At the State Library of Massachusetts we get questions about a multitude of subjects. They can run the gamut from legislative history questions to finding a state report. We also get questions about the State House including where Governors’ portraits are hanging to when the State House was built.
Recently we got the following question: “Where is Bartlett Hall?” Even though I have worked at the library for over 25 years I had not heard of it. I found the answer in a booklet entitled Massachusetts Facts published by the Massachusetts Secretary of State’s Office.
Barlett Hall is a small hall between Doric Hall and Nurses Hall and it was designed in the Italian Renaissance style by Charles Brigham in 1895. The hall contains a bronze statue of Civil War hero, William Francis Bartlett, sculpted by Daniel Chester French.Another statue of Bartlett, also by French, exists in Memorial Hall at Harvard University. After Memorial Hall was built in 1874 Bartlett gave a moving speech about reconciliation after the Civil War.
William Francis Bartlett was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1840. He was a graduate of Harvard and Civil War hero, who rose through the ranks to become a General. He was injured several times during the war and after recuperating he would go back to fighting. He lost a leg at Yorktown in early 1862. He died from tuberculosis on December 17th, 1876 in Pittsfield, Mass., he was 36 years old.In addition to Barlett’s statue the Hall also houses two busts: one of Henry Cabot Lodge and the other of his grandson Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924) served as a State Representative from 1880-81. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (1902-1985) served as a State Representative from 1933-1936. Both went on to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Naomi Allen
Reference Librarian
