Category: Past Talks

The History of Weston Field  

Saturday, March 28th, 11:00 am, at Weston Field –

Weston Field, one of the college’s two outdoor sports facilities, embodies much of the history of athletics at Williams. Come hear about the facts and the lore associated with Weston, from its 1884 acquisition to its 2014 renovation and expansion.  There will be time for a tour of the facility with this talk.

Jim Kolesar, Williams class of 1972, has served as the college’s chief public affairs officer since 1984, following a career in journalism.  Since then he has chaired the college’s Communications Advisory Group and served as a member of the Advisory Group on Admissions and Financial Aid, the Strategic Planning Coordinating Committee, the Diversity Initiatives Steering Committee, and as chair and member of several search committees. He has also taught several Winter Study courses on journalism and on college communications.

Singing School ~ Shape Note Music

Saturday, March 7^th, 11:00 am, Milne Library

Shape Note Music, sometimes known as Sacred Harp Music, is an indigenous school of choral composition which dates originally from the late colonial/early federal era in our country.  Singing masters, such as Justin Morgan, or William Billings (see photo on left), would travel the countryside teaching parishioners to read music to improve their singing of the hymns on Sunday.  Come hear more about this unique type of music!

Singing School is a group of local amateur singers which can vary in number from four to a great unwieldy choir, but usually includes a core comprised of Deborah Burns, Karen Swann, Doug Paisley, Andy Burr, Jared Polens, Paul McFarland, and Amrita Lash.  All are enthusiastic singers of the early American music.  A popular example of a hymn which started in the Shape Note tradition is Amazing Grace. If you have never heard shape note music, this performance will show you that it is fun, uplifting, morbid, spooky, and loud – often all at once!

John Hyde ~ Hyde Family Ancestral Home
Saturday, February 21st, 11:00 am, Heritage Room, Williams Inn

As the poet wrote “A house is not a home until someone lives in it.” This is the story of a HOME in which 5 generations of one family lived with illustrations to show the house in various stages of its growth over a period of more than 200 years. The structure – both exterior and interior as well as the grounds around it – will serve as the “evidence” from which we can learn how and why the people who lived in it kept changing it to reflect changes in taste, technology, social life and in society as a whole. The history of a Berkshire home covers almost the entire history of this nation.

Professor Emeritus John M. Hyde has been a member of the faculty and administration of Williams College for the past fifty years.  He is also a member of the fifth generation of a family which has lived in Berkshire County for more than 200 years.