Control Panel for Demonstration Apparati in Sanders Physics Auditorium
Henry M. Sanders Laboratory of Physics
On June 1st of this year, The Department of Physics and Astronomy will be clearing out of their beloved Henry M. Sanders Laboratory of Physics, better known as Sanders Physics. Located in the academic quad, this building is being restored to update its laboratories and better utilize its space. In honor of this building’s refurbishment, VCAP’s latest installment concerns the construction of the building in 1926.
Since the founding of Vassar in 1861, science was an essential part of the curriculum. Vassar was the first women’s college to have a separate laboratory for scientific use, the Vassar Brothers Laboratory, built in 1880. In this tradition, the creation and building of Sanders Physics was an 11-year effort, culminating with an opening in October of 1926.
As early as 1915, Vassar President Henry MacCracken and the Board of Trustees began to discuss the possibility of a joint Physics and Psychology building, with the main focus being on Psycholgy. With the help of Harvard professor Frederick A. Saunders and Boston architect Charles Collens, MacCracken negotiated the design of the building. A goal of the college was to give accommodate the lecture hall for 140 to 150 students, a number they hoped to exceed in the coming years. In his letter to President MacCracken, Professor Saunders argued for a larger space:
“Also to mention the fact that if an increase occurs in our beginning class, which is quite probable, we may find ourselves forced to repeat the class twice instead of once as at present, and the staff as at present will be unable to do it. A large classroom will make this unnecessary.”
Eventually, it was determined the building would be only used for Physics, and Psychology would be located elsewhere.
Henry Sanders was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1895 and served as Chairman from 1811 to 1813. Upon his death in 1921, Sanders left a sum of $150,000 to the college to build a Physics building in his name. With Sanders bequest in place, architects Ewing and Allen designed the building, as the firm had with the earlier Sanders Chemistry Building, now Sanders Classroom.
The opening of the building was a spectacular affair, as Vassar took its place in the close knit world of physicists ~ the college still has pamphlets and invitations to the groundbreaking, located in Special Collections, and scientists from around the world sent congratulations, often in the form of portraits which now hang in the Auditorium. The celebration kicked off on October 18, where Michael I. Pupin, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, gave a lecture on “Physics and Its Place in Modern Science Idealism.” From October 18 to October 22, the college held a lecture series with professors from large name men’s colleges like Princeton and Harvard giving physics lectures on a wide variety of topics.
The college has embarked on the necessary projects of renovating Olmsted and Sanders and completely tearing down Mudd Chemistry. It’s important to remember these buildings have been a crucial component in Vassar’s history as a revolutionary in the education of women in science. As the New Bridge Building takes its place as part of the Integrated Science Center, and Vassar moves forward with new technology, we honor the richness of 151 years of teaching and the preservation of these artifacts associated with that tradition.
Emily Omrod, VCAP Intern, Class of ’16
