When we arrived on campus in 1964, Belvidere Brooks House was only three years old. It was the 1961 replacement structure for the classic DKE fraternity house, which had burned down in 1959. Understandably, it would have been prohibitively costly to replicate the DKE house, but it seemed surprising that the new residential house was […]
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Class of 1850 Attends First Documented 50th Reunion at Williams
In 1900 members of the Class of 1850 attended a 50th reunion luncheon at the Greylock Hotel (near the present Greylock Quad). It is the first documented event of this kind. Only four classmates attended in person, but many more either sent messages of greeting or were represented by letters from relatives. Male and female […]
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Winter Carnival redux
For many of us Winter Carnival made it worth putting up with the harsh New England winter and served as a welcome interlude. March vacation (somehow called Spring Break) seemed closer after the last round of ski jump competition. Think about it: not just two games (soccer and football) but three days of competition, featuring […]
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“Frivolous, conformist, and anti-intellectual”
Williams Web Team Historian John Dirlam takes us back in time to 1868 when Prof. John Bascom (he of Bascom House, and later President of the University of Wisconsin) delivered a screed against fraternities at Williams. His report is bolstered by additions from the Web Team, and includes a video discussion led by former President […]
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the babbel
“On Friday, February 11, 1966, ‛the babbel,’ Williams’ answer to a Greenwich Village espresso house, opened to a large and enthusiastic clientele…in the basement of Brainerd Mears House.” — Williams Record, Feb 15, 1966 Brainerd Mears had formerly been the ϴΔX Fraternity House, and the babbel was part of an effort symbolically to re-purpose the […]
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Faculty memories
I wish to add Steve Lewis to the faculty memories. He and Bill Gates ’39 taught me freshman economics and influenced my career choice. Steve also taught the basic Development Economics course at the Center for Development Economics, and welcomed Andy Weiss and I into the class where we became acquainted with thirty junior civil […]
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The Green River
The Murky Secrets of Williamstown’s Green River We sing the school song about the majesty of the surrounding mountains as “monarchs”—Mount Greylock, Pine Cobble, and so forth. But what of the lowly Green River meandering around Williamstown? The lyric of the song does recognize that “the peaceful river floweth gently by.” While mountains and streams […]
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