Reunion Weekend

See what's changed.

See what will always remain the same.

While Reunion Weekend 2020 wasn’t the on-campus celebration which we were all anticipating, hundreds of alumni gathered throughout the weekend for two live virtual Reunion events and class-specific Zoom calls.

If you missed the live event with the Bowdoin College Museum of Art or the conversation between Tony Doerr ’95, H’17 and Brock Clarke, recordings of both sessions are available below.

We are excited to announce that Reunion 2021 will be a special double-gathering for the classes that would have celebrated this year as well as next year’s Reunion classes. Please save the dates Thursday, June 3 – Sunday, June 6, 2021. We will share more details over the coming months as we look forward to a unique gathering beneath the Pines. As we are all getting accustomed to reading, these plans assume appropriate guidance from local and state officials about gatherings in twelve months.

Recordings of Virtual Reunion Events

*Southwest view of Bowdoin College*, circa 1822, oil on canvas, by John G. Brown, American, active 1821-1858. Gift of Harold L. Berry, Class of 1901. Bowdoin College Museum of Art.

A Conversation on the Earliest Images of the Bowdoin Campus with the Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. H’08 offers a presentation about the College in the nineteenth century. After Shettleworth’s remarks, he and John Cross ’76, secretary of development and college relations, join in a Q&A moderated by the Museum’s codirectors, Frank Goodyear and Anne Collins Goodyear. This program was presented in conjunction with “Maine’s Lithographic Landscapes: Town & City Views, 1830-1870,” an exhibition curated by Shettleworth that opened at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art last December.

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A Conversation with Tony Doerr ’95, H’17
An engaging conversation between Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Tony Doerr ’95, H’17, author of All the Light We Cannot See, and Bowdoin’s A. Leroy Greason Professor of English and Chair of the English Department, Brock Clarke.

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Celebrate Reunion and Explore Bowdoin

Entertainment

Zoom with Reunion
Celebrate Reunion wherever you are! View and download custom Bowdoin Reunion-themed Zoom backgrounds.

Reunions Together
Enjoy photos from past Reunions together beneath the Pines.

Afternoon on the Quad
Sunny skies, live music, lawn games, beer, bouncy houses, and ice cream on the Quad make for a perfect Saturday afternoon during Reunion. This year we’ll bring the Quad to you.

The Photons
The Photons started making music during their time together at Bowdoin forty years ago and often make triumphant returns to the stage during Reunion Weekend. Enjoy a few of their hits from past celebrations.

Traditions

Reunion Convocation
Celebrate this year’s recipients of the Common Good Award, the Alumni Service Award, and Alumni Award for Faculty and Staff for their exemplary achievement and dedication.

Bowdoin Dining

Make a Bowdoin Log at Home
Vanilla ice cream, chocolate wafers, and homemade hot fudge sauce are the secret ingredients for Dining’s famous “Bowdoin Log” dessert served at Thursday’s Reunion Welcome Dinner. Learn how to make this Bowdoin favorite at home with Joanne Adams, Dining’s head baker.

Exploration and Learning

Virtual Tours

Campus Tours
Visit some of the places you love through a virtual tour of campus and a look inside Bowdoin’s athletics facilities.

Susan Dwight Bliss Room
The Bliss Room is located on the second floor of Hubbard Hall and has been a treasure of the College since 1945. Learn more about its history, collections, and explore its contents!

Schiller Coastal Studies Center
Experience the beauty of Casco Bay through an aerial tour of Bowdoin’s 118-acre facility on Orr’s Island.

Haunted Bowdoin
Learn eerie legends narrated by historic Bowdoin characters and visit the most reputedly haunted buildings on this virtual tour created by David Francis, author of Haunted Bowdoin College.

Around Campus

Documenting Bowdoin & COVID-19: Tell Your Story
In this unprecedented historical moment, Special Collections & Archives invites Bowdoin’s students, faculty, staff, and alumni to document your reflections and experiences during this challenging interlude. We hope to foster connections within our community now and to preserve record of both individual and shared experiences for posterity. Learn more about the project and how to contribute your story.

Bowdoin College Museum Art
Although the galleries of the Museum are currently closed, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art has always been more than a building. Explore virtual collections, exhibitions, publications, and educational resources.

Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
Visit the Arctic Museum’s new Stay Cool! Arctic Distractions site where you will find something to interest everyone in your family! Discover beautiful virtual exhibitions, read fascinating stories about the staff’s behind-the-scenes work, explore the Museum’s spectacular online collections, download unique Arctic-themed word searches, and enjoy Arctic-related movies and music recommended by the staff.

Visit a Digital Exhibit
Many of the exhibitions curated by Special Collections & Archives are available to explore online. Check out Tension/Tenacity: Africana Studies at 50 curated by Lucy Ryan ’19 and The State of Maine curated by special collections education and outreach librarian Marieke Van Der Steenhoven, among other curated explorations of the College’s rare book and manuscript collections.

Who Is This? Crowdsourcing College History
Many photos in Bowdoin’s Historic Image Gallery feature former students, faculty, and staff of the College whose names we don’t know. Every photo in the Gallery has an “Identify people in this photo” button you can use to help Special Collections & Archives improve their captions, helping future researchers find the images they seek.

Explore Bowdoin History Resources
Read digitized publications by and about Bowdoin College, including The Bowdoin Orient (1871-2010), course catalogs, and more, plus find out more about prize and honorary degree recipients and Commencement speakers.