LEADERSHIP
First Woman Trustee
On her election as a trustee, Susanna Bixby Bryant became the first woman member of the Â鶹´«Ă˝ Board of Trustees.
CAMPUS
Frary Dining Hall
Frary Hall was a central feature of the Clark campus designed by architect Sumner Spaulding. A men’s refectory was badly needed at the time; the Claremont Inn, which once served all students, had been given over to women living in Harwood, and men were dining in private homes or in boarding clubs. Built in 1929, at the same time as Eli P. Clark Dormitory (Clark I), Frary initially served all freshmen and some sophomores and upperclassmen. Other male students continued to eat off campus until fall 1930, when two additional Clark dormitories were completed; after that date, all men ate at Frary. Breakfast and lunch were cafeteria style, but dinners were served and the men were required to wear coats and ties.
Funds for Frary Hall were provided by Trustee George W. Marston, who insisted on anonymity at the time and suggested the hall be named for Lucien Frary, a Congregational minister who had taken over as pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona when founding Trustee Charles Burt Sumner was persuaded to leave that post in 1887 to become the College’s first administrator.
Memorial Court
Created in 1929, when the east end of Marston Quadrangle was being developed and Bridges Auditorium was under construction, Memorial Court provided a contemplative garden setting used since that time by the College for memorial ceremonies.
ACADEMICS
First Study Abroad Program
Inspired partly by President Edmunds’ prior presidency of Lingnan University and his continuing interest in Asia, Sik-leong Tsui ’31, a Hawaiian student of Chinese ancestry, proposed to some fellow students a full year of travel and study in China in what would turn out, informally, to be Pomona’s first study-abroad program. Pulling together a group of 10 and raising a sum of $12,000 to finance the journey, Tsui organized what became known as the “Oriental Study Expedition.” The group sailed from San Pedro on Oct. 4, 1929, going first to Japan (by way of Hawaii), then on to Hong Kong, then to Lingnan University near Canton, followed by St. John’s College in Shanghai, then to Beijing, before concluding their tour with six weeks of study at the Imperial University in Tokyo. The expedition created a rush of interest on campus and became an important step in the long-range development of Asian Studies as an academic field at Pomona.
Economics and Sociology
After many years as a combined Department of Economics and Sociology, the two fields were listed as separate departments for the first time in 1929.
STUDENT LIFE
Plug Ugly Forbidden
An important tradition for the Pomona junior class during the 1920s was the annual satirical show known as the Plug Ugly. Due to the biting mockery of its tone, the “Plug” was often in jeopardy from an incensed faculty, and in 1929, the dean actually forbade the presentation. When the show was approved in 1930, there was much rejoicing over “The Inhibitions of 1930,” which a reviewer from The Student Life said was “much the better for its officially prescribed year of rest.”
First Dinner Dance at Frary
The first dinner dance in Frary Hall, an event given by first-year women for the men of the Class of 1933, was held Oct. 22, 1929.
FINANCES
Alumni Fund
The College established the Alumni Fund in 1929 to encourage annual contributions from Pomona alumni.
ALUMNI
Roger Revelle
An early predictor of global warming, Roger Revelle ’29 was one of the first scientists to recognize the effects of rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on the Earth's surface temperature. A geology major at Pomona, he also was one of the first scientists to study the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates. Revelle is considered the father of the University of California, San Diego, campus (the first college at the university is named for him), and was the founder and director of the Center for Population Studies at Harvard University.
ELSEWHERE
- In the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, seven gangsters, rivals of Al Capone, were murdered in Chicago.
- The first Academy Awards were presented at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with Wings winning Best Picture.
- On Oct. 29, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 wiped out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange, an amount 10 times greater than the annual federal budget.