Archive for the 'Archives' Category

From the Archives: SPS Under Construction

Lisa Laughy June 8th, 2010

As construction continues on Dunbarton Road and the new Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science, it brings to mind other major construction projects from the history of St. Paul’s School.  Although difficult to tell from inside or outside of the New Chapel, an entire section was added to the nave forty-two years after original construction began.  The images below depict the expansion at its most dramatic point:

In 1928 the New Chapel was expanded to accommodate the increasing number of students at St. Paul’s School.  The Sesquicentennial Exhibit offers this description of the photos:

In 1928 the Chapel was deconsecrated and workmen began to slice through the brick walls. The School held its collective breath as the eastern end of the vast structure, seemingly too narrow to hold itself erect, was slid upon tracks to its new location. The task of reconstruction then went forward as the void between the two parts of the old building was filled with Gothic tracery.

See if you can spot this particularly brave fellow in the picture above!

Tags: , , ,

New Archives Online Exhibit: Places of Invention

Lisa Laughy May 31st, 2010

A new online exhibit, called Places of Invention: Science and Mathematics at St. Paul’s School, is now part of the Ohrstrom Library website. This online exhibit is based on a more in-depth Archives photograph exhibit now on display in the upper level of Ohrstrom Library. Here is an excerpt from the introduction to the online exhibit:

With construction of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science now well underway, it is fitting that the St. Paul’s School community reflects back upon the places that have served the study of science and mathematics so well throughout the School’s history.

Photos from the Archives were scanned specifically for the online exhibit including this image of a Biology classroom in the Westinghouse Lab:

The online exhibit features images ranging from the first science lab built on the St. Paul’s School grounds in 1889 to the architectural renderings of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science, now under construction. The main gallery of thumbnail images includes links to individual pages that feature larger images and brief descriptions. There is also a slideshow of the images that can be initiated from any of the pages in the exhibit.

Take a few moments to browse through the gallery of images and follow the development of the places that have helped to facilitate the high standard of education in mathematics and science that has been a part of the St. Paul’s School vision from its very beginning.

Visit the online exhibit by clicking HERE.

Visit the full Archives exhibit in the upper level lobby of Ohrstrom Library.

From the Archives: Dunbarton Road Construction

Lisa Laughy May 13th, 2010

Dunbarton Road, once called New Dunbarton Road, is undergoing construction as part of the site preparation for the building of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science.  Rectory Road, the original Dunbarton Road, was once the main route from Concord to Dunbarton and beyond.  It wasn’t always the quiet roadway through the center of the grounds that it is today, and by the early years of the 20th century the increase in automobile traffic had become a menace.  The New Dunbarton Road was opened in June of 1920 as a way to re-direct traffic away from the center of  the grounds.

The images below were discovered in the Archives as part of a personal photo album given by an unknown donor.  The photo album consists of several dozen black and white photographs of construction at SPS during the first few decades of the 20th century.

Clearing the way: A team of work horses is used to remove rocks from the road.  The corner of the Red Barn can be seen on the left.

Grading the road:  Alumni House is on the left and the Red Barn is on the right. The view is looking toward the entrance to the School.

Heavy metal: A close-up of the steam roller seen the previous image.

Read more about the history of the New Dunbarton Road in this Fall 2008 Alumni Horae article (PDF file) by clicking HERE.

Tags: , ,

From the Archives: Delphian Football Eleven, 1897

Lisa Laughy April 1st, 2010

The following photo from the St. Paul’s School Archives, located in the basement of Ohrstrom Library, was scanned recently as part of the planning process for a digitization project.  From time-to-time we will be sharing some of these newly scanned images on the Ohrstrom Blog to provide a glimpse into the wealth of visual history contained within the Archives’ photo collections.

The first photo in this blog series is of the Delphian Club football team from 1897.  Each of the three clubs at St. Paul’s School – the Isthmian Club, the Old Hundred Club (both founded in 1859),  and the Delphian Club (founded in 1888), had three strings of eleven players on their club football teams.  This photo is likely of the first string, the Eleven I.  It is easy to imagine that the Delphian Club colors of maroon and black are being worn  in this photo.

Although there are no names listed on the photo itself, The Record, St. Paul’s School, 1898, lists the members of “The Delphian Club Foot-Ball Elevens, Fall, 1897″  as follows:

Henry Blackstone Farrar, Captain

Line: Prescott M. Metcalf, Ethelbert I. Low, Ernest T. H. Metcalf, Douglas Kimball, Peter F. Rothermel, Robert W. Glendinning, Franklin Farrel, Jr.

Quarter-Back: Henry B. Farrar

Half-Backs: William C. Douglas, William Frew

Full-Back: Lion Gardiner

Fall of 1897 was not a good season for the Delphians – they didn’t win any of the four games played, and scored zero points.  An average of the previous ten years has them in better standing, winning 18 of a possible 38 games, and putting them second to the Isthmian’s record of 30 out of 38.  This detail of the photo gives a better view of the clothing worn to play football at that time – very little padding and quite a few rips and  tears.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

New Archives Online Exhibit: The Rectors of SPS

Lisa Laughy March 2nd, 2010

Ohrstrom Library is pleased to announce the addition of a new archives online exhibit: The Rectors of St. Paul’s School.

Since its founding in 1856, St. Paul’s School is fortunate to have enjoyed strong leadership in its Rectors.  The Rectors exhibit in the Archives section of Ohrstrom Library’s website presents the succession of these leaders through photographs and short biographies, and serves as a brief introduction to the fascinating history of leadership at St. Paul’s School.

Much of the text and perspectives shared in the brief biographies that accompany photographs of the Rectors were drawn directly from two authoritative and well-loved volumes about St. Paul’s School: A brief history of St. Paul’s School, 1856-1996 by August Heckscher (located in Ohrstrom at: 373 Sa2H) and St. Paul’s School, 1855 – 1934 by Arthur Stanwood Pier (located in Ohrstrom at: 373 Sa2). In addition to reading these two volumes, you can find even more fascinating detail on each of the Rectors by searching the Alumni Horae digital archive, accessible online by clicking HERE.

Tags: , , , ,

Next »