Pratt Institute - Prattonia Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 7 text:

To all the members of this Class of 1951, made up of future archi- tects, art teachers, followers of the arts in many varying fields, home economists, librarians, leather tanners, and engineers, | extend my con- gratulations. I will say this to you on Commencement Day, with a deep feeling of friendship and a hand gradually swelling in size as I greet one of the Institute’s largest classes, and one of its best. Your record has been good. Your friendly cooperation is greatly appreciated by all of us who work here for the advancement of the education of present and future students. We shall miss you. May you read Prattonia one, five, ten, or more years hence with pleasant memories of friends and personal accomplishments here. It is a task in itself to graduate in these uncertain and disturbing times. “Where shall I be a year from now?” is uppermost in all minds, and it is no fun. However, let’s look to the future with courage and confidence. Charles Pratt, President

Page 6 text:

The good taste of trying to be funny in a senior yearbook, especially in the year 1951 can and, no doubt, will be questioned. The questioner might even have a case—but we don’t think so. In fact, we are particu- larly vehement in our belief that humor is pleasant contrast to the sorry scheme of things which daily presents itself in headlines and on the radio, an oasis in a desert of barren politics and fruitless belliger- ence. In pursuit of this conviction we decided to trample caution, ignore the frowns of disapproving critics, and try to laugh a little. PRATTONIA 751 is a lot of things it probably shouldn’t be. It, also, isn’t a lot of things it probably should be. This being or not being, however, is a circumstance of purposeful direction and not an acci- dent. For instance, if you consult PRATTONIA ’51 in search of some fact, you may find it, but chances are you won't. If you are looking for profound literature, this is not the source you should choose. In these and many other ways this book is a miserable failure. Who cares? Facts are the ware of The World Almanac, the Kinsey Report, and the Gallup poll. Profundity we leave to The Readers’ Digest. Both have been meticulously omitted from this volume. It is our considered opinion that a successful yearbook should be fun. It should be fun the day you first lay eyes on it. It should be fun many years hence as you reminisce fondly upon your academic days. It should still be fun when, even more years hence, you sit by the fire- place, shriveled and feeble, reading it to your grandchildren. It should provoke chuckles and evoke time-dimmed memories until its very cover crumbles from too much such provoking and evoking. PRATTONIA ’51 will then have served its purpose. And if it hasn’t, we still don’t intend to apologize.

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Dedic ation You may not have noticed but we are nearing the end of an era: the era of the check; the age of red tape; the epoch of the G.I. Bill. With so close a perspective, it would be presumptuous to try to evaluate the importance of this golden age in the history of the search for knowl- edge. It might even be naive, speaking broadly, to think that it has even been worth the countless tons of paper that have been used to record it—in quadruplicate. Nevertheless, it has been of unquestioned signifi- cance in the lives of over 8200 Pratt students since 1944 and so, to this “era of wonderful nonsense,” to those 8200 students, and, especially to the Pratt Veterans’ Services department, Prattonia ’51 is respectfully dedicated. Mrs. Small, Mrs. Kay and thirty-eight rehabilitation students, in- cluding the wounded, the malarial, and the mentally ill, pioneered the “early days” together. Many picturesque anecdotes might be told con- i : : cerning the pandemonium of those trying times; there were a lot of ae pues ome Mira: ‘Adeline Kiselewaki(Kay) ieee a ae of tears. Suffice to ies were unique!” Then came P.L. 346 and the ever increasing influx of America’s heroes; fresh from battle and eager to learn. Each was an individual and each a new problem. Each had books to be ordered, papers to be processed, sup- plies to be obtained, grades to be recorded; all this and the V.A., too. And on and on they came. The class of 1951 is composed of nearly eighty percent veterans— an all time high. In subsequent classes there has been a rapid decline— only forty-seven GI’s registered at Pratt in 1950; a mere thirteen per- cent of freshman enrollment. And so we say we are nearing the end of an era. It was no sinecure that Mrs. Small and Mrs. Kay took on. To say that they didn’t know what they were in for would be understatement personified. Had they known they would probably have thrown up their hands and run off to war themselves. The fact that they stayed and fought their own private little war; the fact that they survived the chaos and emerged intact is reason enough for this meager tribute. And the tribute is joyfully given. Manager, Pratt Veterans’ Services Secretary, Veterans’ Affairs, The Art School