The Walter Lord '35 Collection

Beloved Alumnus, Accomplished Author

One of Gilman School's most accomplished and most loyal alumni, Walter Lord '35 — the namesake of the Middle School library — wrote 12 books, notable among them "A Night to Remember," detailing the last hours of the Titanic. Lord's 1982 book, "The Miracle of Dunkirk," reappeared on the New York Times Best Sellers list in 2017, enjoying a resurgence resulting from interest piqued by "Dunkirk," the film directed by Christopher Nolan.

Gilman's Walter Lord Collection contains his personal library, Civil War memorabilia, manuscripts, research notes, scrapbooks about ships, and the pencils he used to write "A Night to Remember."

On this page are two artifacts from the Lord Collection. "Spittoon" is a self-published newspaper during his days as a Gilman boy. The "Blue and The Gray" contains "The Captain's Table 1933," a story of a fictionalized ship sinking that harkens to the eventual narrative style he would use for "A Night to Remember.".