War Memorial Work Starts

Work on Harvard's $75,000 war memorial plaque will start immediately as the result of a Corporation green light given to plans submitted by architect Henry R. Shepley '10.

The plaque, 42 ft. high and 25 ft. wide, will stand on the wall of Memorial Church adjoining the narthex in which are recorded the names of the dead of World War I. The World War II plaque will list Harvard's approximately 700 names carfed into marble, which will pave the entire side of the wall.

Shepley said yesterday he hoped the plaque would be completed and installed in time for a dedication sometime this fall. Carvers will soon start the long job of engraving an estimated 16,000 letters into the marble, and after students leave Cambridge for the summer, the marble will be erected onto the wall.

The architect has been at work on the plaque most of this fall and winter, sketching the final arrangement and design of the lettering. His final drawings were submitted last week, and the Corporation acted on them immediately.

Within Budget

In presenting his plans Shepley furnished a full sized sample of the lettering carved and tinted in a one ft. piece of stone. In order to stay within the $75,000 budget, the letters will not be bronze gilded as on the World War I plaque, and they will be slightly smaller. But Shepley believes his carved-in, tinted lettering will be easier to read.

Original approval of the plaque came last March when the Corporation accepted alumni committee recommendations that the plaque, and not a student activities center, be chosen as the University's war memorial.

The plaque will be financed completely by the University and not by alumni contributions as originally announced. in March the Corporation in an unexpected decision said the Corporation would bear the entire expense itself.