On Yale

Greetings! This is Matthew again. So sorry to have not posted in a while, but I've been extremely busy with work and school. This entire week, for example, is orientation week, and they've literally planned our every day down to the minute, from 7:30 AM till past dinnertime. But I do have LOTS and LOTS of pictures of the campus for you to see.

I have learned lots of things about Yale I didn't know before, which you may find interesting. It was founded in 1701, making it the third oldest institution of higher education in the U.S. It's a little bigger than I realized, with an enrollment of over 11,000, 60% of those being graduate students.

Obviously, the University is made up of many so-called "schools" and "colleges." In addition to the Undergraduate College and the Graduate School, there are around a dozen "professional schools," such as the Law School, the School of Music, and my school, Divinity.

This is a picture of my School, taken from the front gate looking up the main grounds.


This is the same view, only closer. That's the Chapel in the center, where there is a worship service every school day of the year at 10:30 AM.


Now a little bit closer. This is where they have commencement by the way (on the lawn & steps, outside).


This shot gives you a great view of the architecture. Something wonderful about this place is the ecumenical spirit. I.e., there are some 44 different Christian denominations represented here from over 20 countries, and we all worship God through Christ together every day despite our differences.


The School is arranged in the shape of a horseshoe (but square), with the chapel in the top-center. Offices, lecture halls, and seminar rooms make up the two long halls extending out from the chapel. Running along those long halls are long, shaded colonnades. Below is a shot looking down the length of one colonnade.


Now this is the greatest place: the library! It doesn't all look like this room however. This is the so-called 'Reading Room.' It's deadly quiet in here. (By the way, that portrait on the wall in the distance is a former student. He was the first Yale Divinity School alumnus to become a martyr missionary. I believe the idea here is that students, in their studies, would keep mindful of the high stakes involved in what we're doing...)


By the way, in case you haven't heard, I recently got a job in the library! I'm so excited about it too. Of all the places I'd like to be working, this would be my number 1 choice by far. I'll be working for the catalogueing staff in relative isolation from the patrons and circulation desk, which also sounds pretty good if you know what I mean...


The Yale Divinity School Library itself has over a half a million print volumes! From what I understand, it is by far one of the most respected, prestigious theological libraries in the world. I took this shot standing in one of the balcony alcoves.


Some of the aesthetic environment.


This is the Reference Room. You can't check these books out. They're items that are considered invaluable resources for all manner of study, and must remain in the library at all times for everyone's benefit.




Now this pic was taken in roughly the same spot as the first one on top, but looking in the opposite direction. This is looking at the street you walk down when you exit my School. (By the way, if you want to, you can open up a new tab on your internet browser and navigate to this page--or simply right-click the link and open it in a new window--and then you can see an interactive map of campus and pan around and zoom here and there on streets and areas as you read my descriptions of campus below.)


Ok, if you walk through that white gateway and take a left to go south on Prospect St, you quickly arrive in downtown New Haven (the Divinity School is actually in a high hilltop on the northernmost corner of campus). The first identifiable building you come to is this rotunda, which is Memorial Hall, on the corner of Prospect St and Grove St. (By the way, this is actually not my pic. I just snagged it off the internet!) This shot is actually looking across the intersection of Prospect and Grove (southward). From here, the Div School would be backwards over your right shoulder, to the north and uphill about a quarter-mile.


Now, standing on that same corner, if you look beside you, to the left, you will see a big, ominous building called Sheffield Sterling Strathcona Hall. I think this is the main address for Yale College.





This is stil the same building, but the shot is taken from across the intersection, standing in front of Memorial Hall. This one (below) is not my pic either, by the way. The others (and all the rest) are mine.


Now, if you head to your right from that intersection, going west down Grove St you quickly pass the historic Grove St Cemetary, where you can actually take free walking tours. I included this picture because I like the cryptic theological inscription on the entrance archway: "THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED."


If you continue west down Grove St, you quickly hit the corner of Grove and High St. Looking across that intersection is the northeast corner of the Law School, which is a beautiful building.


This is taken from High St, walking south, looking at the eastern side of the Law School.


After walking south down High St for 1 block, if you take a right on Wall St you can see the front entrance of the Law School, which is very picturesque.


After walking a block westward down Wall St, you hit York St. Hang a left to go south and you're walking along the western edge of Sterling Memorial Library, which simply is the main library (millions of volumes). There is a doorway under this inscription, but I like the inscription itself. (You cannot actually enter the library by this doorway, by the way.)




To get to the front of the main library, you must continue south on York St for another block until you hit Elm St, which runs east-west. Take a left and you're walking east along the front side of what is called Trumbull College, which is simply a sorting house for undergraduates. The point is that you cannot access the main library by car because no road passes in front of it. It is kind of hidden within the middle of campus. There is an archway that pedestrians can take, off Elm St, into an inner space in the center of the downtown campus area. Once you enter in, you walk briefly between some beautiful buildings before reaching a beautiful, green, open space. The library can be seen from there, to one's left. It is relatively secluded there for being in downtown New Haven. You honestly wouldn't guess that's where you are. Anyhow, this is a pic of one of those nice buildings you pass by. It's called the "Master's House" and it belongs to Trumbull College. I bet some important administrator lives there.


Now this is the front of the main library, which basically looks like some kind of cathedral (inside and out).


This is a close-up shot of the arched door one takes into the library.


This is a picture of the nave, the first thing you see when you enter the library. It has really high ceilings and stained glass windows on the right and left above little alcoves. (You may remember the movie Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull from 2008, which contains some scenes of Indy at the school where he teaches. You may also remember this sequence of the movie was filmed in New Haven at Yale and there is a scene wherein Indy and his friend ride a motorcycle through the library as they're running from bad guys. Well, this is NOT where that was shot. They never would have been allowed to take a motorcycle in here. Instead, for that film, they used a dining commons and redressed it to look like a fancy library...)


One of the stained glass windows.


This is a pretty shot of a completely useless, old card-catalogue system. It's pretty nonetheless.


Most colleges and universities believe strongly that the appearance of a study place goes a long way toward the quality of time spent studying...


This is all still the library.


Small doorway into a quiet courtyard within the library.


I couldn't get any pics of the library stacks (bookshelves) unfortunately because I don't yet have my ID card and they don't let tourists in where the books actually are. But when you exit the library and head back north to where you came from, you bypass another sorting school for undergraduates called Berkely College. This is a very pretty entrance to some important wing of that building...


Whew, that's a lot of pictures! The crazy thing is I still have lots of other things that have been left out of this slideshow. When I get some more good shots, I'll post them too.