped in learning, It is an inborn ex- paled from pression of the soul- monastery vig- as determined, as self- the art ilance, passing sacrificing, as relig- I 1921, in the night ke, by iously con among plumed autiful ceived, devoid helmets cast m that of all ego, as aside by weary county is the thought men, whose by the of those black- fondest hope, al Bu- robed men of whether lord or e high- years ago, vassal, could casting about be to give remely in the forests, their lives for Mr. Dorr and Franklin K. Lane, former Secretary of The Interior, photographed at le, for in priestly y France. summit of Cadillac Mountain when the new road was being planned. olds an vestment, by t parks Let us slip back a moment, across the years, into those the flickering lights of their ghostly camp fires! of the days of drab, bleak reconstruction. We are resolved! evement In youth, then, we leave other quarters of the country -leave riots, dishonesty, horrors and gruesome scenes George Bucknam Dorr -to come to peaceful Mount Desert. To try and visualize the work and the inspiration of The story of its sleepy mountains, reaching their George Bucknam Dorr is difficult. A man now well be- at rail- slopes into the restless ocean, adorning their tops with yond his three score and ten years, Mr. Dorr talks but ngineer. characteristic pines and hemlocks, picturing, in them- little of himself; if you would see his life's work-for heel. selves all that is strong and beautiful in Nature, has (Continued on page 29) Page Eleven 2 MAINE HIGHWAYS 29 in ACADIA A BOYHOOD DREAM him a day, note his activities and pleasures-most all of (Continued from page 11) which are akin to work-and you can't help from re- away con- which he seeks no personal glory-you have but to gaze turning with a lighter step and in a happier frame of traveling mind. immission, on and visit Acadia National Park. Incidentally (and we feel that is the proper word), He radiates those qualities, talks on any subject you Macadam. he is Superintendent of the Park; is briefly rated as wish, writes and reads in eight languages, spends his into city. such, together with being its founder, in Who's Who In evenings translating from the original Greek, makes sent pave- America. haste when there is need-but has a most enjoyable habit of not making too much haste! Who's Who, further, tells us that Mr. Dorr is a stu- Gravel. dent, scientist, born in 1853; an unmarried man; also And now your patience is requested for a moment niles indicates that he is well educated, has devoted much while we go into the 'first person' part of this account. Alternate time to plant life, public reservations and landscape Reportorial Tactics--and Comebacks mariscotta gardening. On the day I interviewed Mr. Dorr warning was given Travel al- That is not exciting or particularly newsy: You by friends that he would talk for hours on the subject would just naturally expect it, take it all for granted, of Acadia National Park-but that I had best watch out d around after meeting the man. You would know that he set if any attempt was made to lead him onto the subject of ituminous out on a purpose in early life, trained his mind for George Bucknam Dorr. what he had to do, denied himself many privileges and "Unfortunately, what is it you wish to discuss?" he Macadam. pleasures to give his undivided time to the labor ahead. greeted, with a smile, having an inkling of what my call posite di- The nearest he comes to telling you that, in substance, was all about. 5 miles- or anything else regarding himself is, in his own words: "Unfortunately, I would like to know a few things "The impelling causes of what people do may gen- about George Bucknam Dorr," was my reply. lous Mac- erally be found far back. What led to my own interest "Very well," he returned, much to my surprise, and alternate in nature and landscape, in their conservation, and in immediately began telling me about the beautiful hills ou. sharing the pleasure got from them with others came and view thereabouts. from years of close association, both abroad and in this It was finally realized that he was evading the point, country, with my father and my mother, who inherited so, as tactfully as possible, the conversation was swung in turn from older generations." to the personal side once again. "Oh, yes, to be sure, you desire) to know about George For One And All Bucknam Dorr," he said-with apologies for using the E Acadia National Park is a spot for all. Classes of quotation marks-it was simply something like that. people, regardless of station or position, may come here Nevertheless, my hopes were raised as he left the room and take away enjoyment and happiness far and beyond a moment, to return with an old family house-book. the realm of monetary value. Turning the pages, he finally came upon an original And neither, curiously enough, has Mr. Dorr made nor poem, written in pen and ink, by Oliver Wendell attempted to make a monument to himself or family Holmes. from Acadia National Park. The development has been "Would you just read that?" he invited. his life-time's work, but he is wholly satisfied, for his Very thoroughly I read the lines, believing that he part, to accept in payment the knowledge that he has was to tell me a story of his life, which, perhaps, had done something for others; that he has given some- an association with this verse. thing instead of taken something. Hide and Seek Many have assisted him, contributed priceless efforts, About ten or fifteen minutes later I found him at his but for this brief article, their magnanimity is sought desk in another room. He greeted me with a smile, that exclusive lines may be devoted to this man, now in took the house-book for a moment, turned to another the sunset of life, who may gaze upon 'his' beloved hills VERY of Acadia and find there carved the achievement of an page and invited me to read another bit of verse. T OF I was most happy to do so, especially in the thought inherent custody. that it was bringing me closer to the information I AND A Kindly Man sought. URS Mr. Dorr is a kindly man; ever a gentleman in every After the second reading was completed, I discovered deed and act. that Mr. Dorr had disappeared again. About ten He has a merry twinkle in his eye, a good color in minutes later I found him, working as usual. Just as his cheeks, the kind of a laugh you're bound to like, a though he wished to groom me further he said: lot of wit-and loves a prank. He makes you feel that "Come and I will show you about." Mass. advanced age cannot be so serious after all! Visit with He did-but still said nothing of himself. 3 30 MAINE HIGHWAYS "No, no!" I almost shouted. "I just want to talk with you, if you please." "Oh, but you should see the mountain," he replied Tarmac with that same politeness and smile. was "But I've seen it a thousand times," I protested. Pul MAKES GOOD ROADS "But you must see it again," he insisted. ma Before I could do any more insisting, I was hustled pro into a car, and as it's said: taken for a ride! And I age spent the remainder of 'my interview' looking at scenery T from the mountain tops while Mr. George Bucknam hig] Dorr-I'll wager a cooky-chuckled, as he worked in com his modest little study in the foothills, because he had rou outwitted another reporter! Stat Honored by Congress con It is quite generally known that Mr. Dorr has been as paid a distinct honor by Congress. His work was ap- the preciated to the extent that the Federal government inte: passed a special bill allowing him to be retained as poir Superintendent of Acadia National Park, after he had quir reached the age of retirement. term Koppers Products Company, Inc. There are many intimate facts regarding his life and gene public career which pass from mouth to mouth; which brid Providence, R.I. - Boston, Mass. should be written, that this man might receive the fullest toge Distributing Plant - Portland, Me. credit for his accomplishment. pose But if one wishes to be exact, he must gather the ma- refer terial for such an account from Mr. Dorr, and Mr. Dorr mon alone, and as yet he does not feel it necessary or ex- Whe pedient to associate his own personality with Acadia mate Finally he reached upon the mantel, removed a National Park. mitte glass vessel which contained a fine sand; walked over He is satisfied and happy to carry on the work of his ticula close by the light of a window. At last, I thought, he is fathers for the enjoyment of humanity. and going to give me some personal information! That plans sand, I was sure, came from the rock on the top of trict Mr. Barrows Attends n. y. Meeting Cadillac-and who knows but what it represented his to su Chief Engineer Lucius D. Barrows. who is Vice Presi- initial inspiration in behalf of this Park? Publi dent of the Association of State Highway Officials of "See how fine it is," he said, as he allowed a bit of A the North Atlantic States, attended a meeting of the the contents of the jar to stream into his hand. struct directors of that organization, held in New York on July "Yes, yes!" I agreed with genuine enthusiasm. repre 15th. He carefully placed the jar back upon the mantle. Depa The purpose of the session was to determine the lo- "From the rock on Cadillac?" the te cation of the annual convention, to be held in 1933, "Oh, no," came very casually, as he set about moving proje Atlantic City being selected. some papers here and there. "Banks of the river Nile!" to sul work He Wins the Day requir It was then lunch time-and I hustled through the The BOND Co. of the hour, with cooperation from Mr. Dorr's efficient secre- Vou tary, Miss Oakes, who realized the task I had buckled up HAROLD L. BOND, Pres. progro work against. I wondered just how long this gentleman could so DEALERS IN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT FOR The courteously, but efficiently, avoid my direct questioning. CONSTRUCTION WORK partm I wanted to be a good cross-examining lawyer Burea for about fifteen minutes! 39 Old Colony Avenue South Boston is Tho "Miss Oakes," came a pleasant command. "Will you trict N Telephone South Boston 0764 see that this young man is given a ride up over the the su mountain? resente W. Olson, 'N Kent. "Second Founding, First Light : Acade c Vahl Pah ad that Pisut Islad. Photography & Tone Blagden, To. Text 2 Charles R.Tyson Jr. 2003 Sp. 6-10 Englised CO : Wes cliffe Publishers "If the Yorkees who corrected of Acadie had waited for Caypen to wate th selfsane park it tonever worl d have happened. The percepted ferenda then Joh D. looffeller Jr. (chief lad down ad francist hader), Hawad colly President Charle weliot (philosophy thing of fle pashides) ad the tireless Tayer Don (herefactor trend par capitated ). Then are out Men who dallied Dorr who ex alled at political tactics, devated had f he life x furth to assembling the pah l taby or the indifferent ad the opposed He worked a tepid Ceripien ad heat a Main legislators attaupt to stup the HCTPR, Maries first lad trust, of the ability to hold donated pack could h obtableted , (p-8) propertyes for free untre the " + " Quarte initiative govern Acadia." 2 'l morrel at how virlonary the packs forder were. Assebly Audic was an immense act of gift giving bullah consent politics , & franget, place in a time when "awesome" had informed y a powerful reverence for a meaning The pach wa a land planny decompleted of matiousire significance perfectly timed urthin llarie, "Auder was needs to lender a place apart." 576 Barrett Wendell. [June, 1921.] Alfred Tredway White. 577 sacred to him because he made it. Rather he suspected it both to be less than what people declared it and less than he wanted to believe it. ALFRED TREDWAY WHITE. Something of the Puritan in him, combined with this modesty, led him to the decrying of his own work as a teacher of composition. Br FRANCIS G. PEABODY, '69. Training himself relentlessly to face facts, and noting in our colleges the enormous expenditure for training in English as compared with the A LFRED TREDWAY WHITE (A.M. hon. 1890) died January 29, 1921. He had set out, as was not unusual with him, on a tramp literary output or even widespread correctness of usage, he sometimes among the mountains of the Ramapo region west of the Hudson River, queried our whole system, and naturally his own work as a part of it. and, while skating on one of its numerous lakes, broke through the To people who could not understand this impersonality of attitude, ice and was drowned. The immediate circumstances of the accident all this seemed a pose; but it was not. made it a grave shock to his friends; but sudden death, in itself, com- Born and bred a conservative in social matters, he reorgan- ing to a man of seventy-five, in the fulness of athletic vigor, and with izer intellectually. Steadily, his life long, an inculcator of that which an unblemished record of integrity and beneficence, cannot be re- is deadliest to conservatism, - independent, fresh, constructive garded as untimely or deplorable. Mr. White's death was mourned thinking, - he was one of the most stimulating teachers Harvard has by the people of Brooklyn as that of their best-loved neighbor and ever known. Perhaps his greatest gift to his pupils, particularly leading citizen, and a Memorial Meeting at the Academy of Music those who became teachers, was the creation of an attitude toward brought together rich and poor, Catholics and Protestants, white and their work. He made them see the students, not as buckets to be black, in a unanimity of affection, and with a sense of public and per- filled, but as individualities to be descried. The college age is a sonal bereavement, which few private citizens in the diversified life time when ambitions are high, but students, still timorous as to of a great metropolis, have inspired. whether they can make real their dreams, cannot talk of them freely. Mr. White was the son of a merchant who, with his brother, estab- Inestimable to them is a teacher who, treating them not as groups, lished, in 1839, the firm of W. A. & A. M. White in New York. The but as individuals, competent to judge and fearlessly honest, helps son was trained to be an engineer and received the degree of C.E. at them to see that ambition is not always endowment or that he descries the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy in 1865, when nineteen signs that the dreams may, with exacting, unremitting labor, be ful- years of age. He was the valedictorian of his class. After a visit filled. Yet always Wendell set the art higher than the individual to Europe he entered business life in his father's office and soon be- and never let his praise of the accomplishment leave the writer in came a partner in the, firm. Mr. White's instincts and ideals were, smug satisfaction that his utmost goal had been reached. It is a very however, not those of a merchant or financier. He concerned him- fitting thing which the Sorbonne has done in honor of Barrett Wendell, self at once with the philanthropic and economic needs of the rapidly placing his name above one of the portals of the Department of Eng- growing city of Brooklyn, and soon became a trusted leader and coun- lish, for the intellectual life of many a Harvard graduate is the richer selor. With his cousin, Seth Low, he organized the Brooklyn Bureau for the doors he opened in undergraduate days. of Charities in 1878, and was its president for thirty years. He be- came a director of the Brooklyn Children's Aid Society in 1868, and was intimately concerned with its affairs for fifty years. His obser- vation of conditions in Brooklyn soon convinced him that poverty Hanard Graduates Magazine and disease were intimately associated with the housing of the people, and that better living must begin in better homes. Housing reform had not as yet been seriously undertaken in the United States, and no satisfactory precedent could be studied. Mr. White, therefore, when but twenty-nine years old, sailed to England, inspected Sir Sydney Waterlow's buildings, and other illustrations of model dwell- (29/(1221):577-83. On 578 Alfred Tredway White. [June, 1921.] Alfred Tredway White. 579 ings, and, returning to Brooklyn, built, near the waterfront, the most notable block of improved tenements undertaken, at that time, in Social Museum, until the total of these benefactions reached nearly the United States. "The problem that shaped itself in my mind," $300,000. "I believe," he wrote to President Eliot in 1903, "that the he wrote in 1875, "was, what is the best. accommodation which can interest in the study of the Social Questions will broaden if the facili- be given to the poorest paid of the working-people, at the price which ties for such studies be increased, and I shall be glad to aid in making they are accustomed to pay, and which would permit a fair return on such provision at Harvard as may perpetuate, expand, and dignify the investment, while furnishing sun-lighted rooms, domestic privacy, the course already established"; and again, to President Lowell in and freedom from fire." The Tower Buildings, erected in 1877-79, 1917, "While I sympathize with the desire to provide instruction on these principles, contained 267 lettings, and the Riverside Build- especially designed for Divinity School students, I would also keep in ings, built in 1890, 280 lettings, or a total in both blocks of 547 homes, mind the interests of that large body of undergraduates who, as likely housing about 2000 tenants. to become men of affairs, should realize the fundamentally ethical This bold enterprise, undertaken through the private initiative of nature of many of our social problems." For more than ten years one young man, has remained for forty years a model for similar these gifts were, by Mr. 'White's explicit direction, recorded as anony- enterprises. Fireproof construction, separate entrances, outside stair- mous, and it was not until a new professor took command of the De- ways, sun-lighted rooms, interior parks and playgrounds, and rebates partment that the source of this stream of benefactions was generally on prompt payments - the conditions which Mr. White at once en- known to be, not a graduate of the College, but a remote and unsus- pected friend. forced - have been accepted as essential, both for health and for profit. His buildings have been eagerly sought for by desirable ten- It is not necessary to enumerate here in detail the varied enterprises ants; the death-rate, both of adults and children, has been reduced; for civic and social service which endeared Mr. White to his own and the commercial return, through this long term of years, has been community. He was Commissioner of City Works in 1893--94 under satisfactorily maintained. Helping the low-wage working-man, Mr. a reform administration of Brooklyn, and excited the most determined White said, did not make him poorer. No taint of patronage has been hostility from contractors and politicians, whose schemes were con- felt by occupants. The philanthropic motive was disguised by the fronted by his impregnable integrity. At the end of his term, how- business administration. As a consequence of this pioneer under- ever, he received an emblazoned testimonial, commending his admin- taking, Mr. White became a member of the Tenement House Com- istration and signed by the very men who had opposed his reforms. mission in New York in 1900, a director of the City and Suburban During this period of public service he was responsible for the building Homes Company, and a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation. of a Public Market, and its clock-tower represents his salary, - and, Out of this epoch-making venture grew Mr. White's association with probably, much more, - as returned to the treasury. He was a Harvard University. He had heard that his buildings were material passionate loyer of flowers, and this taste led him to increase the en-- for observation by students of social ethics, and he conceived the idea dowment of the Botanic Garden of the city, and to create there one of making the way of social service easier for others than it had been of the most lovely of Japanese gardens, with its characteristic lake, for him. It was necessary for him. he said, to cross the ocean for bridges, dwarfed trees, and rock-effects. He was an untiring friend instruction, and to proceed without expert guidance. Might not of Negro Education, providing Hampton Institute with & special young men like himself be taught, while in college, to use their lives fund, and, together with other members of his family, erecting at Tüskegee Institute a building known as White Hall. He was a and means more efficiently for the public good? With this hope he proceeded, first, to contribute $50,000 to secure the erection of Emer- member of the first executive committee of the American Red Cross son Hall, providing that in this building space should be assigned to as organized for the World War, was decorated by the King of Serbia the Department of Social Ethics; and then, through successive gifts, for his gifts to that country, and received from the King of Belgium to strengthen the Department by endowment, together with special the Order of the Cross. Each month, from the beginning of the war, gifts for furnishings, publications, and illustrative material for the a special contribution was forwarded by him to Cardinal Mercier, who, on learning from a Brooklyn priest the name of this anonymous 580 Alfred Tredway White. [June, 921.] Alfred Tredway White. 581 benefactor, sent him a precious crucifix from his own table. Such are a few of the undertakings with which his name is associated, and which White was a distinguished example. He had, among other gifts, have led his fellow citizens to commemorate his wise generosity by he faculty of prevision. Precisely as the maker of money must an- placing a memorial tablet in the beautiful Botanic Garden which he icipate.: needs and foresee what course events are to take, so the giver was principally instrumental in establishing. if money should be endowed with a constructive imagination and a No one can review a career like Mr. White's - modest, beneficent, ane foresight. His happiness, like that of the enterprising financier, and judicious - without being led to some reflections on the uses of S in developing unsuspected resources and anticipating unrecognized wealth and the secret of efficiency. This kind of life is, in the first yants. Like Wordsworth's "Happy Warrior," he, place, the best defence that can be offered for the present system of in- Through the heat of conflict, keeps the law dustry, which encourages private ownership. The so-called capital- In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw. istic system is manifestly under trial. Agitators and revolutionists affirm that it degrades the possessors and wrongs the dispossessed; Mr. White's service to Harvard University illustrated this application and there are instances enough of the misuse or waste of surplus capi- of business prevision to the distribution of wealth. When he began tal to encourage the advocates of confiscation or of communal control. o invest in the Department of Social Ethics, one of the most trusted The trouble with the rich is apt to be, not that they have money, but members of the College faculty remarked that he did not see how such that they do not know what money is for. They have learned how ctudies could be seriously pursued. Mr. White regarded this scep- to get, but have not learned how to use. The development of the icism with good-humored indifference, He was, he said, perfectly prehensile grasp has involved an atrophy of the open palm. Their ure that the problems of social and industrial change, or, as Mr. Rob- wealth has become what Ruskin called their "ill-th." If, on the rt Treat Paine announced in establishing his fellowship, "The other hand, a rich man regards himself, not as a possessor, but as a fforts of legislation, governmental administration, and private philan- trustee; if, instead of owning his wealth he is conscious that he owes hropy to ameliorate the lot of the masses of mankind," must be "the it, - then his distributions and benefactions are likely to be more entral matter of interest for educated young men during the next judicious than the schemes of politicians or the judgments of less fty years." He proceeded, therefore, to endow the first systematic competent men. The same discretion and discernment are applied nd academic instruction in these subjects which this or any other to giving which have been utilized in getting, and the world is the country had maintained; and the eager and even passionate desire better, not only for the money received, but for the sagacity with low so generally manifested among college students to have some part which it is distributed. In other words, the system of private owner- a the making of a better world, amply verifies Mr. White's prevision. ship is a stern test of character. It calls for conscience as well as for The same anticipation of needs characterized much of his giving. capacity. Ownership involves obligation. Service is the only free- l'ew citizens of Brooklyn could have imagined what pleasure was to dom. Mr. White met this test. He lived with personal simplicity, ie derived from a Japanese garden, but it has revealed to thousands and his life, service, and property were trusts for the common good. if old and young a type of beauty of whose existence they had not In conferring an honorary degree on him, in 1890, President Eliot lieen aware. His gifts to Belgium anticipated by many months any described him as "virum recte divitem esse scientem." He knew how to general sense of responsibility in this country for the sufferings of that be honorably rich. ;allant little land. In December, 1920, there arrived in this country To justify this way of life, however, more is needed than good in- representative of the ancient churches of Transylvania, which had seen crushed almost out of existence under Roumanian rule. What tentions. (The administration of wealth as a trust calls for personal qualities which are quite as rare as those which ensure the acquiring vas this visitor's surprise to learn that, before he had reached this of wealth. Distribution may be as profitless as hoarding. Invest- country, one anonymous American had, of his own volition, trans- ment in philanthropy calls for as much sagacity as investment in :aitted repeated and generous gifts to these remote sufferers. Most securities. Of these higher qualities of the distributor of wealth, Mr. ;ivers of money wait until, among the multitudinous calls for help, their contributions are invited. A demand is thrust upon their atten- 582 Alfred Tredway White. [June, 1.] From a Graduate's Window. 583 tion, and they surrender to it. The wise user of wealth devises new erosity was the natural flowering from a deep-rooted and daily- ways of service, and foresees unrecognized needs. He adds to gener- cred religious life. The secret of his happy and beneficent activity osity prevision. He has not only an open heart but an open mind. in his early discovery and continuous assurance of the life of God A still rarer trait in the philanthropist is persistency. Much giving, he soul of man. even by generous citizens, is occasional, spasmodic, and transitory. The object is temporarily interesting, but one soon passes to the next. It is said that the average duration of loyalty to a relief association is not more than five years. The enterprises which Mr. White guided and reenforced are perhaps more than all indebted to him for an in- domitable persistency. Having once assumed an obligation, no vicis- situde disheartened him, and no impatience made his devotion slacken. It was one thing to organize a Bureau of Charities in Brooklyn, but it was quite another thing to watch each detail of administration, and refresh an exhausted treasury, during a long term of years. It was an interesting venture to endow a Department of Social Ethics, but it was a much severer test of character to be the anonymous source of a continuous stream of benefactions for nearly twenty years, and to secure their continuance after one's death. To take up with new causes is exhilarating, but to maintain causes where romance has been lost in routine calls for the rarer gift of persistency. "Iustum et tenacem propositi virum non civium ardor prava iubentium non voltus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida," - the praise which Horace gave to his ideal statesman, might have been written of Alfred White. The upright man holds on to whatever he undertakes. These gifts of prevision and persistency which marked Mr. White's administration of wealth were fortified and sustained by a still more commanding habit of mind. It was a rational and lifelong faith in the Divine guidance of the individual and of the world. Behind a manner of sunny and unassuming kindliness, which made him a delightful companion, were the firmness, detachment, and serenity which were derived from the habitual dedication of his life to accom- plish, not his own will, but the will of Him who sent him. His reli- gious life was uncomplicated and unclouded. Neither domestic sorrow nor public controversy could disturb his tranquillity or self-control. He directed his daily affairs as ever in his Great Taskmaster's eye. It was this habit of faith which led him straight to works of love. His social service was the corollary of his Christian consecration. His B. Farrand "The National Park on Mount Desert. "Scribner's llagantie 61 (1917) 484 94. to recei use the 1. by reason tv, or ar. such an trustees a tract O the Bow Charles I earliest island. I Stewart the top summit it to the nation. tain, the Mountai: Indian Bubbles they hel all the 1 lakes of Mr. Dorr of unswer the ultim A forest pool at the foot of the Diedrich path. its northern sea and shore with the Italian a new trail swept his fellow workers along coast, which he knew so thoroughly. with him, and day after day he would go Mount Desert had another sympathetic back to some particularly baffling cliff admirer in Doctor Weir Mitchell, who till he had found a way around or over or loved it both wisely and well. He was through it. He started the path system often seen walking on the mountain trails, which has made the hills accessible to with springy step and eyes alert, keenly many a walker who would otherwise have interested in all he saw and delighted to found the dense forest growth a hopeless discover far-away recesses in the forests barrier. He gave much of his too-short and hills. He eagerly spoke of possibili- life to studying the island and linking to- ties for paths to give access either to the gether mountains, shore, and hitherto un- unknown canyon of a ferny brook or to a known districts in a continuous series of bluff headland from which a new point of trails which make it possible to tramp view might be seen. His unfailing enthu- from one side of the Island to the other siasm and wise counsel were of incalcu- on wavs either level or steep, according lable use in helping the development of to the walker's mood or choice. the system of paths begun and carried on In IDOI at the suggestion of President with unflagging energy by Waldron Bates. Eliot, whose son Charles Eliot, the dis- For many years Mr. Bates devoted a tinguished landscape-architect, had con- large part of his summers to indefatigable ceived a like scheme for Massachusetts, exploration of the hills and vallevs. A Mr. George Bucknam Dorr assembled a tireless walker and fearless climber, he group of people who saw clearly and acted enjoyed nothing so much as working out wisely in organizing themselves into the a good path up an incredibly steep crag Hancock County Trustees of Public Res- or finding a way between rock ledges to ervations. Two years later the legisla- some quiet grove hidden in a fold of the ture of Maine confirmed the incorporation mountain. His bovish excitement over of the organization. Its purposes were 492 The National Park on Mount Desert Island 493 to receive, hold, and improve for public he therefore realized that in order to keep use the lands in Hancock County, which it for the use of the people at large it by reason of historic interest, scenic beau- should become one of the national parks ty, or any other cause were suitable for under federal control. He, accordingly, such an object." Seven years later the went to Washington to consult Mr. trustees received their first gift of land, Franklin K. Lane, the Secretary of the a tract on Newport Mountain, including Interior, with regard to the acceptance the Bowl and the Beehive, from Mrs. of the tract by the government, under the Charles D. Homans of Boston, one of the Monuments Act, which allows the ad- earliest of the summer settlers on the ministration to set aside by presidential island. Later in the same year Mr. John proclamation lands of 'historic, prehis- Stewart Kennedy of New York bought toric, or scientific interest,' as national the top of Green Mountain, the highest parks, either when previously owned by summit on our Atlantic coast, and gave the government or when freely given it it to the trustees to hold for the use of the from some private source. Two more nation. As the years passed, Dry Moun- years' work on Mr. Dorr's part were spent tain, the whole of Newport, Pemetic in enlarging the boundaries of the park Mountain (the only one still bearing its still farther. and in searching and perfect- Indian name), Sargent, Jordan, and the ing the land titles of the reservation ac- Bubbles were given to the trustees, and cording to the high standard which the they held an undivided tract, including government requires. Mr. Dorr then re- all the highest land and the high-lying turned to Washington in June, 1916, with lakes of the eastern part of the island. the deeds of the property prepared for ac- Mr. Dorr had given nearly twenty years ceptance by the government, and with of unswerving and-far-sighted devotion to Mr. Lane's effective help and co-operation the ultimate usefulness of the island, and he was successful in obtaining the Presi- The Kane path skirting the glacial basin of the Sieur de Monts Tarn. 494 The National Park on Mount Desert Island dent's signature to the proclamation on will show water-lilies and arrowleaf and the 8th of July. sheets of blue pickerel-weed, with are- The new federal land was named the thusa and pitcher-plants growing along- Sieur de Monts National Monument in side sundew in the bog near by. memory of Champlain's friend and com- Every one interested in any of the pro- panion whose courage and hope for the tean forms of gardening knows the ex- future made the voyage possible. The traordinary delight in the co-operation of French expedition to Acadia failed after the island climate. The cool nights fol- a gallant struggle, but the names of the lowed by clear, sunny days give herba- Sieur de Monts and his associates will be ceous plants a brilliance of color and vigor kept in remembrance for all time in the of growth which cannot be found except name of the first national park on the At- in the high Alpine meadows. As the wild- lantic coast. garden idea is developed everybody who Although Mr. Dorr has given vears of wishes to see the northern plant and bird patient work to the creation of the new life at its best will come to study on the reservation, he feels that the future holds island. Already a fund for one wild gar- many chances for its further development. den has been given in memory of a mem- He looks forward confidently not only to ber of a family who cared much for Mount the maintenance of the present svstem of Desert, and paths, now included in the paths, but to joining distant points by reservation, have been made and named further communications. There are after others who spent many happy sum- giant-rock slides and wide ocean views, mers there. bold cliffs and quiet meadows which can The Sieur de Monts Park is the first to now be seen only after a painful struggle be set aside in the crowded Eastern States, with matted underbrush. Roads should and it should be the forerunner of a long be built in the park which will be un- series of reservations, to preserve for the equalled in their beauty of combined sea public use their most interesting and va- and mountain horizons, and while its wild ried types of scenery. Those who love charm should in no way be lessened, it is Mount Desert call it affectionately "The possible to make the different parts of Island," and they are happy in the knowl- the government land more accessible. edge that its hills are safe, that the forests The approaches to the Sieur de Monts will be protected from fire and mutilation, Park and its surroundings are being and that in the time to come generations studied under the wise guidance of Mr. will follow them in search of the peace Dorr, who is its first custodian. At his and refreshment they have themselves instance an offshoot corporation from the found in the cool bracing air and sweet- Hancock County Trustees of Public Res- scented woods. The great gray hills be- ervations has recently been formed and long to the nation, and each year, as the named the "Wild Gardens of Acadia," winter snows yield and the brooks are re- and under its direction plans are being leased, the birds will come back to their made to establish wild gardens and bird sanctuaries, the flowers will begin an- sanctuaries on lands adjacent to the reser- other summer, and men and women will vation as well as elsewhere in the State return to the reservation again and again and in Canada The shady valley of a to seek and to find rest and new strength brook will be used to grow the great os- in its beauty. And every one who comes, mundas, trilliums, and other forest and either now or in the future, should re- moisture-loving plants; or a collection of member that he owes a large share of his rock-plants will be established on a slope enjoyment to the clear vision, the wise where saxifrages and their tiny fellows development, and the self-sacrificing en- will root deeply and bask in the sunshine, thusiasm of the first custodian of the or a water garden at the edge of a pond park. Epp, Ronald From: Eliot_Foulds@nps.gov Sent: Friday, August 12, 2005 1:36 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: Re: Acadia N.P. Compliance Study Hi Ronald: You know, several months ago, I was thumbing through that report as well and noticed that language too. In 1993, I was not aware that the term bipolar was a medical term describing manic depressiveness. I think that the term has really come into popular usage since then, and now I am aware that my choice of the term was a poor one. I was trying to describe the apparent chasm of difference between the personality of Dorr, vs. that of JDR, Jr. I was not trying to psychoanalyze the two! Hope you are well. Eliot "Epp, Ronald" To: CC: 08/11/2005 04:08 Subject: Acadia N.P. Compliance Study PM AST Dear Eliot, Recently I re-read a section of your "Compliance Documentation for the Rehabilitation of the Historic Motor Roads, ANP, and wondered whether you were using clinical language in the following quote from your Historic Overview on page 7: "Dorr was gregarious, outgoing, and had an impulsive streak which made him rush headlong into projects, oftentimes without a great deal of planning and forethought. This made him a perfect alter-ego for John D. Rockefeller Jr. To be certain, Acadia N.P. owes its existence to the enthusiasm and tenacity of George Dorr. The human aspects of the story of the cooperation between these TWO BI-POLAR personalities makes the story of the park and the roads only more interesting. " Next week I'll be speaking at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory on the priorities that Mr. Dorr pursued during the early 20's when the MDIBL was being established. Harvard Clinician Frank Epstein is also speaking on the same issue and in conversations last week he described Mr. Dorr as "bipolar." As I think through the symptoms of manic-depressive disorder I can't help but wonder whether you were thinking clinically or whether you were using "bipolar" to more generally indicate their being at different "poles" on specific issues. I'd appreciate your insights into this matter. Thanks! Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Director of University Library & Associate Professor of Philosophy Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211 ext. 2164 603-645-9685 (fax) 1 Santa Barbara, California. Jany. 14th, 1931. Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 26 Broadway, New York. Dear Mr. Rockefellert Mr. Dorrs letter of December 22nd regarding the lands near Great Meadow at Ledglawn Avenue Extension Road is not quite clear to me. He seems to think it best that your name be not even suggested until all is completed for fear that someone interested may learn of it and raise the prices of the lands to be acquired. He of course does not intend to do anything adverse to your interests. Mr. Dorr does not forget important matters, and he will remember that I discussed the matter with him in your interest and that it was thought best for him to interview the owners because of their previous high prices. He did interview them, and purchased the lands upon an agreed price without your being consulted, and when I called his attention to it he stated that he got them at the lowest possible price and that he was willing to hold them in case you did not want them at the prices he paid, but that you could have all you wanted other than a strip some distance away from the Harding Road extending from Ledglawn Avenue Extension Road easterly to his land on the hill; this he wanted to keep in order to bring his land down to the Town Road. If you desire I see no objection to your sending Mr. Dorr a copy of this letter. I spent some time in and around Phoenix but it did not seem to agree with me. I then went to Yuma where it is supposed to be warmer but found no improvement, the only cold I have had for 3 years I got in Arizona. I then left for Santa Barbara, and although I have been here a short time I am feeling better already. At this time of the year the Arizona days are sunny and warm, but the nights are cold - the change be- tween the two is very marked. Appreciating your good wishes, I am, Sincerely yours, Charles W. Eliot to David F. Houston Cambridge, Mass., March 13, 1913. Dear Mr. Houston: May I present to you my friend Mr. George B. Dorr of Boston and Mount Desert, who proposes to seek an interview with you to discuss the practicability of converting a large portion of the area of the Island of Mt. Desert into a national park. I have been familiar with the beauties and needs of that island for forty-seven years and have a summer residence there, and find Mr. Dorr's project a reasonable and a beneficent one. Mr. Dorr is a man of great public spirit, and gives a large part of his time to promoting the intellect- ual and material interests of Bar Harbor and the beautiful island on which Bar Harbor is the largest resort. He has strong interest in agriculture, horticulture, forestry, and landscape architecture, and has much practical knowledge on every one of these subjects. His interests, however, are not at all commercial. His object is always to make good use of these applied-science subjects in the promotion of the public welfare [c.W.Eliot] 17 Fresh Pond Parkway Cambridge, Mass. April 14, 1914. Dear Mr. President: May I commend to your friendly attention my friend Mr. George B. Dorr, of Boston and Bar Harbor, who has in mind a plan for a National Monument at Mount Desert Island which seems to me to be of high value, and capable of effective execution. centry I am thoroughly acquainted with Mr. Dorr's plan, and I am in full sympathy with him as to its merits. No private person has the least pecuniary interest in it, and on Mr. Dorr's part it is wholly a work of public spirit. I am, with high regards, Sincerely yours, Charles W. Eliot. Hon. Woodrow Wilson. Cambridge, Mass. 28 January 1923 My dear Dorr: How much you have accomplished in your recent flying visit to Bar Harbor? Your acquisitions in lands are extensive and very desirable, including the Henderson area. How fortunate that be had signed the deed before he died. Shall you see J. D. R. Jr. on your way to or from Washington? Is there good reason for your still holding title to the recent acquisitions of land? How long is Lynam to be away on vacation? Has he much work to do before titles can pass from you to the public? Your remark "how few important books of history and biography are written" is certainly true today and through all historic times; and you are doubtless right in thinking that those few might well have been curtailed with advantage. The curtailment would be equally advantageous in the present flood of printed books; but I know from my own limited observations that it is hard to find the judicious curtailer. For instance, "Charles Eliot, Landscape Architect" needs (28 January 1923) 2. to be surtailed, if it is to be kept in circulation as textbook in schools of landscape architecture, but I cannot do it myself or find a competent ourtailer. I have some hope, that C. W. Eliot 2nd will later be able to do it. He said to me the other day that that book was his Bible. Sincerely yours, Charles i. Eliot, P. S. Have you now no stenographer? Ky secretary has been sick for & fortnight, and both the substitutes that I have employed have now given out, so granddaughter Grace is writing this for me! C. W. E. 1 1 Charles w. Eliot to George B. Dorr Esq. Cambridge, Mass. 7 Fedruary 1924. My dear Dorr: Yours of the 5th is at hand. I have received notice of the meeting of the Hancock County Trustees of Public Reservations at Bar Harbor, and will sign the necessary deed whenever received. The tract will be a very valuable acquisition for the Lafayatte National Park. There is certainly a remarkable outpouring of talk and tears over Wilson's death; but I doubt 11 it means that the American people is now going to do what he wanted them to do in 1920. That is, I doubt if the American people as a whole has recover- ed from the moral collapse it experienced in 1919. Moral reforms, like educational reforms, are very slow. Lodge has certainly not improved his own position before the country by what he lately said in the Senate. I wrote a rather full letter to Secretary Work, the main objects of which were to warn him against Pepper and to thank him for his prompt recall of his (7 February 1924) 2. order to stop work at the Lafayette National Park this winter. What is to be apprehended is that the present movement in favor of economics in the National Service will extend to the parks, where economies mean reductions or postpoment of the public enjoyment of the Parks. There are only two regions of public expenditure in which economy is even & less legitimate motivo than in the Parks, namely, the postoffice and the public schools. In those two departments economy is positively silly; because it is well known that expenditure there mosne increased productivity and higher profits in the important industries, and hence in national well-being. Sincerely yours, Charles E. Eliot. George B. Dorr, Esq. of you as a rustling, pushing, abundantly successful May LO get things teauy 101 College President. I want them to know you also as a modest his garden. He was an ardent gardener, both in Maine and in and tenderhearted Christian gentleman. So I welcome any signs Cambridge. "Tired but happy," he wrote his wife from Asticou. that lead me to hope that some day you will add to your "I shall be stiff tomorrow from working unaccustomed muscles, present reputation a kind of Mark Hopkins benedictory influ- but who cares! It is seraphic here, cold as Greenland (I have on ence" (1892). two undershirts); the air is like champagne. Beecher and I have Eliot made a habit of dropping in at his father's house on his worked like Trojans setting out vines. I only hope they won't way home from work and talking things over. On one of these visits his father, at the time ninety years old with eyesight 1920 freeze tonight Tomorrow I shall take a dinner pail and spend the wh ole day grubbing in the dirt." almost completely failed, was as usual sitting alone in his study When summer arrived and vacations began, three families of in the dusk. Eliot had just come from a minister's meeting and Eliots lived within stones' throw of each other. One of the was describing it. "It's hard for me," he said, "to believe that I activities in which all the families frequently joined was going am now one of the veterans of our fellowship. Do you suppose on picnics, which might include three generations, ranging from that our younger ministers look up to me as I used to look up four to seventy. Mrs. Samuel Eliot called them "Patriarchal to Doctor Bellows or James Freeman Clark or Edward Everett Picnics." Hale?" His father opened his eyes and looked at his son deri- 'President Eliot was the prime mover, the organizer, the sively and exploded, "Good God, No!" Eliot liked to tell this enthusiast. A lovely, sunshiny morning would see him tiptoeing story upon himself, adding that since that "deserved rebuke", onto our piazza before breakfast, saying, 'How about an excur- as he labelled it, he had not been able to take himself too sion?' Then out of his pocket would come a sheet of paper on seriously or to think of himself more highly than he ought to which was written just who should drive, who should sail, who think. should walk, and the chosen picnic spot. It did not occur to The Eliots had both a winter home in Cambridge and a any of us that we might have preferences. Anyway, we never summer home at Asticou in Northeast Harbor, Maine. It dreamed of expressing them. remained a mystery to the children, even after they grew up, "At the appointed hour, the cavalcade started, climbing how the family managed financially. The girls, in particular, aboard carriages or boats, or trudging on foot laden with wraps, remembered that they had to wear hand-me-down dresses and a large tin can holding fresh water, and baskets of such 'spartan' even sometimes dresses that came from the missionary barrel. food as cold baked beans, cold fish, cold sandwiches - for the When they were in their teens their mother's black suit, twice- thermos bottle had not yet been invented. No alcohol, no cigar- turned, was a visible sign of her self-sacrifice. Educational ettes, no matches even, for all fires were forbidden scholarships helped keep expenses down. Eliot's speaking and "There were rules and regulations that had to be observed writing netted him some welcome income. All he ever told the and woe to the boy or girl who tried to pass an elder on a children was: "I have always been able to earn an income narrow mountain trail. I can see the line of marchers, led by an sufficient for our rather simple tastes. We have never known erect figure in a sun-helmet, the ladies following holding up either the privations of poverty or the encumbrances of luxury. ankle-length skirts, wearing shirt-waists with high, boned I am well assured that that is the condition most conducive collars, large hats draped in veils and, even, gloves. No bobbed to contentment." bare heads, no shorts, no socks. No indeed! A climb in those Eliot took responsibility for the upkeep of the summer home early days was one of dogged determination, decorum and and grounds at Asticou, as long as his strength held out. They sweat. Once on the mountain top, the elders would nap, the included a good deal of woodland, which required frequent young people pick blueberries and everyone enjoyed the beauty cutting to keep open the view of the mountains and ocean. Not all around, plus a satisfactory sense of accomplishment." infrequently he went down to his summer place sometime in When the children had grown up and acquired children of their own they accepted with alacrity annual invitations to visit 150 Pilot of # Liberal Faith Samad Atknis Eliot 1862-195 Beacon Press. Family Circle 151 Arther Cushman reg.fert Jr. 1976. V. 54 (1952-53): 317-318. 306 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD ligious sanctions and moral authority. who protest against a stifling identi- When churches do this, the public re- fication of all human good with an action in a morally dynamic society is absolutist social-moral dogma. But the sure to come. In our popular parlance consequences of such moves in counter- the churches "ask for it." But resolution reaction will not be good if any minor- Eliot and Gilman: The History of an of the difficulty is not to be achieved by ity, religious or otherwise, presumes to reasserting the identification of the two provide the moral authority and thus to Academic Friendship dimensions at the other extreme, wherein speak for the whole community acting the moral interest becomes the religious in its own moral interest. The militant WILLIS RUDY interest and the authority of the former minorities fulfill their mission as they becomes a substitute for and excludes ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, WORCESTER STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE propose, initiate, and instigate changes in the free development of sanctions by the community's basic moral permissive- the latter. Probably religions will, and I ness and moral requirements. They are The growth of American universities must President Gilman, your first achievement believe should, come into sharp relief in parts of the community serving as cata- arrest the attention of all who look back here, with the help of your colleagues, your these totalitarian lands as great orienting, lysts as the whole people moves on over the last half century.1 1 students, and your trustees, has been to my thinking-and I have good means of obser- directing, reassuring, sanctioning, com- toward its own improved common forms of moral authority. T HE year is 1901. The place is Balti- vation-the creation of a school of graduate forting, inspiring perspectives of those more. The occasion is the public studies which not only has been in itself a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniver- strong and potent school, but which has sary of the Johns Hopkins University. A lifted every other university in the country in its department of arts and sciences. I tall, erect, majestic-looking man mounts want to testify that the graduate school of the rostrum, a man of "grave, calm, dig- Harvard University, started feebly in 1870 nified presence."2 He turns to face an and 1871, did not thrive, until the example audience which is made up of some of of Johns Hopkins forced our Faculty to put the most distinguished leaders in Ameri- their strength into the development of our instruction for graduates.4 can higher education. This man is Charles William Eliot, president of Harvard Uni- This dramatic scene serves to highlight versity. Near him sits the man who may the climax of one of the most important be considered the guest of honor on this personal relationships in the history of day, a man a little above middle height, American higher education. Eliot and with broad though slightly stooped Gilman, as friends, collaborators, and shoulders, a well-shaped head with an amicable competitors, were in close extraordinary breadth of brow, and eyes touch" with all of the major currents in that are "keen and penetrating, ever- the pioneer age of American university changing, full of insight and sympathy."8 building. If we wish to discover the roots This is Daniel Coit Gilman, president of of the system of higher learning which johns Hopkins. is characteristic of this country today After a moment or two, Eliot turns we must go back to Eliot and Gilman. in the direction of Gilman and in that The simple fact is that Harvard under characteristically clear, fine, resonant Fliot (1869-1909) became the first mod- voice of his says: ern university in America; Johns Hop- Daniel C. Gilman, The Launching of a Uni- kins under Gilman (1876-1901) became versity (New York, 1906). P. 152 2 I' Morse, Jr., Life and Letters of Oliver the second. Of course there were other W'endell Holmes (Boston, 180(1). Vol. II, PP 110101 Johns Hopkins University, Celebration of Fabran Franklin, Life of Daniel Coit Gilman the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Johns (New York, 1010). P 412. Hopkins University (Baltimore, 1001), P. 105. 307 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD AN ACADEMIC FRIENDSHIP 309 308 important university presidents of the Harvard in 1869.5 And the two kept in Gilman soon became aware of the fact who want to accomplish certain improve- time, men who contributed to the aca- touch after Gilman went West in 1872 that, more than anyone else, Eliot of ments must give ourselves the needed years for the work. demic "revolution" which was being to become president of the University of Harvard had been the prime mover in "made in America" in the years follow- California. the foundation of Johns Hopkins as a II ing the Civil War. Such were White of All of this must have been very much true university and in the selection of Cornell, Angell of Michigan, Harper of in Eliot's mind when he wrote to Gil- Gilman to head it. In his correspondence This was the beginning of an extensive Chicago, and Jordan of Stanford. But man one July day in 1874 and asked him with Eliot he goes out of his way again correspondence between the two men none of these attained to the national in- in typically blunt, point-blank fashion; and again to acknowledge this fact and which lasted for more than a quarter of a fluence of Eliot and Gilman. to express his heartfelt gratitude. "I am century. They held comparable posts; Don't you want to go to Baltimore and We have always known, or rather sus- start the Johns Hopkins University there? so constantly sensible of my obligations they had similar problems to face; they pected, that these two academic trail 300 acres of land within 2 1/2 miles of the to you," he writes in 1875, "for having needed each other's aid and counsel. Their blazers were in close contact with each heart of Baltimore; $3,500,000 personal first as I believe suggested my name to letters cover the whole complex field of other. How very close this relationship property which cannot be encroached upon; this Board of Trustees. Another university administration in the latter part was, however, is realized only when we and a good board of private trustees. They time he writes of all the progress that had of the nineteenth century and deal with a wanted some advice from me last month examine their correspondence, which been made in Baltimore "since you set and I went there to look into their affairs wide range of subjects. We can only thus far has remained largely unpub- a little. I should say that the chance of do- the wheels in motion a quarter of a cen- select here and there the items of par- lished. This material is deposited in the ing a useful work was a good one.6 tury ago."9 Still another time he tells ticular significance for the present; the Harvard College Archive as part of an What Eliot neglected to mention in Eliot: "You were our godfather and we rest, although interesting in its own right, extensive collection of Eliot papers. It this letter was that he had spent hours naturally turn to you as this anniversary must be omitted as not bearing directly gives a fine vantage point from which to conferring with the Johns Hopkins draws nigh." 10 And so it goes, in letter upon the subject under discussion. watch the workings of the forces that trustees. Like Presidents White and An- after letter-always this warm remem- The problem of university finances were combining to produce the Ameri- gell, he had been "shut up in a room with brance on Gilman's part, always this deep seems always to have been in the fore- can university as we now know it-a these Trustees and a stenographer." His and sincere gratitude. front. Johns Hopkins, after all, was at Eliot, in turn, took an active interest this time still a new and untried institu- vantage point, indeed, that is at the very ideas on the subject had been "squeezed center of the stage on which the impor- out remorselessly"; along with the other from the very beginning in the Johns tion, and its financial future seemed at tant decisions were being made. two, he had unhesitatingly told the trus- Hopkins career of his protégé. He was various times uncertain, depending as it tees that there was only one man in the present at the formal opening of the Uni- did on Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The early relationships between these two men must remain largely in the field United States competent to head their versity in 1876 and delivered a notable stock. Harvard, of course, was not in of conjecture. Their paths may well have institution, and that was Daniel Coit address. Soon after this he undertook to quite so shaky a situation, but Eliot was crossed in the Harvard Yard as far back Gilman. offer Gilman a few well-chosen words of always deeply concerned. In December, as 1853. when Gilman, a young Yale advice on how to be a successful univer- 1890, for example, he wrote to Gilman : Henry James, Charles W. Eliot (Boston, graduate, was pursuing advanced studies 1930), Vol. I, PP. 224-25. It was about this time sity president in America: that "the present condition of the stock in Cambridge as a "residend graduate," that Gilman was writing to Charles Eliot Nor- Candor and frankness are often the market gives some anxiety to our Corp- while Eliot was finishing up his college ton: "I feel very hopeful that the day of good things is at hand and that the present epoch of most necessary qualities in a college presi- oration. We do not seem to have made course as a senior. It is quite possible that 'reconstruction` will include the recasting of dent. You will need also an unusual amount any losses as yet; but if real business is they met a number of times in the 1860's, many of our ideas of scholastic culture. of patience and perseverance. Don't over- seriously affected, we shall undoubtedly Throughout the land there is now a strong body work yourself. That is a doctrine which I suffer with the rest of the world. Such when they were employed as young of young men bent on progress and sooner or feel the need of preaching, because 1 don't anxieties for his own institution did not faculty members of their respective insti- later their influence will be felt." Charles Eliot practice it; but more and more I see that tutions. It seems certain that Eliot was a Norton Papers, Harvard College Library. time is a necessary element of success in deter Eliot from giving his friend advice Daniel C Gilman 10 Charles hot Norton, sympathetic and interested observer of educational reforms, and that those of us on these matters. Johns Hopkins, he rec- November 2. 1867 Undoubtedly, hot had Gilman's meteric career as chief admin- already singled out Gilman of Yale as one of Eliot Papers. Daniel C. Gilman to Charles commended, should take up the practice istrator of the Sheffield Scientific School the most promising of those "young men bent Eliot, May 14. 1875. of publishing a detailed Treasurer's State- lbs. Daniel C Gilman to Charles W. Fliot, at Yale and that Gilman, in turn. along on progress other Paper Harvard College Archive March 9. 1893 with his colleagues. Brush and Whitney, Daniel C Gilman to Charles W. Fliot, 12 lbid., Charles W. Ellot to Daniel C. Gilman, Charles 11 hot Daniel Galman July 1, 1804 March is. 1000 February 10, 1876. assisted Elior in the preparation of his John Hopline University clebragion of " Ind Damel ( Gilman to Charles II' Flot, lbid., Charles W. Eliot to Daniel C. Gilman, famous inaugural address as president of Twenty fill PP 14 January 1. 1905. February :H. 1906 December 10, 1800. 310 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD AN ACADEMIC FRIENDSHIP 311 ment. This would attract new endow- admit, perhaps not without a touch of sort of figure-head for president-a poli- ments. It was time, he thought, for Hop- envy, "Your scale of salaries is a liberal ing in a completely new institution, tician, for instance, retired or active. one and will secure you good men."16 where his leadership was unquestioned, kins to mortgage its whole income, as There would, I think, be great advantage in the situation was fluid, and experiment Harvard had done. "If you showed that But there was no bitterness here, only a getting a man who has taken a degree at your whole probable income was spirit of friendly rivalry which turned some good American Graduate School was in the air. As we know, Eliot pledged to salaries, scholarships, etc., within fifteen years. I perceive a new and brought change to Harvard, significant out to be best for the larger interests of better quality in the leaders of this recent American higher education. Harvard has change; but it was a fight every inch of collections and running expenses, and generation. They have had a vastly better the way. This is what he must have been that you could no longer build out of in- "no rights or dues in the premises," Eliot education than you or I had, and they have come, would you not be more likely to assured Gilman. a better understanding of the generations thinking when, somewhat bitterly, he have buildings given you?" of youth that are now coming on than their wrote to President James B. Angell of Please don't think that I feel in the least Incidentally, we should not overlook elders can acquire.20 the University of Michigan: annoyed at proposals made by you to Har- the fact that when Johns Hopkins was vard men. On the contrary, I should have Our extremely conservative constituency As it happened, the Johns Hopkins hard hit by the "crash" of 1893 and was thought it very odd if there had been no finds any of the propositions looking to the men here whom you cared to try for.17 chemist, Ira Remsen, was finally chosen reduction of the normal four years' course obliged to sell its railroad stock at a con- to be Gilman's successor, and this selec- very repulsive. You, who have a flexible siderable loss, Eliot responded promptly The two remained in close consulta- tion met the specifications which Eliot institution to manage, can hardly imagine to Gilman's appeal for aid by writing to tion with each other in later years on had deemed important. how difficult it is to make progress with the Legislature of Maryland and asking questions of both major and minor staff this stiff-jointed machine. It is more than A number of the letters which passed it to grant the University a subsidy.15 four years since the discussion began on appointments. But the most important between these two university presidents No less prominent in these letters than the general topic of shortening the College problem of this kind which they ever concerned changes in the course of course, or the school course, or both to- the problem of finances is that of person- discussed was that of who was to succeed study, but these were limited largely to gether, and here we are at the end of this nel. A university, like many other human Gilman upon his retirement from the an exchange of information. The main current year with nothing done.23 institutions, is something more than Johns Hopkins presidency. Gilman defi- emphasis here was on proposals for short- Eliot and Gilman agreed on teaching, bricks and mortar and none recognized nitely solicited the-opinions of his Har- ening the standard American four-year investigation, and conservation of knowl- this better than Eliot and Gilman. The vard colleague on this matter, and Eliot baccalaureate course. Eliot was interested edge as being functions which should major effort of their presidential admin- was quick to give them. "I hope your in pushing this plan through the Harvard properly concern the American univer- istrations was directed not so much to- successor will be either an experienced Faculty and Governing Boards, and sity. Gilman's policy, however, was to ward the erection of buildings as toward J.H. professor or an outsider not over hoped to gain support from the example add to these what amounted to a fourth the seeking out of the best possible teach- forty, and better thirty to thirty-five." of Johns Hopkins, where a more flexible dimension, namely, the diffusion of ers and scholars for their faculties. They At another time, he told his friend: system had already been put into prac- knowledge through university publica- were convinced that it was upon this factor, rather than that of physical plant, And you will need a young man for tice. ² Gilman was happy to oblige with tions. The various learned journals pub- president. Don't let the Trustees get any detailed information about the Johns lished at Johns Hopkins and the numer- that the success or failure of the Ameri- Eliot Papers, Charles W. Eliot to Daniel C. Hopkins "group system" and its three- ous scholarly monographs produced un- can university ultimately depended. Gilman, March 29. 1876. Soon tempting offers year program for the baccalaureate.22 der its imprint carried out this concep- Their correspondence amply reflects this were coming to indispensable men on the Har- On this whole matter of curricular tion. Though Eliot did not sponsor a conviction. For a time there was a pos- vard staff, like Francis J. Child. Fabian Frank- sibility that the two might come into Jin. op. cit. PP 235-36 change, Eliot was ruefully aware of the similar program at Harvard at this time, 11. James, op. cit., Vol. II. P 13 fact that he faced a much more difficult he was greatly interested in Gilman's conflict over this matter. Eliot's difficul- 18 Eliot Papers. Charles W. hot to Daniel C. situation than did Gilman. He had to activities in the field and sought to en- ties in attracting good professors to Har- Gilman, March 13, 1886; March 7. 1880, March vard were enormously increased when 26, 1901 Daniel C. Gilman to Charles W. Eliot, contend with an academic tradition courage them whenever he could. ¹ In March 9. 188, which was more than two hundred years 1880 he wrote: Gilman came along, with the great Johns Ibid., Charles W Fliot to Daniel C Gil- old, Gilman had the advantage of work- Hopkins bequest to back him up, shop- man, January 17. 1901 See also Daniel C Gil- Your methods, being in some respects ping for teachers. Elior was obliged to man to Charles W Hhot, April 17, 1901, where 20 Ibid., Charles W. Fliot to Daniel C. Gil- novel, need to be made known. Dignified the capabilities of David Franklin Houston, of man, March 8, 1901 silence, or mere lists of lectures, are not for Eliot Papers, Charles W. hot to Daniel C the University of Texas, are discupped, and "Ilibid, Charles W. Fliot to Daniel C. Gil- Gilman, April 13, 1887 Gilman find: him "not impressive as a speaker man, June 1. 1800 Ibid., Charles W. Fliot to James Burrill "I/bid., Daniel C. Gilman to Charles W Eliot, and better adapted. I should think to a chair of 32 lbid., Daniel C Gilman to Charles W. Fliot, Angell, June 1. 1800. March 1. 1808 See also Abraham Flexner. Economic History than 110 the leadership in any November 10, 1800; December 8, 1800, October 'Ibid., Charles W. Fliot to Daniel G. Gil- Daniel C. Gilman (New York, 104(1) P ')' department of study." 9. 1894 man, May 7. 1886. I AN ACADEMIC FRIENDSHIP 313 3 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD problem of establishing a broader and ticularly at Mathematical recitations. I wish you just yet. Indeed the methods of Oxford periences with government control of more flexible college curriculum or that I could teach the science in which I am and Berlin are not for any of us in this higher education in California, was of the generation. We are compelled by the raw- of stimulating advanced scholarship in most interested, and in which I work during opinion that there was a need for "a great leisure hours, but at present I have four ness of the country to proclaim in set terms the American university. This omission recitations in Mathematics for one in Chem- the advantages which we offer. National University in the City of is more-difficult to explain, because both istry, and I see no reasonable hope of any What other subjects, we may ask, are Washington." Again, when the ques- of these men were exceedingly articulate change. And yet the College demands discussed in this correspondence? A large tion of the place of religious instruction about such matters in other writings, ad- so much of my time that I can do original number of miscellaneous matters, diffi- in American public schools came promi- dresses, and statements. scientific work only by working up to the nently to the fore, in 1893, Eliot advo- very limit of physical endurance and some- cult to classify under any one major It is, of course, well known that Eliot, cated the teaching of all the main reli- times giving a little beyond it. The memoir heading. Sometimes a number of these more than any other educator of his of which you speak so kindly has been a are dealt with in one crowded letter; gions in the public schools by the regular time, was the man who destroyed the great pleasure to me, because I enjoyed the sometimes separate communications are members of the teaching staffs who hap- "old-time" American college curriculum whole work from first to last, and know dispatched on each. Eliot was only too pened to be co-religionists of the chil- and substituted an elective system. It is that it is an unambitious but thorough and dren they taught. Gilman, on the other needed research. The only grind about glad to send news of academic interest to equally well known that Gilman's role at it is that I have so little time for more such his friend, letting him know his opinions hand, did not see "how it is possible in Johns Hopkins was to plant in America work. 30 on various and sundry questions. Gilman this country for the civil authorities to the seeds of German university seholar- was equally confiding in his notes. For designate or to pay religious teachers in Similarly, no one can examine Daniel ship and advanced research; to establish example, he always let Eliot know about the public schools."25 The important C. Gilman's "group system," the curric- in Baltimore a conception of pure re- thing is that these two differed on so few ular plan he put into effect at the Yale offers of positions which would oblige search which was in many ways broader major questions respecting their educa- Scientific School and at Johns Hopkins, him to leave Johns Hopkins. Eliot ap- and bolder than that in Francis Bacon's tional work, and that, when they did dis- without coming to the conclusion that proved heartily when he decided. to stay New Atlantis. What is not sufficiently agree, it was without bitterness and with- here was a man who wished to give col- in Baltimore.28 Eliot, in turn, frankly re- appreciated is that Eliot, from the first, lated his anxieties about the poor rela- out any noticeable effect on their close lege students more choice among differ- was keenly aware of the importance of personal and professional relationhips. ent courses of study and a wider offering tionships he had long experienced with furthering the scholarly purposes for of fields of knowledge than they had Yale. He must go to President Dwight's III which Johns Hopkins was founded and ever been given before.81 inauguration "for I gave offence by not that, conversely, Gilman was always a going to Porter's because of a meeting This correspondence, like many others 30 Charles Eliot Norton Papers. Charles W. staunch advocate of the extension of the Eliot to Charles Eliot Norton, September 18, here which collided with it. Moreover I of historical importance, is as remarkable principle of choice in the college cur- 1860. want to go because I imagine that for the subjects which are omitted from riculum. Because of differences in out- A statement alleged to have been made to discussion as for those which receive at- look, temperament, and the practical ad- Professor Charles L. Jackson by Eliot, which Dwight's spirit is very different from tention. Is it not significant that we find we find in Henry James's biography (Vol. II, Porter's and I look forward to better ministrative situations which they faced pp. 18-19), has been used again and again to relations between Harvard and Yale. no reference to questions of teaching in Cambridge and Baltimore, each man prove that the Harvard president had no sym- They have been absurd for ten years methodology on the college level or to tended to emphasize one aspect of this pathy with advanced research on the part of members of his faculty. Eliot is reported to have past."27 the management of student affairs, in- program of reform more than the other said of Jackson's project for a scholarly con- Do not imagine that these two leaders cluding educational and personal guid- and each has tended to be identified with tribution to a German chemical journal: "I ance? When we discover that these two can't see that that will serve any useful purpose saw eye-to-eye on every question. They that as his particular bequest to the educational leaders made no detailed here." This is very misleading. It is impossible differed, for example, on the proposal American people. to examine the record of the Fliot administra- brought forward in Congress in the statement about such matters in any That is probably as it should be. But tion at Harvard without coming to the con- 1800's to establish a national university other context, public or private, we can clusion that he wished to create an academic certainly no man who was not deeply in Washington, C. Eliot had expressed only conclude that this did not loom atmosphere where young scholars would find concerned with the problem of combin- freer scope for their talents and interests than strong opposition to this plan as early as very large in their thinking. Again, we ing teaching with scholarly research had been true of the "old college" in which he 1873, while Gilman, despite some sad CX find very little discussion here of the himself had labored before the Civil War could write the bitter lines which Charles The "group system," as put into effect at Eliot Papers, Charles W Phot to Daniel () Century Papers. New York Public Library W I liot did as a young assistant pro- Johns Hopkins, provided seven distinct com- Gilman, April 6. 1880 Damel ( Gilman to Watson Gilder, May 10. Pessor at Harvard binations or groups of studies, all leading to an 26 I bid Charles W. Elior to Daniel C Gil they A.B. degree Once having chosen, a student was man, October 11. 1887 That Papers Charles W hot to Daniel C I generally experience a slight disgust at obliged to follow a prescribed sequence of lbid. Charles W Elice in Daniel ( Gil Gilman. rember i 1401 Damel C Gilman to recitations at the beginning of a term, par- courses within his particular "group." than June 12. Charles 11 Hiot recember 15. 1891 314 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD AN ACADEMIC FRIENDSHIP 315 As a matter of fact, Eliot and Gilman Eliot quality-some people would say, ized how vitally important it was for the American universities-to men like complemented each other very neatly at vice." success of his Johns Hopkins experiment Harper, Angell, and White. There is a this crucial stage in the evolution of the Gitman, on the other hand, seems to that the Harvard president be a friendly genuine spirit of cooperation in a com- American university. Their programs have had a warmer personality and a ally. In turn, Eliot, who possessed a posi- mon cause rather than a jealous desire to were not mutually exclusive, rather they more flexible attitude toward problems rive genius for consultation, was gen- win a temporary advantage for one par- were equally indispensable to the crea- in human relations. From the beginning, uinely pleased to welcome this disciple ticular institution. It was a remarkable tion of a new order of American higher he took a personal interest in the lives of and eventual co-worker with whom he collaboration and a fruitful one. Eliot learning. How very different were these his colleagues, who more often than not could enjoy cordial relations. "Words of and Gilman were in loyal and close alli- two, and yet how similar! Both were might find themselves having Sunday praise," he wrote to Gilman in 1880, ance in pursuing their aims. Each clearly pre-eminently "doers" rather than dinner at the president's house. If con- "from a man who, like you, knows what influenced the other. Eäch voiced appre- "thinkers": their main contribution was temporary evidence is to be believed, he he is talking about, are always wel- ciation of the other's accomplishment. in the field of action rather than theory. succeeded in winning the affectionate re- come. So the lonely battler needed They gave each other moral encourage- The unique function 'of each was to gard of a number of the younger scholars someone to face, with him, the onslaught ment and, at critical moments, more than seize on certain simple but significant ed- whom he attracted to Johns Hopkins.34 of the storm. Self-sufficient though he that. They exchanged ideas, information, ucational ideas and, using all the arts of He seemed to know his limitations. He might seem to some, he needed Gilman's even professors. They became in every persuasion, to persist until widespread was not an eloquent crusader like Horace advice and counsel both for his informa- sense of the word indispensable to each public support was won. And is this, Mann or a battler against dragons like his tion and for his self-esteem. other after all, strange? Has it not been the ex- college chum Andrew Dickson White, Relations between the two university And what did this remarkable pair ception rather than the rule in educa- But he had a quiet, staunch optimism and presidents grew in intimacy through the leave of lasting value or influence for our tional history for effective action to be an unshakable firmness in times of crisis years as their mutual problems pushed time? For one thing, they represent not joined to creative theory in one and the that inspired confidence in his followers them more closely together. This asso- only the coming of anew kind of Ameri- same individual? and stood him in good stead at certain ciation was deepened in the 1880's, when can university, but also a new kind of Even as working educational adminis- difficult moments in Baltimore. 35 Eliot helped Gilman acquire a summer university president. Both of them had trators, Eliot and Gilman were, in many Different though they were, both men residence next to his establishment at been natural scientists before they be- ways, dissimilar in outlook and person- had the good sense to realize that they North East Harbor, Maine. Thus began came university administrators, and this ality, but these very differences seemed needed each other; that they had much 2 happy summer companionship that was is an enormously significant fact. Just as to draw them together rather than keep to offer to each other. Their correspond- to last more than twenty years. In this surely as Jonathan Edwards and Tim- them apart. Eliot always had abouthim a ence gives one the impression that Gil- resort town, which began to achieve a othy Dwight represent in their respective certain quality of Olympian aloofness; man regarded Eliot with a mixture of national fame because of the high pro- collegiate eras the dominance of a basic- he went his own serene way, lonely as a sincere gratitude and something akin to portion of bishops, college presidents, ally idealist, theocentric view of the single sturdy oak upon a mountain top, awe. Undoubtedly, too, he always real- and other prominent leaders who spent universe rooted deep in the Christian tra- close to very few in the sense of personal their vacations there, the two men often dition, SO do Eliot and Gilman, in their friendship. How much of this was due to Charles Eliot Norton Papers. Charles W. conferred at length about common prob- time, symbolize the coming to power in Eliot to Charles Flot Norton, August 15. 1873. self-consciousness induced by the dis- Stanley Hall, Life and Confessions of a lems and interests. academic halls of a philosophy of educa- figurement of one side of his face by a Psychologist (New York. 1913). p. 246 tion stemming from Darwinian evolu- Hall tells us that "Gilman was essentially an IV conspicuous birthmark, it is difficult to tion, scientific empiricism, and pragma- inside President His interest in the work of the say. In any event, he actually seemed What, then, was the contribution of tism. It was no mere accident that individual members of his faculty did not end to enjoy the perpetual conflict which when they were engaged. but began He Charles W. Eliot and Daniel C. Gilman? Thomas Henry Huxley was present as an was necessary to secure victory for his was 2 spiritual father of many of his faculty, There was present in their association a honored guest to deliver the main address the author of their careers, and for years principles. He had never learned what generous large-minded desire on the part at the formal opening of Johns Hopkins made the institution the paradise and scm tact was and had no desire to learn. "It is narium of young specialists See also the of both to improve the level of American University Nor was it wholly fortuitous a small virtue in inc to speak plainly," he option of Josah Royce one of the first Johns higher learning And this generosity was that John Fiske, apologist for Darwinism, Hopkin 111 11.000 111 Sep once wrote to his cousin. "It IS rather an extended 10 other progressive leaders of lectured at Harvard at the express invita- tember Hot P 1'1 Helph Barton Perry, Charles W I hot : assured of THE Memoral imposum of Henry James op at Vol 11 l' : tion of President Illiot or that William His Personal Trairs and Heontral Creed No. Hellan of Vale itte 1dt 1111 Ansmate hot Papers Charles 11 I hot to Daniel C James during this period developed his England Quarterly Visit IV January Dannel Culman into Outoper " 1908, Galman March 11. 886 May 886 See also philosophy of prigmatism within the 1931. laban ranklin or (if l' 416 316 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD AN ACADEMIC FRIENDSHIP 317 sheltering confines of the Harvard Yard. tended to come increasingly from the It-is difficult for us today to realize how business classes rather than from the the Civil War, to a stage of development attention being devoted to the problems radical an innovation in the American which, by the turn of the century, ranked of those who would never be leaders. In clergy. These men felt the need for expert higher learning of the 1870's was a uni- with the world's best. management in their institutions and our own complex century, as America versity policy of strict non-sectarianism sought a new kind of college executive This emphasis on freedom does not has been plunged into the perplexing in religion and the elevation of natural mean that either Eliot or Gilman viewed who was able to furnish it. Perhaps even responsibilities of global leadership, there science. Yet Eliot and Gilman pushed more important, educational institutions the "new" higher (learning as devoid of has inevitably come to be more emphasis forward this program in every way that after 1865 were beginning to become social responsibility. Quite the contrary. in the schools and colleges on training for they could and the results, for good or aware of the need for training the spe- Eliot always emphasized that the univer- social cooperation, on the development ill, can be seen imbedded deeply in the cialized personnel who could perform sity must be regarded as the very cap- of skills in handling human relationships. present-day American university struc- these functions in modern society. Eliot stone of the educational system which We are looking for the basic unities in ture. and Gilman were in the forefront of this maintained and preserved America's dis- the curriculum that may be furnished by In the second place, we must remem- movement. American higher education tinctive system of democracy. Gilman, programs of general education and by ber that the "old-time" college president today, which in so many ways has as- for his part, saw higher education as per- integration of the various fields of knowl- had been primarily a clergyman-school- sumed the proportions of a vast and forming certain essential functions for edge. master whose main task it was to control, specialized business, owes much to their society by advancing knowledge and ap- Can we properly expect that these two liberally educate, and, if possible, convert pioneering measures. plying the fruits of research to problems educational pioneers should have fore- the unruly young men placed tempo- Eliot and Gilman, furthermore, played of daily living. seen all the possible problems of our rarily under his authority. By way of an important part in liberating the Ameri- The American university today still time? Can they be condemned because contrast, Eliot and Gilman represent the can student from the rigidly prescribed seeks the fundamental goals which these they did not have sufficient vision to an- two educational statesmen defined for it coming of businesslike management to curriculum and giving him a broader ticipate the future changes which would the field of university administration. choice as to his college work. Was not in the late nineteenth century. To be be necessary in their system? Perhaps. Their correspondence gives great promi- this curricular laissez-faire a fitting and sure, the shallowness of some aspects of But if so, it is a sin of which few leaders nence to the purely business side of their Eliot's system of "free electives" has been proper educational expression for a in history have been free. The main task task, and there is no question but that country which was going through a undergoing a fundamental re-examina- of the Eliot-Gilman period was to break they acquirted themselves well in this period of unrestrained economic indi- tion during the past few years, though down inhibiting bonds of the past. This not as much criticism has been levelled department. Charles Eliot Norton char- vidualism and which was deeply influ- they did, and did SO thoroughly that it acterized Eliot as "the best executive at Gilman's relatively more conservative enced by the ideological heritage of has not needed to be done again. We of head in New England," and it was Locke, Jefferson, and Emerson? Eliot oup system." But, we may ask, are the the present age have the time and per- often noted that the Harvard president himself had publicly testified to the fact majority of American colleges and uni- spective to see the flaws, the shortcom- could just as easily have been the sus- that he found in Emerson "all the funda- versities ready at present to repudiate the ings, in their "new departure." We have cessful head of a railroad or a bank. In- mental motives and principles of my own basic idea that the student must have op- to reckon with these problems, and prop- deed, he had refused a well-paving post portunity to choose among widely diver- hourly struggle against educational rou- erly so, in formulating our own educa- as head of a Lowell, Massachusetts, cot- tine and tradition. His work, and that gent subjects or courses of study? tional plans for the second half of the Where both Eliot and Gilman failed ton mill just before he accepted his aca- of his Johns Hopkins colleague, helped twentieth century. But would we have demic position. 29 lamentably was in their disinclination TO tri destroy old concepts of mind training before us today the rich field for experi- take into account the educational needs Gilman was equally the successful man going back to the Yale Report of 1828. mentation and growth which is con- of those who would not be able to be- of affairs, as his career as president of It made untenable the assumption that temporary American higher education the Carnegie Institution and head of the come a part of the nation's "natural' had not Eliot and Gilman, over the most there was any necessary connection be- Johns Hopkins Hospital amply illus- intellectual aristocracy. For the student bitter opposition, laid the foundations tween the "discipline" and "furniture" trates. In an age of growing urban and of the mind As an essential corollary, who was dropped by the wayside during many years ago? industrial complexity, university trustees Fliot and Gilman brought American pro- the severe Darwinian competition which -Each generation has its own problems their system made inevitable, they had to solve and its own world to make, in Mark A D.Wolfr How ed Letter: of fessional education and graduate instruc- Charle: Eliot Norton (Birton 19111 Vol 11. formulated no program no guidance or education as in other things. A funda- non 111 most respects laughable before p. x special counseling, no separate plan of mental re-evaluation, n thorough recon- Compline 11 Patton and 11 I Field, Eight Charle: 11 hot Four American caders general education. heir supreme interest struction, of American higher learning O'dock Chapel Boston Boston in the training of leaders precluded much is long overdue. Now it is under way. 318 TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD That this would not in the least surprise at the American university today and Daniel C. Gilman is made clear when we find your answer. At a Yale class re- read a letter he wrote to Eliot in 1900 union, Gilman remarked soberly, "None with reference to plans for the Twenty- of us has done anything to last, or added fifth Anniversary of Johns Hopkins. Not to the knowledge of mankind." Pos- "Visual" and "Verbal" Paths to Learning* only must the progress of higher educa- terity would disagree, Mr. Gilman! Were tion during the past two or three decades these two motivated by individual am- KENNETH NORBERG be reviewed, he wrote, but it would also bition or by the urge to serve humanity? be necessary to "indicate the problems This is a question which can never re- ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, AND COORDINATOR OF which have beensettled and the problems ceive an exact answer. If ambition was AUDIO-VISUAL SERVICES, SACRAMENTO STATE COLLEGE which are opening for the next genera- the ruling motive of Charles William tion to solve." Eliot, too, was very Eliot and Daniel Coit Gilman, it surely F we examine practice in the schools, reduce reading competency. Does the effec- conscious of the fact generation was a noble and honorable ambition, we find evidence of a consistently tiveness of the pictured presentation rest was winning a victory which the next something more than a mere thirst for growing emphasis on the use of audio- upon the fact that its comprehension in- volves little or no mental effort? Different generation would have to consolidate and personal fame. Each had a larger pur- visual techniques and materials to dis- pose in view and this, in truth, is what psychologists, including the late E. L. even extend. He told Gilman in 1880: seminate information, develop skills, Thorndike, wrote extensively on "reading In general, 1 perceive that we are making gives to their careers an indisputable dis- and communicate ideas and attitudes. as thinking." Thinking is never a passive progress, but that the road ahead is long and tinction and meaning. Most educators and laymen have ac- process; it is hard work. It is possible that hilly. What a good time our successors in At the core of their work for uni- cepted these newer devices and methods we may be making a mistake in presenting the next generation will have! I know a versity reform lay a wish, as Gilman put material visually that could be learned of communication as important tools for number of pleasing wills, but how very it in the central sentence of his Johns through reading with a little effort. good the lives are!4 teaching and learning. The effectiveness What this query amounts to is: Should Hopkins inaugural address of 1876, "for of these new tools is borne out by experi- everything that can be learned more easily Still, it had been a good fight and, less misery among the poor, less igno- mental evidence, and yet if we carefully through visual means be taught that way? make no mistake about it, a generally re- rance in schools, less bigotry in the tem- consider common attitudes toward the Or, are there other factors that should be warding one. Gilman, looking back at ple, less suffering in the hospital, less considered besides ease of learning? If so, audio-visual movement, we begin to see his life struggle, sums it up this way in fraud in business, less fally in politics." 45 what criteria should guide one in deciding At the heart of their strivings lay a that some doubts are present. What is what should be taught through visual means his autobiography: the source of these doubts, and how do and what should be taught through other It has been a delightful and exhilarating desire to live as Eliot, in the inscription they arise? Do they represent valid criti- means? Or could the visual form be used in time in which to live and to work, to ob- he composed for a window in Harvard's cism, misunderstanding, semantic con- such a way as not to interfere with the serve and to try. All the obstacles have not Memorial Hall, had hoped that the good process of learning through reading? been overcome, some mistakes have been and useful man would: "So live as to fusion. or possibly all of these in some degree? It should be noted that Mr. Conger made, much remains for improvement, but make men freer, happier and more united. on the whole the record of the last forty First, let us consider a specific case of envisions the use of visual aids as a or fifty years exhibits substantial and satis- So live that your countrymen may one doubt. There is no need to document possible threat or deterrent to optimum factory gains.4 day say of you, as of them, His memory the widespread faith in audio-visual reading development. He does not say is fragrant and blessed. Were these lives worth while? Look methods. Testimonials for the new tools that present reading deficiencies are Fasciculi of the Memorial Symposium, P of learning are commonplace. Hence, actually the result of present use of visual Eliot Papers Daniel C. Gilman to Charles 31. Addresses at the Inauguration of Daniel C it is rather surprising when we come aids. "They have not been in general W. Eliot, Match 15. 1900 use long enough. But he advises us to 42 lbid., Charles W. Elior to Daniel ( Gil- Gilman as President of the Johns Hopkins Uni. across an article by N. Conger entitled man, December 11. 1880 verify Baltimore, 18741. P to "Is There Danger in the Use of Visual consider possible danger from this source. Daniel C. Gilman, Launcing of a Univer "Inscriptions Written by Charles William Aids: \ brief quotation will suggest It seems clear that Mr. Conger is con- niy, Eliot Cambridge 19341. p. 28 what the author has in mind. cerned about using visual techniques as an easy substitute for reading, thus pre- The question may be raised as to whether N. Conger, "Is There Danger in the Use of the use of visual aids has any tendency 10 Visual Aids?" School and Society, Vol. 74. No. The terms "usual" and "verbal" are dis. 1900, July, 1951, PP. 38-39. cussed on page 120 : lbsd. P. 19. 310 Perry, Ralph Barton, CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT. , New England Quarterly, 4:1/4 (1931)pp.5-29, CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT HIS PERSONAL TRAITS AND ESSENTIAL CREED RALPH BARTON PERRY T HE publication of the authorized biography of Charles William Eliot by Henry James is a liter- ary event of the first importance.1 A favorable verdict has already been returned - it is a sound book, well- constructed, well written, and abounding in those quali- ties of sagacity, justice, and candor for which its author is known both to his friends and to the wider circle of those who have read his previous biographies of his father, William James, and of Richard Olney. The measure of the success is to be found in the difficulty of the task. As to material, there was an embarrassment of riches. Prosp The volume of unpublished correspondence, carefully preserved in the archives of Harvard University, was inexhaustible; and the number of published books and articles would have filled their author's "five-foot shelf." Mr. James has shown that first of all biograph- ical virtues - restraint. He has not made an idol of his hero or a fetish of his hero's remains. He has used what contributed to the effect, and left the rest to later and less discriminating biographers. Eliot was a man 1 Charles W. Eliot: President of Harvard University, 1869-1909. By Henry James. (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1930. 2 volumes: Pp. xi, 382; vi, 393. Illustrated. $10.00.) 5 Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 6 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY GOD who not only wrote much, but did much - many dif- ferent kinds of things simultaneously over a long span of time. The biographer, consequently, faces an un- avoidable dilemma. He must either follow one thread of interest through to the end, and then return to pick up another thread at the beginning; or he must treat the entire rope of interests in short sections, passing rapidly and repeatedly from one thread to another. There is no ideal solution of the problem-but - only the way of judicious compromise. Mr. James has compromised, and on the whole judiciously. Eliot was a man of many achievements - what is the order of their importance, and the relative amounts of space to which they are entitled? Here it is impossible that the biographer should suit everybody. He devotes twelve pages, for example, to the changes in the Divinity School, and six to the reform of legal education; many would feel that this ratio should be inverted. Students of the his- tory of secondary education will look in vain, and no doubt with disappointment, for any full account of the once famous "Committee of Ten," appointed by the National Educational Association in 1892, with Eliot as Chairman. Eliot is quoted as saying: "The kind of biog- raphy that I should prefer is a record drawn from my reports and other official documents of the number and quality of the bricks that I built into the walls of Har- vard University." Mr. James was fortunately under no obligation to respect this preference, but there are those (of whom the present writer is not one) who feel that one-quarter of the whole is too much to allot to Eliot's post-presidential activities. In short, a book of this sort 2 James, Charles W. Eliot, II, 303. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 7 is like the Treaty of Versailles - the best that can be said for it on the score of territorial distribution is that any other arrangement would at present have been open to still more serious objections. Mr. James would doubt- less be the first to admit that a longer perspective will bring a more just revision. The second major difficulty lies in the quality of Eliot himself. The author announces his belief that "Biog- raphy's primary concern is with character and personali- ty," and he adheres consistently to this conception of his task. At the same time he had evidently resolved to write a readable book. Now Eliot was not, in the ordinary sense of the term, an interesting man. He rose far above sea level, and his summits were somewhat bleak. There was nothing picturesque, dramatic, or colorful in the man or his works. He was sane and upright to a degree, and with a consistency, that was almost appalling. And yet Mr. James has somehow made him both vivid and moving. It would have been easy to have given him the aspect of a monument, an institution, an abstract principle, but Mr. James has presented him as a man. Especially note- worthy are the accounts of the Inaugural Address and of Eliot's last days, in which the reader, who has come pre- pared to admire, detects in his heart a sudden glow of love. No one can review the events of Eliot's life without reflecting on his amazing record of success. Few men have had SO many opportunities to say, "I told you so!" though few have felt less disposed to say it. He pos- sessed that rare balance of thought and action, of ad- herence to principle and respect for fact, which consti- tutes the statesman. Eliot himself attributed his influ- 3 James, Charles W. Eliot, I, VII. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 8 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY ence largely to his "strength and health." He was not the only person of his day who had sound ideas about education, but there were few of his contemporaries who could work as long, stick as long, keep cool as long, and live as long, as could Eliot. When he assumed the presidency, his high horsepower and wearing qualities were at once in evidence. It was his ubiquitous, indefati- gable, insistent, and intrusive energy, together with an apparently instinctive capacity to take the lead, to reach decisions and assume responsibility, that seems most to have impressed Dr. Holmes, and which he recorded in the familiar passages quoted from his letters to Motley written in 1870.5 A year and a half later Holmes wrote to the same correspondent: Firstly, then, our new President, Eliot, has turned the whole University over like a flapjack. It is so curious to see a young man like Eliot, with an organizing brain, a firm will, a grave, calm, dignified presence, taking the ribbons of our classical coach-and-six, feeling the horses' mouths, putting a check on this one's capers and touching that one with the lash - turning up everywhere, in every Faculty (I belong to three), on every public occasion, at every dinner orné, and taking it all as nat- urally as if he had been born President. In the meantime Yale has chosen a Connecticut country minister, at. 60, as her President, and the experiment of liberal culture with youth at the helm versus orthodox repression with a graybeard Palinurus, is going on in a way that it is impossible to look at without inter- est in seeing how the experiment will turn out.6 The Ninetieth Birthday of Charles William Eliot: Proceedings in Sanders Theatre and The Yard, March 20, 1924. (Cambridge, Mass., 1925), 24-25. 5 James, Charles W. Eliot, I, 283-285. 6 John T. Morse, Jr., Life and Letters of Oliver Wendell Holmes (Boston, 1896), II, 190-191. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 9 Four years later, as though to report on the experi- ment of Charles Eliot versus Noah Porter, a writer to the New York Nation, who signed himself "A Yale Graduate," made the following comparison between Harvard and Yale: From the two catalogues, the impression one gains is that Harvard is a complex organization, constantly engaging in new forms of activity, while at Yale a system the reverse of complex, in which the experience of the college authorities has for many years been able to detect scarcely a flaw, is clung to with an affectionate pertinacity which excludes the supposition that it has not, in their opinion, perfectly stood the test of time. Eliot was a reformer by temperament and capacity, as well as by opportunity. Being an optimist he was not like- ly to be satisfied with things as they were, - he could always think of something better. Having limitless strength and courage, he was not dismayed by difficul- ties, or intimidated by opposition; on the contrary, he was stimulated by them. He knew exactly what he wanted, felt sure that he was right, and if he could not outwit his enemies he could always outlast them. When he was appointed it was generally recognized, both by those who hoped and by those who feared, that there was going to be a new Harvard; and that so long as Eliot ad- ministered its affairs, Harvard would be in a perpetual state of renovation. In this he disappointed neither his friends nor his enemies. II Eliot's more intimately personal qualities are not easy to assess. These qualities were not always ingratiat- ing - in fact, Eliot can never be said, in the strict sense, to have enjoyed popularity. There was a lack of warm 7 Nation (December 23, 1875), "The Yale and Harvard Catalogues." Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly IO THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY lack sociability, which was perhaps originally due in part to the self-consciousness induced by his conspicuous birth- mark. That which in later life was admired as reserve and dignity, made him in his college days seem only shy and retiring. He was not without humor, but he did not excel in it. He lacked spontaneity. A lifelong associate testifies that the only thing approaching profanity which he ever uttered was the exclamation "the devil!" and it required the dismasting of his yacht to provoke this relatively mild outburst.8 His benignant majesty be- fore the public was felt as a cold aloofness in private. That which ultimately emerged as courage, seemed at closer range, and especially in his youth, to contain an element of insensibility to the feelings of others. His election to the presidency was not received with general enthusiasm, but with misgivings and sharp differences of opinion. Though Mr. James attributes the effect rather to reserve, and to a firmness dictated by the exigencies of his office, I think we may assume that the specific organ of tact was lacking in Eliot's congenital anatomy. Nor does it appear that he developed such an organ in later years. I mean that it was not naturally characteristic of him to say things, still less to temper the truth, for the express purpose of pleasing his hearers. I might cite his famous allusion to the "scab" as a hero; his description of the Mormons as modern Puritans; or, to come down to a period when Eliot might be supposed to have learned tact if he was ever to learn it, his public congratulation of James R. Angell at a complimentary banquet on the 8 Francis G. Peabody, Reminiscences of Present Day Saints (Boston, 1927), 298. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT II latter's "courage" in accepting the presidency of Yale. Eliot's compliments were studied, it is true, but they were studied for their precise agreement with the facts, rather than for their palatableness. On public occasions Eliot would say what he thought was appropriate, correct, and good for people to hear, which was by no means the same as what they would have been pleased to hear. A case in point is the Prince Henry incident, to which our author has alluded, and which OC- casioned profound distress to local representatives of the Imperial cult. On March 6, 1902, Prince Henry of Prussia visited Harvard and presented a portfolio con- taining photographs of the monumental casts which were being prepared as a gift of the German Emperor to the Germanic Museum. Prince Henry came as the brother and representative of the Emperor. He was awarded an honorary degree, and received with great formality on at least four different occasions during the day, at Sand- ers Theatre, the Harvard Union, the home of Professor Münsterberg, and the Hotel Somerset. Eliot was present on all of these occasions and made three speeches. He did not say what he thought might gratify his guest, or anybody else. He made considered statements of fact which were as explicit in what they omitted as in what they included. He was evidently searching for some- thing that an entirely unashamed exponent of democracy might appropriately and honestly say to the representa- tive of an emperor. So he referred to the neutral ground of Protestantism, federalism, letters, and science, as well as to the large German element in the American popu- lation. He thought Prince Henry as a monarchist might like to know that Massachusetts was the oldest democ- Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly I2 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY racy in the world, and had no intention of altering its constitution. Democrary had, in short, its good points, which he specifically mentioned. Then, as the climax of his Sanders Theatre speech, he pointed out that the il- lustrious grandmother of the individual "sitting with us here" had forty years ago announced that she would sign no paper which would mean war with the United States. This statement was biologically and historically correct to the best of Eliot's knowledge, and was made for that reason rather than as being the best calculated to tickle the ear of either Prince Henry or his Imperial brother. Nor was Eliot a modest man. He had something which is perhaps better, namely, an extraordinary im- personality and disinterestedness; but he was self-con- fident and enjoyed a sense of power. In responding to the complimentary addresses at the celebration of his ninetieth birthday, he said: "I recognize that at a tender age I did display considerable enjoyment of fighting." His later fights were not of the rough and tumble variety of his boyhood on Boston Common, but there was something of the same spirit in them. It had not OC- curred to him to call it "courage," he said - "I was just regardless of risks and opposition." Arguing the "Short- ening of the College Course" at a meeting of the Na- tional Educational Association in July, 1903, he re- marked, "We must get forward in education as in poli- tics by a perpetual contest and a series of compromises. Frank conflict is always welcome." His opponents, need- less to say, did not always have the same relish for com- bat, and thought him hard and inconsiderate of their feelings, as indeed he was. When he was convinced that 9 The Ninetieth Birthday of Charles William Eliot, 24. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 13 he was right he feared neither God, man, nor Roosevelt; as when, in 1908, he remained unmoved by the latter's appeal in behalf of the members of the Varsity Crew who were put on probation for removing reserved books from the library. He was probably guilty of as little obliqueness as is possible in a powerful and responsible executive with strong opinions, who keeps his half-formed thoughts to himself, and commits himself publicly only when the occasion demands and the time is ripe. His mendacity was mainly of the sort that consists in a failure to fulfill promises which you have never made, but which disap- pointed people think you ought to have made, or which they have unconsciously made for you. But he used his power relentlessly for the ends which he pursued. He held the administrative reins with a firm hand, and some- times veiled his personal will by allusion to the fateful decrees of "The Corporation." Eliot had something of the strong man's limitations. He was repelled by moral laxity and by unhealthy or neurotic mentality, and this blinded him to the great qualities with which these defects are sometimes asso- ciated. His aggressive optimism, his essentially active, outward and forward looking nature, prevented an un- derstanding of those depths of human experience, or those nuances of feeling and insight, that are inseparable from suffering and brooding. There was a touch of the banal, of shallowness, of externality, in his ways of thinking, as there was of hardness in his ways of acting. How are these personal defects to be reconciled with Eliot's success as a leader of men? There was a mellow- ing effect of age, and in later years, especially after his Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 14 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY second marriage, and when success had begun to reward his efforts, he gradually became less grim. But the change was one of degree. His characteristic defects were inalienable. How, then, were they compensated? As to tact, if he did not acquire it, his other qualities of can- dor and formal courtesy seemed to render it unnecessary. His combativeness, though relentless, was without mal- ice, and caused annoyance or anger, rather than lasting bitterness. His very tone of authority had a kind of ele- vation and self-forgetfulness about it that conveyed the impression of a man dedicated to high ends. As time went on, he profited also, no doubt, by the fact that his side of the controversy was usually endorsed by the verdict of history. But that which was chiefly responsible for the recon- ciliation of his opponents and the relatively small num- ber of his enemies, was his extraordinary faculty for con- sultation. He invited other people to state their views, and he really meant it. He wanted other people to be as self-assertive as he was himself. Thus in referring to the government of Harvard, he said: "While having with the Corporation a common interest of the deepest kind in the welfare of the University and the advance- ment of learning, the Overseers should always hold to- ward the Corporation an attitude of suspicious vigilance. They ought always to be pushing and prying." His idea of conversation was that two individuals should alternately speak and listen. When his turn came he listened, and his listening was not mere silence - - it was a form of activity. He listened with his ears, and cocked his head lest anything escape him. He listened with his mind, and attentively considered what you had Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 15 to say while you said it. You felt flattered, but somewhat appalled. You often wished that you had thought it over a little more carefully before you brought it to him. If he had been President Wilson, Eliot would have lis- tened to Henry Cabot Lodge. The same trait appears in his correspondence, where there is always unmistakable evidence that he has read the letters to which he replies. He learned a great deal by listening, both about the topic of discussion and about his interlocutor. Eliot was not greatly deflected from the path which his judgment had chosen, but in any case, and this is the important thing, the other party had had his say. Even when he was sore in every other part of his being, his self-respect remained unhurt. Eliot's lack of a quick imaginative understanding of men did not seriously cripple him, because he was not too greatly influenced by it. He had that greatest of all gifts of the liberal statesman, a capacity to recognize the exist- ence of things which he personally could neither achieve K nor even envisage. I am reminded, for example, of his attitude to a member of my own Department. When Emerson Emerson Hall was dedicated in 1905, Münsterberg, as Hall Chairman of the Department of Philosophy, took a part in the ceremonies which some persons thought "exces- sively prominent." James, for example, wrote to Eliot complaining that Münsterberg had made five speeches in the course of an hour. In his reply, Eliot said: Of course Münsterberg has a German way of doing things, which is different from our Yankee way. For instance, his in- troduction of me on that occasion would have been absolutely impossible for any born Yankee, and it grated on the ears of all the Yankees. But when you recommended Münsterberg for an Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 16 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY appointment here you must have expected that he would be dif- ferent from us, and doubtless reckoned on those very differences as part of the profit to the University. To Münsterberg Eliot wrote a soothing letter, in which he said: I venture to add that I do not at all sympathize with Profes- sor James's feeling that a Yankee would have been better than a German to guide the very simple ceremony of Wednesday last. If philosophy is not cosmopolitan or universal, what sub- ject can be? 11 Although Eliot was aloof in manner, he was ef- fectively and concretely benevolent. He was not exu- berant or familiar, but his kindness went straight to the point and was mindful of homely details. That in 1873 he took into his home an undergraduate (a son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, who had smallpox) is well known. When he returned in 1906 from a visit to Tuskegee, he wrote a letter to Booker Washington in which he made the fol- lowing friendly suggestion: My experience in Cambridge leads me to think that a serv- iceable addition to your equipment would be a chemical fire en- gine. You have always ready a considerable force of active young men who could bring a chemical fire engine very quickly to a fire. At the beginning of a fire the chemical engine is far the most efficient means of defense, and it does little injury to the con- tents of a building. It is always ready, and being comparatively light, can be drawn quickly to the point of danger. The little fire which I witnessed at Tuskegee would have been extin- guished in thirty seconds by a chemical engine. 12 10 Unpublished Letter of Eliot to William James, December 29, 1905. 11 Unpublished Letter of Eliot to Hugo Münsterberg, December 29, 1905. 12 Unpublished Letter of Eliot to Booker T. Washington, September 7,1906. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 17 It is said that Bishop Lawrence once complained to Eliot that the spare rooms which he was compelled to occupy on episcopal travels were often cold, and that Eliot replied, "I advise you to purchase a very thin, all- wool blanket, pack it in the bottom of your valise, and just before you retire wrap it carefully around you. Thus you will be able to avoid the colds that lurk in such rooms, and prosecute your labors." 13 Eliot was kind in an old-fashioned domestic, provi- dent way. He was a man of exquisite tenderness of feel- ing towards those of his own family circle. A quality of homeliness and simplicity was deeper in him than that aspect of awful dignity which he wore in his public ap- pearances, and with which he has become invested in the popular imagination. But his finest quality, I think, was his tolerance. Though he expected much of men, he was willing to make allowances. He was confident, aggres- sive, and self-reliant, but he was not arrogant. If he had been, he could not have made the remark which he made in his seventy-fifth year, and which I like best of all his utterances: "In the eyes of God human beings must all seem very young." ¹ It is fair to judge a man by what he admires as well as by what he is. Or perhaps a great man is, in some sense, that peculiar intimation of perfection which he conveys, that hopeful sense of human possibilities which makes us want to claim kinship with him. In Eliot's "New Defini- tion of the Cultivated Man," there is an unconscious statement of his personal ideal: 13 E. H. Cotton, The Life of Charles W. Eliot (Boston, 1926), 390. 14 William Allan Neilson, Ed., Charles W. Eliot: The Man and His Beliefs, With a Biographical Study by President Neilson, 2 volumes (New York and London, 1926), "The Religion of the Future," II, 592. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 18 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY He is not to be a weak, critical, fastidious creature, vain of a little exclusive information or of an uncommon knack in Latin verse or mathematical logic; he is to be a man of quick percep- tions, broad sympathies, and wide affinities; responsive, but in- dependent; self-reliant, but deferential; loving truth and can- dor, but also moderation and proportion; courageous, but gen- tle; not finished, but perfecting.15 Mr. James has amply recorded Eliot's opinions on the wide range of questions to which he gave his atten- tion. Is it possible to find an essential creed that under- lies them all? People are often blamed for failing to practise what they preach. Charles William Eliot was sometimes blamed for preaching what he practised, as when his picture of the administrative organization of an ideal university coincided, even to exact numerical de- tails, with that of Harvard. Similarly, he pointed out in an article on "The University President in the Ameri- can Commonwealth" that a successful American uni- versity president will and should come to acquire a large public influence in social and political matters. It is be- cause of this accepted though unofficial role which Eliot played for many years as adviser-at-large to the Ameri- can people on things-in-general, that the question of his creed is of historical interest - whether we regard it as a cause or only as a sympton. It is perhaps inevitable that the importance of the religious factor in Eliot should be exaggerated. Religion was not one of the conspicuous things about him, and when inconspicuous things are discovered and dragged into the light, attention is focussed upon them. The fact 15 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, 190. Written in 1903. 16 Educational Review (December, 1911). Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 19 is that Eliot's genius was secular rather than religious, and I do not believe that we should be disposed to think otherwise had people not first made the mistake of sup- posing that he was not religious at all, so that it became necessary to write articles and books to prove that he was. "I belong to the barest of the religious communions," Eliot wrote to Professor Palmer, "and I am by nature reserved except with intimates." 17 His reticence in per- sonal matters, his sense of propriety, and emotional re- straint made it impossible that he should participate in evangelical forms of religious expression. He could not be effusive in anything. The quality of his intellect, in the next place, was inconsistent with supernaturalism: he accepted the teachings of science without reserve. He was obliged to think clearly or not at all, and was thus cut off, for better or for worse, from what are supposed to be the deeper truths of mystical insight. He had neither aptitude nor inclination for metaphysical specu- lation or for theological dialectics. When he reached the boundaries of science and common sense, he professed ignorance - quite simply and candidly. His insistence on freedom made the acceptance of any kind of religious authority unthinkable. In temperament he was one of those whom James has called "healthy-minded" and "tough-minded," too incurably sane and optimistic to experience the religion of the "sick soul," or to stress atonement by suffering. Evil was not something to be brooded upon and assimilated to the spiritual life, but something, like disease, to be prevented or cured. He did 17 Henry Hallam Saunderson, Charles W. Eliot: Puritan Liberal; In- troduction by William Allen [sic] Neilson (New York and London, 1928), IO. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 20 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY not look for compensation in another world: he was this- worldly. He believed in the right to be happy, and in the duty to make others happy, here and now. Replying in 1906 to a letter of inquiry from a com- parative stranger, he said: Personal immortality, with memory of the present life, seems to me something which we can neither believe nor dis- believe with the full assurance with which we believe and ex- pect that the sun will rise tomorrow, or that the climate of the Temperate Zone will continue to preserve that narrow range of temperatures within which the human body can exist. It is something we may hope for but not be sure of. We cannot even be sure that individual immortality would be the happiest and best lot for the human race, because we cannot imagine, even in the faintest way, its conditions. The wisest men who have tried to describe Heaven and Hell have either dealt in vague images and symbols, or have drawn pictures of intolerable conditions, whether in Heaven or Hell. Elysium, or Paradise, or the New Jerusalem, as described in poetry and in revelation, would be intolerable to the civilized and reasonable human being. Under these circumstances it seems to me that one may most wisely content oneself with the natural joys which are possi- ble in this world without the assurance of personal immortality, and that human society may most wisely seek justice and right in this world without depending on any other world to redress the wrongs of this. ¹8 Finally, Eliot did not attach supreme importance to the doctrinal differences between one religion and an- other. He remarked to Harvard students that religious creeds appeared to have little influence on conduct. He thought that in promoting a reverence for truth, loveli- ness and goodness public education was promoting what- ever was essential in religion.19 He proclaimed religious 18 Unpublished Letter to Professor J. Helder, June 19, 1906. 19 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, "The Religious Ideal in Education." Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 21 tolerance and religious liberty with an emphasis which suggested that he prized the tolerance and the liberty more than the religion. Viewed in the light of the history and psychology of religion, these are all negations. Whether they are merits or defects, evidences of gain or loss, I do not seek to argue; but only that if one were naming characteristic instances of religious genius, of persons distinguished by the richness, vividness, or elevation of their religious ex- perience, one would not name Charles William Eliot. It would never, I am sure, have occurred to him to name himself. It does not follow that he was without religion. It was characteristic of Eliot to possess all of the normal human organs. He contracted habits of worship at an early age, taught Sunday School in his youth, read the Bible, en- joyed singing hymns, and was always a pillar of the Church, as he was of every other public institution. So much might have been expected of him as a man who fulfilled what he took to be his social obligations. But his religion was more than that. He was unquestionably a devout believer, of the Unitarian persuasion. This be- lief was an important sustaining force in his personal life, and became a favorite theme of discourse in his later years. What did it mean? In the first place, it is proper to note that Unitarian- ism, too, was in part a negation. It rejected Calvinism, which had itself rejected Anglicanism, which had re- jected Roman Catholicism. So far Unitarianism, even of the vigorous King's Chapel variety on which Eliot was nourished, may be said to have implied a considerable admixture of rationalism and secularism with traditional Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 22 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY Christianity. But there was, on the other hand, a more positive element in Unitarianism. associated with the in- fluence of Emerson and Channi :- 11. his youth Eliot found Emerson "speculative a ad visionary," and in later years when he had come to recognize him as a kindred spirit, he praised him because "he sought to obliterate the distinction between secular and sacred." ² ² To Eliot this obliteration commended itself in part as a reduction of the sacred to the secular. But there can be no doubt that the seeds of the reverse idea had somehow been planted in him. He had imbibed the philosophical phi- lanthropy of his times, that gospel to which Channing gave such eloquent and moving expression, and which was so congenial a gospel to the reformer. This philoso- phy retained the moralism and individualism of the Puritan tradition, absorbed the revolutionary optimism of the age of the Enlightenment, and infused the blend with an element of German metaphysics. The essential meaning of it was that the moral nature of man was a guarantee of the moral order of the universe, and that the spiritual life of man was an indwelling and revela- tion of the more perfect spiritual life of God. In the spirit of this tradition, Eliot tells us that the God of the future religion will be a Spirit uniting personality with energy and vital force, pervading all things animate and inanimate, and possessing, "for every man, the multipli- cation to infinity of all the noblest, tenderest and most potent qualities which that man has ever seen or im- agined in a human being." ²1 20 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, 533, 537. 21 Ibid., 584. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 23 That Eliot's religion was founded on his moral intui- tions is most clearly indicated by his standard of belief: The first steps toward making a calm choice are to observe strictly the line of demarcation between facts on the one hand and beliefs on the other, and to hold facts as facts, and beliefs as nothing more than beliefs. Next we need a criterion or touch- stone for beliefs, old and new. The surest touch-stone is the ethical standard which through inheritance, education, and the experience of daily life has, as a matter of fact, become our standard. It is not for our happiness to believe any proposition about the nature of man, the universe, or God, which is really at war with our fundamental instincts of honor and justice, or with our ideals of gentleness and love, no matter how those in- stincts and ideals have been implanted or arrived at.2 Certain unwavering moral convictions, formed, then, the premise of Eliot's system of thought, and the abso- lute in his universe. What were they? How shall they be conceived? Professor Irving Babbitt, applying his favor- ite dichotomy, classes Eliot with the utilitarians and sen- timentalists, as opposed to the humanists and supernat- uralists. The Rev. H. H. Saunderson, approaching the topic from the standpoint of New England theology, de- scribes him as a "Puritan liberal." That Eliot was not supernaturalistic, that he was in some sense Puritan, and in some sense liberal, is true; otherwise, however, I find both of these principles of classification too simple and schematic. Eliot can not be impaled on either branch of Professor Babbitt's two-pronged fork, while Mr. Saun- derson's more sympathetic attempt to assimilate him to a phase of New England culture lays too great stress on 22 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, 434. 23 Forum (January, 1929), Irving Babbitt, "President Eliot and American Education." Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 24 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY Eliot's provincial origins, too little on his universality and his individuality. When I recall Eliot in the flesh, I think of a man who owed his personal distinction not to that unnatural de- velopment of a single faculty which we commonly asso- ciate with genius, or to the distortion which so often ac- companies it, but to his proportionality and balance. He was, above all things, healthy in body and in mind, and enjoyed the pleasures which accrue to the natural man from the normal exercise of his functions. In his moral philosophizing he did not conceive life as a performance of painful duties, but as a sum of happy activities; and in searching for the secret of the "happy life," or of its "durable satisfactions" he found it to consist not in wealth, power, fame, or any privilege reserved for the few, but in certain familiar and homely things which are within the reach of every man who makes a right use of his human capacities. Thus he spoke of health, the percep- tion of beauty in nature and art, the exercise of eye and ear and hand, the use of the higher faculties of imagina- tion, observation and thought, the reading of books, good reputation, relations to family and friends, the sense of novelty and adventure. It is clear that this philosophy of happiness corrects the one-sidedness both of secular intellectualism and of religious moralism by providing also for the body and the sensibilities. Here is Eliot the pagan. I hesitate to say "humanist" because that term means so many things. To some it means the cult of the intellect and imagination to the exclusion of other hu- man faculties and interests. Eliot was not a humanist 24 The Happy Life (New York, 1905); The Durable Satisfactions of Life (Boston, 1910). Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 25 in this sense. To others it means a species of traditional- ism, namely, the cult of the classical heritage; and Eliot was not a humanist in this sense. But if humanism means the happy perfecting of the integral man, the rounded and correlative development of man's natural capacities by their exercise in a contemporary environment, then I think we should not be far wrong in decorating him with that blessed word. To describe Eliot as a pagan and let it go at that, would be to caricature him. It is true that, like Aristotle, he conceived the happy life as the healthy functioning of the natural man amidst the circumstances of his time and place. Like Aristotle, too, he thought of a highest happi- ness which consisted in the exercise of a quintessential function. But whereas Aristotle found this diviner part of man to consist in his faculty of contemplation, Eliot, nourished in the Christian tradition, found it elsewhere, in the moral will and in love of kind. Unlike Aristotle he set the moral virtues above the intellectual, and among the moral virtues he set love above all others. That which gives dignity to human life is the act of choice, and the condition of choice is knowledge. Quot- ing Channing, he said: "I saw how Nature SOWS her seed broadcast. So we must send truth abroad, not forcing it on here and there a mind, and watching its progress anxiously, but trusting that it will light on a kindly soil, and yield fruit. So nature teaches." 20 First let people know, and then let them choose. This is the only road to character and to self-discovery. 25 Training for an Effective Life (Boston, 1915), "The Freedom to Choose." 20 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, "Channing," 511. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 26 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY To be self-determined, and to find an opportunity of doing one's own best-these are prime conditions of the happy life. But the crown of it consists in something else. We find ourselves members not only of a state, as Aristotle said, but of the family of mankind. We are linked with fellowmen not only by common faculties and a cosmic harmony, as the Stoics taught, but by pity, as Jesus taught. In the modern world the masses of man- kind in all the corners of the earth are audible. We can not ignore or forget their plight, nor knowing it can we be happy unless we succor them. This is, however, not a mere intrusion on our peace of mind. It calls into play something SO deeply ourselves as to provide the chief opportunity of happiness. The most satisfactory thing in all this earthly life is to be able to serve our fellow-being 1 first, those who are bound to us by ties of love, then the wider circle of fellow-townsmen, fellow- countrymen, or fellowmen. To be of service is a solid foundation for contentment in this world.21 Eliot employed the term "service" before it had been cheapened by over-use, or sullied by commercial asso- ciations. To him it meant Christian giving, blessed to the giver by the joy of love. It is true, on the other hand, that service meant not a mere sentiment or gesture, but effective remedial activity, in which the cure is by organ- ization and by science skilfully adapted to the cause. It is true also that service meant usefulness, that is atten- tion to the needs of man in the order of their urgency. There is good precedent for the view that the way of love is to nurse the sick, feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. This is not because material goods are set 27 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, "The Happy Life," 431. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 27 above spiritual, but because a life must be saved first in order to be perfected afterwards. In my own judgment, the limitations of Eliot's per- sonal philosophy are to be found elsewhere. He had something of that shallowness which seems to be the penalty of health. It is hard for a healthy man to plumb the depths of human suffering. It is hard for an effec- tive man to recognize the limits of human capacity, and for a well-ordered man to appreciate the waywardness and inner conflict of genius. It is hard for a reasonable man to understand the tragic fatalities which encumber the wills of those who, though they be less virtuous, are sometimes more gifted. Eliot suggests Washington, whom he praises for his vigorous physique, his prudence, simplicity, courage, and good taste. But he does not sug- gest Lincoln. There is a touch of something like hard- ness in a judgment such as this: I have been unable to discover any modern employment, even those called the lowest, in which there is not large play for in- telligence, alertness, and good judgment. I have never yet ob- served men seriously and honestly at work who did not seem to me tc have ample opportunity for the exercise of both intelli- gence and judgment. Of course, one often sees in these days men nominally at work who are not using their minds or their wills any more than they can help; but it is not their occupa- tion which deprives them of the satisfaction of working with in- telligence and judgment. It is their characters, their personal quality. 28 Despite this austerity, Eliot possessed an unusual ca- pacity to separate principles from their accidental em- bodiments. The same flexibility of mind which enabled him to associate culture with science, or intellectuality 28 Neilson, Charles W. Eliot, "Content in Work," 246. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly 28 THE NEW ENGLAND QUARTERLY with the domestic sphere of woman, led him to find the essential conditions of human happiness and dignity even in a modern industrial world. His application was al- ways contemporary, and his attitude was always to wel- come innovation as providing new allies and improved weapons in the old war for the old cause. Although Eliot was primarily a man of deeds, and al- though he was in a certain sense reticent, the volume of his oral and written discourse was enormous. There is, I think, no mystery in this. The deeds that he performed depended on convincing others of their wisdom. He cul- tivated to a high degree, and practised on an extensive scale, the art of persuasion. His reticence related only to the direct personal revelation of his inmost feelings. The indirect effect of it was to stimulate him to the repeated and expansive expression to an impersonal public of his generalized convictions. That which distinguished Eliot's style was the poign- ancy of the obvious-the - shameless simplicity of his diction. Perhaps the secret of his style lay in his having no secrets. He had something to say, and his idea was to say it. I do not mean that his style was without merit- I am trying to point out, rather, in what its extraordi- nary merit lay. It is difficult for one who has known him to separate his written words from his visible and audi- ble presence. This is due not only to the unforgettable dignity and graciousness of his bearing and the echo of his resonant voice, but to the fact that his writings were essentially addresses, to be communicated directly and understood instantly. He was not afraid of being under- Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT 29 stood too easily. Evident or even familiar truth seemed to him just as good as any other truth - better, in fact, since truth is light and tends to disclose rather than to hide itself. He said what he had to say as simply as pos- sible, for to have said it otherwise would have implied some motive other than bare communication. It would have implied a desire to please or to arouse emotion, whereas Eliot's purpose was to make known his beliefs and commend them to the sober judgment of his hearers. And what he had to say was usually the sort of thing that could be said very simply. He had definite ideas and he had doubts, but he had no ecstatic visions, no murky profundities, no half-articulate intuitions. He did not speak figuratively, because what he had to say could be said literally. So frugal was his use of the comparative and superlative that there was emphasis in his simple adjective - which was usually the right one. He had an indicative, rather than a subjunctive mind, and there was an extraordinary power in his mere affirmation. It had the awe-inspiring force of naked verity, like the axioms of Euclid. The very quiet and restraint of his ut- terance was charged with an infinity of conviction. He spoke as one who has come to an opinion on the subject, and the man who can make up his own mind amidst the dubious complexities of policy is the man most likely also to make up the minds of others. Copyright (c) 2002 ProQuest Information and Learning Company Copyright (c) New England Quarterly College in a Yard. CONTENTS 167 IN GRATITUDE TO "STUBBY" CHILD : M. A. Brooks Atkinson (Ed.). DeWolfe Howe - 103 ca list 8.83 À LA CARTE : E. J. Kahn, Jr. - 111 Cabridge Howard U.P., 1957 JOURNEY TO AN OTHERWORLD : H. M. Kallen - 115 SOPHOMORIC APLOMB : Milton Katz - 121 SOWER OF THE SEED : John F. Kennedy - 125 INTRODUCTION STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE : Jonathan Kozol -129 "PREPAREDNESS" - I : Harold A. Larrabee - 139 HIS BOOK originated with A Pro- "PREPAREDNESS" - II : Eric Larrabee - 143 I gram for Harvard College, the or- EDUCATING A DOCTOR : Roger I. Lee - 149 ganization that undertook the gigan- FORM AND CONTENT : Alan Jay Lerner - 155 tic task of raising $82,500,000 for TEDDY AND THE BISHOP : Clarence C. Little - capital needs. The original plan was 159 to publish a "booklet" in which THE QUEST FOR PEACE : Henry Cabot Lodge - "Harvard men in a number of fields of activity" 163 would answer the general question "What BEST OF TWO WORLDS : Stanley Marcus - 169 Harvard Has Meant to Me." A book of sixty NEW BOTTLE: OLD WINE : John P. Marquand - 173 or seventy pages was anticipated; the names of OUT OF OREGON : David McCord - 181 twenty-one College alumni were proposed as THIS WE POSSESS : Elliot Norton - 189 possible contributors. THE RIGHT TO UTTER : John Lord O'Brian - After three months of correspondence and 193 editorial supervision, we have produced a book 37 YEARS A STUDENT : Walter Piston - 199 of 220 pages containing articles by thirty-nine PROCESSION OF THE FIRES : Lucien Price - 203 alumni. Now I wish that it were twice as long "PLUS ÇA CHANGE" : Edward Streeter - 207 and that it contained reports from twice as FAMILY FEELING : John S. Tomajan - 215 many men and that someone intimately ac- quainted with the graduate body could have devoted a year or two to preparing the manu- script systematically. For the warmth and vi 1 CRANE BRINTON facing a problem, one not solved for him in advance, a major incentive to thinking and VAN WYCK BROOKS learning; it was up to me to make him see that history is full of problems worth trying to solve. Second, if after trying my best I were to fail with him and his likes in the future, I should not NURSERY FOR be hurt, but strengthened in my appreciation for Harvard's eternal variety. A Harvard wholly INDEPENDENCE Irving Babbitt, with never a George Babbitt, would not be Harvard. Surely Veritas demands no less an admission? HE GREAT virtue of Harvard, it Crane Brinton received the degree of A.B. from Harvard I has always seemed to me, is that it favors what David Reisman calls the in 1919; Ph.D., Oxford, 1923. "inner-directed" mind. This is an He has been Professor of History ungrammatical phrase, unless I am at Harvard since 1942. His books mistaken, and SO is the phrase "other- include "Anatomy of Revolu- directed," this writer's term for the opposite tion" and "Ideas and Men." category. But everybody knows what these phrases mean, and everyone must be grateful to the creator of them. As I gather from "The Lonely Crowd," David Reisman feels that the "inner-directed" mind is dying out; and, if that should happen, heaven help all people like him- self, thinkers, men of pure science, artists and writers. But this mind will not die out if the Harvard way of life survives in a world of committee men, group thinkers and the kind of person who is 36 37 VAN WYCK BROOKS NURSERY FOR INDEPENDENCE described as the "organization man," the hero you cannot make single one-ideaed regiments of of so many modern institutions. In this world her classes. It is because she cherishes SO many anyone who goes alone, walks by himself and vital ideals, yet makes a scale of value among fails to wear on his face a patent-leather smile them." (It is this making of the "scale of is regarded as a menace and presumably a values" that has established metes and bounds psychopath who ought to be subjected to medical for what might otherwise be a sterile eccentri- treatment. But how would any of the heroes of city and anarchy.) Plutarch, Vasari's lives or the lives of the saints Could anything finer ever be said of any uni- have fared in this world in which only the ad- versity? And does this not largely explain the justable and the adaptable have any value? None noble contribution that Harvard has made to of these characters had any use for parties, the life of the country and the world? crowds or gangs, for thinking in groups or in terms of organizations (as we understand these Van Wyck Brooks received the in our time), for the orthodoxy that is a touch- A.B. degree from Harvard in stone now quite outside the religious sphere and 1908. He is author of "The is praised in every sphere of life. These men and Ordeal of Mark Twain," "The their modern congeners are the "undiscipline- Flowering of New England" and ables" of William James, and it is just they who a series of books on the Ameri- have found at Harvard a "nursery for independ- can Literary Tradition. ent and lonely thinkers." I am quoting James in "Memories and Studies," and I continue to quote that great and glorious human soul who made the mistake of preaching pragmatism. Why, William James asked, do the undisciplineables go to Harvard? "It is because they have heard of her persistently atomistic con- stitution, of her tolerance of exceptionality and eccentricity, of her devotion to the principles of individual vocation and choice. It is because 38 39 LEARNED HAND EMINENT MEN HIS is in reply to the suggestion I that I write what were the benefits I got from my four years in Har- vard College, many years ago. Rec- collections of course change with time, but perhaps that is as well, for the impressions that remain are likely to have been the most important at the time. At any rate in my own case what seems to me especially to stand out are those men with whom I came in contact. And first of these was Charles W. Eliot. In the years that followed, I have seen many eminent men; but were I asked to choose C.W. Elist the most majestic and moving of all, it would be he. His voice seemed to come from some deep well of wisdom, gathered after a hearing of all sides, firmly possessed, but open to all who chose to seek it. He gave you a sense of your inadequacy when you realized that SO well based, yet tolerant, an attitude was beyond your powers; 83 LEARNED HAND EMINENT MEN but he convinced you that SO far as lay in you [undamental propositions with an ineluctable the best of human endeavors was the search for logic that caught you in its coils and was intended truth. almost to extort acquiescence. Later, as I looked Next I particularly remember William James, back, it sometimes seemed that the outcome, Josiah Royce and George Santayana, for I spent quite unconsciously to him, was foreordained, more of my time in studying philosophy than and that he was from the outset committed to anything else. Nothing could have been more emerge with the elements of a comforting, though fortunate to a boy, coming from a day school in not wholly comfortable, Deism. a small city of another state. James was in the Santayana to us was the very essence of de- full flight of his powers. He had been a student tached Clarity; he assumed nothing, was com- of Wundt, one of the earliest physiological psy- manded by no one and brought to all questions chologists, and from him I, at any rate, got the a serene and kindly willingness to accept the enduring conviction of the parallelism of body answers with devastating impartiality. True, he and mind. To me it was always a contradiction seemed a bit too self-sufficient to need support that out of this came "The Will to Believe"; but from without, and one would never presume his mind and his nature were SO rich and varied upon any familiarities; but there was always ac- that he was apparently able to harbor harmoni- cessible a store of friendly helpfulness on which ously what others with less gifts of conciliation one knew one could draw without reserve. found mutually rebellious. It always seemed to These were by no means the only men from me that the angels must have visited his cradle whom I got the leads that I have tried to follow and bestowed on him whatever was charming ever since, at least in my better efforts. I feel and understanding and helpful and beautiful. towards them a debt that I have never repaid; Royce was a bird of another color. He too but it is at least some satisfaction to be allowed was as pure and undefiled a nature as there was; to say once again that, at times anyway, I have but his ways were just the opposite of James's. tried to practice the faith I got from them: that The one trusted to the authentic revelations of faith by which only in proportion as we live in the Spirit; the other to the inescapable progress scrupulous adherence to the facts, as we can best of Reason. Royce was prepared to defend all his guess them out, shall we justify our heritage. 84 85 SH Roads appreciation September 21, 1932. My dear Dr. Farrand: Arthough you so considerately asked me not to reply to your letter of September 8th, e commication so gracious, so appreciative and BO friendly cannot be laid aside without my having the pleasure et least or thanking the writer for it. I sometimes think that I night well be open to the charge of selfishness in connection with what I have done for the devel opment of Mount Desert Island, because there has come to me such pleasure and enjoyment in the process. Nevertheless, it is pleasant to know that people whose opinions one values feel that worth-while things have been accomplished. Mr. Darr 438 been wonderful in what he has done for the Island. As you well sey, without him, permanent preservation of the beauties of this ialand for the use of all the people would never have come to pass. In this connection, T cannot refrain free speaking of the generous contribution your wife is waking to this enterprise and of the modest, unselfish manner in which she is doing it. I are most appreciative of her cooperation and vatue it highly. Your approval of BY letter to President Butler is most gestifying. There are of course two eiders to every question. What most decent men are seeking is temperance. I had hoped that the Righteenth Amendment would promote that condition. My best judgment is that the contrary is the case: hence there was nothing for me to do but to reverse my previous position. That something constructive will TOW sult, I earnestly hope. Please know what & pleasure it has been to tell you of my appreciation of your letter, and that I have enjoyed doing so the more because of your thoughtful admonition not to regard it as calling for B reply. Very sincerely, Professor Max Farrand, [J.P.R.Jr.] Bar Herbor, Maine. September 8. 1932 MAX FARRAND REEF POINT BAR HARBOR, MAINE. Dear Mr. Rockefolle his leather to Judge Deary with information To the Bishoff Lawrunce sent me a copy of much discussed road - - (IN is a not advisement To have was his and in asknowledging it I wrote 7 the protitude I thought uz should feel To you and To George Door, when t occurred to me that I never had exprased ayound my feelings and the subject The ultimate invacious 7. this island by the mostitude was - insurancable an anything could be because 7 the attrace Tive were of the shear beauty 7 the place I think Every Dam by his on sight and evergatic dwe tion prevent many 7 the best parts 7 WE Dunt from deservation and To been not only supported have in about and made forcicle things otherwise and Mainable your can also an your must account operated 7 many hather to unaccessible fountain and by 7 road building hour made the regulations 7 taffic which mean protection MADE IN ENGLAND. SH OFFICE natl Park son JOHN D. ROCKAFELLIA JM: August 2, 1933 Dear Mr. Dorr: I was glad to learn from Mr. Serenus Rodick yeater- day that you were very much better. Do take care of your self and de not do any more imprudent things like aliding down Green Mountain on the snow drifts, as I saw you de some years ago. You are greatly needed in this world and particularly on this island. I would not know what to de without you here and you and I must beth live at least to see the projected automobile road completed and then for a long time thereafter to plan other worthwhile develop- ments of the island. If there is anything Mrs. Rockefeller and I can do for your wellbeing or comfort, it will give us beth great pleasure to be given the opportunity. There are several things I have wanted to talk with you about, in fact I had planned to try to see you last week but other things prevented. When you are feeling up to it and a little fisit from me would be & diversion rather than a strain, I should be delighted to come and see you. In the meantime please know always of my very deep regard and warm affection for you Very sincerely, 6 JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER, JR. Mr. George B. Borr SEAL HARBOR, ME. Bar Harber Maine William Richards Lawrences' 1855 biography of his father, Amos Lawrence, written two years after the birth of Mr. Dorr, would have a dramatic and almost entirely ignored influence on John D. Rockefeller Jr. According to Marian Lawrence Peabody, who spent much of her child here in family home at the foot of Mr. Desert Street-so well described in To be Young Was Very Heaven), JDR Jr. informed her father, Reverend Lawrence, that it was the biography of textile magnate Amos Lawrence that SO interested John D. Rockefeller. Amos is remembered today for the Massachusetts city named after him, but in the mid-19th Century he became known as one of the first philanthropists, giving away nearly 80 percent of his income. This biography "made [JDR] realize for the first time the joy ands benefits of sharing his wealth. Mr. Rockefeller, Jr., said, 'I was brought up on Amos Lawrence and his good life." chig. dignified, methodical, precise, alert; illuminating every subject that came before the meeting." (Trustees of Reservations. 1926 Annual Report. 8-10) Eliot's passing also marked the tenth anniversary to the day of the formal celebration of the establishment of the Sieur de Monts National Monument. Dorr was surely aware of the significance of this date. One last irony involved the 1953 death of Judge John A. Peters-the other central figure in securing national monument status--twenty-seven years later on August 22, 1953. Will Mr. Dorr and Rockefeller Jr. be able to carry forward Park development without their senior partner? For the last quarter century, Dorr and Eliot had provided leadership for the Park development, with JDR Jr. becoming involved after the first decade of the Trustee partnership. An exhaustive, comparison of their individual contributions, their differences and similarities in methods, goals, and values has not been undertaken by the scholarly community-and is beyond the scope of this biography. While many character traits were not shared (e.g., the passionate and spontaneous Dorr was unlike the contained Mr. Rockefeller Jr. and Dr. Eliot), Eliot's passing requires identification of key character traits-varying in degrees-that were common to the Dorr-Eliot-Rockefeller Triumvirate from 1911-1926. Keen memory, an exceptional respect for intelligence, and an understanding of the importance of clearly defining far-sighted personal goals were their dominating mental traits. They applied scientific methods contextually balanced by the rules of logic and persuasion. Solitary self-examination and life experience transformed their elitist social inheritance into an appreciation of conservation as a vehicle for promoting democratic values. Highly committed to conserving landscape that was aesthetically unique-and of benefit to Mount Desert, New England, and the American citizenry--they showed that a contained, contiguous publically accessible landscape remedied the balkanization of a landform--through private ownership--that had occurred R.E. Becoming18-1009D.doc.1 Page 16 of 17 horly draft of CANP. prior to their stewardship. Each possessed a strong antipathy to being told by others what to do, yet their personalities were such that they gave each other "respect, trust, support, and gratitude" for creating and developing landscaped habitats permanently protected by the power of the federal government. (See Judith S. Goldstein, Triumphs and Tragedies: Charles W. Eliot, George B. Dorr, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Founding of Acadia Port National Park (Somesville, ME: Point in a Storm Bookstore, 1992) , , 28-30) At a time when the National Park Service was in its infancy, their example became both a template for donor-based national park development and proof that democracy and conservation were hospitable ideas. Becoming18-1009D.doc Page 17 of 17 Freeman Tilden, a NPS author, who emphasized the importance of heritage interpretation during the 1950's, in a typescript RAC essay "Friend of our Heritage," makes the striking claim that "no two men could have been much different in their approach to their private affairs than Mssrs. Dorr and Rockefeller: "George Dorr could and did move with trigger celerity. Again and again, in the early days, he had stormed the forts of doubt and antagonism, and taken them by his dominating fervor. But, unlike the man who came to his aid, he was an imprecise in his personal management as a Bohemian of the art colony. It pained and frightened Mr. Rockefeller." For both men it was very difficult to find general acceptance of the idea that Acadia should be a park for everyone. Many sang the lyrics of preservation for the public good but their lyrical memories failed executing the plan touched their petty concerns. "And much as he esteemed and cared for him, he had to be patient with Mr., , Dorr. For they tell a little story in Acadia, which I hope is true-for this sort of tale is most amusing when true-of an occasion when Mr. Rockefeller gave George Dorr a friendly suggestion as to the evils of dilatoriness and procrastination. 'Why, I myself, , he said, 'check my affairs every night before I go to bed. George Dorr looked a little saddened, like an erring child corrected by a kind parent. Then he suggested, hopefully, 'wouldn't once a week be often enough?'" (pp. 10-11, RAC II.2.I. B60. f.518). R.Epp Becoming17-1009-B.doc Page 12 of 12 Early draft of CANP. William Lawrence. 2 MEMORIES OF A HAPPY LIFE FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF MOUNT DESERT I93 een us that I should help in case of need. Hence he brilliant green of the lawn, with the more brilliant nastur- quently gave this notice with his peculiar cadence of tiums, gladioli, phlox, and roses sprang into life, bringing ice: 'Next Sunday a sermon may be expected from the out the deep greens of the spruce and pine, and adding :verend Doctor Lawrence, provided I can obtain no one distance and dignity to the mountains behind. e meanwhile.' What place is there, say the old residents, what place A visitor preached a sermon which Mr. Leffingwell is there in the world, say travellers, which combines as does approved. Consequently, before the blessing he came Mount Desert the glories, joys, and air of mountain and ward to the chancel steps and said, 'This evening a sea? - while physical comfort and art now have a part, mon may be expected from the Reverend Doctor for in the Hall of Arts, a Greek temple in the woods, are ming another preacher]; and as we parted he said, 'Did heard the musicians of the world. 1 notice my emphasis on the word 'sermon"?' With each succeeding change we have been told that In talking of his winter's work, he told me that he tried Mount Desert was spoiled: the old days had gone. But be helpful, and was often gratified when called for. neither clothes, pearls, nor automobiles can steal away the his year, for instance, one of the wickedest men in the beauty of the mountains, the glory of sea and cliff, and the age, when about to die sent for me.' 'I know that you bracing air. Compensations, too, there have been, es- st have helped him,' I said. 'I trust so,' he answered, pecially in the stimulating company. One of the richest it of course, considering his open hostility to religion, I contributions to my life has been the friendships gained at not think it tactful to mention that subject.' And he Bar Harbor and the companionship of able men. I probably right: the presence of the old saint with his Dr. Weir Mitchell, for instance, the pioneer and leader wy white hair and long beard, his innocence and faith, of nerve treatment, who gloried more in his novels and 'e more likely to suggest penitence and the spiritual life poems than in his professional leadership, was an unmiti- n exhortations to repentance. gated admirer of Mount Desert, and in his walks until over Vith the passing of years, the panorama of life moved. eighty covered the mountains, opened paths like the Ca- n came the great barracks called summer hotels, where dillac, and talked most interestingly as he walked. He had ple of wealth and refinement from the large cities been in Phillips Brooks's Philadelphia days, and through ught their daughters, or their daughters brought them, later life an intimate friend. He took pride in having sug- Rodick's piazza and broad steps with scores of young gested to Brooks the texts and subjects of some of his great ple answered well to its popular title, 'The Fish Pond. sermons; and whenever I preached, would join me after here followed thousands of tourists who, coming by service, and walking home would tell me more about my n and ferry, filled large four-horse barges, drove to sermon than I knew myself, and insist on my trying out de Lake, which they crossed in a stern-wheeler, took the his subjects. I could fill a book with his absorbing talk and railway to the top of Green Mountain, and camped in anecdotes. ther summer barrack which fortunately burned down: John S. Kennedy was a canny Scotsman and a strong Kennedy railroad, boat, and barges soon fell to ruins. Then character. Beginning in a lowly position, he rose high in e who had boarded at the hotels, or their children who the railroad-building world, and as a friend and worker married bought land and built houses, large and with James Hill amassed a great fortune, which he used, 11. The noise of the lawnmower was heard: Eagle Lake gave, and bequeathed in a generous and wise way. His ugh pipe and hose watered the burnt plains, and the avocation in the summer was the improvement of Bar MEMORIES OF A HAPPY LIFE 2 t FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF MOUNT DESERT I95 rbor. Finding a meagre water supply in the hands of dick, he formed a rival company, obtained a charter In I88K President Eliot. who had before encamped on Calf Island in Frenchman's Bay, built a cottage on the m the Maine Legislature, and, opening the purchase of Asticou Mountain side of North-East Harbor, and im- ck to others, saved Bar Harbor from conflagration and mediately gave distinction to the name of a harbor, which, d lawns and so created gardens. He saw to it that liquor although on the south side of the island, was in early days oons were kept out of sight and gambling-places driven given its name because it was northeast of the older t of town. One day he said to me, 'Bishop, there is fishing village, South-West Harbor. ew gambling-hell here.' 'Strange, Mr. Kennedy,' I re- Bishop Doane of Albany built later a cottage in the ed, 'that you are always the first man to know when centre of North-East Harbor, and there was soon a rustic gambling-place opens. How is that?' He had a keen chapel of timber and slabs, whose sides burst out into se of humor, and, while reputed to be as keen as any enlargements to meet the needs of a congregation, which, tsman in a trade, was very kindly. blic spirit, a near neighbor and warm friend. He did Jasup standing outside as well as within, took part in the serv- Morris K. Jesup was another citizen of great worth and ice. For years before his death I was a devoted friend of the Bishop. I never knew him to fail in courtesy, re than any one to finance Peary's expedition to the courage, or faith. Although we were closely bound in rth Pole. We joined him one afternoon on his launch to many interests, the Board of Missions, the General Con- Peary off on the trip before that on which he discovered ventions, my memories of him at North-East Harbor are : Pole in his strange, double-ended ship, The Roose- the freshest. His was a winning personality, and there t, loaded as she was above the gunwales with every gathered around him at North-East Harbor in cottage and t of preparation for the Arctic. It was a thrilling sight hotel a circle of friends that was unique-Seth Low watch her sail north in the light of the setting sun. The President Gilman of Johns Hopkins, Professor Fisher of utiful library perpetuates Mr. Jesup's memory. Yale, William Huntington of Grace Church, New York, Professor James B. Thayer of the Harvard Law School, Edward Perkins and Samuel Eliot of Boston, Bishop S there from the first; and later his son Ezra, Dean of the Greer, and a host of others. Saint Mary's Church was a 1001. Was there ever a more delightful raconteur than spiritual centre whose influence spread throughout the ram Hewitt, former Mayor of New York, unless one country as the summer people went back to their winter epts General Horace Porter of Grant's staff, Ambas- homes. lor to France and after-dinner speaker. President Har- In his early years he was bitten by a devotion to all of Amherst, Edward Coles, Charles Morrill, David Og- things English in ecclesiastical and social standards. His 1,A. J. Cassatt, Butler Duncan/Robert Amory John I. enunciation was English: he adopted the apron and leg- ne, Montgomery Sears, George Bowdoin, Johnston gings as well as the shovel hat; at North-East he often ingston, Charles Howe, A. Murray Young and a host wore a blue ribbon around the crown of his hat. At heart names come to mind. he was a true American. In later years I once said to him, Captain Mahan at the time almost unknown, walked 'Bishop, you have broadened and deepened so since you roads and hills in the afternoons, while in the morn- were consecrated, there is nothing left of you that was 8 he wrote those volumes on 'Sea Power' as the secret consecrated except your apron and leggings. His answer national dominance which aroused governments and was, 'Do you know, Lawrence, that I sometimes wish I ples. had dropped them.' 3 196 MEMORIES OF A HAPPY LIFE In Saint Mary's gathered people of all denominations from over the country. To them he preached in simple, loving language; and together by his invitation all partook at the Lord's Table. The sunset services for the young people on the shore of Somes Sound, which still continue, dwell in the memories of hundreds of men and women as happy hours of their youth. Seal Harbor, first settled by college professors and other teachers with small incomes, has grown apace, and de- servedly, because of its picturesque cove, its glorious sun- sets, its walks and nearness to that national, even inter- national tea-house at Jordan's Pond. Here attractive cottages have been built, and men and women of culture have sojourned; here Lord and Lady Bryce passed two summers; and now the hilltops are crowned by the houses of the very rich, who enjoy scene and air as did we of other years, and who are doing much to prepare the island for the invasion of the American people. For in Mount Desert is the only National Park, Sieur de Monts, east of the Mississippi: and unlike most National Parks, it exists not by government purchase, but by the free gift of lovers of Mount Desert. President Eliot with his usual foresight created with others a body of Trustees of Public Reservations, and a few of us were drawn into service. Working for several years under a charter, and adding to the original gifts other tracts, including most of the mountains of eastern Mount Desert, the trustees, represented by the indefati- gable George Dorr. handed over this magnificent group of mountains, lakes, cliffs, and vales to the Government, which will, we trust, conserve their beauties for the ben- efit of coming generations. In 1889 we built our house at Bar Harbor. Short holi- days had permitted only short visits on my part. Julia with home responsibilities had never accompanied me, and, to speak the truth, was a bit jealous of the place, due to my laudation of scenes and people. Cambridge life permitted longer vacations, and one summer she accom- 10-28-04 NOTES ON DORR'S METHOD GBD was not daunted by obstacles. His behavior shows no evidence that he allowed himself to dwell on the magnitude of the task at hand. What he possessed was that rare ability to divide a task into more manageable sub- sets, elements that were realizable in a finite time. But it was not the deliberative process alone that carried the day. Dorr's will was a natural force, as constant as seasonal transitions. Each day it appears that he created a list of things to be accomplished each subdivided into tasks that could be personally undertaken or delegated. If a particular effort was judged more challenging than expected, it was subdivided further. This daily routine yielded success as measured by progress toward his vision of what the park could become. It was apparently not all that dissimilar from the JDR Jr. methodology, although GBD lacked a complex organizational apparatus to support him. Where can I find additional informational about Rockefeller's daily routines? Abby Aldrich Rockefeller BY MARY ELLEN CHASE 1 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK . 1950 ABBY ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER ligious life of his family, become increasingly active in church affairs, taught with signal success a Bible class for men. His inherent modesty had not diminished with the years, nor was it destined to do so, and now and again it caused her good-humored irritation. "I really don't think," she wrote to one of their sons, "that it is necessary for your father to be quite so modest as he is." He had had less time and inclination than she for those amenities of social interchange among which Abby Aldrich had been brought up and which she always loved. He now found his somewhat circumscribed days suddenly infused with an exuberance unfamiliar to him and with an enthusi- asm for all the excitements and diversions of life, some of which he would have been entirely willing to forego. Perhaps, indeed, no two partners in marriage could have been less innately similar than they. He was serious, thoughtful, reserved, and inclined to be cautious and slow in his judgments and decisions; she was gay, outgoing, confident and quick in all her reactions. He was perhaps over scrupulous in his adherence to moral and religious precepts and principles; her spiritual nature, sensitive, yet sure, was less disciplined than it was intuitive. He was logical in his approach to most matters, seeing cause and effect, thinking things through; she was often illogical. Her imagination was more volatile than his, her humor more ready, her fancy more rich. Although he had a keen wit, a quick and apt sense of the comic, he was not, like her, whimsical, delighting in fun for its very absurdity; and he always took more pleasure in her merriment than in those many diverse things which caused it: donkey rides, "the most awful contraptions" on the heads of some brides- maids, ill-chosen and unbecoming hats seen in church, Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse, "Hellzapoppin", an old 32 EARLY YEARS ON WEST 54TH STREET lady who, during a call, addressed her constantly as "Mrs. Roosevelt," the disgrace she felt from falling off a horse which suddenly turned to the right "and I didn't." He was precise and exact in his attention to particulars and de- tails; she was likely to throw details to the winds, since she could go straight to the heart of a matter without them and, moreover, could gather them together later, disguised and more attractive than mere items. He pre- ferred, whenever possible, to avoid large social groups, to shun casual and time-consuming conversation; she was in her element in the midst of many people and could elicit confidence and confidences from almost anyone. "Your father is afraid that I shall become intimate with too many people," she wrote once when they were on a trip together, "and will want to talk to them, so generally we eat in what I call the old people's dining-room where he feels I am safer." And she hastily adds, with the justice always characteristic of her, that he has good reason for his concern since "my enthusiasm for all sorts of people is likely to carry me away." "Your father gave me a lecture previous to my going to the dinner," she wrote again, "about my talking to Mr. Clark all the evening about the Museum, so I went very much chastened, but nevertheless with a small list con- cealed in my purse of things I really wanted to talk to him about." Yet in spite of fundamental differences they possessed equally fundamental similarities. They shared a profound sense of the responsibility which one human being bears for the welfare of another and a genuine desire to fulfill that obligation; they respected the minds of others; they held tenaciously to what they believed to be right in hu- man behavior; and although in many ways their cultural 33 ABBY ALDRICH ROCKEFELLER EARLY YEARS ON WEST 54TH STREET a watchful eye on the one at Pocantico Hills where they started on this day. It's going to take some laughing to spent many weeks throughout the year and on that at Seal get through." She once wrote of her relief that she herself Harbor in Maine where they spent much of the summer. tipped over a glass of water after the embarrassed butler Housekeepers, however able, rarely found themselves left had spilled some coffee on her dress. "I think it consoled to their own judgments and decisions. She was always on him that I had upset things, too." hand for early morning conferences with them, discus- All of them testify to her constant good humor, her sions about the food for the day, the discreet darning of quick understanding, the sense of friendliness she always curtains which "could be made to do for several more gave them. "She could be outspoken, even downright, years," the re-upholstering of chairs or sofas ("Is it really when she told us what was wrong with our work, but she necessary? I don't mind a bit of clean dust myself."), the always did it in such a way that we wanted to make things purchase of new linen during the January white sales. right." "She used to show us her new dresses, ask us what "At the present moment," she once wrote her sister Lucy, we thought of them, and which one she would look best "we have four houses open, all more or less needing my in." "She had a way of waving her hand to us as she left attention, and I must say I have my hands full." the house which somehow made us feel good, and she She had a genius for living comfortably with her many never forgot to do it." "She taught me to love beautiful servants, for making them feel that they worked with her things, flowers and china and the way the table was set; rather than for her. She knew their backgrounds and per- and after the guests were gone, she was always hurt if no sonal problems and was a friend to all of them. She knew one had mentioned how nice things had looked or how that one had a hobby for moving-pictures and had him beautiful the flowers were. 'Just think, Eini, she would bring in his projector and screen SO that she might enjoy say, 'no one said a single word about all our work.'' them; she was anxious over another who was ill and who might be unhappy and discouraged in a hospital; she loved to talk with George who skillfully mended her Oriental rugs, and she let him know that she admired the work of 3 his hands and shared with him a feeling for old design and color; at Pocantico Hills she taught the Italian gar- "THIS MORNING WHEN I REMEMBERED THAT IT WAS MOTH- dener, Carmine, once a tailor and at first unused to flow- ers, how to grow them, even how to arrange them. er's Day," her son Winthrop wrote her when he was She took care that the members of her staff had a change eighteen, "I tried hard to think just why there was a Moth- of scene, planning shifts for them from one house to an- er's Day. It seemed strange to me that anyone would need other. When social engagements were especially heavy, to have any particular day set aside in which to remember she would say to her New York housekeeper over her his mother, but then the question answered itself. Every- breakfast, "Come in and laugh with me before we get body couldn't have a mother like you." 37 36 Libraries Culture. 1996. Pp. 0-143. 131 Brother, Can You Share a Dime?: The Rockefeller Family and Libraries By the turn of the century, Senior's net worth was $200 million, sec- ond to that of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, whose fortune at the same time was $425 million. But that represented the peak of Mary B. Haskell Carnegie's wealth while Rockefeller's began to increase even more rapidly in the early years of the new century as the demand for pe- troleum products expanded with the steadily increasing use of the internal combustion engine. Senior's wealth peaked in 1913 at just under $1 billion.2 The benefactions of the Rockefeller family have had a profound effect on the library world. Through individual family contributions and the John D. Rockefeller's philanthropy began early. In the Rockefeller Ar- work of their foundations such as the General Education Board and the chive Center is Ledger A, a record of his first years of work. In The Rock- Rockefeller Foundation, the Rockefellers have financed libraries and li- efellers: An American Dynasty, Peter Collier and David Horowitz comment: brary projects worldwide. While their influence has been great, there is a lack of research concerning Rockefeller library philanthropy. In an exact and spidery hand, he wrote down, day by day and to the penny, the income and expenses, the saving and investment, the busi- When I first began research for this project, I was concerned that I ness and benefactions of his life The total of the gifts he made was might not find enough material. Fortunately, I remembered the Rock- almost invariably 10 percent of his $3.50 weekly income. efeller Archive Center located in Pocantico Hills, New York. The Rockefeller Archive Center, a division of Rockefeller University, was es- By 1892, Rockefeller Sr.'s annual benefactions were $1.5 million. He tablished in 1974 and contains the records of the university, The Rock- had SO much money coming in that he almost did not know what to do efeller Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, members of the with it. He was constantly harassed and beseeched by people wanting Rockefeller family, and others associated with the Rockefellers. While gifts. In 1891, the Reverend Frederick T. Gates became his first manager visiting the Center, I soon realized that I would not be able to cover, in of philanthropy. Gates had been the secretary of the American Baptist even a cursory manner, all of the information concerning the library Education Society and had been instrumental in encouraging Rock- philanthropy of the Rockefeller family and the Foundation. Together, efeller to help finance the University of Chicago with an initial gift of they funded an incredible number of deserving library projects in this $600,000. (Rockefeller's total gift to the university was over $35 million.) country and also had a strong impact internationally. Indeed, they did Reverend Gates filtered out useless schemes and brought order and dis- share a dime-many million times over. cipline to the hundreds of applicants for Rockefeller charity. He prac- John D. Rockefeller was born in 1839 and died in 1937, having be- ticed the principles of "scientific giving" and applied business methods come the richest and most vilified of the robber barons. Most of his to a form of wholesale charity, a new concept in its day. Thus, the stage money came, of course, from oil. He began work as an accountant in was set for the Rockefeller benefaction encompassing almost every area Cleveland at the age of sixteen with a salary of $23 a month. In 1863, he of American society and indeed much of the world. Rockefeller Sr., and his partners built a refinery for kerosene and with his organizational Rockefeller Jr., their successors, and the many people involved in the dis- and cost-cutting management skills, he soon had the largest refinery in tribution of funds looked for large projects, benefiting many and pro- Cleveland, and eventually, the world. In 1870, Standard Oil was incorpor- viding for self-sufficiency as part of any plan. Individuals were not ated and grew to monopolize the production and shipment of oil prod- granted money directly. It was channeled through one of the many ucts. Rockefeller Sr. was on his way to becoming the richest man in Rockefeller charities such as the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission, the America. John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson in The Rockefeller Century Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the General Education Board, the Rock- indicate that: efeller Foundation, the Scalantic Fund, and a myriad of others. As with Mary B. Haskell is the Automation and Technical Services Librarian, Colonial Williamshug all of his endeavors, Rockefeller surrounded himself with committed, in- Foundation, Williamshurg. Virginia. Libranes 5 Culture. Vol. 31, No. 1. Winter 1996 telligent people who ably administered these funds. ©1996 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin. TX 78713-7819 How does all this apply to libraries, and where to begin? One of the interesting aspects about the Rockefellers is their desire for anonymity. 132 L.&C/Th Rockefeller Family and Libraries 133 The Rockefeller family and the Foundation have given millions to aid libraries around the world and continue to do so, but very little is known the two richest men in America, who were SO different in person- about these gifts. Therefore, I chose examples of the kind of philan- ality and temperament and interests independently come to the same conclusion at about the same time. The conclusion was that thropy practiced by the Rockefellers and their various funds as an indi- cation of their extensive endeavors. men of wealth had a responsibility to put their wealth to good pur- John D. Rockefeller Jr. was the only son of Rockefeller Sr. Like his fa- poses during their lifetimes, and that this would require a con- certed and organized effort. ther, Rockefeller Jr. also kept a ledger of his income and expenses and was introduced to charitable giving at an early age. When it came to choos- ing a college, he turned down the chance to attend Yale because of its fast In 1920, the Lincoln Collection of Judd Stewart came up for sale. reputation. Instead, he chose Brown University and graduated in 1897. Rockefeller Jr. heard about it and asked Worthington Chauncey Ford of His years in Providence were a defining time for Rockefeller Jr. He the American Antiquarian Society to examine it for purchase by JDR Jr. lost much of his reticence and became the president of his junior class, for the John Hay Library. After several letters describing the negotia- tions, JDR Jr. advises E. Bumpus at Brown to offer $50,000: manager of the football team, a violinist in the Mandolin Club, and a Sunday School teacher. Rockefeller Jr. is quoted in the dedication of the John D. Rockefeller Library at Brown University in the Program. I would suggest that you advise Mr. Ford that the John Hay Li- brary was in position to authorize the purchase of the collection at At his fiftieth class reunion in 1947, Rockefeller reminisced: "Only up to $50,000 because a friend of the institution has expressed a here on the campus did I enjoy a completely independent per- willingness to finance the purchase within that limit-that you are now advised by this friend that is the highest figure to which he will sonality. With you fellows I was hailed as 'Johnny Rock, just as one of a hundred others, but at least one who stood on his own two go, and his offer to the institution to make it possible to purchase feet. at that figure will hold good only until May 15th. There has been nothing in my life since then quite like this kind of comradeship.' Unfortunately, Stewart would not accept less than $62,500 and the col- lection did not go to Brown University. After college, Johnny Rock became Rockefeller Jr. and began work at In a letter dated 7 February 1923, W. H. Faunce, the president of 26 Broadway, the home of the various Rockefeller enterprises. Gradually, Rockefeller Jr. found himself attracted to the philanthropic side of the Brown University, wrote to Rockefeller Jr. concerning the Lincoln Li- brary, which Rockefeller had been previously interested in and which Rockefeller endeavors and began work with Gates. His desire was to pro- was now to be sold at auction, inquiring whether Rockefeller Jr. would mote the family wealth by funding major social projects as well as to still be interested in purchasing it. Faunce may have momentarily had make the Rockefeller name associated with the good results emanating from these projects. He became the point man to his father: Gates de- his collections confused, but Rockefeller Jr. did not. Rockefeller Jr. wrote to Thomas E. Kirby, of the American Art Galleries, an auction house in veloped programs and JDR Jr., having chosen the right time, would ap- New York whose principals included Hiram Parke and Otto Bernet, con- proach his father with these plans. He was quite successful.5 It is interesting to note that both father and son saw themselves as cerning the McLellan Collection of Lincolniana coming up for possible auction. Rockefeller Jr. had offered $42,500 for the collection, but found stewards of the vast amounts of money that had come to them. Accord- ing to Harr and Johnson, "There is no question that Rockefeller's that McLellan felt that he was under obligation to Kirby and the auction [Rockefeller Sr.] exclusive motivation for giving was his religious convic- house. In a letter dated 17 March 1923, Rockefeller Jr. wrote to Kirby: tion and the old-fashioned concept of stewardship, not the expiation of guilt or the buying of public favor." Because you and I have been friends for many years, because during all that period we have had many pleasant business contacts, because There is also the parallel development of philanthropic ideals be- we are both interested in doing what we can to advance the well-being tween Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and I quote from Harr and Johnson: of mankind, because I believe you appreciate even more than I do the value to the country at large of having a collection of this kind kept intact and available to the public generally in an educational in- It is a fascinating historical fact that these two great entrepreneurs, stitution like Brown University, I am writing to say that I am still will- 134 L&C/The Rockefeller Family and Libraries 135 ing to buy the McLellan collection at $42,500 for Brown University, libraries. and that in addition I am willing to reimburse the American Art Gal- he financed the great library building for the League of Nations in Geneva. He was particularly interested in the plans of lery for the actual expense not at best exceed $3,000 or $5,000. 9 the Library of Congress to develop source material relating to American history-material located abroad and generally inacces- In reply, Kirby described the value of the collection, $75,000 to $100,000 sible to American scholars. He was interested, too, in the enlarge- by "our Mr. Swann" and said that H. E. Huntington was interested in indi- vidual items. Taking all this into consideration, the American Art Galleries ment of bibliographic apparatus at the Library of Congress SO that a central clearing house of American libraries, private and public, sold the collection to JDR Jr. and it went to the John Hay Library. For its could be established and scholarly material more easily located. role in this transaction, the American Art Galleries would accept $5,000. 10 Congress seemed indisposed to appropriate the necessary funds, In 1926, Brown purchased a second collection of Lincolniana for $90,000, again a gift of JDR Jr. This collection contained 485 Lincoln let- and Mr. Rockefeller, in 1927, gave nearly $700,000 to carry the imaginative plans into effect. 13 ters written during the White House years of 1861-1864 and was consid- ered a remarkable collection reflecting Lincoln's thoughts during the He also contributed almost $4 million to the New York Public Library. war years. Rockefeller had begun to realize that he had become the In January 1922, John D. Rockefeller Jr. gave $43,544 to the NYPL to source of subsidy for the Lincoln materials at his alma mater. In a letter make up the deficit of 1921. 14 The following year he gave the Library dated 9 January 1928, he states: "When I began with the purchase of the 41,600 shares of Standard Oil of California stock worth $2,996,850 and collection for $42,500 in 1923, I had no thought that this collection $5,000 in cash for a total of $3,001,850. This was used toward the en- would become a continuing burden and obligation. ,11 In this same let- dowment and was matched with $2,000,000 from Payne Whitney and ter, he authorizes that $25,000 be given to Brown for the care and en- $1,000,000 from Edward S. Harkness. Rockefeller Jr. continued his in- largement of the collection. Another important collection of Lincoln terest in the New York Public Library, giving books, manuscripts, and a materials became available in 1934 with the death of Jesse W. Weik. portrait of Rockefeller Sr. engraved by Timothy Cole. In 1949, he gave Brown was interested in obtaining the collection but, unfortunately, $275,500 in stock toward the construction of the Donnell Branch on Rockefeller Jr. was not. In a letter dated 7 October 1931, W.S. Richard- West 53d Street. 15 Finally, in January 1960, JDR Jr. gave $500,000 as a son, college classmate and now advisor to Rockefeller Jr., wrote to Henry special contribution to the NYPL for the trustees to use at their discre- B. Van Hoesen, the Brown Librarian, declaring that "I am sorry, but I tion to carry out the library's work. 16 am sure that you understand that in common with many others, Mr. In 1923, the great library of the Imperial University of Tokyo was de- Rockefeller is in a situation that he cannot wisely take on anything but stroyed in a strong earthquake. Rockefeller Jr. decided upon the advice the most essential and necessary undertakings." In 1957, he purchased of others to aid in the construction of a new library building and con- from Walter E. Benjamin Autographs a collection of letters from Lin- tributed 4 million yen (or approximately $1.5 million). He believed that coln to Salmon P. Chase for $50,000. Overall, Rockefeller Jr. gave over while contributing to the scholarly community, he also would promote $250,000 in support of the Lincolniana Collection at Brown University. better relations between the United States and Japan. The gift was well This benevolence to Brown exemplifies many characteristics of the received in Japan and excavation began in 1926; the building was com- Rockefeller gifts. Reticence on the part of the giver as well as picking pleted in 1928. Rockefeller wrote to the president of the University: and choosing what to give and when was a Rockefeller characteristic. If Rockefeller Sr. or Rockefeller Jr. did not continue an interest, they made I quite realize that in time the Japanese people will themselves ac- it known. Another characteristic was a desire to provide initial support complish the complete restoration of their cities and institutions and then allow recipients ir) continue it on Mane projects which have been destroyed However, I shall regard it as a great privatege permitted : hasten the day when University which sands among the foremost institutions of learning in the world. will again be provided with adequate library facilities. 136 L&C/The Rockefeller Family and Libraries 137 to build and endow the League of Nations Library in Geneva. Opened in 1936, it was a modern library built to hold a million volumes. Raymond seek funding for the project. In a letter dated 25 May 1927, Thomas B. Fosdick in a letter to Rockefeller Jr. dated 29 March 1933 wrote: Applegat, writing for Rockefeller Sr. to Herbert Putnam, the Librarian of Congress, informed him that Rockefeller Sr. would contribute The Library building will contain not only stacks, central reading $700,000 to the Library of Congress for two projects. rooms and sectional conference rooms, but a series of small studies for individual scholars. It will be connected with the Secretariat A. Toward the acquisition of source material in American History, building by an underground tunnel. The stack arrangements are $50,000, or as much thereof as may be needed, for the year begin- such that there is room for the growth of books for a century-so ning September 1, 1927 and ending August 31, 1928, and $100,000, that we shall not be confronted by the condition which the Bodle- or as much thereof as may be needed, for each of the four years in the ian in Oxford has recently been up against. As you probably recall, period beginning September 1, 1928 and ending August 31, 1932. the planning of the library building is the result of the work of a B. Toward the enlargement of the bibliographic apparatus, $50,000, or as much thereof as may be needed, for each of the five committee of librarians from all over the world and it represents the best thought that could be brought together. It will be used as years in the period beginning September 2, 1927 and ending August 31, 1932. 20 a center of research, not only by the staff of the League of Nations, but by students in international affairs from every country in the world. Its potential effect on the international polity of the future Project A was to acquire transcripts or facsimiles of source materials re- lating to American history. Project B was to enlarge the National Union cannot be over-estimated. The very fact that this attempt at Geneva Catalog. to organize the world on the basis of peace and justice revolves During the first quarter of this century, the Library of Congress real- around a great research library is, in itself, enormously significant. ized that it was becoming a national resource for historians. At the same I do not think that any similar sum that you have ever spent is go- ing to have a wider influence. 18 time it found itself lacking many of the historian's tools needed for re- search. In an effort to amend this, it received many thousands of hand- The library was a focal point for scholars, journalists, students, and other written transcripts from England and France and typewritten pages of manuscripts from Spain and Mexico. This was considered the first pe- visitors and even was able to remain open during World War II. Today it riod of manuscript acquisition. In the Report of the Librarian of Congress, is an important core collection of materials belonging to the United Na- Herbert Putnam writes: tions and is used by international scholars. In 1922, the Library of Congress housed three million items and had The second period is that which comes to an end on August 31, a book budget of $90,000, which had not increased in more than a de- 1932, the 5-year period of Mr. Rockefeller's subsidy, a subsidy SO cade. Between eighty thousand and ninety thousand items were cataloged generous that it has revolutionized the whole procedure and sup- annually, most of which were gifts, foreign exchanges, and cataloging ar- plied the Library with nearly two million pages of additional mate- rearages. The library lacked the staff and funds to increase cataloging and rial, to the enormous and lasting benefit of American historical to add holdings to the National Union Catalog. In the mid-1920s, the scholarship In the outward quality of the product a radical dif- Union Catalog consisted of cards contributed by research libraries and ference has been made by the substitution of photographic pro- served primarily as a reference source for LC catalogers. According to Jane Aiken Rosenberg, "The Catalog had enormous potential to benefit both cesses for those of manual copying, with great advantage to the investigator from the superior accuracy of photostats or photofilms the library and scholarly communities, but support for its development over any copies made by hand. 21 would have to come from private sectors." In 1925, Ernest Cushing Rich- ardson retired as Librarian of Princeton University and was appointed These manuscripts and other documents relating to the United States Honorary Consultant in Bibliography and Research at the Library of Congress. Richardson estimated that eight million to ten million items and its early history resided in libraries, government archives, and pri- vate collections in Europe, Russia, Mexico, and Canada. Project A was an were not yet recorded and felt that manuscripts and special collections enormous effort to bring together a comprehensive collection in one should also be included. He urged the American Library Association to place, the Library of Congress, for the use of scholars. 138 L&C/The Rockefeller Family and Libraries 139 Richardson became the general director of Project B. The project em- rican-Americans directly, the GEB provided educational opportunities at ployed a thirty- to thirty-five-member staff. They began by interfiling a a time when there were very few. complete set of LC cards in the catalog, adding entries from more than The Rockefeller Foundation was incorporated by the state of New 125 book catalogs and printed lists, and borrowing and copying card York in 1913. JDR's initial gift was $35 million; in 1914 he gave an addi- catalogs and records of special collections in the Washington, D.C. area. tional $65 million. Major gifts to the Rockefeller Foundation were com- For three years, the staff also worked at Harvard University, copying that pleted in 1919 with an additional $82.8 million bringing the total to library's catalogs and lists. Ultimately, they recorded items from over five $182.8 million. Today, this amount would be worth approximately $1.2 hundred United States libraries, and more than forty-eight hundred spe- billion, a magnificent fund that financed one of the largest philanthro- cial collections. 22 pies in the world. It was established to "promote the well-being of man- By 1932, they had located 600,000 foreign titles, and the Union Cata- kind throughout the world," and began with a few basic principles. log had increased from 1.5 million to 7 million entries recorded in 9 There were to be no individual charities. No local enterprises were to be million locations. With today's international bibliographic databases financed except as model programs. Grants were made with the idea of and Internet access to library catalogs, it is with awe that we look back at generating local support or community cooperation. No grant was to be- the work resulting in the Union Catalog. come a permanent ongoing part of any enterprise and preference was In 1947, on the twentieth anniversary of the project, the Librarian of given to solutions of problems rather than palliative help. 24 Congress, Luther H. Evans invited Rockefeller Jr. to speak at a celebration In 1925, the Bodleian curators determined that the Bodleian Library of Projects A and B. Rockefeller Jr. replied in typical Rockefeller fashion: had space for only ten years' growth. 25 The Bodleian Library was truly out of space and, in the 1920s, lacked any of the conveniences of mod- Like my honored father before me, my interest in life has been in ern libraries such as electricity, workspace, reading rooms, user access to getting worthwhile things accomplished. To do that has always materials, or a catalogue. Several plans were discussed to solve this prob- given both of us the keenest satisfaction and has been our com- lem. The most practical became Plans A and B. Plan A was a more con- plete reward. Beyond it we have not wanted anything further or felt servative idea and called for the gutting of the Clarenden Building and that we could accept it. Please, therefore, do not misunderstand me filling it with one million octavo books. The second plan was more am- when I ask to be excused from taking part in or even being present at bitious. It called for the modernizing of the Old Bodleian by including any of the various exercises which you are planning. What you gentle- electricity, workrooms and reading rooms. It also suggested that a New men have made possible with the funds provided is the best possible Bodleian Library be built on Broad Street along with a revision of the expression of thanks; the only one I would feel free to accept. 23 book catalog. Plan B was put together in four weeks because Sir Michael Sadler, the master of the university, had received a message that "An American citizen was prepared to consider offering a gift of a half One of the earliest institutional philanthropies was the General Edu- million [pounds] for the purpose of a new library building. ,26 That cation Board, incorporated by Congress in 1903. It began with $1 mil- American citizen was supposedly John D. Rockefeller. There was hesita- lion from John D. Rockefeller. By the time of its disbanding in 1960, it tion on the part of the librarian and others to accept this offer. "So the had spent nearly $325 million mainly on institutions in the South. The Bodleian controversy, as it was called, raged with some fury for a number GEB spent $2,880,333.20 on libraries and library training and another of months, until at length, on 8 May 1928, both schemes were put before $2 million plus on books, and other library materials. The main thrust of the Congregation and both were rejected.' ,27 the General Education Board was to help African-American and poor white The Rockefeller Foundation files reveal that Oxford University sent schools, libraries, and colleges and universities, mostly in the South. an application for funding directly to Rockefeller, which should have The General Education Board influenced libraries in many ways. It been directed to the Foundation, even though the Foundation had not granted funds for library buildings, books, and education of librarians, requested an application. They were, however, anticipating one: and funded new library schools, began public and school library pro- grams from the individual school to the state level, and envisioned li- However, as all indications pointed to the fact that such a request braries as an important part of the overall education of poor whites and was underway, it was resolved at the meeting [May 1929] that in African-Americans. While it did not seek to change attitudes toward Af- line with the RF's policy of advancement of knowledge through aid 140 L&C/The Rockefeller Family and Libraries 141 to libraries, authorization was given to the officers to enter into Out of this kind of giving rose major libraries and collections at simi- conversations with the Oxford authorities. lar institutions such as Spelman University and Rockefeller University. Rockefeller University grew out of the Rockefeller Institute of Medicine This is quoted from a document that follows the developments of the which was begun in 1901. Rockefeller Sr. gave $61 million to the Insti- Rockefeller Foundation grant to Oxford. Another interesting quote from the Foundation's minutes: tute and support continued with Rockefeller Jr. and other Rockefeller philanthropic organizations. Rockefeller University is the only pure re- search university in the United States and grants the Ph.D only. These It can safely be said that the problem of the Bodleian Library is the libraries, both public and private, have benefitted from Rockefeller gen- most serious problem at present confronting Oxford University, and the future of Oxford as a University runs in no small measure crosity to their parent institutions. on the solution of the Bodleian problem. One of John D. Rockefeller Ju's most widely known philanthropies is the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. While the story of Rockefeller At this juncture, the Rockefeller Foundation found itself in a very dif- Jr.'s involvement is well documented, his involvement in libraries at Co- lonial Williamsburg is not. Over the years, since the early 1930s, the ficult position. There was resentment of U.S. interference, and contro- Rockefeller family have given many books and collections to the Foun- versy between the older conservative group and the younger liberal dation. One such example is the "Spottiswoode" Bible, thought to have members of the university made any negotiations difficult. This was been owned by a member of the Spottswood family, an old Virginia heightened by the fact that Oxford had not come up with a plan that name. The Bible, printed by John Baskerville, was given to Rockefeller satisfied the Foundation. In order to bypass this stalemate, the Rock- efeller Foundation offered $25,000 for an architectural study and visits Jr. and his wife for display in the Governor's Palace and was a gift of Wil- liam Perry of Perry, Shaw and Hepburn, early architects of Colonial Wil- to libraries in the United States and Europe. This was accepted, and in liamsburg. The Foundation Library now has the book, and it is on 1931, the officers of the Foundation recommended an appropriation exhibit at the George Wythe House. not to exceed $2,300,000 for the development of the Bodleian Library In a confidential letter dated 18 February 1946, Charles Stonehill, a and other libraries. No payments would be made until £377,720 in cash London rare book dealer, wrote to Julian P. Boyd of Princeton University and pledges were received by the university as matching funds. The informing him that the Blathwayt Papers were coming up for auction. grand total of £993,900 was to be used to build a storage building on The collection included the correspondence of all the leading gover- Broad Street to house 5 million volumes, to refurbish and preserve the nors and public men in the Colonies between the years 1675-1700 to Bodleian, the Radcliffe Library, the Taylorian Modern Languages Li- William Blathwayt, secretary of state to King William III, and comprised brary, to prepare a new working catalogue of the Bodleian and to im- a superb collection. Stonehill proposed a price of $50 per letter or prove staff salaries. The New Bodleian Library was almost completed when $100,000 for the entire collection. Boyd approached Rockefeller Jr. work was stopped from 1942 until the end of World War II. The dedication and began negotiations. After much trading through intermediaries, a of the building was held in October 1946 with the king and queen in atten- final offer of $66,600 was made and accepted. Of course, this was accom- dance. Officially, the Rockefeller Foundation was not represented at the opening because that was not the custom of the Foundation. plished without the mention of the buyer. Other members of the Rockefeller family have given generously to the The indirect impact of Rockefeller money on libraries is another area Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, including funds for refer- of interest. Two examples are the University of Chicago and Rockefeller ence materials, maps, and several rare books. The Journal of George Wash- University. The University of Chicago should really be named the Uni- ington, a rare Williamsburg imprint, was purchased with a gift from versity of John D. Rockefeller. In 1889, Rockefeller Sr. was persuaded by Martha Baird Rockefeller, the second wife of Rockefeller Jr. Frederick T. Gates to give $600,000 to help finance a new university in The most recent Rockefeller gift is $2 million from Abby O'Neill, the the brash West. Rockefeller Sr. envisioned a slow orderly growth of the granddaughter of Rockefeller Jr. for a new library. To be known as the university, but clearly did not count on William Rainey Harper. Harper John D. Rockefeller J1. Library, it is now in the planning stages and will saw a fast rising star to rival the best schools in Europe. In 1890, JDR gave open in early 1997. At the groundbreaking ceremony earlier in 1995, $1 million and, again, in 1892, $2 million. With his final gift of $10 mil- O'Neill remembered her grandfather fondly and reminded those lion in 1910, Rockefeller Sr. had donated $34.7 million to of the buildings at Colonial Will- 142 L&C/The Rockefeller Family and Libraries 143 iamsburg by choice. But, she said, he would be proud of the new library 19. Jane Aikin Rosenberg, The Nation's Great Library: Herbert Putnam and the as the center of an educational complex which embraces his choice of a Library of Congress, 1899-1939, 106. motto for the Foundation "That the future may learn from the past." 20. Thomas B. Applegat to Herbert Putnam, 25 May 1927, folder 12, box 2, The effect of the Rockefeller philanthropies was, and continues to be, series 2E, RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. worldwide, embracing new library buildings, furnishings, cooperative 21. Library of Congress, Report of the Librarian of Congress for the Year 1932, 56. 22. Rosenberg, The Nation's Great Library, 107-108. cataloging projects, book purchases, library education, and almost any 23. JDR Jr. to Luther H. Evans, 4 June 1947, folder 13, box 2, series 2E, RG 3. other project imaginable. Continued research is needed to give a more Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. complete picture of their place in library philanthropy. Obviously, librar- 24. Harr and Johnson, The Rockefeller Century, 121-122. ies were not a primary focus for the Rockefellers as were museums, for 25. Edmund Craster, History of the Bodleian Library, 1845-1945 (Oxford, Eng.: example. The Rockefellers were also able to see "the big picture," and if At the Clarendon Press, 1952), 318. 26. Ibid., 318. libraries were part of that big picture, they received funding. Having 27. Ibid., 322-323. taken a look at what they accomplished, it is safe to say that the Rock- 28. Rockefeller Foundation Appropriations to the Bodleian Library, 1929- efeller family, along with its institutes and foundations, deserves more 1948, folder 824, box 63, series 401, RG 1.1 Rockefeller Archive Center. attention from the library world. 29. Ibid. 30. Charles Stonehill to Julian P. Boyd, 13 February 1946, box 167, folder 1557, series 2E, RG3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. Notes References 1. John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson, The Rockefeller Century (New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988), 17. 2. Ibid., 22. Brown University. John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, November 16, 1964. [Providence?] 3. Peter Collier and David Horowitz, The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty Brown University, 1964. (New York, N.Y.: Rinehart and Winston, 1976), 12. Collier, Peter and David Horowitz. The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty. New 4. Brown University, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library (Providence, R.I.: Brown York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. University, 1964), 1. Craster, Edmund. History of the Bodleian Library, 1845-1945. Oxford: At the Clar- 5. Collier and Horowitz, The Rockefellers, 87-92. endon Press, 1952. 6. Harr and Johnson, The Rockefeller Century, 116-117. Fosdick, Raymond B. Adventure in Giving: The Story of the General Education Board. 7. Ibid., 23. New York: Harper & Row, 1962. (Based on an unfinished manuscript pre- 8. JDR Jr. to Bumpus, 28 April 1920, folder 370, Box 38, series 2G, RG 3. pared by the late Henry F. Pringle and Katharine Douglas Pringle.) Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. John D. Rockefeller Jr.: A Portrait. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956. 9. JDR Jr. to Kirby, 17 March 1923, folder 369, Box 53, series 2G, RG3. Rock- A Philosophy for a Foundation. New York: Rockefeller Foundation, 1963. efeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. The General Education Board; an Account of Its Activities, 1902-1914. New York: 10. Kirby to JDR Jr., 21 March 1923, folder 369, box 63, series 2G, RG 3. Rock- General Education Board, 1915. efeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. Harr, John Ensor and Peter J. Johnson. The Rockefeller Century. New York: Charles 11. JDR Jr. to W. S. Richardson, 9 January 1928, folder 370, box 53, series 2G, Scribner's Sons, 1988. RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. The Rockefeller Conscience. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. 12. W.S. Richardson to Henry B. Van Hoesen, 7 October 1931, folder 364, box Kert, Bernice. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family. New York: Random 53, series 2G, RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. House, 1993. & Brothers, 1956), 380-381. 13. Raymond B. Fosdick, John D. Rockefeller: A Portrait (New York, N.Y.: Harper Kutz, Myer. Rockefeller Power. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974. Library of Congress. Report of the Librarian of Congress. Annual volumes for 14. JDR Jr. to Lewis Cass Ledyard, 11 January 1922, folder 7, box 1, series 2E, 1928-1933. Washington: GPO, 1928-1933. RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. Manchester, William. A Rockefeller Family Portrait from John D. to Nelson. Boston: 15. DSC to MSB [Memo], 3 December 1958, folder 6, box 1, series 2E, RG3. Little, Brown, 1958. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center. Rockefeller Archives Center, Tarrytown. New York Records of the General Edu- 16. Philip F. Keebler to Gilbert W. Chapman, 18 January 1960, folder 6, box 1, cation Board series 2E, RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center Rockefeller Family Papers 17. Quoted in: Fosdick, JDR: A Portrait, 381-382. Rocketeller Foundation Papers 18. Raymond B. Fosdick to JDR Jr., 29 March 1933, folder 30, box 3. series 2F, Resenberg RG 3. Rockefeller Family Archives. Rockefeller Archive Center CHARLES W. ELIOT PLANNING CONSULTANT 720 S. SAN RAFAEL AVE. PASADENA 2, CALIF. One coty only COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SYCAMORE 9-3966 CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING Mr. Ernest T. Paine, President Oct. 28, 1950 Haneoch County Trustees of Public Reservations 1090 Avon Road, Schene tady 8. n.y. Dear Mr. Bame, Your letter of Oct.15 to my Father-Samuel Q. Elist - arrived just after his death, and the family have referred it to me \ drubt of father knew very much more about the history of relations between Mr. Rochefeller and the Trustees than know, subtitute for what you might have learned from him. so \ hope my answer to you question will partially \ think Mr. Richefeller's interest in the Trustees and un the later Park was first aroused by an appeal from my grandfather President Eliot - un connection with the fight much over concerned over the increased danger to his children Rednappin admitting automobiles to the Island. Mr Rochefeller was -which the presence of outmohles would involve. that fight at the State Capitol was just part of the continuous serap to preserve the tax- immunity status of the Trustee's holdings. It was thus, as \ recall it, that Mr Rockefeller and Mr Doir its became interested in each other and the future of the aland Mr Rockfeller has teen an enthusiastic road- huilder He From the very beginning of his summers at mr Desert, tought land hear Ban Hill for the purpose of extending his carriage roads and soon came to the foundaves of GBT properties held h the Trustees Mr Dorr and my grandfather worked out arrangements for Mr. Rockefeller to extend 2 2 Two roads still further think it was un that connection,That the Reservation at the top of Ban Hill was turned over To Mr. Rockefeller Later, of enerse, Mr Rockefeller hright lands at considerable distance from his home rase for more road hulding, and contributed both lands and automoble roads the Maintain Road N to the Park. CBD In much of this acturity Mr Dor acted almost as Mr. Rockefeller's agent, with of course the very active participation of Mr. Lynam There were times when Mr Dorr just didnt know whether property was part of the Park, Trustees, Wild gardens, Mr Rocheldler's Mr dor's, or in Mr Dor's name pending some other disposition. as to this phase of Mr Rockefeller's relations with the Trustees, \ would think that Hadley and Smith - as successors of Dorr + Lynam, respectively would know or could dig out the most information. another phase of Mr Rockefeller's interests in the \ Island were handled through Mr arno B. Cammerer of the national Parh Service. It was with Mr Cammeresk, that Mr. R got interested in the great Smokies + Jackson Hole projects When was preparing my Report on the Island in 1928, I went to see Mr. and Rochefeller with Mr Cammerer and Mr Dorr a moat un salls factory conference- because all three gentlemen seemed To me to he in complete acend and unwilling to tell me their plans. In summary, so far as \ know there have been cordial relations between the trustees and Mr Roekefeller always and the closest and most involved relations between Mr. CARD Rockefeller and Mr Dorr. \ had supposed that Supt Hadley had maintained some part of Mr Dorr's contacts with Mr Rockefeller, IP not, this Committee is Q good opportunity To re-estation them. I hope they go direct to Mr. Rockefeller - and blame" it all on me for stirring things up. Sin carely Eint and 3 CHARLES W. ELIOT PLANNING CONSULTANT 720 S. SAN RAFAEL AVE. PASADENA 2, CALIF. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING SYCAMORE 9-3966 Mr. Ernest T. Pame, President MN. 29:50 Haneoch County Trustees opputer Reservations 1090 Own Road, Schemectady Dear Mr Paine, Thank you for you letter of November 20th and you remarks concerning my father You should not feel any concern over having written to him when he was ill. - Qts a matter of fact, it was really in the hope of diverting his mind from the terrible pains and depression of the strungles, that I prepared my friendly Challenge to the Trustees last summer. I think you letter to Edwin Smith No ek cellent If I can assist at any time, please do not hesitate to call on me - Sincerely 1 Acadia National Park Carriage Roads CONCLUSION The story of the building of the carriage roads of Mount Desert Island, a significant remnant of our road-building history, illuminates much about American social history in the early twentieth century, about the history of the National Park Service and of Mount Desert Island, and about the art and craft of road-building in this country. A wealth of primary source materials has made it possible to reconstruct in detail the process by which the richest man in America helped accomplish, through the unique means at his disposal, the creation of this remarkable public recreational asset. No less interesting or valuable are the correspondence of the local Maine engineers, road builders, stone masons, and other workers who, in their letters to Rockefeller, reveal the details of the methods employed in the construction process. Voluminous private papers, most notably the documents of the Rockefeller Archive Center and those in the personal collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Simpson, has enabled the authors to redress several widely held misconceptions regarding the carriage roads. The most striking of these is the declaration, seen in at least two publications and heard in untold conversations, that the roads were designed by "Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park." This mistake obviously springs from the very minor role played by Olmsted's son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. A frequent assertion which the research for this report also contradicts is that there existed a close friendship between John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and George B. Dorr. While these men collaborated when their goals overlapped, their correspondence does not reveal a friendship beyond that. Dorr's letters to Rockefeller were cordial, expansive, and informative, but never familiar; Rockefeller's to Dorr were usually business-like, often terse, and sometimes peevish. Rockefeller, in fact seems to have gone to some lengths to avoid Dorr--dealing with his assistant, A. H. Lynam or his superiors in the National Park Service, sometimes without Dorr's knowledge. Charles E. Peterson's recollection that in a funny way they were rivals" seems most accurate. A small correction, but one with important implications, regards terminology. The current Park literature and signage refer to Acadia's "Carriage Paths," whereas, they were not built, nor can they be maintained, as paths. They are roads, and their restoration, maintenance and use relate directly to this basic fact. 326 Acadia National Park Carriage Roads The carriage road system in Acadia National Park was not conceived nor executed as a secondary or ancillary road system, but as the primary means of access within the park. Rockefeller was convinced, in the early years of the automobile, that [i]t is not yet proved that automobiles will survive as pleasure vehicles in a proper sense. T]here is a return to horse-carriages for pleasure purposes."477 As a result, he built 51 miles of carriage roads in the Park, while less than 35 miles of automobile roads were constructed in the same part of the Park (Mount Desert Island, east of Somes Sound). Rockefeller was not alone in his conviction that carriage roads (or "horse roads", as he called them) were an appropriate means of access to the interior reaches of the Park. While Rockefeller and George B. Dorr had a "cautious" relationship (in the words of Charles E. Peterson), Dorr shared Rockefeller's view that the carriage roads were an enhancement to the Park, and worked tirelessly for their acceptance. Although Rockefeller was wrong in believing that carriage driving would revive as a widely used form of public recreation, these roads do offer an exceptionally wide range of activities and means of access within the Park. Bicyclists, people in wheel- chairs, pedestrians, equestrians, carriage passengers, and joggers could share these motor-free roads. In the winter, they are ideal for cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, and even dog-sled teams. While mixing bicycle, horse and pedestrian traffic is not generally recommended, the width of these roads, and their (properly restored and maintained) smooth, hard broken-stone surface would make them suitable for such diverse uses. At a time when the Park is looking for ways to accommodate the ever- growing numbers of visitors they offer an attractive alternative to the crowded motor roads. "Some day," Thomas Vint told Park Service Historian Freeman Tilden in the 1950s, "the spark that will lead the public to them will flash; and they will come into their own. 1478 Rockefeller worked toward the fulfillment of the concept for this system of motor-free roads for nearly thirty years, a task which superbly suited the combination of personal qualities and circumstances which he possessed. Fairfield Osborne describes the combination of these attributes which were necessary for Rockefeller's conservation work. They are directly applicable to the creation of the carriage roads: These things were not easily done. Vision alone was not enough. Wealth alone was insufficient. Concept of the plan as a whole, arduous attention 477 An Auto-less Summer Resort, 2. 478 Tilden, "Park of Land and Sea," 11. 327 3 Acadia National Park Carriage Roads to detail, and even passion for perfection, feeling for color and beauty, respect for working associates, talent for administration, patience and lastly, tolerance of criticism and even misunderstanding of purpose--all these qualities were brought into play, for all were essential to the fulfillment of the early vision. 479 Of course, the roads were not built without controversy. The often conflicting values of conservation and access were at odds many times during the planning and construction of these roads. William W. Vaughan summed up the opposing views in 1930: And here perhaps is the place to say the three things that may be safely said about the many miles of roads, for horse-drawn vehicles only, which Mr. Rockefeller has built and is building, partly through his own lands and partly through the lands of Acadia Park. And the first is that they are greatly liked by the permanent inhabitants, because of the welcome work which these roads give, and by some of the older summer residents, who enjoy driving on them, and by the young in the saddle. And the second is that they are greatly disliked by very many persons, especially by the walking and climbing groups, because of the invasion of their beloved wildernesses, and because of the gashes which mar the sides of the mountains. And the third thing is that, a generation from now, these gashes will have been largely hidden by weathering of the rocks and by the growth of trees, and that these feelings will have been largely hidden by the years that will have flowed over them, and that these roads will be used by somebody in some way or another; and that the question, by whom, and how, is a question that rests on the knees of the gods; and there we can best leave it. 480 These conflicting values of access and conservation were effectively addressed by Bishop William Lawrence, chairman of the committee who hired Charles W. Eliot, II, in 1926, and who opposed many of the carriage roads. He wrote to his friend, Judge B. Deasy in 1932: The beautiful Island of Mount Desert with its National Park is in the thoughts of hundreds of thousands who ten years ago had not heard of it. Everyone who comes here goes home to spread the news of its glories. 479 Newhall, Prologue by Fairfield Osborne. 480 Vaughan, 41-43. 328 4 Acadia National Park Carriage Roads What can we lovers of this Island, the seat of a National Park, the most beautiful point on the Atlantic this side of Mexico, do to meet the conditions? We should like to shut our eyes to them but we have got to face them Frankly, I hate to write this letter. I shrink from the changes that must come. I turn my eyes from the scarred mountain sides which only time will heal. I dread the increasing multitudes of trippers; I shall miss the informal rough roads with the unexpected vistas around their sharp curves. I am weary of smooth surfaces and suburban-like surroundings. If the road must come I have the fond hope (I refuse to think it a forlorn one) that some of the bridge and underpass architecture will give way to more appropriate forms. Our Alps are molded upon peaceful, quiet lines and we have no fear of a Napoleonic army crossing them. With this said I am convinced against my own wishes that it is our duty as residents of this beautiful Island to make it as open as possible to the whole people. This is a National Park; it belongs to the Nation. Because we live here we have no right to restrict its benefits. The whole Nation, not only we, are supporting it. They have equal rights with us to its use. Millions will enter into the enjoyment of what thousands of us have hitherto delighted in. 481 While the carriage road system at Acadia National Park is the most personal and concrete manifestation of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.'s generosity to the National Park Service, it represents one of a long list of gifts to our National Parks. Harold A. Hubler, Superintendent of Acadia National Park, remarked at a memorial service for Rockefeller at Seal Harbor, in 1960, on Rockefeller's wide-ranging contributions in that regard. In particular, Hubler noted Rockefeller's support at Mesa Verde, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Parks; his undertaking "to save Jackson Hole for the people by acquiring it to give to the government as part of the Park;" and his gift of five million dollars to the fund-raising efforts at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hubler concluded: In gathering together here in Seal Harbor to pay tribute to the greatness of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., we are almost within a stone's throw of that National Park that has known his admiration and love and helping hand for more than four decades. Probably the one project in Acadia closest to Mr. Rockefeller's heart was the building of his carriage road system to permit leisurely travel through the Park by horse and carriage--and free from interference from automobiles. These 481 William Lawrence to L. B. Deasy, August 19, 1932. 329 5 Acadia National Park Carriage Roads roads--conceived, designed, and largely supervised by Mr. Rockefeller himself-- offer some of the finest scenic vistas anywhere in the Park. They are unique in the National Park system and are in themselves a monument to Mr. Rockefeller's feeling for beauty and perfection. 482 In the restoration and care of the carriage road system at Acadia National Park, the National Park Service has the remarkable opportunity to at once restore an important historic resource, effectively enhance the visitors' experience, and honor the vision of the man who gave more to the National Park Service and Acadia National Park than any other private citizen in history. 482 Harold A. Hubler, A Great Conservationist, (Comments at A Service In Remembrance and Appreciation of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., The Union Congregational Church, Seal Harbor, Maine, July 31, 1960). 330 1 Surprising Revelations: Intimacies in the Letters Between Charles W. Eliot, George B. Dorr & John D. Rockefeller Jr. Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Jesup Memorial Library, Bar Harbor, ME August 10, 2016 Earlier this year I proposed to Ruth Eveland several topics for a centennial presentation at the Jesup Memorial Library. The topic of intimacies in the letters of the most prominent park founders was strongly preferred. This is not a subject I discussed in my biography of George B. Dorr. Indeed, preparation of this talk forced my reopening of research materials which proved more challenging than I expected. I needed relaxation after fifteen years of research and writing, not re-immersion in the difficult craft of writing. But the topic was rich in potential and like Mr. Dorr I embrace the notion of persistence. So here I am in mid-August in one of four surviving island physical structures that bear the design imprint of Mr. Dorr (the others being Oldfarm's Storm Beach Cottage, the park office at COA, and the park Abbe Museum). I am not here to talk about external manifestations of Dorr's impact; nor will I enter here into the emphasis that other local historians have given to the differences between Dorr, Eliot, and Rockefeller. Frankly, my research has shown that their personalities were more similar than the dissimilarities promoted by Sargent Collier, R.W. Hale Jr., Judith S. Goldstein, and H. Eliot Foulds. All of us agree lon one point, however, that these park founders appreciate the achievements of one another, exchanged ideas, offered encouragement, and expressed candid feelings about a wide array of topics. Especially during the years 1917-1923, each was indispensable to the others. instead, I want to draw your attention to selected examples of a much favored and rarely used term of an earlier era. That is, the word "intimate." Its usage in letters written by Dr. Eliot, George B. Dorr, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. at the end of the Gaslight Era provides previously unexplored biographical insights. The concept of intimacy is historically associated with couples, more commonly with those of an opposite gender involved in a sexual relationship. An Internet search of this concept discloses tens of thousands of references that relate predominantly to couples therapy. Indeed, it is not surprising for couples to state that there is 2 intimacy in verbal, written, and body language where the unstated is a form of innermost disclosure. That is why the intimacy language in correspondence between males a century ago caught my attention. What significance should a historian assign to it? Is it employed casually or with restraint? What does it connote? When JDR Jr. writes of his "intimate association" with Dorr, can we discover the core elements that underlie his use of a term that we might suppose he reserved for his family? Even in its explicit absence, is intimacy implied contextually and over time? I assume here that men have no less a need for intimacy than women, regardless of the gender of the partner. Yet throughout western culture, male expression of intimacies is commonly suppressed or denied; in the Gaslight Era when intimacy language was used by males, quiet concerns about the effeminacy of the speaker usually followed. Rarely are intimacies expressed verbally without metaphorical diversions. Even in our own day, when private feelings and convictions are given the solidity of the written word there is the tacit acknowledgement that something akin to courage has been added. Why? Because words in a document have a standing in law and history not rivaled by undocumented verbal expression. Moreover, since all three relied on secretaries to transcribe dictated or written comments, there is no extreme concern with privacy. A case in point is this specific talk, exploring the words preserved in archives across the county. In my research, I wondered if Dorr, Eliot, and Rockefeller were consciously writing for posterity, crafting letters to secure public approbation. Let us assume that intimacy refers to close acquaintance, familiarity, or association with another involving the sharing of one's innermost character (be it mental or emotionally-based). The interpersonal term also connotes trust, friendship, love, and privacy. But as we ponder our own relationships, are we intimate with others in a comprehensive sense of the word? That is, does intimacy refer to expressions about the whole of one's inner life? Keep this question in mind as we look at how Dr. Eliot and Mr. Rockefeller expressed their beliefs about one another--and Mr. Dorr. We might be surprised to learn that in the surviving letters the expression of innermost feelings does not range far and wide-instead, they are quite subject specific. In behaving this way, they might not be all that different from the rest of us. The large number of letters exchanged which reflect intimacy issues cannot be catalogued tonight. It will have to suffice that I concentrate here on Mr. Rockefeller's letters to Eliot and Dorr, in part because his archive is the most comprehensive and he sent more letters to the two than he received from them. 3 February 1915 should be considered the nexus of the Dorr-Eliot-JDR relationship. Dr. Eliot is in the last decade of his life, JDR is rapidly expanding his carriage roads and purchasing properties that he deems worthy of preservation, and Dorr prepares a lengthy summary for Eliot of Trustee property acquisitions-and financial needs for further preparation of title and property histories for the federal government. (Harvard University. CWE Papers. B.95. Dorr to Eliot. 2.24.15) Their correspondence is formal but Eliot reframes Dorr's summary within the context of the history of the HCTPR and the VIA's, requesting $15,000 for national monument expenses. Partial support is secured. The Eliot-JDR relationship deepens. In 1919, shortly after securing national park status, Eliot again writes to JDR about the expenses of securing deeds and titles for lands west of Somes Sound. But now the letters are less formal and more familiar, Eliot expressing admiration for Dorr's extensive knowledge of island history, flora and fauna, and the status of properties being pursued; but Eliot's efforts to procure lists of Dorr's works in progress have "totally failed," which he describes as a "hopeless case," for Dorr "lives in such a preposterous way as respects the care of his health, and takes so many absurd risks in rushing about the Island that we are likely to lose him any day by disease or accident." (Rockefeller Archive Center. III.2.I. B. 59.f.441. Eliot to JDR. 9.3.19) Familiarity is again manifest when Eliot expresses concerns that he will not be able to adequately support his "children, grandchildren, and GGC, when my pension ceases." As the months pass letters between the three become more familiar, more complementary, and more directly concerned with Dorr's well being even as Dorr repeatedly authorizes JDR "to do work along any such lines on your behalf as I may feel disposed to do." (Sawtelle Archives and Research Center. Acadia National park. B.45.f.1.9.18.22) JDR writes of his "genuine satisfaction and pleasure" found in cooperating with Dorr's "splendid work." He concludes with atypical written praise: "I cannot close this letter without expressing my appreciation of the unselfish, untiring and devoted service which you have rendered in bringing the Park into being and are continuing to render in its upbuilding and development." On the other hand, letters between Eliot and Rockefeller about Dorr are few and far between. They focus on concern for Dorr's well-being and his departures from standard administrative practices. If this be taken as criticism such comments are always balanced by praise for Dorr's conspicuous virtues as when Eliot defends Dorr to criticism of his administrative practices by Ellen Bullard, the daughter of Eliot's sister Elizabeth. (See R. Epp, Creating Acadia National Park, p. 171) 4 There is a series of Eliot letters just two years shy of his death to Interior Secretary Hubert Work that provide a final statement of what Dorr meant to Eliot. When certain islanders objected to continuing "intrusion" into the mountainous core of the Park, an important Washington DC hearing was held in March 1924. Eliot wrote in support of the Dorr-Rockefeller plans, describing Dorr as "a man of extraordinary public spirit...[who] expended a considerable fortune which has now all gone into public and semi-public undertakings. [yet as] a public official he has one defect against which precautions can be easily taken. He is liable to talk too long about any business which interests him." (Eliot Papers. B.95. 2.1.1924) Seven weeks later just as the hearing is to open, Eliot writes a 500-word letter on "the quality and character of George B. Dorr." This document qualifies as an expression of intimacy because it reflects more than seven decades of Eliot-Dorr family interaction and contains Eliot's own reference to his "intimate relations" [with Dorr] for at least thirty years. I know of no other extended private expression by Eliot that rivals its expansiveness. Suffice it to report that therein Dorr is described as "a man of the highest probity and the keenest sense of honor incapable of any disloyalty to friend, employer, or official superior, or any disingenuousness towards critics or opponents." (Eliot Papers. B. 95. 3.22.1924) If this strikes one as lacking specificity, compare it with Rockefeller's "somewhat belated" note to Eliot on his 90th birthday for "you have been an example and an inspiration to me in many ways. The uniform dignity and courtliness of your bearing your unfailing courtesy, your splendid self control, your enormous capacity for work, the painstaking exactness with which you study the details of every problem upon which you pass judgment, your magnificent breadth of view, your clear insight and your keen vision have long commanded my profound admiration. I have counted it a high privilege to have the more intimate association with you which life on the Maine coast has made possible." In hindsight, we might regard these expressions as lacking emotional force. Rockefeller understands the matter differently, for he states that this "personal tribute [reflects] the deep feeling of regard and esteem" in which he has held Eliot for many years. (RAC. B. 59. f.441. 4.8.24) I know of no document in the massive Rockefeller Archive Center that is comparable-as a personal tribute-to the aforementioned quote! No less an authority on the Harvard's president than philosopher Ralph Barton Perry described Eliot as "a man of exquisite tenderness of feeling towards those of his own family circle. A quality of homeliness and simplicity was deeper in him than 5 that lawful aspect of dignity which he wore in his public appearances." Paraphrasing Perry, it is fair to judge a man by what he admires as well as by what he is. ("Charles William Eliot," New England Quarterly, 1931) Eliot's 1903 essay on a "New Definition of the Cultivated Man," contained an unconscious statement of his personal ideal that comes remarkably close to the Eliot that Dorr and Rockefeller had known intimately: "He is not to be a weak, critical, fastidious creature [but] a man of quick perception, broad sympathies and wide affinities; responsive, but independent; self-reliant, but deferential; loving truth and candor, but also moderation and proportion; courageous, but gentle; not finished, but perfecting." (Present College Questions [New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1903]). While we have no way to know whether Eliot here is deliberately self-referential, we might well infer that these are qualities in other men that attracted him, that cultivated intimacy over time. But bear in mind, this essay is a public pronouncement. Eliot well recognized the differences between public and private statements. Between face-to-face utterances and the more deliberative drafting in solitude of one's innermost thoughts. Mr. Rockefeller makes a similar point about the inflated value of the written word when he writes to Dorr that "I am committed to nothing [regarding park development] except as such commitments have been or may be made in writing." (RAC. B. 85.f. 839. 8.14.22) While Rockefeller's biographers note his economy with verbal expression, there is little economy in his official and personal correspondence with Dr. Eliot and Mr. Dorr. To the contrary, he provides information, analysis, and statements of significance that convinced me that Rockefeller placed great stock in the worth of the recipient; otherwise, he would have opted for brevity or delegated this responsibility to someone in the Rockefeller organization rather than committing personal time and energy to enlarging the understanding of one of his intimates. David Rockefeller's 2002 autobiography explains that "the procedure Father preferred whenever we had something important to deal with, especially an issue with significant emotional content, was an exchange of letters even when we were living under the same roof." (Memoirs, p. 18) This method was applied to other Rockefeller intimates, perhaps in part because unlike the spontaneity of the spoken word, the written word-even when dictated-can be refined, clarified, and more deeply reflect conscious intent. Frankly, in my research I was routinely overwhelmed by the magnitude of Rockefeller's attentiveness to all manner of issues relating to the development of 6 the park and to those most closely responsible. Like Rockefeller's biographer- Raymond B. Fosdick-I too wondered where Rockefeller found the time amid all his projects for such narrative productivity? Fosdick says that even in his youth Rockefeller "was a master of detail. And it must be admitted that he loved it. He was a perfectionist, with an abhorrence of anything that was shoddy or second-rate. [And Acadia was] the kind of project which appealed to him strongly. It was a virgin enterprise, and to a perfectionist this meant that the work would not be hampered by the precedent of inferior standards nor would the scope of the project be limited by a preconceived plan More than any other park to which Mr. Rockefeller has contributed, Acadia bears the marks of his own persistent care and effort." (R. Fosdick, John D. Rockefeller Jr. A Portrait (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1956, pp. 304-305) This care dovetailed with the establishment of the NPS and as we have seen the new Interior Department organization has always been in "a relatively weak position in securing congressional authorizations and appropriations, it very much needed private sector support, and Junior became by far the leader in providing ..[That is, his] devotion to conservation. [was] in consonance with the Progressive era...[and] in aiding the development of tourist facilities and carriage roads at Acadia, his purpose was to bring the public in to enjoy the park under proper conditions that would preserve its beauty, not to create a protected haven for the exclusive use of wealthy summer residents." (John Harr & Peter J. Johnson, The Rockefeller Century [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988, pp. 199-200) That heightened degree of engagement is evident a decade earlier (1900-1910) when Fosdick recalls that "the mass of duties and functions is almost unbelievable business and philanthropic problems on a gigantic scale [and] the gradual assumption of leadership in family matters as both his father and mother seemed to lean on him increasingly for advice and counsel in intimate questions relating to the domestic circle." (John D. Rockefeller Jr., p. 106) Notice Fosdick's implication that the concept of "intimacy" ranges beyond domesticity. In 1929-three years after Eliot's death, it is noteworthy that Rockefeller uses the expression "intimately" in a non-emotional context when he writes to an Olmsted architect (H.V. Hubbard) a 2,000 word letter and therein describes Dorr as "a man of great personal magnetism, extraordinary culture, splendid background, and my warm personal friend." The comment that follows is most germane: that is, that "Dorr's projects and my projects are very intimately inter-related and inter- dependent. Neither of us can develop our ideas most fully or most satisfactorily 7 without the complete cooperation of the other. For many years I have enjoyed a close friendship, with Mr. Dorr, and we have cooperated most fully, cordially, and harmoniously in developing these common plans. [for] Acadia National Park." (RAC. B.110.f. 1097. JDRJr. to Henry V. Hubbard. 9.18.29) But surely prefacing "inter-related and inter-dependent" with the term "very" and "intimately" adds something. What? All that we can logically infer is that Rockefeller was consciously trying to convey the depth and breadth of their freely chosen co- dependency, especially since the remaining paragraphs stress road development sites where he and Dorr are not of one mind. He clearly wants Olmsted architect Henry Hubbard to realize that these issues are subordinate to the relationship between Dorr and Rockefeller. Shortly after the death of Stephen Mather, as Dorr approached his 80th birthday, Rockefeller reiterates his concerns to attorney Harry Lynam about Dorr's reluctance to prepare an inventory of his "personal real estate holdings as well as property owned by the Wild Gardens, the Park, and JDR Jr. He urges Lynam to "work together to help Mr. Dorr so arrange his affairs that what he really desires to have done with this property after he passes on will be done." And then Rockefeller adds, "His lack of experience in matters of this kind may result in his not knowing how best to accomplish that end." Now, this can be taken as paternalistic, administratively presumptive, or even intrusive. But taken within the context of all relevant correspondence, it is rightly understood as an expression of intimacy. (RAC.B. 85.f.840. 5.4.33) As a counterpoint, following a summer illness, Junior writes Dorr two months (August 2, 1933) later that he should take care to "not do any more imprudent things like sliding down Green Mountain in the snow drifts, as I saw you do some years ago. [For] You are greatly needed in this world and particularly on this island. I would not know what to do without you here and you and I must live at least to see the projected automobile [loop] road completed and then for a long time thereafter to plan other worthwhile development of the island." A year later on his 81st birthday, Dorr receives from Rockefeller a letter which disparages "milestone" letters and yet affirms that "Mrs. Rockefeller and I count our friendship with you as one of the happiest of the many delightful things that have come into our lives as a result of our having made MDI our summer residence [I cannot think] of any other person with sufficient patience, kindliness and tact to have accomplished so difficult an undertaking [as the establishment of 8 ANP] During these many years [contact with you] has been a constant pleasure and happiness to me." Dorr surely was more reserved in the written expression of intimacies. While the scope of this talk limits references to these expressions, there is an indication that unlike Mr. Rockefeller, the spoken word conveyed momentary intimacy. In a September 1940 letter to JDR Jr. he remarks philosophically that he " has been living, of late especially, in the great tragic drama of the world whose every passing stage comes to us so wonderfully through the radio, which gives it an immediate reality no printed word can do." (RAC. B. 85.f.840. 9.28.1940) Yet as I've shown in my biography, Dorr embodied the FDR maxim of "Action, and action now!" A telling little known example of this is revealed in a September 1939 letter typed on Oldfarm stationary, a follow up to a conversation a day or two earlier when Rockefeller offered the name of one of his sons in response to Dorr's question about which son would "most likely...take permanent interest in the work that we have done [here on Mount Desert]." Thirty-one year old Nelson was the father's response. Dorr then gives Nelson a cherished eight-foot high Sheraton-style Mahogony clock that Dorr received several decades earlier from Mrs. John Innes Kane (he was a great grandson of John Jacob Astor), who--with her husband--had given Dorr for the future national park Dry (later Dorr) mountain, the Tarn below, and the Gorge beyond. Dorr recalls the personal importance of time-keeping throughout his life and concludes that "as my journey ends that this gift of Mrs. Kane's shall find place with the on-coming generation and carry on to it, and others still, the memory of the Park's formation." Other than a few gifts demarcated in the Dorr's will, this gift appears to have had singular importance; since no gift could possibly rival the possessions of the father, Dorr enlists JDR Jr. in selecting Nelson as the conservation torch-bearer. More so, Dorr thinks that Nelson's membership in the Dorr Foundation would be one way to accomplish ongoing conservation goals. Rockefeller again compliments Dorr for preserving the island "for the enjoyment of all the people [for] no one knows better than I do how important it is and how unselfishly you have given of your time, your thought, your strength and your means to the accomplishment of the desired end. I rejoice in what you have done and am proud to have been your silent partner in some phases of the work I shall think of you often, and always with admiration and affection." (RAC. B. 85. f. 840. 9.9.39 & 9.15.39) 9 In the end, Dorr exhausted his fortune to assemble the properties that became Acadia National Park. It is no small irony that in Mr. Rockefeller, he found a partner for over three decades who was charmed as well by the beauty of the Mount Desert Island. As with Eliot, in their collaboration important choices were made and paths followed that would not have been pursued had each followed a solitary course. Rockefeller's "actions are curiously symbolic-writes their contemporary conservationist, Fairfield Osborn-for much of the wealth that has made his munificent contributions for the purposes of conservation has been derived from the [oil extracted] from the depths of the earth. This wealth has, in turn, been distributed for the preservation of resources on the surface of the earth [by his son]. He is part of a self-created epic that expresses the completion of a cycle." Friends of Acadia former president W. Kent Olson seized upon the the financial backing that Mr. Rockefeller provided, the vision of Dr. Eliot, and the "tireless" benefaction of George Dorr. Many others have stressed other character traits that contributed to their joint success. What I've tried to show here is that there is sound evidence in their letters that above and beyond singular attributes was the implicit acceptance by each of a personal ideal that Eliot described in his 1911 "Cultivated Man" essay: "broad sympathies and wide affinities; responsive, but independent; self-reliant, but deferential; loving truth and candor, but also moderation and proportion not finished, but perfecting." These were the core character traits that framed their success in developing Acadia National Park. As intimate friends, these attributes could be expressed-- but more often than not, were not. In this lies their humanity. Intimacies_Jesup_9.16 Contact: dorr1853@gmail.com y life, and a Sand Rockfuller amount of was a god- ed him deal Manive 2002 what he felt buld under- r to be with N.Y. : Random House. railable. He L From one each other N the bond therein lay $ attention, h she cared us that the h. It was a t was some- to be there practically 0.17 S of child- a sense of he would r Aldrich ht of my because ith such DUTY, MORALITY, PROPRIETY aph or a F the best liked ather to was know the what opposite. he was He wanted life to follow an He ht, who advance, how. city or on vacation, the with whom and Whether in the going to do and in what order, orderly pattern. Jr. est son, ion bet- member his and saying, deviations when from the plan were not day greeted would with be planned out in something someone proposed "But pleasure. we I re- od deal When we else." moved For him that was reason enough a new not activity, planned trast to trunks which out three days before we left: some the trunks would be brought to Maine for the summer. Father's to do it. had a lid that opened from the were top. Others old-fashioned were known steamer as 18 Memoirs Mother and Father 19 "innovation trunks"; they opened out and had room on one side to hang But underneath Father's formal. correct exterior was a tender, warm side suits, and drawers on the other for linen. He would fill half a dozen or more that came out if one of us was in trouble. This revealed an aspect of his per trunks and bags for the two or three months he would be away. To begin sonality that was very precious to me. It helps explain Mother and Father's with, he and his valet. William Johnson. would start selecting and laying close relationship over nearly five decades. I knew I could count on his love out what to take-overcoats, sweaters, suits, riding clothes, and SO forth. and support when I really needed him even if he might disapprove of some Then William would do the actual packing. thing I had done. Dress was decidedly more formal in those days; in the winter Father wore Father was a complicated person. Grandfather was a self-made man who a black tie to dinner every night, and Mother a long dress, even when the created a great fortune starting with nothing. an accomplishment Father family dined alone. Still, the quantity of clothes they carried everywhere would have no opportunity to emulate. Even after he had built a solid record was astounding. Father never ventured out even in the summer without a of achievement, he was plagued with feelings of inadequacy. He once de- coat in case the weather turned cold, and he always wore a hat outdoors. A scribed his brief involvement in the business world as one of many vice pres- photograph of Father and me taken one summer during my college years on idents at Standard Oil as "a race with my own conscience," and in a sense a motor trip through the Southwest shows us seated on a wool lap robe Father was racing all his life to be worthy of his name and inheritance. under a lone pine tree in the middle of the Arizona desert. Father is wearing In his early thirties Father suffered a "nervous collapse". we would now a suit and tie, felt hat on his head, and the ever-present coat lying nearby. call it depression. It was then that he began to withdraw from active in- I have no doubt Father loved his children, all of us, very much, but his volvement with Standard Oil. In order to recover his health, Father took own rigid upbringing undoubtedly contributed to his inflexibility as a Mother and my sister. Abby. then only a year old, on a month's vacation to parent. He was formal, not cold, but rarely demonstrably affectionate. the south of France. Their stay there lengthened into six months. and even Nevertheless, he was physically more present during my childhood than when they came back, Father retreated to his home and rarely went out. It many fathers, and perhaps more than I was with my children. He worked was almost a year before he felt able to return to the office. and then only hard, but mostly in his office at home where he did not wish to be disturbed. part-time. He was with us in Pocantico on weekends and spent summer vacations with Perhaps it is understandable that he never told me directly of this episode, us in Maine, but on the emotional level he was distant. although once or twice he hinted that as a young man he had some emo- There were exceptions. When we took walks, rode horseback, or traveled tional problems. The first time I became aware that he had gone through together, he would sometimes talk candidly about his own boyhood and lis- some difficult times was a few years after I graduated from college when a ten to my concerns with real interest and tenderness. Those were important close friend of mine was experiencing a similar bout of depression. Father moments in my life. pent hours with him, and my friend said that when Father spoke about his However, the procedure Father preferred whenever we something own experience, tears rolled down his face. It was only then that I under important to deal with, especially an issue with significant emotional con- food how serious his depression had been. tent, was an exchange of letters. This happened more frequently when we Once Father overcame his depression, he resigned from Standard and de- went off to college and when my parents were on extended trips, but it was voted himself exclusively to philanthropy and the management of the preferred mode of communication even when we were all living under Grandfather's personal affairs. As a result, during the decade of the teens, the same roof. Father dictated his letters to his secretary, who typed and Grandfather began to transfer some stocks and other properties to him, but mailed them-with one copy for the files! il was still in relatively small quantities. In 1915, the year I was born, when Although Father's love for us was heartfelt and sincere, his sense of Father was forty-one years old, he owned outright only about $250,000 of parental duty prodded him into frequent soliloquies on duty, morality. and dandard Oil stock. proper behavior. My brother Laurance to this day remembers with some dis- What was Grandfather waiting for? I am not sure he ever intended to tress the letter he received from Father after he was voted "most likely to sue- leave a great fortune to his children. His original plans for Father's inheri- ceed" by his class at Princeton Father reminded him that he would have to lance were probably the same as for his daughters: He would lenve Father spend the rest of his life truly earning the good opinion his classmates had of enough to be comfortable, to be "rich" by most measures, but by several or Message Page 1 of 2 Epp, Ronald From: Epp, Ronald Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2003 4:36 PM To: 'Judith Goldstein' Cc: Epp, Ronald Subject: RE: Response Dear Judith, Thank you for the useful conversation and tasty lunch this past Monday. I've received your comments and was little surprised by your comments. The "only the bones" approach is what I conveyed to you in our luncheon discussion. I agree that biographical context needs to be added at the outset for those unfamiliar with either party. I also have doubts about the weight I've given to museum development within a larger NPS structure. Several of the questions you raise have no answers--but this needs to be stated. I intend to incorporate your remarks with a revision to be completed within a week or so. I have attached the original per your suggestion and appreciate your forthcoming revisions. I met with Ann Rockefeller Roberts on Tuesday morning. She sends her regards. We had a most engaging hour together focused largely on questions that seem to me to be unanswered in her "Rockefeller's Roads." We also talked at some length about the scope of the primary resources she consulted--as well as the relationship between Eliot, Dorr, and JDR Jr. It was a memorable experience of high quality. It is important to note that as we were parting she lamented that she, you, and I could not get together to continue the conversation. Like me, I think she sensed that in this Goldstein, Epp, and Roberts threesome there was the expertise to bring about new understanding about the activities of the original "Triumvirate." Have a fine weekend! I look forward to hearing from you. Ronald H. Epp, Ph.D. Director of Shapiro Library Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 03106 603-668-2211, ext. 2164 603-645-9685 fax Original Message From: Judith Goldstein [mailto:jsgsp@ix.netcom.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2003 5:03 PM To: Epp, Ronald Subject: Response 8/28/2003 Message Page 2 of 2 Ronald: I have read over the article. Can you send it to me on email SO that I might suggest a few changes in the wording, etc. So much of the information is very interesting and new, particularly the poignant ending, but I think as it is presented there are lots of details but no big pictures or lots of bones but no body. You are SO familiar with the people and story that what you know is not often what you write about. For example: we don't know exactly who Abbe is, what did he do, where did he come from. Same for Dorr. These two key figures are really not introduced in full. They are just interacting. Also, I think that you might want to mention Dorr's big vision about creating a full culture of excellence on Mt. Desert in terms of music, science, landscape etc. Can you describe the Abby map, was it unique, how long did it take to make? Were these Indian museums unique? Was the Abby a pioneer? Some big questions and answers might put the story in context. Judy Judith S. Goldstein Executive Director Humanity In Action 1088 Park Avenue 14E New York, NY 10128 Ph/Fx 212 828 6874 http://www.humanityinaction.org 8/28/2003