Just returned from three days in New Haven, at Yale University, for this year's Art Museum Development Association (AMDA) conference, hosted by Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Arts. Terrific time meeting all my development peers.Prior to leaving, I'd signed myself up for an 0730 tour of the campus. The morning's rain didn't put me off, the tour given by a junior architectural student who is also the editor of Yale's student newspaper, Yale Daily News. The nation's future looks bright with such a terrific lad.
Among the highlights, we poked our noses inside the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (above), repository of millions of first editions, including the c.1454 Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed in movable type. Our guide explained that in trying to decide what stone to use for the exterior, the architects had travelled the world far and wide, searching for just the right material, to later find it just up the road--Vermont granite and marble. At just 31.75mm thick, the marble filters light in, on a sunny day bathing the room in a soft yellow glow.
Another curious moment for me was standing outside the rather decrepit looking building belonging to Yale's notorious Skull and Bones Society (above). No sign conveys its ownership, the steps leading up to the chained, double padlocked door are crumbling, as are parts of its stonework. Quite fitting that the rain stepped up its patter on our umbrellas as we stood on the footpath across the road.Apart from the building above and its purpose, the campus brought back many wonderful visual memories of my years working at and living in Cambridge (the UK one).
PS. all photos from my mobile phone.
