author
Henry Rutgers Conger
d. 1920
A Williams College poet remembered for two heartfelt works about friendship, college life, duty, and the enduring pull of one’s alma mater. His poems were preserved in a loving memorial volume published by his classmates after his death.
1 Audiobook
Two Poems: Class Day Poem; The Purple Hills
by Henry Rutgers Conger
About the author
Henry Rutgers Conger was a poet of the Williams College class of 1899. He wrote “Class Day Poem” and “The Purple Hills” while still an undergraduate, expressing both the hopes of young graduates and his deep affection for the college and its surrounding hills.
Conger died at his home in Fanwood, New Jersey, on June 18, 1920, while his class was gathered for a reunion in Williamstown. The following year, his classmates published Two Poems as a tribute to his memory.
His name continues to be honored at Williams College through the Henry Rutgers Conger Memorial Literary Prize, awarded for student prose or poetry.