Category Archives: Image of the Week

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

Dartmouth Hall Fire of 1904

Pictured above is the aftermath of the Dartmouth Hall fire of 1904. The fire occurred in February, and is believed to be the result of faulty wiring. Reconstruction began in October of that year and was completed in 1906. The destruction of Dartmouth Hall was particularly devastating at the time, because the building acted as dormitory, classroom, library, and museum.

The hall caught fire again in 1935, after which renovations were performed to fireproof the building. More photos of the 1904 fire and reconstruction and the fire of 1935 can be found in the Dartmouth College Photo Files.

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

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Jacob Nunnemacher skiing 1941

Pictured above is Jacob Nunnemacher, Class of 1942. The image comes from a folder titled, “Ski Teams, Captains.” Our collection of ski team photos is extensive, and this image jumped out at me when I read the words “Killed in Italy” scrawled on the back. Nunnemcher was the Captain of the Dartmouth Ski Team and served in the Army 10th Mountain Division in World War II. He was killed in Torre Iussi, Italy during the Riva Ridge assault of April 1945. Nunnemacher Cabin is named in his honor.

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

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Bobcat in the snow, date unknown

Pictured above is the North American bobcat, known as Lynx Rufus or Felis Rufus, from a folder labeled “Animals.” The photo was taken by Professor C. Morse, date unknown. “Kevin,” you say, “don’t you known that the habitats of the bobcat and Canadian Lynx overlap? How can you be sure that the animal pictured above is of the species you claim?” An excellent point, to which I reply, “have you considered that although similar in weight, the Canadian Lynx has longer legs and ears tufts?” I’m no lynx expert, but that looks like a bobcat to me.

According to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, bobcat numbers reached historic lows in the state in the 1970s as the result of two hundred years of unregulated hunting. The department closed bobcat hunting and trapping seasons in 1989, and signs indicate that bobcat populations have returned to healthy levels. Harvest of the bobcat remains closed in New Hampshire to this day, but continues with regulation in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

 

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Woman and child walking in the rain ca. 1954

This photo comes from a folder labeled “Hanover Streets, South Main 4.” Writing on the back of the image indicates that the photo was taken ca. 1954. It depicts a woman and child walking on a rainy day. Campion’s Clothing Store and the Hanover Inn can be seen in the background.

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

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Bread delivery by rowboat 1932

Shown above is an image from the folder titled “Floods.” Notes on the back of the image indicate that it was taken in 1932 and depicts a bread delivery by rowboat. In September of that year, New Hampshire was hit by a record-breaking 7.8 inches of rain over the course of a single day.

New England was plagued by several nasty floods in the first half of the twentieth century, including the 1936 “Flood of the Century” which put Nashua, NH, underwater and did millions of dollars in damage across the region.

More images of New Hampshire floods can be found in the Dartmouth Photographic Files Collection.

 

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.Icon164709780000016A

Pictured is the Wheelock Hotel, 1892, from a folder titled “Hanover Inns 2.” The hotel began as the home of General Ebenezer Brewster, but was converted into a tavern in 1780. The tavern became the Dartmouth Hotel in 1813 and was rebuilt and re-branded the Wheelock Hotel in 1815.

In 1901, Dartmouth College began a two-year reconstruction on the grounds and facilities of the Wheelock Hotel. When completed, the new building was named the Hanover Inn.

 

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

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James L. Belknap at 3rd Division Hospital, Chickamauga Park, GA, June 1898, and photos from Medical School.


For Veteran’s Day, we have an image from a folder labeled “Spanish American War.” The Spanish American War began in 1898 after the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. It is most famous in the U.S. for Theodore Roosevelt and his 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, also known as the Rough Riders. The war lasted approximately 4 months and ended with a U.S. victory on August 13th. The territories acquired from Spain in this conflict allowed for the expansion of U.S. influence on the world stage.

In the large photo above is James L. Belknap, Dartmouth alum and graduate of Harvard medical school. The caption of the photo reads “Operating Room and Surgical Ward of the 3rd division hospital, 1st Army Corps at Chickamauga Park, GA, June 1898.” After the war, Belknap worked as a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital.

 

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

Grave Robbers

Grave Robbers

In honor of Halloween week, we have a drawing of grave robbers exhuming a body. This image was posted with no caption below a listing of medical school graduates in 1877.

Dartmouth has a somewhat interesting history in regard to grave robbing. Charles Knowlton, who graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 1824, was jailed the same year for illegal dissection. Knowlton suggested that doctors offer up their own bodies (as an alternative to exhumed corpses) to relieve public prejudice against the practice.

And Dartmouth Medical School is not alone in its history of illicit procurement of subjects for study. In 1769, Joseph Warren and friends of Harvard College founded an anatomical society called “The Spunkers,” the purpose of which was to acquire corpses for dissection. The name was never to be written or spoken, understandably, and featured a shovel as its representative symbol.

Of course, the practice of grave robbing is not limited to the bounds of New England. In fact, it was so common in the 1800s that guards had to be put in place to watch over the dead. In one particularly notable case from 1878, the New York Times reported that the body of John Scott Harrison, former Ohio congressman and father of President Benjamin Harrison, was found on a dissection table in an Ohio Medical School lab just hours after he was meant to have been buried.

Hopefully this Halloween the dead will stay in the ground.

 

 

 

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

Woman with baby elephant

Woman with baby elephant, circa 1954

No information is provided as to the identity of the woman or the elephant in this photo. However, it’s possible that the elephant is Queenie of the Rare Bird and Animal Farm of Fairlee, Vermont.

The Rare Bird and Animal Farm was founded by Bill Green in the early 1950s. Green, the child of a wealthy New Jersey family, developed a love of the outdoors at an early age. As an adult he began to travel, collecting animals on his many trips across the world. He purchased the Brackett Farm in Fairlee to house his growing collection of exotic animals, Queenie among them. The farm was opened to the public in 1954 at 75 cents admission.

Queenie was born in 1952 in Siam (now Thailand). She was purchased by Green in 1953 from Trefflich’s Pet Shop, New York City. She lived at the Rare Bird and Animal farm until 1967, and was introduced to water skiing by Marj and Jim Rusing of De Leon Springs, Florida, during this time. The unique performance earned the elephant and her owners some fame, and she became known as “The World’s Only Water Skiing Elephant.”

After the closure of the Rare Bird and Animal Farm, Queenie spent a number of years in various circuses. She was retired from the circus in 2003 and lived out the rest of her days at Wild Adventures theme park in Valdosta, GA.

Image of the Week

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Our series examining an Image of the Week from the photographic files, by Kevin Warstadt, Edward Connery Lathem ’51 Digital Library Fellow.

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JFK at Dartmouth, March 6, 1960

John F. Kennedy came to Dartmouth in March 1960 during his presidential campaign. He can be seen here en route to Dartmouth Hall, where he gave a speech on President Eisenhower’s tour of South America in February of that year. Of the visit, Kennedy’s spokesperson said that the Senator was “looking forward to being at Dartmouth and meeting students and townspeople even though he is a Harvard man.”

Kennedy suffered from a number of health problems throughout his life, including chronic lower back pain. In this image, one can make out the signs of that affliction.

Eight months later, he would defeat Richard Nixon in the 44th quadrennial presidential election, with running mate Lyndon B. Johnson.