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Preston Hall, date unknown.
Two men stand in Preston Hall with tables set for an event. Preston was built in 1873 with funds donated by Betsy Preston, a cook in the employ of John Aspinwall. The gift represented her life savings. To honor her, St. Stephen’s built a refectory that remained in continuous use as a dining hall, with separate rooms for students and faculty, until Kline Commons was completed in 1972.
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WXBC radio show taping, late 1940s.
WXBC was conceived in 1946 by Elie Shneour ’47 and implemented by many hands, including those of John Gillin ’47, who wrote his senior project about the technical design and construction of this college radio station. The “X” in its call letters stood for “experimental,” and the 1951 yearbook described the station as the “Voice of the Bard Campus.” In this photograph, the students behind the glass are, from left, Miles Hollister ’50, Corinne Sherman ’49, Scott Peyton ’52, Dick Sherman ’49, Carol Andrews ’48, and an unknown man. At the controls is Joan Abner ’50. While one student controls the broadcast, another prepares to a cue a performing group in the sound room via the control room.
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Professor William Driver talks with students on campus, ca. 1981.
The seated man is Chris Kendall ’82. Bill Driver was professor of drama from 1959 until his death in 2000.
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The fire of the Zabriskie Coach House Theater, 1973.
Following the fire of the Zabriskie Coach House Theater on February 25, 1973, nothing was left standing but the chimney. A letter from then Vice President Bob Bruce was sent to parents assuring them that the drama program at Bard was not in jeopardy, but donations of power tools, men’s dress wear, clothes dummies, pre-1940 clothing, fabrics, and ironing boards would be welcome.
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An annual faculty picnic at Blithewood, 1960s.
Louise and Reamer Kline sit at the center, with, from left, Kay Dewsnap (standing), Bill Walters, Curtmarie Crane, and Fred Crane.
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Bard College Drama Group, ca. 1959.
The Bard College Drama Group returns to campus after a four-state tour, unloading stage sets at the Zabriskie Coach House Theater. This is the theater that is shown on fire in Photo #9. Identified from left: Robert Anton ’59; Sonja Frommerova-Fox ’60, Donald Parker ’61, and Edward Kalish ’60.
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The Blithewood Swimming Pool, ca. 1957.
Standing at the right is Carolee Schneemann ’59 talking with Shane Riordan, business manager of the College. Though most people who swam there remember the pool with fondness for its romance, a June 1954 issue of the student newspaper Communitas reports that the pool had suffered an infestation of helgramites, crustaceans described as creatures about three inches long, with six legs, thorny spines and two fierce looking mandibles. It was left to Cal Avery, then head of Building and Grounds, to clear out the pool.
In the spring 2005 issue of About Town magazine, Dorothy Crane writes about the 'pool by the falls': "The pool was an integral part of summer life at Bard for 20 years after the college acquired it. A green canopy of overhanging trees shaded the surrounding wooden deck. Faculty sat in their lawn chairs, smoking cigarettes, drinking gin and tonics, and discussing politics and the latest college gossip. Children perched tentatively on the edge at the shallow end, carefully watched by parents because even the shallow end was pretty deep. Students did cannonballs off the diving board. My husband's friend put his kayak in the pool to practice rollovers. There was no chlorine smell, only the fresh. churned-up mist generated by the falls and the roar of the cascading water. It felt more like a swimming hole than a pool. My husband and his friends who grew up on and around the campus describe the pool as a sort of Garden of Eden. When he and I were first getting to know each other I had the sense that meeting the stream and the pool was almost as important as my meeting his parents."
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A group of students sit with Gerard DeGre (center) and Joan Larkey (in profile on right) in the Hegeman Coffee Shop, ca. 1955.
Professor DeGre taught sociology at Bard from 1947-1968, and Professor Larkey taught drama from 1951-1956.