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6-67 Hiram College Students on Steps of Bowler Hall
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Marker Details
- Title, side A
- Hiram College, Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, 1850
- Title, side B
- Same
- Sponsors
- The Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The International Paper Company Foundation, and the Ohio Historical Society
- Address
- 11753 Garfield Road (OH 700)Hiram, 44234
- Location
- In front of Hinsdale Hall
- Latitude
- 41.3119140
- Longitude
- -81.1436320
- Subjects
- Hiram, Universities & colleges
Picture Details
- Title
- Hiram College Students on Steps of Bowler Hall
- Caption
- Poet Nicholas Vachel Lindsay and his sister, Olive Catharine Lindsay, attended Hiram College. Olive graduated in 1901. Vachel attended for 3 years (1896-1899) but did not graduate. Although Vachel did not do well in the scientific course in which his physician father made him enroll, he was extremely fond of Hiram and always regretted not graduating. He received an honorary degree in 1930. Olive married her Hiram sweetheart, Paul Wakefield, son of a Hiram professor; and the two went to China as missionaries for the Disciples of Christ. This 13.5" x 10.5" (34.3 x 26.7 cm) photograph of a group of students in front of Bowler Hall includes Nicholas Vachel (top left) and Olive Catherine (top right). Lindsay is best known for his forceful rhythms and his desire to popularize poetry among the American people. For several summers between 1906 and 1912, Lindsay traveled throughout the country reciting poetry in exchange for food and shelter. He is best known for his poems "The Congo," "General William Booth Enters into Heaven" and "The Santa Fe Trail." Lindsay's work declined in the 1920s as he suffered from mental illness. He committed suicide in 1931. This photograph is part of a larger collection of Nicholas Vachel Lindsay materials at the Hiram College Archives and Special Collections.