ManufactuRed Housing - The Taft School

F r o m t h e A r c h i v e sTwenty-one years ago, Curt Buttenheim ’36 came across, “in anancient file” of his, a clipping from The New Yorker thathad been published shortly after his graduation from Taft—whichalso happened to be Horace Taft’s last as headmaster.Without the exact publication date, acquiring permission toreprint the anecdote in the Bulletin proved too difficult until now.The New Yorker’s searchable online archive helped us findthe date, and every issue of the magazine prior to 2006 is nowavailable on DVD in The Complete New Yorker.(That said, in the interim my sister has joined the EnglishDepartment at Worcester Academy and our publication of thispiece has nothing to do with sibling rivalry.)Thank you, Curt, for sharing the story, and thanks foryour patience!—EditorPhoto: Leslie D. Manning ArchivesThe Talk of the TownBy Lawrence L. Winship and Russell MaloneyJuly 25, 1936Dear Horace,Horace D. Taft, who is a brother of the ex-President, resigned a few weeks ago as headmaster of Taft School. Shortly after thishe received a letter from Worcester Academy, where somebody had presumably read a whittled-down newspaper item sayingthat Horace Taft had left Taft School. The letter was addressed “Dear Horace,” and went on to say that they had heard Horacewas leaving school, and would he perhaps be interested in enrolling at Worcester. Before Mr. Taft could get around to answeringthis, another “Dear Horace” letter appeared, asking if Horace wouldn’t tell them what subjects interested him. There wasa little questionnaire, including such questions as “How old are you?” and “Do you like to read?” This time Mr. Taft answeredthe letter. He filled in the questionnaire, saying that he liked very much to read, and that he was seventy-four years old.Since then there has been a cessation of correspondence from Worcester, perhaps temporary, perhaps permanent.Copyright © 1936 The New Yorker Magazine Inc. All rights reserved. Originally published in theJuly 25, 1936, issue of The New Yorker. Reprinted by permission of Condé Nast Publications.34 Taft Bulletin Spring 2008