New Residence Hall construction webcam

The campus joins the world of webcams (this one on the roof of Putney Hall). It will be especially fun (useful?) for those of us without windows.

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Recommended Link--Blog of Henry David Thoreau

This is a labor of love. Thoreau's journals presented in (almost) daily portions. A delight which is available in as an xml feed for you other syndication neurotics. One can only imagine what he would have thought about such a format.

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Charles L. Horn Library dedicated 25 years ago today.

On October 18, 1980 the Charles L. Horn Library was dedicated. The 59,300 square foot facility was made possible by a $4.3 million gift from the Franklin W. Olin Foundation. The library was the crown jewel in the "Education Center" begun under the first Master Plan. When it opened there were 80,000 volumes and 850 periodicals as well as microforms and other media with a 506 seat capacity. The building was designed to hold 170,000 volumes.

Arrowstreet, Inc. were the architects and Henry E. Wile was the general contractor. The building cost $5.1 million to complete and furnish. James Boudreau, Director of Libraries from 1968-1991, headed the committee responsible for the completion of the building.

Who was Charles Lilley Horn? A 1912 graduate of the University of Minnesota, he wore many hats during his lifetime including President of the Federal Cartridge Company of Minneapolis and President of Hoffman Engineering. The one relevant to us is that he was President of the Franklin W. Olin Foundation from 1951 until 1977. Lots of colleges have benefited from the generousity of the F. W. Olin Foundation.

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Babson College Archives and Special Collections turn 25

On October 17th 1980 the Babson College Archives and Special Collections were dedicated on the third floor of the Charles L. Horn Library. Mrs. Edith Mustard, Roger W. Babson's daughter, gave money to provide a home for her family's possessions and papers as well as an archival home for the records of the college that her parents had founded. Mrs. Mustard was Babson's first alumnae receiving her certificate in 1923. The new space included the Sir Isaac Newton Room which was moved from the Sir Isaac Newton Library, the new Roger W. Babson Museum, and the Babson College Archives and Special Collections. Her gift is a testament to her support for her parent's projects and assurance of their continued memory.

I never got to meet Mrs. Mustard but I am reminded daily of her love for her family. From the present representative of the future, to all that has past, thank you for your foresight.

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tinywords

A healthy daily treat.

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Happy John Peel Day!!!

Sir Isaac Newton Room used for NOVA interviews

Grace K. Babson purchased the fore-parlour which had been part of Newton's St. Martins Street house. It seems to have been the only surviving part of the house where Newton lived (1710-1725) and Frances Burney later wrote. The room was disassembled and later recreated in the Babson Institute Library which was opened in 1939. The building of the Horn Library in 1980 gave the room a new home as the old library was completely rebuilt and renamed Tomasso Hall.

Last summer found a video crew using the fore-parlour for interviews to augment a story on Sir Isaac Newton. Naturally, I haven't been told, but I will guess that "Newton's Dark Secret" is the completed piece.

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New World Order

Many things have happened since my birthday greeting for October 1st. It seems that my formerly named blog was too "personal" for some person(s) at this institution. I don't know what that was supposed to mean. I was invited to remove it. I didn't do that but the name of this blog has been changed and links to the "offended" institution have been removed from the blog and links to the blog have been removed from institutional webpages. And so it goes...

I have reorganized the links column adding a a current news piece.

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