“Harkness at 75: The History of the Harkness Gift” is on display in the lower lobby and in Rockefeller Hall. Images, articles, and correspondence from the Academy Archives bring sharper focus to Edward Harkness’ generosity to the Academy and the impact of his gift. The materials are on display concurrently with the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Harkness gift to Exeter. The celebration features a yearlong series of events, including lectures, exhibitions and visits to the Academy from a distinguished group of Harkness Fellows, many of them alumni/ae.

Displayed in cases on both the ground and main floors of the Class of 1945 Library are a vast number of items from the Academy Archives about Edward Harkness and his generosity to both Phillips Exeter Academy and a variety of other institutions.

The cases on the ground floor include newspaper clippings on Harkness's gifts to Harvard and Yale to establish the house systems at both universities; to Lawrenceville and the Hill School, to Columbia University, and to the Commonwealth Fund in the United States and the Pilgrim Trust in Great Britain.

The exhibit around the north side of Rockefeller Hall includes rare pictures of both Edward Harkness and his father Stephen; photographs of Exeter before the Harkness gift and the construction of new buildings resulting from the gift; correspondence between Harkness and Dr. Lewis Perry, the eighth principal of the Academy about the uses suggested for the money that Harkness proposed to give the Academy; letters from a number of faculty members documenting the impact the Harkness tables had had on their classrooms; articles on the resultant Exeter pedagogy in national publications; and Academy articles on the impact of Harkness, including several of recent origin.

For further information, please contact Academy Librarian Jacquelyn Thomas at (603) 777-3328.