Walter Pach observed in 1948: “the museum, which to many people seems to look only backward, is in reality one of our chief means of looking forward.” Pach lectured and taught at Bowdoin College in the 1930s and was a Bowdoin parent. His son Raymond was a member of the class of 1936. Walter Pach commemorated his relationship to the school and its Museum in his book The Art Museum in America and produced a series of watercolor sketches. These include a depiction of Massachusetts Hall, the College’s oldest building and first home to its collection of fine art, opposite a less clearly defined Winthrop Hall. The Institute for Art at Bowdoin In 1927, Walter Pach participated in an Institute for Art at Bowdoin, which included leading figures in the field such as Alfred Barr, William Ivins, and Violet Oakley. The idea for a series of biennial institutes began in 1923 and originated with President Kenneth C. M. Sills, Class of 1901, who saw them as a way to bring to campus outstanding figures in politics, the arts and humanities, and the natural and social sciences. Speakers were selected by the faculty in departments that were most closely linked to the theme of the program. The institutes took place over a two-week period in May. Following a public lecture in the evening, there would be an informal roundtable meeting the following morning to allow students to meet with the speaker. John Cross, Secretary of Development and College Relations at Bowdoin College