The following summary of the plans for the year of the Phillips Brooks House Association and its constituent societies is offered for the information of new students, and others who are interested in the religious and philanthropic sides of Harvard life.
Phillips Brooks House Association.
The Phillips Brooks House Association was organized in March, 1904, and includes in its membership the membership of all the religious and philanthropic societies,--the Christian Association, Catholic Club, St. Paul's society, Religious Union and Social--Service Committee, and many other men who believe in the Phillips Brooks House activities in general, but do not wish to commit themselves to the special point of view of any local society. The Association carries on all the general activities, the results of which serve all societies equally.
It maintains an office with stenographer, messenger, telephone, etc., and engages a graduate secretary, all equally at the service of all the societies in the house. It provides reading and study rooms for the use of all members of the University; conducts the autumn conference in which the leaders in all societies take part, held just before the opening of College; maintains an information bureau for new students; gives an annual reception to Freshmen; canvasses the Freshman class in the interests of all the Brooks House activities and societies and through its Social Service Committee conducts various forms of philanthropic work.
Among other new undertakings, the Association is considering plans for throwing open the parlor of the House on Sunday afternoons for informal gatherings, with music or reading, in order to promote good comradeship and make the afternoon pleasant for men who stay in Cambridge over Sunday. Other plans under consideration, are a course of lectures dealing with social service from various points of view,--for example, from the point of view of the settlement worker, the economist, the sociologist, etc; and a Phillips Brooks House fellowship in social service, similar in general plan to the South End House Fellowship and the Robert Treat Paine Fellowship administered by the University.
A committee of upper class men of which A. N. Holcombe '06 is chairman will call during the next few days on 1909 men who live in dormitories, to explain more fully the work of the Association and constituent societies, and to receive application for membership in the societies, or in the Association itself. Men who join any one of the separate societies thereby become also members of the Phillips Brooks House Association, or they may, if they choose, join only the Association. Men living in private houses, or men not seen by the committee, may hand in applications to J. M. Groves '05 at Phillips Brooks House.
The officers of the association are: president, N. Kelley '06; vice-president, A. C. Blagden '06; secretary, J. D. White '07; treasurer, H. W. Nichols '07; graduate secretary, J. M. Groves '05; vice-presidents representing constituent so-societies, A. N. Holcombe '06, D. J. Hurley 1M., R. H. Lord, '06, C. H. Sutherland '06.
Social Service Committee.
Among other enterprises, this committee assigns men to all forms of social service work, in settlements, churches, and other institutions in Boston and surrounding towns. A. E. Wood '06 and A. N. Holcombe '06 are in charge of this department.
Twice during the year, the committee collects clothing from the men in dormitories and private residences, and distributes it among such institutions as the Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, Seaman's Aid Society, and the Associated Charities of Boston and Cambridge, E. T. Clements '06 manages this work.
An undertaking which reached a high degree of development last year is the sending out of "entertainment troupes," made up of volunteer readers, musicians, sleight of hand men, etc., which give entertainments in hospitals, poor houses, and other social institutions. Men who have ability to entertain, who are willing to do this work and have not already registered for it, should send their names to J. L. White '06, Grays 28.
Christian Association.
The Christian Association holds weekly class devotional meetings, and larger general meetings addressed by outside speakers; organizes classes in Bible study and missions; maintain a small library; fills requests for speakers from preparatory schools, city Y. M. C. A.'s, and philanthropic institutions; ends annual delegations to the Northfield Conference, and raises $800 a year towards the support of E. C. Carter '00 in India.
Officers: president, C. H. Sutherland '06; vice-president, R. H. Lord '06; secretary, A. Perry, Jr., '06; treasurer, A. E. Wood '06.
St. Paul's Society.
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