Sarah and James Bowdoin Day: records and publications
-
Please use the Collection Organization section below to place requests.
Scope and Content
This collection contains Sarah and James Bowdoin Day programs as well as a number of student responses and some guest addresses delivered at the Sarah and James Bowdoin Day exercises. Also included are blank invitations, blank certificates, and reports of the exercises printed from the Bowdoin/Sun online and Bowdoin Campus News online, including text of some addresses.
Dates
- Creation: 1941 - 2019
Creator
- Bowdoin College (Organization)
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Biographical/Historical Note
James Bowdoin Day was initiated in 1941 to recognize undergraduates for excellence in scholarship and to commemorate the Honorable James Bowdoin III (1752-1811), first patron of the College. In 1997, by faculty vote, the College determined that both the commemorative day and the distinction as scholar be changed so as to recognize both Sarah and James Bowdoin. Like her husband, Sarah Bowdoin gave many gifts to the College, including most of the Bowdoin family portraits. In their honor laurel garlands are draped around the Gilbert Stuart portraits of James Bowdoin III and Sarah Bowdoin Dearborn in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. The College also flies a special commemorative American flag which was flown over the United States Capitol in 1963 on the birthday of Governor James Bowdoin II. At the Sarah and James Bowdoin Day exercises the College gathers to recognize its highest-ranking scholars and to hear speeches by an outstanding undergraduate and a highly recognized practioner in one of the liberal arts disciplines.
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
General Note
Some of the Sarah and James Bowdoin Day exercises are recorded on audiocassette, videocassette, or both. See Archives staff for specific holdings.
- Title
- Guide to the Sarah and James Bowdoin Day Records and Publications
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine 04011 Repository