Ezra Stiles
Rev. Ezra Stiles, 1770-1771, by Samuel King
President of Yale University
Term	1778 – 1795
Predecessor	Naphtali Daggett as pro tempore
Successor	Timothy Dwight IV
Born	(1727-11-29)November 29, 1727 North Haven, Connecticut
Died	May 12, 1795(1795-05-12) (aged 67) New Haven, Connecticut
Children	Betsey Stiles; Ruth (Stiles) Gannett; Emilia (Stiles) Leavitt; Polly (Stiles) Holmes; Isaac Stiles
Signature

Ezra Stiles (November 29, 1727 – May 12, 1795) was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian and author. He was president of Yale College (1778–1795).^[1]

Early life[link]

Yale College diploma, Ezra Stiles, Class of 1746

Born the son of the Rev. Isaac Stiles in North Haven, Connecticut, Ezra Stiles graduated from Yale in 1746. He studied theology and was ordained in 1749, tutoring at Yale from that year until 1755. Resigning from the ministry, he studied law and practiced at New Haven from 1753 to 1755, when he returned to the ministry for 22 years. Trinity Church, the Anglican Church in Newport, Rhode Island, offered him an opportunity to become its minister, but he turned the offer down to become pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Newport, Rhode Island from 1755 until 1777. While in Newport, he also served as Librarian of the Redwood Library and Athenaeum and kept an informative diary of his life and distinguished acquaintances in Newport, including his association with Aaron Lopez. The Ezra Stiles House in Newport is on the National Historic Register. With arrival of British troops in Newport in late 1776, Stiles left Newport and became pastor of the Congregational Church at Portsmouth, New Hampshire from 1777 until 1778, when he became president of Yale until his death. Stiles owned at least one slave, named "Newport," whom he freed on June 9, 1778.

He married twice (Elizabeth Hubbard and Mary Checkley Cranston) and had eight children. Stiles' son Ezra Stiles, Esq., was educated first at Yale College, then at Harvard College, where he studied law, graduating in 1778. Ezra Stiles Jr. subsequently settled in Vermont, and served to establish the boundaries between Vermont and New Hampshire. He died prematurely at Chowan County, North Carolina on Aug. 22, 1784, and his two daughters by his wife Sylvia (Avery) Stiles of Vermont (and formerly of Norwich, Connecticut) had their uncle Jonathan Leavitt appointed their guardian.^[2]

His daughter Emilia married Judge and State Senator Jonathan Leavitt of Greenfield, Massachusetts. His daughter Mary married, in 1790, Abiel Holmes, a Congregational clergyman and historian and a 1783 graduate of Yale College. By the second marriage to Sarah Wendell, Abiel was the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Foundation of Brown University[link]

In 1764, Stiles played an influential role in the establishment of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (the original name for Brown University) by contributing substantially to the drafting of its charter and by serving with thirty-five others - including Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Samuel Ward, the Reverend John Gano, the Reverend Isaac Backus, the Reverend Samuel Stillman, and the Reverend James Manning - as a founding fellow or trustee.^[3]

American Revolution[link]

Ezra Stiles's map of the British forces invading New Haven, Connecticut, July 1779

Ezra Stiles was also a dedicated supporter of the American Revolutionary cause, and an avid amateur scientist who corresponded with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin about scientific discoveries. Using equipment donated to the college by Franklin, Stiles conducted the first electrical experiments in New England.

A book he authored, The United States elevated to Glory and Honor was printed in 1783.^[4]

Biblical Scholarship[link]

Stiles struck up a close friendship with Rabbi Haim Isaac Carigal during Carigal's six month residence in Newport in 1773, the two meeting 28 times (according to Stiles' records) to discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from Kabbalah to the politics of the Holy Land. In addition, Stiles took the opportunity to improve his rudimentary knowledge of the Hebrew language, to the point where he and Carigal were to correspond by mail in Hebrew.

Ezra Stiles House in Newport, Rhode Island

Stiles' knowledge of Hebrew also enabled him to translate large portions of the Hebrew Old Testament into English. Stiles believed, as did many Christian scholars of the time, that facility with the text in its original language was advantageous for proper interpretation.

Yale Presidency[link]

Letter from Stiles to George Washington announcing the awarding of an Honorary degree to Washington by President and Fellows of Yale College, 1781

As president of Yale, Stiles also became its first professor of Semitics, and required all students to study Hebrew (as was also the case at Harvard); his first commencement address in September, 1781 (no ceremonies having been held during the American Revolutionary War) was delivered in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic. By 1790, however, he was forced to face failure in instilling an interest in the language in the student body, writing

"From my first accession to the Presidency ... I have obliged all the Freshmen to study Hebrew. This has proved very disagreeable to a Number of the Students. This year I have determined to instruct only those who offer themselves voluntarily."

The valedictorians of 1785 and 1792, however, did deliver their speeches in Hebrew.

Yale's legacy from this interest of Stiles' includes a portrait of Carigal by artist Samuel King, and the Hebrew words "Urim" and "Thummim" (אורים ותמים) on the Yale seal.

Frontispiece, The Annals or History of Yale College in New Haven, in the Colony of Connecticut, by Yale President Thomas Clap, 1766. Volume carries notation: "Given to the Library of Yale College by Ezra Stiles 1785."

Named in his honor is Ezra Stiles College, one of Yale's residential colleges. Also noted is its Eero Saarinen design, particularly the building's lack of right angles between walls. The college's mascot is the moose, inspired by the installation in the dining hall of a stuffed moose head in honor of former college master and Yale president A. Bartlett Giamatti. Adjacent to Ezra Stiles College is its near architectural twin, Morse College, named for Samuel F.B. Morse.

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Rhode Island portal

• Ezra Stiles College

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ezra Stiles

External links[link]

• Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. (1901). The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles (Vol. I, January 1, 1769-March 13, 1776). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• __________. (1901). The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles Vol. II, March 14, 1776-December 31, 1781. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. OCLC 2198912
• __________. (1901). The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles (Vol. III, January 1, 1782-May 6, 1795). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
• Kelley, Brooks Mather. (1999). Yale: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press. 10-ISBN 0-300-07843-9: 13-ISBN 978-0-300-07843-5; OCLC 810552
• Morgan, Edmund Sears. (1983). The Gentle Puritan: A Life of Ezra Stiles, 1727-1795. The gentle puritan: a life of Ezra Stiles, 1727-1795. Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press. 10-ISBN 0-8078-1231-5; 13-ISBN 978-0-8078-1231-0
• Welch, Lewis Sheldon and Walter Camp. (1899). Yale, Her Campus, Class-rooms, and Athletics. Boston: L. C. Page and Co. OCLC 2191518
• Brown University's John Hay Library
• Brown University Charter

Ezra from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum

Site traditionally described as the tomb of Ezra at Al Uzayr near Basra.

Ezra ( /ˈɛzrə/; Hebrew: עזרא, Ezra;^[1] fl. 480–440 BC), also called Ezra the Scribe (Hebrew: עזרא הסופר, Ezra ha-Sofer) and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible he returned from the Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem (Ezra 7-10 and Neh 8). According to First Esdras, a non-canonical Greek translation of the Book of Ezra, he was also a high priest.

His name may be an abbreviation of Azaryahu, "God-helps". In the Greek Septuagint the name is rendered Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας), from which Latin: Esdras.

The Book of Ezra describes how he led a group of Judean exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem (Ezra 8.2-14) where he enforced observance of the Torah and cleansed the community of mixed marriages.^[2][3]

Ezra, known as "Ezra the scribe" in Chazalic literature,^[4] is a highly respected figure in Judaism.^[5]

In the Hebrew Bible[link]

The canonical Book of Ezra and Book of Nehemiah are the oldest sources for the activity of Ezra,^[3] whereas many of the other books ascribed to Ezra (First Esdras, 3-6 Ezra) are later literary works dependent on the canonical books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Book of Ezra-Nehemiah

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one scroll. (Nehemiah 3:32, footnote)^[6] Later the Jews divided this scroll and called it First and Second Ezra. Modern Hebrew Bibles call the two books Ezra and Nehemiah, as do other modern Bible translations. A few parts of the Book of Ezra (4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12:12-26) were written in Aramaic, and the majority in Hebrew, Ezra himself being skilled in both languages.^[7][8] Ezra, a descendant of Seraiah the high priest, was living in Babylon when in the seventh year (~ 457 BCE) of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the king sent him to Jerusalem to teach the laws of God to any who did not know them. Ezra led a large body of exiles back to Jerusalem, where he discovered that Jewish men had been marrying non-Jewish women. He tore his garments in despair and confessed the sins of Israel before God, then braved the opposition of some of his own countrymen to purify the community by enforcing the dissolution of the sinful marriages. Some years later Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah, a Jewish noble in his personal service, to Jerusalem as governor with the task of rebuilding the city walls. Once this task was completed Nehemiah had Ezra read the Law of Moses (the Torah) to the assembled Jews, and the people and priests entered into a covenant to keep the law and separate themselves from all other peoples.

In later Second Temple period literature[link]

1 Esdras[link]

1 Esdras, probably from the late 2nd/early 1st centuries BCE, preserves a Greek text of Ezra and a part of Nehemiah distinctly different from that of Ezra-Nehemiah - in particular it eliminates Nehemiah from the story and gives some of his deeds to Ezra, as well as telling events in a different order. Scholars are divided on whether it is based on Ezra-Nehemiah, or reflects an earlier literary stage before the combination of Ezra and Nehemiah accounts.

Josephus[link]

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, deals with Ezra in his Antiquities of the Jews. He preferred 1 Esdras over the canonical Ezra–Nehemiah and placed Ezra as a contemporary of Xerxes son of Darius, rather than of Artaxerxes.^[9]

The apocalyptic Ezra traditions[link]

The apocalyptic fourth book of Ezra (also called the second book of Esdras) was written c.AD 100, probably in Hebrew-Aramaic. It was one of the most important sources for Jewish theology at the end of the 1st century. In this book, Ezra has a seven part prophetic revelation, converses with an angel or God three times and has four visions. Ezra, thirty years into the Babylonian Exile (4 Ezra 3:1 / 2 Esdras 1:1), recounts the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple.^[2] This would place these revelations in the year 557 BC, a full century before the date given in the canonical Ezra. The central theological themes are "the question of theodicy, God's justness in the face of the triumph of the heathens over the pious, the course of world history in terms of the teaching of the four kingdoms,^[10] the function of the law, the eschatological judgment, the appearance on Earth of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Messianic Period, at the end of which the Messiah will die,^[11] the end of this world and the coming of the next, and the Last Judgment."^[2] Ezra restores the law that was destroyed with the burning of the Temple in Jerusalem. He dictates 24 books for the public (i.e. the Hebrew Bible) and another 70 for the wise alone (70 unnamed revelatory works).^[12] At the end, he is taken up to heaven like Enoch and Elijah.^[2] Ezra is seen as a new Moses in this book.^[2]

There is also another work, thought to be influenced by this one, known as the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra.

Ezra in rabbinic literature[link]

Woodcut for Die Bibel in Bildern, 1860, by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Traditionally Judaism credits Ezra with establishing the Great Assembly of scholars and prophets, the forerunner of the Sanhedrin, as the authority on matters of religious law. The Great Assembly is credited with establishing numerous features of contemporary traditional Judaism in something like their present form, including Torah reading, the Amidah, and establishing the feast of Purim.^[13]

In Rabbinic traditions, Ezra is metaphorically referred to as the "flowers that appear on the earth" signifying the springtime in the national history of Judaism. A disciple of Baruch ben Neriah, he favored study of the Law over the reconstruction of the Temple and thus because of his studies, he did not join the first party returning to Jerusalem in the reign of Cyrus. According to another opinion, he did not join the first party so as not to compete, even involuntarily, with Jeshua ben Jozadak for the office of chief priest.^[13] According to Bamidbar Rabbah, Ezra was doubtful of the correctness of some words in the Torah and said, "Should Elijah... approve the text, the points [ed: dots that he scribed above the letters] will be disregarded; should he disapprove, the doubtful words will be removed from the text".^[13][14]

According to tradition, Ezra was the writer of the Books of Chronicles.^[13]

In the Syrian village of Tedef, a shrine said to be the burial place of Ezra has been venerated by Jews for centuries. Another tradition locates his tomb near Basra, Iraq.

Ezra in Christian traditions[link]

Early Christian writers occasionally cited Ezra as author of the apocalyptic books attributed to him. Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata referred to Ezra as an example of prophetic inspiration, quoting a section from 2 Esdras.^[15]

Ezra in Islam[link]

In Islam he is known as Uzair (Arabic: عزير). He was mentioned in the Qur'an. Although he was not mentioned as one of the Prophets of Islam, he is considered as one of them by some Muslim scholars, based on Islamic traditions.^[16][17] His tomb at Al-ʻUzair on the banks of the Tigris near Basra, Iraq, is a pilgrimage site for the local Marsh Arabs.^[18][19]

Academic view[link]

Historicity and genealogy[link]

Mary Joan Winn Leith in The Oxford History of the Biblical World believes that Ezra was an historical figure whose life was enhanced in the scripture and given a theological buildup.^[20] Gosta W. Ahlstrom argues the inconsistencies of the biblical tradition are insufficient to say that Ezra, with his central position as the 'father of Judaism' in the Jewish tradition, has been a later literary invention.^[21] Those who argue against the historicity of Ezra argue that the presentation style of Ezra as a leader and lawgiver resembles that of Moses. There are also similarities between Ezra the priest-scribe (but not high priest) and Nehemiah the secular governor on the one hand and Joshua and Zerubbabel on the other hand. The early 2nd century BCE Jewish author Ben Sira praises Nehemiah, but makes no mention of Ezra.^[20]

Timeline[link]

Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra came to Jerusalem "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the King".^[22] The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) or to Artaxerxes II (404-359 BCE).^[23][24] Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:^[3] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap;^[25] and no reflection of Ezra's activity appears in Jerusalem of Nehemiah."^[26] These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.^[3][27]

See also[link]

Esdras, about the classification of the books adscribed to Ezra: Book of Ezra (and Book of Nehemiah for the non-rabbinical tradition, combined with the former into Ezra-Nehemiah), 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Bossman, D. (1979). "Ezra's Maniage Reform: Israel Redefined". Biblical Theology Bulletin 9: 32–38. DOI:10.1177/014610797900900105. 
• Bright, John (1981). A history of Israel (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press. ISBN 0-664-21381-2. 
• Fensham, F. Charles (1983). The books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-2362-9. 
• LaSor, William Sanford; Hubbard, David Allan; Bush, Frederick William (1982). Old Testament survey. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-3556-2. 
• Williamson, H.G.M. (1987). Ezra and Nehemiah. Sheffield: JSOT for the Society for Old Testament Study. ISBN 1-85075-045-9. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ezra

• Jewish Encyclopedia: Ezra the Scribe
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Esdras

Tim Eriksen
Tim Eriksen performing at the Iron Horse, Northampton, MA, Feb 29, 2008
Background information
Origin	Northampton, Massachusetts
Genres	Traditional Folk, Punk rock
Occupations	Musicologist, Professor
Instruments	Violin, Banjo, Guitar, Vocalist, Bass Guitar, Saraswati veena Bajo Sexto
Years active	1987-Present
Associated acts	Cordelia's Dad

Tim Eriksen is an American musician, musicologist, and professor. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack of the film Cold Mountain.^[1][2][3]

Cordelia's Dad[link]

Cordelia's Dad combines old-time music and punk rock influences to create a unique sound. The Village Voice describes the band as "semi-reformed punks turned shape-note singers...recently gone entirely acoustic, but buzzing with metaphorical electricity".^[4] The band has released nine full length albums, played festivals such as The Newport Folk Festival, and toured with notable bands Nirvana, Uncle Tupelo, and Weezer.^[4]

Musicologist[link]

Eriksen is a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University, having received an M.A. in the same discipline from Wesleyan in 1993, and has served as a visiting music professor at Dartmouth College, Amherst College, Hampshire College and the University of Minnesota.^[5] He has also taught in Poland and The Czech Republic.^[1] Additionally, Eriksen is a collector of variations of folk songs, and has conducted extensive research on traditional Yugoslavian music.^[2][6] Eriksen shared his extensive knowledge of folk music while a consultant for the soundtrack of the film Cold Mountain.^[1][2] Eriksen is currently teaching a class on the history of The Sacred Harp at Smith College. ^[7]

Solo artist[link]

Eriksen performed on the Cold Mountain soundtrack, singing with Riley Baugus on traditional songs such as "I Wish My Baby Was Born" and "The Cuckoo".^[8] He was part of The Great High Mountain Tour, which celebrated the traditional music of Cold Mountain and O Brother, Where Art Thou?^[9]

T-Bone Burnett, the producer of the Cold Mountain soundtrack, had Eriksen teach performers the complex style of Sacred Harp singing.^[10]

Eriksen has also released four solo albums, Tim Eriksen, Every Sound Below, Northern Roots Live In Namest, and Soul Of The January Hills. Pop Matters review of Every Sound Below describes it as a "stunning mixture of traditional hymns, songs from the American Civil War, and Eriksen’s own compositions".^[8]

The Sacred Harp documentary Awake, My Soul's accompanying soundtrack Help Me to Sing: Songs of the Sacred Harp features a song by Eriksen and one by Cordelia's Dad. Paste Magazine describes Eriksen's performance of sacred harp songs at an Atlanta concert as "stand-out" and said Eriksen "was best at adapting the raw power of sacred harp to his own arrangements.^[1]

Eriksen has also been a guest on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion, where he performed the traditional folk song "O, Death".^[11] He also played Bosnian Pop music with the band Zabe I Babe.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• MySpace page

Eero Saarinen (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈeːro ˈsɑːrinen]) (August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.^[1]

Biography[link]

Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father, Eliel Saarinen.^[2] They emigrated to the United States of America in 1923, when Eero was thirteen.^[3] He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where his father was a teacher at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and he took courses in sculpture and furniture design there. He had a close relationship with fellow students Charles and Ray Eames, and became good friends with Florence Knoll (née Schust).

Beginning in September 1929, he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France.^[1] He then went on to study at the Yale School of Architecture, completing his studies in 1934. Subsequently, he toured Europe and North Africa for a year and returned for a year to his native Finland, after which he returned to Cranbrook to work for his father and teach at the academy. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1940. Saarinen was recruited by his friend, who was also an architect, to join the military service in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Saarinen was assigned to draw illustrations for bomb disassembly manuals and to provide designs for the Situation Room in the White House.^[4] Saarinen worked full time for the OSS until 1944.^[1] After his father's death in 1950, Saarinen founded his own architect's office, "Eero Saarinen and Associates". Eero Saarinen died of a brain tumor in 1961 at the age of 51.

Personal life[link]

He had two children from his first marriage, Eric and Susan. Following his divorce from the sculptor Lilian Swann Saarinen, his first wife, in 1954, Saarinen married Aline Bernstein Louchheim (March 25, 1914 – July 13, 1972), an art critic at The New York Times. They had a son, Eames, named after his collaborator Charles Eames.

Work[link]

Furniture[link]

Saarinen first received critical recognition, while still working for his father, for a chair designed together with Charles Eames for the "Organic Design in Home Furnishings" competition in 1940, for which they received first prize. The "Tulip Chair", like all other Saarinen chairs, was taken into production by the Knoll furniture company, founded by Hans Knoll, who married Saarinen family friend Florence (Schust) Knoll. Further attention came also while Saarinen was still working for his father, when he took first prize in the 1948 competition for the design of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, not completed until the 1960s. The competition award was mistakenly sent to his father. He designed furniture with organic architecture.

During his long association with Knoll he designed many important pieces of furniture including the "Grasshopper" lounge chair and ottoman (1946), the "Womb" chair and ottoman (1948), the "Womb" settee (1950), side and arm chairs (1948–1950), and his most famous "Tulip" or "Pedestal" group (1956), which featured side and arm chairs, dining, coffee and side tables, as well as a stool. All of these designs were highly successful except for the "Grasshopper" lounge chair, which, although in production through 1965, was not a big success.

Buildings[link]

Saarinen's Gateway Arch in St. Louis

One of Saarinen's earliest works to receive international acclaim is the Crow Island School in Winnetka, Illinois (1940). The first major work by Saarinen, in collaboration with his father, was the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. It follows the rationalist design Miesian style: incorporating steel and glass, but with the added accent of panels in two shades of blue. The GM technical center was constructed in 1956, with Saarinen using models. These models allowed him to share his ideas with others, and gather input from other professionals. With the success of the scheme, Saarinen was then invited by other major American corporations to design their new headquarters: these included John Deere, IBM, and CBS. Despite their rationality, however, the interiors usually contained more dramatic sweeping staircases, as well as furniture designed by Saarinen, such as the Pedestal Series. In the 1950s he began to receive more commissions from American universities for campus designs and individual buildings; these include the Noyes dormitory at Vassar, as well as an ice rink, Ingalls Rink, and Ezra Stiles & Morse Colleges at Yale University.

He served on the jury for the Sydney Opera House commission and was crucial in the selection of the now internationally known design by Jørn Utzon.

Eero Saarinen and Associates was Saarinen's architectural firm; he was the principal partner from 1950 until his death in 1961. The firm was initially known as "Saarinen, Swansen and Associates", headed by Eliel Saarinen and Robert Swansen from the late 1930s until Eliel's death in 1950. The firm was located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan until 1961 when the practice was moved to Hamden, Connecticut. Under Eero Saarinen, the firm carried out many of its most important works, including the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch) in St. Louis, Missouri, the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana, the TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport that he worked on with Charles J. Parise, and the main terminal of Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C.. Many of these projects use catenary curves in their structural designs. One of the best-known thin-shell concrete structures in America is the Kresge Auditorium (MIT), which was designed by Saarinen. Another thin-shell structure that he created is the Ingalls Rink (Yale University), which has suspension cables connected to a single concrete backbone and is nicknamed "the whale." Undoubtedly, his most famous work is the TWA Flight Center, which represents the culmination of his previous designs and demonstrates his expressionism and the technical marvel in concrete shells.^[1]

Miller House in Columbus, Indiana

Eero worked with his father, mother and sister designing elements of the Cranbrook campus in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, including the Cranbrook School, Kingswood School, the Cranbrook Art Academy and the Cranbrook Science Institute. Eero's leaded glass designs are a prominent feature of these buildings throughout the campus. http://www.arkitekturanyc.com/cat3.htm

Saarinen died while undergoing an operation for a brain tumor at the age of 51. His wife, Aline, coincidentally, would also die of the same ailment. His partners, Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, completed his ten remaining projects, including the St. Louis Arch. Afterwards, the name of the firm was changed to "Kevin Roche, John Dinkeloo, and Associates", or Roche-Dinkeloo.

Reputation[link]

Eero Saarinen was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1952. He is also a winner of the AIA Gold Medal.

Saarinen is now considered one of the masters of American 20th century architecture.^[1] There has been a veritable surge of interest in Saarinen's work in recent years, including a major exhibition and several books. This is partly due to the Roche and Dinkeloo office having donated their Saarinen archives to Yale University, but also because Saarinen's oeuvre can be said to fit in with present-day concerns about pluralism of styles. He was criticized in his own time—most vociferously by critic Vincent Scully—for having no identifiable style; one explanation for this is that Saarinen adapted his modernist vision to each individual client and project, which were never exactly the same.

Bibliography[link]

Main terminal of Dulles International Airport at night

Interior of the MIT Chapel

The Swedish Theatre at night

• Remodelling of the Swedish Theatre, Helsinki (with Jarl Eklund)
• Concordia Senior College campus, now Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana[1]
• The Law School at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois.
• The Miller House, Columbus, Indiana.
• Berkshire Music Center, Opera Shed Tanglewood, Massachusetts.
• Gateway Arch, St. Louis, Missouri
• TWA Terminal at JFK International Airport
• Washington Dulles International Airport
• Kresge Auditorium and MIT Chapel at MIT
• Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in Holmdel, New Jersey
• Case Study House #9, the John Entenza House (collaboration with Charles Eames)
• CBS Building (Black Rock) New York
• Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center, New York
• General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Michigan
• US Embassies in Oslo and London
• North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana
• Law School and Woodward Court dormitory (demolished 2002) at the University of Chicago
• Kleinhans Music Hall, Buffalo, New York; designed in collaboration with his father Eliel Saarinen
• Ezra Stiles College, Morse College, and Ingalls Rink (affectionately known as "The Whale") at Yale University
• Noyes House dormitory at Vassar College. Its lounge is affectionately called the Jetsons lounge because of its curved architecture.
• Hill College House at the University of Pennsylvania. Originally a women's dormitory, the building was made with a "drawbridge" to symbolically keep men out.
• IBM Pavilion, 1964-1965 New York World's Fair
• IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York
• IBM Rochester, a plant in Rochester, Minnesota
• John Deere World Headquarters, Moline, Illinois
• The "Tulip chair", popularized by its use on the original Star Trek television series (1966–69).
• The "Womb" chair
• North Campus, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Earl V. Moore Building, housing the University of Michigan School of Music
• East Terminal at Ellinikon International Airport, Athens Greece, posthum finished.
• Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Medbury, Fitch and Harvey Ingham Halls, Quadrangle Dormitories ("The Quads"), Hubbell Dining Hall, and Oreon E. Scott Chapel at Drake University in Des Moines, IA
• Firestone Baars Chapel at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.
• Crow Island School

Selected projects

Washington Dulles International Airport, Dulles, Virginia  TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport  1953 Kresge Auditorium, MIT campus, Cambridge, Massachusetts  North Christian Church, Columbus, Indiana  1953 Emma Hartman Noyes house, Vassar College campus, Poughkeepsie, New York

See also[link]

• Eero Saarinen structures
• Thin-shell structure
• Tensile architecture
• List of notable brain tumor patients

Notes[link]

References and further reading[link]

• A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: Newspaper Moguls, Pittock Mansion, Cranbrook House & Gardens, The American Swedish Institute. A&E Television Network.
• Roman, Antonio (2003). Eero Saarinen. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1-56898-340-9. 
• Serraino, Pierluigi (2006). Saarinen, 1910-1961: a Structural Expressionist. Köln: Taschen. ISBN 3-8228-3645-1. 
• Merkel, Jayne (2005). Eero Saarinen. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-4277-X. 
• Pelkonen, Eeva-Liisa (2006). Eero Saarinen. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-11282-3. 
• Saarinen, Aline B. (ed) (1968). Eero Saarinen on His Work. New Haven: Yale University Press. 
• Knight, Richard (2008). Saarinen's Quest, A Memoir. San Francisco: William Stout Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9746214-4-9. 

An exhibition of Saarinen's work, Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia, has been organized by the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York in collaboration with Yale School of Architecture and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The exhibition will tour in Europe and the USA from 2006 to 2010. The exhibition is accompanied by the book Eero Saarinen. Shaping the Future.

In 1973, the Aline and Eero Saarinen papers were donated to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, by Charles Alan, Aline Saarinen's brother and executor of her estate. In 2006, these primary source documents on the couple were digitized in their entirely and posted online on the Archives' website.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eero Saarinen

• http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Crow_Island_School.html
• Eero Saarinen letter to Florence Knoll Bassett, 1935-1936, Florence Knoll Bassett papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
• Lines of Authority Time Magazine retrospective article
• Eero Saarinen - Design Dictionary Illustrated article about Eero Saarinen
• Saarinen rising: A much-maligned modernist finally gets his due
• Great buildings online entry
• Earl V. Moore Building School building designed by Eero Saarinen
• 860 photos of 19 buildings designed by Saarinen from the Balthazar Korab Collection at the Library of Congress
• Saarinen's Village: The Concordia Campus Through Time
• Digital image database at the Yale University Library, contains 1296 images and drawings from Saarinen's archives
  • Finding aid to the Eero Saarinen Collection at Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library
• Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future The 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the Museum of Finnish Architecture
• Saarinen Tulip Chair
• Eero Saarinen: Realizing American Utopia
• Eero Saarinen Exhibitions at Cranbrook Art Museum

National Building Museum

• http://www.nbm.org/about-us/publications-news/blueprints/eero-saarinen.html

v t e Architects and artisans of metropolitan Detroit Resident architects Charles N. Agree Gunnar Birkerts Marcus Burrowes Henry T. Brush C. Howard Crane Peter J. Diederichs John M. Donaldson Joseph N. French Yousif_Ghafari Alvin E. Harley William E. Higgenbotham Eric J. Hill John C. Haro Eugene C. Hopkins Albert Kahn Louis Kamper William E. Kapp William Kessler Gordon W. Lloyd William G. Malcomson George D. Mason S. Kenneth Neumann Mark Nickita Harry J. Rill Gino Rossetti Matthew L. Rossetti Wirt C. Rowland Eero Saarinen Wallace Frost Eliel Saarinen Victor Saroki Fred L. Smith Leonard B. Willeke Minoru Yamasaki Visiting architects Henry Bacon John Burgee Daniel Burnham Ralph Adams Cram Paul Cret Henry Engelbert Cass Gilbert Bertram Goodhue Michael Graves Victor Gruen Richard W. Jennings Jens Jensen Alfredas Kulpa-Kulpavičius Philip Johnson Charles Luckman Frederick Olmsted Charles A. Platt John C. Portman, Jr. Henry Hobson Richardson Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Horace Trumbauer Whitney Warren Charles Wetmore Stanford White Frank Lloyd Wright Resident sculptors Romas Banaitis Marshall Fredericks Julius Melchers Carl Milles Isamu Noguchi Corrado Parducci Carlo Romanelli Edward Wagner Visiting sculptors Herbert Adams Donald De Lue Avard Fairbanks Daniel Chester French Robert Graham Lee Lawrie Giacomo Manzù J. Massey Rhind Ulysses Ricci Augusto Rivalta Randolph Rogers Raffaello Romanelli Adolph Alexander Weinman Resident ceramists Horace Caulkins Diana Pancioli Mary Chase Perry Stratton Photographers Michelle Andonian Curt Clayton Don Coles Carlos Diaz Sean Doerr Marge Beaver Roy Feldman Dale Fisher Jeff Garland Steve Hall Balthazar Korab Dave Krieger Laszlo Regos Tony Soluri William Zbaren See also Architecture of metropolitan Detroit