Completing his term on the Board of Overseers this June is Edward W. Forbes '95, director of the Fogg Museum, emeritus, who heads three Overseers visiting committees: Fine Arts and Fogg, Museum, Music, and Semitic and Egyptian Civilization. He is now raising money for an Egyptian lectureship here. In addition, he is helping establish the new American Research Center in Cairo, Egypt.
Also Does Research
The third Forbes, George S. Forbes '02, professor of chemistry, emeritus, is also doing research. Since his retirement in 1948, Forbes has taught part time at Northeastern, started a project to evaluate and codify reaction rates, and studied reactions in solutions for the National Research Council.
One professor who is still very interested in the faculty problems of today is Charles H. MacIlwain, Eaton Professor of the Science of Government, emeritus. He advocates group over individual tutorial and feels that all Government concentrators should receive tutorial with groups of five "ideal," MacIlwain was one of the original preceptors of group tutorial at Princeton in 1905 under Woodrow Wilson.
MacIlwain, whose texts are used in several Government courses, is now working with a former student, Paul Ward, professor of Government at Colby, on a re-edition of a 16th Century work on the structure of English courts. The book, Lombard's "Archeion," was written in 1591 and last published in 1635.
Thomas Reed Powell, Story Professor of Law, emeritus, is also still teaching. He lectures on American Constitutional Law at Suffolk Law School and at the New School for Social Research in New York and still attends all the meetings of the Faculty of Law. Another lawyer, Samuel Williston, Dane Professor of Law, emeritus, visits Langdell every day. At 89, he is America's foremost authority on contracts.
Two retired English professors, Bliss Perry, Higginson Professor of English Literature, and Fred N. Robinson '91, Gurney Professor of English Literature, are still busily engaged in their former work.
Robinson has been teaching early English literature, especially Chaucer, in various places throughout the country. At the same time, he has done editorial work for the journals of the American Academy in Boston and the Medieval Academy.
Perry, at 90, has an attitude which is typical of all the retired faculty members. According to his friends, he is still going through several books a week, "reading to learn."