From the Archives: Thanksgiving at Dartmouth

By Felicia Schwartz, The Dartmouth Staff | 11/14/11 2:31pm


 

 

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Cour­tesy Of Rauner Archives


Dart­mouth stu­dents tra­di­tion­ally re­turn home for Thanks­giv­ing, but Moosi­lauke Ravine lodge has played hol­i­day host to many Dart­mouth stu­dents over the years.

In 1957, Dart­mouth stu­dents hosted 40 or­phans from the Man­ches­ter Chil­dren’s Home, St. Peter’s Or­phan­age in Man­ches­ter and the Golden Rule Farm in Tilton, N.H. Or­ga­nized by the DOC, the two-night Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tion in­cluded “a Thanks­giv­ing Day din­ner, hikes through the area, and an evening pro­gram of singing and en­ter­tain­ment,” ac­cord­ing to the N.H. Sun­day News.

In 1961, the DOC hosted 40 boys, ages 8-14, at Moosi­lauke Ravine Lodge. The boys rep­re­sented all “races, creed and na­tion­al­i­ties” and came from churches in East Harlem and the Lower East Side of New York City, ac­cord­ing to The Dart­mouth. Like the 1957 event, the boys climbed Mt. Moosi­lauke and planned to “stuff them­selves with turkey.”

“For many of the young­sters it is to be their first time away from the city streets, their first glimpse of tree-lined rivers and moun­tains, their first bus ride and their first turkey din­ner,” The Dart­mouth re­ported.

Cabin and Trail hosts a Thanks­giv­ing cel­e­bra­tion at Billings Lodge, a six-room cabin at the foot of Mt. Madi­son in the Pres­i­den­tial Range. Stu­dents cook a big Thanks­giv­ing din­ner with the help of Cabin and Trail’s “Turkey Fund,” and go on hikes in the re­gion.

On cam­pus in the early 20th cen­tury, Dart­mouth used to host a Thanks­giv­ing Fes­ti­val Ser­vice in Rollins Chapel on the last Sun­day be­fore the fall re­cess. The fes­ti­val fea­tured per­for­mances by the Glee Club and was hosted by the pres­i­dent of the Col­lege. In 1929, “There was a large at­ten­dance; there should have been no empty seats at all,” The Dart­mouth re­ported.

Be­cause most peo­ple cel­e­brate the hol­i­day at home, there were few Thanks­giv­ing im­ages in the archives. But with the help of the knowl­edge­able Rauner Li­brary staff, I came across the above image of H.R. Thurston, a mem­ber of the class of 1894. He is the sec­ond from the left and the photo is from Thanks­giv­ing 1894. It looks like the Thurston fam­ily had ei­ther a knack for hunt­ing turkeys or in­vited them to join in the Thanks­giv­ing feast.


Felicia Schwartz, The Dartmouth Staff