by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, February 3, 2023.
The Exeter News-Letter described Albertus T. Dudley as the town’s “most devoted and loyal townsmen.” Although he wasn’t born in Exeter, he became one of the town’s biggest boosters in the early 20th century. He was one of the founders of the Exeter Historical Society in 1928 and a trustee of the Exeter Hospital. As a trustee of the Exeter Public Library, he was largely responsible for adding the children’s room addition to the old library, a room which now serves as the archives for the historical society. He arrived in town fresh out of Harvard in 1887 to run the Phillips Exeter Academy gymnasium and teach Latin. Although he’s closely associated with the school, he remained a teacher there for only a few years, spending the bulk of his teaching career at Boston’s Noble and Greenough’s School until 1917. Then, at the age of only 51, he retired to Exeter, moving into his wife’s ancestral home in the Square on Front Street.
Before he’d started his second life of public service, he was already well known as a writer of juvenile fiction. A fellow townsman, Henry A. Shute, had popularized a fictionalized version of his own life in Exeter in his “Real Boy” series of humorous novels. Dudley’s books – written for boys, about boys – were set in fictional boys’ schools. His first series, called the Phillips Exeter Series, center around a town and school called “Seaton.”
Dudley wrote of his books, “a good juvenile must be approved by the parent, enjoyed by the boy, and read with profit by both.” The stories follow a formulaic plot with similar characters. A new boy arrives at the school and is introduced to various people; a friendly roommate, a bully, a noble athlete, an understanding coach, a wise principal. He begins classes and finds himself drawn to a particular sport, usually football or baseball. Although he has no experience in the sport, he begins playing and has unusual skills that enable him to make the school team. His grades suffer. He may lose a scholarship. The big game is approaching. The bully is defeated. The game is played. The team triumphs and the new boy somehow, perhaps through luck or noble deeds, is provided the means to return to school the next year. It’s a storyline we are familiar with, given the popularity of recent schoolboy books involving witches and wizards. The sameness of the plot makes them pleasant to read. The hero always makes good by the end of the story. Meanwhile, Dudley’s drama on the playing field was exciting to the boys reading the series. Most of them were not heading to boarding schools, but the dream of being one’s own man and seizing the day was captivating.
The school, modeled on Phillips Exeter Academy, was an aspirational model for America. Described in the text of In the Line (1905) as, “democratic, cosmopolitan, of high standard of scholarship, with a system of government tending to develop moral independence, and boasting a history rich in names of men of action and service.” Not explicitly stated, but obvious in the text, is that Dudley’s school is very white and Protestant. Still, he does a good job describing the types of boys. “There were the few greater athletes – members of the school teams; the many minor athletes – members of the class teams; the natural students who did nothing but study; the natural loafers who studied as little as possible; the son of the multi-millionaire with resources unlimited; the son of the laborer, with no resources except his own head and hands; the religious boy with a strong purpose, who helped keep on a high level the moral tone of the school; the rattlehead without purpose, always on the verge of expulsion; the literary boy, the musical boy, the embryo artist, the natural clown, the politician.” These are the same types found in modern teen movies; the jock, the nerd, the stoner, the athlete, the popular kid.
Dudley published nine books in the Phillips Exeter series and wrote three more books in a series called “Stories of the Triangular League.” There were two additional books, historical fiction, published after his retirement from teaching. Although they are formulaic, the books were wildly popular. The illustrations are sharp – sometimes including photos of buildings on the actual Phillips Exeter campus. The colorful book bindings make them big sellers today in used bookshops. If you spot one, flip it open to the title page – often there’s an inscription such as that found in the Historical Society’s edition of With Mask and Mitt: “Bradley Ross, Christmas 1909”
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Pictured: “Making the Nine” published in 1904 and “Following the Ball” published in 1903 were both part of Albertus T. Dudley’s “Phillips Exeter” series. Their colorful bindings make them quite collectible today.