Norwich University


Carillon Tower at the Belgian Village, 1933 Chicago Exposition	Norwich University

Links to Carillon Inventories
GCNA	Tower Bells	Bok Tower Gardens

Charlotte Nichols Greene of Boston donated a carillon to Wellesley College.in 1931 and in 1934 purchased the 36-bell carillon that had been cast by the Michiels Foundry for the Belgian Village at the Century of Progress International Exposition. The bells were installed briefly in Mechelen, Belgium, where they were played and inspected by Arthur Lynds Bigelow before being shipped to Chicago.

Shortly after acquiring the bells, Mrs. Greene offered them to Harvard University, where her son Stephen was a member of the class of 1937. The donation was dependent on Harvard building a suitable tower to house them, but they never did so and the bells remained in the basement of the college chapel for 22 years.

In the fall of 1930, Charles R. Crane offered Harvard a set of bells which he had purchased from the Soviet Government that would be installed in Lowell House. This was an interesting experience, to say the least, and the bells were returned to Russia in 2008 in exchange for a new set of replica bells. This experience may explain why Harvard never pursued the installation of Greene's carillon.

After Mrs. Greene's death in 1955, her son, Stephen Greene, and his wife Janet of Dover, Vermont, donated the carillon to Norwich University where they were installed in the Jeannie Porter Adams Memorial Tower. The carillon was first played on December 14, 1956 by Robert Donnell. Arthur Lynds Bigelow also played a series on concerts on the instrument beginning on December 30, 1956, and he played for the carillon's formal dedication on June 8, 1957. . .

In 1958, based on Bigelow's recommendations, 27 of the original bells were sent to the Paccard Foundry in Annecy, France, to be either re-tuned (5) or recast (22). In addition, 11 new bells (5 lower basses and 6 higher trebles) were purchased, bringing the total to 47. At the same time Bigelow built a new clavier. Still in use today, it remains a supreme example of the master's finest work.Stephen Greene also funded this improvement.

The refurbished carillon was returned to service in January 1960 and was overhauled in 1996..

References
1930 "Carillon of 21 Bells Will be Installed in Lowell House," The Harvard Crimson, October 6, 1930

1933 Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1933, Page 7-4.
A carillon of thirty-six bells has been under process of installation at the Belgian village. Henry S. Wesson, first American graduate from the School of Carillon Art in Malines, Belgium is the village carilloneur, giving concerts three times a day. At the end of the Exposition these bells will be given a permanent place in one of the Chicago churches.

1936 The Lowell House Bells, by Mason Hammond, May 9, 1936

1955 Charlotte Nichols Greene (4 Feb 1879 - 28 Mar 1955) grave

1956 "Carillon and Tower are Gifts to Norwich," News and Advertiser, August 9, 1956, Page 6.

1956 "Bells for Campus," The Enid Morning News, August 24, 1956, Page 11.
Picture of 36-ball carillon for Norwich University.

1956 "First Carillon Rises," The Brattleboro Reformer, October 24, 1956, Page 9.
Since then they have been stored in the basement of the chapel of Harvard University.

1956 "Canadian Will Play Carillon This Week," News and Advertiser, December 13, 1956, Page 1 | Part 2 |

1956 "Norwich Carillon First Concert Sunday," The Brattleboro Reformer, December 29, 1956, Page 1.
Arthur L. Bigelow

1957 "Princeton U. Bellmaster Plays Norwich Carillon," News and Advertiser, January 3, 1957, Page 5.
Prof. Arthur L. Bigelow, bellmaster at Princeton University, gave two one-hour concerts Sunday on Norwich University's recently-installed 36-bell carillon.
Professor Bigelow’s concerts at Norwich took the form of an unusual experience for him He played the Norwich bells soon after they were cast in Belgium in 1933 and he liad not seen them during the intervening 23 years.
"Indeed I know these bells well," Professor Bieglow wrote. "This set was installed in Mechlin in the spring of 1933 while I was living in that town. I was invited to play and test it while it was at the shop for fitting up.
"I did both I played it then I went over it each bell and tested it to my satisfaction. So it is by no means a stranger to me. Often I have wondered where it has been sitting all these years.”
The bells came to Norwich last summer as a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Greene of Dover in memory of the former’s mother Mrs. Charlotte N. Greene, a long-time Beacon Hill resident of Boston. Mrs. Greene purchased them in 1934 after they had been used by the Belgian government in its exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair.

1957 "Singing Tower In Winter Setting," Norwich University Record, January 1957.

1957 "Dedication Planned for Norwich Bell Tower," News and Advertiser, 30 May 1957, Page 3.
Norwich University's 36-bell carillon tower will be dedication at exercises to be held Saturday afternoon, June 8.

1958 "12 More Bells Planned for Norwich Carillon," News and Advertiser, October 2, 1958, Page 1 | Part 2 |
Made possible by a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Greene of Dover.

1960 "Norwich Carillon Again In Operation," News and Advertiser, January 28, 1960, Page 8 | Part 2 |

1979 Stephen Greene (18 Dec 1914 - 25 May 1979) grave

1979 "Stephen Greene, Publisher, Dies in Chicago Crash," The New York Times, May 27, 1979, Page 18.
Mr. Greene was born in Boston. In 1937 he was graduated from Harvard, after which he traveled to the Orient.

1996 Carillon: the evolution of a concert instrument in North America, by Karel and Linda Keldermans | also here |
Page 239: Her son, Steven, received the Michiels carillon exhibited at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair as a legacy and donated that instrument to Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.

2015 "The Charlotte Nichols Greene Memorial Carillon," from 200 things about Norwich, #142, page 157

The Carillon at Norwich University, Vermont, from Middlebury College