Change Ringing
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Practice Times
Mendenhall Bell Tower
Due to COVID-19 all practices are suspended until further notice
Thursday
5–7 p.m.
Sunday
12:30-1:30 p.m.
All practices are open to new ringers and visitors. Come for an hour, or for the whole practices. Enter Mendenhall Performing Arts Center at the Berenson Studio across from Sage Hall. Accessing the ringing chamber requires climbing a short ladder.
Change ringing is open to all faculty, staff and students and extended community members who wish to ring the bells on campus and share their wonderful sounds on important Smith occasions. The current band of ringers at Smith College includes Smith students, faculty and alumnae. There are also members from the wider community, including ringers from Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, New Hampshire and Connecticut.
Smith College Bells
The Smith College bells are cast in bronze, weigh between 300 and 980 pounds and are characterized by richness, dignity, and mellowness of tone. The bells are hung in a ring of 8 near the top of Mendenhall Bell Tower in the belfry.
| Bell | Weight | Inscription | Donation Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treble (A) | 2-2-21 cwt (301 lbs.) 22.75" |
In honor of Marjorie Resnikoff Botwinik ’37 | Donated by Mr. Norman T. Botwinik in honor of his wife |
| Second (G#) | 3-0-17 cwt (353 lbs.) 23.75" |
I am Grace | Donated by Janet Carlile Harris |
| Third (F#) | 3-1-16 cwt (380 lbs.) 25" |
To the joy of music, mathematics and memory | Donated by Edward P. Hutchinson and his daughter Joan P. Hutchinson ’67 in honor of his wife and her mother, Louise Forbes Hutchinson ’36 |
| Fourth (E) | 4-0-16 cwt (464 lbs.) 27" |
I am Equity | Donated by Janet Carlile Harris |
| Fifth (D) | 4-2-24 cwt (528 lbs.) 28.75" |
I am Diligence | Donated by Janet Carlile Harris |
| Sixth (C#) | 5-0-25 cwt (585 lbs.) 30" |
I am Courage | Donated by Janet Carlile Harris |
| Seventh (B) | 7-0-17 cwt (801 lbs.) 33" |
I am Blessed | Donated by Janet Carlile Harris |
| Tenor (A) | 8-2-11 cwt (963 lbs.) 36" * *Per Dove's Guide. Elsewhere listed 8-3-0 cwt (980 lbs.) |
Gaudeamus igitur juvenus dum sumus | In memory of Margaret Nichols Shurcliff. Donated by members of her family and friends in the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers |
Janet Carlile Harris also donated funds to strengthen the tower. Her sister, Dorothea Carlile ’22, died while a student and her mother, Florence Jeffrey Carlile 1893, was an original donor of the carillon in College Hall.