by David Mostardi, Club Historian
Once Upon A Hillside: 25, 50, 75 and 100 years ago
February 1922
Business Meeting: Dr. [Agnes Fay] Morgan spoke on some of the conditions of our
schools and laid particular emphasis upon the overcrowded condition which exists at the
present time in Berkeley. Mr. Hennessey brought out the fact in his talk that Garfield
school, of which he is principal, needed an auditorium and gymnasium. The address of
the evening was made by Dr. Jose M. Galvez, exchange professor at the University of
California, from Chile. Dr. Galvez spoke on “Elementary Education in Chile.”
Board of Directors Meeting: It was moved and carried that a committee of two delegates
and two alternates be appointed to represent the Club on the Berkeley Motion Picture
Committee [see the December 2021 History Corner for more information on the Motion
Picture Committee].
February 1947
Fireside Meeting: We shall have the pleasure of hearing of one of our own members,
Mrs. Piccirillo, speak to us on the subject of “Italy of Today.” Mrs. Piccirillo, though her
many friends in Italy, has kept informed of the most recent developments there. [Mrs.
Piccirillo, née Maria Teresa Tommasini, was born in Italy.]
Evening of Music: We always look forward to our annual Evening of Music. This year
the program will be presented by some of our new members and some distinguished
guest artists. Mrs. Mary Pasmore Burrell, a member of the San Francisco Symphony
Orchestra, will play selections on a new type of instrument, called the Viola d’Amore.
Mrs. Gertrude Lansing, soprano soloist, will be accompanied by Mrs. Opal Hiller. Mrs.
Helen Saylor Sizer, pianist, will play a group of numbers for us. There will be songs by a
male quartet, one of the members being Mr. Spencer Beckwith. With all of this talent, we
are assured a very fine Evening of Music. [The viola d’amore is a 6- or 7-stringed
instrument, played under the chin similarly to a violin. In addition, there are an equal
number of sympathetic strings underneath the main strings, which aren’t played directly
but vibrate in sympathy with the strings played.]
February 1972
Fireside Meeting: We will have an intensely interesting 21-minute film entitled “Nuclear
Fingerprinting of Ancient Pottery.” Our speaker and narrator is Mrs. Helen Michel, a
research chemist at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory [now Lawrence Berkeley Lab] at
the University of California. The “fingerprinting” of ancient pottery consists of a novel
chemical analysis of the potsherds which attempts to find out where the material
originated. The technique used is to collect a large sampling of pottery shards from a
location. Then, if all reveal the same chemical balance, it may be assumed that they all
originated in the one place. However, and this has often proved to be the case, when
potsherds are found that are obviously of a different origin, but in a common location
with others more numerous, it is possible to trace them back to their sources. [Helen
Vaughn Michel (born 1932) is a chemist best known for her efforts in the fields of
analytical chemistry and archaeological science, including radiocarbon dating. Along
with Luis and Walter Alvarez, she was co-author of the famous 1980 paper in Science
that proposed that an asteroid impact caused the mass extinction event at the end of the
Cretaceous era. She was also the lead author on the paper that analyzed the famous
“Drake’s Plate of Brass” and concluded it to be a forgery (see the June 2021 History
Corner)].
International Relations Section: The committee will present Professor Robert Scalapino,
who will address the club on the topic “What Does 1972 Mean For Asia?” Prof.
Scalapino attended Santa Barbara College, and earned both his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees at
Harvard. He served there briefly as an instructor before joining the Political Science
faculty at the University of California in 1949. He is the author of four major books, has
been the editor of Asian Survey since 1962, and has been an advisor to three presidents of
the United States. [Robert Scalapino (1919-2011) was the Robson Research Professor of
Government Emeritus at the UC Berkeley, renowned worldwide for his many
accomplishments in the field of East Asian studies and distinguished career at Berkeley
spanning six decades. He published 39 books and 553 articles over his long career, and
received the Berkeley Medal, the campus’s highest honor, in 1999.]
Farewell to the Oak Chairs: The Board of Directors at its January meeting decided to
offer the oak chairs for sale first to Hillside members at the rate of $2 each, or three for
$5, until February 10, after which time the chairs will be sold to the public. First come,
first served. Fifty chairs will be kept by the Club for unusually large events when more
than the 150 new chairs may be needed. [Those 150 new chairs are the chairs that are still
in use today.]
February 1997
The Club’s archive of printed monthly newsletters ended with the May 1994 issue. If you
know of a source for any newsletters between 1994 and the Club’s renaissance in the
early 2000s, your historian would love to hear about it!
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