The seven-foot bronze Brown Bear statue stands at a prominent location above the entrance into the College Green from Faunce House. It was gifted to the university in 1923, paid for by $10,000 of donations from Brown alumni. It was sculpted and cast by New York City animal sculptor Eli Harvey. The statue was originally located at Marvel Gymnasium, but was moved to the main College Green when the gym was shut down in 1989.
The front side of the pedestal reads:
Given By Alumni And Undergraduates
To Brown University
To Symbolize Those Qualities Of
Strength Courage Endurance
Which Go Far To Make Men Invincible
MCMXXVIII
The bear stands on a pedestal containing a piece of slate rock stepped upon by Roger Williams in 1636 when claiming the land that would become the city of Providence. On the back of the statue, below the slate, the pedestal is inscribed with:
This is a piece of the slate rock
on which Roger Williams Landed
when he came here in 1636
to hold forth his lively experiment
of independence with strength & courage.
May his spirit live in Brown men.
Read more about this topic: List Of Brown University Statues
Famous quotes containing the words brown and/or bear:
“The old brown hen and the old blue sky,
Between the two we live and die
The broken cartwheel on the hill.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Yet, if the pupil be of a texture to bear it, the best university that can be recommended to a man of ideas is the gauntlet of the mobs.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)