A History of Lawrence University (1847-1964), Unabridged and Unrevised Charles Breunig
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Lawrence University Lux Selections from the Archives University Archives 1994 "A Great and Good Work": A History of Lawrence University (1847-1964), unabridged and unrevised Charles Breunig Follow this and additional works at: https://lux.lawrence.edu/archives_selections Part of the United States History Commons © Copyright is owned by the author of this document. Recommended Citation Breunig, Charles, ""A Great and Good Work": A History of Lawrence University (1847-1964), unabridged and unrevised" (1994). Selections from the Archives. 7. https://lux.lawrence.edu/archives_selections/7 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives at Lux. It has been accepted for inclusion in Selections from the Archives by an authorized administrator of Lux. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "A GREAT AND GOOD WORK": A HISTORY OF LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY (1847-1964) by Charles Breunig Unabridged and Unrevised Version Appleton, Wisconsin 1994 INTRODUCTORY NOTE This manuscript is an unabridged and unrevised version of the book published by the Lawrence University Press in 1994 with the title "A Great and Good Work": A History of Lawrence University (1847-1964). It contains in many places more detail than what appears in the published work. It is organized somewhat differently from the published version with separate chapters on the conservatory of music, the trustees, and athletics. Some, though not all, of the material from these chapters is integrated into the narrative of the published history. An expanded table of contents listing sub-sections within each chapter will enable readers to turn to topics in which they may be particularly interested. For a Preface, an Epilogue, and Appendices, readers should consult the published version of the history. C. B. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. THE FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS Introduction Rise of American Colleges and Universities The Methodist Background Wisconsin in the 1840's Amos Lawrence and the Lawrence Family Eleazar Williams and Lawrence's Acquisition of Land Lawrence's Offer to the Methodist Church The Chartering of the University (January 15, 1847) Selection of a Site Appleton in the Early Decades Raising of Funds for the First Building William H. Sampson, Principal of Lawrence University The Opening of the Preparatory Department (1849) Regulations, Discipline, and Curriculum Edward Cooke, First President (1853-59) Coeducation? The Building of Main Hall (1853-54) Indian Students Amos Lawrence's Visit to Appleton (1857) The Resignation of President Cooke (1859) II. STRUGGLE AND SURVIVAL (1859-1894) Introduction Size and Character of the Institution Methodist Influence Five Lawrence Presidents Russell Zelotes Mason (1859-65) George McKendree Steele (1865-79) Edwin Dudley Huntley (1879-83) Bradford Paul Raymond (1883-89) Charles W. Gallagher (1889-93) Financial Struggle Curriculum Faculty Student Life: Literary Societies, Campus Atmosphere Publications Lawrence's Relative Isolation Conclusion III. RENEWAL, GROWTH, AND STABILITY: THE PLANTZ ERA (1894-1924) Importance of Plantz's Presidency Plantz's Youth, Training, and Campus Presence Plantz's Educational Philosophy Administrative Style and Institutional Changes Financial Achievement Building Boom Curriculum and Faculty Composition of the Faculty: Gender, Educational Background Students and Student Life Composition of the Student Body Enforcing Student Discipline Restrictions on Social Dancing Literary Societies Give Way to Fraternities and Sororities Religious Organizations: the YMCA and the YWCA Oratory and Debate Honorary Societies and Honors Rhodes Scholars Traditions Professions or Vocations of Lawrence Graduates (1857-1924) Two Wars and a Presidential Visit Lawrence's Relationship with the University of Wisconsin and the State Normal Schools Anniversary Celebrations: 50th and 75th The End of an Era IV. HENRY WRISTON: THE LIBERAL COLLEGE (1925-1937) Significance of Wriston's Contribution Wriston's Selection and Prior Experience Wriston's Ideal of a Liberal Education Raising Academic Standards and Revising the Curriculum Improving the Faculty Encouragement of the Arts Expanding the Library Loosening the Ties with the Methodist Church Finance and Building The Impact of the Depression Wriston and the Campus Culture of the 1920's and '30's Peace Parade Attracts National Attention Educating the Alumni Founding of the Institute of Paper Chemistry Henry Wriston's Legacy V. THOMAS BARROWS (1937-1943) AND WORLD WAR II Barrows' Appointment Accomplishments Initial Effects of World War II The Navy V-12 Program (1943-45) VI. NATHAN PUSEY (1944-1953): FRESHMAN STUDIES AND A RENEWED EMPHASIS ON RELIGION Pusey's Selection: the Faculty's President Upgrading the Faculty Freshman Studies Pusey and the "Christian College" Improving Student Quality: the Prize Fellowships The Memorial Union and the Worcester Art Center Impact of Veterans in the Postwar Era Cold War, Korean War, and the Air Force ROTC The Racial Issue Surfaces The Centennial Celebration (June, 1947) Pusey's Selection as President of Harvard An Assessment of Pusey's Administration VII. DOUGLAS KNIGHT (1954-1963): A BROADER VISION FOR LAWRENCE Premature Announcement of Knight's Selection Knight's Background and Goals Curriculum: The "Troyer Report" Impact of the Troyer Report: Sophomore Studies Emphasis on the Sciences and Non-European Studies Building Program Bjorklunden Financial Accomplishment Lawrentians of the 1950's and Early '60's Conformism, Diversity, and Individual Responsibility Unrest in the Early 1960's Race and the Fraternities and Sororities The Civil Rights Movement New Institutions in the 1950's: the ACM and WLFM Douglas Knight's Achievement VIII. THE CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC (1894-1970) Founding and Early Years William Harper as Director (1908-13) Frederick Vance Evans as Dean (1913-20) Carl J. Waterman: "The Judge" (1920-49) Interregnum and the Appointment of La Vahn Maesch (1949-70) IX. THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES (1847-1964) The First Board and the Methodist Visitors Professional Backgrounds of the Trustees Relationship Between the Trustees and the Presidents Some Noteworthy Trustees Conclusion: The Role of the Lawrence Trustees X. ATHLETICS Early Sports and Recreation Expansion of Athletics in the Plantz Era (1894-1924) Wriston and the De-Emphasis of Intercollegiate Sports (1925-37) The Bernie Heselton Era in Football (1938-64) The Place of Athletics at Lawrence XI. MILWAUKEE-DOWNER AND THE MERGER OF 1964 Introduction: The Origins of Milwaukee-Downer Beginnings of Higher Education for Women in America Catharine Beecher and Milwaukee College Downer College: Ellen Clara Sabin (1891-1921) The Union of the Two Colleges (1895) Lucia Russell Briggs (1921-51) Presidency of John B. Johnston (1951-64): The Road to Merger Proposal for Merger (1963) Curtis W. Tarr, Lawrence President (1963-69) Negotiations for the Merger Announcement of the Merger and Its Terms I. FOUNDING AND EARLY YEARS In late 1845 or early 1846, Amos Adams Lawrence, a Boston merchant and philanthropist who had recently come into possession of almost five thousand acres of land on the Fox River in the Wisconsin Territory, wrote to his agent in Green Bay: I have been thinking...of the establishment of an institution of learning or college on the...land, and there seems to be a good opportunity, not only for improving the morals and the standard of education in that vicinity, but also of conferring a lasting benefit on a portion of our countrymen 1 who most need it. Such were the avowed motives of the man who made the offer of land and a gift of $ 10,000 that resulted in the establishment of Lawrence University in 1847. Amos Lawrence's father, who shared in the original negotiations for the land, provided a further insight into the Lawrences' reasons for the offer when he expressed the hope that the institution might some day become "an Oxford or Cambridge 2 that shall be the glory of Wisconsin." To these New Englanders who had looked originally to the English universities for their inspiration, men's colleges on the eastern seaboard, such as Harvard, would provide the model for the new college on the frontier. But those on the spot, who undertook the actual struggle to bring the college into being, held different 1 Quoted in William Lawrence [son of Amos Lawrence], Life of Amos Lawrence (Boston, 1888), 70-71. Precise date of letter not given. 2 Lawrence College, Alumni Record: 1871-1915 (Appleton, Wisconsin, n.d. [1915]), 26. 1 ideas on the purpose of the new institution. In the words of the Reverend William Sampson, first principal of Lawrence, the college should be a place "for both male and female students where each and all should be entitled to equal educational advantages," an egalitarian view undoubtedly shaped by the frontier experience. Other advocates for the new college had even more ambitious goals in mind: "Here is the battleground....The hosts of Satan are marching upon us in three distinct divisions," one of them proclaimed, "--the Papal, the Rational, and the Sensual. Who will furnish the munitions of war for the conflict? The majestic West must be educated. If Christianity does not do it through her 3 literary institutions, Infidelity will." The goals and intentions expressed by each of these pioneers have remained in varying degrees the central purposes of the University for a good part of its history. The "classical curriculum" of the first half-century, borrowed from eastern colleges, has evolved into the strong liberal arts program that the University has stood for during the better part of the twentieth century. As one of the original coeducational colleges in the nation, Lawrence still holds among its primary purposes to provide equal educational opportunities for women and men. And, though never a narrowly sectarian institution, this Methodist- affiliated university, stressed among its purposes from the beginning until well into the twentieth century, the building of Christian character and the cultivation of moral values. 3 "Importance and Claims of the Lawrence University of Wisconsin," a lecture delivered in the east in 1859 and 1860 by the Rev.