Joanne Droppers
35 bells, given by Alumni and friends in appreciation of the life and service
of President Emeritus and Mrs. Boothe C. Davis, and forms the only carillon
of pre-nineteenth century bells in North America. It is located in a
temporary wooden structure on a hill overlooking the campus. Eighteen of the
bells wer cast by Peter Hemony at Amsterdam in 1674, sixteen were cast by
Georges Dumery - of which five are inscibed Antwerp 1737 - and one was cast by
Andreas Van den Gheyn at Louvain in 1784. The bells were collected by M. Omar
Michaux (of the bell-founding firm of the same name at Louvain) in Belgium,
northern France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, and M. Michaux vouches for
their authenticity. He retuned a number of them.
The first formal recital was given on the carillon on the 11th of September,
1937, by Henry S. Wesson. It was inaugurated on the 12th of June, 1938, with
Kamiel Lefevere playing.
Marietta B. Douglas
Sun Jun 25 15:39:24 EDT 1995
