Centennial celebrations plans to commemorate the birth of President Eliot on Tuesday, March 20, were announced yesterday by Edwin H. Hall, Rumford Professor of Physics, Emeritus, and president of the Charles William Eliot Memorial Association. The anniversary will be marked by the unveiling of a bust of President Eliot presented to Eliot House by the association, and by speeches by many well-known men concerning the former president, including a nation-wide broadcast by President Conant, former President Lowell, and Chief Justice Hughes.
There will be several different programs and exercises in and around Cambridge. The bronze bust will be unveiled in the court-yard of Eliot House in the afternoon. It will be presented in a speech by Bliss Perry, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature, Emeritus, to whom Roger B. Merriman '96, Gurney Professor of History and Political Science will respond in an acceptance address. The unveiling will be officially performed by Charles W. Eliot, III, great-grandson of the president, now four years old. Admission to this ceremony will be by ticket, and will be limited to members of the association, invited guests, and the press.
In the evening, Charles Francis Adams '88, president of the Alumni Association will preside at a meeting in Sanders Theatre which will start at 9 o'clock. The program up to 10.30 o'clock will consist of an invocation by William Lawrence '71, former Bishop of Massachusetts; an address by the governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Joseph B. Ely; reading by Charles William Eliot, II '20, from the writings of President Eliot or from writings relating to him; and an address by William A. Neilson, president of Smith College. These exercises will be terminated with singing by the Glee Club. From 10.30 to 11 o'clock there will be a nation-wide broadcast of brief speeches by President Conant, former President Lowell, and Chief Justice Hughes. The two presidents will speak from the Sanders Theatre, while the Chief Justice will speak in Washington.
