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June 3, 2005
What do you call a typo cast into bronze?
I should know the answer to my own question -- hell, I own books on epigraphy -- but in a new signage campaign on campus someone not only ordered but PUT UP a plaque that was off by a century. DeLancey House had 1926 instead of 1826 on it. Luckily, they ripped the plaque off the door jamb yesterday, just in time for alumnae/i to walk past undisturbed.
Well, the simple answer is "expensive," since it seems (according to an elevated administrator) to have been our error, not the foundry's.
Sorry there's no picture available -- DeLancey House is a lovely example of early 19th century plain architecture; it was built by William Heathcote DeLancey, the first Episcopal bishop of Western New York, who never had a cathedral or a see (his successor set up in Rochester). He lived in Geneva just down the street (as it was in those days) from Hobart College and was instrumental in the survival of the college. I'm glad we have something on campus named after him.
Note of the correction with photo here
Posted by CrankyProfessor at June 3, 2005 11:55 AM