Robert Frost, namesake of Frost Library, was born March 26, 1874 in San Francisco. When his father died in 1885, the Frost family moved across the country to our wonderful state, Massachusetts. Robert attended Dartmouth College for two months before returning home to work and help the family.
In 1894, he had his first poem published in The New York Independent. This was the beginning of his incredible career as a poet and winner of multiple Pulitzer Prizes. Amherst College was lucky enough to have Frost among its faculty, as an English paper. He taught at Amherst for over 40 years, and used to hold fireside chats with students in the fraternity houses. During the summers he taught at the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English. One of the original collections of Frost’s material is in the Jone’s Library in town. We also have some of his papers in our Archives and Special Collections.
In 1996, members of the class of ’57 wanted to commission a statue of Frost as their class gift to the school. The black granite that was used to carve the statue came all the way from Zimbabwe. The statue portrays Frost in his mid sixties.
Frost died in Boston on January 29, 1963. He left an incredible legacy behind him, and as Jeffs we are lucky enough to be in the midst of it.