Theodore Dwight Woolsey

A statue of longtime Yale President Theodore Dwight Woolsey sits at a prominent location in Yale Old Campus.  Woolsey graduated as valedictorian of the Yale Class of 1820 and later served as a professor of Greek from 1831 to 1846.

Woolsey's uncle Timothy Dwight had been Yale's President from 1795 to 1817.  Woolsey was elected President in 1846 and served until 1871.  Another Dwight relative followed.  During his 25 years as president, Yale advanced in wealth and influence and two new departments, the Scientific School and the School of Fine Arts, were begun.

Sterling Memorial Library

In the heart of Yale's central campus, Sterling Memorial Library is the university’s largest library and one of its most iconic buildings.  It is built in the Collegiate Gothic style to resemble a European cathedral. 

Completed in 1930, it houses more than 2.5 million volumes, with a focus on humanities and area studies.  Designed by architect James Gamble Rogers (Yale Class of 1889) and later named for its benefactor, John William Sterling (Yale Class of 1864), 

The main entrance, known as the Nave, has a 60-foot ceiling, cloisters, clerestory windows, side chapels, and a circulation desk altar.  

Stained glass windows throughout the building—3,300 in all—were designed by artist G. Owen Bonawit. 

One of the grand spaces in Sterling Memorial Library is the Starr Main Reference Room.  It features medieval-style stained-glass windows, hand-carved details, and a wood-coffered ceiling.

One of the portraits in the Nave is of Edward Alexander Bouchet, a physicist and educator.  Boucher was the first African American graduate of Yale College and the first African American awarded a Ph.D. in the United States.

"King" William Lanson

William Lanson was a Freeman in New Haven in the first half of the 19th century. He was a master builder, widely respected for his leadership.  This 2020 statue stands at the foot of two of Yale's newest residential colleges.

With others he founded the Temple Street Church. He led a petition campaign to the Connecticut General Assembly for the vote for Freemen.   The slogan was "no taxation without representation."

 

In 1825, Lanson was elected Black Governor of the State of Connecticut, extending assistance to the impoverished Black community. He was then hired to build the New Haven section of the Farmington Canal, which would allow New Haven products to be sent by sail to Massachusetts.

He built and owned a hotel that served as a refuge for runaway slaves and traveling Black workers.  He owned several properties that he rented out to White and Black families.  This brought down the wrath of New Haven authorities, who constantly harassed him with false charges, and penalized and imprisoned him, seizing his properties.  William Lanson ended up impoverished and died in the alms house.

Memorial Day Parade

I like parades.  Monday's Memorial Day parade in Ridgefield was fun. 

Ridgefield has a Colonial tavern.  Some folks from the tavern rode in a truck and posed in period garb.

The Lions Club had a lion atop a truck.

We got an enthusiastic greeting from one of the granddaughters riding with the swim team.

Nine girls.  Nine expressions.

One serious young man held his sign, "Happy Soldiers Day, Memorial Day! ♡Thomas."

Senator Richard Blumenthal walked with Ridgefield first selectman, Rudy Marconi.  The governor also walked, but I didn't spot him until he was past.

I loved the idea of a grandson accompanying the Pipe Major.

The blaring from many fire trucks made for a noisy parade.

College Hill Buildings

 I walked around the Brown University campus last Saturday.  

This complicated building is near the bottom of College Hill.  It is part of the Rhode Island School of Design or "RISD," pronounced RIZ-dee.

As I walked around, I frequently thought either "Man, I don't remember this building" from my long distant days on College Hill or "Wow, this one has been wonderfully restored, hasn't it"

This Richardsonian Romanesque building was two or three blocks east of the campus when I was there.  But, the campus has moved east as it has grown, and this one is now the headquarters of the Division of Applied Mathematics, Brownspeak for "studying computers."

Fleur de Lys Studio

 This striking building is near the bottom of the challenging climb up to the top of College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island.  It is an architectural monument to the American Arts and Crafts Movement of the 1880s.  Its half-timbered main facade was built in 1885 with elaborate Art Nouveau stucco sections between the timbers.

The Fleur de Lys Building is a dedicated studio building owned by the Providence Art Club for the use of its members.   It is on the National Register of Historic Places.  The Fleur de Lys was purpose built as artists' studios and was never a domicile of any kind. 

Originally owned by Sydney Burleigh, it was deeded to the Art Club at the time of his death.  

Typically six artists have studios in the building.

The Graduate

 I was in Providence yesterday for an event honoring a legendary professor who has served the university for 65 -- yes, 65! -- years.  That gave me time to walk around and see things I hadn't seen recently as well as new things and old things I had never noticed when I was there.

Walking past the Economics building where I spent many hours, a graduate and her mother were taking pictures.  I volunteered to take some photos on her phone and then asked if I could take one on mine.  She just picked up her doctorate in Economics and is moving to teach at University College Dublin.