Queens College Clock Tower Bells Collection

The Chaney-Goodman-Schwerner Clock Tower of Queens College’s Rosenthal Library was built in 1988 and dedicated in 1989. Its name honors three civil rights workers – James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner – who were murdered in Mississippi in 1964, where they were volunteering for the Mississippi Freedom Project. Goodman was a Queens College student at the time of his death. Shortly after the tower’s dedication, a campaign to furnish it with a real bell carillon, rather than electronic chimes, was spearheaded by music professor David S. Walker (’52). Using funds from the New York State Dormitory Authority, a five-bell peal was commissioned and cast at the Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry in the Netherlands. The bells, ranging in weight from 209 to 3,377 pounds, are individually tuned to sound the Westminster Chime at 15-minute intervals, with the largest tenor bell tolling the hour. Each bell has a unique inscription and is dedicated to a different segment of the Queens College community. Walker took a personal interest in the design of the bells and visited the foundry with his wife, Avonelle (Bunny) Walker, in January 1990, when they were being cast. He also gave an account of the bells’ history at the dedication ceremony on November 7, 1990.