The 2014 FDR Global Fellows

Adams House and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Foundation are delighted to announce the FDR Global Fellows for 2014:

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.12.00 PMGina Kim ’15, of Adams House, who is also this year’s Lillian Goldman Scholar, will be traveling to China and South Korea to conduct senior thesis research on sex trafficking in East Asia. There she will interview government officials, NGO workers, journalists, and academic experts to research how sex trafficking works in the two countries and how they combat this horrific, amorphous issue in their own ways. Her senior thesis research question is: “Under what circumstances do sex trafficking policy changes occur in China and in the Republic of Korea? Do the factors influencing policy change also affect the effectiveness and implementation of the adopted policy?” After graduation, Gina plans to pursue a joint JD/MPP program, with a goal of working for the U.S. Department of State, Department of Justice or the White House in a legal advisory role.

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.07.10 PMAlicia Merganthaler ’15, of Winthrop House, will be spending two months in London interning with the Financial Times. As an economics concentrator and active writer, Alicia is interested in studying how the Times, as opposed to many US-based financial publications, presents economics news to inform the public in a nonpartisan manner.  At the Times, she’ll have the unique opportunity to work alongside professional researchers to investigate meaningful economic phenomena worldwide, and learn how these economic stories can be disseminated in a way that is theoretically accurate, but also inclusive of individuals with limited economic background. After Commencement, Alicia plans on pursuing a career in economic journalism.

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.07.20 PMAmanda Hess, from the Harvard Extension School, will be traveling to Kisumu, Kenya where she’ll explore diverse approaches for using innovations and technologies to foster transformative and sustainable healthcare improvements in Africa. During her six-week intensive Harvard Summer School program, Amanda will learn an interdisciplinary approach to healthcare that emphasizes the importance of teamwork in the design, development, and testing of public heath initiatives, and how to integrate these improvements on the local level. This for-credit program also completes a number of her Extension requirements. After obtaining her degree, Amanda plans to work for an NGO in Africa or Asia.

 

This year the Foundation is also pleased to present an Award of Merit for an outstanding proposal it was unable to fund but found to be very much in the spirit of FDR’s belief that “the only way to have a friend is to be one.”

Screen Shot 2014-04-21 at 12.06.23 PMZeenia Framooze ’16, of Adams House, will spend  the summer in Bombay, India, where she plans to volunteer with the Acorn Foundation’s Dharavi Project. Inspired by Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Zeenia will be working towards the organization’s goal of empowering the waste collectors of the Dharavi slum. Using her passion for teaching, public speaking and photography, she hopes to highlight the complex issues involved in waste disposal in a culminating photo project titled “Recycling Lives.” Zeenia plans a career in broadcast journalism.

Remember, this scholarship program receives no financial support from Harvard College and is entirely funded by contributions from people like you. Please give generously. You can donate safely and securely online by clicking the button below.




Recent Acquisitions and News – July 2012

Hello Everyone!

Well I don’t need to tell you how warm it’s been in Cambridge, because chances are you’ve been as warm or warmer. Still, despite the heat and the bang-bang-booms coming from the Quincy House renovations next door, we’ve been quietly (or perhaps, more precisely, less-noisily) pursuing our own projects in the Suite:

For one, we’re under construction again in the bathroom, this time to retro-fit some very inconspicuous museum-style recessed lighting into ceiling. Those who have stayed in the Suite overnight have commented that it’s darker than Hades with only one 30-watt Edison bulb as your companion, and it’s true – which is precisely why gentlemen in FDR’s time shaved & dressed in their rooms, where there was better natural light. This concession to modern living – which can be turned on, or not, according to whim – will also allow us to showcase a small collection of patent medicine bottles and other personal products of dubious efficacy from the turn of the century that we’ve been assembling. It’s amazing the wild variety of nonsense that was marketed for health and beauty in FDR’s youth, and this collection, once proudly installed on the bathroom wall shelf, will elucidate this thankfully-passed aspect of late-Victorian life.

In the study, two complex projects are underway. Master craftsman Lary Shaffer and I are in the process of reverse engineering a period daybed we discovered (or rather, several, in photographs), to make a version for the Suite. Ours has to have several novel features: it needs the look and feel of an authentic period piece, yet it has to disassemble for easy movement when we film the New Fireside Chats – not to mention be both durable and comfortable for visitor use. At left, the very, very beginning of our efforts, as we start to think about how to construct the spindle back that will link the two rear lyre-shaped legs. As usual, this has turned into quite an adventure, one that I’ll be detailing in future posts. We’re hopeful that we’ll have the piece designed, assembled and outfitted for the study by the fall.

Also, thanks to major funding from the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust (and of course, viewers like you), we’ve been able to engage the services of the prestigious Pewabic Pottery in Michigan to produce a period-accurate set of tiles for the fireplace surround. Somewhere in time, no one is quite sure when or why, the tiles were ripped out from all but one of the fireplace surrounds in Westmorly, most likely as part of a general rebuilding of the fireboxes or flues. Fortunately, we still have the intact fireplace in the old porter’s lodge at the base of B-entry, which we’ll be using for a model. This, too, I’ll be documenting as the project unfolds.

Finally, we hoping to complete renovations to the hall outside the Suite to install a small FDR timeline-museum, which will help visitors place the Suite in the context of FDR’s life and presidency. With the assistance of the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, we’ve selected the images for the timeline, and will be mounting them on the wall outside the Suite, along with improved lighting and seating.

See, we have been busy!

Finally, we’ve some new acquisitions to show you. Obviously as the physical restoration of the Suite winds down and we switch over to our educational and philanthropic activities (for more on that important mission, see here) the new items we acquire become fewer and fewer. Still, we’re on the active hunt for rare pieces that either have a direct Harvard/FDR connection, or that help elucidate life at FDR’s Harvard – and how very different that life is from today’s. Here are four great items we’ve recently discovered:

OK, any guess as to what this is?

Hint: it’s glass, exactly the size of a cigar, and missing a small cork on the left end…

Thinking… thinking…

If you guessed cigar flask – which I’m sure you didn’t! – you’d be correct. This type of small novelty flask was very common in the late Victorian era. Drinking hard liquor in mixed company was frowned upon, but at the same time, such alcohol was de rigueur at most social events, so what to do? Why, carry this tiny little flask in your vest pocket, that’s what, which to all the world looks like a cigar; then when the ladies aren’t looking, bottoms up!

Here’s a wonderful piece that came to us as a gift from Dr. Cynthia Koch, Past Director the FDR Presidential Library, and her husband Eliot. Though many people think of Stetsons as big floppy western hats, that was only one – albeit the most famous – of their products. Founded in 1865, the John B. Stetson Company began when its eponymous founder headed west and created the original hat of the frontier, the “Boss of the Plains.” Stetson eventually became the world’s largest hat maker, producing more than 3.3 million hats a year in a factory spread over 9 acres in Philadelphia. This particular hat, in its absolutely brilliant red box, is known as a boater, and was common apparel for young men in the warmer months from the FDR’s Harvard days well into the 20s. As it turns out, “our” hat was simply predestined to be in the Suite: I first saw this Stetson in an antiques store in Hudson, New York, and was immediately interested. The seller however named a price I thought unreasonable, and refused to haggle, which is just not “the way” in these kinds of deals –  I was put off, and left. Almost a year later, Dr. Koch spied this same hat, still on the shelf in the same store, and thought it would be perfect for us. She immediately called me, and began to describe the “wonderful hat I found, in a well-preserved red period box…” I interrupted, completely amazed: “Don’t tell me you’re at such and such antique store in Hudson!!?” And the rest, as they say is history. Dr. Koch however, proved no better bargainer than I, for the seller again refused to budge and she was forced to pay full price. I take some rather perverse satisfaction in the fact both stubborn seller and store are now gone, but not before we got our hat. Thanks again, Cynthia and Eliot!

Considering the large number of objects in the Suite –  heading towards two thousand, if you can believe it – one of the things we’re strangely lacking is period books. The reason is twofold: the first is, simply, the cost of good volumes. FDR, as you probably know by now, was an avid bibliophile who began collecting books while at Harvard. He was on the library committee for the Harvard Union, and also served as the librarian for the Fly Club. (Club libraries, though diminishing in importance by FDR’s time, were still much valued as a source of more popular, less serious reading material than was found in Harvard’s library.) Given a rather refined taste, and a hefty budget supplied by Sara, FDR proved a discriminating buyer, and we find ourselves hard-pressed financially to duplicate his acquisitions. Secondly, we’re constrained to pre-1904 volumes that reflect FDR & Lathrop’s taste and interests – not something that pops up too often at the local used-book seller. But here’s a slim little volume that meets both criteria: Two Addresses by Col H. L. Higginson (1902). Higginson was one of Harvard’s most enthusiastic benefactors, giving both the money for Soldiers Field, as well as the funds for the Harvard Union. This book contains the text of Higginson’s two dedication addresses, and is particularly appropriate for the Suite as FDR was in the audience for the Union dedication in October, 1901. This is a volume he certainly knew of, most likely owned, and most certainly helped acquire for the new Union Library, which would function as Harvard’s main undergraduate library until the opening of Lamont in 1947.

And finally:

What a stunner! This is a very rare piece, both because of size (it’s 11″ tall by 6″ wide) and function: a heavy ceramic water pitcher.  It came out of an estate in California, and is exactly of the period. How do we know that? Well in this case the pitcher is labelled on the bottom: “Royal China Pottery, England,” which sets parameters for the date. But even if it weren’t, the style and typography of the Harvard pennant would give it away. After 1910 or so, the flag font and shape changes, (and continues an every-decade-or-so metamorphosis right until the present day), giving the practiced eye a pretty precise measurement of age.

(It’s amazing the strange talents you acquire when putting together a project like this!)

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be back in touch as the weather cools down with news on our fall events, including the FDR Memorial Lecture, and our plans for the Big Game.

Until then, please remember that none of this gets done without your continuing help.

Some People Read History. Others Make It.
Come make a little history: support the FDR Suite Foundation!

 

A New, New Fireside Chat with Dr. Cynthia Koch

Well, we’ve finally got a new New Fireside Chat launched, with two more taped, to be edited and released in December and January. For the next two episodes, we’re on the road, off to the historic Hudson Valley, ancestral home of Franklin Roosevelt, to speak with noted FDR scholars about the man and his times.

NB: These programs are now all filmed in high-definition, so if your Internet speed is sufficiently high, you can watch them as they were meant to be viewed. By default, the player sets to the lowest (fastest) speed. Simply hit the play button, and to your right various picture controls appear; simply adjust the number followed by “p” in the menu bar upwards to increase picture quality. (The other controls increase the picture size, which you might also wish to experiment with. Again, if your connection is sufficiently speedy, full screen, perfectly clear pictures are possible.) If you’re the patient type, you can watch these programs in high definition even with a slower connection: simply press pause early on, and let the gray buffer bar move sufficiently forward in front of the play head to accommodate your connection speed.)

If all that sounds to complicated, just press play, sit back, and enjoy!

Part I
In the first segment of this three-part program, Dr. Cynthia Koch, past director of the FDR Presidential Museum and Library at Hyde Park – and also our speaker at last year’s FDR Memorial Lecture –
discusses recent changes at the Presidential Museum, including the first ever major renovation of the exhibits, and what the visitor can expect to see in upcoming months. The conversation then shifts to Roosevelt’s upbringing in the Hudson Valley, and how spirit of the place shaped his personal and political thinking.


Part II
In part two of this three-part program, Dr. Cynthia Koch, past director of the FDR Presidential Museum and Library at Hyde Park, discusses how FDR used his Dutch heritage to for political ends; the discussion then turns to FDR as Educator in Chief, and how he used simple stories and historical examples to relate complex issues to the American people. Also revealed is FDR’s strained relationship with Hoover, and how Hoover redeemed his reputation under the Truman administration with his post WWII efforts in Europe.

Part III

The final portion of the discussion with Dr. Cynthia Koch, past director of the FDR Presidential Museum and Library at Hyde Park, concludes with the legacy of the FDR administration, and lessons for today’s political scene.

Thanks go out to Dr. Koch for hosting our filming set; Matthew Young ’12 our producer, and Joe Brancale ’13 our cameraman, and as always, to you our supporters, who make this all possible.

Some People Read History. Others Make It.
Come make a little history: support the FDR Suite Foundation!


FDR Suite Foundation Receives 50K Pledge

We are delighted to announce that the FDR Suite Foundation, Inc. has received a $50,000 commitment from the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust subject to finalization of the Foundation’s tax exempt status and execution of a proposed grant agreement.

The money, pledged by Amy P. Goldman in memory of her mother, Lillian, is designed to stimulate further giving to complete the Foundation’s approximately $150,000 Suite restoration effort. “It gives me great joy to be able to help you with this wonderful project,” said Amy Goldman.

Lillian Schuman Goldman was born Jan. 17, 1922, in New York City. At 19, she married Sol Goldman, who had purchased his first building at 17. At her urging, Sol Goldman left his family grocery business in Brooklyn and committed full time to the world of New York real estate.

Mrs. Goldman was an active participant in her husband’s business, which by his death in 1987 had become one of the largest private real estate firms in New York City. Always interested in furthering education, especially for women, Mrs.  Goldman wrote poetry and was an avid bibliophile. ”A book is a friend,” she used to say.

After her husband’s death, she turned her attention increasingly to philanthropy, creating the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust to administer her gifts.  Her generous contributions have rebuilt the law library at Yale, helped fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and supported family day care centers, among other causes. Mrs. Goldman died in 2002.

Pending speedy IRS approval, we hope to receive the funds and begin construction work on the Suite in early January, with the initial round of restorations completed before the next FDR Memorial Lecture and Dinner on the 27th of February, 2010.