Editor's note: This is the second part of a weekly series profiling various properties owned by the College outside Hanover.
Frank Sinatra, Dartmouth's Board of Trustees and the committee that drafted the 1999 Student Life Initiative may not have much in common, but all three have spent some time at the Minary Conference Center, a College-owned waterfront property on Squam Lake in Holderness, N.H.
The Center was donated to the College in 1970 by William Paley, the founder of CBS Broadcasting, and it has since served the Dartmouth community, alumni and others as a venue for both meetings and retreats, according to Drew Hinman, manager of the Minary Center.
The Minary Center, which can accommodate up to 35 guests, tries to go beyond simply providing lodging for customers, aiming to foster a productive atmosphere for the conferences held there, Hinman said.
"At a traditional hotel, they put in meeting facilities to sell rooms," said Hinman, who has been manager for 24 years. "What we're really selling is the whole ambiance of the meeting. It's one of the reasons that people get the results that they get when they're here."
The original owner, Bertha Schrafft, sold the property in 1957 to Paley, who often used the house to entertain celebrities including Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Groucho Marx, according to the Minary Center's web site.
"When Schrafft built the property I think she put a lot of thought into the design," Hinman said.
The Paley family gave the property away in the late 1960s because the estate was underused. Paley chose to give the estate to the College in honor of his financial advisor, John Minary '29, according to the web site.
The provincial location of the Minary Center creates a productive work environment, Hinman said. Squam Lake, located a little over an hour away from the College by car, provides a chance to escape from on-campus distractions.
"I think if you were closer than that to campus, you wouldn't get the results that you're getting," he said. "I think the reason that people use [the Minary Center] is that they want to get away from those distractions."
Hinman also said that the natural setting of Squam Lake encourages greater communication between visitors. The Minary Center has no televisions or telephones, allowing the higher level of interaction.
"The different ways we all communicate today sometimes it's better to look somebody in the eye," Hinman said.
Revenues from customers not affiliated with Dartmouth subsidize Dartmouth-sponsored trips to the Center, according to Hinman. The subsidies go towards any trip paid for by a Dartmouth account.
"We've always tried to reduce the financial burdens on the College," he said.
According to a report released by the College in July 2009, the Center struggles "to generate enough revenues to cover their annual operations."
Hinman, however, said the report was not entirely accurate.
"I think [the report] was based on capital expenses," Hinman said. "We've always broken even."
Hinman also said that the benefits of the Center are central to the College's mission.
"What we do is very similar to what the College does," he said. "We're bringing people together for the exchange of information and new creative ideas."
The Minary Center has served as a meeting place for Dartmouth Medical School faculty and students, according to Hinman. DMS faculty often work on grant-writing projects at the Minary Center and graduate students collaborate with professors on various projects there.
Although the cost of renting out the Center is too expensive for most student groups to afford, many alumni use the Center for ski trips and class meetings, Hinman said.
"If [students] can come with a professor, obviously the professor is paying," he said.
