A handwritten note dated May 4, 1977, stating that the bust of John Brown may have been stolen in 1952. There are no records on this, but it is likely the bust was simply misplaced.
Photograph of College Station at the corner of the Boston & Maine Railroad (foreground) and College Avenue (left). When the new Tufts College Station was built to the south, this building became occupied by Tufts College Press.
Letter from Tufts College president Leonard Carmichael to George R. Sands & Son, a conservator in Cambridge, 1950. It was this letter that allowed Tufts University Art Registrar Laura McDonald to put two and two together and realize the noseless bust was that of John Brown. The letter reads, "Gentlemen: Tufts College has a marble bust of John Brown, sculptured by Edward A. Brackett. Some time ago in an accident the nose was broken on this bust. Would it be possible for someone in your organization using contemporary photographs of John Brown to prepare a new nose that could be cemented to the bust? If this is feasible, would you be willing to indicate the cost of your work? Very truly yours, Leonard Carmichael"
This painting shows the Stearns mansion in the center right and the farmhouse to the far right. In the distance on the hill are the buildings of Tufts College, with the tower of Goddard Chapel, East Hall, and West Hall visible through the trees. The road to the left is College Avenue; at the time it was known as the Willows because of the trees on either side. At the corner of College Avenue and the railroad tracks is College Hill train station. The Boston & Lowell Railroad operated on the tracks that separated Tufts College from the Stearns Estate's orchards.
Attribution:
William Hauk
Attribution Statement:
Image courtesy of the Tufts University Permanent Collection
Map of Tufts College in 1929, less than a decade after the Stearns mansion was torn down. In the lower right is College Avenue, labeled "To Willows + Medford," referring to the street's nickname. Arrows also indicate that the Site for New Gym and the Tufts College Press are located to the right of the railroad.
Commemorative cast bronze memorial plaque of the Reverend Edwin Hubbell Chapin by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. In 1891, the plaque was donated to Tufts Collage and soon thereafter placed in Goddard Chapel. A notice in the school newspaper reads, "A replica of the bas-relief of Dr. Chapin in the Church of the Divine Paternity, New York City, has been presented to the college and will soon be placed in the chapel. This bas-relief is considered by good critics one of the masterpieces of St. Gaudens." (Tuftonian, vol. 17, no. 16 [5 June 1891], page 236)
Attribution:
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Attribution Statement:
Image courtesy of the Tufts University Permanent Collection: Gift of Friends of E.H. Chapin, AI 05500