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Two hundred years of learning is undoubtedly cause for celebration. Yet the charter that Hamilton received in 1812 merely continued a quest for knowledge that had begun two decades earlier with Samuel Kirkland and his Hamilton-Oneida Academy, a secondary school that focused on educating local Iroquois youth. Like so much at Hamilton, the Academy began with a piece of writing: Kirkland’s 1791 “Plan of Education for the Indians,” a 15-page document in which Kirkland outlined his ideas for the new school.

The Emerson Gallery will present two exhibitions in conjunction with the college’s bicentennial celebration. The exhibitions will commemorate its cultural history while providing a view toward the future with objects from various campus collections and archives.  Time Capsules and Cornerstones: 200 Years of Collective Memory at Hamilton and  Learning to Look: Hamilton's Cabinets, Galleries and Museums Past, Present and Future  will be on view Sept. 15 – Dec. 16. The exhibitions and related programs are free and open to the public.

Members of the Archaeology of Hamilton’s Founding course broke ground at a site just off College Hill Road on Thursday, Sept. 1. Selected because of its possible association with key figures in Hamilton’s past, the site will be excavated by the students during the next seven weeks. Local NBC affiliate WKTV taped the first day’s digging for a news broadcast.

Years of dedicated research, writing and design have culminated in the publishing of On the Hill: A Bicentennial History of Hamilton College. On Wednesday, Aug. 24, from 1:30-2:30 p.m., Maurice Isserman, the Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History and the book’s author, will speak briefly about the book and sign copies in the  Burke Library Browsing Room.

Over the course of Reunions ’11 Weekend, speakers at 30 Alumni College events informed the more than 1,000 returning alumni and guests on a wide variety of topics, ranging from urban redevelopment to food allergies to healthcare to sustainable investments. Here are brief reports on six of those sessions.

Less than a year after becoming need-blind in admission, Hamilton College has announced “Bicentennial Initiatives,” a $117 million capital campaign whose primary objective is funding the new policy.

“Hamilton College was a conservative institution, resistant to change, whose fate was one of reform and change,” said Maurice Isserman, the James L. Ferguson Professor of History, as he presented a brief overview of Hamilton in the 19th and early 20th century. Speaking to a full house at the Clinton Historical Society on Feb. 14, Isserman noted that during his research process he spent many hours in the college archives and was surprised by the steady flow of alumni who visited while conducting their own research. The absence of student visitors has prompted him to plan a teaching seminar on college history in the archives to encourage them to visit with greater frequency.