West Chester University - Serpentine Yearbook (West Chester, PA)

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INFORMATION OF INTEREST CONCERNING THE PHILIPS MEMORIAL PROJECT IT HAS been the policy of those intimately associated with the Philips Memorial enter- prise to give the student body, the graduates of the school, and the general public such interesting information relating to the Memorial as is available from time to time. To answer various inquiries which have been made recently, it seems advisable to restate, at this time, some facts which have already been published, as well as to give some additional ones. Dr. George Morns Philips died March ii, lyio. At the business meeting of the Alumni Association, which was held following his death, a committee was appointed to consider ways and means of raising funds for a suitable memorial to be established as a tribute to him and his work. This committee has been functioning tor five years, during the first two of which funds came to it rather slowly. Three years ago, our present Business Manager, John R. Hollinger, was elected President of the Alumni Association, after which time a new, vigorous, and far-reaching campaign was inaugurated, with the result that the fund now collected for this enterprise is approaching $100,000. On Commencement Day at the school last year, guests were invited to join in the exercises of officially breaking ground for the new building. Addresses were delivered by Colonel A. M. Holding, President of the Board of Trustees, Mrs. Mary Morris Hamilton, also a member of the Board of Trustees, and Dr. Andrew Thomas Smith. The honor of turning the first spadeful of dirt in connection with the excavations was voted by the committee in charge to Mr. John R. Hollinger. One of the interested spectators on this occasion was Mrs. E. Anna Large Thorne, a member of the class of 1874, the first class which graduated from this institution. From the day of breaking ground to the present time, work on the project has progressed satisfactorily. The new building is situated on the campus near the intersection of High Street and Normal Avenue, the main auditorium extending along Normal Avenue. The stonework is fairly well completed and presents a fine appearance, the face stone being the warm gray Fo.xcroft stone of varying tints, which is especially suited for the type of building being erected, which is collegiate Gothic style, such as may be seen at Princeton and Bryn Mawr, and which is generally seen in England. The trimmings are Indiana limestone, and the roofing — Mohawk asbestos shingles of various colors — will, it is thought, greatly enhance the beauty of the building. The auditorium will provide seating capacity for 1,978 persons, there hemg 1,43,8 seats on the first floor, and 540 on the balcony. The first floor of the building extending along High Street will be used, in the mam, as administrative offices. The Philips Memorial Library will be placed on the second floor. Perhaps it is not generally known that this is one of the largest privately autographed collections of books in the country and is valued at more than $jo,ooo. It goes without saying that a great building of the kind here being erected, and which is to combine all of the features necessary for auditorium and administrative purposes will be equipped with every modern convenience which will make for the accommodation and comfort of its patrons, and of those who will use it generally. The building will be not only a model of fine architecture, but, thanks to the attention given to every detail by the architect, Mr. Walter Price, and the general contractor, Mr. Victor Gondos, it is being so substantially constructed that it should continue to be of service for several generations. When completed, the Philips Memorial will serve, not only as a monument to the great work of the one in whose memory it is being erected, and who served this institution for more than forty years, but it will provide the community, as well, with a much-needed auditorium for such functions as draw great crowds here, and for which our present ac- commodations are entirely inadequate. Also, to those who are aware of the persistent and optimistic campaign which has been carried on to collect a fund ot $100,000 for this worthy purpose, the Memorial will be a reminder of the unselfish efforts of the President of the Alumni Association during three successive years of this campaign. It is fitting that a Memorial to one that never faltered shall be made a reality so soon, and a reality so grand, because the leading spirit back of it never faltered. Elizabeth L. Brinton

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CAMPUS VIEW THE GEORGE MORRIS HILI S MEMORIAL QHA EL

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Dear Friends of the Graduating Class: As you go out to active labors in the field you have selected as your life-work, there is one foundation truth that I should like to have you carry with you and incor- porate in your lives. Yours is a noble profession, but the real glory in it is to be secured not by enabling learners to comprehend more truth and to accumulate more information, valuable as both of these accomplishments are, but rather in bringing the personality of the child into living relationship with another worth-while personality — ni making him realize that he is a member of a universal spiritual brotherhood. Your noble life lived in the child ' s presence will teach more effectively than any words you can utter; and the appreciation of this great truth should be a sufficient in- centive for you to live your highest and best. Sincerely yours, Andrew Thomas Smith [18]