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Welcome to “Archival Miscellany,” where you, the St. George’s community, will discover something new about your school. The items that will be shown here over the course of the school year will be photographs, documents, and even artifacts found in the collections of the Gilbert Y. Taverner Archives, located on the lower level of the library.
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Room Regulations & Cubicles
Welcome to this month’s edition of “Archival Miscellany,” where you- the St. George’s community- will discover something new about your school. Students, as you all settle into your rooms, you might be surprised to see how auspicious your living situations are today- as compared to those before you sixty years ago!
The document, “Room and Cubicle Regulations,” was located on a bulletin board on every floor of the dormitories of the school. There were stringent limits to what a student could put on the wall in his room, as everything had to be approved by the faculty member responsible- Mr. J. Fritz. “Mechanical contrivances” such as radios were disallowed, but the boys would hide them in their cubicles and play them on the sly during lights out. The photos are from the Green Dorm- which was located on the third floor of Arden- and housed the third former boys. Other cubicles were located on the third floor of Diman (Brown Dorm), and the third floor of Old School (Blue and Red Dorms).
If you’re wondering what happened to those cubicles, they were phased out and converted into full-sized rooms in 1960. If this interests you, then why don’t you head on down to the Gilbert Y. Taverner Archives and discover some more archival miscellany?
-W.A.R.
Paddle Tennis
In March 1969, a paddle tennis court was installed between Twenty House and the Cottage, met with great excitement by the school community. The court was composed of wooden planks, and surrounded by a 12-foot wire fence—but was otherwise marked as an ordinary tennis court. Wooden tennis racquets and a tennis ball-sized rubber sphere were the instruments of the game. The rules were generally the same, except the player could only serve once, and the ball could be played off the fence after hitting the court. This generally made for frenetic games that could be played into the night, as night lights surrounded the court. The court was taken apart after a few years, as the school community’s interest dissolved—and now nothing remains in that site except grass.
-W.A.R.
First School Catalogue
This is a copy of the first School Catalogue, and the school was located at Swann Villa in Newport at that time in 1897. At that time, tuition was a mere $650 for boarders- which would be roughly about $13,000 today with inflation. The Board of Trustees was already filled with illustrious individuals, such as the Presidents of the University of Michigan and Harvard University, the Headmaster of Groton School, and the Bishops of Rhode Island and New York. The faculty was small, however, with one teacher covering each subject- even Headmaster John Diman had to teach all of the English courses! Students had much less choice in the foreign languages: either they could study Latin and Greek or French and German. “Physical Training” would take the place of sports for the boys until the school moved to the Hilltop in 1901.
If this interests you, then why don’t you head on down to the School History Center and discover some more archival miscellany?
-W.A.R.
WWII Mobile Field Kitchens
In an effort to support the British War Relief during World War II, in May 1941, the St. George’s Civics Club proposed that members of the school community raise money to purchase an ambulance for Great Britain. In consult with the faculty, the students decided to raise funds for a mobile field kitchen instead. The funds were raised by members of the school community including students, parents, and alumni.
By the opening days of school in the fall of 1941, the mobile field kitchens were purchased and were being used in Bristol, Somerset County, England. The kitchens were operated by the Women's Volunteer Service. One of the kitchens was used in Bishopsworth which had been blitzed the previous winter. The mobile kitchen facility provided women and children with food following the attack. Another field kitchen, which was funded through money raised at St. George’s through the Young America Wants to Help program, served families in Somerset, England who were attacked in the Battle of Britain.
To learn more about St. George’s and the efforts to raise money for mobile field kitchens during World War II, please contact Jen Tuleja, Director of Library Services and Archives, jen_tuleja@stgeoges.edu.
Source:
Doll, Jack. “St. George’s School in World War II: The Mobile Field Kitchens.” In St. George’s School Archivist’s Excavations, Vol. 1, no. 10 (2003). Taverner Archives and Special Collections.
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