Contributed by Doug Ferguson
Last February I featured the well-known and famous American poet Robert Frost as one of the “Great Americans” that had influenced many young people as we were growing up. In 1959 Frost had traveled from his East Coast region to my college in Ohio to spend a day with a bunch of engineering students to talk about the humanities in the era of technology and had left a life-long impression on many of us.
I recently learned this visit from Frost was based on a friendship started years before between Frost and one of my outstanding professors, Baird Whitlock. The real reason Frost had come to our campus was his friendship with Frost and that Whitlock was teaching about Frost’s works. I had always planned to feature this professor as a “Great American”, but never knew about his connection with Frost.
Frost and Whitlock first met in Frost’s cabin in Vermont in 1949 when they both were on the faculty of Middlebury college. Whitlock, in his first teaching job after leaving the WWII military and graduating from Rutgers, was teaching English. Frost at the time was receiving national attention for his poetry and was lecturing at the college. Frost started their friendship by writing a new poem every Christmas and sending it with a special note to Whitlock. From there on they were both colleagues and friends for years up to when Frost passed away in 1963.
From those beginnings, Whitlock went on to teach and lecture at many colleges around the country including Case Institute of Technology where I had him for a course in Western Civilization. There he also was the director of our Glee Club. He eventually became known as an expert in English Poetry, received honors for his scholarship and academic work, and even became a college president.
Taking Western Civilization was a mandatory requirement at Case. A new curriculum initiative had been started several years previously intended to broaden our technical education to include more humanities. Some outstanding professors from some top universities were hired to teach the new curriculum. Baird Whitlock was one of these, being recruited from Colby College in Maine where he was teaching English.
While all these professors were excellent lecturers, Whitlock was unique. As we covered the various historical and cultural aspects of the era we were studying, he would challenge us to tell how the literature, art, religion, technology, and social customs of the day, had affected historical events and their outcome. Thus, as we studied each era, we got an understanding of how all these cultural factors influenced history.
Our campus was right across from Wade Park, the cultural center of Cleveland. Here was Severance Hall (Home of the Cleveland Symphony), the Natural History Museum and The Cleveland Museum of Art. In the semester that I had Professor Whitlock, we were studying late 19th century art in France which included the “Impressionist” artists. Also, it happened that the Cleveland Museum of Art had one of the best collections of French Impressionist art in the country.
One day Whitlock told us to meet him for our next class at the museum. Once everyone was there, he took us on the best lecture tour I ever had! At each impressionist painting, he gave us the artist’s history and how it affected the painting and what impact it had on the art world. I will always now have a visual understanding of what the “Impressionist Revolt” was all about!
When Whitlock was hired by Case to teach in the new humanities program, he was also given the job of Glee Club director. I have no idea what his musical background was, but he willingly accepted the job.
The past director, who had started the glee club decades ago, had retired the year before. He had written many old-school songs such as the alma mater. Most of these existed in their original “old fashioned” arrangements. The glee club itself was small and not especially impressive.
In three short years Whitlock not only re-arranged the school songs into excellent modern choral pieces and had introduced many great choral classics to the Glee Club’s repertoire, he increased membership to over 50, made an LP album that was very popular among the alumni, but also took the Club on a tour to Europe! Some thought our performances were on a level with the best college groups in the country!
As he was teaching, leading, and encouraging all of us to do our best to achieve not only academic, but also musical levels we had not thought possible to reach outside of our chosen engineering fields, he did so with humor, enthusiasm and a light touch that appealed to all.
After his long and impressive career, he retired to his home in Belfast, Maine. If still alive he would be 98. Up to seven years ago he was still giving lectures on poets, especially Robert Frost. Unfortunately, I have not been able to contact him recently.
However, he helped me, and many other young people get away from their college experience with a better appreciation for the richness of western culture and the joy of group singing! For that he is a “Great American” in my eyes!