Louis D. Brandeis: An Inspiring Life
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Invitation to the Inauguration
of Brandeis University

  1. Invitation letter issued by The Board of Trustees of Brandeis University and signed by George Alpert and Norman S. Rabb
  2. page 2
  3. page 3

Transcript

The Board of Trustees of Brandeis University to ___
Greeting

Inspired by a love of learning, and by the desire to extend the boundaries of knowledge, we have founded a university to provide for the higher education of youth. The tradition is long established for denominational groups, Protestant and Catholic, to provide the original impetus for the creation of great centers of learning open to all as teachers and as students. The Jewish people, as a people of the Book, are proud to join this illustrious company.

We have met encouragement in our enterprise from men and women in every part of the land who share our resolution to strengthen, however modestly, the fabric of higher education in America. Heartened by such support, we have elected a president and authorized him to appoint a faculty of scholars and teachers. Thus comes into being a new university, coeducational and nonsectarian, dedicated, in the Psalmist's words, to truth even unto its inward parts.

We have named the university in honor of the late Mr. Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis, eminent for his contributions to jurisprudence and education and to the welfare of his people. In so honoring him we hope to create an enduring monument to the integrity of his Americanism and to the prophetic quality of his Judaism. Our vision has been charged by the challenge contained in his ideal of a great university.

“It must always be rich in goals and ideals, seemingly attainable but beyond immediate reach...”

“It must become truly a seat of learning where research is pursued, books written, and the creative instinct is aroused, encouraged, and developed in its faculty and students.”

“It must ever be mindful that education is a precious treasure transmitted--a sacred trust to be held, used, and enjoyed, and if possible strengthened, then passed on to others upon the same trust.”

In the hope that God Almighty may bless this undertaking, we launch the Universiy, praying that it will join all Universities, Colleges, and Learned Societies, of the Old World and New, in the sacred tasks of education and in the preservation and extension of a common heritage.

Wherefore we request the favor of your participation in the festivities and ceremonies attending the
Inauguration of the University
and
The Installation of the President Abram Leon Sachar, Ph. D., D. H. L., L. H. D.,

to be held in Waltham and Boston, Massachusetts, on the seventh and eighth days of October, nineteen hundred and forty-eight. If it be that you will so honor us, we pray that we may in due season be apprized of the name of your Delegate, whom, for your sake and in his own person, we shall gladly welcome to our festival.

Given at Brandeis University, in the City of Waltham and The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this thirtieth day of July, nineteen hundred and forty-eight.

George Alpert, President
Norman S. Rabb, Secretary

CREATOR The Board of Trustees of Brandeis University
DATE 07/30/1948
LANGUAGE English
LOCATION Waltham, Massachusetts
FORMAT Text (Invitation)
COLLECTION Louis Dembitz Brandeis Collection
BOX, SERIES 181, XII.d.3
RIGHTS Copyright restrictions may apply. For permission to copy or use this image, contact the Robert D. Farber University Archives & Special Collections Department, Brandeis University Library