A GREAT ADVENTURE

(The writer of this letter was Dean of the College from 1927-1947.)

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

The birthday of the late President A. Lawrence Lowell, which occurred yesterday (Sunday, December 13), perhaps passed unnoticed except for a few of us who were closely associated with him in what he called his "great adventure" and who stopped long enough to drink a silent toast to his memory. One has merely to look about Harvard, however, to see how much the College and the present-day undergraduate are beneficiaries in 1953 of Mr. Lowell's vision, leadership and guidance.

Just to mention a few examples, Mr. Lowell's leadership and personal interest was largely responsible for the origin and early development of the tutorial system based on the principle of self-education under guidance. If he were alive today I know that Mr. Lowell would rejoice in the fact that in those departments having tutorial instruction, such instruction is now available to practically all students--honors as well as non-honors--and that the plan is integrated more closely than ever with the Houses. In his mind, the Houses were not to be merely pleasant places in which to reside but were to provide a more satisfactory environment in which the tutors and students could carry on their work together.

The idea of the Houses and the need for setting up smaller residential units within the College originated in Mr. Lowell's mind as far back as the 1880's when he presented a paper before a club in Boston. In 1907 in an address at Yale he mentioned the desirability of "breaking the undergraduate body" into smaller groups. The realization of this dream was made possible by the magnificent gift of Mr. Edward S. Harkness, a graduate of Yale, who turned up in University Hall to make his offer on an eventful sunny afternoon in November 1928.

In the physical planning of the Houses Mr. Lowell took a deep interest--one which extended to the shape and arrangement of individual rooms, the insistence upon a fireplace in every study, and the building of various parts of Lowell House at different levels so as to get more light and sunshine in every suite. At night he spent long hours in working over the blueprints of the architects and making suggestions.

Mr. Lowell even had chairs of different types sent out from Boston which he tried out himself to see and feel which kind seemed more comfortable. He also gathered together a group of representative students from the Student Council to find out whether they would prefer to have in the dining halls small tables, long tables, round tables, rectangular ones, or a mixture of the various types and sizes! Matters of detail as well as the general educational and social aims of the Houses received his close attention as the new Houses like Dunster, Eliot and Lowell were being planned and some of the older buildings re-arranged to adapt them to what at the time was called the "House plan."

As we live, dine, study and tutor in the Houses today it is fitting that we as students and tutors be reminded of ho much we owe to Mr. Lowell, who was born ninety-seven years ago Sunday. A. C. Hanford,   Professor of Government.