Edward W. Eames
Early in the school year 1930-31, the first of a succession of constructive and creative changes that was to span Ted Eames's headmastership came into force. With practically the unanimous concurrence of Trustees, alumni, masters and boys, a campaign was begun to provide that ancient Dummer Academy henceforth be generally known as Governor Dummer Academy. Far from seeming a reckless abandonment of a time-honored title, the new name appeared a long overdue tribute to the school's founder, the King's Lieutenant Governor William Dummer. For far too long the significance of the name Dummer had been lost upon all but those intimate with the history of the school. Thereafter all who became friends of the Academy were to be urged to refer to it as Governor Dummer. The newspapers were requested to employ the new title in their reports. The letter insignia for athletic award winners became a large "G" instead of the familiar "D." Sports writers, quick to seize upon convenient tags, almost immediately began to refer to the teams as "the Governors."
Whether certain tales relating to the change are apocryphal is not an issue. Their point is clear. According to one of them, the student newspaper at Andover, The Phillipian, had once published the following headline: "Andover Plays Dummer Team." Shortly afterward, so the story goes, The Exonian at Phillips Exeter quoted the headline and followed it with the terse comment: "Impossible." It is rumored, too, that Mr. Eames was mildly chagrined at the reaction of some of his more puckish friends to one newspaper headline announcing his appointment as Headmaster: "Eames Accepts Dummer Post." Certainly there was ample historical justification for the new name, but, in addition, one strongly senses relief in the alacrity with which all who were closely connected with the school adopted it. The name Governor Dummer Academy, greeted with enthusiasm in 1930, became, by Act of the Massachusetts Legislature and acceptance of the Academy's Board of Trustees, the official corporate title in 1950.
In December, 1930, Mr. Eames, as guest editorial writer for the school magazine, The Archon, paid tribute to the work of his predecessor, Dr. Ingham, and in so doing highlighted the important
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