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DECENNIAL REVIEW
CONNECTED WITH THE
A N N U A L R E PO RT
OF THE
President of Union College.
A L B A N Y: -
CHARLES WAN BENTHIUYSEN & SONS.
1882.

DECENNIAL REVIEVV.
The President's annual statements are based upon such informa-
tion, and reports from the departments, as have been received dur-
ing the year. It was intimated that in connection with the present
annual report, the executive work of the decade would be espe-
cially reviewed.
The period has been eventful and may prove to be memor-
able in the annals of Union College. Great lights have gone out
which long had shone with benignant ray, marking, if not de-
ciding, the course of the institution. From the Board, as
related in my semi-annual statement, as well as from the Faculty
and representative Alumni, an unprecedented number have de-
parted hence, entering we trust, through the gate of death, into
the blessedness of immortal life.
Upon few Colleges have individuals exercised a greater influ-
ence than upon our own ; whether in formulating its policy,
directing its progress or deciding for the time being its character.
As men who have left their mark upon the institution pass away
and others fill their places, new ideas and principles come to
combat, to modify or to replace the old, thus tending to disrupt
unity or to imperil peace and advancement in periods provi-
dentially transitional. But, comparatively favored in these
respects, with us these ten years have been marked both by
consistency of aim and constant advance; resulting not only in
4.
material gains, but in higher achievements. For such educa-
tional progress, benefactions are sought and to some of them they
are essential. Despite what might have been feared, there has
been secured steady improvement in scholarship, Christian morale
and numbers and in endowments and equipments, as well as in
public confidence. There have been obstacles, but there has been
progress.
This period will long be memorable for its great financial dif-
ficulties. The principal property on which for years the
institution had relied for educational income, became unpro-
ductive. Heavy interest accounts, losses and liabilities continued
to increase. The institution was involved in a common trust
with other land-holders, profitable sales ceased almost entirely,
and assessments, etc., increased, when the institution urgently
needed all its resources. Further, the number of Colleges and
Universities had greatly increased, many of them, having large
Faculties and ample appliances with attractive courses and
methods and active denominational support.
In the face of increased competition and other untoward events
and of unexpected financial stringency, Union College has re-
gained its reputation for thoroughness of work and, as reported
last autumn, numbered more students than for eighteen years.
The demand for endowments, buildings, improvements, num-
bers, has been met by a larger total of invested endowments than
was stated for the first half-century of College history; by a total,
including principal, interest and all gains, exceeding half a mil-
lion dollars; the removal of liabilities exceeding a quarter of a
million of dollars, and land provision to meet certain other lia-
bilities. These new benefactions, secured during the hard times,
stand in contrast with two thousand dollars of new endowments
in the printed tables for 1862–72; in which decade occurred
the prosperous times for college endowment, and many unpro-
ductive efforts in behalf of Union. The demands have been far-
ther Supplied by advance in numbers from 85 to some 200 in
Union College, and more than 500 including those reported in
the newly established Union University; by the erection of the
5
Alumni and Memorial Hall, and Glyptotheka; the Gymnasium
and residences, the “Eastern Colonnades” with Library Hall;
the improvement of buildings, grounds, equipments, the intro-
duction of water and gas, bathing facilities, etc.; large addi-
tions to the Library, the Art and Culture department and the
apparatus and collections; the provision of more than one
hundred thousand dollars for student aid, and a larger amount
available for support of professors and departments. The
Nott Trust Fund excepted (at present affording little edu-
cational aid), Union College since I872, the year of the inau-
guration, has gained more in gifts and endowments in ten
years than in the entire previous three-quarters of a century.
Institutions survive though individuals most honored and
interested pass away. In the judgment of many of us, there-
fore, greatest among the needs of Union College has been such
a settled system as would survive changes of personnel, such a
development from its past as would give permanence to its
future. Its records are only too much encumbered with the
discussions of finance and policy and methods of government;
beginning long before this decade, some have culminated within
it. We have, it is hoped, a solid and valuable result in the re-
interpretation of some of its traditions, the reformation or change
in Some respects of its system and in the codification of its laws of
government.
DEMAND AND SUPPLY.
At the outset of this review, let us recall the expressed wishes
and purposes for development and for attaining the desired suc-
cess. The following extracts are from the circular set forth by
the Corporation some time before my election in 1871 ; and
before my inauguration in 1872, it was offered me as an instruc-
tive guide:
“To the Alumni and Friends of Union College. The perma-
nent funds of Union College, together with those designated as
the Nott Trust Fund, now available or in prospect, may be con-
sidered sufficient for the support of the Faculty and assistance of
6
needy students, and constitute a safe basis for appropriations
from friends for uses for which there is no adequate provision.
None of the resources now on hand can be applied to the pur-
chase of books or the erection and repair of buildings. For
these purposes, the College is wholly destitute of means and is
now in a condition of want which calls for immediate help in
order that it may fairly stand in competition with other colleges.
Almost all the other prominent colleges of the land are receiv-
ing large donations from wealthy and generous patrons to supply
these necessities. Our Library has had scarcely any additions
for many years and is very inadequate to meet the wants of the
students and more especially of the Professors. The foundation
of the Alumni Hall has been laid at an expense of about three
thousand dollars. The available funds from remaining subscrip-
tions may be about one thousand five hundred dollars. The
outlay on the foundation yields no return, but the unfinished
structure is rather to the discredit of our enterprise and effi-
ciency. Besides this, the original plan of the College contem-
plates two more buildings and their connecting colonnades. Their
erection will, in all respects, be of great utility and convenience
and will add largely to the influence and reputation of the insti-
tution. A grand enterprise securing one hundred thousand dol-
lars would allow all the provisions formerly made for specific
purposes to be effectually consummated in their wise and well-
intended directions. Such an effort is now to be commenced,
and we make the appeal earnestly and confidently for your favor-
able attention and your enlightened munificence.” -
President Hickok, on his resignation in April, 1868, wrote:–
“Several operating causes have for the past few years been
diminishing the number of Scholars in this College, such as the
discontinuance of Southern patronage, denominational action and
interest in most of the surrounding institutions, and restricted
number of admissions of students; and these causes will proba-
bly continue. But the most discouraging hindrances to the
prosperity of the College are found in the neglect to push for-
ward improvements in buildings, additions to the Library, etc.”
7
. He wrote again under date of July 20th, 1871 —“I think
Union College cannot fill its place and stand competition with old
and new institutions about it, without an immediate Outlay of
some $2OO,OOO for buildings, general repairs, Library and varied
apparatus for instruction. The income from the Trust Deed and
College endowments is so conditioned as to help little here. Now
naked of such necessary auxiliaries, these too long permitted
deficiencies may be supplied and the College may be made to
realize Dr. Nott's loving and fond anticipations. It will be a
joy to me to see the light opening and brightening about those
halls, which have stood so long in deep twilight.”
A Trustee and former Vice-president had written from Europe,
under date of January Ist, 1859, to President Nott, a letter which
is but another indication of the early and increasing sense of
these needs:– “I have been much encouraged by all I hear of
the prospects of the Graduates' Hall. May your life be spared
to see that and other plans completed I hear with great pleas-
ure of the Wheatley cabinet. Would that another Delavan could
be found to take hold of the Library 1” *
A Professor of experience in several institutions as well as at
Union stated to a committee of the Trustees that the rooms for
recitations, etc., at Union, were inferior to those of any com-
peting college; that to put the institution on a fair footing for
competition, there was needed the speedy expenditure of at least
two hundred thousand dollars, and that even our small Library
was not only imperfect but practically useless.
The Senior member of the Faculty, often virtually its acting
President, referred in a printed statement (1871–2) to “wants,”
as follows:—“Among the immediate needs of the College are a
fire-proof building for the Library; a gymnasium; scholarships
and fellowships bearing the names of the donors and yielding
pecuniary aid in addition to free tuition and room-rent; the
establishment of special lectures and prizes; funds for windows
(memorial), an organ and furniture for the Alumni and Me-
morial Hall; books, maps, apparatus, additions to the museum,
or funds for the same.”
8
President Aiken's projects embraced much more than is indicat-
ed above, but his administration was brief, like that of nearly all the
other Presidents of Union, and their accomplishment was prevent-
ed. He had had, however, one full year's resident experience of
the College before his inaugural in 1870. Therein he thus sums
up his convictions of its needs:—
“The Union of the old and the new
“The old Union Its magnificent location; its glorious land-
scape; its priceless memories of the departed, and the inex-
haustible power that is hoarded for us in their works which do
follow them; its treasures in the reputation and influence of
living sons; its wise and happy blending of the old with the new,
the traditional with the progressive.
“And built on this foundation, the new Union | Some new
buildings whose hope deferred maketh the heart sick; some new
recitation and lecture rooms more favorable to vitality and
aspiration and taste and mental acquisitiveness; some new con-
veniences and comforts about our students' lodging-rooms and
their appurtenances; new apparatus for the various departments
of physical Science; new accommodations for our present in-
commoded Collections in natural history and that which a true
theory and practice of development would year by year add to
them; a new library building, a fitting home for a growing store
of literary treasures, made an eager resort for many whom its
fresh and living facilities shall reclaim from idleness and from
dissipated activities and shall nourish to an intelligent and well
furnished manhood; new impulses by all this imparted to
teachers; new enjoyment and progress and manly growth ensured
to students; new confidence and respect gained through the
State and the land; new power exerted on this and all the com-
ing generations ! Say, fathers and brethren, shall this be a mere
day-dream of the imagination ? How wide a gulf shall separate
us from the beginning of its realization ?”
Among my earliest and most cherished aims, has been aid
for the Departments, the Library and Scholarships; increase in
9.
numbers and improvements, as also in endowments untrammeled
by conditions, for general maintenance and enlargement of the
Faculty; resulting in the elevation of the standard of scholar-
ship and the general improvement of the College. Among the
achievements of the decade are also the establishment of the
Union Classical Institute in its new building, affording pre-
paratory instruction, and of the University with its post-grad-
uate schools. *
It will be evident, I think, that improvements have proceeded
generally as had been proposed and that a larger amount of
productive funds has been secured than the Semi-centennial
Address claims for the first half-century. For apparatus, col-
lections, buildings, etc., the largest sum called for ($2OO,OOO)
and more have been provided and expended. In view of the
coinciding business depression and loss of income, they have
proved doubly valuable for professorial support and students'
aid, If, as suggested to the Board last June, the new income
received be added to the principal, the gains of this decade (in-
cluding invested funds, buildings and appliances, etc., and
omitting promised bequests) considerably exceed half a million
dollars, while the printed financial tables covering the previous
decade record $2,000 of new gifts from 1861 to 1871; part of
this being in dispute, although there may be comparatively small
items unreported.
INCOME FROM FORMER RESOURCES.
From the Nott Trust and other educational resources, the
reduction of income, together with loss of interest on loans, etc.,
was so excessive that, except for the new gifts, the College
(refusing to sanction most injurious reductions or to use to any
large extent its permanent trusts for annual educational expen-
ditures) must have closed its doors and disbanded its forces.
Regarding this decrease in income from former resources, it suf-
fices to say in passing, that the decline in land sales at Hunter's
Point defeated expectations for improvements there and at the
IO
College. An obvious cause of miscalculation was the suddenness
and long continuance of the “hard times.”
It is sometimes insisted that College moneys and credit should
be legitimately applied only to immediate educational uses and de-
signed improvements at the College. Yet, as I have no connec-
tion with the Hunter's Point Trust, I should perhaps the more
cordially claim (as I do with reference to the comparatively
small appropriations for buildings and equipments at the College)
that before the hard times, there appeared to be resources
“available or in prospect,” even for liabilities and expendi-
tures as extensive as those connected with the real estate at
Hunter's Point. Whether at the College or at Hunter's Point,
each class of expenditures has advocates and opponents, but
doubtless a resulting reduction in the educational resources or
income of the College was not anticipated. .
SUPPORT FOR PROFESSORS, ETC,
The reports and accounts show that for Professors' stipends,
departments, residences, etc., this decade compares favor-
bly with any other equal period. In addition to special fees
or assistants provided since 1871, among emoluments increased
have been those of the Professor promoted to the chair of Math-
ematics (increase $1,250 per annum), of the Professor of Engi-
neering (increase $500 per annum), of the Professor of Natural
History (increase $500 per annum), with additional payments to
these gentlemen and others, or to assistants in the depart-
ments. A special report is expected, covering receipts
and expenditures and the general financial management. It is
sufficient to remark here that since separate securities were set
apart in 1878 and recorded in the Minute Book for all permanent
Foundations, the aid to the College expenditures from new bene-
factions is particularly noticeable; and that in this connec-
tion, Securities and properties have not been diminished,
but greatly increased. New donations have not only previously,
but especially since 1878, provided buildings and improvements
I. I
as well as a large proportion of the Professors' salaries and other
necessary college expenditures; the annual reports being as
follows: - -
I878–9, gifts, $15,400; bequests, $80,000. Total, $95,400.
1879–80, gifts, $32,354; bequests, $1 OO. Total, $32,454.
1880–81, gifts, $65,855; bequests, $13,237. Total, $79,092.
The reports give for salaries and instruction in 1871, $25,987,
and in 1881, $15,991. Subtracting the income of the James
Brown fund received 1878, it is seen that while the College and
the Nott Trust fund paid in 1871 $25,987 [85 students], in 1881
[187 students] their actual total paid for salaries and instruction
was only some eleven or twelve thousand dollars from the former
resources of the College. The additional amount necessary for Pro-
fessors' salaries, etc., was provided largely by the new donations.
The Levi Parsons Scholarships fund ($50,000) to a large extent
is available (through students' term-fees) for Professors' salaries;
as is also the entire income of the James Brown fund of $80,000;
and the John David Wolfe fund, to some extent, may be thus
used. In addition to supplying much that the institution pre-
viously lacked, the new gifts and endowments have relieved to
a large extent previous charges upon the College funds. Several
thousand dollars have been granted from new gifts for the appa-
ratus etc. of Physics, Natural History, Engineering, Chemistry,
Military Instruction; for Classics, Lectures, Art-objects and Art-
culture; providing or publishing Chancellors' addresses, Bacca-
laureate Sermons, College catalogues and pamphlets; advertising,
engraving, the stereopticon and other illustrative instruction,
books for Chapel service etc., photography and the new photo-
graph. rooms; furniture etc. for recitation rooms and also pro-
vision for the encouragement of music; maintenance of the
Gymnasium, the grounds and buildings; fellowships, prizes and
student aid. Previous to 1878 and to date, the College has
had a sum continued from year to year (principally from one
friend), which is not available either for permanent invest-
ment nor exclusively for ordinary current expenses. It has been
devoted in many ways such as those above noted, to the general
I 2.
advancement of the College, and we have had the advice and
consent of friends, to whom I return thanks in a later paragraph.
Since the decrease in our educational income, various, not to Say
injurious, savings have been suggested. I have held that if capa-
ble Professors are to be retained, remuneration as well as assistance
in labors should be increased; yet, as I understand, in instances of
reduction of emoluments, the alleged ground for it was diminished
duties or openings for remuneration in other departments of the
University or elsewhere.
LIFE INSURANCE.
Of Mr. James Brown's bequest of one hundred thousand dollars,
twenty thousand is held by the executors, to ensure the payment
of the income during life to the widow of a member of the Fac-
ulty whom the donor greatly revered for services rendered to the
College. In a previous report, I called attention to the impor-
tance of providing life insurance for the Professors' families, in
recognition of able and continued services; and in passing I may
again remind the corporation that it was a favorite conception
with Mr. James Brown, who sent us interesting documents on the
subject. His bequest permits the erection of a building, but as
all necessary buildings will probably be erected by others before
the College enters, in 1895, upon its second century, the amount
($2O,OOO) above referred to, will, I trust, from respect to his
wishes, be ultimately made the nucleus of a fund for annuities to
families of deceased Professors.
IMPROVEMENTS.
The expenditures by the College, solely from its former re-
sources, for improvements during this decade, as stated to
the Board at the last Commencement, amount in total to less
than fifty-four thousand dollars. At least twenty-five thousand
dollars of this were appropriated previously. Thus there is a
remainder of but twenty-eight thousand six hundred dollars
appropriated exclusively by the College for this entire decade.
I 3
When we find that previously in one year (1865–6) more than
eleven thousand dollars was expended from College funds on
buildings alone, and twenty-five thousand dollars appropriated
(in 1867) towards the Alumni Hall, the above remainder
($28,600) or even the appropriation of twice the amount is little
enough for buildings and improvements during ten years;
especially in view both of the results secured and of reduced
liabilities and the large new benefactions. How inconsiderable
have been our expenditures as compared with accompanying
and probably otherwise unattainable gains, is realized when we
remember that there are American Colleges or Universities
which expend more than one hundred thousand dollars annually
for instruction etc., and larger sums for improvements, whose
numbers or needs are not as great as those of Union College.
Liberal expenditure is usually better than large investment, for
the best investments may fail; while by effective outlay we have
achieved that progress and prosperity for which benefactions
are bestowed. This principle applies especially to sums avail-
able for annual use or given for the immediate advancement of
the College.
Had the hard times been foreseen, the work of supplying the
long-felt needs might not have been undertaken ; and yet in the
previous decade, without such improvements, however excellent
all else, the College had been found to decline rapidly; while in
this decade, simultaneously with the supply of improvements, it
was seen steadily to gain in morale, scholarship, numbers, repu-
tation and endowments. It will be further apparent not only that
a new element (“Remarks”) enters after 1872 into the financial
reports, annually acknowledging the receipt of gifts or permanent
funds, but that for the first time large bequests are reported.
Except the Nott Trust, State Aid and the Wheatley Collection, can
we find in the whole previous three-quarters of a century as large
a total of gifts and bequests as in single years of the period since
I872 P The sum of two hundred thousand dollars in available funds
was pointed to with pride at the Semi-centennial celebration
14
(1845), not simply as an achievement worthy of fifty years,
but as of first importance to permanence and prosperity.
As on that occasion material gains were recounted with thanks-
giving, so this statement is designed to express our gratitude to
our recent benefactors for current help and permanent founda-
tions; and from manifest results, to deduce reasons for still larger
gifts.
BENEFACTIONS.
What have we to show in results, that may induce still further
benefactions and enterprises? We have not only the large and
beautiful Powers Memorial Building, with the Washburn Memorial
Library Hall; the Alumni and Memorial Hall and Glyptotheca ;
the Gymnasium; the new residences and the improvements in
parks and buildings; apparatus and collections; we have also
gained large invested income-bearing funds for general pur-
poses and have carried the institution over the hard times, into
improved condition and reputation, scholarship and discipline.
In connection with the Powers Building, hundreds of dollars
from that building fund go incidentally toward grading and
filling in outlying lots, thus preparing them for sale; one of
many collateral benefits from new improvements.
President Aiken enforced the need of “accommodations for the
incommoded collections in Natural History and for that which a
true theory and practice of development would add to them year
by year.” The Florida and other expeditions have been maintained
and specimens and material, taxidermy and other work provided ;
the Library has been removed to the Memorial Hall, where it is
being enlarged and catalogued preparatory to transfer to the
Library building when completed; the Wheatley Cabinet is re-
moved to the gallery erected in the Chapel lecture-room, where
it is yet to be displayed; and the entire hall above fitted with
cases, devoted to the Natural History Museum, Thus both
the “development” and “accommodations” were largely provi.
ded and have shown how an interesting building may lead
I 5
to gifts for other purposes. Because of the appropriate-
ness of the galleries of the Alumni and Memorial Hall
for Art collections, a friend became interested in providing
a Sum indefinite, but continued from year to year, which, up to
this time, has been used with her consent not only for the pur-
posed culture, art objects, etc., but also to advance generally the
efficiency of the institution; providing, among numberless
benefits, liberal and long-continued aid for the department
of Natural History. Thus, to contributors to buildings and im-
provements, we are indebted not simply for their immediate
usefulness but for their fruitful results. They are seeds multi-
plying often an hundred fold. A gentleman interested in our
welfare, a scholar who is familiar with leading universities, has
just returned from a visit to a college in a neighboring State
with the exclamation, “Lo what great buildings are there !
useful in the enthusiasm they create, the aid they inspire, the
esprit de corps of hosts of friends, throngs of students and pro-
fessors, pointing with pride to these material advances.” And so,
the institution referred to, which a few years ago was small and
straitened, has now ample means and methods of usefulness.
Adequate provision for educational work is the end of all
efforts, but the means to that are as various as are human
characters. There are those who favor large expenditures
in college buildings, as securing power and permanence, im-
pressing the public, leading to liberal gifts and attaching
more firmly the affections of the Alumni. Others prefer
different forms of donation, arguing that investments for
aesthetic purposes or for ample architectural structures are
useless or reprehensible. Both have opportunities of attest-
ing their faith by works, in the various objects of donation
to Colleges. Taste is fickle, life is short. Accepting what
donors may give at Once and making use of it, has led to
Other gifts, sometimes of a more coveted character. For
buildings and improvements, our reason for gratitude is great.
The dome which for more than half a century has appeared
I6
in College pictures as surmounting “Graduates' Hall,” is an ex-
pensive, and may be thought, an unnecessary feature. Its plaster-
ing and the method of roofing were contrary to my suggestion;
the first contract was without these features, and the building was
to have been so divided into rooms that it could be readily heated.
Later, together with wise modifications for rendering the building
fire-proof, the plan for the dome etc., was adopted, but contractors
were required to guarantee a “good and sufficient roof.” An
expert has declared that the building can be heated in the coldest
weather, but it would seem better to enclose with partitions the
parts that might be needed for winter occupation, and to heat them
alone; an arrangement already successfully tested. More beautiful
as it stands than without the dome, the clear-story, as suggested
in Prof. Jackson's résumé of College wants, is an appropriate place
for memorial windows yet to be supplied. A noble Alumni
Hall and Glyptotheca as it is, the remaining features will,
I think, be added from gifts such as would not be made
to other College objects. When a completed work, the jewel
in Union's architectural crown, it will be found to attract,
as already it has done, first interest, then disposition to aid and
then gifts to other College objects. Respect for aesthetical
Sentiment is sometimes rewarded by donations for practical
needs, for the aesthetic are often the wealthy and liberal.
Again, persons of liberality and ability but with strictly
practical views, are influenced by signs of progress. They
ask for tangible results, material improvements. A new build-
ing is a reason to them for the conclusion that the College
deserves well of them, and they endow the institution accordingly.
One who had refused to aid the institution, on visiting soon after
its erection the residence which the President occupies mani-
fested his satisfaction by giving largely to other College objects;
while many similar instances indicate that the fructifying in-
fluence has continued. Again, the new residences and Me-
morial Hall were counted among those encouraging signs about
the College which revived a wish to aid it; so that later the in-
&
17
stitution received its largest untrammeled fund. In connection
with the same building, as we have seen, there has been contrib-
uted a sum in semi-annual payments which is the largest the
College has ever received for current use.
This review gives a conception of College progress and of the
material aid received during this decade. But the larger conse-
quences of the momentum given and designed to result in future
benefits, of these we can make no adequate estimate. From our
Mohawk valley, at last, more than fifty thousand dollars has been
received and still more seems likely to follow; more than one hun-
dred thousand dollars from the Alumni, more than one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars from Trustees and Curators. In more
than one instance, some friend, not previously connected with the
College, has contributed to it more than fifty thousand dollars. In
gifts of from five dollars to fifty thousand, in the course of this
administration, we reach in principal and interest, in buildings
and appliances, the total of more than five hundred thousand ;
not fulfilling our needs, but when compared with the few hundred
dollars reported from 1861 to 1871, a cause for encouragement
and gratitude. Some benefactions do not appear in the depart-
ment accounts. We must add, therefore, items of some $50,000
expended by the donors in the building and adornment of the
Alumni and Memorial Hall, we must also include such gifts as
the additions to the “Fuller Residence " by the President and
others, and the erection by Hon. S. T. Benedict of the “Jackson
Residence.” The College reaps an enhanced value in its prop-
erties, and the enlargement of its usefulness.
Benefactions may be classified as follows:
I. Those enjoining permanent investment in interest-bearing
securities.
2. Those given for buildings, apparatus and improvements.
3. Books, art and other objects, specimens and services.
4. Those left available for current uses unconditionally.
5. Those available for current uses, but requiring us to per-
petuate the donors' name or intention in some permanent form,
2
I 8
as a library case or alcove; scholarships affording free tuition;
a fund, so called, based on College lands or scrip, of which the
nominal income may be paid for some (perhaps specified) edu-
cational purpose when the College can well afford it. These last
are methods for meeting current expenses without trenching
upon trust funds; such as are successfully used by excellent and
long established but insufficiently endowed institutions. Any
proper measure acceptable to donors should be resorted to
before decreasing or imperiling by loans for current expenses
the permanent trusts and properties of the Corporation.
The properties, funds or moneys received may be divided into
(I) those held unconditionally for chartered educational pur-
poses; (2) those conditioned as to their investment, uses,
etc. The Corporation prefers, as most useful, unconditioned
gifts and bequests. It should at least have discretionary power
to meet cases, for instance, where the donor's object may be
anticipated by others before his donation or bequest is realized.
The relief through gifts wholly available for annual expen-
ditures is less conspicuous than that in buildings and some other
permanent forms. That it is of equal importance, it is hoped, is
here made clear.
NEW SCHOLARSHIPS.
Our indebtedness to donors for a desired increase in numbers
will be deduced from the fact that, notwithstanding the reputa-
tion and size of the Faculty, the numbers declined from 235
in 1862, to 85 in 1872; while they increased from 85 in 1872
to more than 200, as reported this year in Our Opening term.
No worthy student, I trust, will ever find the College doors
closed upon him because of poverty nor be humiliated by ex-
actions or ungraciousness in the giving. May we always be
able to aid the needy toward subsistence and books I
have spared no efforts to this end. Thanks are due to bene-
factors for scholarship funds exceeding one hundred thousand
dollars and to the Finance Committee for permitting liberal
I9
grants of free tuition. The total of term fees remitted to students
in 1871 was $1,932, distributed, I believe, among fifty. Includ-
ing this and grants for books and boarding, especially to South-
ern students, the total reported last year was $18,142, distributed
among I 29 recipients. The increase of students has continued, des-
pite the unprecedented withdrawals before graduation, while the
standard of work and discipline has been raised with satisfactory
results. Previous to 1872 Dr. Taylor Lewis said, “What I think
affects the College most injuriously is the lack of large Freshman
classes.” During this decade the College has received the largest
Freshman classes in its history.
REMOVAL OF LIABILITIES.
While noting the decrease in income from Hunter's Point
and other former resources, it is gratifying to know that
the reduction in liabilities during this decade (the precise
reduction will, I presume, appear from the financial reports)
is not less than a quarter of a million of dollars. The pay-
ment to the Mutual Life Insurance Company of one hundred
thousand dollars is referred to in the finance report of 1877–8,
the liability being for the land improvement loan made in 1870.
Relief from an equal liability ($100,000) was secured at the same
time by a trustee. In addition to this relief ($2OO,OOO), pay-
ments have been made for the Hunter's Point Trust etc., and
the Lowber suit and liabilities have been successfully closed ;
the Corporation recognizing the gratuitious services of the trustee
above referred to, by establishing the Clarkson Nott Potter
Scholarship, affording to the extent of 6 per cent. on $5,000
free tuition to deserving students. As a member of Congress, the
same trustee also aided in securing the appropriation ($2O,OOO)
for the astronomical observatory of Union University. Another
member of the New York Committee, Mr. Silas B. Brownell, who
performs particularly valuable services without remuneration, has
aided in the increase of resources and the removal of liabilities,
and in the past year has secured a further gain of several thou
2O
sand dollars to the College. The “New York Committee" has
now arduous responsibility with reference to the development of
property at Hunter's Point, and welcomes the acquisition of the
new member, Mr. Wm. H. H. Moore, an Alumnus and benefac-
tor, and now a Trustee of the College.
At the time of the appointment of Curators of Parks and
Buildings, lands were set apart for sale, to meet improvements.
The expected sales (1872, '73) did not take place. It is
hoped that the present opportunity will be seized, so that
any liabilities incurred may be met, and the authorized permanent
fund for maintaining parks and buildings be begun.
THE HUNTER'S POINT TRUST.
The Hunter's Point Trust was established through act of
Legislature in 1860, by which the College as part owner is made
responsible for the management and trusteeship of certain lands
and properties situated principally at Hunter's Point, Long
Island. Under the provisions of the Trust, its possessions are
represented by negotiable certificates of proportionate owner-
ship. When remunerative sales have been frequent, our edu-
cational revenues have increased; when sales greatly decrease,
the College as Trustee has been required to meet assessments,
taxes etc.; and since 1878, this drain has been especially severe.
This Trust is now being closed by friendly suit, in order to parti-
tion the several interests; and the influence of the College is being
directed toward rendering the property at once available for
educational purposes. When the debts of this Trust to the Col-
lege, connected with the filling in of lots, taxes, etc., are paid and
the educational resources now invested there in dead capital are
made income-bearing, the College will not be required either to
remain in debt or to run behind in meeting its present annual ex-
penditures; although many new benefactions will still be needed
to meet the increasing demands of a progressive institution.
The statement presented to the Board in June last omits re-
ference to the loss of educational income and to the increasing
*
2 I
interest account, caused largely by expenditures and liabilities of
the College for the benefit of this Trust and related interests.
The object of the establishment of the Trust was the benefit of
all interests and parties represented; and this is seen especially
from 1860 to 1870. Large as have since been the appropriations
of the College for such purposes and especially in 1870, ‘7 I, the
drain has been felt in this decade, and has been especially severe
upon College funds since the allotment of securities for educa-
tional trusts in 1878. This absorption of College resources for
Hunter's Point Trusts, taxes, assessments, salaries, and expenses
especially during the hard times and without call upon the cer-
tificate-holders for their proportion, etc., has not been understood
by some members of the Corporation, and by some has been
considered not prudent nor proper in the party responsible.
Benefactors cannot be relied upon to meet exclusively a deficit
connected with this large absorption of College resources.
Nevertheless they have contributed largely for necessary edu-
cational expenditures. But, for “increasing the facilities afforded
for culture, art and general advancement” in the many forms of
benefit already referred to, the sum given, indefinite but con-
tinued in semi-annual payments to the College, has been one of
the essentials to its advancement. I have not taken the respon-
sibility of acting entirely alone, where discretion as to the
selection of objects to be benefited rested with me. I am happy
to record my indebtedness to Miss Wolfe, Mr. Robert Lenox
Kennedy, Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt and others, to whom, under
the letter of instruction, annual report is made for their interest,
approval and consequent liberality in this connection.
The enlightened policy sanctioned by the corporation and
pursued by persons deeply interested in its welfare has furthered
the renewal of prosperity, notwithstanding the delay in securing
adequate educational income from properties, etc., at Hunter's
Point. -
THE NOTT TRUST.
The Nott Trust is an educational foundation belonging to
Union College for certain specified purposes. It was founded
22
in 1854 by President Nott, to provide annually, among other
things, for the salaries of fifteen professors, and to aid at any one
time one hundred and twenty-nine scholarship students, from the
income upon $555,OOO. The capital of the Trust was reported
in 1881 as $767,3 IO; $643,887 being real estate mostly un-
productive. Of the Nott Trust properties thus far paying
interest, the income, etc., has greatly decreased since 1871,
partly because of the non-payment of interest by mortgagors.
The property of this Trust, as at first, still consists largely of
lands at Hunter's Point, Long Island.
The expressed design of President Nott was “to attain imme-
diately the objects and purposes of the trust;” and at the semi-
centennial celebration of his presidency (1854) it was stated that
“the College now has ample means of usefulness.” The Corpo-
ration circular of 1863 stated that “the permanent funds of Union
College, together with those designated as the Nott Trust fund,
now available or in prospect, may be considered sufficient, so far
as the support of the Faculty and provision for assistance to needy
students are concerned.” The Senior Professor, in his summary
of College wants, spoke of the Nott Trust fund as yielding
(1871–2) sixteen thousand dollars for the support of Professors
for the year; and it was anticipated that the amount through
sales at Hunter's Point would soon be greatly increased. Quite
the reverse, as we have seen, has been the case. The Nott Trust
now yields little net educational aid, and the Hunter's Point Trust
is for the time a Source of outgo rather than of educational in-
come. While suffering from the inconvenience, I regard this as
a blessing in disguise. The College has realized the uncertainty
of any one Trust Fund, and the importance of living relations
of sympathy with those whom God has made stewards of wealth,
that they may provide a free people with enduring educational
foundations.
RECORD OF SECURITIES, ETC.
One of the improvements of the decade was that introduced in
I878 by the late Hon. Wm. F. Allen of the Board of Trustees,
23
by which securities were allotted and recorded as belonging to
their respective permanent foundations or endowments. There
had been appropriations for improvements at the College and
much larger appropriations for business purposes at Hunter's
Point. Thus, and especially since the loan ($ IOO,OOO) made in
1870 for docking and filling at Hunter's Point was paid in
(1877–8), the available resources of the College were considerably
reduced. The profit from land sales sufficient to meet such inter-
est accounts ceased. The immediate importance of Judge Allen's
suggestion was therefore realized. The records of the Finance
Committee show the gratifying fact that the securities thus allotted
in 1878 more than sufficed for the permanent foundations required
to be thus invested, and comparatively few of them were defi-
cient in income. New funds for permanent foundations have also
been invested by the Finance Committee or the donors.
Another important rule then adopted was that requiring
faithful re-investment, for these permanent trust-foundations or
funds, of any of their securities “paid in or needing change of
investment. Another rule then established was the pledg-
ing of the unconditioned properties of the College to guarantee
its permanent conditioned foundations, trusts or funds. The
unconditioned properties of the College are as yet largely in
lands, and such management is now desired as shall shortly
make them productive in educational income. The increase
especially of funds available for any College object within the
discretion of the Corporation, is, as we have Said, greatly
desired; and the setting over (in 1874) from the Nott Trust
(in order to satisfy legal or equitable claims) of the land credit
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was regarded as an
important movement tending to increase the unconditioned
properties. There is need of an order to the effect that no lia-
bility shall be incurred involving directly or indirectly any of the
trust properties of the Corporation except that particular trust
or fund to be benefited by the liability. The receipt of largé
invested trust funds for permanent foundations in Subsequent
24
years, is a recent experience; but hereafter, I trust, the an-
nual reports will invariably specify the particular properties
of each permanent fund, requiring investment in income-
bearing form; also the uses of the income and the obligations of
the trust. It would be advantageous to confine the word “fund"
or “funds,” in College statements, to permanent trusts and foun-
dations as distinguished from resources whose principal is avail-
able for immediate use,
We have not as yet an authorized President's Record book or
Such a system as I have frequently suggested for classifying
obligations and information as to endowments etc., past, present
and prospective. Without it, numerous and intricate transac-
tions, gifts and suggestions of aid, covering many years and
conditions and modes of statement and hundreds and thousands
of dollars are liable to great confusion. Memory, memoranda
and reports are sufficient, if not for the purposes of the committee
of the Board, yet for preventing material defects or omissions
affecting the conclusions of this review. As requested by the
Corporation, I have given attention to annual reports and finan-
cial systems of colleges etc. and have accordingly made sugges-
tions and recommendations, including reductions in the cost of
the present financial management. The introduction of double-
entry book-keeping was some time since proposed by a trustee
of recognized business ability. An improved statement of
accounts and an annual treasurer's report was proposed by Hon.
Judson S. Landon, at request of the Finance Committee.
As the land item in accounts is confusing, there should be a
statement printed, in which lands unproductive and with no fixed
value are not mingled as now with cash and productive pro-
perties; each should be stated separately. Methods of record
and annual statements, as I have suggested, need to be decided
upon, excluding as far as possible ground for injurious ignorance,
misunderstanding or mis-statement. An annual financial report
by the Corporation should be published and circulated widely,
and especially among the Alumni. A pamphlet of completed
25
by-laws of finance would be helpful, prepared as thoroughly as
was recently the Code of Government; excluding whatever in
our records is contradictory or redundant, conflicting with the
Charter or inharmonious with the Trusts.
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
We now turn with gratification, from financial topics, to
others, related to executive engagements. The United States
Government is entitled to the acknowledgments of this Cor-
poration. Union College is one of the institutions enjoy-
ing without charge the Services of professors, the one detailed
by the Secretary of War, the other by the Secretary of the
Navy. The Government also published, at the time of the
National Centennial, without cost to us, a history of Union
College. Union University was further indebted for an appro-
priation of twenty thousand dollars ($2O,OOO) made to its
astronomical department, the Dudley observatory at Albany,
which has been efficiently re-organized. Involving much ex-
acting correspondence and executive attention during several
years, the movements initiated procured further from Congress an
appropriation, as also from the Departments of War and of the
Navy a detail of officers. Prof. J. W. MacMurray, U. S. A.,
directs the Department of Military Instruction and Drill and
Physical Culture, while imparting instruction important to every
patriot and to the nation. It has been the custom of the Cor-
poration to apply for re-detail, the services of a good officer
becoming more valuable as his knowledge of the College
increases. In the autumn of 1881, the Navy Department de-
tailed to the College an officer of the Engineers, Professor Ira
N. Hollis, U. S. N., and the Board of Trustees appointed him to
the needed department of Mechanical Engineering.
The President of the United States, Hon. Chester A. Arthur,
of the class of 1848, has tendered his grateful acknowledgments
for sympathy which the College expressed for him and through
him to the family of the lamented President Garfield; and in his
26
message to Congress occurs the following memorable passage:–
“An appalling calamity has befallen the American people since
their chosen representatives last met in the Halls where you are
now assembling. We might else recall with unalloyed content
the rare prosperity with which throughout the year the nation
has been blessed. Its harvests have been plenteous, its varied
industries have thriven, the health of its people has been pre-
served, it has maintained with all foreign governments undis-
turbed relations of amity and peace. For these manifestations
of his favor, we owe to Him who holds our destiny in his hands the
tribute of our grateful devotions. To that mysterious exercise of
his will which has taken from us the loved, illustrious citizen who
was but lately the head of the nation, we bow in Sorrow and sub-
mission. The memory of his exalted character, of his noble
achievements and of his patriotic life will be treasured forever as
the sacred possession of the whole people. The announcement
of his death drew from foreign governments and peoples tributes
of sympathy and Sorrow, which history will record as signal
tokens of the kinship of the nations and federations of mankind.”
CIVIL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE.
Cannot our College secure a Department of Civil and Political
Science, including the duties of citizenship whether in private
stations or in the civil service P For the trials incident to
exalted public Service as well as to common citizenship, and for the
grand opportunities of Statesmanship, there is need of early and
protracted studies in history and especially in the history of our
own country. Already some American colleges have opened
Schools of history and of politics, as well as departments of
instruction for journalists, such as might add greatly, if suitably
endowed, to the usefulness and influence of Union University.
It often happens that a boy's ambition to enter college is
checked by considerations of prudence. He must become at an
early day a bread-winner for himself and perhaps for others,
Why should not our diploma be immediately serviceable to his
27
ends? Why not make one plank in the platform of our noble
Civil Service Reform a sort of gang-way from the Commence-
ment stage to the ship of State P Let the man with a diploma be
given the precedence among applicants for position. Orientals
have shown for centuries their wise appreciation of methods like
this, in basing their entire fabric of public service on the foun-
dation of learning. The governments of Germany, France, Italy,
and indeed, in spirit, that of England, look to the best educated
and even the literary classes to fill their executive and adminis-
trative departments, as also their posts of counsel and legisla-
tion. In the great empire of Germany, hundreds of civil and
national offices are accessible only through the gymnasium or
the university course, certified to by the diploma; and the gym-
nasium is but the equivalent of the American College. Let Our
college diplomas, then, be made the “Open, Sesame !” to public
offices, and those offices be made tenable during ability and
good behavior, and we shall see Our Colleges striking deeper
roots in the interest of the people and hastening the growth of
additional thousands in culture, strength and a wise content.
THE ALUMNI.
The Alumni contribute of their means and influence in
increasing measure, but far more remains to be done. The
Century Club, composed of Alumni graduates and others, made
a good beginning, supplying Some thousands of dollars to the
salaries of Professors. By its organization and the character of
its officers and members, it could relieve the annual deficiencies
which must attend the growth of the College.
The class bulletins, issued in pamphlet form, are valuable con-
tributions to College history and incite an intelligent interest
in the welfare of the institution. We are grateful for any item
of information as to an Alumnus. The large number of docu-
ments returned through the mails unopened shows that even our
meagre list of post-Office addresses is full of errors; and we
earnestly request graduates and others to send to us correct ad-
dresses of Union College men,
28
Every Alumnus can manifest devotion to the welfare of the
College by faithfully promoting and attending Alumni meetings,
especially those annually held here, at which Alumni Trustees
are elected. At the College, the Corporation has annually
extended hospitality to the Alumni and has aided in providing
one of the noblest of Alumni Halls. It has been proposed that
the Alumni, from their general contributions, establish a fund to
be known as the Alumni Endowment and to be under the super-
vision of their Trustees, the income of which, when sufficient,
would be applied by their appointment in support of some
new or existing chair.
The Alumni of New York State after a long interval were con-
vened some months since at the hospitable residence of a
graduate in New York City. This was one of the few meetings of
the kind I have had leisure to enjoy. Officers were elected and
an efficient organization secured. I am informed that enthusi-
astic Alumni meetings have been held in Chicago and at other
points in the Great West. We trust soon to hear of Alumni
meetings and Associations at the South ; and I have been grati-
fied to receive from a Southern Alumnus a request for the form
of bequest, so that he might remember the College in his will.
The Alumni of New England held their first annual meeting
recently in Boston. Hon. Alexander H. Rice, of the
class of 1844, Honorary Chancellor of Union University, was
elected President; David Thayer, M. D., of 1840, the Rev. Irvin
E. Lane, D. D., of 1841, Prof. Daniel B. Hager of 1843, Judge
John W. McKim of 1844, George G. Parke of 1852 and Charles
J. Noyes of 1864 were elected Vice-presidents, and the Rev.
John Wright of 1863 was made Treasurer and Secretary.
We are especially grateful to a graduate who, in answer to a
College appeal, had the courage and the kindness to send five
dollars from his straitened means, wishing and hoping to do more.
Worthy of record is the liberality of the surviving sister of an old
graduate who, Seeing Soon after his death the same appeal, gave
to the College treasury fifteen dollars, hoping, “if Providence
29
enabled her,” to send future contributions. We were grateful,
too, for a sum of one hundred dollars received in answer to this
appeal from an Alumnus of great wealth. This was from his
abundance, but as “stewards,” men of wealth meet many press-
ing claims. What is essential to the College is, that all able and
willing to aid should do so annually, in whatever way they see
fit; for if five thousand Alumni aid by an average of five dollars
a year, the total, twenty-five thousand dollars, or half that
amount, from the same or a less number, would meet the most
pressing current demands beyond our present income.
Madison Young and Elias Man each left a bequest of $1,000
to Alma Mater. The class of '63 presented the Bust of Col.
Elias Peissner (Professor, 1851–63), executed in bronze by Launt
Thompson, who is also executing one of Prof. Jackson, to be
presented at Commencement. The largest bequest from an
Alumnus of which we have as yet been informed, is that drawn
by Judge Gilbert M. Spier for Dr. John McClelland of the class
of 'I 8; under which the College has received nearly $40,000
available for scholarship aid, improvements or investments.
Ministering with rare skill and unselfishness to the sick and the
suffering, he remembered gratefully and helpfully his indebted-
ness to his Alma Mater.
CHRISTIAN UNITY.
Union College is Christian, and its religious position is that of
the evangelical catholicity of our Divine Master's prayer for unity,
as evidencing the divinity of Christianity — “that they all may be
one, that the world may know that Thou hast sent me.” Chris-
tian unity here does not mean indifferentism. The principle
of Christian unity which the College represents, it has held
from its foundation to be of the essence of Christianity. Rev.
Dr. Romeyn, one of the early Pastors of the First Reformed
Church of Schenectady, among the College Founders, sympathiz-
ed with this view ; as also in our own day, Rev. Denis Wortman,
a trustee and former Pastor of the same congregation; and also
3O
among prominent representatives of the Presbyterian Church,
Rev. Drs. J. Trumbull Backus, William Irvin and T. G. Darling,
Hon. Platt Potter, LL. D., and the lamented Rev. Dr. Halley;
while all Christian denominations have been represented in
its Presidents and Professors and others connected with it.
This collegiate conception is doubtless founded upon the convic-
tion that Christian Unity is a scriptural principle, an inherited
belief and an evident prophecy of history, because the trend of
Christian development, proceeds from and in and through per-
missible diversity, to harmonious and powerful unity.
Christian pastors, church organizations, professors and students
have shown interest in the religious and moral welfare of the
College. The influence has been a growing one; and if deficient
in the spirit of proselytism, yet, with “no favor,” there is a “fair
field” provoking unto “love and good works.” But the College is
deficient in proper accommodations for its Christian work; the stu-
dents have a room; they ought to have a building, a home for Chris-
tian association and exercises, with halls for the Literary Associa-
tions. Almost every benefaction of the decade, as indicated in
the following quotation, is related to this element of Christian
unity. The one point of contact for the College with the
Christian public is this living and potent Christian princi-
ple, and it is partly compensating for the lack of exclusively
denominational interest and support. “Regarding the Chris-
tian religion as an essential element in education, and sym-
pathizing cordially with the principles of Christian unity
which Union College was designed to represent and realize, the
donors desire, with a view to the perpetuation of influences and
principles of such vital importance, that their contributions to
the College be regarded as part of its Christian Union endow-
ment.” In an address before the Regents, published by them,
I referred as follows to the Christian position of Union College :-
The Revolutionary struggle in which our ancestors proved
their devotion to civil liberty, revived their love of religious
liberty. The descendants of the defenders of Leyden, of the
3 I
heroes of Scotch Protestantism, of the martyrs of the English
Reformation, as well as the men of honored Puritan ances-
try, felt then, for a time, the glow of a kindred enthusiasm.
Some have held that those who laid in Christian faith and
for Christian unity the foundations of this the first College
incorporated by the Regents, “builded better than they knew.”
But the founders deserve the distinction claimed for them. As
early as I 779, an effort had been made for the incorporation of
a College at Schenectady as being, in the language of the pro-
jectors, “the most suitable and commodious seat for a Seminary
of learning in this State, or,” as they modestly add, “perhaps in
America.” The College was to be known as Clinton College
and to have this distinctive denominational mark, that “the
President must be of the Protestant Reformed faith.” But,
sixteen years before its incorporation, the Board of Regents
had been established, and the seal of denominational char-
acter was given up. It is distinctly stated in the Government
History of the institution, ‘that the name Union was given
to the College upon its incorporation by the Regents in 1795,
“as expressing the intention of uniting all religious denomina-
tions in a common interest for a common good, by offering equal
advantages to all, with preferences to none. It was designed to
found an institution upon the broad basis of Christian Unity.”
In the year I 797, when the first Commencement at Union was
held, we find a committee of the Regents, together with the
Chancellor of the University, visiting the College; and the
following report was handed to them by a select committee of
the Trustees: —“It gives us pleasure to inform the Regents,
* * * and our duty to the institution and justice to its
officers require us to testify, that the utmost liberality and
Catholicity with regard to religious profession prevail in the
administration of the College. Though the Faculty is com-
posed of men of different religious denominations, two of whom
are ministers of the Gospel, and though they appear to be men
attached through principle to their respective persuasions, yet
*
32
there exists the most entire cordiality between them and in no
instance has there been even the slightest appearance of a dis-
position to proselyte to any party.”
SCHOLARSHIP AND DISCIPLINE.
As a Faculty we point with gratification to the prizes won by
our students both before and after graduation and to improved
internal condition and local and external reputation. Thorough
drill, close application have formed good mental and moral hab-
its, which, it is believed, can be shown to exist, to a large extent,
among our students. Such results proceed not alone from tasks
committed and conscientious recitations and routine. In an age
conspicuous for increasing numbers of inspiring and efficient teach-
ers, original work is pursued with zeal and success, although inves-
tigation and production are limited with us by our lack of applian-
ces. I am aware that it is claimed that our course should be more
flexible and especially in historical studies more ample, and
that its balance of parts should accord with prevailing collegiate
usage and popular demands. With endowments for important
subjects, such as history, ample place can be found in a curricu-
lum arranged on a basis neither partial nor exclusive. Progress
in any direction of desirable knowledge is limited only by the
permanent provision for it. The same principle applies to the
suggested sending of examiners to distant cities, who may admit
proper applicants and thereby lead young men to enter college.
To secure entrances and to accommodate candidates, the receiv-
ing of teachers' certificates in place of entrance examinations
prevails in highly respected institutions, and it is desirable that
the College should announce something definite on the subject.
An opinion is gaining ground that the less there is of disci-
pline the better; and that of what remains, much might be left
to the students with right of appeal to the Faculty; the supreme
power (in conformity with the charter) being the Corporation.
The expulsive force of right affections enkindled by knowledge
and religion, constraining influence rather than odious restraints,
33
*t
being principally relied upon, the civil magistrate can deal with
offences against the municipal law. The new Code delegates college
education and government largely to the Faculty. The Executive
may leave these matters in the hands of other members of the
Faculty or may join with them in Faculty action or may take the
responsibility of acting alone. Traditional or grave abuses may
require correction by methods severe or unpopular. It would
not be difficult to show connection between executive action and
the steady improvement of the College. We may claim great
freedom from such outbreaks as during this decade have occupied
much space in newspapers and in the anxious minds of parents
and the public. Most gratifying is “home testimony” as
to the improvement for which we have striven. Rev. J.
Lewis Parks of Christ Church, Schenectady, whose faithful
services to students afford him an intimate acquaintance with
them, says that he has never seen college men more orderly and
studious nor students so uniformly free from the grosser vices
and faults of their age and condition. The author of the “Mi-
kado's Empire,” Rev. Wm. E. Griffis, whose trained observation
has been unusually extensive at home and abroad, from his
pulpit in the First Reformed Church of Schenectady, in the cele-
bration of whose second centenary the College participated, has
recently expressed his friendly appreciation of this College, “as
founded by the enterprise and endowed by the money of this
church. At no time,” he continues, “previous to the present, has
there been a higher moral tone among the studénts, more regard
for temperance principles and in the class and study rooms more
thorough work in scholarship. The reason for this may be found
to some extent in the students themselves, but more especially is
the credit for such results due to the earnest and hard-working
Faculty, who aim at and succeed in keeping high the standard of
the College, rightly believing that in this matter industry is the
best security of sobriety, morality and religion. If comparisons be
made with other colleges, it would be safe upon the speaker's
observation to say that for good morals, studious application,
•)
J
34
ability of the instructors or safety in the social environment of
the students committed to her care, Union will stand Superior to
the average.”
Other pastors of the city have spoken no less approvingly;
and several of them have been connected with the Faculty of the
College; while Rev. Dr. Payne, so long resident here, and now
Visitor of the Nott Trust Fund, manifests cordial and encouraging
interest. Regard for the College has been shown by the ladies of
Schenectady in the successful fair undertaken by the students
recently, as well as by hospitality from year to year on the part
of citizens to the guests of the College; grateful acknowledg-
ments being especially due to those who so cordially extend to
our pupils the elevating influences of Christian homes.
STUDENT AID AND NUMBERS.
Increase in the number of students had been among the needs
remarked by Trustees, Alumni and citizens, and we must there-
fore recur to this topic at some length. The experience, ability
and culture of those solicitous for enlargement of our numbers
form convincing arguments that avoidable decrease in students
hinders endowments, hurts reputation and dwarfs educational
advancement. During the entire previous decade, the prosperity
of the country favored collegiate endowment, and the Corporation
and Alumni and agents appealed to friends of education for
aid ; still the financial tables show in that period a com-
paratively insignificant total of donations. How account for
this, except by the then decreasing numbers P. The smaller
the numbers in college and the fewer residents in its dormito-
ries, the less work for its officers; and the Board, although the
plan is now in abeyance, many years since made recommen-
dations and regulations granting to college officers increased
fees proportioned to an increase in the number of students.
With eighty-five students in 1872, to raise the standard with-
out total loss of students required grants of aid and free tui-
tion, since, as an experienced officer of the College had declared to
35
a committee of Trustees, “young men have found that the course
is too hard ; it begins to be known that there is no chance at Union
for men who are slack in their studies. In the end this will be
for the good of the College, but for the present it hurts it.”
Hence the need to offer large attractions to students; and
as they now often are left free to select their colleges and, when
possessing means, may prefer fewer restrictions, ampler electives,
etc., therefore, in proportion as the standard is elevated, electives
reduced, and discipline strict, is the need to offer aid to as many
as possible of the excellent class of men holding our scholarships
and to retain those who make good use of their advantages.
While the receipts from students have largely increased since
1872 and have never since declined to the small total of that
date, yet anxiety has been felt in view of the fact that they
have not invariably increased in proportion to the increase
in the number of students. The reduction in receipts has by
some been seen to result from the unprecedentedly large numbers
leaving College before graduation ; by others it is attributed to
the amount of the term-bill. The Catalogue of 1877 shows 69
withdrawn from all classes, and that of I879 gives 84 students
as withdrawn from the three upper classes alone—within one of
the total number of students reported in 1872 as in the College.
The term-bill was raised in 1872–3 and again later. Since 1872,
when we had a total of 85 students, on to 1877 when they num-
bered 169, receipts have increased from $5,072 to $9,741 ;
the latter sum being the largest received from students for ten
previous years. From 1877 to 1880, while numbers increased,
cash receipts from this source decreased. Since 1880, both
numbers and receipts have increased. The decrease in receipts
from 1877 to 1880 was evidently from decrease in paying stu-
dents; and the increase in numbers is seen to be an increase in
scholarship students, who receive a total of from seven to eight .
times as much now as they did in 1872, before the establishment
of the new scholarships and the extension of free tuition. The
increase in amount of fees this year, is due largely to the
36
new Levi Parsons Scholarships Foundation, which provides full
tuition for its beneficiaries.
Whatever conclusions may be deduced from the variations in
tuition fees, an experienced Professor claims that the loss of pay-
ing patronage is largely due to the indisposition of many students
to enter upon or continue in a course considered to be exacting
and to the disaffection of the friends of students who withdraw.
In 1877, a Trustee presented the view that “the College made dis-
tinguished men and many of them when the requirements were
much lower than at present, and what it now needs in order to
maintain its quota is only, numbers. While it is well to raise
the standard, it is not well to do it now at too great expense of
numbers. An increase in numbers now will help the College
more than any other increase.” From the first, other Trustees
wrote and spoke to the same effect; “the numbers in College
must be increased at whatever cost in free tuition.” The last
letter which I had the happiness to receive from a Trustee
recently deceased, one who was deeply interested in Alma
Mater and well versed in all affecting her welfare, concurred in
my wish to continue liberal grants of free tuition. He wrote of
an opposite policy, “the proposition will not stand discussion ;
but if it could be maintained, it would be most dangerous; it
would sinnply reduce the College again to a small, weak, dead
concern.”
In the Nott Trust there is an anticipated provision for aiding
more than I2O students. The delay in developing that income
seems an equitable ground for grants of free tuition to at least
that number of students, in addition to those aided by other
recognized Scholarships. It will also be found, I believe, that there
is an available balance of one of the principal funds in aid of
students. If the present free tuition is suddenly and largely
cut down or other Scholarship aid reduced, the loss of num-
bers may for a time be large, whatever the ultimate effect.
Competing Colleges and Universities all about us are multiply-
ing Scholarships and fellowships and other opportunities of free
37
education. One Eastern College is reported to be dispensing for
this purpose alone the sum of forty thousand dollars annually; while
one in Pennsylvania, in return for some disused land improving its
site, proposes to provide seventy additional free scholarships.
By increasing its numbers, it expects to increase its endowments,
because of the American tendency to endow liberally large in-
stitutions. The abolition of all tuition ſees seems not to prove
attractive. Many insist that those who are able should pay for
their education, especially if they are to value it or to retain
their self-respeet. The State and private benefactors make
provision for the deserving who are without sufficient means.
Should we not receive and retain as many satisfactory applicants
as can be cared for P The requirements of young and small
communities differ from those of teeming cities and populous
rural districts, where, as at present, all occupations and pro-
fessions are overcrowded. Under such conditions, habits of
application and the most thorough training are vitally im-
portant, if men are to face sharp competition successfully; and
for these, ample forces of instruction are necessary. Our friends
who wish to see many hundreds at Union College and thousands
in Union University have but to furnish the millions necessary
for appliances and forces.
From its situation and its history, Union seems designed to
be like a large Scotch University, for the sons of the people,
rather than like some small and exclusive College designed
only for the wealthy; its students come up from the thriv-
ing cities and multiplying manufacturing towns and intelli-
gent, powerful farming class of our State and nation. Thus will
Our Union be sustained, not so much by any social class or
religious denomination as by all classes and denominations
and especially by the education of the inhabitants of our own
State and of that noble portion of it of which Union is the central
College and the sole University.
38
CONCLUSION.
When a decennial review was suggested, it was remarked
that “during a period of great financial depression and of
varied and accumulating embarrassments, the institution, from
a condition of alarming decadence, has gained steadily in
scholarship, morale, equipment, buildings, resources, reputa-
tion and public confidence, until we may look forward to
securing the Support and patronage essential to the long contin-
uance of an honorable and useful career. While these changes
have been taking place, no changes have taken place in the
College Faculty, so far as full resident Professors are con-
cerned, except by promotion or by death. In the Catalogue
of 1872 will be found the name of every full resident Professor
recorded in the Catalogue of this year, but from the former list
we have lost four full resident Professors and more; and except
by promotions, no full resident Professors have been appointed
to the vacancies. Instruction has been re-inforced by increased
service on the part of those remaining, by the partial Services of
other gentlemen, most of them resident in the neighborhood, and
by the appointment of learned Professors to serve for a year.
But public opinion as to college progress calls for full and more
permanent appointments and for growth in teachers, students,
appliances and endowments.” -
Are there not, then, indications from statistics that material
improvements are among the essentials to college progress?
From 1862 to 1872, notwithstanding the character and reputa-
tion of the Faculty, wants indicated being then unsupplied, it is
seen that the number of students decreased from 235 in 1862
to 85 in 1872; while from 1872 to 1882, the gain has been from
85 to more than 200 and there are more than five hundred stu-
dents in this year's summary of Union University. The Civil War
had been followed by endowments and prosperity for many colleges
except our own ; so that the principle seemingly supported by the
statistics as to numbers and the improved condition and reputation
*
39
of the College is, that in this age and country, however excellent
the Faculty, other things are needed to secure the highest
efficiency and success. Believing that a kind Providence favors
those whose ends are high and large, I accepted at the outset, as
essential to the revival and permanent prosperity of the College,
arduous undertakings suggested by Trustees, Alumni, Profes-
Sors and my honored predecessors.
How strong the tide set the other way, was then evident.
Under the College roof, in 187 I, there was a dying Alumnus, a
citizen of Schenectady, who despaired of such a future for his
Alma Mater as might decide him to favor her in the disposal of his
property. This was intimated in the announcements of his
contributions to an Eastern College, which received finally the
bulk of his fortune. Some members of the Board abandoned
their purpose of aiding the College, notably Mr. Jas. Brown
and Mr. R. M. Blatchford, although later they contributed
largely. From Schenectady and its neighborhood, came dis-
couraging suggestions; from one, that the best use to make of
the College buildings was to “fill them with spindles;” another,
an Alumnus, said, “It is useless to help it as a college, but with
effort it can be made a first-class preparatory School;” another, a
Trustee representing others of the College and Alumni, com-
mented on the capital diverted from education and absorbed at
Hunter's Point; and an Alumnus, long intimately connected with
the institution, dissuading a friend from becoming an officer in
it, wrote (1871), “the University of Michigan, etc., drain a
large territory once a reservoir of Union; old colleges and new
universities offer splendid educational advantages without price;
Union is cut off from many bases of supply and among these
from the entire South ; I have thought that she was destined
Soon to expire in any hands and I have not wished you to be
simply ‘in at the death.’” These may seem trivial matters for a
college statement, but reflection will show that evidences of pro-
gress, and correct Statements and adequate information, are
essential to the best advancement and to endowment.
4O
President Aiken took a more hopeful but not less serious
view; and before his withdrawal he wrote, “I saw the magnitude
and difficulty of that which perhaps unwisely I was undertaking.”
Judging as a recent Alumnus, and later as a Professor in another
institution, I supposed that the urgent wants of Union College
were not material and financial. I found, however, on rejoining
those prominently interested in its welfare, a strong desire for
material improvements, and records burdened with projects for
them and with disputes about government, while there was a pre-
vailing demand for increased numbers, reputation, facilities and
endowments.
The movement necessary for securing endowments was in
many respects without precedent here, demanding not so much
the discovery of a lost art as the creation of a new world of work ;
requiring not simply matured and persistent plans, but involving
thousands of letters, of miles of travel, of expenditures and of
interviews, and personal Correspondence. Called often to a dis-
tance from all the departments of the University, the President
was, under the old System, Seemingly responsible for all details
within them. The fulfilment of such demands was impracticable.
The work of the University or the College is known to most
observers in only one or another of its many phases; its vastness
and complexities may be concealed even from those close at
hand and may easily be overlooked by Alumni and the public.
Divisions of duty Suggested by the provisions of the new
Code have (under advice) been beneficial to the College and the
University; and a like System is being adopted by many leading
educational institutions. By compliance with the necessities and
the requirements of the Corporation, much of what was desired has
been secured during this decade. My purpose in bringing about
the desired results has extended to every department of executive
duty and has cost a vast amount of labor and time; time which
I would have gladly spent amid home and College surround-
ings, in study and publication, in extended preparation for the
lecture and class-room, and which in Compelling my frequent
4. I
absence from the College has hindered not simply professional
and personal gains, but that familiar association which prevents
or removes misunderstandings, affords an intimate acquaintance
with many ingenuous youth and rising men and procures reputa-
tion, enlarged influence and life-long friendships.
FINANCIAL AGENTS.
For the future, while I realize the importance and the duty of
general executive oversight, and while the President of such an
institution may be able to perform services as to special
occasions and endowments which no one else may be in position
to do as effectively, yet I must again urge upon the atten-
tion of the Board the loss annually sustained in possible
gifts, bequests and other benefits, by not originating, hon-
oring and guiding to a greater extent associations, com-
mittees or clubs, and by not securing the exclusive services
of at least one efficient financial agent. Better pay him ten
thousand dollars a year (if his receipts equal, as they might, a
hundred thousand dollars annually) for Some years, than sustain
the loss of gifts and of bequests procurable under a good system
of application. Since 1871, hundreds of Alumni have departed
this life; how large and helpful the aggregate, had they made for
Alma Mater donations and bequests, however moderate, such as
they might have given had they realized her wants With suffi-
cient endowment, Union may be made for this and com-
ing ages, both a good and, as a Trustee lately remarked, “a
great College.” Presenting first the importance of dona-
tions untrammeled by conditions, the efficient financial agent
will need to be further guided by the views and wishes of do-
nors; seeking gifts and endowments to stimulate life and pros-
perity at the College, he will aim to secure able supporters for
it everywhere and thus to strengthen its influence and widen its
circle of friends. In doubt and difficulty, he will be enlightened
and guided by prayer, and in the humiliation and weariness of
the work, he will seek to reanimate his powers by remembering
42
the resulting benefit to him who gives and to the College which
receives; and the mmortality secured for means and influ-
ence devoted to the upbuilding of this honored and ancient
institution of Christian education, -
CITIZENS OF NEW YORK,
Surely it is reasonable to ask the citizens of New York to ex-
amine one of its oldest institutions, and if it is found sound
and useful, to give it the Support which it has long sadly
needed. The sagacious New Englander, the citizens of New
Jersey and others not of the Empire State, remembering ancient
rivalries, and themselves displaying an honorable local pride, may
well smile at the sons of New Amsterdam who, pouring their
millions abroad, relieve from taxes for higher education citizens
of adjacent States and leave established institutions of their own
to endure long and humiliating struggles for existence. Of late
years our own State has seen generous gifts dedicated to education
under conditions if not directly hostile, yet apparently indiffer-
ent, to any positive Christian faith. Shall Union College ask in
vain the help of Christian men to whom God has given wealth
and the still greater boon of a personal Christian faith? Should
the institution be kept in an exceptionally weak financial condi-
tion as compared with the excellence of its work and the good
influence of its Alumni P Our aspiration for the next decade of
Union College is, that as there are mingled with the gain of this
decade results of the influences and efforts of previous periods,
so we may be enabled to Sow good Seed for future harvests; and
that continued benefactions and excellent educational work may
prepare the institution to enter worthily in 1895 upon the second
century of its history.
UNION UNIVERSITY.
Having spoken at length of Union College, it but remains to
state briefly, as of interest to Benefactors, Trustees and Govern-
ors of Union University, that the number of Professors and
43
others connected with the work of instruction in the several
departments, as stated in the reports and catalogues, is as fol-
lows: Professors forty; others connected with instruction, twenty;
total, sixty. In addition to the distinguished gentlemen previ-
ously reported, the University, having enjoyed the Honorary Chan-
cellorships of Hon. John Welsh, LL.D., of Philadelphia, and of
Hon. Alexander H. Rice, LL. D., of Boston, is to be further
congratulated upon the acceptance of the same position for
this year (with the duty of delivering the Chancellor's Ad-
dress at the Commencement of 1882) by an honored Alumnus,
the Rt. Rev. Abram Newkirk Littlejohn, D. D., LL. D. With refer-
ence to the Chancellorship for 1883, Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs
writes from the Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, that he regards
himself as greatly honored by the invitation to fill it and to per-
form the pleasant duty of delivering the June Address. “If I
should then (1883) be, as I hope, rather more vigorous than
now, I should be most happy to accept your extremely kind
invitation; I have a subject rather vaguely in my mind which
would not, I think, be inappropriate.”
The number of students of Union University (1881-2) is
reported as follows:
Senior Class se gº sº sº sº tº sº * sº sº sº º - 54
Junior Class - tº º * wº &_e sº & sº sº sº tº & 54
Sophomore Class tº-e gº º sº º & sº & * º & - 70
Freshman Class - & ge tº gº tºº & sº sº sº * , sº 74
Medical Department - $º sº * gº * º sº sº sº sº - I 72
Law Department - wº * sº sº sº sº * º * tº º & 58
Department of Pharmacy - gº sº º sº sº & (I lady student) 21
Resident graduate, Union College - gº - - sº sº gº sº & I
Total - - - - - - - - - - - - - 504
The figures for Union College present the total number admitted to each class dur-
ing its course.
Associated with the conception and incorporation of Union
University were some of the truest and ablest friends of Albany
and of Union College. Even in its youth it justified many of the
fond anticipations of its wise and untiring projectors. In a doc-
44
ument of Union College, dated in July, I 854, we read, “Between
Albany and Schenectady, there was a contest in relation to the
location of Union College. Both urged their respective claims
before the Regents. It was finally, through the influence of Gen.
Schuyler, awarded to Schenectady. Among the reasons for this
award, was the actual running of a stage to and from the place.
This location of the College gave offense to Albany. A settled
opposition to the College was the consequence. Some traces of
the original feud long continued and have not even yet entirely
disappeared.” A movement at a later date having for its object
the removal of the College from Schenectady to Albany had just
vitality enough to injure the educational temper and enterprise
of both places. Otherwise how account for it, that Albany did
not establish there an academic department for its University,
and that since that time, until recently, Schenectady and the
Mohawk valley have not contributed largely to the endowment
of Union College? The scheme of Union University had among
its designs, the cultivation of the spirit of union and the secur-
ing of corresponding strength, through a charter drawn by Judge
Allen, Judge Harris and Chancellor Pruyn. An Honorary Chan-
cellor, in accordance with a usage well known abroad, is appointed
each year; he is expected, among other services, if practicable,
to deliver an address at the annual Commencement of Union Col-
lege. The oversight of the University and of its several institu-
tions pertains to the Permanent Chancellor of the University and
is an important part of his duty; and each institution has its resi-
dent Dean, who, in the absence of the head of the University, acts
in his place and also assists him in other delegated matters.
Union College acquired by its charter full university powers;
but the creation of post-graduate institutions at Schenectady had
not been found practicable. Schools of Law and Medicine and
also an Astronomical Observatory had long existed at Albany,
the distance between which city and Schenectady, estimated in
time, is less than that which in many cases separates the pro-
fessional schools from the other departments of an university.
45
The arrangement naturally suggested by these circumstances
was, that the professional schools and the Observatory at
Albany should be united with Union College. In order, how-
ever, to secure certain practical benefits, it was thought best
to procure the passage of an act of the Legislature, containing
among other provisions the following, stated in section Fourth :
“The several Institutions uniting and together constituting the
Said Union University shall retain and continue their respective
rights, powers and corporate existence. The funds and pro-
perty of each of the said Institutions, and the funds and prop-
erty held in trust for them or for their benefit, shall remain
and continue the funds and property of the said Institutions
respectively, and the trusts be administered for their several and
respective benefit, as if this act had not been passed or the said
Institutions had not united and become members and con-
Stituents of the said University.” The passage of the act was
followed by the approval of the compact by the Board of Re-
gents. The union of the several institutions was thus con-
Summated by the incorporation (1873) of Union University.
The general management of the University is committed to a
Board of Governors, consisting of permanent Trustees of Union
College and representatives from each of the post-graduate
departments. The legislative act referred to amended the
charter of the University of Albany (with which the post-
graduate departments were previously connected) and changed
the name to Union University. It reaches its first decennial
a year hence, and that may be an appropriate occasion for Con-
tinuing and amplifying this review and for completing up to that
time the rehearsal of its annals. I will only add here, therefore,
that the past year has seen the further development of the Uni-
versity movement in the establishment of the Albany College of
Pharmacy as a department of Union University. In the course
of his address delivered at the first Commencement of this new
department, Prof. David Murray, LL. D., Secretary of the Board
of Regents of the University of the State, spoke as follows:
46
“The changes and transformations through which pharmacy.
has passed in reaching its present rational state are marvelous.
The great merit of modern pharmaceutical science is, that it is
rational; that when drugs are to be manufactured or medicines
compounded, the ingredients are fixed with some approximation
to scientific precision. To reach this stage of perfection has re-
quired centuries of progress. It is no light matter to be a phar-
macist, and the notion that the compounding of medicines may
be left to ignorant and untrained men is most dangerous and
impolitic. We want educated pharmacists. It is impossible
that the duties involved in this business can be performed by
ignorant and unskilled persons. It is dangerous to life and health
to put such materials into such hands. For this reason I hailed.
with satisfaction the establishment of this College of Pharmacy.”
An interesting statement as to the foundation and progress of
the new College was made on the occasion by Mr. Joseph Russell,
President of its Board of Trustees, and as Chancellor I conferred
the degrees. -
My duties have been increased not simply by routine attend-
ance upon the meetings of the various University Boards, com-
mittees, etc., but also by exacting and laborious undertakings for
the advancement of the University under the system adopted
by the related Institutions. All of them have attained in-
creased efficiency, property and reputation ; since the Uni-
versity union, some of them have been entirely and success-
fully re-organized. In the appendix will be found appre-
ciative recognition of executive services rendered from Union
College to the post-graduate departments at Albany, and other
items of interest. The annual reports are contained in the vol-
ume printed and circulated yearly by the Regents appointed by
the State Legislature. Important services from Union College
have been rendered to the Albany Hospital at a critical period in
its history; and to the same influence is due the establishment at
Albany of a distributing centre of the United States Signal Service.
It has been my privilege to record my acknowledgments to
47
gentlemen connected with the government and instruction of the
several institutions and departments and also to pay tribute to
distinguished and devoted men “departed hence " from the
Boards, the Faculty and the Alumni of Union University.
Respectfully presented,
g ELIPHALET NOTT POTTER,
To Governors, Trustees, Benefactors and others interested in
Union College and in the several Departments of Union
University, May 31st, 1882,

DEPARTED THIS LIFE.
SINCE THE LAST COMMENCEMENT.
Trustees of Union College.
WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL, LL. I.).
Rev. EBENEzER HALLEY, D. D.
WILLIAM TRACY, L.L. D.
CLARKSON NOTT POTTER, IL.L. D.
Alumni Trustee, 1876.
THOMAS ALLEN, LL. D.
SINCE JUNE, 1871.
Trustees of the College.
EDWARD C. DELAVAN, Esq., Rev. JAcoB VAN VECHTEN,
JAMES BROWN, Esq., IRA HARRIs, LL. D.,
R. M. BLATCHFORD, LL. D., WILLIAM F. ALLEN, LL.D.,
THOMAS W. OLCOTT, Esq., DAVID H. LITTLE, Esq.
Professors and Appointed Lecturers.
TAYLOR LEWIS, LL. D.
ISAAC W. JACKSON, LL. D.
Rev. John NoTT, D. D.
Joe L. B. NOTT, A. M.
A. M. VEDDER, M. D.
BENJAMIN STANTON, A. M.
NATHAN HALE, A. M.
Rev. EDWARD A. WASHIBURN, D. D.
Rev. JoHN Cotton SMITH, D. D.
EOUR TO FIVE HUND RED OF UNION ALUMNI.
Under-graduate, HENRY L. MILLER.
T H E L I B R A R Y.
T H E L I B R A R Y .
Previous to the possession of Library funds or gifts considera-
ble in amount, the College was forced to take from other funds
for the maintenance of the Library. It would be well if the
latter were enabled by endowment to make return to the gene-
ral funds of the College. If this return be not practicable, an
equitable course will be (on the completion of the Thomas
Henry Powers Memorial Building and Washburn Library Hall)
to place the name of a donor on a Library alcove, case or tablet,
thus honorably perpetuating the record of a benefaction directed
to general current purposes or for the Library. It will be seen
by the financial reports that where the discretion rested with me
I have approved this method in several instances. It is recognized
by excellent institutions needing income for current purposes
and is applicable not only to the Library but to other collections
and departments. The new Library endowments and gifts enable
us to report for the Library a much larger income than the grants
from former College funds previously yielded to it.
Before the gift to the Coe Memorial fund ($10,000) by Mr.
James Brown in 1873, the history of the College Library was one
of hope deferred. Small as the collection was, much of it was
unbound or inaccessible. Patrons were few, although a former
Vice-president had secured some important acquisitions from
friends in Boston. The liberal provisions of the Nott Trust have
never been made available, Nevertheless the Library was always
54
an object of solicitude, as indicated by the reported decree (in
18OO), “that all donations to the Library of one hundred and
fifty dollars and upwards shall be placed by themselves and the
names of the donors written over them in large golden letters.”
It is said that a bequest once gave to the Library, lands near the
John Brown tract, which, however, were never obtained nor located.
Since the Coe Memorial foundation was secured, Mr. Robert A.
Packer and Mr. H. E. Packer, sons of the late Hon. Asa Packer,
have instituted at Union College a memorial of their father,
($IO,OOO); and until they decide the form of investment, they pay
semi-annually the interest at 6 per cent for “the binding and
purchase of books.” Helpful gifts smaller in amount, and valua-
ble volumes have also been received. For the acquisition of the
Paterson Library we are indebted principally to the income of
the Blatchford Memorial, available for various objects in the
President's discretion, and to that of the Coe Memorial, which is a
permanent Library foundation. This collection, made by Mr. John
Paterson of Albany, comprising curious and rare books, chiefly
on mathematical, physical and metaphysical subjects, was at first
secured by affording the owner room and care for his books.
The College, having the first right of purchase, has been enabled
to secure this valuable addition. In 1876, the Library was re-
ported as containing I 2,OOO titles; the present number re-
ported is 23,OOO and there has been more than a proportionate
improvement in the character and accessibility of the books.
Great gaps in topics of importance remain to be filled.
For years thousands of valuable volumes awaited binding.
The bindery which we have been enabled to open is placing
upon the shelves of the Library in Alumni and Memorial Hall
a constantly increasing number of useful works. A college cot-
tage affords a place for the bindery, where an excellent quality
of work, at economical rates, can be secured under the eye and
direction of librarians. A large number of students needing aid
have been employed in arranging and cataloguing.
The President's report (1872–3) referred to the, appointment
55
of Curators for the re-organization and charge of this department
and stated that it gave promise of soon becoming a first-class
working library, tending to the culture of the student and others.
The need had long been felt of more suitable accommodations
for the Library and of librarians, who should preserve the books
from ill usage or loss, give greater facilities for consulting them
and stimulate the students to wider and more Systematic read-
ing. Our resources are still insufficient for these purposes.
Under the head of Endowments in the annual reports will be
found the acknowledgments of respectable sums received as the
nucleus of what is needed. Contributions consisting of a small
number of books and pamphlets had been acknowledged annu-
ally for years past. More recently considerable and permanent
additions to the Library have been made.
As stated some time since to Curators, many Self-made men
have risen to great usefulness and eminence from among the
graduates of Union. It is probably destined from its situation
and character always to have a large proportion of able students
with but small pecuniary means, as well as of gentlemen Con-
nected with the work of instruction, many of them young, enthu-
siastic teachers and investigators, yet insufficiently paid. Unable
to affold the purchase of the books they need, the College and
its work will become doubly attractive to them, if we can in our
Library make real the saying attributed to Plato, “that he who
hath a library in his abiding-place hath a home with a Soul.” A
useful custom at some universities is for each Professor to visit
the library with his pupils, imparting his own and increasing their
knowledge of the literature of the subject entrusted to his
teaching. By means of associate or assistant librarians and
attendants, there would be great advantage in keeping open the
new Library Hall or at least (as the Curators of the Library have
directed) its Reading or Reference Room and Study, for the greater
part of every day and evening. There will thus be further de-
veloped that which Professor Lamoroux has usefully carried
forward in connection with his regular engagement— namely, a
56
system of suggestions for reading and acquiring command of
the various sources of information. In connection with the
Library, means should be provided for the prosecution of
Original work and the publication of occasional papers of
importance. Students learning early that nothing good and
great can be done without research and subjection to criticism,
will acquire habits of patience and perseverance. Professor Taylor
Lewis said, years ago, “Union College has more distinguished
itself than any college in this country by its productions, as evinc-
ing more thought, more original work, than any other. I
think it honored by works which are justly matters of pride for
the College.” The President's first report (1871–2) refers to
the Library and its purposed development, as follows: “All
things considered, the condition of this department is lament-
able. The provision as to library-room, etc., is neither safe
nor permanent. Were there a secure place for their keeping, we
could readily obtain a noble collection of books, open both to,
the students of the College, to residents of the city and neigh-
borhood and under certain restrictions to the public at large.
Here surely should be the centre of educational influence and of
literary culture. We have an admirable site for a structure, con-
spicuous and accessible; a building susceptible of additions
when necessary, by wings or transept. As a perennial Source of
blessing it should bear the name and perpetuate the memory
(like other memorials) of honored benefactors.” Last year I
abandoned a tour in Europe, when the opportunity appeared for
Securing the long-desired building. My regret at the sac-
rifice is lost in thankfulness for the benefaction needed by the
College since the day of its foundation in 1795. This benefac-
tion, which is next referred to at length, is entitled the Wash-
burn Memorial Library Hall. -
THE
WAS H B U R N M E M () RIA L
LIBRARY H A LL.
THE
W A S H B U R N M E M O RIA L
LIBRARY HALL.
The Washburn Memorial Library Hall will be completed, it is
expected, before the next annual report, funds more than cover-
ing the contract having been provided. The Hall in its dimen-
Sions, cost, etc., conforms to suggestions made long since, and
is an eastward extension of the central portion of the originally
proposed “connecting colonnades.” It has been made fire-proof.
For the conspicuous position over the large fire-place at the eastend
of the Library Hall, Mr. Daniel Huntington, one of the most cele-
brated of living portrait-painters, is engaged upon a work which he
presents as his contribution to the memorial of his former pastor—
a portrait of Dr. Washburn. Among generous contributors,
are Messrs. Wm. Kissam Vanderbilt, Wm. W. Wright, Samuel D.
Babcock, Percy R. Pyne, George Bell, Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts,
Mrs. Wyman and others. Among interesting gifts from others is
one (a proposed window) from Dr. and Mrs. Fordyce Barker,
also parishioners of Calvary Church, New York, of which Dr.
Washburn was the much-loved pastor. We hope, in arranging
for the opening of the building, to secure here a meeting of rep-
resentatives from the Clerical Club of New York and Boston and
a number of eminent and devoted parishioners and friends of Dr.
Washburn, representing various Christian denominations. The
6O
work of the building committee has been important and pains-
taking, especially on the part of the chairman.
As Dr. John Cotton Smith was prevented from fulfilling, up
to the time of his death, his intention of lecturing here in re-
sponse to the invitation which he cordially accepted, so Dr.
Washburn, after accepting the appointment of Lecturer in Union
University, was able to come to us for but one course of lectures.
These will be long remembered. It was his cherished anticipa-
tion, and it returned to his mind as a bright dream in his last
illness, that as he sympathized with the principles of Christian
unity and the educational work which Union College represents, he
should, retiring from his pulpit, ultimately devote to the service
of this Institution his scholastic labors. Wishing to record here
some one of the many tributes to his memory, I have selected the
following, from the pen of the Rev. Dr. Richard S. Storrs of the
Church of the Pilgrims:
“The love and honor felt for the Rev. Dr. Edward A. Wash-
burn by the officers and members of his own congregation have
found a prompt and touching expression in the minute adopted
by those officers and subsequently published. The love and
honor felt for him by his associates in the ministry, in his own
communion, will no doubt find sufficient expression in the paper
to be prepared by the representative committee appointed by
Bishop Potter at the meeting of the clergy after his funeral.
Will you give room in your columns [N. Y. Evening Post] to a
few words concerning him from one not connected with him in
ecclesiastical relations, but whose knowledge of him began early,
whose literary and Christian Sympathy with him knew no inter-
ruption, and whose affectionate regard for him, ripening with
years, was fullest at his death?
“To a singular degree he had carried on his early traits into
his maturer years and had become in manhood what he had
promised to be in his eager, aspiring and attractive youth. The
confident and chivalric spirit which marked him then has ever
since been eminent in him. He retained to the end the same
ever-fresh delight in good letters, the same tendency to lofty and
6I
ideal speculation, the same sovereign scorn for whatever appear :
ed to him untrue and base, the same hearty enthusiasm for per-
sons or for opinions attracting his confidence, the same loyalty
to friendship, the same decisiveness of conviction, with the same
romantic and picturesque tone of character and mind. He was
in the city what he had been in the seminary. The experience
of life, with its burdens and its successes, the labors of the pas-
tor, teacher, editor, familiarity with society in many circles, larger
familiarity with books and arts, extensive travel, collisions of
judgment with those from whom he profoundly differed, alliances
in effort with those in whose thought he found agreement, the
intervals of recreation, the exacting cares of public service—all
left in him the temper of generous sincerity, of inspiriting cour-
age and of high expectation, which had at the outset impressed
his comrades. His very gesture and manner remained the same;
the tone of his voice, the expression of his face.
“He died in the fullness of manly vigor, before any protracted
physical or mental infirmity had compelled that continuing de-
pendence upon others from which he would have sensitively
shrunk. But if he had lived to eighty years, his early spirit must
have survived in him. It is impossible to think of him as essen-
tially changed in any important personal trait.
“A personalty So positive and self-revealing as his was not
of course equally attractive to all. To those not in sympathy
with him, who felt his force as one to be resisted, he may easily
have seemed too ready to challenge the views of others, perhaps
in a too peremptory tone. But those who differed most widely
from him must have recognised always his intrepid and vital
manliness, with his many accomplishments; while those whose
minds were akin to his, and who thoroughly knew him, would
have trusted him utterly, under any conditions, and have been as
sure of his interior truth and honor, of his steadfast adherence to
what he believed, of his frank fearlessness before any resistance,
as of any law or force in nature.
“His affection for the church of his adoption was abundant
62
and beautiful, because it rested on his assurance that in that
church the most catholic sympathies were properly at home and
the freest research was incited and protected, while in its relation
to art, learning, the culture of devoutness and reverence in char-
acter and the accomplishment of a diversified Christian work, it
seemed to him to offer the fairest attainable field. The enthu-
siasm with which he had entered it at the outset was not, I think,
wholly sustained in his early experience. It seems one of the
Strangest reminiscences, almost carrying one back to the day of
the troglodytes, to remember that he was distrusted and dreaded
by his first Bishop, as ‘a Puseyite ' in disguise ! He might as
well have been suspected of being a Mussulman. By nature,
training, early association, intimate Sympathies, he was an almost
typical Broad Churchman: a reverent believer in the Divine
Lord, an affectionate and loyal minister in his own church, but
with a mind of large hospitality for the thoughts of all thinkers,
and a spirit that rejoiced with Sympathetic delight in goodness,
grace and Christian fidelity, wheresoever he found them.
“Others can testify better than I how far he contributed to
make his own spirit common to others and with them to impress
it on the recent development of the honored communion which
had won his young love. I only know that he constantly felt
that his early ideal was daily nearer to being realized in the free-
dom of its teaching, in the broadening aims and temper of its
clergy, in the happy fellowships established among them, in the
more alert sympathies rising within the circles which he influ-
enced toward Christian scholars of whatever name; and that
it was in connection with this that he found at last his full enjoy-
ment in the tender, majestic and rhythmic forms of the worship
of his church, in the ancientness of its creeds, in what he recog-
nized as the beauty and strength of its organization. His death
seems to involve a large loss to many within and to many with-
out his own communion,
“It was characteristic of him that he no more expected to die
at sixty years than he might have done at twenty. Almost to
63
the last his superb vitality of spirit and will seemed to promise to
carry him through the stress of disease and to bring him out to
ampler health. He had so many things, too, still to accomplish,
that he could not feel that earthly opportunity had now reached
its end. But when the sense of imminent death came fully upon
him, it brought no shock or shadow with it. The ‘Christus
Consolator' was nearer to his heart than was the picture to his
eye, and he fell asleep while words of prayer were ascending
beside him and while the loving and blessing hands which
clasped his own were scarcely conscious that their strong pulses
had been stilled.
“It is not possible to think of him as anywhere in God's uni-
verse inactive, timid, or not intent on noble ends, by worthy
means. His vision of the truth is now, no doubt, wider and
clearer. His adoration of the Lord is now perfected. But the
same essential parts and traits which were in him in youth, which
were in him in manhood, now purified and crowned, must im-
mortally be his. And it adds an attraction to the near though
unseen realms of life that there his manly and animating spirit
has found its home; that there the friendship which never had
ceased or been clouded on earth shall find immortal consumma-
tion.”
The corner stone of the Thomas Henry Powers Memorial
Hall and Washburn Library Hall was laid by direction of the
Board of Trustees on Alumni day, last June, and the
foundations were completed before the close of autumn;
and with the return of spring, work has been resumed. The
deposits with Messrs. Brown Brothers & Co., under the under-
standing with donors of the Washburn Memorial Library Hall,
will, I trust, before the account is closed, be considerably in-
creased, since the architect desires the addition of a gallery,
improving the appearance and doubling the capacity for books,
and also such furnishing and decoration of the interior by Mr.
La Farge, as shall make this memorial unsurpassed in beauty
64
as well as in utility. A friend from Philadelphia, Mrs. Thomas
Henry Powers, providentially present when the proposed Wash-
burn Memorial Hall was the subject of statement in Calvary
Church, generously proposed the arrangement by which its
erection became immediately practicable, as the central por-
tion of the new memorial building next to be described.
THE
T H () MAS H E N R Y P0 W E RS
M. E. M. O. F. I. A. L E U L L D IN Gr.
5
THE
T H O M A S H E N R Y PO W E R S
MEMORIAL BUILDING.
Mr. Thomas H. Powers presented to the President early in
the decade, for use at the Institution, the sum of three thousand
dollars. My desire had been to secure an ample fund for a
professorship or lectureship of Ethics and Evidences. Mr.
Powers assented to the idea so far as to suggest that his con-
tribution might be the nucleus of a fund of thirty, thousand
dollars ($30,000) from various contributors. “In view of Union
College being conducted on Union principles,” the purpose was
to found, as Mr. Powers wrote, “an annual or biennial course of
lectures on the Evidences of Christianity; not more than one in
any two courses of lectures to be delivered by members of the
same denomination, and both minister and layman to be eligible
as lecturers.” Other contributors were not found; the project
seemed destined to fail, when Mr. Powers generously proposed
to provide for the whole amount and possibly to make the *
College the object of much larger benefactions. A sudden and
fatal illness prevented even a record of his intentions. Later, Mrs.
Powers in a letter to the Registrar acknowledging the application
of the Corporation for aid, answered that she must, by reason of
Other engagements, “decline doing anything for Union College.”
Having been requested by the President to re-open the subject, she
68
kindly consented to examine it further and decided that in view of
its principles of Christian unity, Union College was an appropriate
place for the Memorial building commemorative of her husband
and of his namesake, her only son. The gifts of Mrs. Powers amount
to forty-five thousand dollars; and including promised aid for
beautifying the building and adjoining grounds and Open Colon-
made, as well as for the connected literary work, etc., the memorial
donation, it is understood, will exceed fifty thousand dollars. Dur-
ing the delay between the first estimate in the winter of 1881 and
the acceptance of the contract, several months had elapsed; prices
had risen and the bid sent in, last Commencement, was conse-
quently higher than the first figures. It was necessary to
provide several thousand dollars additional, and a conditional
order was given for the amount. Mrs. Powers generously in-
creased her gift by an additional payment of five thousand dol-
lars ($5,000), so that from her previous gifts there might remain
intact a maintenance fund for the building, of at least ten thou-
sand dollars. The example of a maintenance fund provided with
a new building is worthy of imitation. The gift of a memorial
building may become burdensome if unaccompanied with an in-
vested fund for its perpetual maintenance. The donor cordially con-
sented, as stated above, to its connection with the Washburn Mc-
morial Library Hall. The sum of ten thousand dollars, guaran-
teed at the last Commencement by Mr. Joseph W. Fuller, has
been paid, and a sum is in the Treasurer's hands and on deposit
with Messrs. Brown Brothers and Co., more than sufficient to
cover the contract.
The Powers Memorial building will furnish additional recita-
tion rooms, etc., available for present use. Ultimately, when
other buildings are erected, it can be made an appropriate cen-
tre for the records and official business of the Trustees, Presi-
dent, Treasurer, Dean, Bursar and other officers of the institu-
tion.
In his report of 1872, Prof. Staley says: “The need of more
commodious and suitable rooms for the accommodation and
69
preservation of the instruments, models, etc., belonging to the
department is very urgent. The rooms now used are not large
enough and are otherwise unfitted for the proper care of the
apparatus, drawings and books contained in them. A recitation
room, with more black-board surface, and a suitable drawing-
room, are also very much needed.” This want may be met
(until a separate building is erected) in the north part of the
Powers Memorial Hall. The Curators have use for the southern
portion of the building adjoining the Library Hall as an office,
reading-room, etc., to be open constantly. The building, omit-
ting the added length of the Library Hall, has a façade of
between 250 and 3OO feet. Utility, permanence and effect-
ive appearance are so combined in this design, that the con-
tractor was required to make it evident that the work could be
well done for the price named (the entire amount being placed
at the command of the chairman), before the contract was
signed. *
At the laying of the corner stone of the Powers Memorial
building, reference was made to the life-long and liberal interest
which Mr. Thomas H. Powers had shown in the free circulation of
books and the extension of knowledge, human and divine; while
his only son, who bore his name, delighted not only in such cul-
ture as that of which the building is designed to be for centuries
the centre, but also in natural scenery of hill and plain and Sun-
Sct, such as surrounds this noble memorial.
THE
ALUMNI AND MEMORIAL HALL;
PARKS, BUILDINGS, ETC.
THE ALUMNI AND MEMORIAL HALL.
In the year 1812 a central building, with adjoining buildings,
was projected, and the design is still to be seen in the archives.
In pictures and engravings during many succeeding years, the
large, lofty and domed structure presented the central architec-
tural attraction. In 1858, nearly half a century after the adop-
tion of the plan, materials for construction having long lain upon
the ground, the foundation was built from the subscriptions of
the Alumni, but nothing further was added for many years. It
were difficult, were this the first record, to trace with accuracy or
without overmastering emotion the history of this enterprise,
associated with so many of our Trustees whose interest in it was
life-long but whose life on carth has terminated. Previous rec-
ords and statements give successive steps as follows: “Upon
July 23d, 1867, the Trustees, on motion of Judge Harris, au-
thorized the finance committee to continue and complete the
work.” On the following day a resolution was offered by Judge
Campbell to appropriate twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)
towards building the Alumni Hall, as planned by Dr. Nott, pro-
vided the Alumni would devote to it a like sum. The resolution
was adopted after being so amended, on motion of Rev. Dr.
Backus, as to bind the College to complete the building “sub-
stantially according to the plans,” if graduates contributed twenty-
five thousand dollars. On June 29th, 1870, at a mecting of the
Trustees “with relation to advancing funds for the completion of
74
the central building,” Hon. Clarkson N. Potter was appointed
chairman of the committee with power to “devise the means
which may be necessary to be advanced and to direct the ex-
penditure,” and was instructed to confer with the Alumni com-
mittee appointed in relation to this building, of which Mr. How-
ard Potter was a member. A year after this, on my election to
the presidency, I learned also that Trustees, Alumni and my pre-
decessors in office and others had made earnest appeals for the
completion of the plan of buildings, and that the appropriation
made by the College and the Alumni for the Alumni Hall was
awaiting action. I therefore requested Mr. Clarkson N. Potter,
chairman of this committee of the Board in the autumn of I 87 I, to
sign the contract at forty thousand ($40,000) for putting the
building under roof. To this he consented with the understand-
ing that he was simply to advance funds, the twenty-five thou-
sand dollars previously appropriated by the College being already
assured, while from others as much as practicable was to be col-
lected. His large gift was an after-thought.
In the President's report, printed in 1872, it is stated that
work “is in progress on the great central building, under the
direction of the architect appointed some years since, conform-
ing in general to the original plan. Two graduates of the
College unite (upon the fulfillment of certain simple conditions)
in furnishing the amount, forty thousand dollars ($4O,OOO), re-
quired to. put the building under roof.” This statement also
referred to the fact that the contract obtained by the President
omitted the dome for various reasons and divided up much
of the interior for immediate use. As the structure approached
the roof line, the architect refused responsibility for this change
of plan, and would not proceed with the Alumni Hall unless the
dome should be erected (as long promised to subscribers and
the public); and he further urged that the building should be
in one great rotunda with galleries, and be made fire-proof.
The Corporation later, upon motion of Judge Ira Harris, re-
solved that “the said Memorial building be completed with all
75
reasonable expedition and dispatch,” and increased its proposed
outlay in view of proposed increase in individual donations. The
plans secured fire-proof finish for the building and included the
dome contemplated since 1812; the Treasurer's annual report
showed a large favorable surplus; this included lands, larger sales
of which at remunerative prices had been made, and some lots,
were devoted to the contract; while surplus lands were to have
been disposed of and applied to the building fund. The com-
ing of the “hard times” disappointed this anticipation. Mr.
Steimers, the engineer in charge of the work, died suddenly;
the erection of the marble clear-story (or drum) and of the
spire (or lantern) according to the architect's plan had to be
Suspended ; all work was stopped and a settlement was reached
with Messrs. J. B. & J. M. Cornell, the contractors, by which
they received part land, part cash, and gave to the College for
free scholarships ten thousand dollars of their total claim.
They had finished the dome as well as the iron work of the
building, but the completion of the interior was indefinitely post-
poned. At a later period a lady, a near relative of the two Alumni
who chiefly contributed toward its erection, having visited the
building, decided under the circumstances, without solicitation, to
give the sum of ten thousand dollars, afterwards increased to fifteen
thousand; selecting and presenting the tile floor from the Jack-
field tile-works in England, and later adding the Art galleries,
fire-proof stairs and the cases for books. A few others aiding,
means were supplied for windows and for introducing water,
gas, etc. By this gift of fifteen thousand dollars, the Hall was
prepared for immediate use; the same amount provided for the
finish of the intérior, including the marble walls of the first story,
which, though purchased at a moderate cost, are among the
most admired features of the building. Architects of experience
and others in no way interested remark that it is more beauti-
ful and useful than similar buildings of American Colleges,
and when finally arranged, will furnish larger accommoda-
tions for Commencement purposes, etc. For winter use
76
temporary compartments by curtains or partitions. would make
the main floor or galleries comfortable and convenient. It can be
utilized also for Baccalaureate and other gatherings of the public
and the Alumni and for a Glyptotheca. By its temporary use
it has aided the Library in development and endowment, while
its galleries are receiving contributions of art objects, and its
rotunda with busts and tablets forms a noble Memorial Hall.
The attention of the Corporation is earnestly called to the
need of providing for the proper care of the building. A grad-
uate, returned from abroad, suggests the remark that as the
decade has witnessed the completion of the Cologne Cathedral
and the erection of a simpler but to many a not less interesting
work, the tower of the Church of John Calvin at Geneva, both
begun many centuries ago, so, encouraged by our actual pro-
gress, we may hope that this project of the early years of
Collegiate history, so long desired and now so greatly advanced,
will, before many generations pass, become its crowning work.
For other buildings erected or projected, no college has a
system at once so inexpensive, so useful and SO Symmetrical.
Buildings will probably be provided as they are needed; so that
the complement proposed by the Professor of Architecture may
be practically far advanced when, in 1895, the College enters
upon its second Century.
RESIDENCES.
The annual report of 1872 refers to the fact that the opening
benefaction of the decade had given impetus to the progress
and donations which have followed, and that the “first expendi-
ture at the College of a gift since that of the late Mr. E. C. Dela-
van, and of equal amount, is here recorded. It has been expend-
ed as directed, in adding one to the number of residences for mem-
bers of the Faculty. It is proposed that each donation bear the
name of the donor, and thus with this residence now completed and
occupied.” One of the needs stated by my honored predecessor
was, that Professors resident in the city should be provided with
77
quarters at the College. The large northwest corner residence of
the South College assigned to the President was therefore relin-
quished by him to be occupied by Prof. Whitehorne until his re-
moval to the southwest corner house of the South College, when
the northwest corner house was divided into two residences and
occupied by Prof. Staley and Prof. Webster, who also formerly
resided in rented houses down town. An important acces-
sion was thus made to the Faculty resident in the College build-
ings. When the subject was presented to Mr. Joseph W. Fuller,
he at once contributed ten thousand dollars toward the Fuller
Residence, which was ready for occupation by the Commence-
ment of 1872. This is the first College residence built
since the erection in a previous decade of the “President's
House,” begun for the College by President Nott. After its
completion and his decease, it was very properly left to the occu-
pation of his widow, who had waived pecuniary rights for the
benefit of the Institution and was entitled to a residence during
life. The Fuller residence has been improved and maintained
principally by the kind provision of friends and by some appro-
'priations of the Corporation. It forms a valuable addition to
permanent College property.
The Jackson Residence was added at the opening of the decade.
This beautiful cottage was given as a residence for Prof. and Mrs.
Jackson in the garden to which they had been devoted ; it is
occupied under lease by Hon. and Mrs. S. T. Benedict during
life. Erected and improved at a cost to date of about ten thou-
sand dollars, as estimated by a Curator of the buildings (Hon.
S. T. Benedict), it was presented by him to the College.
Permission was given and work begun for the erection, under
lease to a former Military Professor, of a residence which was
to have been the first of a row of Professors' residences on the
south side of our sunny south avenue. His detail by the U. S.
Government to another post deferred the execution of the plans
or professorial residences there.
7
8
THE GYMNASIUM, ETC.
In the résumé of College wants, as given by Professor Jackson,
the third in order of mention is a Gymnasium ; and in a list of
college needs Sct forth by students it also ranked high, with the
suggestion that it would include “bath-rooms and other conven-
3 y
* º
iences The students themselves aided in the enterprise; and
we have as the result one of the largest College Gymnasium
Halls in the country — a bowling alley, bathing facilities, an
armory, etc.— under the charge of an instructor, whose stipend
has been specially provided. A boat-house was erected during
a time of enthusiasm for boating and has been under the
charge of the gymnast. Previous to the completion of the Gym-
nasium, the removal of the College barns, workshop and Cot-
tages for employes to a less conspicuous position in the College
parks, necessitated remodeling and some rebuilding. In
1872, Prof. Foster writes: “There is greatly needed a supply
of water and gas from the city works.” These have since been
introduced; and a small building in the rear of the Laboratory
furnishes an unfailing Supply of gas during the day for the
department of Analytical Chemistry; as to which Prof. Perkins
wrote in his report for 1872 : “The principal needs of the Lab-
oratory are water and gas. The Supply. Of water is often insuffi-
cient and must be all pumped up by hand by means of a small
force pump. This takes up the time of the Laboratory servant
which could be used to much better advantage. Gas is almost
indispensable; its absence Stamps the Laboratory as far behind
the times.”
The Gymnasium building, with its armory, supplies a local
habitation for the department of Military Instruction and Physical
Culture. It was but natural that in Prof. Jackson's résumé of
wants, provision for physical culture should find a conspicuous
place. At the semi-centennial celebration of his professorship,
his early efforts to this end were gratefully recognized, especi-
ally his drilling of the students, which he began as early
ſº
79
as I 828. He was interested in the revival of these exercises
and in the establishment of this department. The efficient officer
of the United States army who is in charge of the department
has suggested, planned and executed an extensive system of
College drainage.
THE DORMITORIES.
The Corporation circular of 1863 proposes the opening of “a
doorway between the front and rear rooms, with the design of
appropriating the front rooms for study and the rear rooms for
sleeping. This would so diminish the number of students
that could then be accommodated in these buildings, that two
new colleges would be a necessity.” The plan was followed in
some instances, but opinions differ as to its desirability. In
fact, many college officers do not favor students’ dormitories or
commons. I think, however, that a college should have excellent
dormitories and secure for its students healthful and palatable
food at reasonable prices. Against dormitories, it is urged that
many good citizens are willing to take a student or two into their
homes, at least to room ; and that this course, rather than living
in sections, fosters order, neatness and study. The section rooms
would then become available for students of small means. On
the other hand, a prominent physician of Troy, from his ex-
perience there and elsewhere regards the dormitory system as
vitally important to colleges, as ensuring the best intellectual and
moral welfare of pupils and in after life a stronger attachment to
the college and a greater knowledge of men than that obtained
merely in the class-room. But whatever the theory, our dormi-
tories, as I have frequently urged, should not be allowed, from
lack of repair, to become a reproach.
Dr. Jackson's résumé (1872) states that the remodeling of the
dormitories and the work of improving the present buildings has
begun “ and will be continued as far as practicable; graduates
may be interested in contributing to the renovation of their old
rooms, sections or colleges. It has been suggested that each
8O
Alumni association select some definite object upon which to
concentrate its efforts and contributions.” I regret that nothing
further came of the suggestion.
BUILDINGS AND PARKS.
When proposing (1872) the appointment of Curators with
permanent funds for the care and development of parks, build-
ings, etc., a plan was suggested for providing funds by the sale
of outlying real estate. In connection with the acceptance of a
large donation for building purposes, the plan was adopted by
the Board. The hard times prevented sales until recently;
meantime the College garden has been kept up, since Dr. Jack-
son's death, by his daughter, Mrs. Benedict, Miss Wolfe provid-
ing most of the funds, and the general oversight being entrusted
to Hon. Samuel T. Benedict, as Curator of College Parks.
The old Colleges, for the first time in many years, were re-
grouted and improvements were carried out in the buildings
and parks; the barns, dilapidated sheds, etc., adjoining the
South College were remodeled and removed to a more appro-
priate position. Recitation rooms had been improved and
refurnished, and their number, by the Powers Memorial Hall,
will be still further increased. Besides the new gymnasium, resi-
dences, etc. there have been added, in new buildings, as already
stated, the Alumni and Memorial Hall, and the eastern “con-
necting colonnades " comprising the Washburn Memorial
Library Hall and the Thomas Henry Powers Memorial Building.
The Curators of Parks and Buildings have been entrusted by
the Corporation with duties under instructions, among which are
the following:—
Ist. That not less than one hundred acres be preserved intact
for College parks, gardens, etc.
2d. The formation of a College Park and Building Fund from
the sale of lands set off by Union avenue, etc.
3d. The formation, also, of a fund from the residue of the
8 I
lands set off, the income of which is for general expenses. By
direction of the Curators, changes may be made in the boundary
lines of land, avenues, etc.
4th. Should these funds amount, as is not anticipated, to more
than is needed for the object named, the Curators will direct the
use of any surplus for the benefit of the College.
THE JOHN DAVID WOLFE
SCHOLARSHIPS FOUNDATION
AND OTHER DONATIONS
BY
MISS CATHARINE LORILLARD WOLFE.
BENEFACTIONS
OF
Miss CATHARINE LORILLARD WOLFE.
THE JOHN DAVID WOLFE SCHOLARSHIPS FOUNDATION.
The principles of Christian unity were dear to him whose
name this endowment bears; and Union College, as representa-
tive of those principles, might, it was thought, be regarded as
an appropriate place for his memorial. He had taken an
interest in the education of young men, especially in the Southern
States. Miss Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, therefore, learning that
we were striving to help such pupils, decided to found the
scholarships bearing her father's name, in aid of Students “prin-
cipally though not exclusively from the Southern States.” She
presented Union College with a fund of fifty thousand dollars
for the purpose. By students and Alumni and other friends, and
from the press and pulpit, especially of the Southern States, the
results of this benefaction have been warmly acknowledged.
A person of high character and position, a citizen of South
Carolina, writes as follows: “I earnestly desire that Miss Wolfe
should know what a good and noble work she has done in giving
to Union College the fund for Scholarships available for Southern
students in connection with her munificent interest in that Insti-
tution. I could tell her from my personal knowledge much
that is creditable to the young men and also to the happy and
blessed influences with which they have thus been surrounded,
86
The beneficial results of her generosity extend from the
College students who owe to her their education and graduation,
to the larger circle of their family and friends and to the great
section which they represent with loyalty as citizens of our
common country.”
Hundreds of young men from all portions of the country, but
especially and at first almost exclusively from the Southern
States, have been aided. President Hickok at his resignation,
mentioning the loss in the number of students, refers especially
to the loss of Southern students caused by the civil war. Among
the earliest efforts toward securing Scholarship aid, were those
intended to regain that loss and at the same time to extend a
cordial hand of help across the closing chasm, in the interest
of national concord and unity.
Rev. Dr. A. T. Porter, in the history of his noble educational
work and of his Institute at Charleston, South Carolina, has
shown their connection with Union College and with some of
our officers and trustees. He writes, “To the Hon. Clarkson N.
Potter, as much as to any one, this Institution is indebted;
for he was one of the largest and most constant contributors
in the incipiency of this work.” “While at the North in
1871,” he continues, “a very remarkable event occurred. The
aid to my boys at Trinity College having been withdrawn, I
thought I had sent my last boy to College; for, the load of
carrying the school and then of responsibility for their College
expenses was getting to be too burdensome for my strength.”
In New York city at the residence of a Curator, Dr. Porter adds,
he providentially met a representative of Union College, who,
when previously connected with the Lehigh University, un-
solicited had befriended his Southern work. “ He asked
me if I had any boys ready for College? I replied that I had
five; but I had no hope of Scnding them, as my resources
at Trinity were cut off. He told me to send them to him and
they should be of no expense to me save their clothing. I
afterward learned that he proposed to feed them at his own ex-
87
pense and at his own table. Here was indeed a glorious open-
ing. It can readily be perceived what an impulse this gave to
me and to the institution; and what an invaluable benefaction
to the State and to the Church. I sent him five boys, and since
then, up to this date (October, 1874), fifteen have been at
Union College. Two are now at one of the Albany Departments
of Union University, studying medicine; one, who has led his
class in the engineering school, graduates in March next; one
more youth will come up in January, 1875; one in March, 1875,
and six, D. V., next September, 1875, Miss C. L. Wolfe, the
daughter of Mr. John D. Wolfe, most generously donated to
Union College fifty thousand dollars, to be invested; and on the
interest of that fund my boys are boarded, being no expense to
me save their clothing. My fervent prayer is that God will
bless the College and that He will also bless the generous
benefactress for her noble munificence which is doing so much
to aid in lifting up the long prostrate State of South Carolina.”
It was deemed just, as the South increased in material pros-
perity, and for other reasons, to extend the area of aid and to
decrease the amount in each case, thus aiming to inspire the
spirit of self-help. In addition to other aid, free tuition has
been granted by the Corporation, in conformity with the assur-
ance that, if the foundation were established, the College would
so grant gratuitous tuition that Wolfe Scholarship students could
be provided for in that respect and yet leave the full benefit of
other recognized scholarships, funds or income, to other students
needing aid. To Miss Wolfe's great gratification, the number
assisted by the John David Wolfe Scholarships Foundation has
annually increased, until the Treasurer's report for 1880–81
shows that fifty students were during the year aided by this
fund.
Scholarship students and others and almost every object
of college interest have also been aided by additional pay-
ments, indefinite but continued from year to year. The sum
given by Miss Wolfe in addition is received in semi-annual
88
payments, made payable by the President's request to the
Treasurer. Conference is had, by report or otherwise, with
the selected Curators, as to purposes of art and culture or
of college advancement generally. The disbursements, according
to Miss Wolfe's present desire, will be hereafter more largely for
the improvement of the art gallery and its collections. In a letter
to the President (June 7th, 1879), relating to these matters, Miss
Wolfe writes: “Some time since I placed at your disposal, to be
used for the purpose of increasing the facilities afforded by Union
College for culture, art and general advancement of its efficiency,
a sum of money, which has heretofore been at your discretion.
I now learn that it is your wish to associate with you, in the
administration of this donation, Curators of the Library and Parks
of the College. This plan is one which has my hearty approval.”
These gifts have usually been credited to an account first
known as an “Art Foundation " and later simply as the
“Donation Fund.” The financial report for 1876 refers to the
fact that the Corporation set apart real estate (land to the value
of ten thousand dollars or more, at present unproductive), in view
of her kind consent that the aid should be devoted largely to the
general advancement of the College during the “hard times.”
Having been placed at the discretion of the President, with a
view originally of Securing art objects and culture more espe-
cially, expenditures of the character first designed have annu-
ally absorbed a considerable portion of these donations. Lecture
Courses, Professors' Stipends, Fellowships, Prizes, etc., etc., thus
provided, form a subject of previous statements; while a list of
Art objects secured will be found in the pamphlet entitled “Art
Collection of Union College, founded by Miss Catharine Lorillard
Wolfe.”
The letter of donation of the John David Wolfe Scholarships
Foundation is as follows:
13 MADISON AVENUE,
NEW YORK, March 29, 1874. }
PRESIDENT POTTER :
My Dear Sir — My father, Mr. John David Wolſe, during the later
years of his life, was especially interested in providing the advantages of
89
a high class of education for young men in the Southern States. Some
of these he had already aided and he would doubtless have continued
his interest in them had the work not been arrested by his death.
Among those whom he thus assisted, several have become within the
past few years students of Union College; and it was my privilege, a
year ago, to contribute somewhat toward the means of continuing their
education in that institution.
Appreciating the importance of this work in its influence upon the
future of the South, I am anxious to place an undertaking which my
father thus commenced, upon an enduring foundation, and accordingly
I propose to place in the hands of the Trustees of your College a fund
of fifty thousand dollars to be held as a permanent trust and the income
to be applied to the purpose herein mentioned. It is my wish that this
fund be kept quite distinct from the other funds of the College; and for
this reason, and if agreeable to the Trustees, it might be designated the
“John David Wolfe Scholarships Foundation.” I suggest this name
because it is expressive of my true design, which is to make an endow-
ment in favor of the College and which may serve at the same time as
a tribute to my father's memory. º
My ſurther wish is, that the income of this fund be devoted, from
year to year, toward defraying the expenses other than those of tuition,
of young men, especially (though I would not say exclusively) from the
Southern Sta'es, who shall be nominated by the President of the Col-
lege, and with the understanding that the College will provide them
with free tuition ; and it shall be understood that this trust is only
intended to aid young men of good moral character.
It is further my desire that this fund be kept safely invested upon
bonds secured by mortgage of productive, unincumbered, real es ate,
worth, in each instance, at least double the amount of the loan, or in
bonds or stocks of the United States General Government or of the
State or city of New York or city of Albany or of either of the Eastern
or Middle States in good credit at the time, and so that the punctual
payment of interest may at all times be relied upon.
In creating this trust I have relied upon the statement that inasmuch
as your College will afford gratuitous tuition, each student can be sus-
tained or sufficiently aided by the yearly application to his use of about
two hundred dollars, and Sometimes of even less; and that if five of such
students should be admitted annually and each continue four years, the
number of beneficiaries at any one time would be about twenty; and
90
that the income of fifty thousand dollars would probably afford ade-
quate aid to that number; and it is accordingly my design to enable you
to carry this plan into effect.
With these suggestions, I have only to add that, upon receiving from
the finance committee of your Board of Trustees a proper acceptance
of the intended trust, substantially upon the basis here proposed, I shall
have the pleasure to remit a check for the sum of fifty thousand dollars.
Hoping that the terms of this proposal will meet with your appreval,
I remain, dear Sir,
Very truly and faithfully,
Your friend,
CATHARINE 12. WOLFE.
A D ID IT I O N A L
SCHOLARSHIPS AND PRIZES.
–
THE PARSONS SCHOLARSHIPS,
founded by the Hon. Levi Parsons, LL.D., are described as
follows in the statement issued by the “compilers of the Parsons
Memorial Volumes.” The foundation consists of the “Levi Par-
Sons Scholarships Fund’ of fifty thousand dollars; the annual in-
come ($3,000) aids students and, through the payment of their
term fees, also supplements Professors' salaries.
KIN-ENDowm ENT SCHOLARSHIPs.
In response to a circular letter, announcing certain scholarships in
Union College, numerous letters of inquiry have been and are being
received ; and in order to meet the wishes common to many corres-
pondents, it is expedient to give a few extracts from the tripartite inden-
ture made 21 December, 1880, between Judge Levi Parsons (of the first
part), the trustees of the Levi Parsons Library of Gloversville and
Kingsboro, Fulton county (of the second part), and the Trustees of
Union College, Schenectady (of the third part), all of the State of New
York :
It is the design of the said party of the first part to found a certain
number of scholarships in the said Union College, to be known as the
Levi Parsons Scholarships.
The nominations to the said scholarships shall be made by the Board
of Trustees of the said party of the second part (the trustees of the Levi
Parsons Library of Gloversville and Kingsboro); and while it would be
gratifying to the said party of the first part, that competent candidates
for some of said scholarships should be found among his blood relatives
living in either of the counties of Fulton, Montgomery or Hamilton and
especially among those living in the town of Johnstown in said county of
Fulton, and bearing the name of Parsons, he does not desire, by giving
94
an absolute preference to any such candidates, to control the exercise of
a proper discretion by the said trustees in making said nominations.
In cases not coming within the preceding article, the candidates for
such scholarships, if otherwise competent, are to be selected from the
following places, in the following order and to the extent of the appli-
cations that may be made therefor in said places respectively :
I. From the villages (parishes) of Gloversville and Kingsboro, in
the township of Johnstown, in said county of Fulton.
II. From the said township of Johnstown at large.
III. From the said county of Fulton at large.
IV. From the said counties of Montgomery and Hamilton at large.
V. As to blood relatives of the said party of the first part, from all
other parts of the United States.
In the case of applicants claiming to be blood relatives of the said
party of the first part, they will be required to trace their lineage from
descendants, born in the United States, of Thomas Parsons of Great
Milton, Oxfordshire, England, who is the founder of the branch of the
Parsons family in the United States to which the said party of the first
part belongs; and in the settlement of all such claims, the Parsons
Memorial which is being edited by David-Parsons Holton, M. D., and
Frances-K. (Forward) Holton, his wife, of the city of New York, and
is shortly to be published, shall be regarded as offering conclusive evi-
dence so far as it may apply ; but any other competent testimony may
be used for that purpose in other cases. The decision of the said party
of the second part on all such applications shall be final.
Letters accompanying the deed of donation forwarded to Union Col-
lege, are as follows:
To the President of Union College :
115 EAST 28th STREET, NEW vº)
December 21, 188o.
My Dear Sir—In my early life I was deeply impressed by the char-
acter and work of Dr. Alonzo Potter, then Vice-President of Union
College, and of Dr. Eliphalet Nott, its venerable President.
I am interested also in the revival of the College and its progress
under your own administration. I believe that our State Institutions
should be maintained by citizens of the State. I have sought to benefit
the place and neighborhood of my birth by founding the Library at
95
Gloversville. It is my further purpose to found in this connection
(with a view mainly though not exclusively to benefit students from that
neighborhood, and founder's kin there and elsewhere) Scholarships, by
an endowment of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for the benefit of
students at Union College.
I am a believer in principles of respect for the neighborhood of one's
birth, and of reverence for the sentiment of the hearth-stone tending to
perpetuate ties of kindred and to the cohesion and conservation of the
best family influences. In my judgment these principles have had a
marked effect upon the noble Christian civilization of our mother
country.
You will see the influence of this conviction in the conditions of the
indenture presented herewith.
Sincerely and faithfully yours,
LEVI PARSONS.
NEW YORK, December 24.
To the Secretary of the Parsons Library, at Gloversville, N. Y. :
Dear Sir—When your favor of 21st inst. reached us, I was in the midst
of an important trial and had not then time to answer it.
Judge Parsons' final arrangements to sail for Europe were determined
on suddenly and carried out with considerable haste. He executed the
deed of gift of the Scholarship Fund to which you allude, on Tuesday,
22d inst., in triplicate, or three originals, the intention being that the
Levi Parsons Library and the Union College should each have one,
Judge Parsons retaining the other. He particularly enjoined upon us
that the delivery of the papers to the Library and the College should
be simultaneous; but he delivered the bonds constituting the gift and
which had been already registered in the name of the Library, to Presi-
dent Potter, who was present at the time.
The papers as executed are all still in our possession, having been left
with us for the purpose of having them fully completed and ornamented
in very elegant style in accordance with the directions of the donor.
It will be some time before we shall be ready to deliver them, but they
will be delivered to the Library and the College simultaneously. In
the meanwhile we send you herewith, and we also mail to the College
at the same time, a correct copy of the deed in question. The principal
change in it from that at first proposed is in making the Library and
the College joint trustees of the fund. This was entirely the result of a
96
suggestion from yourself, as I understand it, to that effect. The other
changes are simply such as were necessary to harmonize the instrument
in some of its details with this proposed change. g
I give you these particulars by Judge Parsons' request, he not having
had time to do so himself.
Very respectfully yours,
(Signed) * COLE MORRIS.
RECOGNIZED SCHOLARSHIPS SINCE 1872.
CLARKSON NOTT POTTER SCHOLARSHIPs.
CORNELL SCHOLARSHIPs.
McCLELLAND SCHOLARSHIPS.
MASON SCHOLARSHIPS.
PRIZES.
THE ALLEN ESSAY PRIZEs.
THE WOLFE ART AND CULTURE PRIZES.
THE LEVI PARSONS PRIZES.
THE MILITARY AND ATHLETIC PRIZES.
The above recognized scholarships and prizes are affording student-
aid, etc., to the amount equal to the annual income at six per cent on
between twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars.
A P P E N D I X.
A P P E N D I X.
APPEAL, ETC.
To the Alumni and Friends of Union College :
GENTLEMEN: —The permanent funds of Union College, together
with those designated as the Nott Trust Fund, now available or in
prospect, may be considered sufficient, so far as the support of the
Faculty and provision for assistance to needy students are concerned.
There has been, moreover, a liberal contribution to the Cabinet, of
$10,000. These secure for the Institution stability and permanency
and constitute a trusty and safe basis on which the friends of the
College may place their appropriations for uses that as yet have no
adequate provision made for them. None of the resources now on
hand can be applied to the purchase of books or the erection and
repair of buildings. For these purposes, the College is wholly
destitute of means and is now in a condition of want which calls for
immediate help, in order that it may fairly stand in competition
with other colleges. Almost all the other prominent colleges of the
land are receiving large donations from wealthy and generous
patrons to supply such necessities.
Our College Library has had scarcely any additions for many
years and is very inadequate to meet the wants of the students and
more especially of the Professors. While many works of the last age
and of former centuries, which have stood the test of time from their
excellence, are wanting, there is an almost entire absence of im-
portant modern publications. There is needed an immediate outlay
of $10,000 in a judicious selection of books in science, philosophy,
history, classics and general literature,
IOO
The foundation of the new Chapel, designed also as an Alumni.
Hall, has been laid at an expense of about $3,000. The available
funds from remaining subscriptions may be about $1,500. The out-
lay on the foundation yields no return, but the unfinished structure
is rather to the discredit of our enterprise and efficiency. The
building is urgently needed for the purposes intended and will de-
mand an additional sum of $25,000 to complete it.
The College halls and rooms in the present buildings are so far
worn, injured and decayed, that it is only by strict regulations that
students can be made to occupy them and them often with complaint
and expressed dissatisfaction. The halls need new stairs and
bannisters, flooring and plastering, and the rooms should be newly
floored, supplied with wash-stands and iron conductors to take off
the waste water, two iron bedsteads, cupboards and Wardrobe for
each room, and new window frames and sashes throughout. The
sum of $15,000 is needed to be forthwith expended in such repairs.
Fifty thousand dollars are, in this way, necessary to be imme-
diately supplied to sustain the prosperity and usefulness of the
College.
Besides the Chapel, the original plan of the College contemplates
two more buildings and their connecting colonnades, which are to be
of the size of the present colleges. It will be a great improvement
in the contemplated repair of the present buildings and would pro-
bably add mothing to the estimated expense, to open a doorway
between the front and rear rooms, with the design of appropriating
the front rooms for study and the rear rooms for dormitories. This
would so diminish the number of students that could then be accom-
modated in these buildings, that the two new colleges would be a
necessity. Their erection will, in all respects, be of great utility and
convenience and will add largely to the influence and reputation of
the Institution. If they are ever to be available for the prosperity
of the College, the present is probably as important as any future
time can be, and the funds can be raised for the whole with more
assurance in one effort, than by an attempt to start anew after the
first half should have been attained. The estimated expense can
not be less than $25,000 for each building; aud a grand enterprise,
which should secure $100,000 from the wealthy and liberal Alumni
and friends of Union College, cordially undertaken and promptly
finished, would give a most salutary impulse to its reputation, in-
IOI
fluence and usefulness, and would allow all the provisions formerly
made for specific purposes, to be effectually consummated in their
wise and well intended directions.
Such an effort is now to be commenced, and we make the appeal
earnestly and confidently for your favorable attention and to your
enlightened munificence.
(Signed) A. C. PAIGE, Chairman.
E. C. DELAVAN,
L. ROBINSON,
J. TRUMBULL BACKUS,
C. B. COCHRANE,
CLARKSON N. POTTER,
Finance Committee.
W. W. CAMPBELL,
UNION COLLEGE, December 21, 1863.
|
FINANCE AND ENDOWMENTS.
THANKS TO THE PRESIDENT AND OTHERs.
Resolved, That this Board appreciate and approve the attention
given by the President of the College to the subjects of Finance and
Endowment—the endowments during his incumbency having been
increased by a total up to this date (1874–5) of not less than two hum-
dred and fifty thousand dollars, an equal amount having been added
to the general fund of the College.
Resolved, That the President be requested to report to this Board
or to the Finance Committee, such important information as he may
obtain with respect to the systems of education, finance, etc., of
other leading Institutions which he may be able to visit.
On motion of Rev. Dr. Halley:
Resolved, That the President be requested to present the thanks of
this Board to those who have contributed to the equipment or en-
dowment of the College, and that he is hereby authorized to reassure
and give the assurance contained in his annual report in accepting
donations for the Christian Union Endowment.
Rev. DR. ELIPHALET N. Potter, President.
In account with Brown Brothers & Co.
Interest to 31 December, 1874. .
1874. Amoulut. Days. Interest.
April 4. By cash from you. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $50,000 00 271 $1,484 93
Dec. 31. By interest to date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,168 75
$51,168 75 $1,484 93
1874. Dr. Amount. Days. Interest.
Aug. 11. To paid H. S. Arnold, agt. ... . . . . . $13,000 00 142 $202 31
Aug. 29. To paid Mutual Life Ins. Co. ...... 3,500 00 124 47 56
Sept. 23. To paid dft. of Jon. Pearson, Treas.
to H. S. Arnold, agt. . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 00 99 32 56
Oct. 15. To paid H. S. Arnold, agt. . . . . . . . . 4,000 00 77 33 75
Tec. 31. To paid J. B. & J. M. Cornell...... 17,000 00
Dec. 31. To balance of interest at credit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,168 75
Dec. 31. To balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,668 75
$51,168 75 $1,484 93
- - -ºº-º-º-º:
The College having received the total amount of the above princi-
pal and interest of the John David Wolfe Scholarships foundation,
given as a memorial to her father by Miss Catharine Lorillard Wolfe
(and first deposited by her direction with Messrs. Brown Brothers &
Co.), the annual report of the Treasurer for 1874–75 states that
“the last mentioned fund of fifty thousand dollars has been invested
in bonds and mortgages drawing seven per cent. interest.”
ExTRACT FROM DAY BOOK OF UNION CoILEGE, DECEMBER 23, 1880.
Received from President Potter the sum of fifty thousand dollars
in the form of fifty (Nos. 1–50) first mortgage bonds of the New
Orleans Pacific Railroad Company, of 1,000 dollars each, being the
donation of Hon. Judge Levi Parsons, in accordance with the indent-
ure of gift which is to be forwarded to the College by Messrs. Bil-
lings & Cardozo, No. 170 Broadway, New York.
The railroad company deliver the bonds with interest due from
and after July 1, 1881. The donor, to meet expenses other than term
bills of scholars receiving aid in excess of present funded provision
(see President's letter, referred to in Day Book, December 10, 1880,
and on file), encloses a check, drawn to the Trustees of Union Col-
lege, payable July 1, 1881, for fifteen hundred dollars here with
received.
The registration of the bonds is to be completed in accordance
with the donor's intention in delivering the bonds to the College,
stated in the letter of his attorneys, recorded below (A); as is also
recorded (B) the letter accompanying the donation.
J. PEARSON,
Treas. Union College.
UNION COLLEGE, Dec. 23, 1880.
IO4.
BENEFACTIONS SINCE THE ALLOTMENT OF 1878.
The financial year extends from May 31 to May 31. Since the
“Allotment” referred to in the foregoing review and the record of
sufficient securities (1878) for permanent invested funds, the follow-
ing are from the “Remarks” in the printed reports and statements
of benefactions, principally in 1879, through the President as in
other years.
The gifts received by the Treasurer the past year have been as
follows (1879):
From Miss C. L. Wolfe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,000 00
“ estate of James Brown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80,000 00
“ estate of Dr. J. McClelland. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,673 16
“ estate of Madison Young. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997 $0
“ W. H. H. Moore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 00
“ Mrs. Alexander Brown (Mem. Hall). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,000 00
“ Century Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,630 00
$95,400 66
*
cº-º-º-º-º:
*msº
wº-ºº.
The gifts received by the Treasurer the past year have been as
follows (1880):
Century Club, total amount of annual payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $810 00
Bequest of Dr. A. M. Vedder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 00
º $910 00
Through President Potter:
Miss C. L. Wolfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,000 00
Robt. L. Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 00
Thomas A. Scott. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 00
Mrs. Thos. H. Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 00
Joseph W. Fuller, bal. of $1,000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 00
John S. Perry, note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 00
From estate of Wm. F. Allen (interest). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 90
Robt. A. Packer, interest-bearing promise. ... . . . . . . . 5,000 00
H. E. Packer, interest-bearing promise........ ...... 5,000 00
Jno. H. Van Antwerp, interest-bearing promise...... 1,000 00
In sums smaller than $1,000.... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,500 00
31,544 90
$32,454 90
sºmºmºmºs
IO5
Donations larger than $1,000 are [as donors may direct] to be
permanently invested. Smaller donations have been invested in
interest-bearing scrip for the use of the Library or expended in the
establishment of the College Bindery, the binding and purchase of
books, the transfer of the Library to the fire-proof Alumni and
Memorial Hall, as well as in the alteration of the old Library for the
use of the Geological Collection; also for Art-objects, lectures, etc.,
etc., and for Instruction.
Since June first (1880), additional domations have been received
and subscriptions are recorded to be paid at a future date.
The number of students belonging to College, April 1, 1879, was
160; on the 31st day of March, 1880, 164.
Total number admitted to all departments of Union University, 464.
The gifts received by the Treasurer the past year have been as
follows (1881): º
Century Club, total amount of annual payments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $805 00
Bequest of Dr. John McClelland................................. 10,950 00
Estate of William F. Allen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . © e º e o e • * * * * * * * * * * * * * 1,000 00
Sundry small sums (for College drains) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • * c e s e s tº e º 'º 4S2 00
$13,237 00
Through President Potter:
Miss C. L. Wolfe ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $4,000 00
Levi Parsons Scholarships fund. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 00
Levi Parsons, special gift. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 00
Whitney & Sons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 00
Misses Ellen and Ida Mason. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,000 00
Mrs M. Gammell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 1,000 00
S. J. Tilden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 00
In sums smaller than $1,000..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,355 00
65,855 00
$79,092 00
COLLEGE LAW ; RECORDS OF BENEFACTIONs.
The laws of the Corporation define the duties of the executive as
to endowments, etc., as follows:
“The President is the executive of the Corporation and has the
power to supervise and direct all matters relating to it, under and in
accordance with enactments by the Board.” See Code, p. 4.
The following extract is from By-Laws (1876), p. 6, sections 13, 14:
8
IO6
“All gifts or donations contributed to or received for Union College
or for any of its departments, by whomsoever received, shall be
immediately reported to the President, * * * so that the re-
cords of the College may correctly show the character and amount of
the donation, the name and residence of the donor and all directions
or instructions in relation thereto given by the donor. * * *
“The income of the Blatchford and T. H. Powers Memorial Funds,
and sums received subject to the President's direction, shall be dis-
bursed according to his written instructions to the Treasurer.”
Day Book, page 189.
“1880.
“Received from President Potter, check on the Philadelphia
National Bank for the sum of ten thousand dollars, payable to his
order and signed Anna M. Powers; the check being dated Septem-
ber 1, 1881, and being endorsed to the order of J. Pearson, treasurer,
and being accompanied by a letter of which the following is a copy,
the original being left in the treasurer's hands. See also pp. 49–57,
and Book E, U. C. Minutes; President's Report, Brief, p. 87.
“President POTTER : •
My Dear Sir — I write to acknowledge the communication relat-
ing to my gift to Union College of the Powers Memorial Building,
with which the Washburn Memorial Hall is connected. I learn with
pleasure that, as promised in the spring, the work, in accordance with
the plans submitted to me, is being prosecuted; that my check of ten
thousand dollars given for the purpose was deposited to draw interest
and that my check, dated in September, is not to be used before its
date. My previous gifts were placed in your hands to be disbursed
at your discretion, viz.: ten thousand dollars for use or for invest-
ment under your direction last year for Union College, and ten
thousand dollars given on the Sarne terms this year; and I am
gratified to know that you will, as promised, direct them to be used
in whole or in part for the erection or maintenance of the Memorial
Building or for work connected with it. I desire that the tablets
proposed be erected, one in the north arcade and one in the south
arcade.
Very sincerely your friend,
ANNA. M. POWERS.
PHILADELPHIA, June 29, 1881.”
UNION COLLEGE SCHENECTADY, N. Y.
JUNE 26, 1882.
PRESIDENT POTTER :—
Dear Sir—Your friends take peculiar pleasure in seizing the oppor-
tunity afforded by the tenth anniversary of your inauguration as Presi-
dent of Union College, to congratulate you upon the happy results of
your efforts to elevate the institution from its apparently hopeless
condition of decline in which you found it, to its present status of pros-
perity and usefulness. Your calm, judicious and very instructive review
of these ten years exhibits an energy, a tact and a constancy in the
service of Union which deserve universal recognition and approbation.
In spite of internal troubles inherited from former days and factiously
promoted to injure you and your administration, the facts are patent that
you have in these ten years succeeded in raising for the college large
endowments and equipments, and that there has been a large yearly
increase in the number of students. Had you been untrammeled, we
believe you could have done even more. That you have done so much
is a matter of Congratulation on the part of all who really have the
interests of the college at heart. You have been actuated by a constant
love for your Alma Mater, and it is due to this spirit and the labors it has
induced that an institution so feeble as this was when you were ap-
pointed its President, has been able to bear the serious shocks from
within and to prosper in spite of them.
We recognize in the recent progress of college education in this
country, that the duties of a president have been greatly modified in
their character. No longer the mere presiding officer of a faculty and
the special administrator of college discipline within the precincts, there
has developed for him a larger sphere of usefulness, in many instances
incompatible with attention to interior details. Especially is this a most
important duty in the case of institutions like Union, needing endow-
ment and indeed the means of providing daily bread. This view you
have taken and energetically acted upon, and the results show that your
course has been equally wise and successful. Your duties and responsi-
bilities have been greatly increased since 1873, by the claims of the
incorporated departments of Union University.
We congratulate you upon having acted in the midst of difficulties
and trammels with ability, integrity, honor and christian forbearance,
and we wish for you in the future even greater and more decided success
than has marked your ten years of honorable and successful service.
You are requested, at your discretion, Mr. President, to bring this com.
munication to the attention of the corporation and the public.
We remain with sincere respect,
Very faithfully yours,
HENRY COPPEE,
SIDNEY G. ASHMORE,
WEN DELL LAMORC) UX,
GEORGE W. DEAN,
J W. McMU R RAY,
E. C. LAW RENCE,
J. L. PARKS,
and others connected with the Faculty during the past ten years.