|
historical notes
|
Harvey Seeley Mudd was born in Leadville, Colorado, in 1888 and died in Los Angeles in 1955. A mining engineer, he was a graduate of Stanford and Columbia universities. With his father, he founded and later became president of Cyprus Mines Corp., whose Los Angeles-based international enterprises began with the development of copper mines on the island of Cyprus. Mudd served as chairman of the Board of Fellows of Claremont College, now The Claremont Colleges Services, for 25 years. He helped plan the undergraduate college of science and engineering chartered in 1955, but he did not live to see it opened. It was named in his honor.
Mudd began collecting antique artifacts after he became president of the Cyprus Mines Corporation on the island of Cyprus in 1916. Mudd exported many items to his home in California, and the Mudd family later donated them to the future Harvey Mudd College. The collection, which has been housed at Harvey Mudd and Scripps colleges, includes an Athenian drinking vessel from the fifth century BCE; an oil lamp from 1500 BCE; and—the oldest item—a red, ceramic Cypriot drinking bowl circa 2,300–2,000 BCE. |
