Volume 1

Universities and their sons : history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and portraits of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees / editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain ; introduction by W.T. Harris.

Date:
1898-1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Universities and their sons : history, influence and characteristics of American universities, with biographical sketches and portraits of alumni and recipients of honorary degrees / editor-in-chief, General Joshua L. Chamberlain ; introduction by W.T. Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    class members, but unaccompanied for the most part by portraits, and the publi- cations are prepared solely for private distribution. In other works which have been put forth. Alumni who have held “official positions,” or have been “officers in other colleges,” have “served in the Civil War,” or have received honorary degrees, are recognized as worthy of having the stories of their lives recorded in print, not only as a narration of practical benefit to their fellows, but as a matter of general interest as well. But the men of especial distinction above referred to form but a very small part of the whole number of Alumni. One can calk to mind scores, hundreds, of University ‘Sons who are active and useful members of society, prominent in business or in the professions, whose influence and example are worthy of emulation, and whose life-stories, if told, would convey most valuable lessons, yet who never held “official position,” nor served in the army, nor received honorary degrees. Many of them are certainly entitled equally with the others to biographical recognition and honors. The influence of higher education, and especially of Harvard or Yale or Prineeton or Columbia as an institution, upon “ the directive power of the nation,’ cannot be determined and shown in any other way than by studying the careers of these comparatively un- known individuals who are truly representative of the whole body of University Sons. And any investigation into this subject would be manifestly unfair, incom- plete, and of little practical value, if confined to the small number who have won public distinction and honors. Under the general title of “Contributions to Ameriean Educational History,” the United States Bureau of Education has in the past ten years issued a series of monographs on the History of Higher Education in the several States. The work is the outgrowth of an organized inquiry concerning the study of history in American Colleges and Universities, instituted in 1885, by General John Eaton, Commissioner, the results of which were published in 1887 as a Circular of Infor- mation of the Bureau, under the direction of General Eaton’s successor. Colonel N. H. R. Dawson. This investigation, conducted by Professor Herbert B. Adams, of Johns Hopkins University, who was engaged by General Eaton for that pur- pose, disclosed fields of special educational interest in the history of the various higher institutions of learning, and the outeome was the series of monographs which has been issued by the Bureau under the successive administrations of Colonel Dawson and Dr. W. T. Harris as Commissioners. These publications,