Chinaware of Various College May Be Put on Exhibition at Fogg Museum--Fragments Unearthed in Yard Used for Models

If current plans are put into effect, the Fogg Museum may have on exhibition a complete set of the dinner plates issued by many colleges and schools and sold by them to their graduates. Such an exhibition would be a direct result of a project initiated by President Lowell four years ago.

The President noticed from his office window some workmen unearthing fragments of China from a tunnel being dug for the heating system, and upon investigation found them to be part of the blue Staffordshire china, decorated with engravings of Harvard buildings, used in the College dining hall about a century ago.

It occurred to President Lowell that the dining halls of today might be furnished with similar china, using the same border of flowers and fruits, with new engravings of Harvard scenes in the center; but the cost of the engravings was found to be prohibitive.

It was estimated that if some 500 dozen dinner plates could be sold at $12 a set, the halls could be supplied with the finer china at a reasonable cost. Although modest notices in the Alumni Bulletin were almost the only means of advertisement employed, newspapers printed columns upon the project, with the result that some 6,000 dozen plates were sold.

The dining halls were provided with new china made by the contemporary representatives of Wedgewood, and an extra supply was laid in against years of breakage.

The plan has been taken up by executives of other colleges, including Yale, Princeton, M. I. T., the University of Seattle, Bryn Mawr, and Vassar.