Hovey Grill, Murals: see also DDA; Thayer Dining Hall

Contains photocopied photos of the Hovey murals, news articles and releases, correspondence, memos, and other documents about the creation of the murals, their reception through the years, efforts to restrict access to them, critiques by Native students, and other documents dating from the 1930s through the 1990s. The murals were located in the Thayer dining hall facility known as "Hovey's pub" and were painted in 1938-39 by Dartmouth alumnus Walter Beach Humphreys, depicting a drinking song originally written by Richard Hovey, class of 1885. They include depictions of nude and intoxicated Native men and women, and were condemned by the student group Native Americans at Dartmouth for perpetuating racist and sexist stereotypes of Native people. The panels were covered with boards in 1983, though the murals were periodically uncovered for special events during Commencement and Reunions. In 2011, access was restricted to use for teaching by Dartmouth faculty and Hood Museum staff. In 2018, the murals were removed from the basement of the Class of 1953 Commons and moved to an off-site storage facility.

2024-03-09