Since its founding 100 years ago, the New Haven Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) has had strong ties to Yale. Timothy Dwight, the University's president 1795-1817, served as the first president of the society, and its original members included such Yale alumni as inventor Eli Whitney (Class of 1792) and Simeon E. Baldwin (Class of 1861), who founded the American Bar Association and was governor of Connecticut 1910-14. In 1899, the AIA held its first general meeting on the Yale campus, where 49 talks were presented in the south gallery of the University's art school.
The campus will again serve as a gathering place when the New Haven Society of the AIA celebrates its centennial year with a number of talks by Yale faculty members.
On Tuesday, Oct. 6, John Darnell, a newly appointed assistant professor of Egyptology at the University, and his wife, Deborah Darnell, will open the society's fall lecture series with a talk on "Ancient Roads and Warfare in the Western Egyptian Desert." Their talk will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Rm. 200 of the Old Art Gallery, 56 High St. The event, which will be followed by a reception, is free and open to the public. Cosponsoring the event with the AIA are the Yale history of art and classics departments. The series will continue with two more talks on campus in November and December; watch future issues of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar for more information on these events.
The AIA will celebrate its centennial on Friday, Oct. 30, with a gala at 7 p.m. in the Presidents' Room of Woolsey Hall, corner of Grove and College streets. At this event, titled "An Evening at the Dig House," Yale archaeologist Frank Hole and archaeologist Elizabeth Stone will entertain dinner guests with tales from the field. All attendees are encouraged to come to the dinner dressed as their favorite archaeologist or artifact. Tickets, which must be purchased by Thursday, Oct. 1, are $28; $18 for students. Checks should be made payable to AIA - New Haven Society, P.O. Box 200301 Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520-0301. Students should enclose a copy of their I.D.
The AIA is a nonprofit cultural and educational organization chartered by Congress and dedicated to the encouragement and support of archaeological research and publication. The oldest and largest archaeological organization in North America, it currently has more than 10,000 members around the world.
The program for the 1899 gathering of AIA members on campus lists over 20 train connections between New Haven, New York and Boston, with special fares. Electric trams shuttled between the campus and the New Haven railroad station.
In 1922, the AIA held a second meeting at Yale, this time joining with the American Philosophical Society, the American Historical Association and the Society for Biblical Literature. Yale president James Rowland Angell and Secretary of State Charles Evans gave plenary addresses, and Albert T. Clay, Yale professor of Assyriology, guided visits to the Yale Babylonian Collection's tablet and artifact holdings. Back then, men attending the meeting were allowed to stay in Yale dormitories for $1.50 a night, while women were housed in private homes, according to Madeleine A. Fitzgerald, president of the AIA New Haven Society. Separate social events were held for men and women: on one evening, for example, a men's smoker was held at the Graduate Club, and a reception for women was hosted at the Faculty Club.
Further information about "An Evening at the Dig House" can be found at the AIA New Haven Society's website at http://www.yale.edu/aia. Further information on the society's events can also be obtained by contacting Madeleine Fitzgerald at 436-2831.