Osborn Memorial Laboratories
+
Memoriae Miriam Adelinae Osborn consecraverunt + A·D
mdccccxii · mdccccxiii
socii Universitatis
Yalensis una cum
curatoribus rerum
ab ea legatarum
quae ante diem
xvii kal Maias A·D
mdcccxI nata pridie
Idus Martias +
A·D mdcccxci decessit +

The associates of Yale University in company with the overseers of the things bequeathed by her consecrated Osborn Memorial Laboratories in the years of Our Lord 1912-1913 to the memory of Miriam Adeline Osborn who was born April 15th in the year of Our Lord 1840 (and) died March 14th in the year of Our Lord 1891.

Commentary:

Medium is chisel into Longmeadow sandstone, with material removed around to create raised letters. Font style is a variation of blackletter, evoking the medieval inscriptions of Oxford and Cambridge. The inscription is at eye level to the right of the Gothic Revival entry archway to Osborn Memorial Laboratories, consisting of two connected wings stretching along Sachem Street and Prospect Street. Charles C. Haight designed the laboratories to resemble the structure of the Alumni Hall, a twin-turreted structure demolished in 1911 in the location of Lanman Wright Hall. Osborn Memorial Laboratories was originally home to Yale’s Biology and Zoology departments and, along with the adjacent Sloane Physics Laboratory, was one of the first two buildings constructed after Yale purchased Sachem’s Wood, an estate owned by the Hillhouse family.

The inscription commemorates Miriam Osborn, a wealthy philanthropist and benefactor to the university. Born Miriam Trowbridge, Mrs. Osborn was widowed in 1885 upon the death of her husband Charles, a wealthy stock broker, leaving her with a fortune of approximately $5,000,000. Upon visiting Yale and learning about its educational mission, Mrs. Osborn donated over $150,000 to commemorate her husband with the construction of the now-demolished Osborn Hall, a facility of recitation rooms which was located at the corner of College and Chapel Streets. Other philanthropic endeavors of Mrs. Osborn included the construction of The Osborn, a senior-living community in Rye, New York. Mrs. Osborn died in New York in 1891 after an extended battle with illness, leaving funds for the university in her will.

front gate of Osborn Memorial Laboratories

Bibliography:

Editor: Cael McCullum, December 16, 2023