 Ted Geisel and Ernest Martin Hopkins at Dartmouth, 1962. Courtesy Dartmouth College Library. |
THE DARTMOUTH CONNECTION Ted Geisel painted Rape of the Sabine Woman (title of the original circa 1930 painting) for the Dartmouth Club on 37th Street in New York City where it hung until the club changed locations in 1934. Stored at private home for the next 30 years, it was presented to Ernest Martin Hopkins in 1964, who gifted it to Dartmouth College before he died later that year. Ernest Martin Hopkins (Class of 1901) served as President of Dartmouth from 1916 to1945, guiding the college through two World Wars and the Great Depression. Hopkins grabbed Ted’s attention and loyalty from the start. For his part, Ted was exactly the kind of undergraduate Hopkins was looking for to diversify the student body. Ted didn’t come from a wealthy or aristocratic family. While he got solid grades in high school, he certainly wasn’t a scholar, but he was dynamic and sociable, with enthusiastic references to recommend him. When Ted was 75 he compiled a list of “the people who mean everything to me.” Ernest Martin Hopkins was on it. Today, the 5’5” x 5’4” original painting resides in the permanent collection of the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, New Hampshire. |