Radcliffe Breaks Ground for Study Center; Balloons Rise, Bands Blare, Sophs Shovel

The "hopes and aspirations" for the Radcliffe Library-Study Center were pinned to a dozen red balloons yesterday evening and sent off into the black sky of the future, whereupon they lodged themselves irrevocably into an overhanging tree.

But the 150 alumnae and the dozen undergraduates who had come to see the formal groundbreaking ceremony were undaunted. A spirit of frosty-toed camaraderie prevailed as Radcliffe's acting president, Mrs. Helen H. Gilbert, toasted "the first building of Radcliffe's master plan, the heart of the new Radcliffe, and the core of the House system."

She pointed out that the forthcoming Library Study Center will be the first Harvard or Radcliffe building to be built before all the money is raised. "If we don't find another $1 million before 1966 we'll all be in jail," she confided.

Six Sophs Shovel

Six sophomores, obviously selected for beauty, drove the first symbolic shovels into the ground. The crowd giggled with empathy, flares flared, and photographers forced the shovelling to continue until well after the novelty had worn off.

Doing the work were Leslie V. Altman '67, Nancy Bentinck-Smith '67, Ghislaine de Give '67, Gail L. Johnson '67, Ingrid Lorch '67, and Mary S. Miles '67.

The Gilbert and Sullivan Players also entertained the throng. Joel C. Martin '65, Daniel A. Goodenough '66, and Thomas A. Segall '65 bourreed across the stage and gave a rendition of a song from Princess Ida.

John A. Lithgow '67, and Janet Walker also sang a tune from G & S's Utopia Limited, with words amended for the occasion by Timothy S. Mayer '66. As an introduction they sang:

He: Lamont's sixth floor?

She: I shall Ignore.

He: You won't see hide nor hair of me

She: In my lair in Widener Library.

He: Houghton?

She: Verboten!

Eight members of the HRO also entertained with some contrapuntal baroque music, including an original composition by Joel I. Schwartz '65.

Acting president Mrs. Gilbert began the ceremony with a well-received Freudian slip: "This is a president--uh, precedent--shattering celebration."

President Bunting sent her greetings in a letter, saying that the Library "couldn't happen to finer women."