![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 |
Conant left a letter in the 1951 with explicit instructions that it was to be opened only by the next inaugrated president of the next century. Drew Gilpin Faust opened that letter recently and spoke of it in her inauguration 10/12/07. It was exceedingly interesting hearing her read exceprts (the most ironic bit being the opening 'my dear sir'). Someone with a better knowledge of the contents of this letter would do a great service to this entry by adding a section on this both here and in Pres. Faust's entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Biofh ( talk • contribs) 20:16, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
This article notes that Harvard was "until then widely perceived as a 'finishing school' for members of the New England upper class." There is little doubt that President Conant brought Harvard into the twentieth century and firmly established is reputation for academic excellence. But to dismiss the oldest institution for higher learning in America as a finishing school seems a bit much to me. Was that written by a Yalie? lol MarmadukePercy ( talk) 03:12, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
I thought Conant also earned certain fame as the head of a commission on higher education in the US that sought to establish a system of public higher education that would be accessible to all and that our community colleges in particular owe their inspiration to him and his colleagues in this endeavor. Tom Cod ( talk) 17:17, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Conant was not Hitler friendly. His reply to Ernst F S Hanfstaengl was "We are unwilling to accept a gift from one who has been so closely associated with the leadership of a political party which has inflicted damage on the universities of Germany through measures which have struck at principles we believe to be fundamental to universities throughout the world". He also received the Jewish Veterans' Award for American Leadership in 1940. Source: NAS biography.
If he was neither a nazi sympathizer as claimed nor anti-semitic then what is the evidence for the racist slur?
Chrysippo ( talk) 12:29, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
Although perhaps not controversial in his lifetime, it ought to be mentioned somewhere that Conant spent World War I making mustard gas for the Chemical Warfare Service. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.241.78.34 ( talk) 02:12, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
Very minor note, but providing some links here to back-up the edit made here that identified W. McEwen as William Kirk McEwen (1910-1986). This is based on this record from Harvard of McEwen's PhD thesis, another double one, with the second thesis being 'A Further Study of Extremely Weak Acids'. McEwen's obituary is here (University of California: In Memoriam, 1989). He went on to become a professor of biochemistry and ophthalmology. Carcharoth ( talk) 03:16, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
I restored quote by historians aptly summarizing Conant's attitudes and giving a way explain his actions on Jewish quotas. Please don't remove. Discuss here. Mhym ( talk) 14:28, 25 December 2012 (UTC)
Carrying over here some of the remaining quibbles from the FAC, to be dealt with as and when needed, if at all (some are not from the FAC and are new). The first four are gleaned from my recent closer reading of the Bartlett (1983) source:
That's about it. I may work on some of the above, but leaving these notes here for now. Carcharoth ( talk) 21:26, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
This sentence "After serving in World War II, Alexis was refused admittance to Harvard Medical School on the grounds that, as the only black student, he would have no one to room with." should be clipped from the article. It is interesting but not really connected to the incident or to Conant. and it takes focus from Conant to Alexis. Just in terms of tight thematic writing, is not good. But also may be a little coatracky.
Actually, I really wonder how important the overall incident (whole para) was in Conant's life. Not trying to sugar coat the fellow, but it really doesn't seem that signigicant especially given the era. If it did not get much press at the time, but has become a trope of later scholarship/criticism, would be good to just indicate that (Recent scholars such as Smith and jones...bla bla bla...)
TCO ( talk) 15:02, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
Putting here (for increased visibility) some material that had been commented outin the article itself:
James B. Conant Middle School is a former school named after the man in Neenah, Wisconsin, though it has since become the "Conant" building, in addition to the Neil Armstrong building and a large building connecting the two known simply as "The Link." James B. Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Illinois was named after Conant, as was James B. Conant Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
In addition to this, there are several awards, professorships and scholarships named for Conant. One seems to be a fairly prestigious US education award, so I created the article James Bryant Conant Award, which might warrant some sort of mention (some sources also say Conant was a co-founder of the Education Commission of the States, the organisation that administers that award). Carcharoth ( talk) 02:45, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
I snooped the pages of the schools and you can tell this is true with the buildings and all. Also, I found an earlier web refernce to James B. Conant Junior High. Just can't find an article on how the school was built/evolved. TCO ( talk) 15:21, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
I think we need a small legacy section. There are several sourceable things that use his name:
TCO ( talk) 15:40, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
Any relation? Kenneth John Conant
TCO ( talk) 15:43, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
-"research investigated" = he researched (research cannot investigate)
-elucidate= "explain" (WP:MOS: straining for formality)
"with a reformist agenda" = A reformist, he
-"that involved dispensing with a number of" = ended (wordy)
-"terminated" = fired (WP:MOS: straining for formality)
-"the president" = president (redundant)
-"became a critic of" = criticized (wordy)
Fluous ( talk) 14:01, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
I have updated the external link to the ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks resource and clarified a point about rubber production: 51 factories were constructed OR made to operate to produce rubber ingredients, not rubber. I am the program coordinator of the ACS-NHCL program. KLindblom ( talk) 22:55, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on James Bryant Conant. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 02:44, 12 May 2017 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 |
Conant left a letter in the 1951 with explicit instructions that it was to be opened only by the next inaugrated president of the next century. Drew Gilpin Faust opened that letter recently and spoke of it in her inauguration 10/12/07. It was exceedingly interesting hearing her read exceprts (the most ironic bit being the opening 'my dear sir'). Someone with a better knowledge of the contents of this letter would do a great service to this entry by adding a section on this both here and in Pres. Faust's entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Biofh ( talk • contribs) 20:16, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
This article notes that Harvard was "until then widely perceived as a 'finishing school' for members of the New England upper class." There is little doubt that President Conant brought Harvard into the twentieth century and firmly established is reputation for academic excellence. But to dismiss the oldest institution for higher learning in America as a finishing school seems a bit much to me. Was that written by a Yalie? lol MarmadukePercy ( talk) 03:12, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
I thought Conant also earned certain fame as the head of a commission on higher education in the US that sought to establish a system of public higher education that would be accessible to all and that our community colleges in particular owe their inspiration to him and his colleagues in this endeavor. Tom Cod ( talk) 17:17, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Conant was not Hitler friendly. His reply to Ernst F S Hanfstaengl was "We are unwilling to accept a gift from one who has been so closely associated with the leadership of a political party which has inflicted damage on the universities of Germany through measures which have struck at principles we believe to be fundamental to universities throughout the world". He also received the Jewish Veterans' Award for American Leadership in 1940. Source: NAS biography.
If he was neither a nazi sympathizer as claimed nor anti-semitic then what is the evidence for the racist slur?
Chrysippo ( talk) 12:29, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
Although perhaps not controversial in his lifetime, it ought to be mentioned somewhere that Conant spent World War I making mustard gas for the Chemical Warfare Service. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.241.78.34 ( talk) 02:12, 1 January 2012 (UTC)
Very minor note, but providing some links here to back-up the edit made here that identified W. McEwen as William Kirk McEwen (1910-1986). This is based on this record from Harvard of McEwen's PhD thesis, another double one, with the second thesis being 'A Further Study of Extremely Weak Acids'. McEwen's obituary is here (University of California: In Memoriam, 1989). He went on to become a professor of biochemistry and ophthalmology. Carcharoth ( talk) 03:16, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
I restored quote by historians aptly summarizing Conant's attitudes and giving a way explain his actions on Jewish quotas. Please don't remove. Discuss here. Mhym ( talk) 14:28, 25 December 2012 (UTC)
Carrying over here some of the remaining quibbles from the FAC, to be dealt with as and when needed, if at all (some are not from the FAC and are new). The first four are gleaned from my recent closer reading of the Bartlett (1983) source:
That's about it. I may work on some of the above, but leaving these notes here for now. Carcharoth ( talk) 21:26, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
This sentence "After serving in World War II, Alexis was refused admittance to Harvard Medical School on the grounds that, as the only black student, he would have no one to room with." should be clipped from the article. It is interesting but not really connected to the incident or to Conant. and it takes focus from Conant to Alexis. Just in terms of tight thematic writing, is not good. But also may be a little coatracky.
Actually, I really wonder how important the overall incident (whole para) was in Conant's life. Not trying to sugar coat the fellow, but it really doesn't seem that signigicant especially given the era. If it did not get much press at the time, but has become a trope of later scholarship/criticism, would be good to just indicate that (Recent scholars such as Smith and jones...bla bla bla...)
TCO ( talk) 15:02, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
Putting here (for increased visibility) some material that had been commented outin the article itself:
James B. Conant Middle School is a former school named after the man in Neenah, Wisconsin, though it has since become the "Conant" building, in addition to the Neil Armstrong building and a large building connecting the two known simply as "The Link." James B. Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, Illinois was named after Conant, as was James B. Conant Elementary School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
In addition to this, there are several awards, professorships and scholarships named for Conant. One seems to be a fairly prestigious US education award, so I created the article James Bryant Conant Award, which might warrant some sort of mention (some sources also say Conant was a co-founder of the Education Commission of the States, the organisation that administers that award). Carcharoth ( talk) 02:45, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
I snooped the pages of the schools and you can tell this is true with the buildings and all. Also, I found an earlier web refernce to James B. Conant Junior High. Just can't find an article on how the school was built/evolved. TCO ( talk) 15:21, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
I think we need a small legacy section. There are several sourceable things that use his name:
TCO ( talk) 15:40, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
Any relation? Kenneth John Conant
TCO ( talk) 15:43, 2 March 2013 (UTC)
-"research investigated" = he researched (research cannot investigate)
-elucidate= "explain" (WP:MOS: straining for formality)
"with a reformist agenda" = A reformist, he
-"that involved dispensing with a number of" = ended (wordy)
-"terminated" = fired (WP:MOS: straining for formality)
-"the president" = president (redundant)
-"became a critic of" = criticized (wordy)
Fluous ( talk) 14:01, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
I have updated the external link to the ACS National Historic Chemical Landmarks resource and clarified a point about rubber production: 51 factories were constructed OR made to operate to produce rubber ingredients, not rubber. I am the program coordinator of the ACS-NHCL program. KLindblom ( talk) 22:55, 21 February 2014 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on James Bryant Conant. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{
source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 02:44, 12 May 2017 (UTC)