Just before the Brown football game this fall, somebody walked off with a small sign reading "Modern Language Center" and bearing an arrow pointing towards Frisbie Place. This bit of Pilferage made the University's most inconspicuous building even more inconspicuous.

Actually, the Modern Language Center's official address is 5 Divinity Avenue. Frisbie Place is an alley that runs behind the Germanic Museum off Divinity Avenue and the language center, housed in a large wooden frame structure that used to be a family home, is the only building on it.

The background of the building itself is probably the most obscure of all Harvard buildings. It was acquired by purchase in October, 1896 from the estate of one G. L. Whitman as part of the Germanic Museum parcel. Located on a plot covering 8,253 square feet, the building included 15 rooms and two baths.

The building's first occupant was Walter B. Cannon '96, a professor of Physiology at the Medical School, and for 30 years, it provided a comfortable home for the Cannon family. Cannon House had been erected on the site of the Institute of Geographical Exploration, so when the Institute was built, Cannon House had to be transported across the street to its present location. This was done in 1930--with one horse. The house was hauled intact--chimney and all--and arrived in near perfect condition.

Children Romped, Garden Grew

Cannon House was turned over to the University in September, 1942 but Professor Cannon continued to live there up until his death in 1945. Both during Professor Cannon's time and since, the house has sheltered various types of enterprises, some pertaining to the University, some not.

For instance, for two years during the first World War, the kindergarten and first grade of the overcrowded Agassiz School spilled over onto the front porch of Professor Cannon's home. Its spacious back yard offered a fine spot for a play ground, and swings and slides were set up there. At the same time, sailors cultivated the front yard and raised vegetables.

During the last war, from 1942 to 1946, the building was used by the School for Overseas Administration, which trained men in foreign languages (mostly Chinese and Japanese). It also housed a group of chaplains. After the war, Cannon House served briefly as a fraternity house and then as an International House for foreign students before they were admitted to the regular undergraduate dormitories.

In 1946, Cannon House was removed from the rolls of rented property and that summer it was completely renovated in preparation for the establishment of a center which might give Harvard and Radcliffe students, and their friends, and opportunity to continue beyond the limits of the classroom their efforts to understand and appreciate foreign cultures.

In an informal and comfortable atmosphere, and through a series of individual and group activities, students were to be encouraged to explore the meaning and significance of these cultures on their own initiative.

William Berrien, professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and a former head of the department, and Andre Morize, professor of French Literature, inspected Cannon House one snowy day in 1946 with these aims in mind. The Modern Language Center is Professor Berrien's child; he started it and, as chairman of the Center's administrative committee, has been the gilding hand behind its activities and improvements. A former teacher at the University of California, Professor Berrien has been associated with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York and presently holds a permanent representative post on a UNESCO committee. This last position, according to Berrien, merely means going to Paris once or twice a year and writing memoranda. He currently gives or assists in seven courses in Spanish and Spanish American literature. Morize, a member of the administrative committee, has been one of the Center's chief benefactors in the way of furnishings and advice. The rest of the committee includes Renato Poggioli, associate professor of Slavic and Comparative Literature; Taylor Starck, professor of German; Francis M. Rogers, associated professor of Romance Languages and Literature and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and Dean Cronkhite, of the Graduate School at Radcliffe.

Luxurious Interior Decor

The resident tutor, and the man chiefly responsible for the Center's everyday operation, is Robert F. Leggewie, a teaching fellow in French. He and his personable wife, who serves as his secretary, live there along with an invaluable housekeeper. Mr. Leggewie, coincidently, also taught on the coast but did not meet Berrien until both came east. Following his graduation from the University of Southern California, he taught there and at La Maison Francaise of Mills College (Oakland). There has been one other resident couple prior to the Leggewie's.

The Modern Language Center's exterior offers no hints of its plush indoor facilities. The main floor includes a splendid dining room, a club meeting room (the library of Professor Cannon's home), Mrs. Leggewie's office, a kitchen, and a pantry. Several pieces of fine old furniture, as well as some rare books, have been donated by a Mrs. Potter, a wealthy Boston widow. Other donations come from members of the faculty and language club funds. The University takes no part in financing the Center.

On the second floor, rooms are assigned to various language groups and each one is equipped with a small special library containing a selection of works of general interest written in the several languages represented. In addition, there are copies of the most representative texts at different levels for the study of those languages and their literatures in schools and colleges. On this floor are rooms devoted to French, German, Spanish, Slavic, and Italian. Besides books, they contain many foreign language newspapers.