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Sabrina Collection
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> Historical Note
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Historical Note
The statue of the water nymph Sabrina was donated to Amherst College by Joel Hayden in 1857. It the frequent object of student pranks in the 1860s and 1870s. In the early 1880s it was removed from campus to the custodian's residence. Students found and stole the statue in 1887, from that time until 1934 the statue was part of a fierce interclass rivalry. It was shown at class banquets and surprise campus appearances, with the guardian even or odd classes attempting to hide and the opposing classes attempting to find and steal it. In 1934, the statue was returned to the College; the students cited danger to life and limb and declining interest in the Sabrina tradition as the reasons for return. From 1934 to 1951 the statue was housed in the Hitchcock Memorial Room in Morgan Hall. The statue was stolen from its base in 1951 by members of the graduating class. It was shown by airplane and car in the following years, but returned to the college in 1955, again due to lack of interest in the tradition. The statue was briefly stolen in 1977 and apprehended at the Turners Fall airport by Campus Police. It was stolen again in 1984, shown by helicopter twice in the following years and returned to the College in 1994. The current location of Sabrina is unknown. |