Dean Founders Day Raises Funds and Historic Awareness

Above, a turn-of-the twentieth century view of the Universalist Church that stood on the corner of School and Main until 1967, when it was demolished to make way for the current library building.

Putting a new twist on a tradition nearly as old as the campus, Dean College wrapped up its Global Days of Giving (an annual fundraiser) with Founder’s Day deep dive into institutional history.

Little more than a year and a half ago, the College brought aboard its first full-time archivist, Sarah Lindblom, and some of the fruits of her labors were on display including a rediscovered LP phonograph “musical yearbook” from 1961-62, a trove of student dance cards, and photographs of students and faculty spanning the decades.

A panel composed of Lindblom, David Dennis, Humanities Program Coordinator at Dean, and Franklin Historical Museum archivist Rowan Lowell, addressed topics related to archive and also the question of what gets archived for by and for whom. Specifically, Director of Alumna relations Jacqueline Donovan, asked them to consider and discuss, who is a “founder.” The obvious answer, of course, is the people like Oliver Dean, who provided the funding, but Lindblom noted that there were many people, likely from Franklin, who helped build the structures of the academy and, today, other “founders” continue to reanimate the vision of those, who came before.

On a lighter note, an audience question asked the two archivists to name the most unusual or surprising find in their careers. Lowell named the surprising discovery of a document signed by John Hancock during her tenure at the Old Colony Historical Society in Taunton. Lindblom confided, her “surprise” was a meat cleaver – part of a trove of donated items that belonged to Hollywood legend, Danny Kaye and his wife.

The big reveal of the event was a photograph from the 1870s of the second Universalist Church located on the Dean Campus – which only stood for a few years before it was claimed by fire. A student did extensive research to provide context on when and why the structure was built and, with help from Lindblom and others, found a rare image of the building, which will now be displayed in the school library, built on the site previously occupied by the church.