MIT New House 50th Reunion

 

Vivian Hir, Class of 2025

presented a history of New House

A few months ago we attended an interesting reunion at MIT.  It wasn't a class reunion, or a family reunion, but it was a 50th anniversary of my husband's dorm (known at MIT as a living group).  I thought about how little genealogists use college, school, or university records, and this reunion created a lot of epherma, presentations, and photographs that will end up at the MIT archives.  Someday someone will want to see those records.  They list names, occupations, degrees, hometowns, and other pertinent information, and all of it is of interest to family historians.

I have done research at the archives at Simmons University, Acadia University, Boston University, University of New Hampshire and other schools. I've found not just academic records and yearbooks, but also journals, sermons, news clippings, photographs, books and other interesting items.  All of it was useful and helped to flesh out the bones on some ancestors for whom I only had vital records. 

The New House 50th reunion featured some great presentations which were shared electronically with partipants at this reunion, and some artifacts that were on display.  Of special interest was a large format book with the signatures of all the residents of New House.  We had fun searching for Vincent's name, and the names of his classmates in the book.  There were also construction plans, renovation charts, newsclippings, and photos on display. 

This register had the date, name, class year, major, 

dorm room, home address, etc. of every resident of New House

At the reunion Vivian Hir, class of 2025, a resident of New House, gave a great presentation on the history of New House, which was built in the 1970s to stem an overcrowding issue on the MIT campus.  Construction began on a site next to MacGregor House, at 500 Memorial Drive, the site of Joyce Chen's restaurant from 1969 - 1974.  The new dorm was designed by Spanish architect Josep Lluis Sert.  It was six units connected by a street level corridor, creating many independent living communities.  Three units faced the Charles River, and 3 faced the athletic field.   

New House opened in September 1975 and House 1 was Chocolate City (African American) and Russian House, House 6 was French House and German House.  Later Spanish House and other living groups were added.  Vincent lived in House 3 (known as New Three Stooges).  In 2007 iHouse opened to promote international development, social justice and activism. In 2022 New House 2 became Juniper, an all female Black community.  There are nine different living groups at New House currently. 

In July 2015 there was a flood due to a burst pipe which damaged Houses 1, 2, and 3.  Students were moved to the nearby Hyatt hotel.  In 2016 another pipe burst.  MIT contemplated demoliton or full repair.  It was decided to renovate, which took several years, as each unit was restored .  The school decide to fully remove walls and change the separate units into one fully integrated dorm, but keeping the living groups.  

The history presentation was followed by a lunch and tours of the renovated New House.  We couldn't find Vincent's old rooms, because the renovations had completely removed the rooms, walls, corridors and lounges to create new dorm rooms, living spaces, kitchens, and maker spaces. It was strange to not see the old familiar spaces, but extremely interesting to see the new ideas and new students enjoying the building. 

Events like this reunion used the MIT archives, interviews, the libraries and more to create presentations, and then those presentations will be archived in turn.  Think of all the events, reunions, and more that are being archived at colleges, and your ancestors (or you!) might be named and described in detail.  

New House 3

New House current floor plans

Former New Three Stooges

residents of New House 3 

A group shot of all the reunion participants

New Three Stooges (New House 3) residents in 1978

For the truly curious:

MIT ArchivesSpace:  https://archivesspace.mit.edu/  

MIT Libraries:   https://libraries.mit.edu/distinctive-collections/  

MIT Facility Archive Collection:  https://campusplanning.mit.edu/what-we-do/facility-information-systems-fis/facilities-archive/  

New House webpage:  https://newhouse.mit.edu/   

This webpage has a good description of the history and renovations at MIT's New House:   https://www.goodyclancy.com/project/new-house/  

New House at MIT Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/mitnewhouse/  

---------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "MIT New House 50th Reunion", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 22, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/05/mit-new-house-50th-reunion.html: accessed [access date]).  

MIT March 1979 - Photo Friday

 These faded, old photographs were found in one of those plastic, sticky photo albums at Vincent's parents' house in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The photos were taken in 1979, and the heat, humidity and acid from the glue in the "magnetic pages" had taken their toll on the images.  We immediately removed them from the sticky plastic, photographed them on the dining room table, and took them home to scan them properly later.  

Well, we haven't gotten around to scanning all the images we found at the house in Puerto Rico. There were over 25 albums, and boxes full of photographs. Most were in very rough shape due to the climate in Puerto Rico. Some have been scanned, and others are still waiting.  I thought it would be fun to share these images now, before they fade away completely!  They are from March 1979, when my mother-in-law and father-in-law visited Vincent on the MIT campus.  I can't imagine how they must have frozen, coming from sunny, warm San Juan to raw, cold Boston and Cambridge in March.  If you have been to Cambridge recently, you'll know that the skyline has changed tremendously in the past thirty five years. 

The Great Dome at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

The MIT campus seen from the top of the Prudential Tower

The "Infinite Corridor" on the MIT campus

Vincent and his Mom pose in front of

77 Massachusetts Avenue

The MIT playing fields, with the Kresge Center and the 

Great Dome in the background

"The Great Sail" sculpture on the East campus

Vincent and his Dad posing on Mass. Ave.

Vincent's parents in front of the

MIT Green Building

The Cambridge skyline seen from Boston's Back Bay

Vincent's dorm "New House" is near the middle

The snowy courtyard of New House, with

Boston's Back Bay across the Charles River

Vincent's parents posing at Harvard Yard

Vincent with his parents at Boston Harbor's Long Wharf

The visitor gallery at the top of the Prudential Tower

Vincent's parents in front of the Old State House

in downtown Boston

The label from the photo album where these photos were found

Vincent's mother had tucked this 1970s era postcard in with the photographs

---------------------

Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "MIT March 1979 - Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 11, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/12/mit-march-1979-photo-friday.html: accessed [access date]). 

Throwback Thursday ~ 1981 Bike Race from MIT to Wellesley College

More college days photo slides (even though the color is deteriorating)!  It's a good thing Vincent is digitizing these old pictures.  This group of photos features a bike race from MIT to Wellesley College (from Cambridge to Wellesley, Massachusetts.  The men in these photos are all from Vincent's house at MIT (New House III), and the women are mostly my friends and I.  I love the short shorts on the men in these photos - very vintage now!

For some reason we are all up in the Green Building on the MIT campus,
peering out the window... nice view of Boston and the Charles River!

On the Wellesley College campus, waiting for the bikers to arrive

The green T-shirts were the house shirts for MIT's New House III,
although they read "NTS" for "New Three Stooges"

The end of the bike race

Time for a picnic after the race

Relaxing before returning to MIT. 

---------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Throwback Thursday ~ 1981 Bike Race from MIT to Wellesley College", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 7, 2019, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/03/throwback-thursday-1981-bike-race-from.html: accessed [access date]).

Colonial Boston in Miniature and in Giant Murals (in the same spot!)

1622 William Blaxton on the Shawmut Peninsula

On Newbury Street, right across from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, is the old New England Life Building.  It is known as The Newbry today. The main entrance is on 501 Boylston Street, but if you enter by the Newbury Street side and look to your left and to your right, there are four small dioramas set into the walls.  Each tiny masterpiece displays a scene from the origins of colonial Boston.  At the Boylston Street entrance is a massive lobby with eight murals showing Boston History up until the Revolutionary War (1622 – 1798).

The Boston Society of Natural History existed from 1830  until 1948 in Boston.  It was located in the financial district, and in 1864 it moved to 234 Berkeley Street in the new Back Bay neighborhood created by a massive landfill project.  The society evolved later into what is now the Boston Museum of Science, and removed from Back Bay to Cambridge.

These four intricate dioramas were built for the Boston Society of Natural History in 1863.  This museum was right on this block at the corner of Boylston and Berkeley Streets, and it is now recently the Louis Boston building, and is now a branch store of Restoration Hardware.  These miniature scenes were created by a woman, Sarah Ann Rockwell, and the painted backgrounds were done by Henry Brooks.  The first diorama displays a scene from pre-colonial contact, with Native Americans setting fish weirs in Back Bay. The second shows William Blaxton (AKA Blackstone) and his little settlement on the Shawmut peninsula. The third shows workers filling in Back Bay in 1858.  The fourth shows the miniature Boston Society of Natural History building described above, and Rogers Hall, which was the first MIT building in Back Bay (1866 – 1938).

Native American fishing weirs in Back Bay

1858 filling in Back Bay

1866 The Boston Society of Natural Science and MIT's Rogers Building

 According to the book Boston Curiosities, Sarah Ann Rockwell was a perfectionist.  She took two weeks to make a human diorama figure and a month to make a tiny horse. She researched the history of Back Bay, and even used original blueprints of the buildings in the fourth diorama to create the mini structures.

Charles Constantin Joseph Hoffbauer (1875 – 1957) was a French born Beaux Arts artist who worked for Disney and created several famous murals, including the mural inside the Battle Abbey in Richmond, Virginia started in 1913, and finished after he served for France in World War I.  Hoffbauer was hired by New England Life to create the murals for their new lobby.  He spent five months in Boston researching the local history.  Then he painted these murals in Hollywood, California and they were installed in Boston in May 1942 for a convention, then removed for final details and reinstalled four months later.  Hoffbauer became an American citizen in 1941, and later lived in Rockport, Massachusetts.

Building the USS Constitution

The Winthrop Fleet

This lobby is open to the public, but I always ask the guard at the lobby desk for permission to linger and loiter.  Most people rush right past these works of art to the elevators, but if you want to take in all the details you will be here for at least a few minutes, if not more!

For more information:

Boston Curiosities:  Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities, and other Offbeat Stuff, by Bruce Gellerman and Erik Sherman, Morris Book Publishing, Guilford, CT, 2010.

Charles Hoffbauer at Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hoffbauer 

(I could find no information about artist Sarah Ann Rockwell online)

-----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Colonial Boston in Miniature and in Giant Murals (in the same spot!)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 18, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/06/colonial-boston-in-miniature-and-in.html: accessed [access date]). 

The MIT World War II Honor Roll

IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES 1941 - 1945

Horace Jonas Adelson

Edward Schwartz Allee

Robert William Allen

James Roy Andersen

Richard Neal Anderson

James Henry Appleton

Charnley Kemper Atwater

Donald William Augusterfer

William Church Baker

Joseph Hunter Bakewell

Allan Ralph Bardwell

Edwin Fry Barry

David Bradt Bartlett

Beshara Elian Battit

Frederick William Baumann Jr.

Peter Paul Bernd

John Russell Bird

Francis Loudon Black

Brandon Brewster Bodell

Lawrence Arthur Bosworth

William Francis Brangan Jr.

George Thaddeus Breitling

Richard Herbert Bresler

Isaac Brimberg

Norman Robert Bryan

James Cyril Burke

John Francis Burke

-----------------------

Leland Mohtershead Burr Jr.

Thomas Colin Campbell jr.

Earl Richards Carle

Robert Sherwood Carr

Theodore John Carr

Charles Vincent Case Jr.

Robert Dix Castle

Lincoln Romeiser Clark Jr

Sterling Moore Clark

Robert Carroll Clement

Francis Sylvester Conaty

Joseph Anthony Conlin

Harold Connett Jr.

James Henry Cooke

Francis Michael Costello Jr.

Francis Joseph Crimmins

Otis Waite Crocker

James Adams Curran

Harold Francis Theophilus Davies

William LeRoy Davis

Robert Elwyn DeMerritt

Arthur Louis Dionne

Robert Edward Dixon

William Simpson Doughten Jr.

Paul Whitney Dove

Delavan Bloodgood Downer Jr.

James Francis Downing

-------------------------

Arthur Dzendollt

Richard Daniel Eadington

John Clayton Ekeberg

Richard Grant Elrick

Robert MacNab Emery

Alva Franklin Englehart

Norman Cornell Estes

Douglas Grant Fenton

James Hollister Ferguson

Raymond West Ferris

Francis Gurney Fine Jr.

Lamar Fleming 3d

Robert Walton Fleming

Charles Benedict Fodale

Paul Henry Fretz

Walter Joseph Freund Jr.

Ernest Francis Gallagher

Robert Anthony Gallagher

John Henry Gander

John Dick Gardiner

Howard Robert Garner

Clayton Samuel Gates

George Samuel Gerst

George Davis Gibson

Bernard Lee Goldsmith

Everett John Graham Jr.

William Daniel Grant

John Guttel

------------------------------

Robert Foster Haggerty

Leigh Spaulding Hall Jr

Edward Alexander Hallick

Vincent Robert Hann

Henry William Harms

Thomas Harper Jr.

Leon Francis Harris

Howard Raymond Healy

John Cameron Heist

Richard Kirk Henry Jr.

John William Herb

Bradford Kent Herman

Frank William Horne Jr.

William Gabriel Houck Jr.

Harry Ensor Hubbard

Donald Mulford Hunt

Henry Wright Hurley

James Francis Clark Hyde

William Benton Hyde

Edward Carpenter Immer

Waldo Clark Jackman Jr.

John West Jackson

Perry Hammond Jacob

Harold Wiltsie Jacobson

Cornelius Allen Jenkins

Frank Jay Jerome 3d

Malcolm Edward Johnson

-----------------------

Robert Edward Johnson

Russell Willett Johnson

Cutler Jones

Louis William Juliano

John Dandridge Henley Kane

Tobias Arthur Karno, Jr.

Stanley Julian Katcher

Charles Francis Kelly, Jr.

James Edward Kelley

Erskine Ramsay Kelly

Max Simon Kendzur

Alfred William Kinsman

Erling Klapstad, Jr.

Harold James Klopp

Edmund Clark Knight

Robert Calvin Kunz

Fred Lee Lamb

William James Latimer

Andre Nicol Laus

Chalres Frederick Leiserson

Charles Nelson Liqued

Norman Edgar Lisk, Jr.

Augustine Patterson Little, Jr.

Thomas Mitchell Loesdon

Alfred Jefferson Lyon

Leon Meyer Mack

Howard Spencer MacKirdy

---------------------------------

Joseph Lynn McCarthy

James Seabury McClave

Francis William McGinnis

Thomas Edward McGrath

William Carmen McHarg

James Ruemmeli McKelvey

Richard Paul McMahon

Burt Chester McNall

Clare Arthur McRoberts

Lansing McVickar

Robert Emmett Manders, Jr.

Mattew Mank

Marvin Merrick

Leonard Abbott Merrill, Jr.

Charles Robert Mills

Floyd Allen Mitchell

Charles Roderick Mize

James Hollenbeck Morehouse, Jr.

Carl Henry Morrill

Robert Fletcher Morrison

Henry Maston Mullinnix

John Joseph Nagle, 3d

Bertram Frank Nagy

Lloyd William Nash

Paul Gustaf Nelson

David Merwin Newbury

David Albert Newcomer

-----------------------------

Burkett Dunlap Newton

Dow Hiram Nicholson

William Edwin Nightingale

Thomas Francis O’Brien

Salvatore Pagliuca

Walter Hale Paige, Jr.

Stephen Richard Papp

Frank Claveloux Parker, Jr.

Roger Wendell Parkinson

Gordon Keith Parks

James Lovett Parmelee

Olcott Sprigg Payson

Ulysses John Lincoln Peoples, Jr.

Malcolm Oliver Petrie

James William Pfueger

Juilus Arnold Pohl

Elbert Baker Pritchard

Henry Ware Putnam

Fred Luman Raymond

Harold MacGregor Reed

Milton Clark Reeves

Willis Ward Reeves, Jr.

Clark Robinson

William Hurlin Robinson

William Rae Robinson

John David Root

Llewellyn H. Rowe, Jr.

Forrest Betton Royal

---------------------------------------

Richard Tague Schaeffer

Frederick Emil Sheidy

George Arthur Schutte

Richard Hutchinson Seabury

Paul Dotrenge Seghers, Jr.

Robert Duncan Severson

Henry Crawford Shepard

John Hamilton Shepard

Leonard Griffin Shepard

William Milson Shepard

Alexander George Shisko

Charles Van Arsdale Skinner

George Rosse Smith

Gustavus Hindman Miller Smith

Robert Julian Solow

Ernest Mills Spear

Daniel Stickley Spengler

Karawek Srivichararna

David Warren Stamper

Carl William Starck

Justus Underwood Steele

William Arnold Steinhurst

Edward Forrest Stewart

George Roben Stone

Mark Stowell

Robert Strauten

Lawrence Edward Teich

------------------------

William Tham

James Malcolm Topalian

William Frederick Traupp

William Trescher

Derrick Tilton Vail, 3d

Lisle Van Burgh

John VanSchaick

Richard Albert Van Tuyl

Charles Vestal

Howard Winfield Wade

Duane Ralph Waldo

Edward Clark Walsh

Theodore Maxwell Wardwell, Jr.

Mark Murray Waxman, Jr.

Walter Wynne Webster

Lloyd Edward Weidman

Charles John Weschler

William Thomas White

Harry Gill Whitman, Jr.

Richard Sampson Wiener

Randolph Piersol Williams

Robert Erskine Williams, Jr.

Elmer Clarence Wirtz, Jr.

Warren Frederick Wolf

John Williams Woodruff

William Grundtvig Yepsen

James Howard Young, Jr.

This honor roll is located in Building 10 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  This two story space is known as “Lobby 10” or “Memorial Lobby”.  These travertine marble walls are covered with the names of MIT alumni who have died during WW1, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There is a 24 hour silent vigil in this lobby every year by MIT’s ROTC community.  The lettering on the walls was re-gilded in 2012.  Memorial Lobby is on the famous “infinite corridor” parallel to the Charles River and Memorial Drive.  The Great Court, where celebrations such as graduation take place, is outside the glass wall of Memorial Lobby on the south side. 

This blog post was written for the Honor Roll Project:

https://honorrollproject.weebly.com/

-------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The MIT World War II Honor Roll", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 21, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-mit-world-war-ii-honor-roll.html: accessed [access date]).

MIT World War I Honor Roll

TO THE MEMORY OF THE BRAVE MEN OF THE

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE GREAT WAR

ANNO DOMINI MCMXIV MCMXIVIII

ORTON WHEELOCK ALBEE

EDWARD PORTER ALEXANDER

GEORGE NATHAN ALTHOUSE

CYRIL MATTHEW ANGELL

REUBEN AREY

ARTHUR KINDRED ATKINS

HENRY MORRELL ATKINSON, Jr

SELIGMAN BERNEI AUSTRIAN

EDGAR DORUS BASCOM

ORIC BATES

GEORGE ALBERT BEACH

BRAXTON BIGELOW

FRANCIS PRATT BRECK

FRANK N. BROWN

MALCOLM COTTON BROWN

MALCOM BRUCE BROWNLEE Jr

CHAUNCEY DAVIS BRYANT

WALTER FRANCIS BUCK

CHARLES BOWEN BUSEY

RICHARD BELMONT CATTON

HARRY CAVANAUGH

JAMES BARTON CHADWICK

MALMER CARLETON CHIDSEY

JAMES P. CLARKE Jr

MORTON EDDY COBB

--------------------------------

HOWARD MARTIN COOK Jr

EDWARD SEGUIN COUCH

CHARLES ROBERT CROSS Jr

DONALD WOODWORTH CURRY

WILLIAM EASTMAN Jr

DINSMORE ELY

WILLIAM KEY BOND EMERSON Jr

ERVAY BRONAUGH ERVAY

RAYMOND HENRY FELLOWS

CHESTER COOK FORD

FRANCIS MALCOLM FOWLER

JOHN WETHERELL FRIERY

EMILE BERTRAND GAILLAC

ARLO ELLSWORTH GARNSEY

PRESCOTT WILDER GOULD

JOHN BEACH GREEN

GORDON BAKER GREENOUGH

ROLAND BABSON GRIFFIN

THEODORE HERVEY GUETHING

FREDERICK S. HARTMAN

REED HAMILTON HASLAM

WILLIAM FRANKLIN HERRICK

ROYAL ROBBINS HEUTER

EDWARD EVERETT HIGGINS

JOHN HAMPDEN HOLLIDAY Jr

---------------------------------

JAMES HILL HOLMES Jr

JOSEPH WARREN HOMER Jr

BRUCE RITCHIE HONEYMAN

FRANKLIN TEMPLE INGRAHAM

CHARLES EDWARD JONES

GRANDVILLE REYNARD JONES

JOHN GEORGE KELLY

IRVING KENNARD

SCOTT PRESCOTT KIMBALL

HENRY LAMY

WOODRUFF LEEMING

HENRY FRANCIS LEWIS

ANDREW JACKSON LOWNDES

GEORGE LEWIS McKAY

ROBERT ALEXANDER McKAY

CHARLES SNEAD McDONALD

KARL CUSHING McKENNEY

RALPH READ MALCOLM

ERIC WIER MASON

JAMES DeCRIER MAY

HAYDN POTTER MAYERS

AUGUST CARL METZ

ERALBERT TALMADGE MILLER

ALFRED STANDISH MILLIKEN

PHILLIPS GARRISON MORRISON

THOMAS CUSHMAN NATHAN

----------------------------------

ALBERT INGRAM PAINE

ARTHUR MAXWELL PARSONS

HAROLD KINDER PATTEN

PAUL DESNOYERS PELTIER

DONALD CARY PERO

THOMAS RODMAN PLUMMER

LEWIS WILLIAM PRESCOTT

THEODORE RENTROPE PROUTY

PERCY ADAMS RIDEOUT

HARRY ALEXANDER ROBERTSON

NEWELL WILLARD ROGERS

GEORGE WELLES ROOT

GEORGE ROPER Jr

KENYON ROPER

ALEXANDER HEVIA SANTOS

ENOS CLIFFORD SAWYER

HAROLD SCHAFFER

FRED ERNEST SCHROEDER

FRANK RONALD SIMMONS

CHARLES McLEAN SMITH

WINTHROP FLOYD SMITH

HENRY OSCAR SOMMER

HENRY SOUTHER

WILLIAM GRIFFITH SPRAGUE

-------------------------------------

ALBERT LESLIE STEPHENS

WILLIAM DAVID STEVENS

GORDON STEWART

LeROY AMOS SWAN

ERMOND ALBERT TAYLOR

STUART THOMSON

ELMER FORREST THYNG

HAROLD JOSEPH TIERNEY

THOMAS ATKINSON TILLARD

HENRY OLIVER TOVEY

CHESTER ROBINSON TUTEIN

JOHN COWPERTHWAITE TYLER

JAMES PHILIP UHLINGER

RAYMOND VAN EETVELDE

PAUL GAUTIER VIGNAL

WILLIAM WRIGHT WALCOTT

ERNEST ALONZO WARE

HAROLD CLINTON WASCATT

CHARLES DANN WATERBURY

LEON HUBERT WEBBER

KENNETH WEEKS

CARL MARTIN WILLIAMS

RALPH GUNTER WILLIAMS

JAMES COUNCILL WOOTEN

ALFRED THEODORE WYMAN

ONLY VICTORY REMAINS AND A FAME FOREVER SECURE

                                              FRANCIS AMASA WALKER

 

Memorial Lobby or Lobby 10 at MIT

This honor roll is located in Building 10 on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  This two story space is known as “Lobby 10” or “Memorial Lobby”.  These travertine marble walls are covered with the names of MIT alumni who have died during WW1, WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. There is a 24 hour silent vigil in this lobby every year by MIT’s ROTC community.  The lettering on the walls was regilded in 2012.  Memorial Lobby is on the famous “infinite corridor” parallel to the Charles River and Memorial Drive.  The Great Court, where celebrations such as graduation take place, is outside the glass wall of Memorial Lobby on the south side. 

This blog post was written for the Honor Roll Project:
https://honorrollproject.weebly.com/

---------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "MIT World War I Honor Roll", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 10, 2017, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/11/mit-world-war-i-honor-roll.html: accessed [access date]). 

Vintage Views of Boston ~ Photo Friday

These photos were taken by my grandfather from the top of the Prudential Center building in Boston, Massachusetts in the 1960s.   The tower was opened in 1964, so it must have been quite a tourist attraction.  The skywalk or observation deck is on the 50th floor and there is a restaurant above it.  It was the tallest building in Boston until the John Hancock Tower (now known as 200 Clarendon Street) opened in 1976.

This view looks north across the Charles River to MIT and Cambridge. I loved looking at this view because the MIT campus has changed so much, especially the west campus, which appears mostly green here.  Vincent's dorm, New House, isn't here at all, nor most of the other big dorms along Memorial Drive.  Back Bay is mostly unchanged except for a few buildings here and there. 

This view looks across the Charles River Basin to Lechmere and the Science Museum.  Most of Lechmere and Kenmore Square are quite developed now, with high rise buildings.  This side of the river (Back Bay and Beacon Hill) look very similar except for the tall buildings that exist now downtown on the other side of Beacon Hill.

I wasn't sure about this view, so I posted it on Facebook.  My Hawaiian ohana cousin Taryn Holt though it might be Castle Square Park, so I looked it up online. According to the South End Historical Society website, "In the mid-1960s, buildings near Herald, Paul, Albion, Village, Emerald, and Middlesex streets were razed. The Castle Square housing complex was then built on the site."  [see this link: http://www.southendhistoricalsociety.org/why-is-castle-square-called-castle-square/ ]  By looking at this area on Google maps with the satellite view, Taryn was correct.  You can verify this by siting the Cyclorama, which is visible near the bottom right corner of the razed area. Urban renewal was rampant in 1960s Boston, here in the South End and in the West End. 

-----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Vintage Views of Boston ~ Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 28, 2017, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/07/vintage-views-of-boston-photo-friday.html: accessed [access date]).

Anti-Gravity, History, Rocks, Finance, and Genealogy

HERE AT NEW BOSTON, N.H.

ROGER W. BABSON

AND HIS ASSOCIATES

PIONEERED

IN ACTIVE RESEARCH

FOR ANTI-GRAVITY

AND A PARTIAL GRAVITY

INSULATOR

1959

This traffic island in the middle of New Boston, New Hampshire hides a secret! 

Under the plants and bushes is a monument to anti-gravity.  

I have been a fan of John J. Babson’s book The History of Gloucester, 1876, since it contains much genealogy information and historical stories about my ancestors.   In learning more about the Babson family, one of my favorite members has to be Roger Ward Babson (1875 – 1967).   He went to MIT, and worked for investment companies and invented Babson’s Statistical Organization in 1904.  His interest in business theory led him to found Babson College in Massachusetts, Webber College in Florida and the now gone Utopia College in Kansas.  He is famous for predicting the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression.  On September 5, 1929, just a few weeks before the crash he gave a speech “Sooner or later a crashing is coming, and it may be terrific.”

Roger Ward Babson was also an odd character; he founded the Gravity Research Foundation in 1948, convinced that science could learn to harness gravity.  They also experimented with theories on anti-gravity and gravity insulators.  He built a headquarters for this foundation in the little village of New Boston, New Hampshire because he was convinced it was far enough from civilization to survive a nuclear bomb in Boston, Massachusetts. The Gravity Research Foundation still exists, and it gives a prize every year for the best essay about gravity. Don’t laugh because Steven Hawking is one of the prize winners (see, he’s not just a character on The Big Bang Theory).

Another odd interest of Babson’s was the early settlement in Gloucester, Massachusetts known as Dogtown.  He hired stonecutters during the Great Depression to carve inspirational mottos on the boulders throughout Dogtown.  You can still walk through this area today and read the boulders which say things such as “Keep out of Debt”, “Help Mother” and “Prosperity follows service”, as well as marking the location of Dogtown Square and the cellar holes of colonial era homes.

A "Babson Boulder" at Dogtown, Gloucester, Massachusetts

There is a Babson Museum in West Gloucester dedicated to James Babson, the first Babson in Gloucester, Massachusetts who was a cooper.  The museum is a cooperage, built in 1658.   Roger Ward Babson is a distant cousin to me through his ROGERS and WHIPPLE ancestors.

I would love to photograph all these monuments to anti-gravity and gravity research, but as you can see below, someone has already done that.  Here is a list of all the colleges with the Anti-Gravity Monuments (none are the three colleges he founded, nor his Alma Mater the Massachusetts Institute of Technology): 

Colby College in Waterville, Maine

Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont

Keene State College in Keen, New Hampshire

Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts

Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts

Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts

We found this monument at Gordon College, Wenham, Massachusetts

THIS MONUMENT HAS BEEN 

ERECTED 1964 BY THE

GRAVITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION

ROGER W. BABSON FOUNDER

IT IS TO REMIND STUDENTS

OF THE BLESSINGS FORTHCOMING

WHEN SCIENCE DETERMINES

WHAT GRAVITY IS, HOW IT WORKS

AND HOW IT MAY BE CONTROLLED

For the truly curious:

The Babson Historical Association http://babsonhistorical.org/  Museum, genealogy and other Babson information and Images, including the Babson Family Association and Reunion.

http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/2010/03/anti-gravity-monuments.html      from the Odd Things I've Seen website, this is the post that got me driving around New England looking for these monuments.  There are photos of all the monuments at this page.

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/stone-wall-stories-3-dogtown.html   my blog post about looking for the Babson Boulders in Dogtown, Gloucester, Massachusetts

http://cowhampshire.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/9/3/2208378.html   A blog post about Roger Ward Babson, from Jan Brown’s blog “Cow Hampshire”, it includes a genealogy of the Babson Family.

The Gravity Research Foundation http://www.gravityresearchfoundation.org/
Try your luck at writing a prize winning essay on gravity, or anti-gravity, just like Stephen Hawking

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To cite/link to this blog post:   Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Anti-Gravity, History, Rocks, Finance, and Genealogy", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 18, 2013, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/anti-gravity-history-rocks-finance-and.html: accessed [access date]).