Historical Object of the Month

This regalia hood was worn by the University of Denver’s twelfth Chancellor, Chester M. Alter (1906–2006).

University of Denver Chancellor Chester M. Alter's Regalia Hood

Alter served as Chancellor at the University of Denver (DU) from 1953 to 1967. Chancellors and other high university officials’ regalia hoods are frequently purple, which suggests that this hood was not worn during Alter’s inauguration, and is likely either from his academic career prior to coming to the University of Denver, or some time after.

Alter taught at Harvard and Boston University before being recruited by the U. S. War Department to work on the Manhattan Project during World War II. The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that led to the production of the first atomic bomb. In 1953, Alter returned to academia when he was offered the position of Chancellor at the University of Denver.

DU Men's Football Coaches and Chancellor Alter

During Alter’s term of office he initiated the construction of multiple buildings, including:  the Boettcher Science Center (1963), Cherrington Hall (1965), the Mass Communications Building, (1961) the Business Administration Building (1968), the Law Center (1965) Johnson-McFarlane Residence Hall (1960), Centennial Residence Hall (1961) and Centennial Residence Towers (1963).

In 1961 Alter ended the University of Denver football program after his administration determined that expenditures on football were taking funding away from academic projects and intramural sports. In 1964, during the DU centennial celebration, Alter was honored with the Evans Award from the Alumni Association of the University.

The University of Denver dedicated the Chester M. Alter Arboretum on April 30th, 1999. The Arboretum was named for Alter to recognize both his work as the twelfth Chancellor of the University as well as his lifelong love of trees. Chester Alter passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2006 at the age of 99.

References

Fisher, Steve. “A Life Well Lived,” University of Denver Magazine, Fall 2004, http://blogs.du.edu/today/magazine/a-life-well-lived.

Penrose Library, dedicated in 1972, had a distinctly modern and futuristic set of design choices.

Sally Hemmings of the University Park News Sentinel described Penrose Library as the antithesis of a traditional library, with its “terrible academic silence seeming to scowl on all who enter.” Hemmings noted the “bright bold color…furnishings and decor, and a prevailing impression of space and light,” that “gives one the feeling more of being inside a modern, avant-garde gallery than a library.”

The furniture in Penrose, especially the much-beloved “egg chair,” and the library’s “megaforms” matched this functional and futuristic design aesthetic perfectly.

‘Megaforms’

The bright-orange main level contained many of what Gyo Obata, the library’s architect, called “megaforms” – tiers of different levels, covered with carpet, with seat backs formed by the next higher level, on which students could sprawl out, sit on, or use as they wished.

Penrose Library megaforms, circa 1972

Eero Aarnio Ball Chair, circa 1972

The ‘Egg Chair’

Affectionately known among patrons of Penrose Library as the “egg chair,” this 1963 design by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio is known more widely as the “Ball Chair,” and sometimes as the “globe chair.” The chair is a fiberglass design, with fabric upholstery. This much-beloved chair returned to the Anderson Academic Commons on March 1, 2013, and is available for any patron’s seating pleasure. You can also see Aarnio’s pastil chairs on the third floor of the Academic Commons, just to the left of the main stairs.

Object: A crimson velvet brocade Torah mantle (cover). The mantle is trimmed with gold fringe, sequins and gold ribbon. There is a white and gold design on the front consisting of a crown, two lions, Hebrew letters standing for “‘the crown of the Torah,” the Ten Commandments in Hebrew and the date in Hebrew (5663). The mantle was used in the Congregation Shearith Israel (Tenth Street Shul) in Denver.

Torah cover from Shearith Israel synagogue

Shearith Israel (Remnant of Israel) synagogue was located in the oldest surviving religious structure in Denver from 1903 to 1965. The small stone building was originally erected as the Emanuel Episcopalian Church in 1877 at Tenth and Lawrence Streets in Denver. The Episcopalians moved and sold it to the Shearith Israel congregation in 1903. The Orthodox congregation remodeled the structure to fit the needs of a synagogue, adding Hebrew lettering around the entrance and a Star of David atop the building. Because of its location, it became known as the “Tenth Street Shul.”

The interior and exterior photographs of the Shearith Israel synagogue were taken by Jack Goldman. The sketch was done by Irene Miller Stein in 1979. Her father Robert Lazar Miller was an early member of the congregation. 

Exterior of Shearith Israel Synagogue

Drawing by Irene Stein Miller, 1979

Interior View of Shearith Israel Synagogue

The Shearith Israel congregation was established in 1899 as a traditional Orthodox Jewish house of worship. It was an offshoot of the Shomro Amunoh (Guardians of Faith) congregation, which was organized in 1877. Shearith Israel synagogue was one of the small synagogues just to the west of downtown Denver. The “Tenth Street Shul” was convenient for Denver businessmen who were seeking a regular minyan for daily religious services and was packed for services during the Great Depression because it was always heated. But by the end of World War II, services were only held on special occasions. The congregation dissolved in 1958, although sporadic services continued until 1965. The building, which was named an Historic Landmark in 1976, was converted to the Emanuel Art Gallery and is now part of the Auraria college campus.

There are a number of sets of tefillin in the Congregation Shearith Israel (Tenth Street Shul) Records, B139. This is one set of tefillin (phylactery) for the head consisting of a black leather box with a brown leather strap. Two of the four sides contain the Hebrew letter ”resh” designating that it is ‘’shel rosh” (for the head).

Set of Tifilins for the Head

Lazarus Wandel's Card from Congregation Shearith Israel