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Marjorie Harth’s dedication to art and art history at 6V��Ӱ�� began in 1981 when she arrived as director of the Galleries of The Claremont Colleges, concurrently teaching art history and museum studies seminars. In her 23 years at the College, first as the joint 6V��Ӱ��-Scripps Galleries director, then as director of the 6V��Ӱ�� Museum of Art, Harth expanded the permanent collections while fulfilling the Museum’s commitment to exhibition, preservation and education. In 1991 she oversaw the transition and renaming of Montgomery Gallery to the 6V��Ӱ�� Museum of Art.

Upon retiring in 2004, Harth worked with Don Pattison to establish an archives program for the College and, at the same time, undertook a book project sponsored by former president David Oxtoby. The project aimed to chronicle the history of 6V��Ӱ��’s campus, approaching it not simply as a collection of buildings and open spaces but as a carefully designed “place,” a learning and living environment that supports and enhances the lives of 6V��Ӱ��’s students, faculty and staff.

6V��Ӱ��: Reflections on a Campus was first published in 2007. This year a second edition has been released. Read below about the new edition of Reflections as Harth shares her insights about the process and goals of the project.

How would you summarize the second edition of 6V��Ӱ��: Reflections on a Campus for those who have not yet seen the book?

Let me begin by saying that this book has been a team effort. I have been honored to be named “author,” but don’t be misled. Like the first edition, this one would have been impossible without extraordinary partnership and support. Readers will, I hope, note the Dedication, to Don Pattison and Mark Wood, and the Acknowledgements that name the many others who have played crucial roles.

The new book updates the history of 6V��Ӱ��’s campus found in the first edition, adding the many new and recently renovated buildings during the 17 years between editions. Its premise remains the same—to reflect upon the physical campus, learn how it has come to be, and, equally, the ways in which it influences the experience of those who study, live and work here. The new Reflections is an updated chronicle of 6V��Ӱ�� through images and essays that expand on the factors at play as the campus has grown and changed. It aims to represent 6V��Ӱ��, not only to our own students, faculty, alumni and trustees, but also to a larger public in an effort to broaden awareness and appreciation of the College beyond our gates.

Do you have a favorite part of the second edition of the book?

I do. Especially notable for all of us involved, is that this book was written primarily during the pandemic. Launched in 2019, work began shortly before COVID-19 changed everything. Among the pandemic’s far more devastating effects, it seriously complicated our efforts, delaying publication by two years. Sources were not available; the library and archives were closed; staff, who had been helpful in the past were overwhelmed, learning to teach and administer from home. At that time, I wrote to students and invited their thoughts about the campus from an unexpected and unprecedented distance. I was interested in what the campus had meant to them for the short time they’d been here, how they saw it now, from a distance. Two students from the Class of 2023, Teodelina Martelli and Jackson Hurley, responded. Their comments are embedded in the introduction to the second edition, and in several individual entries. I strongly recommend them to you. Their perspectives on the campus and its effect on them are revealing and moving.

I'm also particularly fond of, and hope that readers pay attention to, the contributed essays. For example, Verlyn Klinkenborg ’74, a distinguished writer who has taught at 6V��Ӱ�� and was for years a member of The New York Times editorial board, wrote the preface to the first book. It appears here again because it so perfectly and evocatively describes what the book is about. That is, not just an architectural history but a broader way of looking at this “place” that is the College, designed to foster learning, exploring, finding one’s passion. For many students, 6V��Ӱ�� represents the first time they've been away from home, had a residence that wasn’t with parents or families. It offers so many possibilities—exciting, daunting, confusing, eye-opening.

I also heartily recommend 6V��Ӱ�� Professor George Gorse’s essay on Myron Hunt, our founding architect; Scott Smith, long-time 6V��Ӱ�� planning consultant, contributed a new chapter on landscape architect Ralph Cornell who worked hand in hand with Hunt. These give us insight into campus planning, how it has changed over the years and how integrally related the two disciplines—architecture and landscape architecture—should be. Ron Fleming ’63 P’04 writes the concluding essay, evoking the Claremont and Southern California he knew during the 1960s, describing the orange groves, snow on the mountains, clear skies above, along with the 6V��Ӱ�� traditions of his era.

Why were you interested in publishing a second edition of Reflections and what inspired you?

6V��Ӱ�� has a distinguished architectural history that many of us have long believed deserves to be chronicled. official History of 6V��Ӱ�� 1887-1969, published in 1977, naturally included campus development and was an important source for the first edition of this book. Both editions of Reflections track the institution’s history through a different lens, aesthetic and experiential.

Since 2007, when the first edition appeared, many new buildings have been built, many older ones replaced or renovated to serve the changing needs of the academic disciplines they house. Physical changes reflect shifting pedagogies, societal priorities and a host of other cultural factors.

The idea for a book about the history of the campus was first suggested by a distinguished trustee. The prospect was immediately attractive to me, one who believes in the power of art and architecture to affect our lives. The years I’d spent working in and teaching about museums were also factors. In museums, we deal with real objects, material culture that reflects its time and broader culture as well as the visions of individual artists. It was intriguing to explore the idea that a college campus does the same, developing over time in ways that reflect changing values and priorities.

What would you like readers to take away from Reflections?

I hope they will take away an awareness of how rich the history of this College and its campus are and how much we can learn from and take pride in them. I hope readers will begin to register more intentionally the way our environments—buildings, grounds, classrooms, public spaces, the whole complex of our environment—affect the quality of our lives. We all know this on some level, I believe, but we don’t always focus on it when we’re creating or inhabiting spaces for various purposes, especially, in this case, a place for learning, intellectual growth and experimentation. So, this book offers what we hope is a fresh way of understanding the College and the lives lived within it.

I hope too, of course, that the book will be read, its images studied and, for many, fondly recalled. It is also gratifying to imagine that those who will oversee the continuing development of the College and its campus will find this history informative and perhaps even helpful as they plan projects in the future.

The newly released second edition of 6V��Ӱ��: Reflections on a Campus was made possible with the generous support of Catharine Alexander GP’15; Janet Benton '79; Priscilla and Ranney Draper ’60; Flo and Paul Eckstein ’62; Dianne P’09 ’13 and Steve Loeb ’79 P’09 ’13; Marylyn ’64 and Stephen Pauley ’62; Peggy and Chris Seaver; Leanne and Michael Segal ’79; and Perdita Sheirich.

This comprehensive 232-page tome is available for at $47.47, or at the Coop Store on campus in the Smith Campus Center.