Brown in the Great War

R.O.T.C. review on the Main Green, 1917. BUA. World War I Photographs.

The students enrolled at the University during the war years, witnessed dramatic changes to Brown’s physical spaces, as well as to their academic and social lives. Once war was declared, President Faunce called for spartan living; the fraternities were shuttered, Ivy Day and other activities were cancelled, citing frivolity and expense.[1. BUA. Topic Files, 1-E WWI, n.d.] The Brown Daily Herald stopped daily publication on May 18th, 1917, reducing publication to twice a week. The Brunonian and Liber ceased publication altogether. Class Day exercises lacked their “usual glamour with no fraternity stands, no forest boughs, no band.”  Varsity sports were suspended. Junior week was practically omitted. President Faunce explained “This is no time for farce and circus and fantastic parade.”[2. BUA. BAM, 18:2. July 1917. pg29]

Th corridors of University Hall were crowded with men awaiting to enroll in the Student Army Training Corps or Brown’s Naval Training Unit.[3. BUA. OF-1E-3. Press Materials] The University adopted a war curriculum. Military French, Wireless Telegraphy, Geography of War Zones, Food Conservation, the Military History of Germany, and other courses relating to the war were offered. Biology I was extended to cover ambulance and first aid instruction, hygiene, and camp sanitation.[4. BUA. Catalogue of Brown University, 1917-1918] Hope College, University Hall, Maxcy Hall, and Caswell Hall were transformed into barracks for the Army and Naval units. The rooms, outfitted with army 3 or 4 cots, had strict barrack rules enforced. A sub-caliber Rifle Range was constructed in the basement of Sayles Hall; a large service flag, with a varying number of stars, flew from University Hall. Rockefeller Hall was turned over for a mess, accommodating about 600 men. The first floor of the Union became a Dining Hall, complete with a Y.M.C.A. Hut where Brown men could “secure the familiar red triangle stationery and write home to their family about the horrors of war. These horrors, so far, are confined to quarantine, kitchen police and guard duty.” Rhode Island Hall became Headquarters for the Student Army Training Corps; Manning Hall was Headquarters for the Naval Training Unit. Outside Manning, a naval landing cannon and two machine guns pointed ominously towards the John Hay Library.[5. BUA. BAM, 19:4. November, 1918. p69]

BUA. Manning Hall. BAM, December, 1918.

Inside Manning, in what was previously known as “Statuary Hall”, the statues were crammed into a corner behind a wooden partition; on a large blackboard the “Uniform of the Day ” was designated, and to the right of the blackboard sat a row of yeomen, each busy at a typewriter.[6. BUA. BAM, 19:5. December, 1918. p93] For the inducted students, the strictest military discipline was observed at all times. The War Department laid out a sixteen hour program for each day extending from reveille at 6am to taps at 10pm. Students were marched to and from classes, and to the halls for supervised study. There was “very little loafing on College Hill,” as free time was regulated to and between 9:15-10 p.m. during the week, and weekend afternoons.

Making Knots and Splices in the Rigging Loft, Top Floor of University Hall. BUA. BAM, 19:10. December, 1918. pg199.

The winter of 1917/18 was unusually severe in Rhode Island. Heavy snowfall and intense cold created a deep frost that affected water-mains, cutting off the water supply in many places.[7. Rhode Island History, Vol 59, no.2. May, 2001] Coal was in short supply. To procure fuel for University buildings, President Faunce put forth an appeal for a corps of student wood-choppers to cut down trees on a University lot off Sessions Street.[8. BUA. BDH. February 2, 1918] “It has been a record breaking cold winter here with a troublesome coal and fuel shortage. To meet our fuel shortage, a squad of about 30 or 40 of the boys under certain bucolic members of the faculty as gang-bosses, have been chopping wood up in Cat Swamp.”[9. BUA. MS-IUF-W1. H.E. Walters Papers. Review Hints #2. February 18, 1918] That April, after five hours of felling timber, three wood choppers left for Boston by train at 10:15 pm. Perhaps as a diversion or to test their mettle, the students proceeded to walk the 44 miles back to campus on foot, while their fraternity brothers awaited their arrival. About 4:00 pm the next day, the three hikers appeared asking for their beds.[9. BUA. BDH, 28:72. April 2, 1918. pg3] Although all varsity athletic contests were given up, non-varsity activities continued on campus. The War Department encouraged athletic sports, as long as there was “no disruption of the weekly schedule of academic and military training.” Competitive athletics were viewed as a valuable adjunct to military training, and as an outlet for the nervous and physical energy of the students.[10. BUA. OF-1E-3 WWI Files, Athletics, War Dept Memo. October 3, 1918] When the students developed a “war-tired” feeling, The Athletic Association attempted to help them overcome it through the introduction of new campus sports. “Jump ropes, hoops, croquet, quoits and many other features of our younger days have become a familiar sight on the campus within the past month.”[14. BUA. Sepiad, 18:4. June, 1918.p31]

Music, in all forms, was also encouraged. The Army viewed singing as an asset in the promotion of an “esprit de corps, in installing unity, rhythm, courage, an inspiring dash.” Songsheets and booklets such as “Suggestions for Initiating Mass Singing” were sent to the University from the Commission on Training Camp Activities. The War Department instructed that the first songs to be taught were: America; Star Spangled Banner; Battle Hymn of the Republic; The Marseillaise; Old Folks at Home; Old Black Joe; Old Kentucky Home; Pack up your Troubles in your old Kit Bag; When the Great Red Dawn is Shining; Over There; There’s a Long, Long Trail; Goodbye Broadway; Joan of Arc; Good Morning Mr. Zip; and Keep the Home Fires Burning.[11. BUA. MS-12x. War Department Committee on Education and Special Training Descriptive Circular]

Despite the reports of the wounding and deaths of fellow students and alumni, various entertainments were enjoyed, both on campus and downtown at local theatrical venues, like Keith’s, the Majestic, or the Strand. Performances were organized to benefit the Halifax Relief Fund, the Red Cross, or the Ambulance Fund. On April 9th, 1918, a Minstrel and Vaudeville performance was staged in the Union’s Auditorium with Rusby’s magic, Houdini stunts, and African minstrels as the featured entertainment. “The minstrels kept everybody gay for three quarters of an hour.”[12. BUA. BAM 18:10. May, 1918] Every evening, for a short time after dinner an orchestra, the “Jazz” band, or the Glee Club performed, and the Union rocked to the lusty refrains of “Over There” or some of the splendid Brown songs.”[13. BUA. BAM. February, 1918. p141]

The University remained open for the summer months to speed up the completion of the student’s college work and to keep the physical plant operational and contributing to the war effort. President Faunce commented “We are not content to see our machine shops closed, when every wheel of the nation should be turning.”[15. BUA. BDH. December 21, 1917] A vocational contingent of 320 mechanics from New Jersey arrived to train at pattern and machine shops at Brown and the Rhode Island School of Design. The mechanics slept on government cots in the Lyman Gymnasium, ate at the union, and worked six hours a day in the machine shops. The enlisted mechanics enjoyed the “privilege” of a hut, as in the military camps, on the first floor of University Hall, where rooms were opened for them by the Y.M.C.A. and the Knights of Columbus. After two months of instruction, the men were ready for service as carpenters, machinists, wireless telegraphers, or automobile mechanics.[16. BUA. BAM, 19:2. July, 1918. pp32-33] “Uncle Sam’s motor mechanics, domiciled in the Gym, marched two by two in their blue overalls across the campus on the way to their daily work at the School of Design, the commencement crowd gave them a cheer with a thrill of brotherhood that was good to feel.”  –H.E. Walters[17. BUA. MS-IUF-W1. H.E. Walters Papers. Review Hints #5, 1918]

Commencement, 1918. BUA, Photographs I-J. Commencement 1908-1920.

For the first time in Brown’s history, the number of women at the Baccalaureate exercises equaled that of the men.[18. BUA. MS-IUF-W1. H.E. Walters Papers. Review Hints #5.] “The War’s mark on commencement exercises was plain with its slender procession and uniforms of army and navy scattered generously though the marching line.”[19. BUA. SB-1E-1, College Scrapbooks, vol. 15. May 3o, 1918.] During his Commencement Address, President Faunce announced that former German Ambassador, Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff, would be stripped of the honorary Doctorate of Laws he had been awarded by the University in 1910, “for the reason that while he was ambassador of the Imperial German Government to the United States, and while the nations were still at peace, he was guilty of conduct dishonorable alike in a gentleman and a diplomat.”[20. ibid. Von Berstorff had worked with German intelligence since 1914, and had been financing sabotage efforts against American munitions shipments to the British. BUA. BAM, June, 1918. pg217.] The announcement was met with instant and hearty applause.

Changes to the campus were even further dramatically felt in October of 1918, when the influenza epidemic arrived in Providence, and the University placed itself under a strict quarantine. Students were given the choice to adhere to the quarantine or pack their bags and return to their homes. Those that remained were not allowed off campus without a pass. Armed guards were stationed at the gates and in front of the John Hay Library. No one was allowed to go into the city for any reason.