Sanford House Study Hall

Where our Community First Connects, Setting the Tone for the Day Ahead

An anchor at the heart of the Rumsey community, Sanford House contributes

to shaping lifelong memories for the many

who pass through its doors. From a dormitory

for boys, a home for faculty members, locker

room for girls, to a library, classrooms, school

store, computer lab and study hall, Sanford

House has been the setting for some of

Rumsey’s most cherished traditions since 1949.

The first building to be named after a female

and Rumsey’s founder, Lillias Rumsey Sanford,

it is a place where the values and mission of

the School are cultivated.

Right: Sanford House Study Hall winter 2017 Inset: Sanford House in the 1950s before the fire

Former Headmaster D.G. Barr proctoring study hall in the early 1950s

Each morning at 8:00, the low rays of the sun reveal Morning Meeting is more than declaring that we are elongated silhouettes of eager students bustling about one unit in spirit, additionally we are declaring our very Upper School Street, backpacks and sporting gear quickly important mission, not only to the country but also to stockpile outside the Sanford House, and students and all of us who make up Rumsey Hall and its wonderful faculty coalesce for one of Rumsey’s most significant inheritance and values,” says Waldo Salazar ’53. traditions: Morning Meeting. This daily ritual establishes Morning Meeting provides a platform for students a sense of community and connection, preserving the to hone their public speakings skills. They present the deep sense of camaraderie and Daily News by sharing current events School spirit that Lillias Rumsey “In 1954 we actually had fountain pens, with ink. I read about a boy and updates, ranging from politics to Sanford once envisioned over who dipped a little girl’s pigtails professional sports, and at times with a 100 years ago. It is a time when in ink, and thought it would be a touch of humor. The Captains’ Reports, boarding and day students integrate neat trick. Jane Gray ’54 Parker, a written entirely by the students, announce to start the day, establishing a classmate who had pigtails, sat right in front of me in study hall, so one team scores with the community and feeling of togetherness as a unified day I borrowed a little glass from the allow other members of their team to join student body. dining hall to make an inkwell. When in and highlight memorable moments

Some consider Morning she leaned back I dipped one of her from the game and acknowledge players Meeting to be the most significant braids in the ink. I was disciplined, who performed exceptionally well. While twenty minutes of the day. This given demerits and dropped from a school holiday trip to ski at Mohawk. the Daily News and Captains’ Reports time represents a prime example Jane went home, came back the next are traditional components of Morning of what Rumsey Hall aims to day with a lovely shorter haircut, Meeting, the information shared is always achieve: educating the whole child. and grinned when she heard of my new to the community. Furthermore, Students enjoy a few moments to punishments.” —Steven Foote ’54 Headmaster Matt Hoeniger ’81 reads the gather their thoughts—the reading Effort and Dean’s Lists every Tuesday, a of the traditional Psalm 23 and the Lord’s Prayer, the heritage rooted in Rumsey’s values and mission as set Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence all provide by Former Headmasters David Griffin Barr and John a predictable, steady routine. “Reciting the Pledge at Schereschewsky Sr. These long-lived traditions that occur

daily provide students with stability; they know exactly what to expect, thus gaining confidence as they set their day in motion.

In the early days, faculty members who proctored study hall were referred to as “Masters,” and would sit at a desk on the elevated stage enabling them to better command the entire room. “In the front of the study hall was an elevated platform where upon sat the Master in charge, looking like a God overseeing us all behind his large desk,” describes John McDonald ’59.

Former Headmaster David Griffin Barr could be found proctoring evening study hall at five o’clock, five days a week, throughout his 42 year tenure at Rumsey. Waldo Salazar ’53 remembers, “Study hall was always very important and more so when we had that most incredible person, Mr. Barr, heading it. Any doubt we had in our minds about a particular subject was explained to us so interestingly and vividly by him, and in the end when he saw we realized we should have known all along, he would write down on paper: OIC (oh, I see). School spirit was ever present in our classmates and in others, and more importantly was the wonderful spirit of our leaders.”

“Every Sunday boarders would return to campus in time for evening study hall, wherein each boarder was required to write a letter home. Letters were reviewed for structure by faculty in the adjoining faculty room to be sure they had at least the requisite three paragraphs with three sentences in each,” Recalls Betsy Foote ’61 Pope.

Until the Maxwell A. Sarofim ’05 Performing Arts Center was built, the Sanford House Study Hall was the location for school plays and musical performances as well as the Talent Show, Airband and dances. As a component to the traditional color rivalry, even some Reds versus Blues games were held in the space. At one time, study hall was

Top to Bottom: Sanford House Study Hall in the early 1950s before the fire; Sanford House Study Hall late 1950s after the fire; Sanford House 1966

Left to Right: Sanford House during the fire in 1955 with the Washington, CT Volunteer Fire Department; I st Former Peter “Murray” Hart ’62 and VI th Former Sexton Sutherland ’56 find their desks in a pile of furniture after the fire.

transformed into a wrestling arena where large mats homes, the boys living in the dormitory were dispersed from the Big Top gym were transported down the hill to various dorms, Main House and the infirmary, and and set up for the students to challenge one another study hall was relocated to the Schereschewsky’s dining in a friendly battle. School dances and color games are room. Richard Bennett ’58 remembers, “A group of still held in study hall today. maintenance men and instructors from The Gunn

A senior prank or two has been successfully School, where I lived at the time with my parents, executed in study hall. A group of students once drove delivered a large truck with bed frames and mattresses Athletic Director Jay Przygocki’s blue Volkswagen to Rumsey so the faculty and students displaced by the bug through the study hall fire had something to sleep on that doors to block the doorway night. A few months later, I became to the faculty lounge. To this a student at Rumsey Hall and day, the culprits are still at ultimately got to enjoy the benefits large. A more recent prank of the new Sanford House with occured when seniors hid sparkling new classrooms, study hall alarm clocks above the ceiling and student and faculty housing. It is tiles set to ring, to everyone’s hard to imagine that the then brand bewilderment, every few new building is now 60 years old.” minutes during Morning Before the fire, Sanford House Meeting. Dean of Students Clayton Ketchum at the podium in study contained a study hall, library,

On December 7, 1955, hall during Bizarre and Extreme Day in 2013 classrooms and dorms for fortySanford House was consumed by a fire so massive that eight boys and was home to Rumsey’s Business it the destroyed the building beyond repair, and very Manager, Dorothy Rochon Anderson. She wrote in few items were salvaged. It took place while everyone the History of Rumsey, “I remember vividly rushing was at lunch, and no one was harmed. The Washington into my first-floor apartment and wasting time trying Fire Department arrived on campus in time to save to decide what I would rescue. The end result was the classrooms, which were only twelve feet from the my pocketbook, a rocking chair and several books. Sanford House. The local community and Red Cross As I think back now some 40 plus years later, I do provided clothing for students and faculty affected not remember it as a traumatic incident but as an by the fire. Faculty members were placed in nearby opportunity for Rumsey to push on and do what was

Headmasters Lou Magnoli (L) in 1979 and John F. Schereschewsky Sr. (R) in the 1960s leading Morning Meeting in Sanford House Study Hall

“Highlights in Sanford House Study Hall were the moments when Mr. Sherry himself would appear at the Morning Meeting and announce a surprise vacation day. I don’t recall if we threw our books in the air, but there was certainly tumultuous glee. Mr. Sherry, generally regarded as fairly stern, would express joviality, too.” —Betsy Foote ’61 Pope

best for the students and faculty.” Former Headmaster Lou Magnoli also lived in Sanford House, and both he and Dorothy were dorm parents to Pre-Primes through II nd

Form boys living in the dorm.

Cornwall, CT architect Edward Foote P ’54, ’61 designed the blueprints for the new building and Sanford House was quickly erected in 1956, and dedicated and occupied by April 1957. The new building was designed with non-supporting interior partitions so the inner configuration could be rearranged to accommodate different uses of the space as the school continued to grow. The building has since been reconfigured several times, dramatically changing the interior. Today, it consists of study hall, the Dane W. Dicke Family Library, Weston Pullen ’62 Computer Lab, Language Skills, Lower School classrooms and a faculty apartment. The study hall and library are the only features of the building that remain from the original plan when the School moved in 1949.

A steadfast abode enduring the many transformations over the years, Sanford House stands as one of the cornerstones of the Rumsey community and the traditions that take place within its walls continue to nurture the values and mission of the School.

Top to Bottom: Students perform in the Talent Show in 1999; Paula Guerrero ’17 recites her Declamation in Morning Meeting fall 2016; Peter Silvester ’17 participates in a color games challenge in Morning Meeting, December 2016.