USA > Indiana > A history of education in Indiana > Part 30
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By the Legislature of 1852 the trustees were ordered "to
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THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
establish a normal department for instruction in the theory and practice of teaching," which was done, and the school kept open until 1857. The direction was equally mandatory upon the board to establish an agricultural department, but nothing seems to have been accomplished in this direction, and no very vigorous effort made prior to 1865, when Dr. Nutt and friends of the University sought to have the con- gressional grant of 1862 for agricultural and mechanical training conferred upon Indiana University. By the dona- tion of Mr. Purdue the Federal grant was diverted to Lafay- ette for a separate institution.
Lieutenant Jacob Ammen, a graduate of West Point, was in 1839 made assistant in the department of mathematics, and began at once, voluntarily, the organization of a mili- tary department, which was kept up during his connection with the University (1839-1843), and perhaps a little longer. The interest was revived in a more systematic way in 1869 under Major-General Eli Long, with an extended course, including tactics, out-post duty, military engineering, and science of war. General Long, being recalled by the War Department after a year, was succeeded by Colonel James Thompson as Professor of Military Science and Engineering, whose work gradually lost the military character, and in 1875 was merged into a school of engineering.
For sixteen years-from 1861 to 1877-the State geologist was by law a member ex officio of the faculty of Indiana University, and the connection, though a formal one only, so appears in the catalogue. Prof. Richard Owen, the first officer, was succeeded by E. T. Cox, the two being the only men sustaining such official relation.
B. UNIVERSITY FUNDS.
As compared with many other superior institutions, few State universities can be said to be richly endowed, in the sense of having a large reserve fund, whose income is assured for its support. On the other hand, no other educational in- stitution is so liberally endowed as that which has a State's
24
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UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
property millions pledged by an organized public sentiment to the maintenance of its wants.
Indiana University has an interesting history in respect to its finances, though not greatly differing from other simi- lar schools. Section 12 of the University charter (1838) re- enacted the earlier provisions concerning the congressional land grants in favor of the Indiana Seminary and Indiana College, devoting the proceeds of the sales of the seminary townships of land in Gibson and Monroe Counties for a per- manent fund for the Indiana University. By act of the Legislature, January 22, 1822, the sale of the seminary town- ship in Gibson County (or so much of it as remained) was ordered, the proceeds to be turned into the State treasury, "that it might be made a productive fund for the benefit of the State seminary."
Under this act about seventeen thousand acres of the Gibson County tract were sold, and the proceeds (something more than twenty-two thousand dollars) accredited to the institution at Bloomington. In 1840 there still remained two thousand four hundred and eighty acres unsold. The aggregate proceeds from the sales of the Monroe County lands, closing in 1840, going into the permanent fund were near forty thousand dollars.
In 1845, twenty-three years after the closing of the school, the Vincennes University trustees entered a claim to title in the Gibson County lands and to the proceeds of their sale, and suit was brought in the Marion Circuit Court to test the question. Samuel Judah appeared as attorney for the claim- ants, and O. H. Smith and G. G. Dunn for the State. After a decision in the local court, an appeal to the State Supreme Court, and thence to the Supreme Court of the United States, a judgment was rendered in favor of the Vincennes organi- zation to the amount of $66,585, for which the Legislature was authorized, February 13, 1855, to issue bonds.
Six years before, a joint resolution was passed by the In- diana Legislature requesting the State representatives in Congress to procure from the Federal Government a dona-
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tion of four thousand acres of land in the Miami reserve, for the use of the Indiana University in lieu of that amount pre- viously sold by the trustees of Vincennes University from the Gibson County lands. Such additional grant was made . July 12, 1852, to the amount of 4,166 acres, which yielded finally some thousands of dollars additional.
On April 9, 1854, the main university building was burned, including the library. The laboratory, the pre- paratory building, and the boarding hall only remained. This, with the loss of sixty thousand dollars of their endow- ment by the adverse decision touching the proceeds of the Gibson County lands, gave little encouragement for the future of the institution.
Immediately, however, upon the decision of the Supreme Court, the University trustees, through the Legislature, ap- plied to Congress for an indemnity for the loss of the Gibson County land. The appeal was heard, and a grant of 22,040 acres made, which, being sold, yielded about $80,000. The aggregate land donations received by the University, there- fore, through Federal grant were as follows: (1) The Mon- roe County township-the original seminary grant-21,254 acres, yielding $39,743; (2) the unsold Gibson County land appropriated in 1822, 19,009 acres, from which were realized $24,500; (3) the special indemnity grant of 4,160 acres, to re- place that sold from the Gibson County township by the Vincennes University board, yielding about $10,000; (4) the grant by Congress in 1856 of an additional amount of land in scattered parcels, in this and other States, to replace that lost to the institution through the unfavorable Supreme Court decision, about 22,000 acres, and yielding nearly $80,- 000. The aggregate proceeds of the sales of all these lands may fairly be put at $154,000. Besides these, there was the "college section " in Monroe County, 2,407.38 acres, origi- nally reserved from sale, but which yielded finally $33,- 608.72.
Upon the laying-out of the capital of the State in 1821 there were granted to Indiana, for a seat of government, 2,560
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UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
acres, among which was what has since been known as "University Square " (in Indianapolis), and set apart for a State college. Several movements have been started to make the proceeds of the lot (about four acres) available toward the support of the Indiana University at Blooming- ton, but so far without success. It is used as a park for the city of Indianapolis.
The total land appropriations may be estimated at some- thing less than 70,000 acres, the proceeds from whose sales reach nearly $187,000. The exact returns can not be given. A part or all of the proceeds of the first sales were used in building-i. e., the principal was so used, instead of the accu- mulated interest, as the terms of the grant required. Two or three times the State Legislature empowered the trustees to expend certain sums in repairs or for apparatus. The books were loosely kept. Some losses occurred in the ear- lier years, and were not made good, as the law requires in the case of the Common School Fund. The State Auditor's report for 1858 shows the total College Fund to have been then $77,000, but eighteen years before this the record of the Board of Trustees had included a tabular exhibit, showing $117,000 of invested funds, exclusive of indebtedness. The present actual showing of productive endowment from this source leaves it something less than $150,000. The State Auditor's report for 1890 gives it as $113,367, exclusive of certain lands held.
Indiana University, prior to 1867, had received no aid of any sort from the State. Its revenues, as appears from the last paragraph, consisted of (1) the interest on the proceeds of the lands mentioned, (2) the rents of unsold lands (of these there yet remain some hundreds of acres), and (3) the tuition. Since 1867 certain annual appropriations have been made, increasing in amounts from $8,000 in the beginning to $30,000 annually at present for current expenses. . But noth- ing of all this went to increase the permanent fund.
The first positive measures for the endowment of an in- stitution that had sent out more than six hundred graduates
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THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
into the State, and to which the Federal Government had then devoted more than fifty thousand acres, were taken in the act of March 8, 1883, " to provide a fund for the perma- nent endowment of Indiana University and for the endow- ment of the same." The statute required that "there shall be assessed and collected, as State revenues are assessed and collected, in the year 1883 and in each of the succeeding twelve years, the sum of one half of one cent on each one hundred dollars' worth of taxable property in the State, which moneys, when collected and paid into the State treasury in each of the years named in this act, shall be placed to the credit of a fund to be known as the Permanent Endowment Fund of the Indiana University." For this money as paid in, the State, under specified conditions, issues to the trustees of the University non-negotiable bonds payable in fifty years and bearing five per cent interest.
Under this act the University has in seven years received about $318,000 as an endowment upon which interest is re- ceived semi-annually.
C. ANNUAL INCOME.
!
Besides the income from the original congressional land appropriations and the revenue from the State endowment just mentioned, the expenses of the University have since 1867 been met in part by legislative appropriations, as noted in the former paragraph. The first payment of $8,000 was raised to $15,000 in 1873, and to $23,000 in 1885. Upon the reorganization of the law school in 1889 an additional allow- ance was made for current expenses, making the present annual appropriation by the State $30,000. The total pres- ent income from these various sources, including incidental fees from students (tuition in the institution is free), is about $50,000 per year, averaging something less than $15,000 per year since 1867, exclusive of special appropriations for buildings and appliances.
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UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
D. THE CURRICULUM.
No other historical study of the colleges reveals more marked change than that of the curriculum. It is not less true of Indiana University than of other institutions. In- deed, being among the oldest of the Western colleges, the difference between the old and the new is accentuated. Of the seventy-five colleges really organized prior to 1838, but twenty-six belonged west of the mountains, and two thirds of these were in the Northwest Territory. Michigan Uni- versity was not opened to students for three years after our own; and of the twenty-six referred to above, five only- Centre College and St. Joseph's in Kentucky, Ohio Univer- sity and Miami University in Ohio, and Greenville College in Tennessee-were in existence when Indiana Seminary was organized in 1824. The period since that date comprises the principal enlargement of the curriculum, the introduction of optional subjects, parallel courses, the recognition of science as an instrument of culture, and all the train of effects in- cident to this relatively more humane and individual dis- cipline.
Indiana University has passed through all the phases of college training, from the traditional prescribed classical course to the most liberal curriculum offering two hundred courses in seventeen independent but co-ordinate depart- ments, and each department intrusted to a specialist.
(1) Special Subjects.
It has been mentioned that the first work of the school embraced only Greek and Latin. A course in mathematics and text-book instruction in physics and chemistry were in- troduced in 1827. Upon the accession of President Wylie, in 1829, there were added by his preference moral and men- tal philosophy, political economy, and English. Mathemat- ics and science were erected into separate chairs in 1832, en- gineering being added to the former upon the election of Prof. Ammen. French from 1835 was given a share of at- tention by Prof. Ruter along with Greek. For most of this
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TIIE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
period, indeed during the larger part of Dr. Wylie's admin- istration, the plan of the course was that of one study at a time, each principal branch being taken up in its order and completed before its complement in some other line was undertaken.
Rhetorical readings, essays, rhetoric, and public speaking received more or less attention throughout the course; but it was not until 1860 that the English language and litera- ture were dignified by an independent professorship under Prof. H. B. Hibben. At the same time also a department of the modern languages and literature was formed; soon after (1866) Greek and Latin were given separate chairs, and the year following physics and chemistry, the former with Dr. Wylie, and the latter, including natural science, under Prof. Owen.
The most noticeable distortion in the course, next to the tardy introduction of English, is the long neglect of history in any systematic study. Almost nothing appears in the official schedules prior to 1858, from which time for ten years the Freshmen had a single term of United States his- tory and the Sophomores an equal amount of general his- tory-i. e., about three months annually. For a few years the Juniors, and subsequently the Seniors instead, had a term of text-book study in political economy. When this has been said, little more remains concerning the work in history in Indiana University for the first fifty years. After 1869 history proper appears in the scientific course only. Three years later the Seniors were given a term of the po- litical history of the United States, and in 1875 were allowed to substitute the history of civilization for one term in ora- tory. From this time United States history was relegated to the Preparatory Department, and the Latin supplemented by a term in Roman history.
The recognition of the claims of historical material came slowly. In 1878 it was resolved to establish a professorship. It was not filled, however, until two years afterward, when John G. Newkirk was elected to the chair. For five years
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UNDER THIE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
after this the course seems not considerably extended, though political history is made elective to Juniors. In 1884 the only required history was two terms put into the Sophomore year. These were one term of general history and one upon England and France, with two electives offered for each term of the year. It must be remembered that during all this period of thirty years at least one term annually was given to political economy, and sometimes two. In 1886, under the reorganization of the institution, history and eco- nomics were erected into separate departments, supplemented in 1890 by an extended course in American history and in- stitutions.
(2) The Courses.
From about 1855 there had been recognized two parallel courses of study, the one resting upon Latin and Greek and leading to the arts degree, the other grounded in science and something of the modern languages, followed by the degree bachelor of science. Students were at liberty to choose between them. The B. S. degree had, however, been given or offered since 1841 to those who had taken all of the usual course except Greek. The substitutions were not uni- form.
Among the changes introduced by Dr. Moss upon his assumption of the presidency in 1875 was an early expan- sion of the work and its organization into three courses: (1) the ancient classics, B. A .; (2) the modern classics, B. L .; (3) the sciences, B. S. About the same time also there was inaugurated a system of instruction by non-resident lect- urers. These included Dr. George F. Barker (1877), Recent Methods in Physics; Dr. J. B. Angell (1878), International Law; Richard A. Proctor (1879), Astronomy (six lectures); Dr. William T. Harris (1880), The Philosophy and History of Education (six lectures); (1881), Pedagogics; and Miss Maria P. Brace (1882), a course of five weeks in elocution. The year following, a chair of elocution was founded per- manently and Miss Brace elected to the position. In the year 1886 was organized the Department of Pedagogics.
Modification of the Curriculum in Indiana University, 1850 to 1890.
1850
1860
1870
1880
1890
Greek
Latin
Romance
Germanic
Classical
Course
Ancient
Classic
English
Rhetoric
History (Europe)
Single
Course
Am. History Economics
Modern
Classic
Philosophy
Pedagogics
Scientific
Course
Mathematics
Physics
Scientific
Chemistry
Geology
Zoology
Botany
Law
THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
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UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
In 1885, under the administration of President Jordan, began a still further expansion of the work of the Univer- sity and the development and encouragement of special courses that put the instruction and training of Indiana University alongside those of many more heavily endowed institutions, not only in the comprehensiveness of the cur- riculum, but in the co-ordination of subjects and courses and the quality of the work done.
The accompanying diagram (page 365) will serve to make clearer the introduction and subsequent relations of the sev- eral courses in the changing constitution of the University since 1855.
E. MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES, AND LABORATORIES.
The first building, erected in 1824, was burned in 1850, together with its contents, including the libraries of the col- lege and the literary societies, and practically all laboratory appliances. The books lost numbered nearly ten thousand volumes, and were replaced with difficulty. Mr. Henry W. Derby, of Cincinnati, presented about a thousand volumes, known afterward as "The Derby Donation "; and W. H. Jones, Esq., of Fort Wayne, over two hundred law books, "many of them folios, some running back to the reign of Charles I, and nearly all referring to old English laws." Occasional larger and smaller annual additions were made to the number from the limited means at the disposal of the trustees, until early in the last decade it catalogued about thirteen thousand volumes. This, with the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, was put into the third college build- ing, then recently erected (1875), but which with all its treas- ure was burned, with a total loss, July 13, 1883. In the eight years since, the library has grown to more than the size of that burned, and is, upon the whole, a much better working library than either of the two that preceded it. By the Legis- lature of 1889 an appropriation of $60,000 was made for a library building, into which more than fifteen thousand vol- umes have been put, in fairly fire-proof surroundings.
Oî museum collections, the State University has had at
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THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
times some that were really valuable. Among these were the Owen collection, bought from David Dale Owen, M. D., chiefly geological, and valued at $50,000, and the Jordan ichthyological collection, destroyed in 1883 (as had been the former) by fire. The geological cabinet has never been re- placed; the latter fairly well.
The museum collections include some 1,500 minerals, sev- eral thousand fossils, 2,000 skins of mammals and birds for class use, 50,000 specimens representing 3,000 species of fish, 6,000 specimens of insects, and 2,000 marine invertebrates. In the Department of Chemistry the laboratory is the most complete in the State-one among the best furnished in the West. It was fitted up under the personal direction of Dr. T. C. Van Nuys, the professor in charge, occupies the entire first floor in Wylie Hall, has accommodations for sixty-three students, and an equipment of the best modern appliances. Besides a valuable physical laboratory, for much of which the institution is indebted to Prof. Naylor, there has been added within the last three years the nucleus of a good working laboratory for physiological psychology, under the direction of Prof. Bryan.
F. THE PRESIDENTS.
1. Rev. Baynard R. Hall (Principal of Seminary), 1824- 1829.
2. Rev. Andrew Wylie (First President), 1829-1851.
3. Prof. T. A. Wylie (Acting President nine months), 1851-1852.
4. Rev. Alfred Ryors, D. D.,* 1852-1853.
5. Rev. William M. Daily, D. D., 1853-1858.
6. Prof. T. A. Wylie (Acting President ten months), 1858-1859.
7. Prof. John W. Lathrop, LL. D., 1859-1860.
* In 1852 the Hon. Henry Barnard, of Connecticut, then President of the State Normal School, was invited to the presidency of Indiana Univer- sity ; but, on account of an accident to himself and the resulting ill health, was compelled to decline the position.
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UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION, 1851-'91.
8. Rev. Cyrus Nutt, D. D., 1860-1875.
9. Rev. Lemuel Moss, D. D., 1875-1884.
10. Prof. David Starr Jordan, LL. D., 1885-1891.
11. Prof. John M. Coulter, Ph. D., LL. D., 1891.
2. Purdue University.
Very early in Indiana a concern was shown for an edu- cation that should touch the industries of the State, and especially on the side of agriculture. The farmers' acade- mies and manual-labor schools of sixty years ago hinted at this movement in a rude way, but gave rise to no sys- tematic training in either the theory or the art of farming or farm life.
The State, particularly of the Northwest, finding no local means of establishing such industrial schools as the con- ditions of the section required, appealed to Congress for aid. This movement was initiated by the Legislature of Michigan about 1850. After a dozen years-during which period other States, notably Illinois, joined in petition, the farmers' socie- ties and institutes, local district and State conventions, and Legislatures added their influence-there was finally passed by Congress (July 2, 1862) "an act donating lands to the several States and Territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." By its provisions each State was entitled to receive an amount of public land equal to thirty thousand acres for each sena- tor and representative in Congress, under the census of 1860.
States having public lands within their borders might locate their share of land therefrom; to other States land scrip being issued in lieu of lands, the scrip to be sold by the States for the prescribed use.
Section 4 provided " that all moneys derived from the sale of the lands aforesaid by the State to which the lands are ap- portioned, and from the sales of the land scrip hereinbefore provided for, shall be invested in the stocks of the United States, or some other safe stocks, yielding no less than five per centum upon the par value of said stocks, and that the mon-
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THE STATE'S SUPERIOR INSTITUTIONS.
eys so invested shall constitute a perpetual fund, the capital of which shall remain forever undiminished, except so far as may be provided in section 5 of this act, and the interest of which shall be inviolably appropriated by each State, which may take and claim the benefit of this act to the endow- ment, support, and maintenance of at least one college, where the leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tac- tics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts in such manner as the Legislature of the States may respectively prescribe in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the indus- trial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life."
By the same act also each State was made responsible for the preservation of the total fund arising from this Federal grant. Ten per cent of the fund might, at the discretion of the Legislature, be expended for sites or experimental farms; but no part of it could be put into buildings in any way or used to meet running expenses; for these purposes the in- terest only was available. It was provided also that the grant must be accepted within two years and at least one school in each State opened within five years. The donation was accepted by Indiana, April 14, 1864. Having no public lands, the State received the donation in the form of scrip, representing 390,000 acres. From its sale, April 9, 1867, was realized about $211,195; scrip to the amount of $207,843, or 98 per cent of the whole, going to one G. F. Lewis, agent for a syndicate of Detroit and Cleveland capitalists.
For a year already educators and public men generally throughout the State had been solicitous concerning the ap- propriation of the grant and the location of the school. Should the proceeds be used to establish and endow a sepa- rate college ? Should it be bestowed upon the already estab- lished State University? Or should it be divided and dis- tributed to two or more of the existing higher literary insti- tutions ?
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