fountains - The Cambridge Historical Commission Blog

helen keller graduate — Portrait of Helen Keller in her college graduation cap and gown (Wikimedia)

Helen Keller (1880-1968), was a world renowned author, activist, lecturer, and the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor’s degree. Born in Alabama, Helen later moved to Massachusetts with her teacher and friend Annie Sullivan and attended the Perkins School for the Blind and Cambridge School for Young Ladies in pursuit of her goal of attending college. She successfully passed her exams and was admitted to Radcliffe College, known then as the Harvard Annex, in the fall of 1900.

When she began her studies at Radcliffe, Helen and Annie were living at 14 Coolidge Avenue, now 24 Coolidge Hill Road.

Coolidge Hill Rd 24_001 — 24 Coolidge Hill Road (CHC Collection)

Helen not only immersed herself in her studies, she also participated in social activities. According to an article in the Radcliffe Quarterly, “she played chess and checkers with unusual concentration, and was an enthusiastic wheelwoman often seen on the Cambridge streets on her tandem… when elections for officers were held, Helen was chosen Vice President.”

Helen_Keller24 — Helen with her dog, Phiz, a gift from her college classmates (Wikimedia)

In 1904, both Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan moved to 73 Dana Street. The building was designed by the architect Arthur H. Bowditch and constructed in 1898. The 6-unit apartment building was designed to look like a large single-family dwelling.

73 dana street 1966 — 73 Dana Street (CHC)

Helen graduated cum laude that same year. Her classmates praised her accomplishment by writing in the yearbook:

Beside her task, our efforts pale,

She never knew the word for fail;

Beside her triumphs, ours are naught,

For hers were far more dearly bought.

Helen went on to a remarkable career advocating for people with disabilities, campaigning for women’s suffrage, labor rights, and anti-militarism. She lectured around the world and became acquainted with many leading figures in politics and the arts.

In 1954 at Helen’s 50th college reunion, Radcliffe College dedicated a garden to her and a fountain to Annie Sullivan, located at the Cronkhite Graduate Center on the corner of Brattle and Ash Streets.

FOUNTAIN DEDICATION — Helen Keller at the dedication of the garden and fountain at Radcliffe (Wikimedia)

Sign dedicating the fountain to Anne Sullivan (CHC)

‘IN MEMORY OF
ANNE SULLIVAN
TEACHER EXTRAORDINARY — WHO,
BEGINNING WITH THE WORD WATER
OPENED TO THE GIRL HELEN KELLER
THE WORLD OF SIGHT AND SOUND
THROUGH TOUCH
BELOVED COMPANION THROUGH
RADCLIFFE COLLEGE
1900 — 1904’

Sources:

The Three Lives of Helen Keller, Richard Harrity and Ralph G. Martin, Doubleday & Co., New York, 1962.

Perkins School for the Blind Archives, Watertown, MA

Radcliffe Quarterly, June 1980, https://iiif.lib.harvard.edu/manifests/view/drs:427992484$59i

Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Helen_Keller_in_1904

Tanner_Fountain,_Harvard_University_-_IMG_9014-1 — On a warm day, the Tanner fountain offers a shady and cool place to pause

Located between Harvard Yard, the Science Center, and Memorial Hall is the Tanner Fountain, designed by Peter Walker in 1984. At the request of then Harvard University President Derek Bok, Walker was commissioned to design a fountain that didn’t require the extensive maintenance usually associated with a water feature. Walker rose to the challenge and created a basinless fountain, in collaboration with sculptor Joan Brigham, featuring 159 granite boulders arranged in a 60-foot diameter circle with 32 nozzles that emit a fine mist. During the spring, summer, and fall, the mist hovers above the stones, with rainbows refracted through the mist on sunny days. During the winter the boulders are cloaked with steam from the university heating plant. The configuration sits within asphalt paving surrounding two existing trees. Inscribed in a plaque set on grade is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The soft sheen all enchants a gleam of sun, a summer rain.”

312-01 — Site plan of the fountain showing the arrangement of boulders in front of the Science Center

tanner 06 — View of fountain with the Science Center in the background

The boulders reflect the history of New England when settlers worked to clear land of boulders to make way for farming. Roughly 2 by 4 feet in size, the stones were buried so that only 16 to 18 inches of their surface is exposed. In contrast to the stones and trees, the asphalt speaks to the urban environment in which the fountain sits. As Walker noted,

“The fountain is a minimal piece full of contradictions, …the materials, their perception and their various meanings are brought into conflict and into question. This artistic statement may be apropos to the questioning stance of students and the intellectual inquiry of the university.”

The fountain was envisioned as a source of active and passive recreation. Instead of an object in the landscape, the fountain is a part of the landscape that people engage with. The stones encourage pedestrians to pause and sit, while the spacing of elements prevents through passage for skateboarders. Children gravitate to the fountain to climb, roam around, or play in the mist, and other people carry on conversations while watching the world go by.

tanner shot — View of fountain on an early spring afternoon with food trucks on the plaza beyond

The Tanner Fountain was the first institutional project of the “Landscape as Art” movement which grew out of the Expression Studio offered by the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Design School. In 1987, the fountain received a design award from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In 2008, the fountain was awarded the ASLA Landmark Award. Jury comments included the following:

“One of the first examples of a landscape architect creating public sculpture. It set a precedent for the profession and has stood the test of time remarkably well, retaining the full power of the original idea. The landscape architect designed it to be accessible and recognize the four seasons and to celebrate water without a traditional body of water. Transformational. It lives in your memory.”

Last-Import-1-of-6 — View of fountain and inscription, and Memorial Hall beyond

Based in Berkeley, California, Peter Walker has designed a wide range of projects types and scales, including Sea Pines Plantation, Hilton Head; South Carolina Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, California; Upjohn Corporation World Headquarters, Kalamazoo, Michigan; the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas; and the National 9/11 Memorial, New York City.
Sources
American Society of Landscape Architects, asla.org

Cambridge Chronicle, August 27, 1992

The Cultural Landscape Foundation, tclf.org

commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tanner_Fountain,_Harvard_University_-_IMG_9014-1.JPG

Tag: fountains

Helen Keller in Cambridge

Tanner Fountain