Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2009 Why the old traditions will not fail: landscape, legends, and the construction of place at Dartmouth College Charles H. Wade Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Wade, Charles H., "Why the old traditions will not fail: landscape, legends, and the construction of place at Dartmouth College" (2009). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3283. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3283 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. WHY THE OLD TRADITIONS WILL NOT FAIL: LANDSCAPE, LEGENDS, AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF PLACE AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Geography & Anthropology by Charles H. Wade B.A., Louisiana State University, 2001 M.A., Miami University, 2003 August 2009 Copyright© 2009 Charles H. Wade All Rights Reserved ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………….. v Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter 2: Methods, Key Concepts, and Relevant Literature ………………………………… 13 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………. 13 The Use of Elite in This Study and Others ………………………………………... 24 The Ivy League and the Elite American Colleges ………………………………… 31 Tradition …………………………………………………………………………… 38 Literature Review ………………………………………………………………….. 41 Elites in the Social Sciences and Popular Literature ………………………....... 41 Elite Geographies ………………………………………………………………. 45 Collegiate Culture, Higher Education, and the Ivy League ……………………. 47 Dartmouth College ……………………………………………………………... 57 Chapter 3: Early and Contemporary Dartmouth ………………………………………………. 61 Eleazar Wheelock, Moor’s Charity School, and the Origin of Dartmouth College …………………………………………………... 61 Contemporary Dartmouth …………………………………………………………. 77 Chapter 4: Landscape ………………………………………………………………………….. 94 Chapter 5: Legends …………………………………………………………………………... 139 Chapter 6: Place ……………………………………………………………………………… 178 The Concept of Place …………………………………………………………….. 178 A Brief Introduction to the Dartmouth Outing Club …………………………….. 183 “Welcome Home”: The Freshman Trips and the Beginnings of the Dartmouth Experience …………………………………………………. 196 The Safety Talk …………………………………………………………………… 207 An Evening at the Ravine Lodge …………………………………………………. 217 An Introduction to Dartmouth Night ……………………………………………... 232 Dartmouth Night, 2006 …………………………………………………………… 244 The Outing Club and Dartmouth Night as Conduits for the Construction of Place at Dartmouth College ……………………………... 252 Chapter 7: Inside the “Dartmouth Bubble” …………………………………………………... 281 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………. 281 Coeducation ……………………………………………………………………… 282 Class ……………………………………………………………………………… 293 Diversity, Inclusivity, Multiculturalism, and Political Correctness ……………………………………………………… 299 Activism, Charity, and Philanthropy …………………………………………….. 314 Resources, Power, and Control at the College …………………………………… 323 Admissions and Financial Aid …………………………………………………… 331 Self-Perception at Dartmouth ……………………………………………………. 339 iii Chapter 8: Reflections on the Dartmouth Bubble ……………………………………………. 350 My Experience inside the Dartmouth Bubble ……………………………………. 350 Dartmouth College and the Persona of Place ……………………………………. 374 Chapter 9: Analysis …………………………………………………………………………... 403 The American Obsession with the Ivy League …………………………………... 403 The Persistence of Tradition at Dartmouth ………………………………………. 418 The “Dartmouth Experience” and Brand Development …………………………. 430 Chapter 10: Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………. 446 Why the Old Traditions Will Not Fail …………………………………………... 446 Literature Cited ……………………………………………………………………………….. 474 Appendix: The Wheelock Succession: Dartmouth Presidents, 1769-Present ……………….. 502 Vita ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 503 iv ABSTRACT Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, is one of the nine Colonial Colleges and a member of the exclusive Ivy League. Congregationalist minister Eleazar Wheelock founded Dartmouth in 1769 on the premise of training missionaries to Christianize the Indians of the region and, over the years, Dartmouth developed into a premier college. Dartmouth is famous for its traditions, its ardently loyal alumni, and as a classic New England liberal arts college. But this image does not correspond with a closer, more critical look at the College. Through both archival and ethnographic research, this dissertation examines the cultural landscape, folklore, place-making, and student culture of Dartmouth College. Recurring themes include the persistence and preservation of Dartmouth’s many “old traditions” and a vague but frequently used term, “the Dartmouth Experience.” Primary research questions ask: What are the “old traditions” and why is Dartmouth adamant about not letting them fail? Why are these traditions important to understanding Dartmouth as a culture and place? And what is “the Dartmouth Experience?” Chapter 1 provides an introduction and outlines the dissertation’s content. Chapter 2 discusses the methodology, the main concepts employed, and a literature review. Chapter 3 provides some general historical background on the College and a description of contemporary Dartmouth. Chapter 4 is a landscape history of Dartmouth Hall and its role as an iconic building of the College. Chapter 5 explores the folklore surrounding the Old Pine, a site for the controversial and now-defunct Class Day ritual. Chapter 6 examines the Dartmouth Outing Club and Dartmouth Night, two key traditions that define Dartmouth as a place. Chapter 7 takes the reader inside the “Dartmouth Bubble” to gain a sense of daily life at the Ivy League school. Chapter 8 recounts my experiences as an outsider at Dartmouth and integrates the preceding chapters’ findings to understanding its place identity. Chapter 9 examines the role of the Ivy v League in the American mind, the persistence of tradition at Dartmouth, and “the Dartmouth Experience.” Chapter 10 concludes with an argument on why the old traditions will not fail. vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION It seems rather unlikely that a small college begun some 240 years ago, hidden away in a serene New England valley, with the original intent to train missionaries to Christianize the Indians of the region would have reached such a high level of status and prominence in American higher education. But that appears to be precisely the case for Dartmouth College. In fact, Dartmouth was at one time considered to be a fairly obscure college, and it only began its rise to national and international distinction in the late nineteenth century (Birmingham 1961: 147). Founded in 1769 in the “wilderness” of Hanover, New Hampshire as the last of the nine American colleges founded before the American Revolution (the “Colonial Colleges”), Dartmouth slowly evolved into the elite and renowned Ivy League college that it is today while somehow retaining much of its original institutional character and identity. As one of the eight Ivy League colleges, Dartmouth has an especially strong allure. In many ways, Dartmouth represents the idealized college (Tucker 1999), the quintessential New England liberal arts college popularized in film and literature. Indeed, Dartmouth is significant and distinguished because of its age, its many famous and fervently loyal alumni, and its many longstanding traditions. It is distinctive from the other Ivies because of its smaller size and remoteness, which beget a particular sense of place and insularity. These traits, in addition to the visual qualities of the College as seen in its cultural landscape, present an impression of Dartmouth as an Arcadian, unpretentious, secluded academic paradise in quiet, rural New Hampshire, much like the early stories and romantic images of the College suggest (Figure 1). But these images do not correspond with a more critical look at the reality of the College. This contrast is more apparent when one considers that Dartmouth is part of an elite, wealthy, and powerful group of American colleges known for their exclusionary character. This 1 Figure 1: Watercolor of Dartmouth College by George Ticknor, 1803 (reproduction). From Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College. same character is well documented for both historic and contemporary Dartmouth. Through an examination of three main, interrelated topics (landscapes, legends, and place-making), this dissertation explores how Dartmouth represents itself today as a progressive, tolerant, even idealistic institution when its landscape, institutional history, folk traditions, and contemporary culture largely suggest otherwise. By employing archival and ethnographic methods, I recount an academic year that I spent at Dartmouth to provide a place study that investigates the importance and strong utilization of specific images and traditions at Dartmouth and how these elements greatly contradicted the more public, general impression and understanding of