ASSUMPTION COLLEGE TORANDO RECONSTRUCTION FUND

Worcester, 1953. 1st Edition. Commercial metal snap-ring binder of black pebbled vinyl with gilt title lettering to front cover. Binder & photographs: Nr Fine. Text: age-toning, Very Good.. 14 single sheets, with type-written double-space text to recto of each, staple upper left. Text contains 4 different "pitches": "A Wind That Kindled A Spirit" [3 pp], Untitled [2 pp], "Our Lady Of The Tornado [noted at top: 'For a Catholic Audience', 4 pp], "A Revisit To Assumption College" [5 pp]. Illustrated with 4 "before" images of the unharmed campus, followed by 10 "after" views of the heavily damaged builidings. All photographs b/w, 8" x 10". 4to. 11-5/8" x 9-7/8"

"Assumption College was founded in 1904 by the Augustinians of the Assumption, a Catholic order under the Augustinian Rule dedicated to service through teaching and the hastening of the Kingdom of God, as reflected in their motto "Thy Kingdom Come." The original campus was in the Greendale section of Worcester, on a tract of hillside land. ... In June 1953, a tornado cut a path of destruction through several western and central Massachusetts communities, including the city of Worcester. Several campus buildings were destroyed or severely damaged." This portfolio binder of original photography, undoubtedly assembled as a fundraising document to aid in the rebuilding of the campus following this devastating tornado assualt, documents a significant mid-20th Century western Massachusetts disaster from which "the college relocated to a new campus off Salisbury Street, on the west side of the city, officially opening in 1956." [Wiki].