BLSE International T-Shirt Day

By the winter of 1919, nearly four years after benefactor Joseph Battell bequeathed his 30,000+ mountain acres to Middlebury College, the upkeep of the Inn and farm had become enough of a burden that the Board of Trustees resolved to place the Bread Loaf property “in the hands of a good real estate man.”

Happily, on August 31, 1919, the trustees reversed their decision and voted to open a school of English on the lands. One hundred years later, we commemorated the occasion by instituting the first-ever International Bread Loaf T-Shirt Day.

Bread Loafers around the country and the world celebrated the founding of Bread Loaf by wearing their favorite Bread Loaf T-shirts that day; many posted or sent us their photos, some of which are collected here.