Let us now praise famous men

Author: [no author name found]

Perched atop fireplaces and dusty mantels, gazing placidly from the dusty naves that overlook bustling hallways and animated dinner conversations, the busts of some of Middlebury's most distinguished men often fall unnoticed to the passerby. Fixed immobile for eternity, their names hover above the buzzing campus with little-understood historical meaning. With the help of The Campus, let us know their faces and their histories.

EGBERT AND CHARLES J. STARR

Hung above the fireplaces of Starr Library, the portraits of Egbert and Charles J. Starr illustrate the busts of two distinguished men to whom Middlebury College owes much of its early patronage. Sons of powerful trustee and Middlebury attorney Peter Starr, Charles and Egbert Starr are in part responsible for the survival of Middlebury College in the 19th century. Born in Middlebury, the brothers grew up in Vermont until their young adulthood when they moved to New York to pursue entrepreneurial passions. Both were successful businessmen; Charles established a profitable wholesale clothing company, while Egbert entered the industry of wholesaling and importing dry goods.

The Starr family played an important role in Middlebury's history because their assistance was critical during challenging times in the College's past. In the mid 19th century, Middlebury's dwindling admissions and staff, as well as its increased costs and inadequate funding, predicted a dismal future for the College. Through the donations of the Starr family, Middlebury was able to proceed with certain projects to better the College and move it from depression into recovery. In 1857, former President of the College Benjamin Labaree, with donations from Charles Starr, purchased over 3,000 volumes, doubling the College's library. The family also enabled the erection of another dormitory, Starr Hall - an essential addition because of the College's insufficient dormitory facilities. Through such improvements, Middlebury's administration hoped to attract more students, the most attainable solution to their problems.

The Starrs continued to help the College in the 1880s by funding the construction of the first "commons" project - a building that included a dining hall and recreation area - which aimed to reduce overall costs. During Ezra Brainerd's term as president, the Starr brothers bestowed substantial funds to Middlebury upon their deaths. Egbert's $50,000 donation was to be used for the construction of a library, hence the name Starr Library. Charles' $150,000 donation reached even farther. It enabled much-needed improvements to the College's living conditions, including centralized heating and a sewage system for Starr Hall. Charles' legacy extended to faculty expansion as well - he facilitated the hiring of the first strictly modern language professor, allowing the specialization of the classics and modern language departments. When the enrollment of female students began to increase in the 1890s, the Starr's contributions went toward the renovations of the first women's dorm, a vital feature of future growth. It was fortunate that the Starr brothers' assistance happened when it did: because of their generosity, Middlebury was able to expand its physical and student bodies and mature for more than 100 years into the educational institution that it is today.

- Corinne Beaugard, Staff Writer

WILFRED DAVISON

Wilfred Davison's portrait by Pierre Zwick, circa 1931, hangs in the Ross Fireplace Lounge. Davison is known to the Middlebury community today as Professor Davison - a graduate of the College in 1913 and the first dean of the Bread Loaf School of English from 1921 to 1929. Born in South Walden, Vt. in 1887, Davison prepared for college at the Montpelier Seminary before enrolling at Middlebury. After Middlebury, he studied German in Berlin and Marburg, Germany, attended the Curry School of Expression in Boston and pursued graduate work at Harvard and Columbia. Davison also became an instructor and assistant professor of German at Middlebury in 1913, but he later transferred to the English Department in 1918 and the American Literature department in 1921. Through his early work at Bread Loaf, Davison recruited a strong nationally-known faculty including George Whicher of Amherst, Kenneth Murdock of Harvard, Katherine Lee Bates of Wellesley, Edith Mirrielees of Stanford, James Southall Wilson of Virginia and Fred Lewis Pattee of Pennsylvania State University. Davison also invited visiting writers, such as Robert Frost, Willa Cather, Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Louis Untermeyer to read and converse with students. This set the stage for what would later become the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, which was founded in 1926. After Davidson's unexpected death in 1929, just five days before his 42nd birthday, the Davison Memorial Library was constructed in his honor at Bread Loaf, where it remains to this day.

- Liya Gao, Staff Writer

JULIAN W. ABERNETHY

Julian W. Abernethy was a native of New Haven, Vt. He graduated from Middlebury in 1876. He was a fellow at Johns Hopkins University and worked as a principal at the Berkeley Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He served as a Middlebury trustee for 22 years, from 1901 until his death in 1923. In his will, Abernethy generously left the College a collection of books and manuscripts. The collection originally consisted of around 6,000 volumes, but since 1923 the collection has grown considerably and now contains over 20,000 volumes. Many of the books are rare first editions. The transcendentalist movement as embodied by authors, like Emerson and Thoreau, particularly fascinated Abernethy. He, too, was an author and editor of many literary works, as well as an educator and passionate collector of first- edition literary works.

- Logan Brown, Staff Writer

FRANK D. ABERNETHY

Julian's brother Frank D. Abernethy, one of the four Abernethy brothers, helped with the funding for additional equipment in the Abernethy wing of the Starr library. After World War I, Middlebury College was in desperate need of more library space. Imagine the Library during finals week