Oil on canvas, no date.
(1888-1918)
Class of 1910

After graduating from Williams in the class of 1910, Belvedere Brooks, a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, was killed while on duty during World War I in Villesavoye, France. At the time of his death he was the Commanding Officer of the 308th Infantry, 77th Division. While observing the effects of enemy artillery fire, a German shell burst at the mouth of a cave where he and others were seeking shelter.

Colonel Charles W. Whittlesey, whom this room was named after wrote, "He [Brooks] is buried very near where he was killed, because it was too dangerous to send an ambulance up to the spot to carry his body away. But his grave is marked." Captain Brooks was well loved by his men. A member of the 308th Infantry said in tribute about his former commander, "I feel Captain Brooks' presence in the battalion still. He seems to smile at me sometimes when the road seems impassable and difficulties multiply."

After his death, the house of his old fraternity at Williams was renamed Brooks House. While at Williams he was the Captain of the football team his senior year, Class Treasurer, and also a member of the Gargoyle Society.

Oil on canvas, 19th century.
On loan from Williams College Museum of Art
(1798-1866)
Class of 1821
Fifth Vice-President of Williams College 1859-1866
Williams College Trustee 1833-1866

Emerson Davis, Class of 1821, is well known for being one of the life-long friends of Mark Hopkins who was a contemporary of his while at Williams. This friendship later led to a working relationship when, during Davisâ tenure on the Board of Trustees, Hopkins became Williamsâ fourth and most famous President. During his presidency, Davis also served as Vice-President of the College for 7 years.

In 1837, when the Massachusetts state legislature created the Board of Education in order to reform the educational system of the Commonwealth, Emerson Davis was one of the original eight members appointed to that board. In 1847 he earned a Doctor of Divinity degree from Harvard University.

Oil on canvas, 1912
Wife of James Robert Dunbar, Class of 1871.

Sitter is mother of Philip R. Dunbar whose estate donated the painting. Two of her five sons were graduates of Williams: Ralph W. Dunbar, Class of 1898 and Philip R. Dunbar, Class of 1900. Both were lawyers.

Mr. Dunbar's portrait, hanging to the left, opposite the mantle on this wall, was done in the style of this portrait by Alice Kent Stoddard.

Oil on canvas, 1969
Class of 1871
College Trustee 1900-1915

Judge Dunbar, as he was most commonly known, was born in Pittsfield and educated in their public schools until he entered Williams in 1867. After graduating with the Class of 1871, he went on to Harvard Law School and was admitted to the Hampden County bar in 1874. After serving two terms in the Massachusetts State Senate as a prominent and influential Western Mass Republican, Dunbar was appointed a Superior Court Judge in 1888. According to his contemporaries, he was known as a "lawyer's lawyer," always good for helpful advice and assistance.

After leaving the bench ten years later, he returned to his private law practice, and during that time served as president of the YMCA Evening Law School. In the year 1900 he was elected to the Williams College Board of Trustees and served there on the Library Committee till 1914 and then on the Committee on Grounds, Buildings, and Improvements until 1915.

Inscribed on this painting is "in the manner of Alice Stoddard" the portraitist responsible for the likeness of Dunbar's wife, Harriet Pierce Walton whose portrait is located to the right, opposite the mantle, on this wall.

Oil on canvas, 1929.
Class of 1891
Williams College Instructor, 1891-94
Professor, 1899-1917
Dean, 1902-1917
President of Hamilton College 1917-1938.

This painting was presented at the 1929 Commencement by the Class of 1904 in celebration of their 25th Class Reunion.

A Vermont native, Frederick Carlos Ferry was the Valedictorian of his class at Williams in 1891 where he was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the Theta Delta Chi fraternity. He went on to receive masters degrees from Williams in 1894 and Harvard in 1895, as well as a Ph.D. from Clark University in 1898. He served on the Williams faculty in Mathematics, Latin and Greek from 1891 to 1894 and then again from 1899-1917. He was also Dean of the College from 1902 to 1917. After leaving Williams, he went on to be President of Hamilton College for 21 years from 1917 to 1938.

A well known scholar, he published a number of articles on geometry in the American Journal of Mathematics and abroad. Ferry also received honorary degrees from a number of schools over the years: Doctor of Science degrees from Colgate, Knox, and Clark; Doctor of Letters degrees from Williams, George Washington, Rutgers and Houghton; and a Doctor of Laws degree from Hamilton.

Among his many hats as an academic, perhaps most notably, Ferry served as a trustee and executive committee member of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

In April of 1934, the Williams Club honored Dr. Ferry by putting his photo on the front page of the monthly Bulletin with the following explanation,

"because as Dean of Williams, he had the unusual faculty of retaining the undergraduate's friendship, no matter what punishment he was meting out or what ardent request he happened to be refusing· and because as President of a sister college since 1917, he has brought honor to his Alma Mater through the distinction he has attained for himself as an able educator and popular college administrator."

Mark Hopkins as a Young Man
Oil on wood panel, no date.
(1802-1887)
Class of 1824
Fourth President of Williams College 1836-1872
College Trustee 1872-1887

The fourth President of Williams College, Mark Hopkins is the most legendary and illustrious figure in the history of the College. The son of a struggling farmer who grew up near Stockbridge, Hopkins earned his college tuition money by teaching in rural Virginia for two years. After graduating from Williams in 1824, he went on to teach at Stockbridge Academy before returning to Williams as a tutor. During that time he studied medicine while living in the home of a physician. In 1830, he became Professor of Moral Philosophy and Rhetoric at Williams and found his life's work.

A new President of the College was needed in 1836 and after the seniors encouraged the idea of a President Hopkins, the Trustees reportedly responded, "If the boys want him, let them have him." As President, he helped develop teaching methods that are best known today as "hands on." As the physical sciences became more important to the world, academia was in a state of confusion and Hopkins confidently applied his new teaching methods through his faculty to astronomy, chemistry, physics, geology and natural history to brilliant success. U.S. President James A. Garfield, Class of 1856, said it best in his famous aphorism, "The ideal college is Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other."

For 36 years Hopkins was President of Williams College and his influence was felt nationally in religion, philosophy and science. His character was revered by educators everywhere, fulfilling his own words, "As your character is, so will your destiny be."

Oil on canvas, 1958.
(1840-1889)
Class of 1859

Ranald MacKenzie was born here in New York City in 1840 into a family rich with American military history: his father Alexander was a naval Commander, his great grandfather a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution and his great great grandfather, Williams Alexander (Lord Stirling) was a distinguished General in the Continental Army. MacKenzie left Williams in 1859 to enroll at West Point where graduated first in his class in 1862. Upon graduating, MacKenzie was sent into action and witnessed a roll call of famous Civil War battles where he was often victorious and which led to his advancement in the ranks: Bull Run (Manassas), Fredericksburg, Gettysberg, Petersberg, and at General Grant's bequest he was also present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox. By the end of the War, MacKenzie had risen to the rank of Major General.

General Grant said of him, "I regard MacKenzie as the most promising young officer in the army. Graduating at West Point, as he did, during the second year of the war, he won his way up to the command of a corps (division), before its close. This he did upon his own merit and without influence." After the Civil War ended, MacKenzie, like many of the military's finest, was sent out West to battle the Native Americans on the frontier and Mexicans to the South. One of the highlights of his career was capturing and forcing the surrender of Red Cloud and Red Leaf, the Native American leaders who had participated in the massacre of MacKenzie's contemporary, General Custer.

Oil on canvas, 1885.
(1812-1885)
Class of 1829
Williams College Trustee 1869-1885
Originally donated to College by the daughters of Samuel Prime

Descending from a great line of early leaders in the early American Presbyterian Church, Samuel Prime initially started his career as a preacher. After graduating from Williams College at the age of 16 in the Class of 1829 and studying theology at Princeton University, he began his ministry in Ballston Spa, New York. Due to continually failing health, Prime changed careers and in 1840 became an editor at the New York Observer. For ten years, as an active resident of Newark, NJ he was one of the pivotal figures in the creation of the Newark Library Association.

Oil on canvas mounted to board, 1891.
(1836-1899)
Class of 1856
Trustee 1886-1889
Benefactor

Frederick Ferris Thompson's family is well known in the banking community. His father John organized the First National Bank of the City of New York, better known today as CITIBANK. Frederick's brother, Samuel, formerly President of the First National, started a new bank called the Chase National Bank, later known as Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1857, Frederick married the then New York Governor's daughter, Mary Clark.

Thompson was described as a "short plump man, with beard, of friendly, kindly, buoyant personality, fun-loving, interested in his hobbies of photography and printing." He enrolled in Williams College as a member of the class of 1856 -- a classmate of U.S. President James A. Garfield -- but was forced to leave after two years to go abroad on business for his father. Although he never returned to college, he was given his degree by Williams as a member of the Class of '56 in 1885. One year later he was made a Trustee of the College and developed the Thompson Scholarships which helped give many young men the Williams experience that he himself had partly missed. He also became a trustee of Vassar College where the students affectionately called him "Uncle Fred." At one point he became concerned about many of the young ladies' eating habits and arranged for any student to be able to order steak and ice cream -- at any meal -- at his expense.

Thompson's wife Mary Clark Thompson continued as a benefactress of the College after her husband's death and in fact donated the building on 291 Madison Avenue in 1913 which became the original Williams Club (the original lease was $400 per quarter). Known as "the Fairy-Godmother of Williams College," Mrs. Thompson also donated the Thompson Memorial Chapel in her husband's memory. The Thompson's nephew Clark Williams, Class of 1892, was The Club's first President.

Oil on canvas, no date.
(1874-1956)
Class of 1896
Professor of Fine Arts 1913-1940
Museum Director 1926-1948
Founder of the Lawrence Art Museum

Before the Williams Art "Holy Trinity" of Faison, Stoddard and Pierson, there was Karl Ephraim Weston. He graduated from Williams in 1896 and later studied in Rome, Paris and then at Princeton and Johns Hopkins.

Weston was one of the most popular professors at Williams of all time and was single-handedly responsible for the development of the Williams Art department as well as for the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute's location in Williamstown.

He started his work on the Williams faculty in the year 1900 and then transferred from the Romance language department to the at-that-time one man Art Department. While a professor in Art he watched the enrollment in his art classes surge enough to warrant the addition of an instructor and an addition to Lawrence Hall to contain his students. By the time he retired, the Art department numbered three teachers, offered a major, and enrolled as many as 100 students in the intro course each year. At the same time, Weston founded the Lawrence Museum of Art in 1927 and continued as its Director until 1948 making it one of the best museums in any of the nation's small colleges.

When he retired from the teaching in 1940, honored that year by a dedication in the Gul and an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from the College. He was also awarded the James C. Rogerson cup and medal in 1939 in recognition of his outstanding merit and dedication to the College as an alumnus and for his distinction in his field.

S. Lane Faison, Jr. in a tribute written to Weston wrote:

"He was kindly but not sentimental, witty but not caustic, ever more youthful as he grew older in years and in wisdom, joyously loyal to friends, to his community, to his college and his church."

Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Charles White Whittlesey graduated from Williams College in 1905 where he was a member of the Gargoyle Society, editor of the Literary Monthly, and a member of the Delta Psi fraternity. Later, Whittlesey attended Harvard University Law School. He is well known as the commanding officer of the famous World War One ãLost Battalion.ä He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1918 for leading the courageous stand in the Argonne forest.

The orders given to Whittlesey were to drive on "without regard to flank or losses." When given the order the New York lawyer commented, "All right. I'll attack, but whether you'll hear from me again I don't know." After successfully making their way through a treacherous ravine in the Argonne forest, Whittlesey's men stopped and made themselves a pocket in which to wait for reinforcements. Soon, however, the division was surrounded on all sides by the German army who had breached the American front line on both flanks. Whittlesey's men were cut off and had to rely on pigeons for communications to the 77th Division headquarters. After a frustrating four days of artillery and mortar fire (from German and American troops), the Germans, who only yards away, sent a messenger to Whittlesey begging him to surrender "for the sake of humanity." Whittlesey sent no reply to the Germans but reportedly replied aloud, "Go to hell." After another day, a section of the 307th Infantry had broken through German lines and Whittlesey's 190 of the remaining 500 troops were able to walk back to headquarters.

In 1918 Whittlesey was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and instantly besieged by speaking engagements and public appearances offered to him as a war hero. The one-time socialist and pacifist, however, was unable to bear the fact of his heroism and seemed to his friends despondent. Shortly after attending the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Armistice Day 1921, Whittlesey committed suicide while on a cruise to Havana.

This portrait was dedicated at The Club in April of 1948 on the 30th anniversary of the arrival of the 77th Division "The Times Square Division" by George McMurtry a fellow Congressional Medal of Honor winner who was second in command during the famous battle. The portrait was donated by Edward R. Bartlett, Class of 1912 who served as a Lieutenant under Colonel Whittlesey.