Evening star., 1941-11-09


During the past year many
changes have been made, and
others are now in progress. The
first floor of the residence. erected
more than 100 years ago, and so
charmingly remodeled by Mr. and
Mrs. Bliss, with the best features
OF the old mansion retained. is still
as it was during the Blisses' occu-
pancy. The beautiful music room
with its Italian ceiling, enriched by
many happy memories, is now the
lecture hall, and the formal draw
ing room has become the Office and
reception room of the chief eXecu-
tive, John S. Thatcher: while the
little library adjoining has become
available for the use of the fellows
engaged in research and writing.
Charming Vistas.
Upstairs. great changes have been
made. luxury banished, working
quarters set up. Here the library
(Which will house more than $4,000
books already acquired and avail
able) is located. taking the place OF
several bedrooms at the center and
in the front, with windows looking
south. Adjacent to the library, to
the east, are Offices and WorkroomS
for members of the staff, each fur
nished simply but suitably for serV-
ice, and likewise with charming
window vistaS.
The fellows workrooms are on
the same floor, but to the west,
completely isolated and Well-adapted
for avoidance of interruption. In
these there are no 'frills." The
suites for research scholars-in-res-
idence, of whom there are now
tUo-Prof. Henri Focillon, formerly
of the Sorbonne, and Wilhelm
Koehler-are in buildings elsewhere
on the estate, separate and very
livable. Incidentally, the function
of the research scholars is that
Of kindly mentors, advising and
directing the research fellows SYM
pathetically and knowingly.
The living quarters of the fellows
are in a remodeled building on S
street, as are those OF staff men,
bers, the aggregation of which re-
minds one of a village section where
privacy may be maintained without
the loss of neighborlinesS. After
all, about the incest kind of homes
are those which have been converted
from other usages-and such these
are.
Intelligent Research.
But life for the fellows at Dunn
barton Oaks is far from being a
carefree lark. Each fellow has a
reputation 10 maintain and, ever
before him or her, the possibility
of discovery and aChlevement-tne
hope of adding something to the
sum of world knowledge. The 9 or
10 now in residence have come from
universities in various parts OF the
country and the majority If not all,
have as graduates earned their
doctors degrees. For these young
men and women of gift, attainment
and vision. the privilege OF working
in fellowship under such conditions
and surroundings as Dumbarton
Oaks provides must be very great.
The goal also is very great. 1t IS
the expectation Of the trustees, as
voiced by DR.. Forbes and Prof.
Sachs, that by intelligent research
the spiritual heritage of the past
will be preserved to enrich the
future, for through better un-
derstanding of the forces that have
made men what they are must come,
they believe, knowledge helpful IN
the upbuilding of better ordered
life in the future.
This hope has been concisely
stated on a tablet placed upon the
wall inclosing both garden and
buildings on Thirty-second street
whereby visitors obtain admission
to gallery and library. 1t reads as
follows:
THE Dumbarton Oaks Research
Library and Collection has been
assembled and conveyed to Harvard
University by Mildred and Robert
Woods Bliss that the continuity of
scholarship in the Byzantine and
Medieval humanities may remain
unbroken to clarity an ever-chang-
ing present and to inform the future
with wisdom"
Heavy Responsibility.
Was there ever a time when there
was greater need of understanding
which the past may furnish, or for
Qualification of present ideals and
the infusion of wisdom? With the
present cultural blaCkout in Europe,
the destruction of whole libraries,
the suppression of research and pro-
duction at a Standstill. a heavy
weight of responsibility rests upon
scholars and all others who esteem
culture and would uphold civiliza-
ton. Raymond Fosdick, president
Of the Rockefeller Foundation, has
put it very clearly in a recent report:
IN the shadows that are deepening
over Europe the lights of learning
are fading one by one. Every
where the eXigencies of the war have
erased the possibilities of intellectual
and cultural life as that term was
understood few years ago.
1t is only in an atmosphere of free
dom that the lamp of learning can
be kept alight. It is only free men
who dare to think and it is only
through free thought that the soul
of a people can be kept alive
How proud we should be that this
work is going on here in our midst!
Some may feel that the art of
Byzantine and the Middle Ages has
little relation to our own, but that
is not so. All art is, in inception
closely related. and, as Mr.. Bliss
has remarked, The early Christian
and Byzantine period is so akin
to our own that the study of 1t
may help us to appraise and inter-
pret the contemporary phenomena.
Although the Dumbarton Oaks
Library and collection stresses this
particular era, it is not cut Oh
from other institutions OF art ano
learning in Washington, but, to the
contrary, supplements them. the
points of contact being many ano
genuine. Think, for instance, OF the
bearing it has upon the early
italian paintings in the Nationa