On Thursday, November 26, more than 100 members, staff, and friends of ASCSA gathered in Loring Hall to celebrate Thanksgiving with a bountiful meal of turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce — but also with a piece of cake with their pumpkin pie!
The occasion? The birthday of ASCSA’s residential facility, Loring Hall, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year.
Loring Hall, named for Judge Loring, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of ASCSA, when dedicated in 1929, addressed a long-standing problem: where to accommodate growing numbers of scholars who came to Athens to use the facilities of the School.
Today the Hall stands proud, but shows its age. Built in a day when air-conditioning was unnecessary in Athens and electricity still a luxury, Loring Hall is much in need of a facelift. At the same time, the demand for rooms at the School grows annually. Providing for such needs for our members must be a high priority for ASCSA in the coming decade.
Many, including former director Jim Muhly, consider Thanksgiving to be the most significant annual social occasion at the School. It is a time when the ASCSA family comes together to celebrate blessings bestowed on it, never more clear than now as we make our way through the global financial crisis.
Members were joined, as last year, by staff and students from the Fulbright Foundation, led by its director, Artemis Zenetou. ASCSA has enjoyed a close relationship with the Fulbright Foundation since 1949, when groundwork for its Greek program was laid by Agora photographer, Alison Frantz, then serving as Cultural Attache for the U.S. Embassy.
Loring Hall Manager Niamh Michalopoulou and Director Jack Davis are joined by School members
to celebrate Loring Hall’s 80th Birthday. Photo. C. Person
