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Following emphatic denial Tuesday that Professor George Pierce Baker '87 was planning to leave Harvard, the University yesterday gave out for publication a recent letter from Professor Baker to those who make up the regular audiences of his 47 Workshop plays, in which he explains his absence from the University this year and indicates his intention to return.
Has Long Felt Need of Rest
The letter, under date of September 22, is as follows:
"I send you this message because this coming college year I shall not stand by the piano and talk to you of plans for the Workshop and the doings of its members. Since we completed ten years of our work together,--some of us writing and producing, you stimulating and shaping by your attendance and comments,--I have felt the need of rest and a gathering of new impetus. However, till now, I have not seen the time when I believed that I could rightly allow the activities of the 47, Workshop to cease for a year. Last Spring, a fire in the attic of Massachusetts Hall seriously burned the roof--admittedly, for this the 47 Workshop was in no way responsible. The Harvard Corporation, however, decided that instead of making temporary repairs they would carry out a long-considered plan to restore Massachusetts Hall to its original use as a dormitory. At the moment there is no space available in which the 47 Workshop can be carried on under feasible conditions. This seems, consequently, the right moment at which to take my desired sabbatical year.
47 Property in New Quarters
"All important memorabilia--pictures and so forth--have been temporarily placed in the Theatre Collection at the Widener Library. The records are in the hands of last year's secretary, Miss E. W. Munroe, at 12 Brimmer Street, Boston. All scenery and properties have been stored in places provided by the University. Miss Munroe will take charge of all royalties on published plays and will be glad to answer any questions which from time to time members of the 47 Workshop may find it necessary to ask.
"With pleasant anticipation of renewed work together, I am "Gratefully yours, "George P. Baker, "Director of the 47 Workshop."
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