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A History of MacMnrray College 
 
The 
 
 FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 
 
 OF 
 
 MAC MURRAY COLLEGE 
 
 BY 
 MARY WAITERS, Ph.D. 
 
 Research Editor 
 Illinois State Historical Library 
 
 1 947 
 
COPYRIGHT 1947 BY 
 MAC MURRAY COLLEGE FOR WOMEN 
 
 PRINTED IN UNITED STATES BY 
 WILLIAMSON PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO., SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS 
 
' 
 
 PREFA CE 
 
 The Historical Committee, with Doctor Charles H. Thrall, ex- 
 ecutive secretary of the Illinois Conference Educational Commis- 
 sion, as chairman, which was appointed to gather and organize 
 materials for the centennial history of MacMurray College, has 
 contributed much to the production of this volume. Doctor W. 
 B. Hendrickson, professor of history in MacMurray and member 
 of this committee, has assembled and arranged letters, note- 
 books, albums, and other documentary materials and pictures. 
 In this work Miss Janette Powell and Miss Lucille Crawford, 
 assistant librarian of the College, have helped. Doctor Thrall 
 arranged for the writer to examine the records of the Illinois 
 Conference located in Bloomington. The administrators of the 
 library of Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, of the State 
 Historical Library in Springfield, of the Jacksonville Public 
 Library, and of the Henry Pf eiffer Library of MacMurray have 
 given the use of their collections and patient assistance. The 
 administrative departments of the College and members of the 
 <i faculty have co-operated in furnishing official records and in- 
 o formation. Miss Genevieve Mount, alumnae secretary, has 
 
 ^ contributed materials from her office, and individual alumnae 
 > have given both historical documents and verbal reminiscences 
 
 'p that have personalized the records of the past. Miss S. Margaret 
 
 |p Fraser has read and corrected all the proofs. The officers of 
 
 (/> 
 
 ' the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu Societies have assisted with their 
 
 9 
 
 2, very interesting minute books that cover almost a century. 
 
 * To all these, I want to express my appreciation and gratitude. 
 
 To President and Mrs. Clarence P. McClelland and the entire 
 
 S college group, I am indebted for a very pleasant year on the 
 
 MacMurray College campus. 
 /> Mary Waiters 
 
 -^MacMurray College, June 17, 1946. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 MacMurray College is under great and lasting obligation to Dr. 
 Mary Watters for writing THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS OF 
 MacMURRAY COLLEGE. She spent a full year on the campus, and 
 during that period accomplished an incredible amount of work. She 
 unearthed long-lost information about the early years of the College; 
 indeed, the number of references, totaling 1,371 for the entire book, 
 shows unusual competence for research and gives a tone of authenticity 
 which is most reassuring. It seems certain that the history of the first 
 hundred years of MacMurray College will never have to be written again. 
 
 Needless to say, Dr. Watters was given a free hand. I know that 
 her purpose was to write without prejudice. As far as I can discover, 
 she asked no one's advice about what she should include or leave out. 
 That was certainly true regarding my own administration. After reading 
 the copy, I suggested one or two alterations, but they were of minor 
 importance. It is possible that not everyone will approve of Dr. Watters' 
 interpretations; however, there can be no question that she wrote what 
 she saw without conscious bias. 
 
 It is certain that the history will be of absorbing interest to alumnae 
 and other friends of MacMurray, and the alumnae who read it will be 
 even more proud of their alma mater. It is hoped that others, particularly 
 educators and those who are interested in midwestern history, will find 
 the book of value as an historical document and inspiring as an adven- 
 ture in the higher education of women. 
 
 Clarence P. McClelland 
 
 MacMurray College 
 Jacksonville, Illinois 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I 
 THE ANTE BELLUM COLLEGE FOR YOUNG LADIES ... 1 
 PRESIDENTS JAQUESS, ANDRUS, AND McCOY 
 The Background — The Methodist Church and Education, The Back- 
 ground — The Movement for the Education of Women in the Early 
 Nineteenth Century. The Illinois Conference Female Academy. The 
 Setting — "Historic Morgan and Classic Jacksonville.*' The First 
 Charter — Relation of School and Church. The Founding Fathers. 
 The First President — James Frazier Jaquess (1848-1855). Educa- 
 tional Philosophy and Objectives of the Founders. The Course of 
 Study: Its Organization and the Expansion from Academy to Col- 
 lege. An Alumna's Comment on the College Program and Its Ap- 
 plication. The College in Operation — The Board of Instruction, Fair 
 Temple of Learning — The First Building. Some Facts About the 
 Students and the College Routine. Letters to Jemima. Life in the 
 Ante Bellum Academy and College. The Literary Societies — Belles 
 Letters and Phi Nu. College Commencement: The Sweet Girl Grad- 
 uate. The Slavery Issue and Abolition — An Exciting Incident at 
 the Female College. President Jaquess Retires — The Adventures of 
 Colonel Jaquess — Last Years. President Andrus (1855-56) and 
 President McCoy (1856-58). Academic and Other Internal Mat- 
 ters Under Presidents Andrus and McCoy. Perpetual Scholarships 
 and Increasing Debts. The Alumnae Organize. "Uncle" Peter Cart- 
 wright Examines the School. 
 
 Chapter II 
 
 THE ILLINOIS FEMALE COLLEGE IN THE 
 
 CIVIL WAR AND AFTER 136 
 
 PRESIDENT CHARLES ADAMS, 18*8-1868 
 The Doctor Himself — His Early Years and up to 1858. Pages of 
 Financial History: The College Before the Conference in 1860. A 
 
Friend in Court — Mrs. Ann Dumville. The Fire of 1861: The West 
 Wing Destroyed. More Pages of Financial History: The "Second 
 Foundation" and its Founders. The Illinois Female College Is Chart- 
 ered: Doctor Adams on Names. The Administration of the New 
 Board of Trustees — The West Wing Rebuilt — The College and the 
 Centennial of Methodism. "Letters to Young Ladies in the West** — 
 Doctor Adams on the Education of Women. The College in Opera- 
 tion: Teachers and Teaching. Sundry Facts and Observations About 
 the Students, the Regulations, and Other Matters. Problems of War 
 and Peace. Life in the College in the 1860s — Letters of Sarah Nancy 
 Shumway. "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" — Doctor Adams in Washington. 
 
 Chapter III 
 
 THE MIDDLE PERIOD 217 
 
 PRESIDENT WILLIAM H. DeMOTTE, 1868-1 87 J, AND PRESIDENT 
 WILLIAM F. SHORT, 1875-1893 
 
 William H. DeMotte: The Earlier Years. Financial Problems and 
 Policies — The Fires of 1870 and 1872. Educational Changes in 
 Theory and Practice. President DeMotte as Citizen — His Educa- 
 tional Work in Other Fields. William F. Short, 1875-1893: Illi- 
 nois Education, Methodist Ministry. Efforts to Secure an Endow- 
 ment — College and Conference Relationships. Academic Changes: 
 The Struggle for Existence. The Faculty of Two Decades. The 
 Students — The Rules and Regulations of the College Home. "The 
 Illinois Female College Scraps" — College Life in the Victorian Age. 
 President Short Resigns: The Last Years. 
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 THE ILLINOIS WOMAN'S COLLEGE IN THE 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY 297 
 
 PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. MARKER, 1893-1*25 
 
 The Earlier Years of Joseph R. Harkcr: From Immigrant Coal Miner 
 
 to College President. Administrative Relationships: The Board of 
 
Trustees and the Illinois Annual Conference. Three Decades of Fi- 
 nancial History: Doctor Harker "Discovers'* Friends, Physical Ex- 
 pansion from 1893 to 1925. The Standard College: Evolution of the 
 Course of Study. The Faculty of Three Decades. The Student Body: 
 Enrollment, Rates, Sessions, and Holidays. The College and World 
 War I. Health and Physical Education in the Twentieth Century 
 College. Religious Life in the College: Its Organization and Ex- 
 pression. Other Student Organizations: Literary Societies, Classes, 
 Clubs, and Student Publications. The Origin and History of Student 
 Government. From the Gay Nineties to the Jazz Age: Life in the 
 College. Doctor Harker Retires: President Emeritus. 
 
 Chapter V 
 
 MacMURRAY COLLEGE FACES THE FUTURE 444 
 
 PRESIDENT CLARENCE P. McCLELLAND, 192S-— 
 
 The Education of Clarence P. McClelland. The Board of Trustees: 
 Senator James E. MacMurray. Expansion of MacMurray: The 
 Twenty- Year Development Plan. The Administration and the Fac- 
 ulty. The Educational Program. The Institutes on Public Affairs 
 and the Concert and Lecture Series. The Students — From Far and 
 Near. Health and Physical Education — Program of Sports for Re- 
 creation. Religious Life in the Modern College- — The Christian Life 
 Committee and the YWCA. Student Government in Theory and 
 Practice. Literary Societies, Classes, Student Publications. MacMur- 
 ray College in World War II. From the Jazz Age to the Atomic 
 Age — Student Life and Thought in MacMurray. The Hundredth 
 Year: Plans for the Second Century of MacMurray College. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The First College Building Facing page 1 
 
 President Jaquess and Peter Cartwright 32 
 
 Page from an Early Catalogue 64 
 
 Perpetual Scholarship 96 
 
 Diploma of First Graduating Class 128 
 
 Early Commencement Program — - 160 
 
 Mrs. Moore 161 
 
 Class of 1887 192 
 
 Presidents Adams, DeMotte, and Short .. 224 
 
 President Harker 288 
 
 Mrs. Harker 289 
 
 Harker Residence Hall _• r 320 
 
 Celebration of the Seventieth Anniversary :__.. 321 
 
 Music Hall 3 5 2 
 
 Hardtner Gymnasium . 353 
 
 Mr. MacMurray 384 
 
 President McClelland 448 
 
 Mrs. McClelland _„., 449 
 
 MacMurray Hall 460 
 
 Cast of a Shakesperian play 461 
 
Jane Residence Hall 480 
 
 McClelland Hall - 48 1 
 
 Old Main 496 
 
 Mrs. MacMurray and Mrs. Orr — Mrs. Eddy and President McClelland 497 
 
 Ann Rutledge Residence Hall 512 
 
 Theatre _, 5 1 3 
 
 Mrs. Pf eiffer 5 3 
 
 Pfeiffer Library 531 
 
 Cap and Gown and The Hub 544 
 
 Field Hockey and Riding Team 545 
 
 Annie Merner Chapel 560 
 
 Mrs. Blackstock at the Unveiling of Bronze Tablet .__. 561 
 
 The Growth of College Assets 1925-1946 576 
 
 New Residence Hall - 577 
 
A History of MacMurray College 
 
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CHAPTER I 
 
 THE oANTE <BELLUM COLLEGE FOR 
 YOUNG JCADIES 
 
 Presidents Jaquess, Andrus, and McCoy 
 
 On September 23, 1846, the Illinois Annual Conference 
 of the Methodist Church in session in Paris, Illinois, 
 sanctioned the foundation of an institution for the 
 higher education of women and appointed a Board of Trustees. 
 This institution, the Illinois Conference Female Academy, 
 now MacMurray College for Women, was to be located at 
 Jacksonville, in central Illinois. In Jacksonville this Board 
 of Trustees held its first meeting in the historic old East 
 Charge Methodist Church on October 10, 1846, a day now 
 memorialized as Founders' Day by MacMurray College. 
 
 Whether the single year 1846 was as uniquely decisive in 
 the evolution of the American nation as Bernard de Voto in- 
 sists in his Year of Decision, 1 846, it brought definitive action 
 in the advance to the Pacific and made the United States a 
 continental power. This westward movement, in turn, pre- 
 cipitated the Civil War, which ended in the abolition of 
 slavery, a great milestone in the progress of American democ- 
 racy. Other great issues in the evolution of American democ- 
 racy were being debated at the same time. Among these 
 one of the most important, if not the most important, was 
 the education of women. In 1846, the question whether 
 women should receive the privileges of higher education 
 might still be asked. The decision of the Illinois Conference 
 to establish an institution for such education was one answer. 
 The college it founded has survived to become a leading 
 
2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 center for women's education in the Middle West. This book 
 attempts to tell the history of its foundation and of its 
 evolution as an element in American social life through its 
 first century to the year 1946. 
 
 The year 1946 finds the United States the chief power of 
 the world with the terrible responsibilities that go with that 
 position. Revolutionary developments in science and me- 
 chanics are hastening economic, social, and political revolu- 
 tions; races and nations may soon be distinctions of the past. 
 A world society, a world democracy, or extermination seem 
 to be the alternatives. Man must remake, if not his nature, 
 his expressions of it, or perish. Americans, as well as Jap- 
 anese and Germans, must be re-educated. Hence, the whole 
 matter of the aims and content and methods of education 
 is in debate and dispute, and 1946 becomes another signifi- 
 cant year for decision. A plethora of plans and studies by 
 individuals and groups has poured from the press, among 
 which the recent report of the Harvard Committee, General 
 Education in a Free Society, is the most ambitious group 
 analysis and criticism of our present system with suggestions 
 for the future. 
 
 What place, if any, might historical studies of American 
 educational institutions have in the reorientation of our 
 American educational system? In view of the revolutionary 
 changes in process, it might appear that the history of a 
 college would have little interest or value other than the 
 antiquarian one. That could be true only if the study of 
 history as a whole has lost all practical value. The history 
 of MacMurray College embodies and reflects much of the 
 social evolution of the United States for a hundred years 
 with respect to such questions as: the place of religion in 
 education and in life, the position of women, the attitude 
 of women to public affairs, the evolution of dress, manners, 
 and morals, the interaction of races, classes, and sections in 
 America, as well as the changes in the curriculum, in meth- 
 ods of teaching, and in college organization and administra- 
 tion. The history of our colleges forms an important chap- 
 
History of MacMurray College 3 
 
 ter, still largely unwritten, of the history of the United 
 States. A critical study of this history should have some 
 value in planning an education for the present and the future. 
 Even under the most revolutionary conditions, Where do 
 we go from here? must have some relation to our answer 
 to the question, Whence did we come? 
 
 Furthermore, many believe that there were some special 
 virtues in our small liberal arts colleges with a religious back- 
 ground that rose and flourished in the nineteenth century. 
 They produced most of our great leaders of that century 
 and the early part of the twentieth. Their moral and spir- 
 itual influence was positive and constructive; a study of their 
 history should underline these virtues and ideals for us. Sym- 
 bolic of the needs of the spiritual life in our education, Mac- 
 Murray College has undertaken as its centennial project the 
 erection of a beautiful chapel on its campus to provide a 
 more convenient and a more satisfying place for worship 
 for its students and faculty. In his convocation address at 
 the opening of MacMurray College in the fall of 1945, Pres- 
 ident McClelland emphasized the demand today for a moral 
 and spiritual energy analogous to atomic energy in the ma- 
 terial world and the responsibility of the college for its 
 creation. 
 
 THE BACKGROUND THE METHODIST CHURCH 
 
 AND EDUCATION 
 
 In 1846, Illinois, although developing rapidly, was still 
 close to the Indian frontier. It had been a state less than 
 three decades. Life was hard and crude. One would expect 
 little attention to education of any sort, particularly little 
 to the higher education of women. Thus the foundation of 
 such a school as the Illinois Conference Female Academy 
 might well appear the height of folly. Indeed, Monticello 
 Seminary, established in 1836 by the Congregationalists with 
 money supplied by a New England seaman, Captain Benja- 
 min Godfrey, was being referred to as "Godfrey's folly." 
 One of the most prominent men in the state had predicted 
 that in ten years it would be used as a barn. 1 Two factors 
 
4 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in the background help to account for this action of the 
 Illinois Conference: first, the interest of the Methodist 
 Church in education; second, the agitation in the United 
 States for the education of women. 
 
 In the early history of Methodism and indeed for many 
 years after its foundation, the opinion prevailed that the 
 Methodists were indifferent, if not hostile, to education. 2 
 Their efforts were directed primarily to evangelical and 
 philanthropic work among the poor. In the United States 
 the Methodists as a younger and poorer group among the 
 Protestant sects had a late start in the educational field as 
 compared with the Congregationalists, the Presbyterians, or 
 the Baptists. Incidents in the early history of Methodism 
 in the United States may have contributed to the opinion 
 that the Methodists looked with disfavor, if not upon educa- 
 tion generally, at least upon higher education. Two such 
 incidents might be cited. Francis Asbury, the first bishop, 
 questioned the wisdom of Thomas Coke's plan to found a 
 college under the patronage of the Church in 1784, the year 
 in which the American Methodist Episcopal Church was or- 
 ganized. Asbury believed that, in view of the needs of the 
 day, common schools might better be patronized. But 
 Cokesbury College, named for the two founders, was opened 
 in Abingdon, Maryland, in 1787, with Asbury's support, 
 thus taking its place with the early institutions for higher 
 education in the United States. Twice the College was de- 
 stroyed by fire, 1795 and 1796, and the Methodist enterprise 
 for higher education was temporarily suspended. Asbury 
 considered the destruction of the College providential and 
 resolved to devote his attention to evangelical work as the 
 first need and to his original plan of common schools. 3 Out 
 on the frontier, Peter Cartwright, the celebrated pioneer of 
 Methodism in the West, ridiculed the "products" of the 
 eastern theological schools with their manuscript sermons, 
 and convinced many that he thought education an obstacle 
 to the spread of the gospel and the growth of the Church. 4 
 
History of MacMurray College 5 
 
 As a matter of fact, both Asbury and Cartwright were ad- 
 vocates of general education. 
 
 Born in Oxford University, its founder a classical scholar 
 of high reputation, Methodism, although its work was among 
 the lowly, began at once to foster education. Kingswood 
 School for Boys was established by John Wesley in 1739. In 
 the United States, Thomas Coke, another Oxonian, had 
 sponsored a college as the first work of the new American 
 Church. In spite of the discouragement of Asbury and his 
 followers over the fate of Cokesbury, the Methodist Church 
 soon returned to the work of promoting education. In 1817, 
 an academy was founded at New Market, New Hampshire, 
 and removed later to become the foundation of the Wesleyan 
 Academy, in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, a famous old Meth- 
 odist school in which Doctor Charles Adams, a president of 
 the Illinois Conference Female College, received his early 
 education; also Horace Spaulding, a teacher in the same insti- 
 tution. The General Conference in 1820 recommended that 
 all annual conferences establish seminaries within their bound- 
 aries. This action gave a new impulse to education under 
 Methodist patronage. Other academies were organized 
 through the East and South. The first college resulting from 
 the "new impulse" was west of the Alleghenies, Augusta Col- 
 lege in Kentucky, founded in 1823. Peter Akers, a founder 
 of the Illinois Conference Female College, served it success- 
 fully as financial agent. Among other early colleges were 
 the Wesleyan University of Middletown, Connecticut, the 
 Alma Mater of the present president of MacMurray College, 
 Doctor Clarence P. McClelland, and the school where the 
 noted educator, Doctor Wilbur Fisk, taught and of which 
 he was president; Randolph-Macon in Virginia, honored by 
 the work of Stephen Olin; and Madison (later Allegheny) 
 in Pennsylvania. Nor did early Methodism neglect higher 
 education for women. Wesleyan Female College, established 
 in Macon, Georgia, in 1836, claims the distinction of being 
 the first degree-granting college for women in the United 
 States. 5 
 
6 History of MacMurray College 
 
 A word might be said in passing with reference to the 
 educational work of the Methodist Church outside the school 
 through its press and through the distribution of books. In- 
 deed, this work was not unrelated to the work in the schools; 
 the press was a powerful advertising agency for the schools 
 as well as an educative agency in them. The Methodist 
 Christian Advocate and Journal, founded in 1826, soon had 
 the largest subscription list of any paper in the United 
 States. 6 It was an excellently edited journal of general news 
 and opinion as well as a church organ as were the various 
 regional Advocates established later. The Ladies' Repository, 
 founded in 1841, a beautifully printed and illustrated maga- 
 zine, which had as its successive editors some of the leading 
 scholars of Methodism, attained a wide circulation and in- 
 fluence and carried "sweetness and light" into frontier homes. 
 The cultural influence of these journals, of the Methodist 
 Quarterly Review, the most scholarly of the group, and of 
 other publications, chiefly for young people, cannot be 
 measured, but it must have been very great. The Methodist 
 Book Concern became the largest religious publishing house 
 in the world. 7 Secular, as well as religious literature, was 
 published in inexpensive editions. Circuit riders took its 
 books in their saddle bags to sell and often to give away. 
 The letters of Peter Akers refer to the large quantities he 
 handled for the Concern. Peter Cartwright distributed 
 $10,000 worth. He thought this work probably more fruitful 
 than all his preaching. 8 "If Methodism had made no other 
 contribution to the progress of knowledge and civilization in 
 the New World than that of this powerful institution, this 
 alone would suffice to vindicate its claims to the respect of 
 the enlightened world," declared Stevens in his Centenary 
 of American Methodism* 
 
 Although not the first Protestant Church in Illinois, the 
 Methodist Church had a more even start on the frontier than 
 in the East. Moreover, its organization and creed met the 
 needs and desires of the frontier more effectively. "Lay 
 ministers" and circuit riders could serve the scattered homes; 
 
History of MacMurray College 7 
 
 the doctrine of free grace was preferred to the severer Cal- 
 vinistic theology. The Methodist Church soon became and 
 remained the largest church in Illinois. Its opportunity and 
 responsibility to promote education were correspondingly 
 great in a period when private individuals and religious or- 
 ganizations had to assume the function later served by the 
 state. 
 
 The Methodists were handicapped in their educational 
 plans, however, by the lack of money, always scarce in the 
 West. Other denominations, notably the Congregationalists, 
 drew heavily on the bounty of their eastern friends, but the 
 early attempts of the Methodists to secure aid in the East 
 were unfruitful, and they came to depend on their own re- 
 sources. Such a policy would appeal to the redoubtable 
 Peter Cartwright, who resented the Home Missionary So- 
 ciety's conception of the West as a "perfect moral waste" 
 to be redeemed and civilized. 10 In spite of financial limita- 
 tions, the Illinois Conference undertook the control and pa- 
 tronage of McKendree College, at Lebanon, Illinois, in 1829. 
 This school was one of the first three colleges for men in 
 Illinois, the other two being Illinois College (Congregation- 
 alist -Presbyterian) and Shurtleff (Baptist) . All three, opened 
 about the same time, were chartered in 1835. 
 
 In the 1830s the Illinois Conference expanded its educa- 
 tional program. 11 In 1834, it pledged support to the Pleas- 
 ant Plains Academy with Cartwright as superintendent and 
 W. D. R. Trotter, his son-in-law, as teacher. In 1835, it 
 approved the plan of the Ebenezer Manual Labor School 
 drawn up by Peter Akers. The aim of this school was to 
 provide a system of self-help through a school farm and 
 workshop and to furnish at the same time elementary and 
 higher classical education with special emphasis on the train- 
 ing of ministers and missionaries to the Indians. Several 
 Indians were brought into the school to be educated as teach- 
 ers and as missionaries to their own people. Girls were ad- 
 mitted to the school. One of these later recalled the novel 
 and, at first, somewhat fearful experience of going to school 
 
8 History of MacMurray College 
 
 with Indians. The Ebenezer School became the local gram- 
 mar school for the vicinity. Students interested in both min- 
 istry and law attended, attracted by the reputation of 
 Peter Akers in both fields. Several outstanding leaders in the 
 Illinois Conference, among them William J. Rutledge and 
 G. R. S. McElfresh, were students at Ebenezer. Like many 
 of the academies of that day, the Ebenezer "School of 
 Prophets" was short-lived, closing its doors in 1843. The 
 original plan for the Illinois Conference Female College pro- 
 vided for its foundation at Ebenezer; thus the College was 
 considered as a sort of spiritual heir to Peter Akers' beloved 
 Manual Labor School. 
 
 The year 1836 marked a considerable advance in the 
 educational program of the Illinois Conference. To quote 
 Doctor Joseph R. Harker's manuscript history of this period: 
 
 The Report of the Committee on Education in the minutes of the 
 Illinois Conference for 1836 is a remarkable document, particularly for 
 that time. It shows more clearly than anything else the intense interest 
 of the Methodist Church in education, their loyalty to the public schools, 
 and their good judgment and practical common sense in suggesting a plan 
 admirably adapted to the situation at that time. The report is in reality 
 a detailed working out of the plan suggested fifty years before by Bishop 
 Asbury, and actually adopted by him as the "Methodist Plan'* after the 
 failure of the attempt to establish Cokesbury College. 12 
 This report, signed by Peter Cartwright, chairman, and 
 Peter Akers, secretary, both more or less continuously mem- 
 bers and often chairmen of the Education Committee, was 
 adopted by the Conference. It pledged continued support 
 to McKendree. Its main feature, however, was a plan for 
 grammar schools in every county or circuit to supply the 
 lack of common schools. This plan, had it been carried out, 
 would have brought schools within the reach of all, instead 
 of the few who alone would be able to attend the colleges. 
 
 Although this program was not realized in the scope pro- 
 jected, more than twenty grammar schools were established 
 under the patronage of the Conference in the two decades 
 which followed. Some of these were very successful for a 
 season. The adoption of an adequate plan of public instruc- 
 tion in 18 5 5 removed the special need for these schools. Only 
 
History of MacMurray College 9 
 
 one of the grammar schools survived, the English and Ger- 
 man School at Quincy, which later was reorganized as 
 Chaddock College, now Chaddock School for Boys. One 
 of these grammar schools, Howard Academy, was located 
 in Jacksonville in 1837 and placed under the administration 
 of Horace Spaulding, who later joined the faculty of the 
 Illinois Conference Female Academy. 13 This school did not 
 survive long, but it might be noted as the first Methodist 
 educational effort in Jacksonville. These Methodist gram- 
 mar schools, along with similar institutions under other de- 
 nominations or under private control, filled a definite need 
 until the public could be converted to the program of tax- 
 supported schools. 
 
 This summary survey should suggest at least the scope of 
 the Methodist interest in education in the United States in 
 the early nineteenth century and the educational program 
 of the Church in Illinois. Up to 1846, the Illinois Confer- 
 ence had made no provision, however, for the higher educa- 
 tion of women. Girls could be admitted to some of the 
 grammar schools. No separate school, either higher or lower, 
 had been founded for women. But over the country gen- 
 erally there had grown up considerable agitation that educa- 
 tion of a solid and serious character similar to that enjoyed 
 by men be provided for women. It was the day of the 
 female seminary. Arising in the East, the demand for the 
 seminary or college for women soon spread to the South and 
 West. 
 
 THE BACKGROUND — THE MOVEMENT FOR THE EDUCATION 
 OF WOMEN IN THE EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY 
 
 Professor Woody in his comprehensive History of Woman's 
 Education in the United States has given detailed treatment 
 to the female seminaries of the first half of the nineteenth 
 century. 114 An excellent survey of the movements in Illinois 
 is found in President Clarence P. McClelland's monograph, 
 The Education of Females in Early Illinois, published first 
 in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society of De- 
 cember 1943, and re-issued as one of the centennial publica- 
 
10 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tions of MacMurray College. 15 Only a brief statement of 
 the origins, character, and objectives of this very significant 
 movement is attempted here. 
 
 The demand for the education of women was an im- 
 portant phase of nineteenth century liberal thought, which 
 included also programs for the emancipation of slaves, for 
 world peace, foreign missions, popular education, the rights 
 of labor, universal suffrage, political, economic, and legal 
 rights for women, and other objectives, all looking to the 
 liberation of the individual — man, woman, slave, or savage — 
 from ignorance, injustice, inequality, or restraints on his per- 
 sonal freedom. Even dress reform for women reached the 
 proportion almost of a crusade among some of the "lunatic 
 fringe" of liberalism. The question of the education of 
 woman was closely associated with most of these other issues, 
 particularly through the belief that educated women would 
 be the most effective leaders in reform. 
 
 Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century little pro- 
 vision had been made in the United States for the education 
 of women. In some sections of the East girls might secure 
 elementary education in the "Dame Schools" conducted dur- 
 ing a few months of the year. Those who could afford it 
 might send their daughters to private schools or employ a 
 tutor. The early private academies for girls of the late 
 eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were generally 
 "finishing schools," offering instruction in French, dancing, 
 music, and the social graces. 
 
 Then, during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, 
 a revolution in opinion began. A group of determined men 
 and women — Benjamin Rush, Emma Willard, Catherine 
 Beecher, Mary Lyon, and others — began to demand a "solid 
 education" for women, the equivalent of the instruction 
 offered to men. Female seminaries under these women or 
 their pupils and disciples appeared with a much more sub- 
 stantial program of studies than that of the "finishing 
 school." These leaders and their institutions had to face a 
 half century of criticism before the idea of educating women 
 
History of MacMurray College II 
 
 was generally accepted. To educate women in the sciences, 
 mathematics, the classics, and philosophy, as men were edu- 
 cated, would unfit them for their proper sphere in life the 
 critics insisted, State legislatures refused aid and only reluc- 
 tantly granted incorporation. In the years from 1800 to 
 1860, however, the seminaries multiplied rapidly, especially 
 after 1825, and the movement spread from the East to the 
 South and West. Many of these schools were destined to 
 be short-lived; a few survived to become the basis for the 
 later liberal arts college. In the latter group was the Illinois 
 Conference Female Academy, now MacMurray College for 
 Women. The seminary for young ladies was definitely the 
 forerunner of our present-day collegiate education for wom- 
 en. It arose, however, before the day of exact classification 
 and rigid standardization, and one finds great variation 
 among the seminaries with respect to the program of studies 
 and the efficiency of the instruction. A few approached 
 and perhaps reached the standards of the men's colleges of 
 that day. Among these was the Illinois Conference Female 
 Academy (College after 1851). Others were not above 
 the level of the modern high school, and some hardly equalled 
 the high school. 
 
 The golden age of the female seminary for the United 
 States as a whole was the two decades preceding the Civil 
 War. They rose and flourished for a season like the pro- 
 verbial bay tree, particularly so in the prosperous early 1850s, 
 when cotton was king in the South and wheat was becoming 
 a rival monarch in the Middle West. The war checked their 
 growth and spread. After the war, the seminary began to 
 give way to the high school on the one hand and the college 
 on the other. A few of the old seminaries had sufficient 
 vitality to survive and to transform themselves around the 
 turn of the century into modern colleges of the first rank. 
 In this small group was found the Illinois Female College. 
 
 THE ILLINOIS CONFERENCE FEMALE ACADEMY 
 
 This school was the response of the Illinois Methodist Con- 
 ference to these new winds of educational philosophy com- 
 
12 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ing out of the East. Its foundation was a sort of climax 
 and crowning glory to its two decades of educational achieve- 
 ment. It became and remained an object of special pride 
 in spite of its vicissitudes and its years of depression and dis- 
 couragement. This pride in a seminary which had been 
 excellent for its early decades settled into a dangerous satis- 
 faction on the part of the patrons of the school. The Con- 
 ference came to regard its "fair temple of learning" as a 
 noble institution without equal west of the Alleghenies and 
 impregnable to the educational evolution in the country; 
 hence, in need of no further aid. As a result, it fell behind 
 as the modern college for women took the place of the ante 
 bellum seminary. 
 
 But this is to look ahead. Certainly in its early years the 
 pride of the Conference in its college was justified. Into 
 this new experiment went the effort of men trained in the 
 earlier educational work of the Conference or in the colleges 
 of the East, the South, and the Old West. One finds here, 
 too, men and women who had been close to the founders of 
 Methodism and to the first great teachers in the Church — 
 to Wilbur Fisk and Stephen Olin, to Asbury, and even to 
 Wesley himself. The Turner school of historians, who stress 
 the frontier influence as the main, if not the only, influence 
 in the civilization of the West, would find it difficult to ex- 
 plain the evolution of schools, along with many other insti- 
 tutions and practices, apart from the European and eastern 
 sources. 
 
 The scarcity and brevity of the contemporary records re- 
 lating to the foundation of the Illinois Conference Female 
 Academy make it difficult to measure with exact justice the 
 contribution of several individuals who had prominent parts 
 in the evolution of the plan. To the Conference, as a whole, 
 credit is due for approving the foundation at a time when 
 the State had not yet recovered from the reckless speculation 
 in lands and internal improvements which had reached its 
 climax in the Panic of 1837. In 1838, the Conference had 
 declared that it would aid as best it could such grammar 
 
History of MacMurray College 13 
 
 schools as had already been established but that it would 
 support no collegiate institution other than McKendree Col- 
 lege until it was placed "on a firm and immovable basis." 18 
 
 But, in spite of the hard times, the question of founding 
 a collegiate institution for women was brought before the 
 Illinois Conference in 1843. From the evidence that exists 
 this action and the final decision later to establish the Illinois 
 Conference Female Academy were the work of Peter Akers 
 more than of any other single individual. Other members 
 of the Conference, among whom James H. Dickens may 
 have been the foremost, contributed to the success of the 
 plan. Peter Cartwright was brought in to give it his bless- 
 ing and thus to make sure its approval by the Conference. 
 The only reference to this question that appeared in the 
 Minutes of the Conference of 1843 was a statement that a 
 committee was appointed "on a female institution of learn- 
 ing in the bounds of the Conference, provided for by a reso- 
 lution in the report of the Committee on Education." 17 
 The report of this committee was not included with the min- 
 utes, and has not been discovered in the archives of the Illinois 
 Conference. Peter Akers was chairman of the Education 
 Committee, however, and was named chairman of the spe- 
 cial committee on a "female institution of learning." He 
 was reappointed chairman of the Committee on Education 
 during the following years up to 1847, the years in which 
 the fate of the proposed school was being decided. 
 
 Some years later, about 1862, it is thought, James H. Dick- 
 ens wrote a letter to James Leaton, a prominent leader in 
 the Conference who had been selected to write its history, 
 in which letter he claimed chief credit for the idea of a 
 woman's college. 18 How much weight should be given to 
 this letter it is difficult to say. Dickens had a grievance; he 
 felt that he had been neglected by the Conference with ref- 
 erence to the control of the College; he had never been 
 named a trustee nor even a conference visitor. As he related 
 the story, the original conception was his. He had been 
 asked to serve as financial agent for McKendree College and 
 
14 History of MacMurray College 
 
 had, succeeded in securing to the College the land left it by 
 Bishop McKendree in his Will by appealing personally to 
 Bishop Soule, an executor who was alienated from his breth- 
 ren in Illinois by the 1844 division of the Church. The suc- 
 cessful outcome of his endeavor had two results of im- 
 portance to the success of the project for a woman's college: 
 first, he became an enthusiast for education; and second, 
 it relieved the Conference of some of its financial responsi- 
 bilities. With McKendree aided, the Conference might turn 
 to a woman's college. The committee appointed in 1843 
 on a "female institution" had made no report. Dickens 
 said that he decided to put some life into the project. He 
 approached Peter Akers on the subject and suggested Ebe- 
 nezer as the site. Akers favored the plan, drew up a paper, 
 and secured the financial support of several men in the 
 Ebenezer community. He won Cartwright by indirection. 
 With the consent of the president of McKendree, he sounded 
 him out as to whether or not he would accept a Doctor of 
 Divinity degree from that institution. Cartwright, flattered, 
 consented to the plan for a woman's college. Both he and 
 W. D. R. Trotter objected to the location at Ebenezer, but 
 Cartwright agreed to support the general idea and to leave 
 the question of the site to be worked out later. 
 
 This is the story as related by Dickens. It can be neither 
 proved nor disproved by the conference minutes. He wrote 
 it fifteen years or more later and with a feeling that he had 
 been overlooked with respect to the institution toward the 
 creation of which he had had a prominent part. The com- 
 mittee appointed in 1843 did not report in 1844. A possi- 
 ble explanation of that fact could be found in a statement 
 of Leaton in his History of the Illinois Conference: "This 
 (the Conference of 1844) was the gloomiest session of the 
 Conference ever held in Illinois on account of the general 
 sickness throughout the country. Scarcely a family escaped 
 it, and in many families there were not enough persons in 
 health to care for the sick. A large number of preachers 
 were so ill as to require a physician, to whom a formal note 
 
History of MacMurray College 15 
 
 of thanks was rendered for his gratuitous services/' 19 Also, 
 the Conference met on the eve of a presidential election, 
 which fact might have encouraged caution with respect to 
 any far-reaching plans. Perhaps the committee hesitated 
 to try to launch a new project under such conditions. It 
 could hardly have been lack of interest, since Akers, as chair- 
 man of the Committee on Education, had been responsible 
 for the original proposal. 
 
 Before the Conference met in 1845, Peter Akers had 
 drawn up a plan for a female academy at Ebenezer and had 
 secured the approval of the local church and the financial 
 backing of certain individuals. This plan was set forth in 
 the following document, which exists in the handwriting of 
 Akers: 
 
 "Whereas, the Trustees of the Ebenezer Society have resolved upon erect- 
 ing a capacious brick female seminary on the school premises at Ebenezer 
 in Morgan County, State of Illinois, for the purpose of providing the means 
 of liberal education for the daughters of all persons, parents, guardians, etc. 
 who may avail themselves of its privileges, which institution is to be con- 
 ducted on the most honorable and liberal principles — and for this purpose 
 the trustees have resolved to apply to a generous and enlightened public 
 for necessary aid to accomplish the work, make certain repairs and im- 
 provements, procure the necessary apparatus, library, etc. — 
 
 Therefore, we whose names are hereunto subscribed, in consideration of 
 the high regard we have for the liberal and useful education of females; 
 and to enable the trustees . . . the more successfully to accomplish their 
 laudable undertaking, do hereby agree to pay them, the said trustees, John 
 McElfresh, and others, or their agent the several sums annexed to our 
 names in three several installments from the date of this subscription . . . 
 June 27, 1845. 20 
 
 There followed pledges of $100 each from Peter Akers, 
 William S. Jordan, George W. Reid, Nathan Buckingham, 
 Thomas Ford, and Stephen H. Reid. This document, with 
 a petition to the Conference for its adoption, is probably 
 the paper to which G. R. S. McElfresh, prominent minister 
 of the Illinois Conference and son of John McElfresh, men- 
 tioned above, referred in an article, "The Genesis of the Illi- 
 nois Conference Female College," in the Illinois Methodist 
 Journal of May 2, 1901. 21 He declared: "I think that the 
 idea of the Female College originated in the mind of Doctor 
 Akers." Referring then to Akers' work at Ebenezer, Mc- 
 
16 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Elfresh continued: "A few years after, he conceived the idea 
 of establishing a Methodist School for young women in Jack- 
 sonville or vicinity. For this purpose he drew up a paper 
 in the summer of 1845, praying the Conference to act in the 
 matter. This paper he submitted to my father, Reverend 
 John McElfresh, who had been one of the trustees of the Eb- 
 enezer school, for his signature. He gave it to the Confer- 
 ence, which met in Springfield in September 1845." 
 
 Akers, as chairman of the Education Committee, read the 
 report recommending the establishment of a conference 
 seminary at Ebenezer. The report, finally unanimously ap- 
 proved, provoked discussion and some amendment. 22 The 
 first resolution, "to establish," was changed to read "to pa- 
 tronize"; the Conference did not undertake to support the 
 school financially. But the main objections and discussions 
 arose over the question of location. It was finally agreed, 
 on the motion of Cartwright, that a committee be approved 
 to "go out among our people and receive propositions for 
 the location and establishment of a female institute and re- 
 port to the next Conference." 23 
 
 It seems fortunate that the Academy was not placed 
 at Ebenezer, a small rural community. It should be stated, 
 however, that Akers did not insist on the Ebenezer plan. 
 When objections were raised in the Conference, he made the 
 motion to drop it, although Dickens declared that it could 
 have been passed. 24 Akers had a sentimental attachment to 
 Ebenezer through ties of home and close friendships. Per- 
 haps he sought to perpetuate certain traditions of the Ebe- 
 nezer school — its system of self-help, its devotion to the 
 study of the Bible. The relative cheapness of a foundation 
 there might have appealed to him and to others upon whom 
 the responsibility for raising funds would fall. A beginning 
 already existed at Ebenezer. Akers was never insistent or 
 aggressive, however, except in matters of principle. 
 
 On September 23, 1846, the Conference, meeting in 
 Paris, Illinois, approved the following recommendations 
 of the Committee on Education: 
 
History of MacMurray College 17 
 
 1. Jacksonville is the place fixed upon by this Conference as the seat 
 of our Conference Female Academy. 
 
 2. A committee of three — Reverends P. Akers, W. J. Rutledge, and 
 J. C. Pinchard — are hereby appointed to receive proposals for and to select 
 the particular site for said institution in Jacksonville and to prepare and 
 circulate subscriptions for the purchase of suitable grounds, and the 
 erection of sufficient buildings, if need be, and to do anything and every- 
 thing in the premises for the establishment and prosperity of this part of 
 our educational enterprise, but in all cases without binding the Conference 
 in pecuniary liabilities beyond what each member may bind himself to give. 
 
 We will each for himself subscribe as liberally as we can to raise the 
 funds necessary for the erection of buildings, etc.; and we will receive sub- 
 scription papers from the above-named Conference committee, and use our 
 best endeavors to obtain from our friends liberal contributions and sub- 
 scriptions to be applied on behalf of our Conference Female Academy. 25 
 
 Thus the Academy came to Jacksonville. With reference 
 to its location, McKendree McElfresh stated in his "Remi- 
 niscences of the Late Peter Akers," published ia the Central 
 Christian Advocate in 1886: "When the question of locat- 
 ing the Illinois Female College was agitated, there were three 
 places nominated: Jacksonville, Winchester, and Ebenezer. 
 Taking the vote, it is an item of interest that Ebenezer 
 came within one vote of securing the College." 26 The writer 
 has seen no other reference to Winchester as a possible loca- 
 tion. The question of Jacksonville as the site provoked 
 considerable controversy among certain individuals and 
 groups in the city itself with respect to two issues: whether 
 it should be located in Jacksonville; and, if so, whether it 
 should purchase the property of the Presbyterian Academy 
 already located there. On September 21, two days before 
 the Conference adopted the report of the Education Com- 
 mittee, Horace Spaulding, a prominent Methodist of the city, 
 who had been head of the short-lived Methodist Howard 
 Academy, wrote to Peter Akers: 
 
 Jacksonville, 
 Sept. 21, 1846 
 Brother Akers: 
 
 Since you went to Conference, the friends of the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy have held a meeting, and I take the liberty of apprising you of 
 the state of public sentiment at this time. This matter of establishing a 
 Conference Female Academy is raising a great breeze; and our people 
 feel very much exasperated at the course of the anti-Methodist party. 
 
18 History of MacMurray College 
 
 As far as I can learn, most of our people, excited by the impulse of the 
 moment, are anxious for the Conference to establish a rival Female Acad- 
 emy in this place; but those men to whom we would look for the great- 
 est pecuniary aid in carrying it forward think it impolitic and fear it 
 would not be sustained. 
 
 This much is certain: The anti-Methodist party are intending to 
 make a powerful effort to sustain their school; and unless our confer- 
 ence is prepared and determined to make a long and vigorous effort to 
 sustain the new academy, I do not believe it would be good policy to 
 locate it at this place. It is certain that two such schools could not sur- 
 vive, perhaps both would die; and I am sure that with the foothold the 
 anti-Methodists have got many years would elapse before they would 
 give up. 27 
 
 Two days earlier Matthew Stacy, another leading Metho- 
 dist of Jacksonville and a member of the Board of Trus- 
 tees of the Jacksonville Female Academy, wrote to Peter 
 Akers and William Rutledge to inform them that the Acad- 
 emy had decided not to sell the property. The women of 
 the Presbyterian Church "in their corporate capacity as the 
 Jacksonville Female Sewing Society" had raised $1,000 to 
 save their school; other contributions were promised or hoped 
 for; and the Board of Trustees had reversed its decision 
 to sell by a vote of eight to two, Matthew Stacy being against 
 the change of vote. 28 
 
 These letters are interesting as evidence of local religious 
 and educational rivalry. Horace Spaulding had been prin- 
 cipal of a Methodist school in Jacksonville which had failed. 
 His attitude reflected no doubt the "burnt child" philosophy. 
 Methodists of property objected to the risk involved; they 
 were less inclined to speculative ventures. Perhaps some of 
 the "better class" Methodists felt the social cleavage in their 
 own denomination and preferred to patronize the Presby- 
 terian institution or disliked the possible conflicts that a 
 rival institution would produce in Jacksonville society. 
 Whether these letters were received before the Confer- 
 ence approved the committee report, the writer does not 
 know. At any rate, they did not prevent the choice of 
 Jacksonville as the center for the new academy. Having 
 located it, the Conference selected these men as the first 
 Board of Trustees: Peter Cartwright, Peter Akers, W. D. R. 
 
History of MacMurray College 19 
 
 Trotter, William Thomas, William Brown, Nicholas Mil- 
 burn, Matthew Stacy, Joseph Capps, and William Stribling. 
 
 THE SETTING ^HISTORIC MORGAN AND CLASSIC 
 
 JACKSONVILLE" 
 
 The selection of Jacksonville as a site has been a very 
 important factor in the history of the College and of Jack- 
 sonville. From its earliest pages "town and gown" relations 
 have had a prominent place in educational history. No 
 doubt the unpleasant, the sensational, often the superficial 
 aspects of these contacts have received undue publicity and 
 emphasis to the neglect of the more significant influences, 
 whether favorable or unfavorable. But the economic status, 
 the racial and social composition, the intellectual atmosphere, 
 even the physical surroundings — the sights and sounds and 
 smells, and the weather — of the college town are all factors 
 in the life and education of the student. And, as to the town 
 — that is, if it is a small college town — its tempo, its "sea- 
 sons," indeed, its life and living are determined by the open- 
 ing and the closing of its schools. 
 
 Incorporated in 1825, Jacksonville was already a town 
 of some size, wealth, and culture compared to other fron- 
 tier settlements when the Illinois Conference Female Acad- 
 emy was founded. Located a little south of center in Illi- 
 nois, its early and, to the middle of the century, its chief 
 source of population had been from the Old South by way 
 of Kentucky and Tennessee. With the founding of Illi- 
 nois College by the Yale Band in 1829, settlers from New 
 England increased in number. Thus central Illinois, includ- 
 ing Morgan County and its main city, Jacksonville, became 
 a battle-ground of northern and southern traditions, in- 
 stitutions, ideas, and prejudices. Added to these groups were 
 considerable numbers of English, Irish, and German immi- 
 grants, who contributed their blood and culture and came 
 to participate actively in the political, religious, and social 
 conflicts. A large colony of Presbyterian Portuguese from 
 the Madeira Islands, settled near Jacksonville in 1849, has 
 constituted another distinctive contribution to this social 
 
20 History of MacMurray College 
 
 complexity. The battle of ideas within and between these 
 groups reached a climax in the controversy over slavery and 
 its abolition. Not even the "sheltered life" of the young 
 ladies' seminary was left free from the deep disturbance over 
 these issues. 
 
 Social as well as racial and sectional cleavages divided Jack- 
 sonville society and cut across these other lines of division. 
 The New Englanders introduced a Brahmin element of birth 
 and culture. To this "upper crust" recruits were added 
 from the better-born and better-educated of other section- 
 al groups. There were exceptions. The Rutledges of an 
 old and famous Virginia family were very democratic. 
 The story of the purchase of a lot for the Methodist Acad- 
 emy will illustrate this point. It is told below. Another 
 story is the following: In 1860, the Conference came to 
 Jacksonville. The committee to place the minister-delegates 
 fell into dispute. Certain ones wished to choose the more 
 prominent delegates. William Rutledge felt that the names 
 on the list should be checked without discrimination. He 
 became so disgusted with the "aristocracy of West State 
 Street" that he left the committee in disgust. Mrs. Rutledge 
 hoped the Conference would not return to Jacksonville until 
 the city became more hospitable. 29 Thus the Methodists, 
 generally the more democratic element, were themselves di- 
 vided along social lines. The building of internal improve- 
 ments, especially the railroad, brought workers, among them 
 large numbers of Irish, who increased the "lower crust" ele- 
 ment and created new religious and social conflicts. 
 
 Jacksonville had aspired at one time to the place of capi- 
 tal city and had continued to furnish outstanding political 
 and judicial leadership — Governors Duncan and the Yateses; 
 John J. Hardin, able lawyer, hero and victim of the Mexican 
 War; Stephen A. Douglas, Vermonter, who chose Jack- 
 sonville as his first location in the West; William Thomas, 
 outstanding legislator and judge, and others — but the destiny 
 of political preeminence passed her by. And, although cen- 
 trally located, a main point on the first railroad and near 
 
History of MacMurray College 21 
 
 river routes east and west, it was not her fate to become a 
 great industrial city, as some had hoped and expected. The 
 town secured, it is true, some early industries, such as the 
 interesting Capps Woolen Mills which still survive and 
 flourish, but it became and has remained primarily a cen- 
 ter of mercantile, banking, and professional groups, serving 
 a rich agricultural and cattle region. Conservative in poli- 
 tics on the whole ( among the masses there was strong demo- 
 cratic sentiment), the slavery question produced, never- 
 theless, a prominent abolitionist group, and the city laid 
 claim to the credit of organizing in 1853 the first club on 
 the platform later adopted by the new and radical Repub- 
 lican Party. 30 
 
 Jacksonville's chief claim to distinction has been in the 
 realm of intellectual, aesthetic, and educational interests. 
 Even apart from her schools, she became a city of students; 
 notably so, in the last half of the nineteenth century. As 
 political and industrial preeminence passed her by, she turned 
 to philosophy, a sort of post-Emersonian transcendentalism 
 opposing itself to the materialism of the industrial and scien- 
 tific age. Under the leadership of Doctor Hiram K. Jones 
 and his Plato Club, Jacksonville became a main center in 
 the United States for the study of Platonic philosophy. 31 
 But this group, which spread its influence through all the 
 region and even beyond, was only one of many groups for 
 adult study, patronized by both men and women. A patron 
 of all the arts, Jacksonville received in its commodious Opera 
 House, built by Jacob Strawn, the foremost lecturers and 
 musicians of the day. "The young people of those days were 
 brought up on classical music, eloquence, and star actors," 
 one commentator wrote. 32 Students in the schools lived in 
 this atmosphere of study, often listened to the lectures of 
 these local "philosophers," or attended the concerts in the 
 Opera House. The Golden Age of this cultural expansion 
 had not been reached when the Female College was founded, 
 but it was on the way. 
 
 Reference has been made above to the schools already 
 
22 History of MacMurray College 
 
 located in Jacksonville before the Methodist Academy was 
 established — Illinois College and the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy. To these institutions had come many able men 
 and women from the East — Edward Beecher, Jonathan 
 Baldwin Turner, Julian M. Sturtevant, Sarah Crocker, and 
 others. The Academy, burdened with financial reverses in 
 1846 and on the point of being sold to the Methodists, was 
 to survive until 1903 and to be merged then with Illinois 
 College. In the 1850s there existed a short-lived Berea 
 College under the patronage of the Christian Church. Dur- 
 ing the Civil War another woman's school, the Athenaeum, 
 was founded. It continued in operation for two decades. 
 These institutions, rivals for local patronage (even the men's 
 college was a rival for local recognition), were a constant 
 spur and incentive to each other. Two or more institutions 
 sometimes used the same teachers, thus making it possible 
 to secure a higher level of ability and expert training. This 
 practice was followed particularly in the languages and the 
 fine arts. The Female College established especially close 
 relations with Illinois College through the literary societies. 
 Other institutions that brought able educators to Jackson- 
 ville were the schools for the deaf and for the blind. In- 
 dicative of the zeal for education existing in the town 
 almost from its foundation was the Ladies' Association for 
 Educating Females, organized in 1833 to assist in the edu- 
 cation of poor girls and said to be the oldest woman's club 
 in the United States still in existence. 33 Its purpose was to 
 train young ladies to teach in order that they might supply 
 the great lack of teachers. 
 
 The home of the Female College was already becoming a 
 city of broad avenues, beautiful and substantial homes, quiet 
 gardens, and great elm trees — Elm City, it came to be called. 
 In 1846, it was still somewhat raw with large open spaces 
 between Illinois College and the Square; but Duncan House 
 and some others had been built. To the east there was the 
 beautiful home of General Grierson, still standing and the 
 property of MacMurray College; also, the home of John J. 
 
History of MacMurray College 23 
 
 Hardin. The streets — Beecher, Webster (Daniel Webster 
 spoke under a spreading elm at Duncan House) , Clay, Doug- 
 las, Hardin, Kentucky, Prairie, College, Church — record in 
 their names the panorama of history. This was the city of 
 which Will Irwin, who chose Jacksonville as the most beau- 
 tiful Middle Western town, wrote: "These houses of Jack- 
 sonville are beautiful, and yet homes. They have grown old 
 enough to settle into the landscape. They suggest moderate 
 wealth and reasonable luxury; they suggest also the girls of 
 late afternoons making splotches of color on the piazza, 
 the children of winter evenings reading or getting their les- 
 sons 'round the living room lamp, the boys of summer morn- 
 ings tinkering with the machine in the garage." 34 Such a 
 Jacksonville was in the making when the Illinois Confer- 
 ence decided on September 23, 1846, to locate its academy 
 there. 
 
 THE FIRST CHARTER RELATION OF SCHOOL AND CHURCH 
 
 The Board of Trustees, appointed by the Conference in 
 September 1846, applied at once to the General Assembly of 
 Illinois for a charter. On January 16, 1847, the Act of In- 
 corporation of the Illinois Conference Female Academy was 
 signed by Governor French. 35 Thus, this institution did not 
 suffer the long delay in securing incorporation experienced 
 by McKendree, Illinois, and Shurtleff Colleges. Those 
 schools had obtained charters in 1835 after several years of 
 effort and even then subject to considerable limitation of 
 powers. They could hold no more than 640 acres of land, 
 could establish no theological departments, and were required 
 to admit Christians of any denomination. 36 The suspicious 
 and even hostile attitude of the legislature has been at- 
 tributed to the fear that colleges might secure through large 
 gifts vast amounts of land, the summum bonum of the West- 
 erner, and hold it in the "dead hand" of the perpetual cor- 
 poration free from state control; and that they might attain 
 too much influence over the civil government and through 
 them the Church might come to dominate the State. It has 
 been suggested, also, that the Assembly, controlled by the 
 
24 History of MacMurray College 
 
 southern element, feared colleges administered by theolog- 
 ically-trained Yankees. 37 Nevertheless, some of the leading 
 advocates of granting charters, among them William 
 Thomas, Newton Cloud, Abraham Lincoln, and Governor 
 Joseph Duncan, were of southern origin. 
 
 The battle fought by the men's colleges eased the way, 
 no doubt, for the incorporation of the Illinois Conference 
 Female Academy. And the able William Thomas, member 
 of the Board of Trustees, was again a member of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly when this school applied for a charter. The 
 charter was secured without delay, but, like the earlier ones, 
 it contained limitations on land ownership. Only 100 acres 
 could be held. Gifts above this amount must be sold within 
 five years, or they would revert to the donors. No more than 
 five acres of land for a building site were exempt from 
 taxation. 
 
 This charter placed no limitations on the freedom of the 
 Academy with respect to the admission of students. Never- 
 theless, the religious policy adopted by the school was a 
 broad one. The competition for members among the dif- 
 ferent sects in the Middle West had not yet disappeared in 
 the broad tolerance or religious indifference of a later day. 
 The desire of the Methodists to educate their daughters in 
 a Methodist school was one of the reasons for the founda- 
 tion of the Academy. However, the school was not nar- 
 rowly sectarian. Members of other churches appear among 
 students and faculty; indeed, non-sectarianism seems to have 
 been tacitly assumed as the policy at first; the earlier cata- 
 logues contained no statement on religion. The first cata- 
 logue to mention religious policy, that of 1852, stated: "The 
 moral and religious influences of the institution are designed 
 to be exerted upon the broad principles of the Christian re- 
 ligion, and not to enforce the 'belief of any particular sect 
 or denomination." 38 And, in 1856, a more specific state- 
 ment as to religious policy appeared: "Young ladies will be 
 required to attend Church services with the President and 
 Teachers every Sabbath, at the Methodist Church, unless 
 
History of MacMurray College 25 
 
 they are members of other churches, or they are desired to 
 attend elsewhere. In such cases they will be required to 
 attend the places designated regularly." 39 
 
 In later years there arose among some members of the 
 Illinois Methodist Conference questions and doubts about 
 the exact relation of the school to the Church and some 
 complaints that the school was not really a conference in- 
 stitution but independent. 40 The charter and conference 
 minutes would seem to make very clear the relation of the 
 two with respect to control. Under the charter the Con- 
 ference, which had nominated the Board named in it, had 
 the right to nominate to the Board persons to fill vacancies. 
 The Board appointed those thus nominated. The Confer- 
 ence appointed regularly a board of visitors to examine the 
 College. This board attended the semester examinations, 
 conducted orally for many years, and might visit the Col- 
 lege at any time. The president of the school or the Board 
 of Trustees made a report annually to the Conference. At 
 times, and more frequently in the beginning, the Confer- 
 ence employed an agent to solicit patronage and funds. 
 Usually this agent was paid from the funds raised. Indi- 
 vidual ministers supported the College through their pul- 
 pits or in letters to the church papers. As to financial 
 support, however, the school has been largely self-supporting 
 except in certain crises when a few loyal ministers and a 
 few faithful Methodist laymen came to the rescue. The 
 Conference of 1846 had declared that it would promote the 
 Academy's interests, "but in all cases without involving the 
 Conference in pecuniary liabilities beyond what each mem- 
 ber may bind himself to give." If there were any occasion 
 for questions as to which institution had profitted the more 
 from the relationship, it would appear that the school had 
 the better reason to raise the issue. 
 
 The charter provided that the Board of Trustees might be 
 increased to twelve. The term of service was fixed at six 
 years, one-third of the members retiring each second year. 
 There was no limitation on reappointment; some members 
 
26 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of the first Board served over thirty years, one over forty. 
 The trustees had the power to plan and erect buildings, to 
 choose the principal, teachers, and employees, to fix salaries 
 and wages, to establish the prices for tuition and board, and 
 to prescribe the course of study. 
 
 THE FOUNDING FATHERS 
 
 Different from the custom of many schools in which 
 Founders' Days memorialize an individual, either a pres- 
 ident or a large benefactor, and fall perhaps upon his birth- 
 day, Founders' Day, October 10, at MacMurray College 
 commemorates the first meeting of the Board of Trustees. 
 The members of this Board are recognized as the founders. 
 This recognition would seem to be justified. The foundation 
 of the school was the work primarily of certain men on this 
 Board; and its organization, its early success, and later sur- 
 vival were due largely to the devoted service and generous 
 gifts of members of this first Board and a few others placed 
 on it soon after it was created. 
 
 The minutes of this Board for the first twelve years of 
 its history are recorded in the clear hands of William Brown 
 and John Mathers, its secretaries, in a small composition book 
 (cost, thirty cents). These minutes are preserved in the 
 college archives as a precious historical record. They reveal 
 the careful attention the Board gave to the selection of prin- 
 cipals and teachers, to the planning and erection of the first 
 building and all the out -houses, to efforts to raise funds and 
 establish an endowment, and to many important matters 
 of internal administration. Also, the minutes record the 
 minute attention given to innumerable matters of detail: 
 the Board "resolved that Brother Gass see to putting up a 
 lightning-rod"; "that Rev. J. F. Jaquess procure a geological 
 table"; and "that Brothers Newman and Jaquess see Mrs. 
 Blodget and ascertain what a pair of terrestrial and celestial 
 globes can be obtained for." Meetings were held rather fre- 
 quently, an average of eight or ten a year. The basement 
 of Centenary Church, the office of Brown and Yates or that 
 of William Thomas, and the home of Nicholas Milburn were 
 
History of MacMurray College 27 
 
 meeting places before the erection of the college building 
 and sometimes afterwards. In the first years no regular meet- 
 ings were set; they were held when called, which time might 
 be any day at 7:30 in the morning, at noon, or at "early 
 candle-lighting." In October 1854, a resolution was adopted 
 "that hereafter the Board of Trustees shall meet at the col- 
 lege building on the first Monday of every month at early 
 candle-lighting." 41 Shortly afterwards, December 5, 1854, 
 it adopted a set of by-laws, which provided that meetings 
 be held the second Tuesday of each month. 42 
 
 The first Board of Trustees consisted of nine men. By 
 an amendment to the charter in 1851, the number was in- 
 creased to a possible thirty-two. 43 From 1858 for several 
 years the number was thirty, then it dropped back to nine 
 after the reorganization in 1863. The membership was 
 rather evenly distributed between ministers and laymen. 
 From 1855 to 1858, however, the ministers were twice the 
 number of laymen. The lay members were generally resi- 
 dents of Jacksonville and had an advantage in attendance 
 upon meetings. Of the first Board, all members were resi- 
 dents of Jacksonville except Peter Cartwright. This first 
 Board had contained five laymen and four ministers; but 
 Joseph Capps did not accept the appointment, and William 
 Rutledge was named in his place, this appointment giving 
 the ministers a majority. 
 
 At the meeting of October 10, 1846, a temporary organ- 
 ization was effected; Peter Cartwright was elected pres- 
 ident; William Brown, secretary; and Matthew Stacy, treas- 
 urer. A prudential committee was named to act with the 
 conference committee in transacting the business of the 
 Board. In the light of some financial policies adopted a 
 little later, policies characteristic of speculative frontier busi- 
 ness generally, the name "prudential" appears ironical. The 
 title was changed to "executive committee" in the charter, 
 but the Board continued to use the term "prudential" for 
 some time. 
 
 This temporary organization of the Board was continued 
 
28 History of MacMurray College 
 
 until March 5, 1847, when a permanent organization was 
 effected. Peter Akers was elected president, Brown and Stacy 
 were continued as secretary and treasurer. Akers served as 
 president until he retired from the Board in 1854, a period 
 of almost eight years. At that time, November 6, 1854, 
 Matthew Stacy was chosen president. 44 It appears that pop- 
 ular tradition has accredited Cartwright with a dominant 
 position on the first Board of Trustee-Founders, and many 
 do not know that Akers was a member. Cartwright at- 
 tended few of the early meetings; Akers was present at 
 almost all the meetings for the first two years of his presi- 
 dency, in later years only seldom; but he atttended on the 
 average more meetings than Cartwright. Cartwright was 
 president of the Board only as president pro tempore for 
 five months; he remained a member until 1862. Without 
 a doubt Cartwright was a powerful figure in the Church 
 and directly as well as indirectly in the school, but the record 
 might as well be set straight. 
 
 In the course of her history, MacMurray College has had 
 many able and some distinguished trustees and a long list 
 of faithful servants on the Board who have given generously 
 of their time and thought and often of their money. It is 
 impossible here to record the history of each one. Certain 
 members will be mentioned as they appear on the scene in 
 some special connection. At this point it would seem fitting 
 that some particular attention be given to this band of early 
 trustees, who built the "noble craft" and sent it on its course. 
 Few of these men were college graduates, but they were well- 
 educated, and several of them would be considered scholars. 
 The majority were of southern origin (all except one). 
 This fact is interesting in contrast to the history of Illinois 
 College, whose founders were from the Northeast. The in- 
 troduction of teachers and trustees from the Northeast and 
 the Middle East into the Illinois Conference Female College 
 soon after its foundation provided a fruitful field for con- 
 flicts and for the fusion of cultures. Although all these 
 trustees were Methodists, several of them came from Pres- 
 
History of MacMurray College 29 
 
 byterian families, a fact which might suggest the tendency 
 in the West to turn from the more severe Calvinism to the 
 free grace of Methodism. 
 
 MacMurray College should cherish the memory of her 
 foremost trustee-founder, the wise and good Peter Akers. 
 Less widely known nationally than the "other Peter," Peter 
 Cartwright, he has been pronounced by one able student of 
 the Church as the greatest man that western Methodism 
 produced. 45 No other minister in the western Church could 
 equal him in the pulpit, at least, and in the East only the 
 renowned Stephen Olin was of his elevation. 46 The fame 
 of his pulpit oratory became legendary in Methodist circles 
 and beyond. He was massive, majestic, in physical as well 
 as in intellectual and moral stature. Bishop Ames said of 
 his preaching: "It reminds me of Ajax throwing rocks no 
 other man could lift." 47 Of great native intelligence, well- 
 educated, scholarly by inclination and habit, a close student 
 — especially of Biblical history and literature — he early 
 took rank as one of the first minds in the history of the 
 Church. 
 
 But, respected for his wisdom and learning, Peter Akers 
 was even more revered for his saintliness. He lived on an 
 elevated spiritual plane, a mystic in close communion with 
 the Divine. He was credited with prophetic powers, al- 
 though he did not parade such abilities. Comparing him 
 with Cartwright, G. R. S. McElfresh, a friend who knew 
 both men well, said: "Cartwright was the greater organizer; 
 Akers, the greater preacher; Cartwright, a man of affairs; 
 Akers, a man of books; Cartwright had superior force; 
 Akers, superior dignity. If Cartwright was a surging Ni- 
 agara of restless activity and force, Akers was a Mont Blanc 
 towering up in moral influence, stately, serene, and grand." 48 
 If the Methodist Church recognized a Pope as the head of 
 its hierarchy, Peter Cartwright might have aspired to the 
 place; if there were a Methodist calendar of saints, Akers 
 would assuredly have been among those canonized. In his 
 very old age — he lived to be ninety-five — his home church, 
 
30 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Centenary in Jacksonville, observed his birthday each year 
 in a special service of "Old Saints' Day," in which the 
 elderly members were honored. Peter Akers preached the 
 sermon on this Sunday — his last on his ninety-fourth birth- 
 day. W. H. Milburn, world traveler and lecturer, ac- 
 quainted with great men and women in many lands, said 
 of him: "His majesty of mien and spirit would have been 
 oppressive but for the fascination you found in his childlike 
 openness and purity. No other man's invariable sanctity 
 ever affected me as did his through our intimacy of many 
 years." 49 
 
 As to the power and scope of his influence, Milburn de- 
 clared that Peter Akers was the greatest preacher of right- 
 eousness in the Mississippi Valley in his day. 50 He had a 
 clarity of view on the problems and the evils of his day — 
 war, slavery, political corruption, intemperance — that came 
 from a mind absolutely free from any desire for personal 
 influence or dominance. His clarity of view was accounted 
 as prophetic vision. One story widely told among his church 
 associates and related by some of the Lincoln biographers is 
 the following: In 1837, Akers preached a sermon at Salem 
 Church, near Springfield, in which he attacked the evils of 
 slavery, caste, and other forms of civil and religious tyranny 
 and predicted a conflict over slavery in the decade 1860 to 
 1870. A group of lawyers and politicians from Springfield 
 had driven out to the service, Abraham Lincoln among them. 
 Discussing the sermon on the way home, the other members 
 of the party made light of the prophecy and declared Akers 
 an abolitionist (he was anti-slavery in opinion, but not an 
 abolitionist). Lincoln was silent, and finally declared: "It 
 was the most impressive sermon I ever heard. J believe it, 
 and wonder that God should have given such power to a 
 man. The most wonderful thing to me was that I somehow 
 seemed to be strangely mixed up with it." 51 Akers was not 
 only well-informed and deeply concerned on the public 
 questions of his time, but also usually in advance of his time 
 
History of MacMurray College 31 
 
 in his position with reference to them. Among these issues 
 was that of the position of woman and her education. 
 
 Peter Akers was born in Campbell County, Virginia, in 
 1790, of devout Presbyterian parents. 52 After receiving a 
 good classical education in Virginia schools, including the 
 New London Academy, and considerable private instruc- 
 tion, he taught school for several years. At the age of 
 twenty-five he went to Kentucky, studied law, entered into 
 a law partnership with Major Fleming of Flemingsburg and 
 was soon on the way to a brilliant career in law and politics. 
 For a time he was editor of a Whig paper, The Star. In 
 1818, he married Eliza Faris, a young lady of good family, 
 who encouraged him in his aspirations to wealth and fame. 
 The death of his first-born, a son, and the illness of his wife, 
 which ended some months later in her death, turned them 
 both to religion, and they united with the Methodist Church 
 in 1821. Up to this time he had been considered a free- 
 thinker, or Deist of the eighteenth-century school of ration- 
 alism. His later life in both its philosophy and action may 
 appear as a complete reversal of his former course. Never- 
 theless, reading his own account of his youth and young 
 manhood written in 1821, one sees that from his early years 
 he was inclined to serious self-examination and spiritual 
 questioning and that this tendency had continued into man- 
 hood. It would appear that his restless pursuit of worldly 
 success was largely an effort to escape his mental unease. He 
 became convinced finally that his years had been "lavished 
 away in following an ignis fatuus, which, if pursued, would 
 cheat me out of all the business of life." 53 
 
 Shortly after the death of his wife, Peter Akers turned to 
 the ministry, which was to be his "business of life" for the 
 next sixty-five years. In 1823, he entered the Kentucky 
 Conference. He was soon recognized as one of its ablest 
 ministers and appointed to serve such important churches 
 as Lexington and Louisville. The Kentucky Conference sent 
 him as a delegate to the General Conferences of 1828 and 
 1832. At the Conference of 1832, he was elected assist- 
 
32 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ant editor of the Christian Advocate and Journal, the out- 
 standing Methodist periodical, but he refused the position, 
 preferring the pulpit. During his residence in Kentucky- 
 he served as agent for Augusta College, at that time the 
 oldest degree-granting Methodist college in the country. In 
 1825, the trustees of Transylvania University conferred upon 
 him the degree of Master of Arts "as a testimony of their 
 respect for his [your] attainments and virtues." 54 
 
 In 1832, Peter Akers moved to Illinois with his second 
 wife, Elizabeth Reid Akers, sister of Mrs. Joseph Capps, of 
 Jacksonville. Here he lived until his death in 1886 except 
 for a few years' residence in Red Wing, Minnesota, in the 
 late 1850s. To the Illinois Conference he gave his years of 
 greatest service: as pastor, as presiding elder, as college pres- 
 ident and trustee, as Methodist seer. The Illinois Conference 
 sent him six times as a delegate to the General Conference. 
 In the General Conference of 1844, he was a member of the 
 famous committee of nine appointed to consider and to 
 reconcile, if possible, the differences between the northern 
 and southern groups over the question of slavery. Akers, 
 it is said, furnished the form and substance of the speech 
 that made Hamline a bishop at this Conference. 55 Akers 
 at one time lacked only one vote of being made a bishop. 56 
 By any effort on his part he could have become one, it is 
 said. But he had given up following an ignis fatuus of 
 power and prestige and was pursuing "the business of life." 
 
 Akers held many positions of an academic character and 
 was profoundly interested in the educational mission of the 
 Church. He was founder and first head of his beloved Eb- 
 enezer Manual Labor School; three times president of Mc- 
 Kendree College (1833-35; 1845-46; 1852-56), which con- 
 ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity; member 
 for many years and often chairman of the Illinois Confer- 
 ence Education Commission, and president of the Board of 
 Trustees of the Illinois Conference Female Academy in its 
 formative years. His educational ideas and philosophy are 
 discussed below. 
 
JAMES F. JAQUESS 
 
 The First President 
 of the College 
 
 PETER CARTWRIGHT 
 
 The First President of the 
 Board of Trustees 
 
History of MacMurray College 33 
 
 It is difficult to measure the contributions of Peter Akers 
 to this school. His influence extended over a great length 
 of time. The foundation of the Academy seems to have 
 been primarily his idea; he aided in and watched over its 
 early physical, financial, and scholastic development. After 
 his return to Jacksonville in the 1860s, he lived in the shadow 
 of the College, visited on its campus, attended its commence- 
 ments, sat on the stage with the graduates, and often pro- 
 nounced the benediction. He was several times chairman 
 of the conference board of visitors to the College. When 
 the third disastrous fire (1872) destroyed a large part of 
 the College and there was some doubt as to the wisdom 
 of continuing the enterprise at all, it was Peter Akers, then 
 eighty-two, who "very earnestly insisted that the institution 
 must take no backward step on account of the recent calam- 
 ity." 57 Great as were the tangible contributions, the im- 
 ponderables are probably larger in measuring Akers' service 
 to the College. His life was a benediction and his memory 
 is a rich heritage. 
 
 Peter Cartwright, famous Methodist circuit rider, has 
 been the subject of considerable biographical study, includ- 
 ing his own books, The Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, 
 and Fifty Years a Presiding Elder. 58 His fame even spread 
 abroad: In 1872 and 1873, the Methodist Quarterly Review 
 published in translation two long articles by M. Cucheval- 
 Clavigny entitled "Peter Cartwright and Preaching in the 
 West," which had appeared first in the scholarly French 
 journal, Revue des deux mondes. 59 For the French "Oncle 
 Pierre" possessed perhaps much of the picturesque which 
 they admired in Benjamin Franklin. Boston also knew 
 Peter Cartwright. He had preached there both in and out 
 of character and had been very popular in the former role. 60 
 On a lecture tour through the East he made considerable 
 money for himself and his sponsors. 61 As a delegate to 
 twelve General Conferences of the Methodist Church he 
 had had an opportunity to visit all parts of the country 
 
34 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and to become acquainted with many leaders in church and 
 state and in education. 
 
 Among his own people in Illinois Peter Cartwright at- 
 tained a heroic, legendary character. He became a sort of 
 Paul Bunyan of Methodism, or a Don Quixote, battling with 
 bad men from Rouges' Harbor and with all the physical 
 hardships of frontier life. His exploits became the subjects 
 for innumerable anecdotes, the myths and legends of Meth- 
 odist Conferences for many years. W. W. Sweet, an his- 
 torian of western Methodism, has declared: "Three gen- 
 erations ago no name was better known in north central 
 Illinois than Peter Cartwright. No single individual from 
 1824 to 1870 was a greater factor in the religious and social 
 life of the state than was the eccentric Methodist circuit 
 rider." 62 
 
 Although Cartwright was the counterpart of Akers in 
 personality, their lives present many parallels. Cartwright 
 was born in Virginia (Amherst County) on September 1, 
 1785, exactly five years before Peter Akers. He, too, moved 
 to Illinois by way of Kentucky. And, like Akers, he gave 
 the best years of his life to the Illinois Conference and its 
 institutions, particularly to its educational institutions. Both 
 hated slavery, but were opposed to the propaganda and the 
 activities of the abolitionists. Cartwright, however, vigor- 
 ously opposed the division of the Church in 1844. As a good 
 Middle Westerner, he was a strong nationalist and unionist, 
 but he adhered to the Democratic nationalism of Andrew 
 Jackson rather than to the political creed of the Republican 
 Party. 
 
 Cartwright received little education and has even been 
 considered the enemy of education. Unfortunately, his 
 Autobiography supports such a view. In his intense dislike 
 of Calvinism and its theologically-trained Congregationalist 
 "missionaries" to the West, he opposed theological training 
 for Methodist ministers. He feared that such training might 
 divert them from the chief business of soul-saving and that 
 the college-bred man would attempt to avoid the rigorous 
 
History of MacMurray College 35 
 
 life of the circuit rider. He attempted, it is said, to dis- 
 cipline young Jaquess, later first president of the Illinois 
 Conference Female Academy, by sending him when just 
 out of college to a forty-mile parish in Egypt. 68 But he 
 declared, for modesty was not his chief virtue as his whole 
 Autobiography proves: "I have given more to educational 
 institutions and colleges than any other preacher in the State 
 of Illinois. 5564 
 
 Whether this statement is true or not, Cartwright did a 
 great constructive work for education in Illinois. As a rep- 
 resentative in the Illinois General Assembly in 1828-29 and 
 1832-33, he worked for both common schools and higher 
 education. 65 Chairman of the Committee on Education, he 
 introduced a bill for a "State Seminary/ 5 which, if the bill 
 had passed, would have been a step toward the modern 
 state university. He was one of the founders, along with 
 Governors Reynolds and Coles, Judge Breeze, and other nota- 
 bles of the first Illinois Historical Society, exhibiting thus 
 a scholarly interest that one would scarcely expect to find 
 in a backwoods preacher. 66 In the Illinois Conference he 
 was the outstanding leader in education until Peter Akers 
 and W. D. R. Trotter came over from Kentucky. He had 
 favored support for McKendree as a conference college and 
 served it as financial agent, trustee, and conference visitor. 
 He was chairman of the Education Commission in 1836 
 which advocated the foundation of grammar schools in 
 every county or circuit, and he assisted in the establishment 
 of many of these academies. And, in 1 846, he gave his sanc- 
 tion to the creation of the Illinois Conference Female Acad- 
 emy. This institution he served officially as president of its 
 Board of Trustees for the first five months, as member of the 
 Board for sixteen years, and as conference visitor several 
 times. In the financial crisis of 1860, when the College was 
 about to be closed, he gave liberally to ensure its survival. 
 He might have been at times a stern critic, but he took great 
 pride in "our noble craft, beautiful to look upon. 55 To count- 
 less students he was "Uncle Peter 55 and a frequent visitor in 
 
36 History of MacMurray College 
 
 their homes as well as on the campus. They read and enjoyed 
 his Autobiography, although they might not have liked his 
 old-fashioned ideas and his strictness about the dress and con- 
 duct of young ladies. 
 
 The other ministers on the first Board were W. D. R. 
 Trotter, William J. Rutledge, and W. C. Stribling. Trotter 
 stood next to Akers and Cartwright as an educational leader 
 in the Illinois Conference. His connections with the Female 
 College were closer even than those of the latter two. He 
 was born in Kentucky of Presbyterian parents. After two 
 years in the Navy, he entered the office of his brother-in-law, 
 Judge Underwood of Bowling Green, to study law but gave 
 it up for the ministry. 67 In 1830, he came to Illinois, and 
 three years later married Maria Cartwright, Peter's daugh- 
 ter. They settled finally in Jacksonville on East State Street 
 near the College in a house Peter built for them, tradition 
 says, and their children attended the College. 
 
 Trotter received in 1840 the first Bachelor of Arts degree 
 granted by McKendree, a degree conferred not for work in 
 residence but after examination upon the entire course of 
 study. 68 Education and religious journalism were primary 
 interests of his, and he was recognized as one of the brightest 
 minds in the Conference. He taught in the Pleasant Plains 
 Academy, in Ebenezer, and for one year in the Illinois Con- 
 ference Female Academy. He was the first editor of the 
 Central Christian Advocate, established in St. Louis in 1852. 
 Ten years a trustee of the Female College, he was also one 
 of its best financial agents, the home agent or business man- 
 ager, and a conference visitor several times. 
 
 William J. Rutledge was one of the most beloved mem- 
 bers of the Illinois Conference. He and his elder brother, 
 George, who was also a trustee later, had come to Illinois 
 from Augusta County, Virginia. 69 They were of the famous 
 Rutledges of that state, grandnephews of the signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence. Both boys had been baptized 
 by the noted blind preacher, James Waddell, a Presbyterian, 
 but they united with the Methodist Church. William had 
 
History of MacMurray College 37 
 
 attended Alters' "School of Prophets" at Ebenezer and was 
 a devoted disciple of Akers throughout his life. He was 
 genial, democratic, a charming host — his home in Jackson- 
 ville was noted for its hospitality. Rutledge read widely 
 and was especially fond of poetry. "He could not preach a 
 poor sermon," one of the college girls declared. 70 He soon re- 
 signed as trustee of the College, but served it as financial 
 agent, steward, and as conference visitor. As steward he was 
 the manager of the boarding department. 
 
 William C. Stribling, one of the elder prophets of Illinois 
 Methodism, lived east of Jacksonville on a considerable prop- 
 erty he had acquired by thrift and industry. 71 He was well- 
 educated, possessed a large and valuable library, and was 
 noted among his colleagues for his vocabulary of long and 
 unusual words, which the illiterate mistook for a foreign 
 tongue. His home was a resort of the girls at the College 
 for their picnics and as a source of cedar boughs for decorat- 
 ing their society halls. His daughter was the wife of another 
 trustee, James Lurton, and his granddaughter, Joanna, a 
 student in the College. 
 
 If the preacher-trustees built up the patronage, the day- 
 to-day, (or night -to-night) work of administration of the 
 College fell to the lay members, who faithfully attended all 
 the meetings. Two of these, William Thomas and William 
 Brown, were lawyers and judges of the first rank, and as 
 such were able to render special service. The others, Mat- 
 thew Stacy and Nicholas Milburn, were solid, substantial 
 business men of Jacksonville. William Thomas was born 
 in 1802 in Kentucky of Virginia parents. 72 He received 
 little formal education. After the custom of that day, he 
 prepared for the legal profession by reading, using the li- 
 brary and office of James T. Moorehead of Bowling Green, 
 later a governor of Kentucky and United States senator. 
 In 1826, he came to Jacksonville, one year after its founda- 
 tion. He arrived in time to participate in the last of the 
 Indian Wars in this region and lived until Illinois was a 
 leading center of modern scientific and industrial civilization. 
 
38 History of MacMurray College 
 
 He taught the first school in the town and was the first 
 school commissioner of Morgan County, Not only a "first 
 settler," he was throughout a long life a first citizen — in 
 many respects the first. As a member of the legislature he 
 joined with Cartwright and others in the establishment of 
 public education in Illinois. His generous humanitarianism 
 is evidenced by his work for the institutions for the blind, 
 the deaf, and the insane in Jacksonville, which are recog- 
 nized as among the first and the best in the country. Carl 
 E. Black, local historian, has declared that if any individual 
 is to be singled out among those who did "heroic pioneer 
 work in this great social program of Illinois, the name of 
 Judge William Thomas is justly entitled to that honor." 73 
 
 Without daughters to educate, Judge Thomas was never- 
 theless, an early friend of woman's education. He defended 
 the granting of the charter to the Presbyterian Academy 
 in 1835. 74 He was a trustee of the Illinois Female College 
 for more than forty years, president of the Board of Trustees 
 from 1863 to 1889, and the largest contributor to its sup- 
 port up to the time of his death. Of more value than his 
 money gifts were his able legal counsel and his business judg- 
 ment. The Illinois Conference honored him by sending him 
 as its first lay delegate to the General Conference in 1872. 
 This addendum might be suggestive of the intellectual in- 
 terests and ability of Judge Thomas. In a large gift of books 
 from his private library to the Belles Lettres Literary Society 
 is found Locke's Essay on Human Understanding. One 
 might have expected that Judge Thomas, even though self- 
 educated, would have had the Civil Government, but hardly 
 the Human "Understanding. 
 
 Judge William Brown, also from Kentucky, was trained 
 along with his friend, John J. Hardin, in the office of Chief 
 Justice Boyle near Harrodsburg Springs. 75 On the first 
 faculty of McKendree College he taught economics and 
 political science. While teaching there, he was invited to 
 deliver a speech to the legislature on education for which 
 he was widely commended. 70 He left McKendree in 1840. 
 
History of MacMurray College 39 
 
 Most of his life from that date was spent as lawyer and 
 banker in Jacksonville, where he clearly belonged to the 
 "upper crust." With Matthew Stacy he was a member of 
 the first Board of Trustees of the Jacksonville Female Acad- 
 emy after its incorporation. 77 He was a founder and the 
 first president of the Literary Union, which was one of the 
 earliest of those clubs that helped to make Jacksonville the 
 "Athens of the West." 78 As a trustee of the Illinois Female 
 College he was the first secretary of the Board and a mem- 
 ber of the executive committee for a number of years. His 
 home was also a resort for the students and faculty. 
 
 Matthew Stacy, an "old settler," was a respected business 
 man of Jacksonville, who held many public offices. He was 
 among the early mayors after Jacksonville attained city 
 rank. He served the Board of Trustees of the College as 
 president, secretary, and treasurer, and was a member for 
 thirty-three years, a leading patron, and a generous con- 
 tributor. His presidency of the Board, 1854-63, included 
 the darkest years in the history of the College. 
 
 Nicholas Milburn is perhaps best known through the 
 reflected glory of his famous son, W. H. Milburn, the "Blind 
 Man Eloquent" to two generations of Americans. The Mil- 
 burns came to Jacksonville in 1 8 3 8 from Philadelphia, seeking 
 to regain the prosperity lost in the Panic of 1837. Mr. Milburn 
 became a well-to-do merchant and prominent Methodist of 
 the city. In his home young William Milburn took great 
 joy in attending to the physical welfare of Peter Akers, a 
 frequent visitor. Here the trustees sometimes held their 
 meetings and the college girls were entertained at tea. 79 
 
 Upon the resignation of Rutledge in 1850, John Mathers 
 was elected to the Board. Although not one of the founding 
 fathers, he might be considered in that group through early 
 and long-continued service. Only Stacy and Thomas served 
 more years among these early trustees. Mathers was secre- 
 tary and treasurer during the "dark ages" from 1854 to 1863. 
 He brought a new social element into the Board; he was of 
 Irish birth and parentage and close to John Wesley in that 
 
40 History of MacMurray College 
 
 his father had been baptized by the Founder, and he and 
 his brother, Wesley, were named for him. Mathers had been 
 a Methodist preacher, but had to give up the "strenuous life." 
 He settled in Jacksonville, where he became a successful busi- 
 ness man and the first mayor. In contrast to the other mem- 
 bers of the Board, he was an ardent abolitionist. 80 
 
 In 18 51, the Board was increased to twelve. The three 
 added extended the geographical distribution beyond Jack- 
 sonville and its vicinity. All three of the new members were 
 laymen. N. W. Matheny from Springfield and of Virginia 
 origin added another to the southern element. Lyman Scott, 
 of Pike County, and Dr. J. B. Samuel, of Carrollton, were 
 the others. In 18 52, the president of the College was given 
 a seat on the Board of Trustees. Richard Yates, later War 
 Governor of Illinois, was named to the Board in 1854, and 
 the minutes stated that he was seated, but his name did not 
 appear in the catalogue list. 81 In the later 1850s, the greatly 
 enlarged membership brought in a number of important men 
 from different sections of the state. Their story belongs to a 
 later chapter. 
 
 THE FIRST PRESIDENT JAMES FRAZIER JAQUESS 
 
 1849-1855 
 The Illinois Conference Female Academy did not open its 
 doors to students until October 1, 1848, two years after its 
 foundation. The Board of Trustees sought to secure a build- 
 ing before opening, and for a year worked to get funds for 
 that purpose. At its first meeting, it is true, the Board had 
 instructed the prudential committee (Thomas, Brown, and 
 Stacy) to act with the conference committee (Akers, Rut- 
 ledge, and Pinchard) "to procure a principal, teachers, and 
 open a school as early as possible," but for a year, the min- 
 utes contained no further reference to opening. At the An- 
 nual Conference in 1847, in Jacksonville, a collection was 
 taken for the Academy, which amounted to $1200, and 
 W. D. R. Trotter was appointed agent to solicit subscrip- 
 tions to a building fund. 82 Peter Akers secured the passage 
 of a resolution "that the members of this Conference feel 
 
History of MacMurray College 41 
 
 it to be a high duty to sustain, as they may be able, the 
 operations of this Conference in the work of female educa- 
 tion, and that they will labor to dispose the public mind to 
 look with favor upon the plans of the Conference therein 
 . . . ." 83 About the same time, September 10, 1847, the 
 Board of Trustees resolved that as soon as a principal could 
 be found they would open in rented quarters. 
 
 The search for a principal consumed another year. On 
 November 15, 1847, John T. Newman, of New York, was 
 elected. Although he did not accept, his election is sig- 
 nificant as an indication of the high standards of the Board 
 and of the Conference for the head of their new woman's 
 school. Newman was one of the very promising young min- 
 isters of the New York Conference, later to become distin- 
 guished in the Church as an outstanding bishop, orator, and 
 writer, and as head of an extensive mission of the United 
 States government as inspector of consulates. 84 On August 
 18, 1848, James F. Jaquess, Methodist pastor at Springfield, 
 was elected principal, but his church refused to release him. 
 O. R. Howard, an easterner who had served both the New 
 England and the New York Conferences and had spent two 
 years in mission work in Argentina, was then chosen; but 
 he, too, failed to accept. 85 
 
 In view of the southern origin of the founders, one might 
 wonder that they continued to look to the North or North- 
 east for a head of the school. Higher education had been 
 well-developed in the South. But the agitation over slavery 
 had already divided the Methodist Church; although these 
 men were not abolitionists, they were anti-slavery in senti- 
 ment. While waiting to hear from Howard, the Board re- 
 solved to ask N. W. Bastion, pastor of the East Charge 
 Church in Jacksonville, to open the school. 86 This action 
 probably accounts for the statement made by some writers 
 that Bastion was the first head and that the school was opened 
 in 1847. 87 The records do not substantiate these assertions. 
 
 In the meantime, Jaquess secured a release from his Spring- 
 field charge and accepted a second appointment to take effect 
 
42 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in November, 1848. McKendree College loaned its Professor 
 A. W. Cummings to the Female Academy to open the school 
 and conduct it until Jaquess arrived. Professor Cummings 
 was a very able man, a graduate of Wesleyan University. 
 He became president of McKendree in 18 50. According to 
 Leaton, he withdrew in 1852 to the Southern Methodist 
 Church and did important educational work in Tennessee, 
 North Carolina, and South Carolina. 88 He was the author 
 of a valuable study: Early Schools of Methodism. Inci- 
 dentally, he married one of the teachers of the Female Col- 
 lege, Mrs. Isabella Sheldon. 
 
 James Frazier Jaquess, of French and Scotch ancestry, 
 was born in 1819, in Posey County, Indiana. 89 Thus the 
 first president was a middle westerner, as were several of his 
 successors. His grandfather Jaquess had moved to Indiana 
 from Kentucky, however. His forebears had fought for the 
 American cause in the War for Independence. In Posey 
 County lies New Harmony. Soon after the birth of Jaquess, 
 in 1824, Robert Owen bought this community from the 
 Rappites and made it the center for his famous experiment 
 in a new Moral Order — of mass education, economic and 
 social justice, and human perfectionism. One might specu- 
 late on what influence such an environment must have had 
 on the eager impressionable youth which the mature Jaquess 
 suggests. He had an excellent education for that day. From 
 Indiana Asbury University (now De Pauw) he received the 
 degree of Bachelor of Arts and from McKendree College 
 the Master of Arts degree. He began the study of law and 
 was about to enter Transylvania University with the pur- 
 pose of graduation in law, when the Methodist ministry 
 called him. According to the story S. W. Nichols, of Jack- 
 sonville, related in the Chicago Times-Herald on June 17, 
 1897, soon after a visit of Jaquess to Jacksonville, Cartwright 
 opposed his admission to the Illinois Conference and was 
 responsible for his being sent to a distant parish in "Little 
 Egypt*" 90 At any rate, Jaquess did serve a short time in 
 southern Illinois; then he was sent to an important church 
 
History of MacMurray College 43 
 
 in Springfield. In the capital city he at once became a very 
 popular preacher. Hundreds were converted in revivals he 
 held, among them the wife of Governor French, formerly 
 a skeptic with respect to religious beliefs. 91 She became a 
 close friend of Mrs. Jaquess. While still holding this charge, 
 Jaquess was employed as financial agent for the Illinois Con- 
 ference Female Academy in the summer of 1847. 92 
 
 When he became president of the Academy, Jaquess was 
 still a young man, less than thirty years of age. He was 
 dignified, handsome, an excellent speaker, a stimulating 
 teacher according to all accounts. An outstanding student 
 of his in recollections of her school days declared that 
 he was not a brilliant man nor a very profound man, but 
 a good man and a good teacher. 93 Her judgment seems 
 essentially correct. That Jaquess had unusual strength of 
 character and attractiveness of personality is suggested, how- 
 ever, by the recognition he received from Governor Yates 
 and President Lincoln in the Civil War and the services he 
 rendered of both a military and a "diplomatic" character. 
 General Rosecrans declared: "He is a hero, John Brown, and 
 Chevalier Bayard rolled into one, and polished up with a 
 knowledge of Greek, Latin, and Mathematics." 94 He re- 
 sembled John Brown only in his fanatical fearlessness in the 
 pursuit of an objective. 
 
 Jaquess remained as president of the Illinois Conference 
 Female Academy (and College) for seven years. Without 
 experience in educational administration, he possessed, never- 
 theless, the energy, the enthusiasm, the sanguine disposition 
 needed to inaugurate successfully this new experiment in 
 woman's education. His administration was the golden age 
 of the ante bellum seminary. The school expanded to a size 
 unusual in academies and colleges for young ladies; indeed, 
 to a size it was not to attain again until the twentieth cen- 
 tury (the peak of this expansion came just after his retire- 
 ment). He was able to secure and retain a good faculty in 
 spite of financial discouragements. Starting the institution 
 on a high academic level, he raised the course of study to 
 
44 History of MacMurray College 
 
 equal that of the men's colleges of that day. He organized 
 a library and a laboratory. Before he left, a beautiful new- 
 building had been completed and then a wing added to take 
 care of the enlarged enrollment. The name of the institu- 
 tion had been changed to college in keeping with its ad- 
 vanced status. The Illinois Conference was justifiably proud 
 of its achievement in woman's education. Financial troubles, 
 it is true, were already threatening the school with bank- 
 ruptcy; but academically it was in excellent condition. For 
 the financial misfortunes probably neither Jaquess nor the 
 Board should be blamed too much. 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES OF THE 
 
 FOUNDERS 
 
 In 1846, the higher education of women was not accepted 
 as a matter of course. For a quarter of a century enterpris- 
 ing men and women had defended the idea and were rapidly 
 multiplying schools for that purpose. The founders of the 
 Illinois Conference Female Academy felt it necessary, never- 
 theless, to justify their course and to prove that such educa- 
 tion was both possible and desirable. From the reports of 
 its Education Commission approved by the Illinois Confer- 
 ence, from the reports of the Board of Trustees to the Con- 
 ference, and from the addresses of Peter Akers and others 
 one can get a fairly comprehensive statement of the aims 
 of the founders in establishing the Academy. 
 
 The outstanding objective was to train the young woman 
 for social usefulness as wife and mother. Peter Akers boldly 
 declared the education of future mothers the paramount 
 question of the day, more important than the education of 
 men: 
 
 However important the office of kings, governors, legislators, and 
 judges may be in the civil affairs of republics and kingdoms, the divinely 
 appointed office of mother in importance transcends the whole of them 
 . . .In a free government like ours, where the people make their own 
 laws through their own agents, it is essentially necessary that the early 
 instruction and influence of intelligent mothers should be imparted to 
 their sons and daughters to fit them for the right exercise and enjoyment 
 of all their rights and privileges. To the want of maternal training fixing 
 deeply within the principles of temperance, peace, and both civil and re- 
 
History of MacMurray College 45 
 
 ligious liberty. . .must be referred the almost universal prevalence of the 
 horrid evils of intemperance, wars, and oppression, which have so long 
 cursed the earth. 95 
 
 Thus the "greatest apostle of righteousness in the Missis- 
 sippi Valley" looked to educated women to correct the 
 alarming social evils of the day. James H. Dickens, who laid 
 claim to being the original founder of the Illinois Confer- 
 ence Female College, wrote of his conversion to the policy 
 of educating women, stating that as an agent for McKendree 
 College, he had been compelled to make addresses on educa- 
 tion: 
 
 Hence, necessity compelled me to a thorough study of the subject. 
 After a few months of scrutiny of What was education? Who should be 
 educated? and How should they be educated? I became convinced that 
 we were not moving in "the most excellent way." 
 
 Observation, history, and logic seemed to say: The right education of 
 woman was the desideratum. If she was educated, she would lift up man; 
 if she was not, she would ever draw man down. This astonished me: The 
 Church and State had so long labored mainly to educate man liberally and 
 woman so niggardly. In the proper sense I was fully converted to a 
 woman's man. 96 
 
 The reports of the Education Commission expressed simi- 
 lar opinions. The report of 1852, signed by J. C. Finley, 
 chairman, after referring to the Illinois Conference Female 
 College, as "the first in importance of our collegiate institu- 
 tions," declared: "The attention paid to female education 
 indicates a new era in society. . . . We consider the apprecia- 
 tion of the value of woman as the friend, companion, and 
 counsellor of man to constitute the peculiar glory of the 
 American people. Her influence decides the destiny of na- 
 tions. ..." And, with reference to the 230 young ladies then 
 enrolled in the Illinois Conference Female College, he de- 
 clared: "Who can estimate the value of this amount of edu- 
 cated female minds every year accumulating and spreading 
 over the country as the sisters, wives, and mothers of those 
 who direct the destinies of the nation!" 97 
 
 One finds in these statements no suggestion even that 
 women be educated for a career — that idea was a later devel- 
 opment; nor that she be educated in the social graces to give 
 her charm — that was the objective of the earlier "finishing 
 
46 History of MacMurray College 
 
 schools." The objective of these mid-century women's col- 
 leges and seminaries was the more serious one of the salvation 
 of society. The reports of the trustees to the Conference 
 and the reports of the Conference suggest, however, the need 
 of women in one field outside the home — the profession of 
 teaching. These men felt the urgent necessity of the expan- 
 sion of educational facilities in order to resolve the racial, 
 national, religious, and social divisions threatening the coun- 
 try. The United States was receiving thousands of immi- 
 grants, many of them of Catholic faith. This increase of 
 Catholic population led to the organization of an anti-Cath- 
 olic Party in the 1850s, the Know-Nothing Party, to much 
 anti-Catholic propaganda, and to efforts on the part of 
 Protestant groups to forestall the influence of the Catholic 
 Church in education. Thousands of these recent immi- 
 grants were coming to Illinois. They must be assimilated, 
 Americanized, the Conference thought; education might be 
 an alternative to serious conflicts over national and religious 
 issues. The intense Americanism of the Illinois Conference, 
 like the speeches of Daniel Webster on the Union, expressed 
 no doubt a sort of whistling in the dark against the threat 
 of civil war. The report of the Education Commission in 
 1854, signed by Trotter as chairman, suggests that these min- 
 isters were "men in a hurry" to forestall disaster. To quote: 
 The Methodist Church in the "West and Southwest stands in a position 
 of incalculable responsibility to the great wave of population overspread- 
 ing the Valley of the Mississippi. Destiny seems to point out the Valley 
 as the depository of the great heart of the nation. From this center 
 mighty pulsations for good or evil must in the future flow, which shall 
 not only affect the fortunes of this republic but also reach in their in- 
 fluence other and distant nations of the earth. The advances herein re- 
 ported, which are being made by the Methodists on the subject of educa- 
 tion in the bounds of the Illinois Conference, flatter the idea that, 
 in so far as our section of the Church is concerned, and especially the 
 division of it embraced in the Illinois Conference, cheering success will 
 still attend our future efforts to contribute our share toward the general 
 education of the great masses. In addition to all other motives conspiring 
 to lead us forward in this noble work, patriotism or the love of country 
 is not the least. The nature of our constitutions and laws demands it. 
 The tenure and price of our liberties are involved in it. The sovereignty 
 in the whole people imperiously requires it and recent events, as they 
 
History of MacMurray College 47 
 
 have been connected with the civil questions which have agitated the 
 nation, some of which questions have sprung from the tide of foreign 
 immigration setting in upon our American soil, call loudly for the work 
 of education to go forward— the education of nothing less than the 
 whole American mind; an education, too, that shall be American in all 
 its essential principles. 98 
 
 Intensely American as the West believed itself to be, the 
 Illinois Conference felt, nevertheless, that it must be provin- 
 cial to the extent of training its own teachers, in order to 
 avoid the effects of introducing either abolitionists or pro- 
 slavery extremists in its midst. The report of the Education 
 Commission in 1852, referring to the need of a system of 
 common schools well -integrated with seminaries and col- 
 leges, declared: 
 
 No country can have such a system that relies upon the importation of 
 foreign teachers. Still less can a community like ours, made up of every 
 diversity of person, sentiment, and prejudice thrown together late in life 
 with habits of thought and action permanently fixed, be brought to har- 
 monize in this great interest, except by a body of teachers reared and 
 educated among us, deriving the confidence and sympathy of the com- 
 munity from domestic and neighborhood associations . . . ." 
 
 Such a body of teachers, it was believed, must come pri- 
 marily from the women's seminaries and colleges. The Board 
 of Trustees, reporting to the Conference in 1852, declared 
 that the graduates of the Illinois Conference Female College 
 "are going forth annually assuming important positions in 
 society; as members of social and religious communities, as 
 mothers, and especially as teachers they are already exerting 
 a benign and healthful influence upon the community." 100 
 
 Just as one finds in the opinions of the Conference and 
 the Board no suggestion of the education of woman for a 
 career in competition with men, there is likewise no sugges- 
 tion of education for her own sake — as an individual apart 
 from wife and mother; no idea of education for a fuller life 
 of culture and aesthetic and intellectual enjoyment. That 
 might come. But their objective was education for ethical 
 and religious ends, for social usefulness. Peter Cartwright 
 did defend the teaching of mathematics in the College for 
 the mental discipline it gave the young lady; but his objec- 
 
48 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tive, too, was utilitarian, discipline of mind and character 
 for her duties, not for her own sake. 101 
 
 One might next inquire what the objectives of the faculty 
 and students were with respect to woman's education. Presi- 
 dent Jaquess handed down no chapel talks, addresses, or other 
 comments on education. He and his faculty probably agreed 
 on the whole with the ministers and trustees that the chief 
 function of the educated woman should be as companion 
 and counsellor to her husband and instructor to her children. 
 Perhaps they emphasized the teaching profession even more 
 than the ministers and trustees; but they sympathized, too, 
 with the dreams of some ambitious girls for a broader field 
 of endeavor and for opportunities comparable to those of 
 men. The emphasis on the teaching profession is suggested 
 by a favorite injunction of President Jaquess that young 
 ladies prepare "to teach the young idea to shoot," quoted 
 from a textbook of that day. He wrote Faithful Shipley, 
 '53, to come back to the College to help teach "the young 
 idea to shoot." 102 Students used this expression as if it were 
 a current college saying. "Then it was not thought wise for 
 a girl to enter any avocation in life except teaching," one 
 graduate of 1852 declared. 103 Graduates and students who 
 did not graduate began at once to enter this profession. Sev- 
 eral soon followed Faithful Shipley into teaching at their 
 Alma Mater. 
 
 The comments of Sophronia Naylor Grubb, '52, to the 
 Alumnae Association in 1873 suggest, however, that Presi- 
 dent Jaquess and the faculty looked with favor upon equal 
 rights for women in other professions. She said on this occa- 
 sion: 
 
 Some of us secretly. . .wondered why we could not become physicians. 
 But it was with such an overwhelming consciousness of our unwomanli- 
 ness and impropriety in harboring the thought, that we could scarce give 
 it expression even to our classmates. I well remember the bounding of 
 hearts and the intensity of longing that revealed itself in the sparkling 
 eyes and trembling hand when our President read a little knot of seniors 
 gathered in the hall a letter from Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale of Philadelphia 
 urging young ladies to enter this profession and setting forth its advan- 
 
History of MacMurray College 49 
 
 tages. But the expressed wish to do so only met with scorn and derision 
 from all except our noble band of teachers. 104 
 
 In 1852, the students were permitted to hear Mrs. Frances 
 Gage, a pioneer in the woman suffrage movement, who came 
 to Jacksonville to speak. "She won many of us to a belief 
 in what was then a new and unpopular doctrine," one stu- 
 dent said. 105 
 
 It seems unlikely that many students felt as keenly as 
 Sophronia Naylor did the inequalities women suffered in the 
 business and professional fields. They accepted their unequal 
 status as a matter of course. A statement of another stu- 
 dent's conception of college, pathetic in her acceptance of 
 limitations, in her desire to get "a general idea of what higher 
 education meant," and in her strivings for a larger and finer 
 life, is the following: 
 
 We came to college often- times at great sacrifice and we had a high 
 conception of what a college education meant. Some girls came to fit 
 themselves for teaching, the only respectable calling except house service 
 then open to women, and even in that there was a strong prejudice in 
 many localities against it. Many more girls came for a few months only; 
 they came to get a general idea of what higher education meant and 
 some practical hints for carrying their work on by themselves. 
 
 The girl who wished to prepare herself for a career, who had a definite 
 ambition to do original and creative work in music, art, or literature, 
 had not been born. . . . We had no dream beyond being home-makers as 
 our mothers had been before us; but that, for the acquisition of which 
 we were giving our best energies, was to fit us more perfectly for home- 
 making, to render us dispensers of a more graceful hospitality, and to 
 add a glory, all its own, to common life. 106 
 
 From other personal histories we know that some of these 
 girls who came for a short time only did make valiant efforts 
 against great odds "to carry on their work by themselves." 
 One might turn now to the program of studies through 
 which the trustees and the faculty sought to realize their 
 objectives in woman's education. 
 
 THE COURSE OF STUDY: ITS ORGANIZATION AND THE 
 EXPANSION FROM ACADEMY TO COLLEGE 
 
 The Illinois Conference Female Academy was opened by 
 Professor Cummings on October 1, 1848, in the basement 
 of the old East Charge Church, cradle of Methodism in Jack- 
 sonville. There it was conducted until the winter of 1852, 
 
50 History of MacMurray College 
 
 when the new building was completed. One hundred sev- 
 enteen pupils were enrolled during the first year. 107 The 
 catalogue published in the spring of 1849, a small book of 
 fifteen pages, gave the lists of faculty and students, the 
 course of study, a statement of expenses, a few comments 
 on requirements, admission of students, terms and vacation, 
 and a copy of the charter. 
 
 From the study of this catalogue and the succeeding issues 
 in the 1850s, from the examination of the catalogues of other 
 early colleges and seminaries for men and women, and from 
 records of the administration of their courses of study one 
 easily acquires a considerable respect, even admiration, for 
 the level of instruction in these ambitious forerunners of the 
 modern college. They have doubtless been generally regarded 
 with too much condescension. Perhaps they ran too much to 
 the learning of definitions and rules and the memorization 
 of lists of facts; yet a certain amount of such knowledge 
 is useful, even necessary. "He had a well-stored mind and 
 a retentive memory," is not a criticism of the individual of 
 the past generation. The scientific equipment of these 
 schools was meager; yet they offered broad general instruc- 
 tion in the sciences, to which we are returning. Their li- 
 braries were limited in size, yet it may be that the students 
 read as much then, and as wisely, as undergraduates today 
 do from their thousands of volumes. 
 
 The catalogue of 1849 divided the course of study into 
 preparatory and academic departments, and such a division 
 was continued the following year. In 1851, the institution 
 secured an amendment to the charter, which granted it the 
 rank of college with the name, Illinois Conference Female 
 College. 108 In 1852, the course of study provided for pri- 
 mary, preparatory, and collegiate departments; but, in 1854, 
 the catalogue announced that, since Jacksonville had good 
 primary schools, the primary department would be discon- 
 tinued. 100 
 
 The change to a college was not a mere change of name; 
 the curriculum was expanded at once. For admission to the 
 
History of MacMurray College 51 
 
 collegiate department in 1 8 5 1 , a knowledge of English gram- 
 mar, geography, arithmetic, and United States history was 
 required. By 1854, this requirement had been expanded to 
 include the following subjects: "Reading, Writing, Orthog- 
 raphy, Defining, English Grammar, Arithmetic, History of 
 the United States, Ancient and Modern Geography, Ancient 
 and Modern History, Parker's Natural Philosophy, Watt's 
 On the Mind, Parker's Aids to English Composition, Book- 
 keeping, Latin Grammar, Latin Lessons and Reader, Greek 
 Grammar and Greek Lessons, and Algebra." 110 
 
 The collegiate department in 1851 consisted of two 
 courses: the classical and the English. The requirements for 
 graduation in the classical course were: 111 
 
 FIRST YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 Latin Lessons Latin— Caesar 
 
 Algebra — Davies' Physiology— Jarvis' 
 
 Ancient Geography — Mitchell's Parker's Aids to English Composi- 
 
 Philosophy of Natural History tion 
 
 ■ — Smellie's Parsing in Prose and Poetry 
 
 SECOND YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 Latin — Cicero's Orations Latin — Vergil 
 
 Geometry commenced — Davies* Le- Geometry finished 
 
 gendre Botany — Wood's 
 
 Chemistry— Silliman's Larrabie's Evidences 
 
 Domestic Economy— Miss Beech- 
 er's 
 
 JUNIOR YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 French French 
 
 Natural Philosophy— Olmstead's Natural Philosophy finished 
 
 Unabridged Astronomy— Burritt's 
 
 Analytical Geometry — Davies' Mineralogy and Geology — Hitch- 
 
 Arithmetic reviewed cock's 
 
 SENIOR YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 Mental Philosophy — -Upham's Moral Science— Wayland's 
 
 Natural Theology — Paley's Political Economy— Wayland's 
 
 Evidences of Christianity— Alexan- Political Grammar — Mansfield's 
 
 der's Rhetoric — Newman's 
 
 Ancient and Modern History — Logic — Hedge's 
 
 Whelpley's Compendium Criticism — Karnes' 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
52 History of MacMurray College 
 
 The requirements for the English course were the same 
 except that languages were omitted. Only three years' work 
 were required in this course. 
 
 By 1854, when the requirements for admission to the col- 
 legiate department had been increased to the list given above, 
 the classical course was advanced to include three and one- 
 half years of Greek (beyond the elementary academic 
 course) ; two years of Latin, including Caesar, Cicero, Vergil 
 and Sallust; trigonometry, meteorology, and mythology. 
 A student might substitute French or German for Greek. 
 In that case, she had to offer an elementary course in those 
 languages for admission. 112 The collegiate course was raised 
 further during the next few years. In 1856, the Latin re- 
 quirement was raised to three years and Livy and Horace 
 were added; in mathematics, conic sections had been added; 
 and courses in physical geography and modern history were 
 included. 113 The following year Butler's Analogy of Natural 
 and Revealed Religion appeared and also a college course in 
 American history. 
 
 A study of Woody's analysis of woman's education in the 
 United States, the standard work on this subject, indicates 
 that the collegiate course in the Illinois Conference Female 
 Academy was distinctly better than that in most seminaries in 
 the country. 114 It was one of the two women's schools of 
 collegiate rank in the West (Rockford Female Seminary 
 was the other) . 115 As to admission requirements, he found 
 them generally lower than in the men's colleges (Illinois 
 College) , but the English and science requirements were 
 higher. As to the collegiate work, he found that in English 
 and the sciences the Illinois Conference Female College was 
 practically on a par with Illinois College; in Greek, Latin, 
 and mathematics, lower. Woody's judgments, however, are 
 based on the catalogue of 18 54. 110 In 18 56, another year and 
 one-half of Latin and a half-year of mathematics were 
 added. 
 
 The textbooks used in the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege were the ones generally used in the women's colleges 
 
History of MacMurray College 53 
 
 after 1850, as a comparison with Woody's list shows. 117 Any 
 examination of these books adds to one's respect for the 
 college girl of that day. Woody, quoting Charles Thwing, 
 sanctions the view that the mastery of such books as Paley's 
 Natural Theology, Wayland's Moral Philosophy and Political 
 Economy, and Butler's Analogy of Natural and Revealed 
 Religion proved beyond a doubt that woman suffered no 
 mental inferiority as compared with men, that she was fully 
 capable of doing college work. 118 Several of the early text- 
 books used on the campus are found in the MacMurray Col- 
 lege library, among them Olmstead's Natural Philosophy 
 and Paley's Natural Theology. The title page of the Olm- 
 stead states that it was written as a textbook for the men 
 in Yale College. The young ladies of the fifties, some of 
 them at least, must have used their texts faithfully. They 
 recalled the authors fifty years later; Olmstead, Watts, 
 Loomis, Davies, Burritt, Silliman, and Newman are men- 
 tioned in their reminiscences. 119 
 
 A few other facts about this program of studies should 
 be noted. The "ornamental branches" were not included in 
 the regular course accepted for graduation. Instrumental 
 music (piano and guitar) , drawing and painting, and orna- 
 mental needle work were offered upon the payment of 
 special fees. 120 The catalogue stated, however, that every 
 student would be given instruction in vocal music daily 
 without charge. 121 The devotion of the Methodists for group 
 singing easily explains this emphasis. Special instruction was 
 also given to all in penmanship, orthography, reading, and 
 composition. A special teacher of penmanship was em- 
 ployed. The public exhibitions and the reading of com- 
 mencement essays turned attention to training in reading. 
 One student recalled: "Art and music received little atten- 
 tion. Reading was practiced daily, and we even heard lec- 
 tures on elocution in those days. Spelling and word analysis 
 gave us a valuable ground-work for clear expression in writ- 
 ing, which was then the graceful accomplishment of a col- 
 lege course." 122 
 
54 History of MacMurray College 
 
 One may be surprised to find the practical and vocational 
 subjects of domestic economy and bookkeeping included 
 in the curriculum. It may be safely assumed that such train- 
 ing was entirely for home use. Many of the earlier seminaries 
 had included such courses. Catherine Beecher and Emma 
 Willard had advocated scientific training in domestic econ- 
 omy, and the former wrote the widely adopted textbook 
 on the subject used in the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege. 123 No special training for teachers was offered, al- 
 though students were encouraged to enter this field. This 
 lack of any technical professional training in the seminaries 
 and colleges generally had led Horace Mann, who had looked 
 to them to provide teacher-training courses, to turn to the 
 normal school system. 124 The only recognition of the needs 
 of prospective teachers in the plan of the Illinois Conference 
 Female College is found in the statement: "Young ladies 
 wishing to qualify themselves for teaching particular 
 branches . . . will be admitted to recitations in such classes 
 as they may desire to enter." 125 
 
 It is interesting to note the extended scope of the cur- 
 riculum in the fields of science contrary to a popular as- 
 sumption that the study of science is a modern develop- 
 ment; likewise, to find that in this respect the College was 
 entirely up to the level of the men's colleges, although it 
 fell a little lower than some of them in the classical studies. 
 The range in science included: natural philosophy (physics) , 
 chemistry, geology, botany, astronomy, mineralogy, meteor- 
 ology, physical geography, and physiology. The mathemat- 
 ics course — geometry, college algebra, trigonometry, and 
 conic sections — would be considered adequate even for a 
 standard college of today. 
 
 It may appear strange that the young ladies' seminaries 
 and colleges motivated as they were by serious moral and 
 religious aims should have given so little attention to the 
 study of the Bible in contrast to their extended curricula 
 in the sciences. Perhaps they looked to the pulpit, the Sun- 
 day School, and the home to supply this teaching. Many 
 
History of MacMurray College 55 
 
 courses — Evidences of Christianity, Butler's Analogy of 
 Natural and Revealed Religion, Faley's Natural Theology, 
 and others — were related to the subject of religion. And the 
 sciences themselves were taught to "reveal the glories of 
 God's creation." The ethical and religious spirit permeated all 
 teaching. But the systematic study of the Bible was not in- 
 troduced into schools until late in the nineteenth century. 
 The Illinois Conference Female College was ahead of some 
 of the other schools with respect to Biblical studies. Those 
 taking the classical course read the Septuagint and the Greek 
 New Testament or, if they elected German, the New Testa- 
 ment in that language. The catalogue of 1854 stated: 
 
 Conscious that to the influence of the Bible we are indebted for the 
 high rank our country has taken in the civilized world, the Board of 
 Instruction have made arrangements to have all those pursuing a full 
 classical course take a daily exercise in the Scriptures in the original lan- 
 guage; so that in the four years they may be enabled to read nearly the 
 whole Bible in the language in which our Savior and his Apostles read 
 and spoke and delivered to us the oracles of Divine Truth. 126 
 Peter Akers, one may suspect, was primarily responsible for 
 this feature of the curriculum. "It is astonishing," he had 
 declared, "that Christian communities should have preferred 
 to educate their children in heathen literature in preference 
 to the Bible. Whether reading it in the original tongues or 
 in a translation the Bible should be used everywhere as a 
 textbook." 127 
 
 As in other schools no special courses in English literature 
 were offered, although the English studies — grammar, com- 
 position, and rhetoric — were emphasized. One notes through- 
 out the curriculum a stress on the abstract, the formal 
 rather than on the concrete. A student of 1855 complained 
 that "the rich mine of the world's best thought was never 
 touched." 128 She admitted, however, that in the course in 
 rhetoric students were encouraged to read certain literary 
 productions. Ante bellum schools did not include a large 
 offering in the social studies. The Illinois Conference Female 
 Academy gave more attention than did most women's 
 schools to this field: ancient and modern history, American 
 history, political science, and political economy were re- 
 
56 History of MacMurray College 
 
 quired. Along with these social studies two other related 
 subjects popular in all the schools might be mentioned — 
 mental and moral philosophy (psychology and ethics). 
 Almost no provision was made yet in women's schools for 
 health education or physical education. The body was 
 neglected for the sake of the mind. The Illinois Confer- 
 ence Female College did give instruction in physiology 
 and had a special series of lectures on the subject. 129 The 
 school advertised the fact that the grounds were ample for 
 the students to get exercise. Nevertheless, the physical de- 
 velopment of the young ladies was neglected beyond a doubt. 
 
 The Illinois Conference and the Board of Trustees had 
 reason to be proud of the plan of their "noble institution." 
 This survey of its program of studies should be evidence of 
 that. In 1853, the Board of Trustees announced that the 
 plan "worked," that woman's higher education was not only 
 desirable but also possible. It declared: 
 
 The ability of young ladies to acquire a thorough knowledge of the 
 languages and higher branches of mathematics has been doubted by some, 
 and the propriety of a course of study for them such as prescribed for 
 young gentlemen in our best colleges has been warmly controverted by 
 many. 
 
 After five years of experiment in all the departments of a thorough 
 classical and English course of study, the Trustees are happy to state to 
 the numerous friends of female education that the success of the sev- 
 eral classes which have pursued the prescribed course of study in the 
 Female College has been such as fully warrants them in saying that the 
 questions of ability and propriety are settled beyond the possibility of a 
 doubt; and they have no hesitancy in saying that the scholarship of the 
 young ladies will compare favorably with the scholarship of young gen- 
 tlemen in the best colleges in the country. 130 
 
 In the development of the college curriculum special ef- 
 fort had apparently been made to bring it into line with 
 those of the women's colleges of the East. This fact might 
 be assumed from the analysis of the curriculum itself and the 
 survey of its lists of texts, but further evidence is suggested 
 by a statement in the catalogue of 1853, which had an- 
 nounced some additional requirements: 
 
 A slight change has been made in the course of study without length- 
 ening the time necessary for its completion with a view to adapting it to 
 
History of MacMurray College 57 
 
 an arrangement recently entered into by Female Colleges for the pur- 
 pose of securing uniformity in the course of study in such institutions 
 and in the degrees conferred by them. 131 
 
 It is interesting to find this movement toward "standardiza- 
 tion" in the ante bellum period, when generally each school 
 was a law unto itself. The study of eastern schools was 
 perhaps one object, if not the main object, of the visit that 
 President Jaquess made to the East in the summer of 18 52. 
 The Board of Trustees approved such a trip, but the state- 
 ment in the minutes of the Board would seem to indicate 
 that the object was primarily financial. President Jaquess 
 was "to be permitted to visit Boston, it being understood, 
 however, that he pay his own expenses provided his success 
 in behalf of the College will not warrant the trustees to meet 
 the same." 132 Peter Cartwright, attending the General Con- 
 ference in Boston in 1852, spoke of being "favored with the 
 company of Brother J. F. Jaquess, who was collecting books 
 for the female college in Jacksonville." 133 
 
 The chief concern of the trustees, the president, and the 
 faculty now was to persuade parents to continue their daugh- 
 ters in college to complete one of the two courses. For the 
 completion of the classical course the degree of Mistress of 
 Liberal Arts was granted; for the English course, Mistress 
 of English Literature. An appreciable number completed 
 one of these courses. During the administration of Presi- 
 dent Jaquess, five classes were graduated with a total of sixty- 
 one graduates. In 1854, eighteen were graduated, three in 
 the classical course, fifteen in the English. In 185 5, twenty- 
 one were graduated, seven in the classical course. 134 But 
 these classes were only a small percentage, the collegiate en- 
 rollment in those years being 89 and 122, respectively. And 
 the percentage was usually much lower. It is remarkable, 
 however, to find so large a percentage of the enrollment in 
 the collegiate courses, since facilities for secondary educa- 
 tion in the state were still limited. The following figures 
 might be given: 
 
58 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Enrollment Collegiate Academic Primary 
 
 1854 255 89 124 42 
 
 1855 282 122 160 
 
 1856 306 89 174 39 and 
 
 4 irregulars 
 
 1857 329 121 204 5 irregulars 
 
 The following statement of the trustees and the adminis- 
 tration in 1854 describes the problem of getting girls to re- 
 main to graduate and indicates their eagerness to raise the 
 level of education and even to fit the students for a literary 
 career as well as to become eminent mothers in Israel: 
 
 As the students will then [when the new requirements for admission 
 go into effect the following session] enter the college classes with minds 
 better informed and judgments more matured, it is hoped they will find 
 more time and ability to make themselves more thorough in those deep 
 and sublime studies required in the college course. And it is earnestly 
 desired that parents will not manifest that impatience so often exhibited 
 in wishing their daughters to complete their education in so short a 
 time. By persisting in such a course, one of two evils is a natural result; 
 either their daughters will leave with only a smattering of those studies 
 which they have attended to, or they will return to their homes with 
 countenances wan and constitutions ruined, the victims of too intense 
 study and mental exertion, excited by the parting injunction of their 
 parents that they must finish their courses at college in so short a time 
 or never. 
 
 The time is past when superficial pretensions will satisfy the public 
 mind. Depth of thought and patience of investigation are necessary to 
 make them scholars. To accomplish these results, more time is necessary 
 than has usually been allowed. And it is hoped that parents in this 
 enlightened age will appreciate this truth, that they will let their daugh- 
 ters continue long enough in the institution to become profound- scholars 
 and worthy of the honorable titles of Mistresses of English Literature 
 and of the Liberal Arts. Then they will be prepared to go forth and 
 become brilliant lights in the literary world and eminent mothers of 
 Israel. 135 
 
 AN ALUMNA'S COMMENT ON THE COLLEGE 
 PROGRAM AND ITS APPLICATION 
 
 The following statement of a notable alumna, Mrs. So- 
 phronia Naylor Grubb, '52, contained in the address to the 
 Alumnae Association in 1873 and referred to above should 
 be carefully considered as a description of the difficulties 
 that some students encountered in the 18 50s in an effort to 
 
History of MacMurray College 59 
 
 complete the college course and the disadvantages they faced 
 as compared with those in men*s colleges* Her problem was 
 probably by no means exceptional; nor was her ambition, 
 her eagerness to achieve, her desperate earnestness. To quotes 
 
 Our class of '52 consisted of seven. None was much above twenty 
 at graduation; two of us but seventeen, one sixteen— about the age 
 most men enter college. Let us grants for a moment, the generally re- 
 ceived opinions that women's minds have not the strength and power 
 of men's. We add to this natural weakness an immaturity of from four 
 to seven years and expect girls to leave off where boys begin. Our teach- 
 ers, as well-beloved, faithful, conscientious, Christian men and women 
 as ever endeavored to instil noble aims and purity of principles, aided, 
 encouraged, and assisted us as far as lay in their power. But most of 
 us had but little of the two great essentials to a liberal education- 
 time and money. We were ambitious for ourselves and desired to take 
 the whole course; they were ambitious for us and in this too yielding, 
 and permitted us to take the whole course in just half the time we 
 should have taken it. 
 
 It was no fault of theirs that parents, friends, and guardians commit- 
 ted us to their care when scarcely past childhood and desired us to take 
 up studies that require maturity of both body and mind to compre- 
 hend. It was but natural that well-learned lessons were to them evi- 
 dences of fitness, ability, and power in the learner. But the spirit of 
 the age wa& wrong that created the false impression that a girl could 
 bear at sixteen what few men, what no man in his senses^ would under- 
 take at twenty-six. We stood in the pass at Thermopylae, and fought 
 bravely against fearful odds, against youth, against time, against the 
 overwhelming crowd of duties imposed upon us; and, so far as it was 
 possible under the circumtances, I can conscientiously say that we con- 
 quered thoroughly; but we came out of it, some of us at least, broken 
 in health, weakened in nervous force, and injured in some respects rather 
 than benefitted by an education. Never was there a class of students 
 more faithful than that of 1852. The morning dawn and the evening 
 darkness found us at our work. Hours which we should have been com- 
 pelled to devote to outdoor exercise were spent in preparing tomorrow's 
 recitations. Every conquest in research served only to awaken new 
 effort and become an earnest of future victory. Forgetting that a healthy 
 body is the surest source of power in the mind, we disregarded every law 
 of health that stood in the way of our mental advancement. The grand 
 heroes of earth were held up to us as models and exemplars by our teach- 
 ers. They fully comprehended that there can be no good accomplished 
 without great effort, and, knowing full well that there can be no great 
 effort without corresponding expectations, endeavored in a few brief 
 years to counteract the world's teaching in regard to woman's mission 
 in order to incite the mind to its best activities, We were inspired with 
 the belief that we were expected to accomplish something for ourselves 
 
60 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and for humanity in the future that awaited us. Life was presented as 
 lying before us fresh) and beautiful and free for everyone to choose her 
 own ends and aims and purposes. 136 
 
 Mrs. Grubb concluded with a picture of the disillusion- 
 ment that awaited the college graduate of the 1850s when 
 she discovered upon leaving the college walls that life did 
 not leave her free to choose her course. Something more 
 of the process of education may be learned from the study 
 of the teachers who had inspired her and of their methods 
 for at that time, more than later, the teacher was the school. 
 
 THE COLLEGE IN OPERATION THE BOARD OF INSTRUCTION 
 
 In its organization, as well as in its curriculum, the Illinois 
 Conference Female College achieved a considerable advance 
 toward the modern college and away from the older type 
 of academy, which had been owned as a rule by the principal 
 and which often closed upon his retirement. This college 
 was incorporated; it had a Board of Trustees insured of per- 
 petuity by conference action or, if the Conference failed to 
 act, by self -perpetuation; and the membership of the Board 
 was itself more or less permanent through long service. This 
 Board chose the president, fixed salaries, and determined the 
 conditions of employment. After a few years circumstances 
 made the College revert, it is true, to something more like 
 the privately-owned academy in its financial arrangements. 
 In the beginning the Board provided that the president 
 should collect the tuition fees and pay the salaries, the Board 
 making up any deficiency. 187 Perhaps President Jaquess was 
 too tender-hearted with respect to demanding cash payments 
 for tuition. At any rate, in 1850, the Board asked that all 
 unpaid accounts be turned over to the agent for collection, 
 ordered that no applicant be admitted in the future with- 
 out a receipt from the secretary of the Board, and that the 
 funds collected be turned over to the treasurer. 188 Owing to 
 the system of "perpetual scholarships" adopted in 1852 and 
 explained below, the income from tuition, small already, soon 
 proved entirely inadequate to pay the salaries. In 1852, the 
 Board of Trustees waived all responsibility for salaries by 
 providing that "until further ordered by this Board, the 
 
History of MacMurray College 61 
 
 Board of Instruction and such additional teachers as shall 
 hereafter be employed may have in lieu of salaries the tuition 
 fees and interest on the endowment fund to be divided be- 
 tween them, they collecting and dividing the same among 
 themselves." 139 This provision was a step backward toward 
 the insecure private school. 
 
 The salaries paid would seem low today, but they were 
 comparable to those paid by other seminaries and colleges 
 for women at that time. 140 President Jaquess was to be paid 
 $400, Mrs. Jaquess and the other assistants, $200 each. 141 In 
 1855, the scale by which the pro rata distribution of tuition 
 fees was to be made provided that President Jaquess should 
 receive $700; Professor Spaulding, $500; Professor Trotter, 
 $800 (he served as home agent and treasurer as well as in- 
 structor) ; and the women teachers from $200 to $300. 142 
 There is no indication in the minutes of the Board that liv- 
 ing was furnished in addition to these salaries, although it 
 was included in salaries at a similar level a little later and 
 probably was at this time, too. 143 The teachers of art and 
 music had their income from the special fees charged for 
 instruction in those branches. The teacher of music was 
 required to furnish her own instruments and to pay for 
 heating and cleaning her classroom. 144 At first, the Board 
 had provided a piano, the "Academy piano" it was called, 
 for which Peter Cartwright had been commissioned to col- 
 lect funds. 145 It is somewhat amusing that this defender 
 of primitive simplicity in churches should have had this task 
 assigned him. Perhaps it was done to prevent his opposition 
 to the "ornamental branches." After 1855, a salary was 
 fixed for the teachers of music, but the Board no longer 
 guaranteed the payment of any salaries. 
 
 Although the scale of salaries provided in 185 5 appears 
 rather generous for that time, it was only a scale, since the 
 income fell far short of covering it. Shortly after he left, 
 in the summer of 185 5, President Jaquess wrote Miss Ship- 
 ley that he and Mrs. Jaquess would together get $307 instead 
 of the $1000 allotted them. 146 His good spirit is revealed 
 
62 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in the fact that he showed no tendency to criticize or com- 
 plain. "The trustees seem disposed to do the right thing 
 with us, and would if they were not bankrupt," he said. 
 "Things are in a desperate condition there." His letter sug- 
 gests, also, his unquenchable optimism with respect to his 
 personal fortunes. Already he was planning to go into an- 
 other educational venture and invited Miss Shipley to be 
 ready to help him. 
 
 After the college building was erected, most of the teach- 
 ers lived in it. The Board requested the president to select 
 rooms for them "on all the halls . . . with a view to securing 
 the safety and good government of the pupils. 9 ' 147 Although 
 the older teachers might be allowed separate rooms, the 
 younger ones "should be required to receive one or two 
 pupils into the rooms assigned them" when the number of 
 pupils made this necessary. The Board undertook to regu- 
 late the social life of the teachers as well as the rooming ar- 
 rangements. One cannot imagine that many of them re- 
 quired such a regulation as the following, but there must 
 have been an occasional young lady not ready to sacrifice 
 all social diversions for the mission of teaching and some who 
 did not accept the Methodist discipline in its entirety. At 
 any rate the Board ruled that 
 
 Whereas, the trustees, having been informed that some of the teach- 
 ers of the college have attended parties in town and engaged in dancing 
 and, also, that some of them have been engaged in the same practice 
 in the college building, do hereby request the President to inform all 
 the teachers that in the opinion of this Board no teacher should indulge 
 in any such practice nor even attend public or private parties where 
 it is allowed. 148 
 
 The faculty consisted of five members the first year. By 
 1854-55, the last year of President Jaquess' administration, 
 it had increased to twelve. Under President Andrus, 185 5- 
 56, it reached fourteen. From this point it declined and 
 by 1862 was again only five — the change in size represent- 
 ing very well the change in the fortunes of the school. The 
 percentage of men on the faculty was probably large com- 
 pared with the number in many girls' schools of that day. 
 Tn 185 3, out of nine teachers three were men, and except 
 
History of MacMurray College 63 
 
 for the first and last years of this first decade there was al- 
 ways one man in addition to the president. Several teach- 
 ers held the Master of Arts degree, the highest academic de- 
 gree granted at that time. In 1854, the three men on the 
 faculty had this degree. In the faculty lists in the catalogue 
 the degrees of the women were not recorded before 1895. 
 Several teachers in the 1850s had the Mistress of Liberal Arts 
 degree from the Illinois Conference Female College; others 
 probably held degrees from similar institutions, As to geo- 
 graphical origin, two were of European birth; and of the 
 American-born, there were teachers from Vermont, Massa- 
 chusetts, New York, Maryland, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, 
 Illinois, and perhaps other states. Of those from other states 
 several at least had lived in Illinois a good many years. 
 
 No faculty minutes have been discovered for these early 
 years; very likely there was no formal organization of the 
 faculty and no records were kept. The informal relations 
 within the faculty group must have been close, since the 
 teachers lived in the same building after 1851. One girl 
 wrote that the faculty and often the seniors met in the eve- 
 nings in Mrs. Sheldon's room. ?t It was a source of a good 
 deal of curiosity," she related, te that we were shut out of 
 certain meetings in the fall of '51 . . . We learned long after- 
 wards that the teachers were reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
 then appearing in an eastern paper, and the reading of which 
 would have subjected them to severe criticism and possibly 
 to loss of position. 149 Although the Board of Trustees took 
 a prominent part in the selection of teachers, it seems prob- 
 able that President Jaquess had much influence in their 
 choice. He was an active member of the Board after 1852. 
 From all the evidence at hand he was sympathetic with his 
 faculty members and beloved by them as well as by the stu- 
 dents. His letters show him solicitous for their health and 
 welfare. Two of them went to teach with him at Quincy 
 in spite of their unfortunate financial experience under his 
 administration in the Illinois Conference Female Academy. 
 
 In the departmentalization of its instruction the Illinois 
 
64 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Conference Female College had advanced by the middle 
 1850s very far toward the practice of modern colleges. In 
 the collegiate work there were divisions of mental and moral 
 philosophy, mathematics, the natural sciences, Greek and 
 Latin, modern languages, rhetoric and history, and art. Al- 
 though a teacher sometimes taught in more than one de- 
 partment, there was a considerable degree of concentration 
 during the best years of this decade. As the College de- 
 clined in enrollment, the faculty became smaller and a 
 teacher might be required to teach in several fields. It is 
 probable that a number of teachers, if not all, were required 
 to teach composition. It was required of all students, and no 
 teacher was designated for it. One student wrote: 
 
 Composition day was a nightmare to most of us, as we were rigidly 
 divided into sections and a "composition" required once in two weeks. If 
 not ready at the proper time, then one must be forthcoming and read 
 before the school the next Monday morning, the terror of which 
 punishment usually had the desired effect, although it was sometimes 
 necessary to inflict the punishment. 150 
 
 The faculty possessed few "tools" of instruction. The 
 College had a library, however, and a scientific "cabinet" 
 to which contributions were continuously solicited. At an 
 early meeting the Board of Trustees instructed President 
 Jaquess to purchase a geological table. In 1849, it was an- 
 nounced that the school had a "geological cabinet designed 
 to illustrate the geology of the Mississippi Valley," and a lit- 
 tle later that there was a complete philosophical apparatus. 151 
 The day of elaborately equipped laboratories and individual 
 experimentation had not dawned. The Female College had 
 probably an equipment quite up to the college level of that 
 day. One writer, commenting on the apparatus of college 
 laboratories generally, described it as consisting of musty 
 four-foot telescopes, a few crooked rocks, and petrified 
 snakes. 152 As to the library, it was probably better than the 
 average. In 1852, it was reported to consist of more than 
 a thousand volumes. An addition of several hundred books 
 resulted from President Jaquess' trip to the East in 1852. 158 
 The following comment was perhaps as characteristic of 
 
CGUBSE OF STUDY. 
 
 The Institution has been divided into three Departments, a Primary, an 
 Academic, and a Collegiate Department. But as the town is now well furnish- 
 ed with good public and private Primary Schools, the Trustees have concluded 
 it unnecessary to keep up such a Department any longer in the Institution. It 
 is intended, therefore, to discontinue it for the future. 
 
 In the Academic Department will be taught, Reading, Writing, Orthography, 
 Defining, English Grammar, Arithmetic, History of the United States, Ancient 
 and Modern Geography, Ancient and Modern History, Parker's Natural Philo- 
 sophy, "Watts on the mind, Parker's Aids to English Composition, Book Keep- 
 ing, Latin Grammar, Latin Lessons and Reader, Greek Grammar and Greek 
 Lessons, and Algebra. 
 
 In all of the above studies, students must be well prepared before they can 
 be admitted into the College proper, if they intend to take a Classical course; 
 and in all the branches enumerated, except the Latin and Greek, if they design 
 to take only an English course. 
 
 When desired by the parent:-:, students will be permitted to study the French 
 and German Languages, as a substitute for Greek; and then to prepare them to 
 enter College, they must be well versed in the Grammar and Reader of each of 
 those languages. 
 
 CLASSICAL COURSE OF FOUR YEARS- 
 FIRST YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. ( SECOND TERM. 
 
 Greek Testament. ( Greek Testament. 
 
 Caesar. ( Virgil. 
 
 Algebra — Davies' Bourdon. ( Physiology — Cutter. 
 
 Mythology, ( t Botany ---Wood's. 
 
 SECOND YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. > SECOND TERM. 
 
 Greek Reader. ( Cicero's Orations. 
 
 Sallust. (■ Greek Reader. 
 
 Philosophy of Natural History. ( Trigonometry — Davies. 
 
 Geometry — Davies. ( 
 
 THIRD YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. ; SECOND TERM. 
 
 Xenophon's Anabasis. > Xenophon's Anabasis. 
 
 Natural Philosophy — Olmstcdt. ) Natural Philosophy finished. 
 
 Chemistry— Silliman. ) Meteorology — Brockleby. 
 
 ) Mineralogy and Geology. 
 
 FOURTH YEAR. 
 
 FIRST TERM. ) SECOND TERM. 
 
 Septuagint. ) Moral Science — Wayland. 
 
 Mental Philosophy — Upham. / Evidences of Christianity — Alexander. 
 
 Astronomy — Smith. ? Political Grammar — Mansfield. 
 
 Kane's Criticism. c Political Economy — Wayland. 
 
 Ancient and Modern History — Dew. ( Logic and Rhetoric. 
 The English Collegiate course may be completed in three years. Those who 
 
 Page from an Early Catalogue 
 Outlining the Curriculum 
 
History of MacMurray College 65 
 
 student reaction to the library as the library itself was typical 
 of those found in collegiate institutions: "There was now in 
 a small bookcase a very miscellaneous collection of books to 
 which we had access and possibly profited therefrom, al- 
 though some were too exceedingly dry and monotonous." 154 
 What books this library contained the writer does not know. 
 If they were comparable in value to the libraries collected 
 by the literary societies after the first fire in 1861, libraries 
 which still exist as separate collections today, they were useful, 
 well-chosen, standard works of poetry, fiction, history, and 
 biography. Although these tools of instruction would be 
 considered satisfactory according to the standards of that 
 day, the school, or its means of instruction, was primarily 
 the faculty. 
 
 These faithful teachers were not great scholars and writers 
 whose names would be recorded in library catalogues and 
 whose lives would be sketched in Appleton's or in the more 
 recent Dictionary of American Biography (except President 
 Jaquess). Perhaps when the final summing up is made it 
 will be found that some deserved to be thus honored. The 
 right people do not always make the "distinguished" lists. 
 There is Peter Akers, for example, who deserves, I believe, 
 a larger place in formal history. These first teachers were 
 Mentor Grahams whose trails are hard to trace. But the 
 students have left some records of the life of these men and 
 women during their years at the College and from various 
 other sources one may fill in something of their other years. 
 
 Of the faculty as a whole one student declared: "They 
 stood for nobility and the worth of the world to me." 155 
 That would seem to be the sentiment of all. Several of these 
 early teachers remained throughout President Jaquess' admin- 
 istration — long enough to leave a name, even something of 
 a legend behind them. Seven years may seem a short time of 
 service; but the turnover in faculties in women's seminaries 
 and colleges then was often much more rapid, especially in 
 the West, where young women were always in great demand 
 as wives. Teachers out from the East soon married. The 
 
66 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Presbyterian Academy in Jacksonville had suffered loss of 
 its early teachers through marriage, and other schools the 
 same. Indeed, two members of President Jaquess' faculty 
 married in a year or two, but they continued to teach. 
 
 President Jaquess himself was a teacher as well as the pres- 
 ident. In the catalogue he was designated Professor of 
 Mental and Moral Philosophy. He taught chemistry at one 
 time, too. One girl wrote of this class, in which President 
 Jaquess led them through Silliman's text: "In chemistry 
 we had a simple apparatus and learned fully as many things, 
 which we afterwards forgot, as are now considered neces- 
 sary. In fact, there was not such a great difference between 
 the course then and the course now, and it is our belief that 
 the girls of the '50s did more earnest, honest studying than 
 do the students of these days." 156 President Jaquess was re- 
 called as "a magnetic man, full of sympathy, a friend and 
 counsellor in whose classes we were always glad to be." 
 
 It is possible that Mrs. Jaquess made a deeper impression 
 as a teacher than did her husband. Of her early life the 
 writer has learned little. She was Sarah Steele, the second 
 wife of President Jaquess, who came over with him and the 
 two children, Margaret and William, from their home in 
 Springfield in a spring- wagon in 1848. President Jaquess' 
 sister, Rachel, from Poseyville, Indiana, came later to live 
 with them a year and attend the College. 157 In 1852, the 
 young daughter, Margaret, was entered in the primary de- 
 partment. Several other family groups — the Sheldons, the 
 Rutledges, and others — lived in the College and gave it 
 something of the character of a big home. Mrs. Jaquess was 
 "governess" of this big family, a title inherited by colleges 
 from the private academy and comparable to our dean of 
 women. She also frequently took President Jaquess* place, 
 presided in chapel, and taught his classes in mental and moral 
 philosophy. Mrs. Jaquess, along with Mrs. Rapelje, gave 
 social grace and beauty to the life of the campus. Girls from 
 small towns or rural communities with a restricted social 
 and intellectual background and outlook were eager to learn 
 
History of MacMurray College 67 
 
 how to add a "glory to common life." To the founders the 
 teaching of fine manners was of less concern than morals. 
 President Jaquess himself, although interested in learning, 
 was perhaps first of all an evangelist. He might have turned 
 the school into a revival, a camp-meeting. These other 
 teachers gave balance — Miss Olin and Professor Spaulding, 
 scholarship; Mrs. Jaquess, practical lessons in every day life. 
 Clarissa Keplinger Rinaker in "A Country Girl's First Year 
 in the Illinois Conference Female College," recalled Mrs. 
 Jaquess' lectures on healthful living, care of person and 
 premises, and the proprieties of life. 158 Another student re- 
 membered how they all tried to imitate her walk, "to get 
 the same quiet poise of head and hands." 159 
 
 Mrs. Anna Rapelje, teacher of music and French, brought 
 to the campus some of the glamour and romance of the out- 
 side world. Her election showed that the trustees were not 
 narrowly sectarian. She was an Episcopalian and, through 
 no fault of her own, divorced from her husband. Born in 
 New York City, daughter of a well-to-do merchant, Jon- 
 athan Tucker, she had received the best education the city 
 afforded of the finishing-school type — music, art, the French 
 language, and literature. 160 At the age of fifteen she mar- 
 ried George Rapelje, a man of position and influence in the 
 city. Her father's illness took both families South, where 
 they lived several years in aristocratic Mobile. Reverses fol- 
 lowed — the death of her son, financial losses, separation from 
 her husband. A return to New York brought renewed ill- 
 health to the father, and they came West seeking a location. 
 After the fashion of that day Mrs. Rapelje wrote a diary 
 of her trip west, including her early days in Jacksonville. 
 In this city she met a young lawyer, Isaac L. Morrison, just 
 over from Kentucky, whom she married in 1853. She con- 
 tinued to teach in the College for a year after her marriage. 
 Her portrait reveals a person of distinctive beauty. "She 
 was a fragile-looking little lady, whom a summer zephyr 
 might have blown away, and so kind-hearted." 161 She con- 
 tinued to live in Jacksonville after she left the College. Her 
 
68 History of MacMurray College 
 
 home was visited by the students and admired for its beau- 
 tiful garden, one of the first elaborate gardens in the city. 
 
 For thorough and conscientious teaching of the solid 
 branches, Miss Clarinda Olin probably excelled all other early 
 teachers with the possible exception of Professor Spaulding. 
 She was the sister of Stephen J. Olin "the great Stephen J. 
 Olin," the students proudly proclaimed him. Graduate of 
 Middlebury, later president of Randolph-Macon College for 
 men in Virginia and finally of Wesleyan University, Middle- 
 town, Connecticut, he ranked with Wilbur Fisk as one of 
 the two greatest educators in the Methodist Church in the 
 first half of the nineteenth century. 162 Of broad and lib- 
 eral views, acquainted with both the North and the South, 
 it is said that he showed a better understanding of both sides 
 in the famous Baltimore Conference of 1844 than any other 
 man in the Church. 163 The life and position of her brother 
 will indicate something of Miss Olin's background of in- 
 tellectual culture. Her father, of Leicester, Vermont, was 
 prominent in law and politics in that state. It may be as- 
 sumed that Miss Olin was born there and educated in the 
 East. In the Illinois Conference Female College, where she 
 remained seven years, she taught science for a year, then 
 mathematics. Clarissa Keplinger Rinaker recalled that her 
 class in Burritt's Geography of the Heavens overflowed from 
 the basement of the East Charge Church into the main room 
 above; also, that she taught the botany class, "in which we 
 imagined we were doing wonders analyzing flowers, could 
 sometimes trace down and find the descriptions for our- 
 selves, and stained up many a book pressing flowers." 164 One 
 observes, too, from this relation that the laboratory method 
 was used in teaching where it was possible. In "College Life 
 in the Fifties," Mrs. Minerva Masters Vincent wrote: 
 
 Miss Olin, the teacher of mathematics, led us carefully through 
 Davies' Algebra and into Loomis' Higher Algebra. That class I think 
 we cannot forget. We went on into geometry, plane and spherical trigo- 
 nometry, and then took up Olmstead's Unabridged Philosophy, getting 
 the statement and solution of every problem in that book ... It was 
 whispered around the class that the boys in Illinois College had failed 
 to do what we had done in Olmstead's Philosophy. 1 ™ 
 
History of MacMurray College 69 
 
 Miss Olin was remembered as homely and awkward, ad- 
 vanced in age ("she wore a. cap"), of gentle manner, indul- 
 gent to the poor student. In one girl's "scriptural album," 
 the memory book of that day, she wrote: "This beautiful 
 world, in it we find everything we need," which is in con- 
 trast to the usual melancholy observations recorded in these 
 albums. In spite of the recollection that she was "advanced 
 in age," it seems unlikely that she was very old. Perhaps the 
 cap gave that impression. She taught with President Jaquess 
 in the English and German Seminary at Quincy until the 
 Civil War, then became a matron in a soldiers' hospital. 166 
 The rest is silence. 
 
 Miss Hulda Gardner was the fifth of the seven-year group. 
 She taught the preparatory studies. After two years she 
 married, but continued to teach as Mrs. Hulda Gardner 
 Grant. The trustees recognized her service and that of Miss 
 Olin by granting each a perpetual scholarship upon their 
 retirement. 167 The girls remembered her as the friend who 
 got them out of scrapes, "such as an occasional visit to the 
 steward's larder." 168 Mrs. Isabelle Sheldon, a widow, was 
 teacher of the natural sciences for four years. She came to 
 the College from Springfield, Illinois, where she had taught 
 with her husband in a school for mechanics. 169 She later 
 married Professor A. W. Cummings. 170 Miss Elizabeth 
 Mead, "a prim and dainty little creature," taught languages 
 for several years. She was probably the Miss Mead who was 
 principal of the Jacksonville Female Academy in 1850-51. 
 Miss Hannah Snow, "fresh from an eastern school, full of 
 poetry and bright impulses, had an immense influence over 
 us," Mrs. Grubb observed. She arose at four-thirty in the 
 morning to give her an art lesson. 171 Miss Snow's influence 
 was limited by the fact that art was not yet a popular sub- 
 ject, and many girls did not come under her instruction. She 
 also taught ornamental needlework and some academic stud- 
 ies. In spite of her more limited contacts, she was recalled 
 as one of the outstanding teachers. Faithful Shipley, an 
 alumna of Petersburg, Illinois, taught the natural sciences 
 
yo History of MacMurray College 
 
 for several years. She knew the famous Ann Rutledge; 
 Abraham Lincoln had surveyed her father's farm near Pet- 
 ersburg. These facts lent no particular prestige then. Some- 
 thing like the Lancasterian system of instruction seems to 
 have been used during the years of heaviest enrollment, al- 
 though the faculty of twelve or fourteen was a good-sized 
 faculty for that time. Illinois College had begun with five. 
 Perhaps the strongest teacher among the men on the facul- 
 ty was Professor Horace Spaulding, former head of Howard 
 Academy. A student of Illinois College who had attended 
 this academy or a private school conducted by Spaulding 
 after it closed, said that he had taken freshman rank in the 
 College "having prepared under my good, old-fashioned, 
 New England teacher, Horace Spaulding, who maintained 
 a school for boys and girls in Jacksonville for quite a num- 
 ber of years before Illinois had any public schools. He was 
 a man whose knowledge was, I fear, but ill-rewarded." 172 
 Professor Spaulding was a graduate of Wilbraham Academy 
 and had taught several years in Massachusetts before he came 
 West to open the Methodist Howard Academy. 173 Accord- 
 ing to a document in the college archives, he also conducted 
 about 1838 or soon after an evening school for Negroes free 
 of charge. As school commissioner in Morgan County, he 
 did much to promote public education. It might be em- 
 phasized that these friends of church and private schools 
 did not oppose public education. They were often its best 
 friends — such men as Thomas, Cartwright, and Spaulding. 
 At the Female College he taught Latin and Greek and, dur- 
 ing a second year, Latin and natural philosophy. His stu- 
 dents remembered him as a man of great integrity and eru- 
 dition, a faithful teacher, as one not given to jokes, who 
 accepted no imperfect lessons. 174 He was a man of pro- 
 nounced anti-slavery views. 175 Paul Selby, editor of the 
 Morgan Journal, an abolitionist in sentiment, taught pen- 
 manship one year. W. D. R. Trotter, trustee, financial 
 agent, business manager, also taught one year as professor 
 of Greek and Ancient Literature; and Professor James S. 
 
History of MacMurray College 71 
 
 Barwick taught Greek and Latin a year. He was a native 
 of Maryland and a graduate of Indiana Asbury University. 176 
 He was a good teacher "of great serenity, whose face shone 
 with happiness" and — was very absent-minded. 177 
 
 This brief sketch of the teachers will indicate that the fac- 
 ulty was varied as to the age, sex, origins, background, and 
 temperament of its members, and sufficiently large to give 
 a considerable range of personality and opinion. In a decade 
 when a battle of ideas was in process and a battle of arms 
 approaching, one might wish to know something more of 
 their opinion on the issues in conflict and the degree of free- 
 dom they enjoyed in teaching. The question of slavery, 
 which created a considerable disturbance in the College in 
 1854, is considered separately. The age-old dispute over 
 the relation of religion and science arose in an early form 
 in 185 5, it seems, when Spaulding was the professor of the 
 natural sciences. As Mrs. Minerva Masters Vincent, a mem- 
 ber of the class of '5 5, told the story: 
 
 Many of the students were so bound up by the prejudices of tradi- 
 tional theology that when we learned that geology taught that the six 
 days of creation might mean ages upon ages, rather than six twenty- 
 four-hour days, great was the consternation. One girl sat upon her 
 trunk declaring that she must and would go home if the foundations 
 of belief in the Bible were to be thus shaken, thinking it better to be 
 ignorant than to lose faith in "the way the world was made." After 
 much talking and several meetings to consider the subject, all was quieted 
 down, and the school life went on . . . We came through our college 
 life not only with an enlarged horizon, but with a stronger faith in 
 God. 178 
 
 From the academic side of college life one might turn now 
 to the physical foundations — the building and grounds. 
 
 FAIR TEMPLE OF LEARNING THE FIRST BUILDING 
 
 Until the winter of the year 1851-52 the College contin- 
 ued to be located chiefly in the basement of the East Charge 
 Methodist Church; some classes overflowed to rented rooms 
 in homes nearby. This temporary location probably had 
 some important lasting effects on the customs and traditions 
 of the school as well as some temporary inconveniences for 
 both school and citizens. The school was immediately 
 
72 History of MacMurray College 
 
 brought into intimate connection with Jacksonville life. 
 Students had more freedom of movement, so that the dormi- 
 tory regime probably never became so "sheltered" as it was 
 in many girls' schools. As to the individual students, lasting 
 friendships were formed by them with Jacksonville families. 
 Contacts with Illinois College, an important aspect of the 
 social life through the years, were more easily and freely 
 made. It was hard to confine the young ladies within walls 
 later. The catalogue of these years, the minutes of the Board 
 of Trustees, and the reminiscences of students contain no 
 references to social regulations. Very likely there were some 
 rules; no doubt the application of these varied greatly ac- 
 cording to the family with whom the student stayed. Cla- 
 rissa Keplinger Rinaker told of her life as a "town girl" 
 living with the Ruckers in 1850-51. 
 
 I remember climbing an almost upright ladder through a trap door 
 in the ceiling to enter the room which was occupied by Miss Rachael 
 Jaquess (sister of our principal) and Miss Matheny. The room was 
 over the sitting room and when Rachael wished more heat turned on 
 she rattled on the pipe with her slate pencil . . . The Ruckers were an 
 old-fashioned Methodist family who succeeded in making a pleasant 
 home for their numerous boarders, and the sitting room was well-filled 
 at morning prayers when the good old man lined his hymns and, I think, 
 read his chapter from memory. Their parlor was the temporary home 
 of the "Academy piano" (the first, by the way, that I ever saw) where 
 Mrs. Rapelje on music days taught the music aspirants of that early 
 day to drum, drum on the piano. 179 
 
 Very likely most of the girls were Methodists and stayed 
 in Methodist homes, but Alice McElroy Griffith, a Presby- 
 terian, stayed with an Episcopalian family, attended that 
 church and formed a lifelong friendship with the minister, 
 W. T. Worthington. 180 The Jaquess family occupied the 
 Milburn house in 1850-51, while Mr. and Mrs. Milburn 
 were in the South. 181 Perhaps at this time the custom of 
 school parties at the Milburns was begun. 
 
 The Board of Trustees, at the first meeting, October 10, 
 1846, had instructed its new prudential committee to take 
 steps to secure a lot and make plans for erecting a building. 
 Two incidents connected with the final decision as to a 
 site deserve notice as reflections of conflicting social, religious, 
 
History of MacMurray College 73 
 
 and educational opinions and groups in Jacksonville. The 
 first incident, the details of which were related by a partici- 
 pant, William J. Rutledge, arose in connection with the 
 purchase of a lot in the East End of the town. 182 Although 
 some of the best families, among them the John J. Hardins 
 and the Benjamin Griersons, lived in the East End, which 
 was the center of early growth, the movement was toward 
 the west. West State Street was already becoming the aristo- 
 cratic section. Judge William Thomas, chairman of the pru- 
 dential committee and a resident of the West End, was ar- 
 ranging to buy a lot for the College near his residence. Rut- 
 ledge and several other members of the Board discovered 
 that they could buy five acres on East State Street (center 
 of the present campus of MacMurray College) at a bargain 
 price of $500 since the business section was moving further 
 west. They bought it and paid for it without telling Judge 
 Thomas and others who favored the West End. The Rut- 
 ledges and Mathers, very democratic in sentiment, were per- 
 haps influenced also by the fact that the East Charge Church 
 was near the lot purchased, and by other considerations. 
 The West-Enders, it is said, were placated by the bargain 
 and accepted the lot for the college location. 183 As Rutledge 
 related some time later: 
 
 East Jacksonville had two Mark Twains then, known as "Jim Buck- 
 ingham and Ed Dawson." They said, "That five acres bought for a 
 college in 'pick up* is a flag of truce sent to 'stuck up/ so the strife is 
 now over. And, sure enough, there has been no rivalry since ... If 
 John Mathers, Judge Thomas, Squire Stacy, and George Rutledge come 
 back here as "ministering spirits," next to calling at their old home and 
 its inmates, is a visit to this college. 184 
 
 The other incident relates to a second offer of the Jack- 
 sonville Female Academy property to the Board of Trustees. 
 The financial difficulties of that institution had not been 
 ended by the temporary expedients of 1846. In 1848, its 
 trustees agreed "that, as the Methodists were numerous and 
 strong in the rural districts, if they would assume the debt 
 of the Academy and repair the buildings, they should control 
 the school." 185 These words occurred in the letter of William 
 Rutledge, mentioned above. The minutes of the Board 
 
74 History of MacMurray College 
 
 merely stated that the Academy had offered to sell the prop- 
 erty and that a committee was appointed to investigate. 186 
 The trustees approved the recommendation of this commit- 
 tee that the property not be purchased. The objections 
 were: that the property was not "so well adapted to the 
 uses of the Board," that the trustees had the assurance of 
 $1500 if they would build on their lot on East State Street, 
 and that five trustees of the Academy were opposed to the 
 transfer. The Board wished to avoid all unkind feelings and 
 to withdraw all obstructions, so far as it was concerned, 
 to the continuance of said institution under its present or- 
 ganization. 187 Twice this institution had had a chance to 
 buy its local competitor. The first time the trustees of the 
 Academy reversed their decision to sell, and the Methodist 
 Board dropped the question. The second time it rejected 
 the offer. Although it was probably not interested in trying 
 to revive a rival institution, it showed a tolerant spirit in 
 not being in any sense a party to its demise. Competition 
 among educational institutions has not always been so gen- 
 erous; in Jacksonville no more than elsewhere. 
 
 The Board of Trustees was already at work on plans for 
 the new building before the second offer from the Academy 
 came. The minutes of the Board for these years 1849-51 
 are filled with the details of construction — matters of bricks 
 and mortar, stone and glass; the erection of a smoke house, 
 wash house, stable, fences, wells, and cisterns; the planting 
 of trees, down to the purchase of a lightning-rod. On Sep- 
 tember 6, 1849, the cornerstone was laid. No copy of the 
 address of Bishop Janes nor contemporary report of the cere- 
 mony has been preserved. G. R. S. McElfresh told the story 
 afterwards: 
 
 In the summer of 1849, the corner-stone of the first building was laid 
 with appropriate ceremonies, which some of us who were present can 
 well remember. Bishop Janes on the occasion delivered an address of 
 great force and beauty in the church to a crowded audience, and then 
 proceeded to the college grounds where in due form he laid the corner- 
 stone. A receptacle had been cut in the stone for a tin box in which 
 were deposited many articles of interest, such as a Bible, Methodist Hymn 
 Book, Discipline, church and city papers, names of trustees, etc. 188 
 
History of MacMurray College 75 
 
 In 1921, the College came into possession of the hammer 
 used by William Rucker, the stone mason, in the laying of 
 the cornerstone, the gift coming through Winifred Willard, 
 his great granddaughter. 189 
 
 In the meantime, the Board of Trustees was trying to 
 secure funds for the building. Two possibilities lay before 
 them: to get aid from the East as Illinois College had done, 
 or to rely on the gifts of the Illinois Methodists. The former 
 was tried first, and William H. Milburn was selected as fi- 
 nancial agent. On November 7, 1846, the Board resolved 
 "that our agent, the Reverend William Milburn, proceed to 
 the eastern parts of the United States and spend his time in 
 collecting funds and property for our Female Academy. 190 
 He was to be paid one-fourth of his collections up to 
 $10,000; beyond that the entire amount came to the Acad- 
 emy." There is no record that he collected anything; never- 
 theless, this appointment is interesting and even important. 
 Milburn was the first of a long line of financial agents who 
 labored faithfully, even if not always fruitfully, for the 
 College. And, if their work did not bear fruit in money, 
 it did bring publicity and patronage. 
 
 Milburn's appointment is also notable for its results on 
 his personal fortunes: The Board of Trustees opened new 
 fields to him, an outcome which neither anticipated at the 
 time. A few facts about his life might be useful to readers 
 of today. The people of the nineteenth century knew him 
 well as "The Blind Man Eloquent," a very popular lecturer 
 in Europe as well as in the United States, friend of Emerson, 
 of Carlyle, and other great men of the century. 191 He was 
 the son of Nicholas Milburn, member of the first Board of 
 Trustees. Born in Philadelphia, he had grown up in Jack- 
 sonville and attended Illinois College until his eyesight, de- 
 fective from a childhood injury, and his health made neces- 
 sary his withdrawal. He then entered the Methodist ministry, 
 chiefly through the influence of Peter Akers, and served his 
 apprenticeship as a circuit rider. On his trip east for the 
 College in 1847, Milburn reproved some fellow-passengers 
 
76 History of MacMurray College 
 
 on a boat for drinking, card-playing, and profanity. 192 
 They were members of Congress and rewarded him for his 
 courage by securing his appointment as chaplain of the 
 House of Representatives, a position he held several times 
 and in both Houses. Much of his later life was spent in the 
 East, but he made frequent trips to Jacksonville. He visited 
 the College and lectured in its classes and chapel many times 
 during the next half century. Thus his name deserves par- 
 ticular emphasis in its history. No other person connected 
 with the College has been so widely known nationally as Mil- 
 burn except Peter Cartwright. 
 
 As financial agent, however, Milburn was not a success. 
 He attributed the failure of his mission to two factors. 193 
 The East could no longer be aroused to missionary efforts 
 in behalf of education in Illinois. The Middle West had 
 grown and prospered and should be able to support its own 
 schools, Easterners concluded. One would have to admit the 
 truth of this assumption on the part of eastern churches and 
 people. Also, Milburn insisted, the petitioner who was prac- 
 tically blind was at a disadvantage. He could not respond 
 to the mood of the person from whom he sought aid. "I 
 therefore think that a blunder was committed when I was 
 appointed by the Conference as an agent to travel in the 
 eastern states for the pecuniary advantage of its institu- 
 tions." 194 The Board made a second effort to secure aid from 
 the East by approving the trip of President Jaquess in 1852. 
 Aside from the books and the information about schools that 
 he secured, this mission was also fruitless, it seems. 
 
 Agents appointed to secure funds in the Illinois Conference 
 — W. D. R. Trotter, Benjamin Newman, W. J. Rutledge, 
 and several others — collected $17,212 by the fall of 1849. 195 
 The conference ministers were urged by Peter Akers to ac- 
 cept it as "a high duty to sustain . . . the operations of the 
 Conference in the work of female education." 198 In 1848, 
 the Board of Trustees named Akers, Cartwright, and Trot- 
 ter special agents without pay to secure money. Cartwright 
 had described his methods of getting aid for education: He 
 
History of MacMurray College 77 
 
 declared he would "torment parishioners before their time" 
 if they did not pay. These Methodist ministers, as well as 
 the financial agents, deserve tribute for service to a difficult 
 cause. The results were small for a period of prosperity 
 such as that of the early 1850s. The Illinois Conference in- 
 cluded, the editor of the Western Christian Advocate as- 
 serted, "probably the richest agricultural district of the 
 United States, if not the world," and "will have a hard prob- 
 lem to solve in counteracting not only the disabilities of 
 poverty but also the redundance of wealth." 197 He advocated 
 support of educational institutions that would teach the 
 right use of wealth. These statements are a correct inter- 
 pretation of the rapid transition then taking place in Illinois, 
 a transition from frontier to industrial, machine-age society, 
 from debtor to creditor status. Peter Akers expressed sim- 
 ilar warnings of the dangers of wealth, and especially of a 
 materialistic philosophy, which might result from its pursuit. 
 The Illinois Conference, it is true, had just undertaken new 
 obligations. Illinois Wesleyan University was established at 
 Bloomington in 1850 under its patronage, and several new 
 seminaries, among them the co-educational school at Quincy, 
 had been granted conference sanction. 
 
 In the meantime, the Board of Trustees had completed the 
 construction of the building with borrowed funds. This body 
 reported to the Conference in 1852 a debt of $13,930.40. 
 Subscriptions due amounted to $9,013.40. It was thought 
 that $6,000 of this could be collected. To complete the 
 building and its furnishings and to pay off the debt, the 
 Board thought $10,000 more would be needed. 198 About this 
 time President Jaquess laid before the Board the plan of 
 "perpetual scholarships" as a means of raising an endow- 
 ment of $50, 000. 199 The description of this project is given 
 later. Temporarily it brought some money and many stu- 
 dents. These two things encouraged the construction of 
 a large west wing to the building in 1855. 
 
 This first building of the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege was a source of great pride to the Conference. One mem- 
 
78 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ber declared that each time he entered it he felt proud to be 
 a Methodist. 200 For that time it was a considerable achieve- 
 ment; with truth, no doubt, it was pronounced one of the 
 best college buildings in the West. 201 Completed with 
 the wing, it had cost about $100,000. 202 It could accom- 
 modate 150 to 200 boarding students and its classrooms 
 and chapel could serve more than 300. The following de- 
 scription appeared in the catalogue: 
 
 The front and main building of the College is one hundred feet in 
 length by fifty in breadth; its basement is of granite range- work, and the 
 superstructure of the best brick material; it is four stories high, and sur- 
 mounted by a handsome observatory, overlooking the city and vicinity. 
 The front is ornamented with four massive Corinthian columns, resting 
 upon a fine cut stone portico. The basement is partitioned into study 
 hall and recitation rooms. . . . The first floor above is covered by chapel, 
 public parlors, and rooms for the use of the President. All the rooms 
 upon the second, third, and fourth floors, with the exception of three 
 — the library, reading room, and senior recitation room, upon the second 
 floor — are used as dormitories by the teachers and pupils. 
 
 A wing has been added to the west end of the front edifice at a 
 cost of $22,000, that is one hundred feet in length by forty- two in 
 width, four stories high, with a reverse five stories in height, fronting on 
 Morgan Street. The first hall of the wing opens upon a balcony. Most 
 of the rooms upon this hall are devoted to the musical department; and 
 those upon the second and third, as in the main building, are occupied 
 as dormitories, which, in both buildings are commodious, light, and well- 
 ventilated. The fifth story contains two spacious halls for the use of 
 the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu Societies. The dining hall occupies a space 
 in the basement of seventy by thirty-eight feet. . . , 203 
 
 The pictures of this "noble structure" show the sim- 
 plicity, the excellent proportions and good lines of Georgian 
 architecture combined with the modified classical style found 
 in the Old South. The only reference to the architect the 
 writer has found appears in the following notice in the cat- 
 alogue of 1851: "The Steel Engraving in front of this cat- 
 alogue is from W. Catlin's Daguerreotype of the original 
 drawing by N. Koscialowski, architect." 204 A few years later, 
 the name of Sophia Koscialowski, of Jacksonville, appeared 
 in the list of college students. 205 One can guess that she was 
 of his family, a daughter, perhaps. Her name suggests that 
 the intermingling of national groups continued today had 
 had early beginning. 
 
History of MacMurray College 79 
 
 The transition to a boarding school demanded an expan- 
 sion of the internal administrative agencies. The administra- 
 tion of the academic program had been placed in the hands 
 of the president as the head of the Board of Instruction. 
 From the records of the Board of Trustees it appears that 
 the administration of the business and financial aspects of 
 the College — matters of board and rooms, care of buildings 
 and grounds — was placed in the hands of officers and em- 
 ployees directly responsible to the Board. The titles of 
 these officers are interesting — home agent, steward, sexton 
 —suggesting a transference from the ecclesiastical organi- 
 zation. Although the trustees appointed a committee to em- 
 ploy a sexton, there was no further reference to this office. 206 
 The steward lived in the College and had charge of the board- 
 ing department. Among the stewards of this decade was 
 William Rutledge. One cannot picture a more fortunate 
 choice than this Virginia gentleman widely recognized as 
 a "dispenser of hospitality and good cheer." Mrs. Rutledge 
 was designated the matron. 20,1 The home agent (W. D .R. 
 Trotter was the first appointed to this office) corresponded 
 to the present business manager, treasurer, and bursar com- 
 bined. The scope and range of services of these men deserve 
 special mention: Trotter, as trustee, financial agent, home 
 agent, and steward, for example. Other such instances could 
 be cited. The College owes a large debt of gratitude to 
 these faithful servants. And the Board of Trustees main- 
 tained minute and careful surveillance over the internal ad- 
 ministration. Its minutes record its activities and, incidental- 
 ly, record many interesting facts about the life on the cam- 
 pus. In a detailed plan drawn up by its committee on 
 stewardship it distributed the rooms in the entire building 
 to their various uses. 208 It ordered the home agent to have 
 the east gate changed and hung on the inside and two other 
 gates nailed up and to compare by experimentation the rela- 
 tive cost of heating by coal and wood. It provided that a 
 committee of its members be appointed to investigate "the 
 propriety of selling the present barn and the lot on which 
 
80 History of MacMurray College 
 
 it is situated" and to report "what conveniences are necessary 
 for the steward in keeping cows and slopping pigs on the 
 most limited and economical scale," and considered many 
 other minutiae encountered in the operation of a young 
 ladies' boarding school. 209 One notes in the minutes a record 
 of the material progress of the age. The trustees "considered 
 installing gas or steam heat" and voted to "telegraph Brother 
 Barwick to come on"; but at the same time they still met 
 at "early candle-lighting." 
 
 How did these young ladies like their "fair temple of 
 learning"? Several of the early residents have left descrip- 
 tions and comments. Mrs. Sophia Naylor Grubb wrote: 
 
 The long wide halls, the pleasant chapel, the spacious grounds, the 
 cheerful parlors and rooms, were all lovely to us; and their chief charm 
 lay in the fact that they were ours to use — to fill with deeds of kindness, 
 industry, faithfulness, and loyalty to high principles which should become 
 cherished memories in the years to come. . . . But our rooms were of 
 course the chief centers of interest. They would seem cheerless now to 
 girls accustomed to the luxuries of modern school life. Bare floors and 
 dead white walls unrelieved by even a colored advertisement; a pine table, 
 flanked by two wooden chairs; a bit of looking-glass over one corner of 
 the table where the wash bowl and pitcher stood; a sheet iron stove, 
 where we made and kept up our own fires from a wood box filled daily 
 by "Willium." A strip of wood at the head of the slender bed served as 
 a wardrobe by means of plenty of nails driven by ourselves. A tin candle- 
 stick completed the picture of a room into which were daily crowded as 
 much earnest work, high hopes, mirthfulness, and downright enjoyment 
 as ever went into an equal space. ... I have travelled in many lands . . . 
 but no greater happiness has visited my heart than in that poor little 
 room. 210 
 
 Another girl remembered rooms heated by Todd stoves 
 and halls cold as Greenland. Although the "wardrobe" and 
 heating arrangements she described were not the most de- 
 sirable, the Board of Trustees were soon discussing improve- 
 ments. In 1856, the Board appointed a committee to in- 
 vestigate the cost of heating the building by hot air or 
 steam. 211 And they considered the purchase of wardrobes, 
 too, although bankruptcy came upon them before they could 
 be purchased. 
 
 The young ladies were required to clean their rooms. Cer- 
 tain furnishings they brought from home or purchased in 
 
History of MacMurray College 81 
 
 Jacksonville. The first mention of an "outfit" is found in 
 the catalogue of 1853: "Each young lady should be fur- 
 nished with a Bible, towels, and a pair of over-shoes . . ." 212 
 By 1856, the list had grown to the following: "Each young 
 lady will need a common Pail, Washbowl and Pitcher, Broom, 
 a Bedspread, a pair of Overshoes, an Umbrella, and if they 
 desire the floor carpeted, a Carpet, Towels, and Looking- 
 glass." 213 Clara Ibbetson Weir, '54, recalled bringing a feather- 
 bed and ten dozen candles which she had made herself. 214 
 One may feel sure that the ingenuity of the college girl in- 
 troduced some individuality and attractiveness into these 
 dormitory rooms. 
 
 SOME FACTS ABOUT THE STUDENTS AND 
 THE COLLEGE ROUTINE 
 
 The Illinois Conference Female College began to receive 
 students from other states and sections almost from its foun- 
 dation. In the first year, it is true, its patronage was local, 
 from Morgan and adjoining counties. In the second year, 
 however, students appeared from other parts of Illinois and 
 from Missouri and Kentucky. 215 For a few years there was 
 a small but noticeable growth in the patronage from the 
 South. In 1852-53, for example, eleven students were en- 
 rolled from Missouri and two from Kentucky. The year 
 before, Tennessee had had a representative. But, although 
 Missouri continued to have several students enrolled, there 
 was a falling off in the southern element. Southern peoples 
 were already isolating themselves from any possible contact 
 with anti-slavery sentiment. After 1853, the student en- 
 rollment from the Middle West grew as that from the South 
 declined. Iowa took Missouri's place. In 1855-56, there 
 were seven from Iowa; in 1856-57, nine. Indiana, Wiscon- 
 sin, Ohio, and "Bleeding Kansas" were represented (a stu- 
 dent came from Lawrence itself in the fateful year 1854.) 
 Pennsylvania and New York were represented in the later 
 1850s, and one student came from Toronto, Canada; also, 
 one from Texas and one from California. In 1853-54, 95 
 students out of 228 were from Jacksonville; in 1856-57, only 
 
82 History of MacMurray College 
 
 75 out of 329 were residents of Jacksonville. Reference has 
 been made to the size of the enrollment in discussing the cur- 
 riculum. From a total enrollment of 117 in 1849-50, it 
 grew each year until it reached the ante bellum peak of 329 
 in 1856-57. Of this number, 121 were college students, 204 
 were preparatory. In 1858-59, it had fallen to 166 (107, 
 college) . This decline may have been the result in part of 
 the Panic of 1857, as well as of the political unrest, because 
 in the next year the enrollment rose to 183 (136, college). 
 All of these students except three (from Indiana, Iowa, and 
 Ohio) were Illinois girls. 
 
 A characteristic of the ante bellum colleges was the forty- 
 week year. Thus the four-year classical course was four and 
 one-half years measured in terms of the present college year. 
 Apparently holidays were rare during the year. Only the 
 summer vacation was mentioned before 1860; then a week 
 at Christmas was granted. 216 A student of 1852 recalled: 
 "One day at Christmas and one at the New Year was our 
 only vacation. We were pushed along as rapidly as possi- 
 ble." 217 The catalogue explained that the vacation from 
 July to September was granted "so that the young ladies 
 might be at home during the warm and sickly season." 218 
 Sometimes students from a distance did not return home 
 during vacation. Alice McElroy, from Missouri, stayed at 
 Island Grove near Jacksonville with relatives on a farm, 
 spending the sickly season "riding horseback, in a peach or- 
 chard, and overhauling wardrobes for fall and winter." 219 
 
 The college year consisted of two sessions until 1856-57; 
 then the three-term plan was adopted. Students might enter 
 at any time. The emphasis placed in the catalogue on punc- 
 tual entrance and regular attendance suggests the difficulty 
 of attaining these objectives. Parents were urged not to per- 
 mit their daughters to visit their homes more than once a 
 term. 220 At the close of the session public examinations were 
 held, and students were "advanced or not according to their 
 proficiency." Trustees, conference visitors, parents, and 
 friends often attended these examinations. The trustees set 
 
History of MacMurray College 83 
 
 one of their meetings to coincide with each examination 
 period. 221 Governor A. W. French, a conference visitor 
 in 1850, gave a very favorable report of the examination 
 and the conditions and prospects of the school. 22 ' That these 
 visitations were not entirely a formal or perfunctory pro- 
 cedure, reports mentioned below will indicate. 
 
 The cost of education in the Illinois Conference Female 
 College was small in comparison with that in some other 
 schools of that day. In 1856, after some increase had been 
 made, the rates were: tuition in the collegiate course, $12 a 
 term (semester) ; in the preparatory course, $10. 223 Board in 
 the dormitory was $2.25 a week. There was a contingent fee 
 of $1.50. Thus the cost for a year was $117 for collegiate 
 work. If the young lady studied French and music, with 
 practice on the "Academy piano," her expenses would be in- 
 creased $ 5 6 for the year. These rates were about the same as 
 those charged by the Augusta Female Seminary in Virginia. 224 
 In Judson Female Seminary in Alabama, however, the cost 
 was $260, exclusive of languages and ornamental subjects. 
 On the other hand, Mount Holyoke Seminary, which used 
 self-help, cut the cost to $64. 225 Although the girls kept 
 their own rooms and might do their own washing, those liv- 
 ing in the dormitory did no other work as a means of reduc- 
 ing the expenses. In 1851, the Conference requested the 
 Board of Trustees to organize a beneficent society to aid or- 
 phan young ladies and others who needed assistance to ob- 
 tain an education at the Female College. 226 Apparently 
 nothing was done toward this end. In the course of the years 
 the Education Society of Jacksonville has aided some girls 
 to attend the College. 227 
 
 The rules and regulations evolved from a brief statement 
 on "Government" in the catalogue of 1852 to a long list 
 of by-laws and a code of conduct in the catalogue of 1858. 
 Although rules were not always observed then any more than 
 today, the regulations reveal something of the standards of 
 the institution and the practices it sought to prevent or to 
 
84 History of MacMurray College 
 
 correct and might be included in full with the omission of 
 a preliminary admonition as to attendance: 
 
 Religious services are held in the Chapel of the College every morn- 
 ing at which all are required to be present. 
 
 Young ladies boarding in the family of the Steward will be required, 
 also, to be present every evening at the hour of family devotions. 
 
 Young ladies will be required to attend church services with the 
 President and Teachers every Sabbath, at the Methodist Church, unless 
 they are members of other churches or are desired to attend elsewhere. 
 In such cases they will be required to attend the places designated regularly. 
 
 Young ladies will be required to rise at an early hour; have their 
 rooms in order in proper season; be prompt and regular at all their 
 meals; have their lights extinguished and retire by ten o'clock p.m. [Early 
 morning prayers were at six and breakfast at six-thirty.] 
 
 During study hours no unnecessary talking is allowed — no visiting 
 in public or private rooms. 
 
 Pupils will not be allowed to visit in the country, except in those 
 families where the parents or guardians have, by note or otherwise to 
 the President, given their consent. Ladies in the building will receive all 
 calls from those not boarding in the Steward's family in the public parlor, 
 and under no circumstances invite their friends to their private rooms 
 without permission. 
 
 All are required to take daily exercise in the open air and to cultivate 
 active and industrious habits, in social as well as school duties. 
 
 The occupants of rooms will be held responsible for all injury done 
 them or the furniture, as well as for all rudeness or impropriety in them. 
 
 Under no circumstances can any part of the duties of the week, for 
 letter or composition writing, be done on the Sabbath. 
 
 Students are not permitted to receive calls from citizens except on 
 Friday evening and during Saturday. 
 
 Each one must be provided with an umbrella and a pair of over- 
 shoes, have every article of apparel fully and distinctly marked with her 
 name, and discard all jewelry as a mere ornament from daily use. Indeed, 
 they are most earnestly advised to leave at home all jewelry and expensive 
 clothing, not only as troublesome, but injurious and altogether unneces- 
 sary in a school girl's outfit. 
 
 No borrowing, lending or exchanging any articles except in peculiar 
 cases, and then by permission of the Governess. 
 
 Calls upon the Sabbath are not permitted unless upon very urgent 
 occasions. 
 
 Neatness in clothing, and in person, will be expected — indeed, this 
 will be strictly required. 
 
 None will be permitted to remain through the night out of their 
 room, and no boarding room will be exchanged, except by permission. 
 
 All assembling in groups, social conversation, and promenading in 
 the halls during study hours are forbidden. 
 
History of MacMurray College 85 
 
 The doors of the rooms in the college edifice will be left open at 
 night, and after the ringing of the retiring bell, the teachers will enter 
 each room when the lights must be extinguished and the fires in prope* 
 order for the night. 
 
 Proper respect and politeness will ever be expected to both teachers 
 and school companions, as well as to all other associates. 
 
 Young ladies from abroad, whether boarding in the family of the 
 Steward or at a boarding house in town, will not be permitted to attend 
 picnic parties, concerts, social circles, mite societies, or any similar assem- 
 blies. They will not be permitted to receive the visits of young gentle- 
 men, nor be escorted by them to or from places of public resort, nor be 
 attended by them in their promenades or walks of recreation, without 
 permission from the President. 
 
 This requisition will be strictly insisted upon as a matter of prudence 
 and safety respecting both the character of the pupils and the reputation 
 of the College. 
 
 The Faculty are required to keep an accurate record of the absence, 
 recitations, weekly exercises and conduct of each student and record the 
 whole in a ledger provided for that purpose. The ledger is always to be 
 open to the inspection of patrons and visitors. Its contents will be reported 
 to the parents and guardians of the pupils every four weeks, if desired. 
 
 The Faculty are required to see that the above rules are carried into 
 effect. They may adopt such other rules as they may deem necessary to 
 preserve good order in the school rooms and buildings. 
 
 For the obstinate violation of the above and other regulations for the 
 government of the College, students will be liable to private and public 
 reproofs, to being reported to their parents, and as a last resort in extreme 
 cases, to suspension and expulsion. 228 
 
 The rules against attendance upon picnics, mite societies, 
 and other social activities in Jacksonville and against receiv- 
 ing the visits of young men were incorporated by action of 
 the Board of Trustees. 229 Habits formed during the first two 
 years of life without a dormitory were hard to break, how- 
 ever, and particularly for those still boarding in town. Until 
 the west wing was built many "from abroad" still had to 
 stay outside; after its construction the Board of Trustees 
 passed the following regulation: 
 
 Whereas, the Board of Instruction has experienced great difficulty in 
 the proper government of the school and in advancing the educational 
 interests of the pupils, from the fact that so many non-resident students 
 board in private families through town, where many opportunities are 
 furnished for social meetings of various kinds; and, whereas, most of 
 the young ladies have been in the habit of attending said meetings to 
 the necessary neglect of their studies and to the injury of the institution; 
 therefore, for the purpose of correcting this evil, and feeling it to be a 
 
86 History of MacMurray College 
 
 duty incumbent upon us as a Board of Trustees to guard the reputation 
 of the institution and to aid the Board of Instruction in the proper 
 government of the school, resolved that in the future all non-resident 
 pupils shall be required to board in the College under the immediate 
 watch-care or supervision of the Board of Instruction except those who 
 work for their board and such as may desire to board with near relatives, 
 but not more remote than brother or sister, uncle or aunt. 230 
 
 From the records and recollections of the students one 
 may learn about these rules in operation and also many other 
 facts about life in the College before the Civil War. 
 
 LETTERS TO JEMIMA 
 
 Among the students of the 1850s were Jemima and Hep- 
 zibah Dumville, of Carlinville, in southern Illinois. They 
 were classified as "irregulars" in 1851-52 and 1853-54; and 
 in 185 5-56, they took the English course in the academic 
 department. They probably entered late and left early each 
 year, for they worked for their living. Their mother, Mrs. 
 Ann Dumville, immigrant from England, who had a prom- 
 inent part in the history of the College in a crisis in 1860, 
 was a housekeeper for Major Burke, of Carlinville. 231 At an 
 early age Hepzibah (Eppie, she called herself) entered domes- 
 tic service in the home of W. C. Stribling. The girls, it will 
 be noted, attended school in alternate years only; in the inter- 
 vals Jemima taught school to the great joy of her mother. 
 They were not counted among the important people in the 
 College or elsewhere; Eppie even less so than Jemima. In the 
 few records of them she is merely "Mrs. Dumville 's other 
 daughter." 
 
 A series of remarkable letters written by Eppie to Jemima 
 in the years 1853-63 have come into the hands of the writer. 
 Although they contain many references to "our college," 
 they were written in the years between and after school. The 
 Striblings lived near Jacksonville, and Eppie was able to come 
 to the exhibitions of the literary societies, to the commence- 
 ments, and to visit the college girls. She gave details about 
 the fire of 1861 found in no other source. Incidentally, the 
 letters contain much local history — references to the first 
 gaslights, detailed descriptions of the colorful Fourth of July 
 celebrations, the grog shop problem, epidemics of cholera and 
 
History of MacMurray College 87 
 
 fevers and recipes for the cure of diseases, Sunday School con- 
 ventions and revivals, local politics in the tense years just 
 before the Civil War, and the contest of the "lower crust" 
 and the aristocrats of West State Street. She read books on 
 the Mormons and discussed the Mormon problem, which a 
 few years before had reached almost the proportions of a 
 civil war in Illinois and had led to the expulsion of the sect 
 from the state. And she was concerned about the Irish im- 
 migration and the Catholic question. These letters consti- 
 tute a valuable document for the history of American society. 
 Their chief value in this history, however, is as a revelation 
 of the mind of a student — her ambitions, her problems and 
 disappointments, her interests in books, friends, school, 
 clothes, politics, her family, her mother-country, England, 
 and her adopted land. One cannot assume that she was an 
 average or a typical student. Socially and educationally, so 
 far as the extent of her schooling is concerned, she was below 
 the average. But if all the schoolgirls of that time had the 
 grasp of the issues of the day that she seems to have possessed 
 and the eagerness to learn that she had, they should have 
 been congratulated. 
 
 In the course of these letters Eppie made great improve- 
 ment in spelling and punctuation. The school did that for 
 her. 232 Her style had some of the primness, the formality char- 
 acteristic of the diction of that day perhaps. Her vocabu- 
 lary may have been influenced by Father Stribling, a walking 
 dictionary, but her natural vigor of expression and her in- 
 dividuality broke through conventions and restraints. Her 
 names for people are like a page out of Bunyan — Brother 
 Curiosity, Mrs. Talkative, Modern Refinement, Brother 
 Punctuality. 
 
 Her life was hard. Even when she went to school, she was 
 late in entering. In the fall of 1853, she wrote Jemima that 
 she had to finish drying the fruit and to do the sewing and 
 knitting before she could enter, but added: "We must get 
 to school sooner this winter and learn our lessons better." 233 
 The Striblings were old and often had insufficient other help 
 
88 History of MacMurray College 
 
 for the work on the farm. Eppie did the cooking, washing 
 and ironing, helped with hog-killing, even cut wood. She 
 wrote in February, 1860, "There has been something of a re- 
 vival in the East Charge, mostly among the schoolgirls, I 
 think. That is perhaps the reason why the preachers have 
 not been to see us. I guess about the time we get to garden- 
 ing, soap-making, and cleaning house and yard the good peo- 
 ple will take a notion to come." 234 
 
 Scattered through her letters are many comments on her 
 reading, which showed intelligent selection and criticism. 
 She wrote in 1856 that William Milburn had just published 
 a book entitled The Axe, Rifle, and Saddle Bags. "I have 
 not seen it yet but if ever I do I shall be apt to make use of 
 my eyes." 2 Later she wrote that she was reading "Uncle" 
 Peter Cartwright's Autobiography and thought him much 
 better on the life of the frontier than Milburn. "How could 
 one born in an eastern city and brought up in our modern 
 Athens know anything about backwoods life," she insisted. 236 
 Of Milburn's essay on the education of women she wrote at 
 great length; she was sorry to be compelled to agree with 
 him as to its superficialities. 237 "My own slight acquaintance 
 with the author gives the book a charm it would not other- 
 wise possess," she declared. She read the Ladies 9 Repository 
 (the Godey's Ladies' Book of American Methodism) and the 
 Christian Advocate regularly. In her letters she discussed 
 the articles of Charles Kingsley and Edward Thompson on 
 slavery, which had been published in the Advocate. She per- 
 severed with Paradise Lost until she learned to like it. Cow- 
 per, Goldsmith, and Young she quoted familiarly. Of In- 
 graham's A Prince of the House of David she wrote that one 
 versed in the Scriptures had nothing to learn from it but that 
 the style was interesting. She read Uncle Tom's Cabin soon 
 after it appeared and Female Life Among the Mormons ("It 
 is about the size of Bascom's Life") . The heroes of Method- 
 ism — Bascom, Finley, Clarke, and Benson, as well as the more 
 familiar "Uncle" Peter, she mentioned as household gods. In 
 a letter of August 15, 1862, she wrote that she had bought 
 
History of MacMurray College 89 
 
 Parson Brownlow's Life Among the Rebels, When she was 
 on the point of giving up her employment with the Striblings, 
 she expressed the hope that he would give her Macauley's 
 History of England and Rollins' Ancient History, The varied 
 intellectual activities of conference ministers, as well as their 
 writings, interested her. She wished to hear Akers' opinion 
 on the state of the nation, "as we all think he is one of the 
 wisest men of the age." 238 She went to hear Milburn lecture 
 on "What a Blind Man Saw in England." On February 3, 
 1861, she wrote: "I hear that William Milburn and Father 
 Cartwright are going to Europe to deliver lectures. Uncle 
 Peter has been lecturing in New York and has given five 
 hundred dollars to the College that he made by it. I guess 
 he will make a snug little sum by his lectures in the old world. 
 You know that anything from America takes over there." 
 Eppie tried to keep up a schedule of study during the years 
 when she was out of school. She wrote Jemima that she was 
 studying the History of the Reformation and later that she 
 had completed it. Someone had remarked that the Protes- 
 tants had once persecuted the Catholics. Although anti- 
 Catholic in opinion — she declared herself a Know-Nothing 
 in 1856 — she undertook a bit of historical research into the 
 reign of Queen Elizabeth and submitted statements about 
 her persecution of Catholics to Jemima "without com- 
 
 _.„«. "239 
 
 ment. 
 
 She came to the United States when a small child, but she 
 remained very loyal to England and followed the course of 
 events there closely. In November, 1857, she wrote: "Did 
 it not make your heart ache to read the last London corre- 
 spondence?" (about the Sepoy mutiny). 240 In the same 
 year she discussed a book on the recent Crimean War. She 
 wrote Jemima that she was reading Select London Lectures, 
 "which are among the best ever delivered in London, so you 
 know they must be good." 241 England's attitude in the Civil 
 War disturbed her greatly, creating, as it did, a clash of loyal- 
 ties. 242 A letter of 1863 to her married sister, who had re- 
 mained in England, gave a remarkably clear statement of the 
 
90 History of MacMurray College 
 
 course of the War up to that point. Her sympathies with 
 Lincoln and the Union cause were pronounced. She had been 
 abolitionist to the point of sending three dollars of her small 
 earnings to the Free State Party in Kansas. 245 
 
 When one recalls the picture often given of the ignorance 
 and lack of intellectual interest of the women of that day, it is 
 remarkable to discover the scope and character of the read- 
 ing of this schoolgirl who spent a great part of her days in 
 physical labor. She was not a bookworm. She showed a 
 normal interest in clothes, parties, friends. She attended 
 paper readings (forerunner of literary clubs), dinners, par- 
 ties, weddings, and went on sleigh -rides. 244 She made her own 
 clothes and was well-informed on the new styles in capes 
 and sleeves (she described how to make the Bishop's sleeves) . 
 She even made herself a set of furs: "I wore them in town 
 today, and they all pronounced them beauties, and so they 
 are the prettiest I ever saw of the kind." 245 
 
 Eppie deplored her lack of education, and, though a gal- 
 lant soul, faced with dread the bleakness of the future. "I 
 know that I lack a good deal of having all I desire, but I 
 sometimes feel as if I had a good education I could be con- 
 tent." 246 Of a school friend, Annie Seyes, the daughter of 
 a missionary, she wrote: "Annie is boarding in the building 
 taking music and French lessons. She is not yet out of her 
 teens and has graduated in the classical course more than a 
 year since." 247 It would be the height of her ambition to 
 take the full classical course, she declared, but as the years 
 slipped by she saw her hopes fade. How many other girls 
 there were like Eppie one does not know. Their annals are 
 usually unrecorded. These letters and the address of Mrs. 
 Grubbs, quoted above, give one a glimpse of the dreams and 
 hopes and then the disillusionment of the young woman seek- 
 ing an education and a larger horizon in a generation when 
 the doors were yet but partly open. 
 
 LIFE IN THE ANTE BELLUM ACADEMY AND COLLEGE 
 
 To recapture and depict the campus scene of one hundred 
 years ago — the activities, thoughts, and dreams of the stu- 
 
History of MacMurray College 91 
 
 dents as they centered about the classrooms, their comrades, 
 clothes, boys, vacations, and the wide, wide world — is a diffi- 
 cult but intriguing task. The background of the students was 
 considerably varied as to wealth and intellectual and social 
 culture but without extreme variation. The West was yet 
 too new for that. Even Eppie was not so different as she 
 felt herself to be. Many of the girls were daughters of Meth- 
 odist preachers — Akerses, Trotters, Rutledges, Shorts, Jameses, 
 Prentices, McElfreshes, Ruckers, Moores, Cranes, Dick- 
 enses, Clouds, Pitners, and others appear in the list. Into 
 these ministers' homes more education and somewhat more of 
 the comforts and amenities of life had appeared by the 1850s, 
 but there was little wealth. Prominent landowners of Mor- 
 gan and surrounding counties and chief citizens of Jack- 
 sonville, Springfield, and other towns, sent their daughters — 
 the Yateses, Palmers, Dunlaps, Cappses, Warrens, Stacys, 
 Gillhams, Becrafts, Matherses, Larimores, Blackburns, Kep- 
 lingers, Van Winkles, Marches, Osbornes, and others. 
 
 From a distance there came Martha Orr and Alice McEl- 
 roy of Missouri, representatives of the slave-owning class. 
 Martha Orr had a brother in Illinois College (as did many 
 girls — it was really a "brother" college) and a sister, Mary, 
 in the Jacksonville Female Academy. Their older sister was 
 the wife of Doctor Hiram K. Jones, the noted Platonist of 
 later days. These two sisters married surgeons, who fought 
 on opposing sides in the Civil War. 248 They were intimately 
 acquainted with Negro life and folklore, and good friends 
 of Joel Chandler Harris whose Uncle Remus Martha loved 
 to read aloud in later years. She must have introduced a 
 somewhat exotic flavor into the campus life of the Illinois 
 Conference Female College. Alice McElroy, an orphan, was 
 sent to the College by her relative and guardian, Colonel 
 James A. Barrett. Colonel W. B. Warren, of Jacksonville, 
 whose daughter, Maria, attended the College at the same time, 
 was a friend of the family; also, the prominent lawyer and 
 statesman of Springfield, Colonel John T. Stuart, the first 
 law partner of Lincoln. Her "connections" were the best. 249 
 
92 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Out of a very different life came Eppie and Jemima Dum- 
 ville. Representatives of other foreign groups began to ap- 
 pear — the German and Irish especially. And there was 
 Sophie Koscialowski. 
 
 Differences in position and outlook produced controveries 
 which must have disturbed the serenity of the reputed shel- 
 tered life of a young ladies seminary. "Girls with Northern 
 and Southern proclivities and biased by different religious 
 tenets could but imbibe the infectious spirit of the times, so 
 many a tilt was exchanged. No lives were lost in these en- 
 counters but a self-mastery was secured that strengthens and 
 ennobles character," was the conclusion of one student with 
 reference to the invasion of college life by the bitter strug- 
 gles of the 1 8 50s. 25( Eppie was not an aggressive, argumenta- 
 tive person to judge by the tone of her letters, but she wrote 
 Jemima of trying to convert one of her school friends to 
 Filmore-ism (the Know-Nothing or anti-Catholic Party of 
 1854) , and she was a staunch abolitionist. 251 
 
 In the recollections of the students are some accounts of 
 how they came to college and of those terrible first days at 
 a boarding school. Perhaps few could match the experiences 
 of Alice McElroy. She saw her first locomotive and met 
 Abraham Lincoln! To quote from her relation of this 
 memorable trip: 
 
 Colonel James A. Barrett, my foster-father, came to Missouri, for me 
 in a beach wagon, January 10, 1851. We crossed the Mississippi River 
 on ice and arrived at Naples about four o'clock on the same day to learn 
 that we could reach Springfield that night by railroad, so we drove to 
 the shed-like depot where busy men unharnessed the horses, and soon 
 wagon, horses, and passengers were aboard the cars. In the meantime, I 
 had stood in awe- wrapt interest not far off from the first railroad engine 
 I ev«jr saw — a seeming thing of life breathing volumes of smoke* crawling 
 back and forth on uneasy feet, puffing, whistling, snorting in a most 
 incomprehensible manner — 'twas marvelous. I'm sure that "Alice in Won- 
 derland" never encountered anything more startling, weird, or terror- 
 fraught than this new kind of coach. This was literally the pioneer rail- 
 road of the State [the famous Northern Cross Railroad from Meredosia 
 to Springfield, the track of which in Jacksonville ran right down East 
 State Street in front of the College to the square]. 262 
 Perhaps there is a grain of comfort for us in our fear of 
 atomic bombs to be reminded that the railroad engine was 
 
History of MacMurray College 93 
 
 once "terror-fraught." Alice had quite an eventful first trip 
 to college. There was engine trouble, and they did not arrive 
 in Springfield until midnight. Some days were spent there 
 in sight-seeing. At the home of Colonel John T. Stuart she 
 met Abraham Lincoln. 253 In the meantime, her foster-father 
 was trying to decide to what school he should send her. "The 
 Illinois Conference Female College was finally decided upon 
 as the school for me, because it was new and had its reputa- 
 tion to make just as each individual student had her char- 
 acter to shape . . . and because the president and trustees were 
 personally known to him as good men of good judgment 
 who could successfully manage this new western venture." 2 
 
 Most girls were not so fortunate as to be able to come even 
 a part of the way on the "cars." They came on stage coaches 
 or in spring wagons. Clara Ibbetson Weir wrote: 
 
 I remember the first day I arrived at College. My father and I had 
 driven forty miles in a wagon for there were no railroads. We had left 
 our home at five o'clock in the morning and arrived at the school just 
 at dusk. I was taken to a large double room, desolate and almost bare. . . 
 I was very homesick until they brought me a room-mate. . . 255 
 
 They were as curious about each other as the college stu- 
 dents of today are about the "new girls." "There were many 
 types of girlhood; the city girl, with her accomplished and 
 pretty ways; the country girl, who with open-eyed wonder, 
 was learning to adjust herself to live among others," one girl 
 recorded. 256 And another said: 
 
 The new girls were received with Christian courtesy and kindness. 
 There were many pretty girls in their freshness and buoyancy, yet none 
 to ring very loud as belles. The first one to awaken curiosity was a viva- 
 cious blonde wearing white kid gloves ( a little soiled) in the algebra 
 class. It looked a little incongruous, and we were on the qui vive to see 
 the soft beautiful baby-like hands they covered, when lo! we saw they 
 did not conceal beauty, but the chop of dish-washing; and, learning that 
 she did all the chamber work and part of the kitchen work at home, she 
 was at once a favorite, all feeling a kind of kinship. 257 
 
 Did the girls have any fun? might be the first question the 
 college student of today would ask upon examining the early 
 catalogues with their requirements for graduation and upon 
 reading the rules and regulations of the 1850s. Those who 
 sought to graduate, especially those taking the classical course. 
 
94 History of MacMurray College 
 
 had little time for fun, but most students took less than this. 
 As to the regulations, it is safe to assume that they were not 
 always well-observed. Rules, like laws, are often prohibi- 
 tions of past acts. Girls must have "assembled in groups for 
 social conversation" during study hours and "promenaded 
 the halls." They probably spent some nights in other girls' 
 rooms, stayed up beyond the retiring hour, and wrote com- 
 positions and letters on Sunday. Most of their misdemeanors 
 were very likely mild in character. One reads of raids on the 
 steward's larder. From other sources, however, it might ap- 
 pear that such raids would be futile and that the cupboard 
 was bare. Harriet Tomlin wrote of President Jaquess leav- 
 ing the school to go out to solicit funds or food and fuel. The 
 girls once organized a food strike. Thinking the steward 
 too "close" in his expenditures for food (they complained of 
 too much "mush and molasses") , they refused to come to 
 supper. At prayers the next morning the President deliv- 
 ered a reproof, and the strike was called off. 258 Many school 
 legends develop around the servants, but the stories of school 
 life in the fifties at the Female College contain few references 
 to servants. Only "Willium," who brought the wood, was 
 memorialized. One suspects that servants were few. 
 
 Recreation hour from nine to nine-thirty in the evening 
 was a time for social gatherings. Sophie Naylor's room was 
 a sort of "hub." She told the story of these meetings and 
 of one meeting in particular in which the mob spirit escaped 
 from all bounds and led to expulsions: 
 
 There songs were sung, the pure clear tones of my beloved room- 
 mate, Lizzie Kerr (afterwards Mrs. Martin), rising above all the others. 
 There sermons were preached with a chair for a pulpit, reproducing the 
 dialect of "Bruddah Johnsing" or the nasal sing-song of the brother 
 from the rural "deestricts." There plans were concocted for amusement, 
 one of which ended so seriously as to considerably impair our confidence 
 in our own judgment thereafter. It was near the close of the hour when 
 we suddenly concluded to have a "menagerie." Lizzie and I were the 
 "showmen." We hastily formed the girls in line and, naming some animal, 
 told them to imitate it as we started the procession down the long hall. . . 
 The first round went off famously, but as we rounded the second and 
 were preparing to close in a grand finale, a few of the girls began to 
 serenade a new teacher lately come from the "Academy" [probably Miss 
 
History of MacMurray College 95 
 
 Meade] , who was very formal and precise in her ways and who was, there- 
 fore, liable to their criticisms. It was in vain that the "showmen" pleaded 
 with them to desist. . . . The more horrified we were the more the girls 
 enjoyed it until, like leaders of mobs in other cases, finding ourselves 
 powerless, we incontinently fled to our rooms and hid our heads in the 
 bed clothes to keep out the hideous noises. An ominous stillness soon 
 came. Then we were imperatively summoned to the chapel "to meet the 
 faculty." That was a memorable meeting; President Jaquess was absent, 
 but Mrs. Jaquess, stern and majestic, more than filled his place. The 
 incorrigibles, now that they had "cast the die," seemed possessed, and ate 
 peanuts and threw the shells with perfect abandonment. The most of 
 the girls were filled with contrition and dismay and pleaded perfect inno- 
 cence of any intentional discourtesy. Three were expelled, two suspended, 
 and ihe remainder given until eight o'clock the next morning to humbly 
 apologize to the insulted teacher on pain of dismissal. 259 
 
 Girls spent weekends and an occasional holiday with 
 school friends in the country; sometimes a house party of 
 eight or ten was assembled. "On one occasion Mr. Willard 
 took a two-horse wagon load of us out to his country home. 
 We will never forget it," Clarissa Keplinger wrote. 260 And 
 another remembered: "Once it was a wedding party, miles 
 away in the country, when the mud was bottomless on a 
 cold mid-winter day, but we bloomed out in thin dresses 
 with low necks and short sleeves." 261 These weekends appar- 
 ently became too frequent and were prohibited except upon 
 express permissions from parents. 
 
 Picnics were a popular diversion of old and young. This 
 privilege, also, must have been abused by the girls, because 
 the Board of Trustees passed the special rule listed above 
 against them. It was just after the following incident oc- 
 curred that the rule was passed. Eppie wrote the story to 
 Jemima in a letter of May 20, 1857: 
 
 On the 12th inst., Mr. McCoy announced to the young ladies of our 
 college that a picnic would be held in Stribling Grove the following day. 
 The morning of the appointed day was rather unpromising, but about ten 
 o'clock the woods were alive with boys and girls. A clap of thunder soon 
 after caused them to make a general rush for the house. We opened our 
 doors and in a few moments the rooms were full to overflowing. . . . 
 We gathered all the tables we could muster and spread them in the porch. 
 They placed their nicknacks on them and tried to enjoy themselves as 
 best they could under the circumstances. ... At four in the evening 
 the word was given to move homeward and at six the last one took her 
 leave, and we had the house to ourselves again after a day of commotion 
 
o6 History of MacMurray College 
 
 present M.eMu„»y ^^"^flfpSS 
 in trips in the 1850s. Mono ^ ^ s mgfieU 
 
 field Horticultural Society. Jbs fest ™d, hdd ^ 
 
 of Bflf^^.^SJ^^&aAe Brass Band 
 set off by music and^ddre sse - T ^ ^ ^ 
 
 was used; J. &. iurner, u± d . was re- 
 
 terest in horticulture, tookjm^PJ " ** ^ 
 
 ported that the show was made espec any d f rom 
 
 farge number of the elite and beautrfu ^jj^^ Jack . 
 
 Jacksonville .- In an ^P ri ^fjw T "reported the 
 sonville VwiWy E^ M S 7«»rwrf of June l/, P 
 
 "^^eS from a friend ^«EJ^n^£ 
 Academies to Springfield to-l^jj *£ 'the florists of Spring- 
 great as had been the ^ft^J hand some flowers f torn 
 
 2*S Sffl ES** £ roses blushed a deeper r at 
 
 "SSti were attracted by the g^J^SJS 
 scape and her natural wond.s j^^pl ^^ 
 seen the great prairies and «« J"f™7 duated wit h ou t 
 
 her education -uld ^ J^f^'SUcd ** she 
 seeing Lake Michigan. Presid^t J ^ f raW fron . 
 
 join an excursion to Chicago, ***«™* \ he Lake . Asked 
 

 \<£/f* 
 
 f 
 
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 9 &VJ? MJXMiEl) DOLLARS *„».,^« « ' * SU>sa;!ber o£ 3 
 
 ""^.'K,5, towards the perraaacat endowment «>f * r,« iriiv,,»> «... M 
 
 I «& w^^, ,,„,„„. „„,.„, „ e „,, c, , ;;„„;;;>; £ ^1C % 
 
 I forever, to the privily of having ONE SCHOLAR educated i„ ,*'* I„ s 
 
 | /« - i /< *, in any or all of the bmnehes required for graafian. When „.,, :,,„ RTH o| t J b \ '! |l 
 | «ote shall ha,e ben pnid, In, « be entitled to the yse W * sdldarsI% fof & ^ J ' 2^^^^ ^ 
 
 * <>r the In.unUou, a,l * . mmntht of t}m ^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 o, pnucpBlaadintmst, has been p a id; // r y^ 
 
 Jacksoavilfe, 111. 
 
 (««/ HI /<••//, 
 
 
 % <W2^ « •''' * ^*w ' ^ 
 
 Copy of a Perpetual Scholarship 
 Issued by the College in 18 5 6 
 
History of MacMurray College 97 
 
 Michigan." 264 Horizons were advancing; moreover, experi- 
 ences such as this had a depth and an intensity often absent 
 in a more sophisticated age. 
 
 Students went occasionally to lectures in Jacksonville. 
 Francis Gage's lecture on woman's rights was remembered. 
 In the college notebook of Faithful Shipley, '53, was found 
 the following comments on a lecture of Ralph Waldo Em- 
 erson: 
 
 I heard this celebrated orator lecture in the Congregational Church, 
 Jacksonville, Illinois. His subject was, "Culture, Wealth, and Power." 
 He represented culture as the great lever of human progression, dwelt 
 but slightly upon wealth and power. 
 
 He spoke of all the means necessary for developing the mental and 
 physical faculties, was much in favor of amusements, not even disapprov- 
 ing the gaming table, the theatre, and the opera. But he advocated these 
 only so far as they could be used as lessons to teach the young mind the 
 vanity and hollow-heartedness of the world. 
 
 (He seemed to believe this possible.) 
 
 He dwelt upon the comparative advantages of city and country life 
 for developing the mind. After speaking of the advantages of town, he 
 turned to the country and exclaimed poetically, "They have hills for 
 geology and groves for devotion!" 
 
 There was decidedly a want of connection in Mr. Emerson's lecture. 
 It was also slightly tinctured with infidelity. 
 
 There is nothing prepossessing in Mr. Emerson's personal appearance. 
 He :s of medium stature, rather spare and, I should judge, of nervous 
 temperament. His forehead, not at all prominent, was partly concealed 
 by his hair, which was parted on the left side and combed smoothly 
 around his head, and he rubbed his hand frequently across his forehead, 
 as if suffering from headache. He sported a very long aquiline nose, 
 with thin cheeks and narrow chin; but the eyes of this singular genius 
 were the most interesting portion of his countenance. Their color I could 
 scarcely discern at my distance from the stand. I believe it was dark 
 hazel- They were very bright and piercing, and they rolled about in their 
 sockets toward every part of the room as if the soul was wildly seeking 
 an egress from their narrow orbits and they were persistently determined 
 to guard the avenues. 
 
 The circumstances which have placed this man among the principal 
 American orators must have been his manner of delivery which was 
 perfectly entrancing. His voice, manner, and modulation were the free, 
 easy, and affable kind which we love to see and hear in a fire-side friend. 
 He had a peculiar manner of closing his sentences, lowering his voice a 
 little and hurrying over the last two or three words as much as to say, 
 "You know that anyhow," which had a very happy effect. 
 
98 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Whether her opinions coincide with the verdict of his- 
 tory, it is interesting to have the first reactions of a student 
 of the Illinois Conference Female College to this great Amer- 
 ican. Emerson appeared further in student records. Min- 
 erva Masters Vincent, '55, declared: "These same blessed 
 teachers who were able to overcome all fears in that direc- 
 tion (with regard to teachings in geology) were afraid to 
 allow us to read Emerson's Representative Men, claiming 
 that its influence would be pernicious upon our young minds; 
 hence the book made its disappearance from the library." 2 
 It is interesting to note that it had been in the library and 
 that there must have been some demand for it among the 
 students, if her recollections about the incident are correct. 
 
 One of the most serious defects of the program of the 
 Illinois Conference Female College was the lack of any or- 
 ganized sports. The girls had little physical exercise beyond 
 the promenades on the front walk. Some girls complained 
 later of the inattention to the physical development of the 
 students. 266 The age rather than the school must be blamed. 
 A few years later Dio Lewis began to arouse parents and 
 educators to the serious need of physical education. Perhaps 
 few of the girls in the Female College really suffered from 
 too little exercise. Their weekends and summers on the 
 farms helped to supply the lack of exercise in school, and 
 the younger and more boisterous romped about the campus, 
 but the very studious girl did suffer, beyond a doubt, from 
 the "unnatural" life she led. 
 
 Religious exercise, on the other hand, occupied a large place 
 in their college life. Girls living in the dormitory not only 
 attended the chapel hour held each day for the entire school, 
 but evening devotions as well. On Sundays they attended 
 morning and evening services at some church, escorted by 
 a teacher. Revivals, too, had a prominent place on the cal- 
 endar; they were classed as one of the chief diversions! A 
 "college girl of the fifties" wrote: "Occasions of display 
 were not frequent, and as I recall it now, the chief diversions 
 were revival meetings. In '52 a revival of great power prac- 
 
History of MacMurray College 99 
 
 tically broke up the school work for several days. Prayer 
 meetings were held during recitation hours. The influence 
 of the revival was felt more in the College than anywhere 
 else and resulted in the conversion of almost every student." 237 
 There was a special religious group called "President Jaquess* 
 praying committee" by way of pleasantry and derision, Mrs. 
 Minerva Masters Vincent, a member of the group, remem- 
 bered, and she paid tribute to its value in her later work in 
 the church. 
 
 There were boys, the Illinois College boys, the McKen- 
 dree boys, and others, and they serenaded the girls then as 
 now. "The uncurtained window looked out on a fair land- 
 scape and gave us opportunity to quote poetry to the gleam- 
 ing stars or the glowing sunsets, or to number and list the 
 serenaders, who entranced us with melodies under the mid- 
 night skies." 268 It has been noted above that the regulations 
 with respect to the associations with young men became more 
 strict. Two causes may have produced the restrictions: 
 criticism by parents or ministers that the girls gave too much 
 time to the boys; the introduction of more contacts with 
 the East through President Jaquess' visit and through teach- 
 ers from the East, where social conventions were more strict- 
 ly observed. Forbidden the visit of young men, the girls re- 
 sorted to subterfuges to secure meetings. Alice McElroy de- 
 scribed one procedure: 
 
 One of the tricks that always fooled Mr. Jaquess was the cloak 
 trick. In those days gentlemen sometimes wore long broadcloth cloaks. 
 So when a social evening with the college boys at a neighboring house 
 was planned, one girl would don said cloak, join the bevy of girls walking 
 up and down in front of the college after tea — a granted privilege — and 
 as the shades of evening fell and good nights were exchanged three girls 
 were under the cloak instead of one. This trio would soon find place in 
 the friend's parlor where some young men from the college would ac- 
 cidentally call, and a good time would follow, generally of music and con- 
 versation. . . , 269 
 
 Doctor W. F. Short, president of the College from 1875 to 
 1893, declared that as a student in McKendree College he had 
 visited the Female College, knew all the girls in the Class of 
 '52, and had probably caused President Jaquess much trou- 
 
ioo History of MacMurray College 
 
 ble. 270 He had the advantage in securing admission in the fact 
 that he had five sisters who attended during these first years. 
 
 Visits of the boys were permitted, it appears, at the soci- 
 ety exhibitions and at commencement. Matches were made 
 from these associations, if they had not been already formed, 
 and weddings began to take place within the college walls. 
 Sarah Laning, later the wife of Doctor Short, described in 
 her diary the wedding of a graduate that took place at com- 
 mencement in 1854. 271 One young man sent his bride to 
 the College to improve her mind while he joined the "gold 
 rush" to California. 272 Perhaps it was to the Far West that 
 Eppie referred in this statement to Jemima: "I suppose 
 Benny will correspond with you. It would be nice to get 
 letters from such a wild region. 273 The West had moved on, 
 and this generation was getting its thrills secondhand. In 
 turn those following would have Buffalo Bill; then the 
 "horse opera." 
 
 Dress and the fashions were matters of collegiate interest. 
 The printed regulations discouraged expensive clothes or 
 jewelry. Probably few students had fine clothes. On her first 
 day, Clarissa Keplinger wore "a dark calico dress, a gingham 
 sunbonnet, and a black alpaca round cape." 274 Schools for 
 girls were frequently referred to as "calico colleges." On Sat- 
 urdays, Clarissa found time to "replenish her scanty ward- 
 robe" and to make dresses for exhibitions or commencement. 
 Commencement dresses "were of plain and dotted Swiss mus- 
 lin trimmed with Valenciennes lace." 275 
 
 Campus life in the 18 50s lacked the organization (except 
 the literary societies) and most of the symbols, the ritualism 
 of later times, but the graduates and others who stayed sev- 
 eral years, or even one year, developed a deep sense of attach- 
 ment to "our college." "Gentle reader," wrote a graduate 
 of 18 52 to the girls of a later generation, "do you think class 
 affiliation, student friendships, and Alma Mater loyalty dif- 
 fer in the then and now? . . . We have a lasting love for the 
 school, the girls, the pastor, the old elm trees, and the beau- 
 tiful streets. . . . " 270 Their tears at parting were profuse. 
 
History of MacMurray College 101 
 
 To be sure, there is always a reluctance to leave the Alma 
 Mater for the responsibilities and uncertainties of adult life. 
 To the girl graduates of the 1850s, however, the end of school 
 days meant a greater change — they entered, in the vast ma- 
 jority of cases, into a life of endless duties as wife and mother, 
 with little freedom or opportunity for further self -develop- 
 ment. At least that is the prospect they foresaw. One girl 
 wrote later: "Indeed, when school days were done so severe 
 was the wrench from college to home life and social duties 
 that there was a feeling, with some of us at least, that life 
 with all its best and most desirable things was past. . . . 
 Friendships had become so strong, the routine of school life 
 so sweet, that every other thing seemed irksome." 277 
 
 In sweet but pathetic little notes in quaint memory books 
 they bade one another farewell forever. Epidemics, the mor- 
 tality of mothers, as well as the lack of freedom to follow 
 their own desires, gave point to these farewells. "On the blank 
 page of my old Wood's Botany, I find in pencil, 'Oh, remem- 
 ber me, Emily Thorpe,' who died some time after of chol- 
 era," wrote Clarissa Keplinger. 278 Deaths occurred in the Col- 
 lege itself; Clarissa recorded two in the winter of 1854-55: 
 Arabella Rutledge and Miss Adams of Edwardsville, one of 
 thirteen girls who gave a concert to raise money for the new 
 college piano, overtaxed her strength, and "went away sud- 
 denly." Some of those memory books have been given to 
 the College after the death of the owners. Among them is 
 that of Alice McElroy, a gift of her friend, Colonel W. B. 
 Warren, an embossed Jenny Lind book with a few songs, 
 some steel engravings of Jenny and other famous women, 
 and many pages filled with mementoes. There are notes by 
 President Jaquess, her "undeviating friend," who hoped to 
 meet her in heaven, by Miss Olin on the transitoriness of life 
 and the uncertainty of happiness, by Mrs. Sheldon, and by 
 many school friends. Parting was sweet sorrow. With Vergil 
 they would say, "There are tears in things." And the Civil 
 War was coming. 
 
102 History of MacMurray College 
 
 THE LITERARY SOCIETIES BELLES LETTRES AND PHI NU 
 
 A prominent and constructive feature of the nineteenth 
 century college was the literary society, a combination of 
 literary and scientific study club, an oratorical and debating 
 forum, and a social organization, with the last purpose de- 
 cidedly subordinate to the other two. It is not unusual that 
 such societies should have been founded in the Illinois Con- 
 ference Female College; it is unusual that these groups have 
 survived to the present. In the twentieth century, however, 
 their function has become rather more social than literary, 
 and their relative importance in collegiate life has been re- 
 duced by the appearance of many other organizations of 
 both educational and social character. For a good many years 
 the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu societies constituted the only 
 collegiate organizations. College spirit crystallized around 
 them; alumnae interest in the Alma Mater was centered in 
 them until, and even after, the Alumnae Association was es- 
 tablished. Many programs and press reports of their exhibi- 
 tions have been preserved. They indicate the solid character 
 of these performances and the educational value they must 
 have had. The records of the societies were lost in the fire 
 of 1861, but the minutes from that time forward survive 
 and constitute an important historical record. For a good 
 many years, while the college library was small, their libraries 
 were an important asset. They established the first inter- 
 collegiate relationship of the College in their associations with 
 the brother societies of Illinois College. 
 
 The Belles Lettres was founded in the fall of 1851, chiefly 
 by the members of the two senior classes of that year, the 
 February and June graduates. Alice McElroy gave the fol- 
 lowing story of its origin : 
 
 These young men [of Illinois College] talked learnedly of their 
 literary society of Latin sounding name, and of the splendid papers on 
 live subjects they had at their meetings, which greatly interested us, for 
 we had talked up class society organization pro and con, but had taken 
 no active steps in the matter. The fall term was now progressing, and we 
 decided that if the college on the hill made the society a success we 
 could, too. 279 
 
History of MacMurray College 103 
 
 By February 1852, the Belles Lettres were ready to pre- 
 sent a public exhibition. From this time the mid-year public 
 performances of the College were presented by the literary 
 societies. At commencement they usually presented a joint 
 program . This first Belles Lettres program was the fol- 
 lowing: 280 
 
 Exhibition 
 
 of the 
 
 Belles Lettres Society 
 
 of 
 
 Illinois Conference Female College 
 
 Jacksonville 
 
 February 17, 1852 
 
 Order of Exercises 
 Prayer 
 The General Diffusion of Knowledge An Essay by Miss F. W. Shipley 
 
 Hail, Columbia, varied F. Beyer 
 
 Soliloquy of a Blackboard An Essay by Miss S. Wyatt 
 
 Ingleside Trio 
 
 Imaginings An Essay by Miss S. F. Naylor 
 
 Fantasia "Low Back'd Car" W. V. Wallace 
 
 Louis Napoleon An Essay by Miss A. A. McElroy 
 
 California Gold Hunters Song 
 
 Onward and Upward An Essay by Miss J. A. Gilham 
 
 Good Night Song 
 
 It Will be Said of Us— They Were in a Hurry 
 
 An Essay by Miss M. E. Harrison 
 Scots wha hae, varied W. V. Wallace 
 
 The Soul A Poem by Miss C. W. Winn 
 
 Praise the Lord 
 Benediction 
 
 The second society, the Phi Nu, appeared in 1853. The 
 circumstances attending its foundation are suggested in the 
 following account of Minerva Masters Vincent: 
 
 One other cause of disturbance in the College occurred that is now 
 remembered — the coming into existence of the "Phi Nu Society.*' We 
 were the "Belles Lettres." We were the people, and had no use for our 
 little sister. It caused great indignation in the camp. If there were any 
 in our class or even in the school who did not want to join the society 
 already in existence, they had that privilege; but to organize another, and 
 that, too, bearing the name of Greek letters, was to use a piece of great 
 impertinence. The new society lived and flourished notwithstanding our 
 protest, and had for its leaders some of the brightest girls. I am not sure 
 
104 History of MacMurray College 
 
 that we as a class were ever hospitable to the newcomer. But it was 
 one of our blessed educational influences, although we knew it not. 281 
 The older society called the younger one the "Trundle Beds"; 
 the Phi Nu retaliated by calling its rival "The Fossils." 282 
 
 The original constitutions of these societies were destroyed 
 in the fire of 1861. Hence it is impossible to state the exact 
 procedure for admitting members. Clarissa Keplinger, a 
 Belles Lettres, wrote of being "voted into" the new "secret 
 society" and of her problem to decide whether to spend her 
 one dollar to pay the fee required or for a daguerreotype. 28 ' 
 It is probable that admission to membership was democratic 
 in character. Perhaps the younger society as a sort of protest 
 movement was the more democratic in spirit. The societies 
 were encouraged by the administration as an educational 
 feature of the College. The catalogue of 1856 had the fol- 
 lowing statement with regard to their purpose and their 
 regulation: 
 
 Connected with the institution are the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu 
 Societies, whose design is the promotion of independent thought and ac- 
 curate habits of composition. The Trustees have devoted to each society 
 a spacious hall in the fifth story of the New Edifice. These halls have 
 been furnished by the societies respectively, in a neat and convenient 
 manner, so as to render them pleasant and attractive. . . .These Literary 
 Societies are under the protection and control of the Faculty; and their 
 property is under the guardianship of the Board. The Societies adopt 
 their own regulations for business; but the Faculty have the appointment 
 of meetings, exhibitions, anniversaries, and the inspection of pieces to be 
 presented on their exhibition and anniversary occasions. 284 
 
 The mottoes of the societies suggest their constructive 
 objective: preparation for life. That of Belles Lettres was 
 Hie vitae activae preparamus; that of Phi Nu, Lucem colli- 
 gentis ut emittamus. Meetings with programs of essays, de- 
 bates, some music, and an epistolary were held each week. 
 The Belles Lettres were sisters to the Sigma Pi of Illinois Col- 
 lege; the Phi Nu to the Phi Alpha. In later years, and quite 
 likely at this time, they attended the open meetings of each 
 other's society. 
 
 In an old notebook of Henrietta Keplinger, '57, are some 
 interesting papers relating to the Belles Lettres Society. One 
 item is a letter to "My dear friend," Alexander Van Winkle, 
 
History of MacMurray College 105 
 
 her fiance, but headed "Composed for the Belles Lettres So- 
 ciety, October, 1856 [November?], Epistolary being my 
 duty." Her comments on the College, the Belles Lettres, and 
 politics are of interest: 
 
 [I] . . . think the advantages of boarding in college far superior 
 to private families, especially during the winter season. 'Tis true we are 
 not permitted the society of young gentlemen. . . But what is that to 
 me, when I have three young gentlemen cousins attending Illinois Col- 
 lege this winter to whom I shall be happy to introduce you? ... As to 
 news, I am a whole-souled "Belles Lettres." You must hear from my 
 society first as its prosperity is nearest my heart. We have secured almost 
 all the talent both musical and intellectual, and I anticipate a year of 
 great success. We have determined to have our meeting on Saturday 
 (which you remember you said was indispensable to the good of any 
 society and especially to the members, as the weekly exercises, if properly 
 attended, would be of more practical value to the students than any 
 other part of school). 
 
 The political news is very exciting here as elsewhere. Heard this 
 evening that Fremont was our President. Am much rejoiced at the 
 thought, but think it almost too good to be true. Now I wish you and I 
 could agree in all respects, but you always wished me to have opinions of 
 my own so you will not think me wrong in expressing them. But now do 
 write soon and tell me if you really did vote for Buchanan as you said 
 you were going to do when I saw you last. . . . Will you please send me 
 some books for our library? . . , 285 
 
 In the same notebook is an address Miss Keplinger made 
 to the society as president in 1857. 286 She spoke of the diffi- 
 culties they faced. Few of their old members had returned 
 (a large number were graduates) , they had a "paper" to pro- 
 duce and an exhibition, and their hall to furnish "so far as 
 their small means would permit." 
 
 The exhibitions of the societies were the big events of the 
 year, next to commencement in importance; the joint anni- 
 versary exhibition was really a commencement event. The 
 societies took great pride in the decoration of their halls for 
 these exhibitions, or of the chapel, if it were a joint function. 
 Eppie wrote of members coming out to the Stribling farm 
 to get cedar boughs for this purpose. Of the one given in 
 1855, a visitor wrote: 
 
 .... Connected with the college are two literary societies, the 
 Belles Lettres and the Phi Nu, which are in a most flourishing condition. 
 These societies gave a joint exhibition on Wednesday evening, preceding 
 
106 History of MacMurray College 
 
 commencement day. It consisted in the reading of essays suitably inter- 
 spersed with fine music. The essays were well written and reflected honor 
 upon their fair authors. The debate, "Did the corruptions which Christian- 
 ity experienced during the Dark Ages lead to the extension of its truth?*' 
 was ably conducted by Misses McCulloch and Keplinger. An opinion 
 prevailed to some extent that Miss Keplinger had the best argument, but 
 we believe that Miss McCulloch fully sustained her side of the ques- 
 tion. . . . 287 
 
 It is interesting to note that the young ladies were already 
 entering the field of debate. After a while they practiced 
 oratory also. An old program of the meeting described above 
 lists the essay subjects: What is Education?, Genius the 
 Guide to Improvement, Beauties of a Forgiving Spirit, The 
 United States. 
 
 These brief relations and fragmentary records that sur- 
 vive concerning the early history of the literary societies in- 
 dicate the serious purpose of their members, their efforts to 
 learn from their brother colleges, Illinois and McKendree, 
 and their industry in building up their libraries. Some items 
 on the programs indicate their interest in "live issues." One 
 girl recalled that they debated "The Dissolution of the Un- 
 ion" as early as 1854, and that Peter Akers pronounced the 
 speech of the girl who spoke for the Union a fine one. 288 But 
 in contrast to the practical, live issues discussed, this same 
 young lady declared: "We were much given to versifying, 
 and there was a poetical reflective cast to the most of our 
 effusions." 289 From some study of girls' schools in the East and 
 South, it seems safe to conclude that the young lady in the 
 West was somewhat more inclined to the discussion of the 
 questions of the day than was the girl in the East. 
 
 COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT THE SWEET GIRL GRADUATE 
 
 It is difficult today to appreciate the place of commence- 
 ments in the community life of the past. Commencement 
 was a season of the year. In Jacksonville a considerable part 
 of June and July was filled with the commencements of the 
 three schools. Many visitors came from "abroad." The im- 
 portance of the school to the town was evidenced by the 
 depression which followed the withdrawals. "If Jackson- 
 ville is the 'Athens of the West,' the students furnish the 
 
History of MacMurray College 107 
 
 'Greece' of the town," one editor noted. 290 Another described 
 the summer lull: "At the present time Jacksonville seems a 
 model quiet town while the farmers are busy and the 'calico 
 institutions' are passing vacations away. During the two 
 months' interregnum of science and literature, business and 
 excitement will recede into normal channels. The 'calicoes' 
 will return by the last of September, when the dry goods 
 boys will awaken from brighter dreams to a smiling sense of 
 their numerous responsibilities." 291 
 
 Commencement was a social and educational institution of 
 considerable significance. It has been compared to the camp 
 meeting of an earlier day or to the chautauqua of later times. 
 In an appeal to Methodists to attend the commencements 
 of their school, the editor of the Central Christian Advocate 
 wrote on June 3,1857: "It is desirable to make these the 
 literary camp meetings of the Church." 292 The commence- 
 ment exercises of the Illinois Conference Female College were 
 held in the college chapel, which was much too small to seat 
 the crowd. The first class — that of 1851 — had been per- 
 suaded to come back the next year for a term in order to 
 graduate from the new building. Their commencement was 
 in February, 1852. 293 Thus there were two commencements 
 in 1852. This first class, however, is designated the Class of 
 1851. In 1857 the commencement exercises were moved to 
 the East Charge Church; and later, to secure a still larger 
 auditorium, to the Strawn's Opera House. 
 
 The college commencements of the 1850s had some of 
 the features of the modern commencement. There was the 
 baccalaureate sermon on the Sunday before. In 185 5, Presi- 
 dent Jaquess preached his farewell sermon on the text: "For 
 I have called you friends." 294 The president also delivered an 
 address to the graduating class. A feature of these com- 
 mencements that no longer appears was the graduating essay. 
 In 1855, the exercises extended from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., for 
 there were twenty-one essays! There was always a valedic- 
 tory address given by the student chosen by her classmates 
 for this office. Graduates appeared in "white summery 
 
io8 History of MacMurray College 
 
 dresses," for there were yet no caps and gowns. Sometimes 
 distinguished guests appeared on the platform. In 185 5, Mrs. 
 Jaquess' friend, the wife of ex-Governor French, was a 
 guest. 295 At that notable commencement the "Chapel halls 
 were so crammed that there was scarce room on the rostrum 
 for the professors." 
 
 The commencement occupied large space in the press. 296 
 The newspaper accounts include not only the subjects of the 
 essays but also comments on them and sometimes digests of 
 them. In the crowded rooms, it was difficult to hear the 
 pieces. Most press reports made much of the distinctness in 
 speech. Schools stressed, but sometimes not enough, the abil- 
 ity to read. Milburn criticized women's schools for empha- 
 sizing music to the neglect of speech. 297 Sweet girl graduates 
 were often timid, too, and spoke too faintly to be heard. The 
 writing of these commencement essays was taken quite seri- 
 ously, and the subjects reflect both the interest of the student 
 and the contents of the curriculum. Some were: Moral and 
 Intellectual Culture, Reflections of an Atheist, Education 
 and its Tendencies, Moral Integrity the Basis of Human 
 Improvement, Freedom of Speech and the Press, Nations are 
 now Dependent upon Principles, Progress of Science, and 
 Music in its Devotional, Social, and National Relations. 
 Copies of some of these essays have been given to the college 
 archive. They are not masterpieces, but they are thoughtful 
 productions that reflect the high purposes of the youthful 
 writers of sixteen to eighteen years. A visitor wrote of the 
 commencement of 1857: 
 
 The commencement exercise was one of the most splendid, intellec- 
 tual, and soul-elevating I ever attended in my life. Speeches were read 
 that would have done much credit to any man or woman in Illinois; 
 several of them were well read, a very rare accomplishment. They were 
 read naturally, gracefully, and so as to be heard. I would not have a 
 young lady be a "brawler," but if she reads to be heard of men and 
 women, I would have her read distinctly and clearly and without affecta- 
 tion. I wish several of these papers were published. The subjects were 
 well-chosen and, if chosen by the speakers, spoke well for their heads and 
 hearts. Some of them were: The Un wasting Lamp, Our Country, Woman 
 May be Wise Without Being Masculine, The Necessity of a Revelation, 
 etc. Miss Mary E. Rucker read a poem, "Prayer Links Earth with Heav- 
 
History of MacMurray College 109 
 
 en", which moved the souls of many; several of the preachers looked as 
 if they were at a good camp meeting. I will describe no more, but say 
 it was a grand entertainment. ... I thought commencement day was 
 the brightest day the College had ever known. There were a great many 
 visitors present. The church of the East Charge was entirely too small. 298 
 One commencement deserves special notice because of 
 the introduction of the slavery issue into its exercises. 
 
 THE SLAVERY ISSUE AND ABOLITION AN EXCITING INCIDENT 
 
 AT THE FEMALE COLLEGE 
 
 The questions of slavery and its abolition did not agitate 
 the Illinois Conference Female College as they did the Illinois 
 College for men, where Professor J. B. Turner and some 
 other teachers took an aggressive stand for its abolition, 
 openly sympathizing with and aiding the escape of slaves by 
 the Underground Railroad through Jacksonville. 299 Never- 
 theless, these issues must have been discussed in the Female 
 College more extensively than they appear in the records. The 
 student body, the faculty, and the trustees were mixed as to 
 origin and background, although, in the case of the trustees, 
 the Southern element predominated. It cannot be assumed, 
 however, that those of Southern origin were pro-slavery. In- 
 deed, so far as their opinions are known, neither the Board 
 of Trustees nor the faculty ever contained an individual of 
 pro-slavery views. And, on the other hand, Mathers on the 
 Board and Horace Spaulding and Paul Selby on the faculty 
 were abolitionists. A number of the trustees had left the 
 South to escape slavery; several of them, Akers and Cart- 
 wright, for example, were active opponents of the institu- 
 tion on moral grounds. In Akers' sermons and writings 
 slavery was constantly opposed as one of the greatest evils 
 of the age. But these men objected to the policies and the 
 methods of the abolitionists. Being southern in origin, they 
 could appreciate the difficulties involved in any plan of im- 
 mediate emancipation. 
 
 As the agitation of these questions became intense, those 
 of pronounced anti-slavery views put down as pro-slavery 
 the man who was not an aggressive abolitionist. One won- 
 ders if there was as much pro-slavery feeling in Jacksonville 
 
no History of MacMurray College 
 
 as local historians have insisted. It is likely that most of 
 this sentiment was anti-abolitionist rather than pro-slavery. 
 At the other end of the scale of opinion, it appears that Illi- 
 nois College was probably not so unanimously abolitionist 
 as it was thought to be by aggressive pro-slavery critics in the 
 South. Southern boys continued to enroll in it. Presidents 
 Beecher and Sturtevant, anti-slavery in sentiment, advo- 
 cated, nevertheless, a moderate policy. They realized that 
 the agitation of the question was hurting the school. Beech- 
 er became more strongly in favor of emancipation during 
 his residence in Illinois, but at the time he came he seriously 
 doubted the wisdom of immediate and general emancipation. 
 The following statement of Dr. Rammelkamp in his Illinois 
 College: A Centennial History would appear to be a careful 
 judgment: 
 
 One must avoid over-estimating the anti-slavery influence of the 
 College. The pro-slavery element in Illinois and the South, always super- 
 sensitive to criticism, may have exaggerated the active opposition of the 
 college faculty to the institution of slavery. Furthermore, with the 
 resignation of President Beecher and the election of Professor Sturtevant 
 to the presidency, the College possibly became more conservative on the 
 slavery issue. 800 
 
 In 1854, an incident occurred at the commencement of 
 the Illinois Female College that created a considerable sensa- 
 tion. The Springfield State Journal gave the following ac- 
 count of it in a report of the graduation exercises: 
 
 The Methodist school had 250 students in the past year. Girls here 
 pass through a full course of study corresponding to the best in male 
 institutions. There were twenty graduates at the term just closed. Thus 
 far most of them engage in teaching. . . . 
 
 Mr. Jaquess, the principal of this school, I learn had trouble with 
 one of the girls during examination [commencement] exercises. She read 
 a composition strongly tinctured with Freedom, a sentence or two of 
 which had been added after passing the proper ordeal of correction and 
 examination. The Principal put in a pointed disclaimer as soon as the 
 piece was read, and decided it was a case of "smuggling." The circum- 
 stance has caused quite a commotion, The Morgan Journal publishes the 
 composition. The style is free and the sentiments free. I believe that 
 "abolitionism," "spirit-rapping," "Baptism," and "Mormonism" are pro- 
 scribed subjects in the institution. Some of the girls are inclined to rebel 
 and, I think, in the end will triumph over this infringement of natural 
 rights. 101 
 
History of MacMurray College in 
 
 It might be noted that the editor of the Morgan Journal, 
 Paul Selby, was a strong abolitionist. The writer has not 
 discovered a copy of this issue of the paper nor seen a copy 
 of this essay. A few days later the Springfield paper gave 
 a fuller account of the incident in the form of a statement 
 of the Board of Trustees and declared that it considered the 
 course of Mr. Jaquess and the trustees justifiable. The state- 
 ment of the trustees was made in answer to an article by 
 John Mathers (who was also a trustee) published in the 
 Morgan Journal of July 13, and was signed by Thomas, 
 Stacy, Milburn, J. L. Martin, W. D. R. Trotter, and Benja- 
 min Newman. It was as follows: 
 
 The known rule of the institution requires that compositions in- 
 tended to be read on such occasions should be submitted to the Principal 
 for correction as well with reference to sentiment as to "grammatical 
 errors," a rule which, it is believed, obtains in all well-regulated colleges. 
 Acting upon the rule and acknowledging the obligation to conform to 
 it, the composition of Miss Wilmans of Fairfield, Illinois, was submitted, 
 which, upon examination, was permitted to be read. Upon the reading 
 the Principal discovered that material alterations had been made after it 
 passed out of his hands, and he thereupon announced to the audience 
 that the latter part had been added. . . . and that the institution (re- 
 ferring of course to the Board of Instruction) was not responsible for the 
 sentiment advanced. 
 
 In a few minutes after this, a note was received by the Principal 
 from Mr. Mathers as follows: "Reverend J. F. Jaquess — I think your 
 remarks after Miss Wilmans* speech contemptible. J. Mathers." 
 
 At the conclusion of the exercise, Mr. Jaquess remarked that he 
 had received a note from a gentleman then in the house (not knowing 
 that Mr. Mathers had left, if he had) which he would read to enable the 
 audience to understand the remarks intended to be made. He then read 
 the note and remarked in substance: "If I have not mistaken the object 
 of my connection with this institution, it is to teach science and not the 
 peculiar views of any sect, party, or faction. As an individual, I have 
 my opinions upon the leading questions of the day, which, upon any 
 proper occasion, I am ready and willing to express; but, as President of 
 this institution, I understood my duty to be so far as prescribed by the 
 Board of Trustees and the Annual Conference to inculcate neither the 
 principles of abolitionism nor anti-abolitionism, nor the principles upheld 
 by the Whig or the Democratic party. Although the institution is under 
 the patronage and control of the Methodist Episcopal Church, yet it is 
 no part of my duty, nor is it my right to inculcate any of the principles 
 of that church. There are members of this class (referring to the gradu- 
 ating class) who are connected with other churches. Their opinions and 
 
112 History of MacMurray College 
 
 feelings have always been respected, and I respect them for maintaining 
 their own religious sentiments. I pledge myself to persons wishing to 
 send their daughters here that they shall be protected in the enjoyment 
 of their own religious sentiments. If those under whose direction I labor 
 wish the institution governed upon different principles, they must secure 
 the services of some other person. Relying upon the Board of Trustees 
 and an enlightened public opinion for protection and support, I shall, 
 God being my helper, rigidly adhere to these principles so long as I re- 
 main connected with the institution." 
 
 Upon the foregoing statement of fact, we deem it our duty to say: 
 
 First — It was an act of insubordination on the part of Miss Wilmans 
 to change the composition after it had passed out of the hands of the 
 Principal — such as made it his right and duty to make the statement and 
 disclaimer as he did. 
 
 Second — The right of all to speak, write, and print opinion upon 
 every subject or question within the range of human thought is ad- 
 mitted — yet the exercise of the right must necessarily be limited in re- 
 gard to the time and place. . . . The right of Miss Wilmans to read the 
 essay or deliver lectures upon the subjects of Abolition, Free Soil, Spirit- 
 rapping, or Mormonism, is admitted, yet her right to occupy a house of 
 worship, college, school house, or private dwelling for such purpose with- 
 out the consent of the proprietor is denied. 
 
 Third — Whether this "private note" of Mr. Mathers to the Principal 
 was of such a character as to justify the "hope that it would cause the 
 Principal to modify his remarks and thereby soothe the feelings of Miss 
 Wilmans," or whether it was such a note as could rightfully be sent from 
 one gentleman to another, the public will decide. 
 
 Fourth — The principles upon which the college shall be conducted 
 as long as we remain trustees were truly stated by Mr. Jaquess. If any 
 other principles of action are prescribed by the Conference, other trustees 
 will have to be appointed. 
 
 Fifth — We do not deem it our duty, or in anywise necessary to en- 
 gage in a controversy with Mr. Mathers with reference to our constitu- 
 tional rights, the doctrines of the Church, the liberty of speech, or free- 
 dom of the press. If his opinions are right, we shall enjoy the benefit of 
 them by his publication; if wrong, our rights and duties with reference 
 to these questions will remain as heretofore. 302 
 
 Looking back, the course of President Jaquess and the 
 Board of Trustees may appear timid and time-serving. It 
 was the attitude of many good people who thought the 
 question of slavery should be left for time and the southern 
 states to settle. Since the community and the student body 
 were composed of people from both sections, it doubtless 
 seemed wise to avoid public discussion of this question which 
 was agitating the entire country. The College was in debt. 
 
History of MacMurray College 113 
 
 A controversy over the slavery question might have closed it 
 entirely. Miss Wilmans suffered no reproof for her "insubor- 
 dination" other than the public disclaimer that President 
 Jaquess made of any responsibility for her statements. She 
 received her diploma and remained his devoted friend. 303 
 
 Certain statements in the Dickens letter to Leaton, re- 
 ferred to above, relate to this incident. Dickens wrote: 
 
 In 1854 and 185 5, there was trouble in the College. President J. F. 
 Jaquess was president; Froslaveryism was strong in the Board, the com- 
 munity, and the school. A talented young lady appealed to me to aid her 
 to graduate in this college. I did so. Her graduating address, by request, 
 was against slavery. This brought the slavery devotees to the surface. 
 For a time, the papers of the city teemed with missiles pro and con. I was 
 in the thick of the fight. Slavery retired in the best order it could. This 
 placed Jaquess and myself in such antagonism that Brother Trotter, then 
 financial agent of the College, said, if we did not adjust our difficulties, he 
 thought it would imperil the very existence of the institution. We did 
 mutually and happily settle all — afterwards Jaquess went to Quincy 
 College. The Female College went on. 
 
 Certain questions arise. Miss Wilmans spoke against slav- 
 ery by request — of Dickens? It would seem that he had 
 sought to bring the question to a definite discussion. Just 
 what influence this incident had on the position of President 
 Jaquess it is impossible to say. Dickens implied that it was 
 connected with his withdrawal to Quincy. A student, re- 
 calling it later, connected it with his retirement. To quote: 
 "It seems impossible to us now that a school girl's composi- 
 tion on any topic could have so ruffled an audience. To 
 allay the ominous stir among the people, Dr. Jaquess at once 
 arose and remarked that the concluding sentence of the essay 
 just read had been added since the paper passed through the 
 hands of the faculty; but alas! for his well-meant effort to 
 preserve the peace, it but added fury to the flames. This was 
 his last year as president of the College." 304 
 
 This last statement is not correct. President Jaquess re- 
 tired one year later. Apparently, the next year was a very 
 successful one. The enrollment was the largest up to that 
 time. Another student, without mentioning this incident, 
 recalled that there were those who tried to smirch President 
 Jaquess' character because of jealousy. 305 Whether the inci- 
 
114 History of MacMurray College 
 
 dent caused his resignation or not, it shows that not even 
 a young ladies' boarding school could escape this issue which 
 was dividing the nation. 
 
 One point more as an addendum: To those who, with 
 the question of slavery settled, see in this controversy free- 
 dom of speech as the primary issue and who would judge the 
 trustees and faculty of the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege as very arbitrary in censoring commencement addresses, 
 the following incident might be related. It proves that the 
 abolitionist was equally an enemy of freedom of speech. The 
 abolitionist mantle of Professor J. B. Turner had fallen, upon 
 his retirement from the faculty of Illinois College, upon 
 Professor William D. Sanders, Professor of Rhetoric and Elo- 
 cution. In 1857, a student, William M. Springer, had pre- 
 pared to speak at a junior exhibition on the question "Is 
 Agitation Necessary as a means to Reform?" Professor 
 Sanders objected to a part of his speech and insisted that it 
 be eliminated, apparently upon the grounds of its conservatism 
 with respect to slavery agitation. Springer insisted that po- 
 litical discussions had been allowed in previous junior exhibi- 
 tions. The Junior Class petitioned President Sturtevant to 
 allow Springer to deliver his oration (the latter had agreed 
 to certain modifications) , but the president refused to inter- 
 fere. Springer, forbidden the right to speak, brought out a 
 broadside and distributed it at the exhibition, for which ac- 
 tion he was expelled. 306 
 
 PRESIDENT JAQUESS RETIRES THE ADVENTURES OF 
 
 COLONEL JAQUESS LAST YEARS 
 
 President Jaquess resigned as head of the Illinois Confer- 
 ence Female College in the spring of 185 5, his resignation to 
 take effect at the end of the session. 307 Scholastically, he left 
 the College in a good condition; financially, it was approach- 
 ing bankruptcy. His own finances had suffered, and his 
 retirement might be explained on that basis. It had been 
 said, too, that he preferred the work of the pastorate, but he 
 soon returned to school administration. Perhaps the slavery 
 controversy influenced his retirement. The resolutions passed 
 
History of MacMurray College 115 
 
 by the Board of Trustees expressed the utmost confidence 
 in his integrity, the greatest regard for his Christian char- 
 acter, his gentlemanly deportment, his reputable scholarship, 
 and his admirable skill in teaching. 308 They declared that 
 his popularity with the students, patrons, and friends of the 
 College had been unparalleled. It may appear a bit ironical 
 that he and several of the most highly prized teachers were 
 rewarded with gifts of "perpetual scholarships." Without 
 previous training for such work and without precedents in 
 the West upon which to build, he had been remarkably suc- 
 cessful in inaugurating this new college for women. Those 
 who studied under him have paid high tribute to him both 
 as teacher and as friend. 
 
 A brief record of President Jaquess' later years might be 
 in place. Past presidents and teachers, as well as the alumnae, 
 constitute a part of a school. After a year in the pastorate 
 at Paris, Illinois, he accepted a position as head of the Meth- 
 odist co-educational school at Quincy, Illinois, the English 
 and German Academy. This school was one expression of 
 Illinois Methodist interest in the recent German immigrants 
 to the state. The German ministers in the Illinois Confer- 
 ence were a considerable and very active group. One of 
 them, John L. Walther, from Bavaria, was a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Education Commission and the pastor in charge 
 of the Quincy station when Jaquess went there. 309 The work 
 of the latter at Quincy seems to have been very successful. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Civil War, Jaquess was commis- 
 sioned by Governor Richard Yates as chaplain of the Sixth 
 Illinois Cavalry, but he soon sought more active service. He 
 recruited the Seventy-Third Illinois Volunteers, known as 
 the "Preachers' Regiment" because of the large number of 
 preacher-officers in it, and was made its colonel. This regi- 
 ment played a daring and important part in the battles of 
 Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga. 310 By 1 8 63 , Jaquess had 
 become convinced that a peace might be arranged through 
 the ministry of religion and the Church. "The sight of 
 fellow-Methodists slaying each other distressed him." 311 He 
 
n6 History of MacMurray College 
 
 wrote General Rosecrans that he believed, from his conver- 
 sation with Methodists in conquered territory, that the South 
 desired peace, and he sought permission to go south to pro- 
 pose peace to Jefferson Davis. 312 Lincoln refused to sanction 
 officially such a mission, because he did not wish to recognize 
 the Confederacy. Although Jaquess was permitted to pass 
 through the northern lines, he did so on his own responsi- 
 bility and with the warning that he could be given no pro- 
 tection if caught. He risked being shot as a spy. On his 
 first mission in 1863 he failed to reach Davis, but talked with 
 persons in the South. These conversations encouraged him 
 to make a second effort. In 1864, in company with James 
 Gilmore, a newspaper correspondent, he was again passed 
 through the northern lines. The mission had a double ob- 
 jective. Lincoln sought to get a statement that the South 
 was fighting for independence, not merely to perpetuate 
 slavery. He needed such a statement of southern objectives 
 to answer the Peace Democrats in the presidential campaign 
 of 1864. He had slight hopes that peace could be secured 
 through such a mission. Jaquess was still concerned with his 
 original objectives to end the war. This time he, with Gil- 
 more, reached Davis. "That we got in was owing to me," 
 Gilmore declared in an account of the mission published in 
 the Atlantic Monthly; "that we got out was due altogether 
 to him; and such a man, more cool, more brave, more self- 
 reliant, and more self-devoted than that quiet 'western par- 
 son' it was never my fortune to encounter." 313 
 
 After the Civil War, Colonel Jaquess was employed by 
 the Freedman's Bureau in the South and finally settled there 
 first in Arkansas, later in Mississippi. 314 He spent some time 
 in England trying unsuccessfully to secure the claims of heirs 
 to a large estate there. In this work he was reverting to his 
 early interest in the law. As to his work as Methodist min- 
 ister, he was located by the Illinois Conference, and there is 
 no record of his returning to the ministry after the Civil 
 War. He wrote Judge Thomas from London in 1880 that 
 he was "in the work the Lord assigned" him, was enjoying 
 
History of MacMurray College 117 
 
 perfect health, and felt sure of success. 315 He was still in 
 London in 1887. On the occasion of the fortieth anniversary 
 of the College he sent a cablegram of greetings to the alum- 
 nae at their annual meeting and a letter of congratulations 
 to them and the College. 316 In this letter he declared: 
 "It is my hope, and shall be my effort, in the near future to 
 give more substantial aid to the future of the College than 
 can be found in these words of greetings and congratula- 
 tions." This "more substantial aid" was doubtless contingent 
 upon the outcome of his mission in England, which ended 
 without success. 
 
 Colonel Jaquess returned to the College for the semi- 
 centennial celebration in 1897, and made an address on 
 woman's influence from the text, "Behold, I will lay thy 
 stones with fair colors and thy foundations with sapphires." 317 
 A number of his former pupils and several graduates under 
 his administration were present to hear him. The Civil War 
 career of Colonel Jaquess cast a glamour over his name that 
 the solid achievements of his years at the Illinois Conference 
 Female College did not require as an added decoration. Never- 
 theless, his pupils and other admirers have liked the air of 
 high romance that his military and "diplomatic" record 
 threw about this chivalrous gentleman of the old school and 
 able president of the College. 
 
 PRESIDENT ANDRUS (185 5-56) AND PRESIDENT 
 
 mccoy (1856-58) 
 
 These two short administrations following President 
 Jaquess' seven years were beset by financial problems which 
 were made worse by the general financial stress in the country 
 — the Panic of 1857. That some academic progress was 
 made in spite of the difficulties and discouragements is a 
 tribute to the ability and devotion of these men. 
 
 Reuben Andrus was born in Rutland, New York, on Jan- 
 uary 29, 1824, but came to Illinois as a boy with his family. 318 
 He worked on a farm and had small opportunities for an 
 education, but in 1841 managed to attend an academy at 
 Canton, Illinois. In 1843, he entered Illinois College, which 
 
Ii8 History of MacMurray College 
 
 he attended three years, working to pay his way. These were 
 years of "hard work, deep poverty, high hopes, great cheer- 
 fulness, and some success." 319 He had "an insatiable thirst 
 for knowledge." In his last year at Illinois College, Presi- 
 dent Sturtevant personally intervened to make it possible 
 for him to stay. In his final college year he attended Mc- 
 Kendree on a scholarship and graduated in the classical course 
 in 1849. During this year he had been principal of the pre- 
 paratory department. Later he received the Master of Arts 
 degree from this school, and in 1868 his Alma Mater con- 
 ferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 In 1850, Andrus was admitted to the Illinois Conference. 
 In the same year he went to the recently established Illinois 
 Wesleyan University, where he organized its preparatory de- 
 partment. The following year he was made professor of 
 mathematics and offered to teach Greek. This double load 
 proved too heavy, and he was forced to resign. He served 
 a pastorate in the interim between teaching positions. In 
 1855, he was elected professor of mathematics at the Illinois 
 Conference Female College. 320 About this time the Board 
 of Trustees had elected C. W. Sears, Professor of Ancient 
 Languages in the Ohio State University, to the presidency. 
 After some delay, Professor Sears wrote that he had decided 
 to accept the presidency of Illinois Wesleyan. Thereupon, 
 the Board of Trustees elected Andrus as president pro 
 tempore. 321 He was referred to at the close of the following 
 year as the "acting president." The minutes of the Board 
 of Trustees contain no reference to his retirement nor to 
 the election of his successor. 
 
 The following judgment of James Leaton is probably a 
 just one on the whole: 
 
 He [Andrus] was a man of great strength and some weakness. An 
 attractive and able preacher, always measuring up to the demands of the 
 occasion in the pulpit, his strength was still more manifest in his pastoral 
 work. His genial disposition, his courtesy, his sympathy, and his gentle- 
 manly manners rendered him an ever welcome visitor in the homes of 
 his people and his interest and industry led him to spend much time in 
 his pastoral duties. He was a clear thinker, a successful teacher, but as 
 
History of MacMurray College 119 
 
 an administrator he was inferior to many of far less ability than himself. 
 As a college president, he was not a great success; as a pastor, he had 
 few equals. 322 
 
 That he must have had considerable administrative ability 
 and success as a college president is suggested, however, by 
 the fact that he was later appointed president of Chaddock 
 College, and finally (1875) of Indiana Asbury University. 
 There is nothing to indicate that his year at the Illinois Con- 
 ference Female College was not as successful as could have 
 been expected. The Board of Trustees, not inclined to cast 
 bouquets, adopted a resolution at the end of his year "highly 
 approving the work of Acting President Andrus and the 
 faculty." 323 Nevertheless, President Andrus seemed to have 
 preferred pastoral work and returned to it as soon as possi- 
 ble. He died in 1887, ten years before the semi-centennial 
 celebration at the Illinois Female College. 
 
 The third president of the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege, Asa S. McCoy, was born June 9, 1824, in Loudonville, 
 Ohio. 324 Thus, like Jaquess, he was a son of the West; and 
 President Andrus, although born in New York, had been 
 reared and educated in the West. Asa McCoy was graduated 
 from Marietta College, Ohio, in 1849, as valedictorian of his 
 class. He later received the Master of Arts degree. Before 
 his graduation, at the age of eighteen, he had chosen the min- 
 istry as his life's work and had received a license to preach. 
 Soon after his graduation he left Ohio for Missouri, where 
 he served pastorates in St. Louis and Hannibal. Entering 
 the Illinois Conference in 1853, he was appointed to the 
 headship of the Griggsville Academy. His first connection 
 with the Illinois Conference Female Academy was as a mem- 
 ber of the Board of Trustees, to which he was named in 1854. 
 In 1 8 5 6, he became the president. Like his predecessor, Pres- 
 ident McCoy had agreed to accept the office only provision- 
 ally, and again at the end of a year he "consented to serve the 
 institution as president pro tempore for the coming year." 3 
 He preferred the work of the ministry. Personal grief was 
 added to administrative difficulties. His wife died in the 
 spring of 1858. He resigned from the presidency in March 
 
120 History of MacMurray College 
 
 1858. Referring to his resignation, the Morgan Journal 
 said: "His recent afflictions came upon him so suddenly and 
 with such crushing weight that a change of scene and occu- 
 pation seemed to him absolutely necessary to the relief of 
 his mind. 55326 
 
 McCoy was an able and popular preacher and pastor and 
 filled a number of important pastorates in the Illinois Con- 
 ference after he left the College. After his retirement from 
 the active ministry, he moved to Pueblo, Colorado. Upon 
 the invitation of President Harker he visited the College in 
 1897, but illness prevented his coming at the time of the 
 semi-centennial commencement. He died in Pueblo in 1903, 
 and his remains were brought to be buried in the Jackson- 
 ville Cemetery. In the college chapel the funeral was held, 
 ex-President W. F. Short assisting in the service. 
 
 ACADEMIC AND OTHER INTERNAL MATTERS UNDER 
 PRESIDENTS ANDRUS AND MCCOY 
 
 The internal administration of the College during these 
 three years has been covered to a considerable extent in cer- 
 tain topics above. As to the course of study, the main 
 changes were the addition of one and a half years of Latin 
 to the classical course (Cicero, Livy, and Horace) and the 
 disappearance of Greek (at least from the catalogue) ; also, 
 the addition of another course in mathematics (conic sec- 
 tions) . More attention seems to have been given to French 
 and German. A complete list of texts in these languages was 
 included in the catalogue, the customary texts of that period; 
 in 18 56-57, Schiller's Wilhelm Tell replaced the German 
 New Testament as required reading. Some more attention 
 seems to have been given to English literature. In 185 5-56, 
 a course in the Analysis of Poetry was included, and in the 
 following year a teacher of English literature appeared in 
 the list of the faculty. Butler's Analogy and Paley's Natural 
 Theology were added to the course in philosophy, and zoolo- 
 gy to the requirement in science. 
 
 The facts show that the scholastic requirements did not 
 suffer in this interim period of uncertainty, but were raised 
 
History of MacMurray College 121 
 
 considerably. The discontinuance of the Greek studies was 
 the main loss. The number of students enrolled in collegi- 
 ate work remained relatively as large as ever. Indeed, in the 
 last year, 1857-58, the percentage was a little higher. Of 
 200 students, 88 were of college rank. 327 In the Class of 
 1857, there were sixteen graduates, six of them in the more 
 difficult classical course. How well the standards were main- 
 tained in the character of the instruction it is not possible to 
 say. Some hint of it may be obtained from the report on 
 the examinations in 1858, quoted below, which was favorable 
 on the whole. The reduction in the size of the faculty in 
 that year must have lowered to some degree the character 
 of the teaching, even though the enrollment was much small- 
 er; and, as the conference visitors insisted, the annual turn- 
 over of the faculty reduced the efficiency of the instruction. 
 
 During these years more emphasis seems to have been 
 placed on the ornamental branches than in the beginning. 
 Parents in the West were able to think a little more of "cul- 
 ture," a few to buy pianos and organs. They wished their 
 daughters to learn to play hymns and popular ballads. Per- 
 haps the Board of Trustees saw a new source of income in 
 these branches not "cornered" by perpetual scholarships. 
 At any rate, they employed a teacher of piano at a fixed 
 salary. In 1855, Professor J. M. Eull was employed for $650 
 a year. 328 The pupils in music and art were listed in the 
 catalogue for the first time in 1857-58. Fifty were enrolled 
 in music, twenty-one in art. 329 For the year of the panic 
 these numbers are considerable out of a total enrollment of 
 only 200. Almost an entire floor in the new wing was now 
 devoted to the musical department, which had begun with 
 the "academy piano." 
 
 It has not been possible to learn much about the faculty 
 of these years other than the names listed in the catalogues. 
 As to size, it increased from twelve to fourteen in 185 5-56, 
 dropped back to twelve in 1856-57, and then to nine in 
 1857-58. In the spring of 1857, the Board of Trustees had 
 voted that it be reduced to the original five, not including 
 
122 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the president; nor were the three fine arts teachers included 
 in that number. The Board required that all teachers agree 
 to teach six hours a day and that they agree to teach in any 
 department. 830 In the summer of 1855, the trustees decided 
 to place all correspondence with prospective teachers in the 
 hands of the president of the College and to instruct him to 
 "fill up the Board of Instruction taking counsel at the same 
 time with the Board of Trustees." 331 This decision was a 
 step in the withdrawal of the Board from direct administra- 
 tion of the College. To this faculty, chosen by the president, 
 the Board voted thanks "individually and collectively for 
 their efficiency and devotion to the interest of the institu- 
 tion," the first faculty thus honored. 332 The trustees had 
 employed President Andrus at a salary of $680, with board 
 for himself and wife. 333 The assistant teachers were paid 
 $250 and board. 334 
 
 With one exception President Andrus began with a new 
 faculty. Miss Louisa Keulenthal, who had taught German 
 and French one year under President Jaquess, continued in 
 the same position the next year. 335 In the meantime, she had 
 "married herself," as she said, to Mr. Louis Habermaas, the 
 man who had jumped overboard to save her from drowning 
 in coming over to this country. The first appearance of the 
 foreign-born teacher might be noted along with the foreign- 
 born students. Maria Spaulding wrote of Mrs. Habermaas: 
 "She was a good teacher, but odd in looks and customs; ready 
 to repair a rent in a garment for a student that had made 
 sport of her a short time before. As I was her friend, I 
 would be made acquainted with both sides." 336 One gets 
 many suggestions of the close fellowship between students 
 and faculty members. One girl recalled that she was given 
 a room with a teacher by her father's request. 337 
 
 President Andrus filled the chair of mental and moral 
 philosophy, a position usually held by the head of a college. 
 With his "insatiable thirst for knowledge," he must have 
 been an inspiring teacher. Mrs. Andrus was associate gov- 
 erness. The governess, who was also preceptress of rhetoric 
 
History of MacMurray College 123 
 
 and history, was Miss Annie S. Aspenwall of St. Louis. 838 
 Her sister, Miss Mary Aspenwall, taught Latin and natural 
 philosophy. Three Misses Davis appeared on this faculty. 
 In the same year, there was a student, Anna Davis, from 
 Xenia, Ohio. One wonders if these teachers were not her 
 sisters. All were in the College for two years; one of them, 
 Miss Sarah Davis, returned to teach under President Adams, 
 who came to the College from Xenia. Miss Helen Finley, 
 an alumna of the Class of 1852, was listed as teacher of 
 Greek and Ancient Literature. Perhaps the Greek studies 
 were given, although the published courses of study no longer 
 included them. A number of these teachers remained during 
 the following year, but, in 1857-58, there was again almost 
 a complete turn-over in the faculty personnel. Another 
 alumna, Elvira Hamilton, '57, was added. She stayed to 
 teach under Doctor Adams and married one of his sons. 
 Another teacher from St. Louis was employed in 1856, Miss 
 A. E. Cooper. 339 
 
 With the new wing added, the facilities of the College 
 for instruction were improved. Regular study halls under 
 the supervision of a teacher were provided, and all prepara- 
 tory students were assigned seats in the preparatory study 
 hall. College students were given a place for study in the 
 senior study hall. The catalogue of 1855-56 announced that 
 occasional lectures in religion and moral subjects would be 
 given, and also in physiology and the various branches of 
 natural science. Upon the proposal of William Rutledge 
 each member of the Board agreed to give and to solicit do- 
 nations to the library. 340 
 
 The rates charged by the College were changed only 
 slightly. Tuition was reduced, perhaps to induce some to 
 come who did not hold scholarships. In 1856-57, it was 
 eight dollars a semester instead of twelve dollars, as before. 
 Board, room, and laundry had advanced, however, to $120 
 a year, or $3 a week. 341 The following comment on the 
 handling of funds is interesting: "It is requested that funds 
 be deposited with some friend to meet the current expenses 
 
124 History of MacMurray College 
 
 for Clothing, Washing, Books, etc., of pupils; and also that 
 ladies be prohibited by parents and guardians from expend- 
 ing any part of their money for Confectionery, Jewelry, and 
 useless articles of apparel or ornament." 342 The recollections 
 of Sophie Boogher Hogan, a student of 1856-57, were con- 
 nected perhaps with a deposit of funds. She wrote: "My 
 father and mother went with me to Jacksonville, and my 
 father found an old friend in Dr. Andrus. Upon going up 
 into town, my father found in one of the banks a Mr. Ban- 
 croft, who was an old friend of father's. All of the above 
 gentlemen thus renewed their early friendships with my 
 father, which made it very pleasant to me." 343 Her father, 
 John Hogan, was a gentleman of considerable note in south- 
 ern Illinois, Methodist preacher, legislator, land commission- 
 er, and business man. Sophie later wrote his life, Ke collec- 
 tions of John Hogan and sent a copy to her Alma Mater. 844 
 The comments above suggest how the lives of the girls were 
 bound in with the life in Jacksonville. Perhaps in the eyes 
 of Peter Cartwright they were bound too closely with certain 
 features of the life of the city. But for him and the other 
 members of Board of Trustees, the absorbing topic of these 
 years was how to save the College from debt. 
 
 PERPETUAL SCHOLARSHIPS AND INCREASING DEBTS 
 
 That the founders of the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege thought from the beginning of progress, expansion, 
 stability, that they did not intend that their "favorite insti- 
 tution" should be merely a local, limited academy, but were 
 determined that it should be a college equal to the best is 
 indicated not only by the movement to bring it to the level 
 of the best eastern schools in its curriculum but also by the 
 effort to raise a considerable permanent endowment. That 
 they were confident they had achieved the first objective by 
 the middle 1 8 5 Os is shown in many statements of members of 
 the Conference and of Methodist laymen. The following 
 affirmation made in 1857 by J. H. Moore, a prominent mem- 
 ber of the Conference, is typical: "The Illinois Conference 
 Female College henceforward ranks among the very first 
 
History of MacMurray College 125 
 
 institutions under the control of the Methodist Church. Her 
 accommodations are of the first quality. The facilities af- 
 forded for imparting a thorough education in all the solid 
 branches of science and literature are unsurpassed East and 
 West." 345 
 
 At the time this statement was made, the plan adopted 
 in 1852 for achieving the second of these objectives had not 
 only failed to provide an endowment, but had brought the 
 College to the point of bankruptcy. Examination of the 
 plan will explain this unfortunate result. Scholarships were 
 sold at $100 each, by the purchase of which the holder had 
 the right to keep one person in school perpetually, the schol- 
 arship paying the tuition fees. Once these scholarships were 
 widely distributed, all income from tuition ceased, which 
 meant practically that all income ceased. A text of one of 
 these certificates will give the details: 
 
 PERPETUAL SCHOLARSHIPS 
 
 This certifies that of and State of 
 
 Illinois has become a subscriber of One Hundred Dollars toward the Per- 
 manent Endowment of the Illinois Conference Female College, at Jack- 
 sonville, 111., one-third of which may be used for building purposes. When 
 the same shall have been paid, and endorsed hereon, he will be entitled 
 for himself, his heirs, and assigns forever, to the privilege of having 
 one scholar, at a time, educated in said Institution, free from the regular 
 charges for tuition fees, in any or all of the branches required for gradu- 
 ation. When one-fourth of thel subscription note shall have been paid, 
 he shall be entitled to the use of his scholarship, for a member of his 
 own family, as long as he meets the annual payments and the interest 
 on his note. This scholarship shall be transferable at the will of the 
 holder; but the transfer must be made on the books of the institution, 
 and by a surrender of this certificate; and no transfer will be valid until 
 the entire note, principal and interest, has been paid. 346 
 Ten-year scholarships were sold at $25 each. Tuition at the 
 time was $20 a year and soon was raised to $24. By the pur- 
 chase of a scholarship one got ten years' tuition for $25. It 
 was a bargain! One of the first to purchase a $100 scholar- 
 ship was Mr. Tomlin, of Pleasant Plains, who had six daugh- 
 ters to educate. All of them attended the College, and five 
 were graduated from it. 347 Scholarships were sold to Meth- 
 odist ministers at half price. 
 
126 History of MacMurray College 
 
 On the face of it this has all the earmarks of speculative 
 western finance. It would appear that solid conservative 
 "old settlers" like Judge Thomas, the prominent lawyer and 
 banker, William Brown, and substantial business men, such 
 as Matthew Stacy and Nicholas Milburn, or N. W. Matheny, 
 of Springfield, should have opposed the scheme from the be- 
 ginning. If they did, there is no record of their opposition. 
 The only reference to the origin and adoption of the plan 
 found in the minutes of the Board of Trustees is the follow- 
 ing: "Brother Jaquess, having reported a plan of endow- 
 ment for the Illinois Conference Female College, the same 
 was adopted and the endowment fund fixed at $50,000." 34i 
 Those present at the meeting were Brown, Stacy, Jaquess, 
 Milburn, and Mathers. It is unlikely that this plan was 
 adopted without the consent of Judge Thomas. 
 
 One is less inclined to criticize the good judgment and 
 business ability of the trustees when it is known that the 
 sale of such scholarships was a favorite device used by col- 
 leges of that period for securing endowments. Ohio Wesley- 
 an, McKendree, Indiana Asbury University, and Northwest- 
 ern University used them. 849 Although it was more popular, 
 it appears, in the West, such a plan was used in the East by 
 Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and Randolph-Macon in 
 Virginia. 350 Nor was the issuance of perpetual scholarships 
 confined to Methodist schools. Illinois State University, of 
 Springfield (not the present University of Illinois), issued 
 such scholarships. Abraham Lincoln purchased one and sent 
 Robert Todd Lincoln there four years on its benefits. 351 
 This school had on its Board of Trustees men like Shelby Cul- 
 lom, James C. Conkling, and John T. Stuart. Perhaps the 
 main criticism that might be made of the Illinois Conference 
 Female College scholarships in the light of that day was the 
 relative cheapness of them. Lincoln paid $300 for his; Ran- 
 dolph-Macon College in Virginia charged $600. 352 
 
 It might be inferred that the Board of Trustees did not 
 feel too easy about the wisdom of this plan. Immediately af- 
 ter approving it, the Board voted that in the future all 
 
History of MacMurray College 127 
 
 salaries must be paid from tuition fees and the interest on 
 the endowment on a pro rata basis, the Board assuming no 
 further responsibility in the matter. 353 Looking back on 
 these years of college financial history from the vantage- 
 point of the 1860s, Judge Brown said in a report to Newton 
 Bateman, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction: 
 "Following the counsels of injudicious friends, the construc- 
 tion of ample buildings was entered upon before adequate 
 funds were secured. The result was financial embarrassment; 
 a condition predicable, heretofore, if not now, of almost 
 every literary institution of the West. The difficulties of the 
 situation were increased by the sale of scholarships at prices 
 making no adequate compensation for the privileges con- 
 ferred. Utter bankruptcy ensued. . . ." 354 
 
 Who the "injudicious friends" were the records do not 
 show. President Jaquess, perhaps; at least, he introduced 
 the plan. Moreover, he was sanguine, adventurous, somewhat 
 opportunistic, it would seem; the sort of person who would 
 be attracted by a grand scheme for expansion without count- 
 ing too exactly the risks. It has been suggested that he 
 brought back this plan from his eastern trip in 1852. 355 It 
 appears more western, however, than eastern. 
 
 How much was realized from this plan it is impossible 
 to say. There are no complete records of the financial history 
 of the College in the early years. From a report of the trus- 
 tees to the Illinois Conference in 1859 it is found that they 
 had sold more than $50,000 worth of Endowment Scholar- 
 ships, but most of the purchasers had paid only the one- 
 fourth necessary to make the scholarship effective, and had 
 given their notes for the balance. 356 At this date collections 
 on these notes were not sufficient to cover the interest on the 
 debt, for the latter had increased considerably through the 
 construction of the new wing. The first effect of the schol- 
 arship sale was to bring a great increase in enrollment — 
 from 216inl852to329inl856. The trustees had hastened 
 to complete the west wing to take care of this increase; in- 
 deed, they contemplated building an east wing, too. 857 The 
 
128 History of MacMurray College 
 
 College was at high tide. To take care of the cost of the 
 building, the Board authorized Jaquess to borrow $10,000 
 or $15,000 at one time. 358 By the time Conference met in 
 1855, the debt of the College had increased to more than 
 $28,000. That the position of the treasurer and home agent 
 was becoming a burden and an embarrassment is perhaps the 
 explanation of the following page of board minutes: 
 
 Brother Trotter in view of poor health tendered his resignation as 
 treasurer and home agent, which, after considerable deliberation and hesi- 
 tancy, was accepted. On motion of John Mathers, Brother Stacy was 
 nominated to take Brother Trotter's place, but he declined and most 
 positively refused to serve in view of his engagements; after which John 
 Mathers was nominated and elected as treasurer and home agent for the 
 balance of the year, he protesting at the same time against it, but finally 
 as a matter of necessity, consented to serve. 359 
 
 Tribute should be paid to Matthew Stacy as president of the 
 Board and John Mathers as secretary and treasurer for their 
 services during this most critical period of the history of the 
 College from 1855 to 1863. 
 
 In spite of the growing debt, the report on the College 
 made by President Andrus, chairman of the Education Com- 
 mission, to the Conference in the fall of 185 5 was hopeful. 
 To quote a part: "The trustees report an embarrassing in- 
 debtedness of more than $28,000; but are cheered by the 
 prospect that an efficient agency will in a short time result 
 in cancelling the whole of it. Its prospects were never more 
 flattering; nor its means ever before so extensive; or so well 
 fitted for the purpose designed as at present." 360 
 
 By 1857, the year of the Panic, the situation had become 
 sufficiently alarming that the College became a main subject 
 for the consideration of the Conference, which met that year 
 in Decatur. The debt had increased to $40,000. It was rec- 
 ognized that desperate and immediate measures were neces- 
 sary to save the College from bankruptcy. Plans had been 
 made and some steps taken before the Conference met. On 
 January 13, 1857, the Board of Trustees resolved to call a 
 meeting of the friends of the College to be held in the chapel 
 on the next Tuesday evening. The business of this meeting 
 was not stated, but it was doubtless to discuss the debt. In 
 
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History of MacMurray College 129 
 
 March, the Board appointed Rutledge, Lurton, and Mathers 
 "to apportion the indebtedness of the College and to have the 
 whole field canvassed and to employ such voluntary agents 
 as they may deem necessary." At this same meeting the 
 committee apportioned the indebtedness as follows: 1. To 
 Jacksonville and vicinity, $10,000; 2. to each district of a 
 presiding elder, $4,000, to be divided among the membership 
 according to ability. It was resolved that all travelling 
 preachers in the Conference be engaged if possible to act as 
 agents in raising this fund. 361 
 
 Already, some days before this meeting, George Rutledge, 
 reporting the news of the Jacksonville district to the Central 
 Christian Advocate, announced that the trustees were try- 
 ing to raise $10,000 in Jacksonville and had raised about 
 $7,000. 362 And W. S. Prentice reported in April that the 
 Jacksonville circuit was engaged in two pretty heavy finan- 
 cial efforts — to pay off the debt of the College and to pur- 
 chase a house of worship for the German brethren in Jack- 
 sonville. 863 On July 1, the Board resolved that the treasurer 
 present a full report to the next Conference and "urge upon 
 the members of the Conference the necessity of devising 
 some plan to relieve the institution of her present pecuniary 
 embarrassment." 364 
 
 The following report on the College was adopted by the 
 Conference at Decatur upon the recommendation of the 
 Education Commission: 
 
 This favorite institution fully maintains its high position and now 
 a still brighter future dawns upon it. The heavy debt of forty thousand 
 dollars, which for a time threatened its very existence has at last been 
 provided for as follows: 
 
 Trustees of the College pledge $20,000 
 Citizens of Jacksonville pledge $10,000 
 Preachers of the Conference pledge $10,000 365 
 That was all. 
 
 Certain comments in the Central Christian Advocate give 
 some information as to how this conclusion was reached. 
 J. H. Moore wrote in December, 1857: 
 
 A number of members of the Board, a while before the Conference 
 met, on their own individual responsibility, purchased an interest in a 
 
130 History of MacMurray College 
 
 large tract of fine land on the line of the Tonka, Petersburg, and Jack- 
 sonville Railroad, laid off a town site, advertised and sold lots, with the 
 understanding that whatever profits might arise from the enterprise 
 should be applied to the liquidation of the college debt. 366 
 And a more complete statement of the evolution of the plan 
 was made by W. S. Prentice in February, 1858. At Decatur, 
 he said, the question of the Illinois Conference Female Col- 
 lege had received a large share of the attention. The trustees 
 had agreed to pledge $20,000 from the sale of lots in Ashland 
 and also to pledge $10,000 from the citizens of Jacksonville, 
 provided the Conference would in some way secure to the 
 institution the remaining $10,000. The proposition was re- 
 ceived by the preachers with very general favor, the only 
 question being the manner in which the $10,000 should be 
 guaranteed. The first proposition was to apportion it among 
 the charges and the preachers. Finally, however, it was 
 agreed that without formal apportionment the preachers 
 should pledge and give notes for as much as they were willing 
 to be responsible for. They subscribed amounts varying from 
 $50 to $300. This was done with the understanding that the 
 facts be laid before the people. The amount pledged from the 
 Ashland lots was secured to the College by a legal obligation 
 drawn up by Judge Thomas and executed by Mathers and 
 the Jacksonville pledges by notes in the hands of the treas- 
 urer. He made a special appeal that the money be raised by 
 the people this year (the $10,000), that the creditors were 
 clamorous, and it was impossible to borrow more. The 
 preachers and people, he declared, had confidence in John 
 Mathers and there was danger that they would look to him in 
 some way to weather the storm. 36 ' This appears to have been 
 about what happened. In the minds of the people, the debt 
 was paid. For a few years the foreclosure of the College was 
 averted. 
 
 THE ALUMNAE ORGANIZE 
 
 The history of the alumnae of the College falls to a later 
 chapter of this story, but it seems well to relate here the first 
 step toward an organization. The writer believes it unusual 
 in the history of colleges that the alumnae loyalty should 
 
History of MacMurray College 131 
 
 have so early crystallized in an organization. Perhaps it was 
 in part the result of the crisis in the College in 1857, but there 
 are no references to that crisis in the records that relate to 
 the alumnae organization. The following letter of Eva Rut- 
 ledge, '57, to Faithful Shipley, '53, written from Waverly, 
 Illinois, November 23, 1857, tells the story of the organiza- 
 tion: 
 Dear Friend: 
 
 I received your note last week but have been unable to answer be- 
 fore. You wish to know all respecting our Alumnae Association. I will 
 tell you as nearly as I can remember. You were elected president, Elvira 
 [Hamilton] secretary, and Mary Dickson treasurer. You were to select 
 the readers, I think; five ladies to read Original Essays, and music. This 
 was to come off before supper. Each lady is to send the sum of three 
 dollars to the treasurer three weeks before commencement, so that she 
 may arrange for the supper. I was up to Jacksonville last week, and I 
 told Elvira I thought it would be a good plan to write out the proceed- 
 ings of the meeting and have them put in the Advocate, so that all who 
 were absent may know what to do, for if our supper is left to the class 
 this year, it will fall short. [The class of '58 had only five members.] 
 I think if we have any exercises in the evening it would be right nice 
 to have a "Discussion" and Tempe Short and Elvira Gage would be the 
 ones for that. They are together at Decatur, and their school will close 
 some time before the College, so they would have a good chance and 
 that would be better than to have so many Essays. I only offer these as 
 suggestions of my own, not that I would advise at all, but I thought it 
 might be better than so much of one thing. I have as near as possible 
 given you the proceedings of the Alumnae Association of Illinois Con- 
 ference Female College, organized July 2, 1857. Our society is prospering 
 finely, and they are making preparations for a grand exhibition if they 
 only succeed well. I close by giving you my love, 
 
 Your friend, 
 Eva Rutledge 368 
 
 One might note the reference to the literary society — a 
 strong bond between the graduates and the College. Both of 
 these girls were Belles Lettres. It is interesting to see the plan 
 to make the alumnae organization itself a sort of literary 
 society with essays and "discussion." 
 
 The meeting at which the organization was formed and 
 the officers elected took place, it would seem, at the preced- 
 ing commencement. A notice of the commencement which 
 appeared in the Central Christian Advocate announced: "It 
 is proposed by the graduating class to have a reunion of 
 
132 History of MacMurray College 
 
 former teachers and alumnae of the College and they are all 
 cordially invited to attend." 369 This organization did not 
 have a continuous existence; nothing more is heard about it 
 for more than a decade, but it is interesting as a beginning. 
 
 One word more as to the identity of alumnae and former 
 students with the life of their Alma Mater. Among the let- 
 ters of Eppie Dumville there was found a circular, dated 
 December 3, 1857, and signed by John Mathers, the treas- 
 urer. This circular was addressed to the former students of 
 the College. Explaining the critical condition of the college 
 finances, he continued: "The young ladies now in attendance 
 doubtless will do their part, and the amount which they may 
 contribute will be given as a Christmas or New Year's pres- 
 ent. Shall we not be favored with a good report from you at 
 the same time? We do not ask for a large donation, but will 
 be content with five dollars from each — a larger or smaller 
 sum, however, will be thankfully received." 370 
 
 Thus the first campaign for funds from the daughters of 
 the College was launched. What its results were is not 
 known. 
 
 "uncle" peter cartwright examines the school 
 
 Among the visitors to the college campus at the com- 
 mencement season in late June, 1858, was Peter Cartwright, 
 chairman of the official visitors appointed by the Illinois 
 Conference. Their report was published in the Central 
 Christian Advocate \ of July 16", and signed by Peter Cart- 
 wright, C. W. Sears, and J. B. Barger. This report is un- 
 usual in its length, its detail, and its vigorous objections to 
 certain aspects of college life. In view of the very strict 
 and old-fashioned notions of "Uncle" Peter, one may dis- 
 count some of the objections, and the praise may be taken 
 as praise indeed. The closing apologies for this young ladies' 
 boarding school is a gem. This report from one of the 
 founders might close this history of the first decade: 
 
 The examinations began on Friday, June 2 5, and closed on the next 
 Tuesday. No one of the committee was present until Monday, and we 
 cannot speak personally of the classes of the previous week, but have 
 been informed that the performances were creditable considering the un- 
 
History of MacMurray College 133 
 
 usually diminished number of pupils. On Monday, classes were examined 
 in arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, moral science, and Butler's Analogy. 
 These examinations almost without exception were highly satisfactory 
 and reflect great credit on the accomplished teachers who had them in 
 charge. Thorough mathematics training is of the first importance to 
 the female mind. It imparts strength and stability and produces that 
 harmony so desirable in a woman's character. The teacher who had 
 charge of this department [Miss Lizzie Wildbahn] seemed thoroughly 
 qualified for her duties and has in addition many qualities that commend 
 her to the trustees and to the institution as a suitable person to take 
 permanent charge of this department. [She did not return, and, unfor- 
 tunately, nothing is known of her except what is given here.] It fell 
 to her lot near the close of the year to have the management of the 
 institution, and it is but justice to say that in view of her desolate and 
 difficult position, she has merited the warmest commendation of the 
 trustees for her fidelity, energy, and rare executive talent. [From this 
 statement, it would appear that President McCoy retired when he re- 
 signed in March, but he was back for commencement — see below.] All 
 the teachers have been faithful and have done all that could be expected 
 of them under the discouragements that have attended the institution 
 during the past year. While we are upon this subject, we desire to say 
 that the sooner permanent , as well as competent, teachers can be procured 
 the better. This constant change of the Board of Instruction is to be 
 deprecated. Teachers, if possible, should be a fixture. This constant 
 change from the President through all the departments has been working 
 out its legitimate fruits for the last four years. We humbly trust the 
 downward current is now arrested. Deterioration must ensue in such 
 a state of things no matter what may be the qualifications of those 
 who serve as temporary supply. 
 
 On Monday and Tuesday evenings the Literary Societies held their 
 usual anniversaries. Their performances were evidently prepared in a 
 hurry and were as a matter of course poorly executed. There was not 
 that ready and business-like aspect that should attend such kinds of 
 exercises. There was much constraint, hesitancy, and feebleness. We 
 would respectfully suggest whether the introduction of dramatic exer- 
 cises is not rather hazardous, when it requires such rare talent in prepar- 
 ing and executing them. A colloquy embracing two or three individuals 
 might be admissible, but the crowding of a great number of different 
 characters upon the narrow stage will seldom succeed. At the close of 
 the exercises on Monday, Dr. Charles Adams addressed the Belles Lettres. 
 His address was largely ex-tempore but was highly practical and interest- 
 ing. We would further suggest for the benefit of these societies in the 
 future, if they expect to have a respectful hearing and public approba- 
 tion, they must commence somewhat near the time appointed. To delay 
 quite an hour beyond the published time is quite discreditable. . . .[As 
 to commencement], the essays were well- written productions, marked 
 with an elevated moral tone and interspersed with passages of much 
 beauty, and all were heard but one. The charge of the late president was 
 
134 History of MacMurray College 
 
 simple, earnest, and highly appropriate just such as the occasion would 
 suggest and worthy to be remembered. 
 
 "We will let the inaugural speak for itself. It is to be published. It 
 was listened to with interest and all were delighted — yes, more, were 
 charmed and ready to exclaim, "Such sentiments are just the thing, just 
 adapted to the condition of our female college." In the selection of 
 President Adams there seems to be the hand of a gracious providence and 
 a brighter day for our cherished enterprise. He unites all the desirable 
 qualities as President of a Female College that will command respect, 
 obedience, and reverence; experience that will give efficiency; suavity of 
 manners that will beget confidence and love; wisdom and firmness that 
 will execute discipline with success; and piety that will care for the 
 spiritual interest of the pupils. 
 
 It cannot be concealed that there are evils existing that need a 
 speedy correction and not entirely confined to the institution. To show 
 so little interest in a public examination on the part of four hundred 
 Methodists of Jacksonville as seldom to be present during a period of 
 four days is no small evil; to be annoyed with ill-mannered young men 
 at the close of the evening exercises, to have a newly-elected President 
 complimented, when rising to deliver his inaugural address, by the re- 
 tiring of quite a portion of the audience, are certainly evils that do not 
 become an intelligent and enlightened community, and ones which we 
 hope for the credit of our churches will not be repeated. 
 
 It is certain that there is a great want of discipline as it regards the 
 freedom granted the young ladies while at school. It should be under- 
 stood that they are to go to college to study and not to dress and flirt, 
 to receive and return visits. We also would respectfully suggest whether 
 the use of so much finery and jewelry, either on the part of the teachers 
 or pupils, is in good taste. It does not become the place. If ever "beauty 
 unadorned is adorned the most", it is when woman is engaged in decking 
 her soul with the immortal jewelry of the mind. Away, then, with the 
 outward trappings, for an excess of one is generally attended with a 
 deficiency of the other. Besides being in bad taste, it inspires a burden 
 of expense upon the poorer patrons of the institution, so much so that 
 they cannot send their daughters at all if they must sustain the extra 
 burden of a costly wardrobe made necessary by the common example. 
 
 In conclusion, we would say to the friends and patrons of the in- 
 stitution, let us rally around the Illinois Conference Female College. That 
 mistakes have been made none will deny. Shall we abandon a good cause 
 because of errors that were unwittingly committed? The men of the 
 world do not do that. If one attempt to lay the Atlantic telegraph wire 
 fails, they try again. If the Leviathan steamship is unwieldy, she must be 
 launched. Our Female College is like that noble vessel. It has cost much 
 to build her, and much yet is to be done to set her afloat. To get her 
 free we have been straining and tugging for years, failing here and break- 
 ing down there, but too much has been expended to let her remain in- 
 active to rot upon the stocks. She must be got afloat and every man to 
 his post. She is a noble craft, beautiful to look upon, and has an experi- 
 
History of MacMurray College 135 
 
 enced commander. We need her services. The daughters of our great 
 Prairie State can freight her to the gunwale. She will yet reap for the 
 Church additional golden harvests. Let us pay off the debt, for she is 
 water-logged. We predict for her a glorious future. 371 
 
 We shall turn now to the "experienced commander" and 
 the second decade. The beginning seemed auspicious. The 
 debt had been "arranged," a new administration was begin- 
 ning — the first from New England. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ILLINOIS JEMALE COLLEGE IN THE 
 CIVIL WAR oAND qAETER 
 
 PRESIDENT CHARLES ADAMS, 1858-1868 
 
 The ten years from 1858 to 1868 were dark days in the 
 life of the College, as in that of the nation; or, regarded 
 from a longer and a different perspective, it was the 
 heroic period in the history of the College, its testing time. It 
 survived this "dark age" to become later a foremost standard 
 college for women in the United States. Many of its sister 
 colleges, seminaries, and academies for women disappeared 
 in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Honor and gratitude 
 are due to those who maintained the school during this dec- 
 ade: to the president himself, "the venerable Doctor Adams"; 
 to that Mother in Israel, Mrs. Ann Dumville, and to the 
 faithful and generous trustees, Methodist ministers, and 
 friends who saved the College and won for themselves the 
 title of "second founders." 
 
 This administration was ushered in auspiciously: the debt 
 was "settled"; an "experienced commander" was in charge 
 of the ship; the higher education of women had won recog- 
 nition and even acclaim in the United States — it was the 
 golden age of the young ladies' seminary. But the years 
 that followed brought not only civil war, especially disrup- 
 tive to this school in the borderlands with patronage on both 
 sides, but pestilence, fire, and almost a famine. The debt 
 rose up to haunt it still. At one point the school was on 
 the verge of being closed. Its administration finally reverted 
 to the earlier type of private academy and became, indeed, 
 
 136 
 
History of MacMurray College 137 
 
 a sort of family school. Doctor Adams, a scholar and a 
 writer of considerable ability, gave an atmosphere of literary 
 culture and sophistication, which the College had lacked, but 
 this refinement of the mind did not bring bread and meat 
 and teachers' salaries. Although conditions improved in the 
 middle sixties, Doctor Adams resigned at the end of ten years, 
 discouraged by professional difficulties and saddened by per- 
 sonal bereavement. He had not found the fair haven he 
 hoped for when he came to the great prairies in 1858. 
 
 THE DOCTOR HIMSELF— -HIS EARLY YEARS AND UP TO 1858 
 
 Charles Adams, fifty years of age at the time he accepted 
 the presidency of the Illinois Conference Female College, 
 was the oldest president up to this time. From the beginning 
 of his administration he was customarily called "the vener- 
 able Doctor Adams." His dignity must have lent the im- 
 pression of years; fifty does not seem such a great age. He 
 was the first and only president out of New England, and 
 was better educated and of broader experience in life and in 
 teaching than any of his predecessors. 
 
 Charles Adams was born in Stratham, New Hampshire, 
 in 1808, son of John and Anna Folsome Adams. 1 His father 
 had been an officer in the American Revolution and was a 
 member of the Society of the Cincinnati. His grandfather, 
 Joseph Adams, a graduate of Harvard, was pastor of the 
 Congregational Church in Stratham for forty years. At 
 the age of ten Charles entered the Wesleyan Academy at 
 Newmarket, New Hampshire, then under Martin Ruter, 
 an outstanding Methodist educator, later president of Au- 
 gusta College and then of Allegheny College. From 1827 
 to 1829, Adams again attended this school after it was re- 
 moved to Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and, as Wilbraham 
 Academy, placed under the famous Wilbur Fisk. With two 
 other students he organized a "theological association" for 
 the preparation of students for the ministry and persuaded 
 Fisk to instruct them. 2 This group of students of theology 
 grew and was the origin or forerunner of the Concord Bibli- 
 cal Institute (now Boston University) . Since this organiza- 
 
138 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tion antedated Peter Akers' "School of Prophets" at Eben- 
 ezer, it would appear to deserve to be called the first "theo- 
 logical seminary" for the training of Methodist ministers in 
 the United States, a claim sometimes made for the Ebenezer 
 School. 3 It is notable that these two men who led in the 
 movement for the education of Methodist ministers were 
 both connected with the Illinois Conference Female College. 
 Adams entered Bowdoin in 1829 and was graduated in 
 1833. Among his instructors was Henry Wadsworth Long- 
 fellow. He spent one year at Andover Theological Seminary. 
 From 1834 to 1839, he was head of the newly established 
 Newbury Seminary in Vermont, a school still in existence as 
 Vermont Junior College. On September 15, 1924, this school 
 conducted a pilgrimage to its former location and paid spe- 
 cial homage to Doctor Adams, its founder. The principal, 
 John W. Hatch, asked Doctor Harker, then president of the 
 Illinois Woman's College, to send a message. "Both your 
 institution and mine have had blessed careers, and Doctor 
 Adams was one of the great men who guided the destiny of 
 each," he declared. 4 Adams was principal of Wilbraham 
 two years and professor of sacred literature in the Concord 
 Biblical Institute for two. In New England he served 
 churches in Winchester, Boston (Bromfield Street) , Lynn 
 (Lynn Common) , Cambridge, and Lowell. For eleven years 
 he was the "laborious, accurate, and courteous secretary of 
 the large New England Conference." In 1 8 5 3 , he was trans- 
 ferred to the Genesee Conference and held a pastorate in 
 Lima, New York; then to Ohio, where he served churches in 
 Cincinnati and Xenia and taught in the Xenia Female Semi- 
 nary. From Xenia he came to the Illinois Conference Female 
 College. He told the story of his coming in a sketch of the 
 history of the College, in which he paid tribute to his prede- 
 cessors in office: "Then in 1858 came your humble servant. 
 Two strong men — Reverend George Rutledge and Honor- 
 able J. A. Chesnut — passed hence one day over into Ohio 
 and searched me out there. I was reluctant to come; but 
 they thought I ought to venture; and promised me pleasant 
 
History of MacMurray College 139 
 
 scenes and pleasant friends and these great prairie lands. It 
 was all true, as they promised." 5 In 1859, McKendree Col- 
 lege "honored itself in conferring upon him the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity." 6 
 
 Through the years Doctor Adams wrote prodigiously: 
 poems, essays, literary criticism, biographical and historical 
 studies, books on pedagogy, on geography, on missions, and 
 innumerable "letters to the editor" on the topics of the times. 
 Not a literary master, he should be considered, nevertheless, 
 a worthy minor poet and a writer of chaste and charming 
 prose that reads like poetry. His works were highly com- 
 mended in the Methodist press and were widely circulated, 
 some of them passing through several editions. Among his 
 published works are: Evangelism in the Middle of the Nine- 
 teenth Century (a sort of geography of the religious groups 
 of the world) , Women of the Bible, Portraiture of the New 
 Testament Church Members (contains sound views on the 
 church member as student and as teacher) , Life of Samuel 
 Johnson, Memoir of Washington Irving, The Poet Preacher: 
 A Brief Memorial of Charles Wesley, The Earth and its 
 Wonders, Words that Shook the World (a study of Martin 
 Luther) , and An Essay on Christian Union. He wrote for 
 the various Advocates, for the Ladies 9 Repository, and for 
 the scholarly Methodist Quarterly Review. In Jacksonville 
 he was a constant contributor to the local newspaper. Ob- 
 viously the dear doctor loved to write! 
 
 In the summer of 1866, while he was still president of the 
 Illinois Conference Female College, Doctor Adams made a 
 pious pilgrimage to the graves of his ancestors in Stratham. 
 In a commentary on this trip, faithfully recorded for the 
 Jacksonville Journal, he revealed one of the most beautiful 
 traits of his character — a tolerance rare in an age of denomi- 
 national rivalry and sectional bitterness. He wrote from 
 Stratham: 
 
 To me it is often positively refreshing to steal into a church where 
 I do not seem to belong, and catch a sermon from one whom I am not 
 accustomed to hear, and the more frequently I do this the more fully 
 I am convinced of the essential unity of Christian ministers and people. 
 
140 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Happy are they who have learned to overlook in their fellow Christians 
 the minor differences of philosophy, usage, taste, and form and are qual- 
 ified to appreciate and enjoy the "unity of the spirit." 7 
 
 Of his Essay on Christian Union, the editor of the Ladies' 
 Repository declared: "The author favors somewhat if not 
 decidedly the Evangelical Alliance. His volume breathes 
 the spirit of great love and kindness, and we trust that it 
 will accomplish great good among the various churches of 
 our land. The times demand such a volume." 8 In the re- 
 view of his Notes of the Minister of Christ for the Times 
 this same editor declared that he knew no man who was more 
 fully imbued with the spirit of the gospel and of Christ than 
 Mr. Adams. 9 His tolerance reached beyond the limits of 
 this editor's in an article in the Methodist Quarterly Review 
 on "Wesley, the Catholic," which was pronounced "a noble 
 article, leaning a little too much, however, as we think, to- 
 ward the scheme of Christian alliance." 10 His Evangelism in 
 the Middle of the Nineteenth Century proved useful to a 
 Jew interested in the Christian teachings. 11 
 
 In his letters written on the trip to Stratham, Doctor Ad- 
 ams recalled the comparisons often made between the East 
 and the West, some favoring one section, some the other. He 
 had to admit that he missed in the West the mountains on 
 which generations of his ancestors had gazed. On the other 
 hand, he admitted that the West had its points of advantage 
 — the best railroads, for example. They became worse the 
 farther east he went. 12 As to the people of the two sections, 
 he declared: 
 
 Some have seemed to observe a marked difference in the people of the 
 two sections. This difference I have always failed to discover and con- 
 fess to very little faith in its existence. I have seen no individuals or 
 classes in the East whose counterparts I have not observed in the West 
 and vice versa. Noble and excellent men and women are in the East; 
 they are equally so in the West. Strong young men and beautiful 
 maidens are in both sections, and I am sorry to add that ungainly and 
 naughty people are everywhere. The true patriot, however, will indulge 
 little thought or conversation about any real or fancied superiority of 
 one portion of this blessed country over other sections. 13 
 Men like Cartwright, sensitive to the "fancied superiority" 
 of the men from the East, could find no fault with Doctor 
 
History of MacMurray College 141 
 
 Adams. On the very eve of the Civil War he declared that 
 the "excellent o£ this world are East, West, and South, and 
 heaven and earth meet at various points, wide on this mag- 
 nificent land of ours." 14 He was strongly opposed to the 
 institution of slavery and was selected by the New England 
 Conference to write an appeal to southern Methodists to 
 take a stand against it. 15 Nevertheless, his spirit of friend- 
 liness to Southerners must have been notorious. He was even 
 accused of Copperheadism by members of the Illinois Con- 
 ference during the Civil War. The editor of the Central 
 Christian Advocate, who reported the accusation, declared, 
 however, that it was based beyond question on an error. 16 
 
 With respect to rival educational institutions, Doctor 
 Adams showed the same generous spirit. In a series of let- 
 ters addressed "To Young Ladies of the West" and published 
 in the Central Christian Advocate, he urged them to get a 
 college education, but declared that they need not attend 
 this particular seminary of which he was head. "There are 
 many which adorn this western country," he declared. 17 
 When Professor W. D. Sanders, head of the Athenaeum, a 
 school for girls he established in Jacksonville in 1 8 64, opened 
 a campaign of criticism against the existing system of edu- 
 cating young ladies, Doctor Adams entered the lists against 
 him. 18 He considered Professor Sanders' attack ungenerous 
 and ungentlemanly not only to his own Illinois Female Col- 
 lege, but also to the Presbyterian Academy, which followed 
 the same general plan of instruction. Toward the latter 
 school and toward Illinois College, the Alma Mater of his 
 son Edward, lost at Vicksburg, Doctor Adams always had 
 the most friendly feelings. 
 
 Tolerant toward people of different creeds and from dif- 
 ferent sections and classes, Doctor Adams did not possess the 
 Methodist enthusiasm and optimism as to the perfectibility 
 of all mankind. There were naughty people everywhere. 
 Naughty girls in school made him unhappy, and there was 
 little one could do about the matter, he felt. The marks 
 of his Congregational upbringing must have been deep: he 
 
142 History of MacMurray College 
 
 never entirely escaped from Presbyterian theology and philos- 
 ophy. Moreover, a spirit of resignation already character- 
 ized Doctor Adams when he undertook the charge of the 
 Female College at the age of fifty. It seems that he had once 
 expected greater achievements than he now hoped to realize. 
 At the close of his inaugural he declared: 
 
 Thus, my friends, I have canvassed my theme: and thus I have indi- 
 cated to you my beau ideal of Women's Education. How far it will 
 be realized in the great enterprise on which I am now and here about to 
 enter will depend upon the blessings of Him in whom all our strength 
 lies. As to myself, I know not that I am unduly sanguine. The bril- 
 liant and aspiring years of my life are mostly gone over me — with their 
 hope and their sorrows. I come to your community and to this school 
 in good faith. I tread these grounds not as a stepping stone to anything 
 beyond, save Heaven. Let me and mine come and dwell among you as 
 your own people. We are little ones — of no pretentions and no soaring 
 expectations. A little group of wanderers tossed for years on the toil- 
 some sea of itinerancy. Perchance there may open here a sort of haven 
 where we may be quiet for a little. Perchance a few beautiful spirits 
 will welcome us here, in whose beloved society the sun of life will glide 
 joyfully to its setting, and to whom our spirits will be leagued in pleas- 
 ant and everlasting friendship. 19 
 
 In spite of an apparent resignation, Doctor Adams dis- 
 played a bundle of energies in his administration and weath- 
 ered disasters that might have overcome the more sanguine. 
 A word might be included here about Mrs. Adams, who 
 filled a large place in this family school. She was Sarah Por- 
 ter, daughter of a Congregational minister, Huntington Por- 
 ter, of Rye, New Hampshire, and had studied under Mary 
 Lyon at Ipswich. There were four sons and three daughters. 
 Two sons were lost in the Civil War, one in battle, the other 
 from fever. From this blow, Doctor Adams never recov- 
 ered. One son, George, graduated from Harvard in 1870, 
 and later from the Harvard Law School. He became a 
 prominent lawyer of New York City. 20 The daughters as- 
 sisted Doctor and Mrs. Adams in the College. 
 
 PAGES OF FINANCIAL HISTORY: THE COLLEGE BEFORE 
 THE CONFERENCE IN 1860 
 
 Reports of the College in the church press for the years 
 18 58 to 1860 contained high praise for the administration 
 of President Adams. These reports, in the form of letters 
 
History of MacMurray College 143 
 
 to the editor, were more frequent and more detailed than 
 usual, motivated in part, no doubt, by the desire of the min- 
 isters to raise the pledges they had made at the Conference 
 in Decatur in 1857. At this same Conference, the Board 
 of Trustees was increased from fifteen to twenty-nine mem- 
 bers, sixteen of whom were ministers. Among the latter 
 group were some outstanding conference leaders of the gen- 
 eration younger than Cartwright and Akers: Newton 
 Cloud, Hiram Buck, William Prentice, J. L. Crane, and 
 Colin James. The Committee on Education in its report for 
 that year had confidently declared: "This favorite institu- 
 tion fully maintains its high position and now a still brighter 
 future dawns upon it." 21 By 1859, however, the Education 
 Committee reported that the collections on the pledges in 
 the past year were insufficient to meet even the interest 
 charges (around $4,000 a year) . 22 Although collections in 
 the conference year of 1859-60 were better, the pressure 
 from creditors was greater. The College faced a crisis that 
 threatened to be fatal when the Conference of 1860 assem- 
 bled in Jacksonville. 
 
 In a statement to this Conference, Doctor Adams declared : 
 "From this report [of the treasurer of the College to the 
 Conference] it is obvious that the most prompt and vigorous 
 effort is necessary to the welfare and even the existence of 
 the College. The long-continued financial pressure has been 
 very deeply felt by all the interests of the College, seriously 
 curtailing its numbers and the resources generally by which 
 the institution is sustained. If the institution has friends, 
 it behooves them now, if ever, to rally their strength, wis- 
 dom, and energy to its help and support." 23 
 
 John Mathers, treasurer of the Board of Trustees, pre- 
 sented a detailed financial report of the College at this meet- 
 ing. According to this report, as examined and summarized 
 by a conference committee, the College still owed more than 
 $34,000. 24 During the year, $12,000 had been collected and 
 most of it applied on the old debt and the interest charges. 
 In addition to the $34,000, interest charges from $2,000 to 
 
144 History of MacMurray College 
 
 $3,000 were due. The pledges made at Decatur had been 
 met only in part. Most of the subscriptions made by the 
 citizens of Jacksonville had been paid and nearly one-half 
 of those of the preachers. As to the pledge of the trustees, 
 the report of the conference committee stated: "Nothing 
 is yet due from the Ashland obligation, and we learn that 
 from the action of the Board of Trustees at their present 
 meeting that obligation has been cancelled, they having, in 
 lieu of it, secured to the College an amount equal to the 
 amounts paid or that may hereafter be paid by the citizens 
 of Jacksonville and the preachers of the Conference on the 
 pledges given at Decatur." 25 Apparently the Ashland deal 
 had failed, and the trustees were resolved to pay out of their 
 own pockets. No longer would a contribution to this 
 amount be sufficient, however, since interest charges had so 
 increased the original indebtedness. This report also in- 
 cluded figures on the results from the scholarship endow- 
 ment plan adopted in 1852. Over $50,000 had been sub- 
 scribed through the purchase of scholarships, and $33,000 
 of this had been collected. One-third had been used for the 
 construction of the building in accordance with the terms 
 of the scholarship contract; the remainder had been bor- 
 rowed by the trustees and applied to the payment of the 
 college debts. 
 
 Doctor Adams' report to the Conference suggested that 
 the long-continued financial uncertainty had injured the 
 prestige and popularity of the school. Prospective patrons 
 hesitated, doubtful of its future. Conference ministers, 
 pressed for the payment of their pledges, were critical of the 
 trustees, who had not met theirs. Ministers trying to secure 
 assistance from their congregations to pay their pledges or 
 agents soliciting funds and students faced the criticism of 
 parents that college spoiled their daughters (which criticism 
 might be merely the age-old alibi of parents for their failure 
 to discipline their children or the age-old conflict of cus- 
 toms and manners between the generations; or it may indi- 
 cate that in the more prosperous 1850s the College was be- 
 
History of MacMurray College 145 
 
 coming too sophisticated for some parents in rural com- 
 munities). One minister described the complaint he met: 
 "I would help, says one, but I have some doubts whether, on 
 the whole, the College is doing any good. Some of the young 
 ladies seem to learn more in pride and dress and foolishness 
 than in anything else. They went up to the academy or col- 
 lege modest, quiet, unassuming young ladies and, after a few 
 terms, they came away proud, vain, full of sport, and trifling. 
 This very objection I have heard in so many words . . ." 26 
 Added to the financial embarrassments inherited from the 
 past and the criticism of some parents and conference min- 
 isters that the College was not living up to its high calling 
 was the uncertainty of the future in a country on the verge 
 of civil war. The Conference itself was divided in politics 
 between ardent abolitionists and those who would leave the 
 South alone to settle the question of slavery within its bounds. 
 Relations were strained, and feeling was tense. It was at 
 this Conference that the dispute arose over the placing of 
 the delegates in homes in Jacksonville, an incident mentioned 
 above. The pressure from the creditors made the question 
 of the College a leading issue in its deliberations. Although 
 the discussions were not reported in the minutes, it appears 
 from statements of some present or close to others who were 
 there that the Conference was on the point of voting to 
 close the institution and sell the property to pay the debt. 
 The Catholic Church had offered to buy it. But a friend 
 of the College arose in the Conference in the person of Mrs. 
 Ann Dumville. 
 
 A FRIEND IN COURT MRS. ANN DUMVILLE 
 
 Unlike some colleges and seminaries for women, this school 
 has had no woman as principal or president. Women have 
 been influential from the beginning as the wives of presidents 
 and as members of faculties, but the positions of public 
 prominence have been occupied by men. Moreover, up to 
 this time (1860) and for a good many years later, women 
 did not occupy positions of leadership in Methodist churches. 
 They rarely attended annual Conferences and never spoke. 
 
146 History of MacMurray College 
 
 The entrance of Mrs. Dumville on the stage of college 
 and church history was thus unique. Perhaps the sensa- 
 tional character of her appearance tended to discourage 
 official notice or comment on it. Only much later and after 
 her death was the story related. It is likely that she would 
 be amazed to hear herself acclaimed as a saviour of the in- 
 stitution, as one of the "second founders." Such a place of 
 honor is, nevertheless, her due. Reference has been made to 
 her above in connection with her daughters, who attended 
 the school in the 1850s. Now she appears in her own right. 
 
 The story of her life, a short and simple annal of the 
 poor, has been recorded piously by her fellow countryman, 
 James Leaton. 27 She was the widow of an English immi- 
 grant, Thomas Dumville, who had come to the United 
 States with his family in 1840 to select a tract of land for 
 a colony sponsored by a co-operative society to which he be- 
 longed. In 1841, he had moved from St. Louis to Illinois, 
 purchasing land at Sulphur Springs, near Carlinville. His 
 death in 1842 left Mrs. Dumville penniless with three daugh- 
 ters to support. The co-operative society had failed, and their 
 land was lost. For eighteen years she kept house for Major 
 Burke of Carlinville. 
 
 Poor in worldly goods, Mrs. Dumville was widely recog- 
 nized as rich in her access to the fountains of spiritual grace. 
 Her prayers were sought by those in distress — parents of sol- 
 diers in the Civil War, families in distress through illness or 
 other cause, sinners seeking salvation. Leaton pronounced 
 her "one of the most remarkable women ever connected 
 with Illinois Methodism." 28 Doctor Adams, the scholar, ap- 
 preciated her "large, liberal, and intelligent views," and pro- 
 nounced her a "Methodist of primitive style, characterized 
 by singular faith, enthusiastic without a particle of fanati- 
 cism, devout without the slightest spirit of censoriousness." 2 
 From her wages she gave liberally to all the causes sponsored 
 by the Church. To foreign missions she was one of the 
 largest contributors in the Carlinville church. Through her 
 instigation a much needed new church building was erected 
 
History of MacMurray College 147 
 
 at a time when it seemed impossible to secure funds to build 
 it. Her interest ran to other causes — the temperance move- 
 ment, the care of the sick and wounded in the Civil War, 
 and the Negro. In Missouri, where she visited Jemima, she 
 became interested in the education of the Negroes in the 
 neighborhood, organized a Sunday School, purchased books, 
 and had Jemima teach them to read. 
 
 Her enthusiasm for education was boundless; neverthe- 
 less, it appears that she was unable to write. Letters of hers 
 have been preserved, but from several statements in Eppie's 
 letters one must conclude that they were written for her. 30 
 Writing to Jemima in 1853, Mrs. Dumville expressed her 
 great gratification at the fact that her daughter was a teacher: 
 "I am glad you have received by your own exertions an edu- 
 cation sufficient to prepare you for usefulness in an enlarged 
 circle. There is scarcely any position in life so desirable to 
 one who wishes to be useful as that of a teacher. To you in 
 this capacity is committed the destiny of young minds." 31 
 
 Mrs. Dumville dressed neatly but very simply. Her sav- 
 ings went to the Church and charity. In her later years, 
 however, she added a touch of beauty to her appearance. 
 Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, another notable woman whose 
 name will figure prominently in the pages of this college 
 history, knew Mrs. Dumville as a member of her father's 
 church at Carlinville and has described her thus as she ap- 
 peared on Sundays: "[She was] a bit more in height than 
 her sovereign majesty Queen Victoria, which is not saying 
 that she was tall; but she possessed an easy dignity that sug- 
 gested intelligence and strength. Her plump smooth face 
 was surrounded by the lacy frill of a white cap that showed 
 daintily even under the brim of her black bombazine poke 
 bonnet, and a white neckerchief was drawn in soft folds 
 across her comfortable bosom. Just so did I often see her." 3 
 
 When she attended the Conference in Jacksonville in 1860, 
 it was unlikely that her daughters would attend the College 
 any more. Her appeal for its perpetuation was based thus 
 on broader grounds than personal interest; in part, her act 
 
148 History of MacMurray College 
 
 was, no doubt, an expression of gratitude for what "our 
 College" had already done for her daughters. An eye-wit- 
 ness, G. R. S. McElfresh, described the scene in the Confer- 
 ence for the College Greetings many years later: 
 
 Mother Dumville, an old-time Methodist saint, who died nearly thirty 
 years ago, should never be forgotten by the friends of the Woman's 
 College, for she rendered it very important aid at a most critical period 
 in its history. The occasion I can never forget for she made it memor- 
 able . . . The Conference was considering the case of the "Woman's 
 College, which was heavily indebted and was in danger of being sold. 
 The outlook was indeed gloomy. Mother Dumville was in the room. 
 It was before the day of woman's participation in any public service 
 at conference, and for a woman to rise and address the Conference was 
 well-nigh as unusual and startling as an apparition from another world. 
 But Mother Dumville's soul was stirred, and she dared to make a speech. 
 It was very brief but wonderfully effective, for it was the eloquence of 
 brave words accompanied by brave action . . . The effect was marvellous. 
 If an electric bolt had struck the Conference the effect could hardly 
 have been more marked. The preachers shouted and wept and rallied to 
 the rescue, and the College was not sold. . . 33 
 According to tradition, Mrs. Dumville pled: "Your daugh- 
 ters must be educated; my daughters must have an educa- 
 tion. We must keep the school. It must not be sold. It 
 must not be sold. We must give; all must give! I have a 
 hundred dollars in Mr. Chesnut's [the trustee's] bank in 
 Springfield, and I will give it. . . . 34 Whatever her words 
 were, her gift certainly was not legendary, but a matter 
 of record; and the result of her action, a matter of history. 
 The tide was turned in favor of the College. 
 
 THE FIRE OF 1861: THE WEST WING DESTROYED 
 
 The decision of the Conference in 1860 not to give up 
 the College did not provide the means for saving it. Not 
 until 1863 was the debt settled and the College reorganized. 
 In the meantime, disaster in the form of a destructive fire 
 increased its difficulties. Devastating fires have been a com- 
 mon event in the history of such institutions; indeed, the 
 danger from fire was an argument frequently used against 
 girls' boarding schools. The Illinois Female College was to 
 be more severely tried by fire in the course of years than 
 most schools, but few colleges have escaped such trials. In 
 18 52, the main building of Illinois College had been com- 
 
History of MacMurray College 149 
 
 pletely destroyed by fire. 35 For protection against fire the 
 city of Jacksonville had undertaken to make provision early 
 in its history. A fire company was organized in 1840. 36 Its 
 roster of volunteer firemen contained the names of the fore- 
 most citizens of Jacksonville. Its equipment consisted of a 
 double-decked hand-engine, several hundred feet of hose, 
 buckets, ladders and axes. Later, to this "Union Company," 
 there was added another group, the "Rescue." In her let- 
 ters to Jemima, Eppie Dumville described the colorful ap- 
 pearance of the fire companies in a Fourth of July parade; 
 the members of the first in their red flannel shirts with em- 
 broidered collars, those of the second similar in costume ex- 
 cept for their glazed caps. 37 Jacksonville had no city water 
 works until the 1870s. Fire companies had to collect water 
 from private wells and cisterns. This supply often proved 
 to be seriously inadequate. 
 
 The trustees of the College had taken various steps to 
 avert loss of property from natural causes. The first pro- 
 tection seems to have been the provision of lightning rods — 
 this section of the State was frequently visited by storms. 
 Upon the completion of the Main Building in 1852, they 
 had provided for the construction of two cisterns of two 
 hundred barrels' capacity each, "walled and arched with 
 gates to let off the water." 38 They had insured the building 
 against fire, and in 1855 had voted to increase the amount 
 of insurance by $5,000. 39 When the fire occurred in 1861, 
 there was no insurance. As to internal organization for 
 prevention of fires or protection against them, one learns 
 little from the records. The Board voted in 185 5 that the 
 president appoint a committee to guard against fire during 
 meals and during the hours of church services. 40 Student 
 regulations required that all fire be extinguished by ten 
 o'clock and that rooms be open to inspection by teachers to 
 see that lights and fires were out. 41 If there were student 
 fire brigades or fire drills, the records contain no reference 
 to them. The activity of the girls in this first fire might sug- 
 gest, however, some sort of organization. 
 
150 History of MacMurray College 
 
 This fire occurred on Saturday, November 16, 1861. It 
 was discovered about ten o'clock in the morning and burned 
 all day and most of the night. The west wing was destroyed 
 entirely with the exception of a part of the outside walls, 
 but the Main Building was uninjured. The loss was about 
 $40,000. 42 The Jacksonville Journal gave the following ac- 
 count: 
 
 The fire was first seen to be breaking through the roof and originated 
 in a defective stove pipe. Great efforts were made by the citizens to 
 save the buildings ... If there had been united action on the first dis- 
 covery of the fire probably more could have been effected. The con- 
 fusion was great. The halls and staircases were crowded with persons 
 bringing down furniture and property of comparatively little value, 
 when they ought to have been forming lines and passing water. An- 
 other reason why more was not accomplished was the breaking several 
 times of the hose of the "Union." The "Rescue" was successfully oc- 
 cupied in pumping water from the town cisterns for the wagons. 43 
 
 A contemporary account by Mary R. King, a student, in 
 a letter to her brother is interesting as a description of the 
 activity of the students in this emergency. She wrote: "No 
 one was badly injured by the fire, but a great many have 
 taken cold. All our boys [Illinois College boys?] worked 
 fine and have colds, too. The majority of the ladies worked 
 harder than the men. Lucie and I worked like fine fellows. 
 They emptied about twenty-four wells, and then water was 
 
 J>44 
 
 scarce. 
 
 Sallie Shumway, another student, wrote her boy friend, 
 David Moore, on the Monday night following the fire. The 
 girls all left the College and spent Sunday in town, but were 
 back on Monday, she declared, and had their possessions col- 
 lected and straightened out. 45 The enrollment that year was 
 small; there were rooms enough in the Main Building for 
 all the boarding students (only 51). Although the College 
 continued without interruption, some students withdrew. 
 Sallie wrote her friend two weeks after the fire: "I suppose 
 you have seen Minnie [Minerva Maxfield, of Taylorville, 
 very likely] before this and she has told you about being 
 afraid to stay here. I was sorry on her father's account that 
 she would go home. He seemed to want her to stay so badly, 
 but would not force her to do so." 40 And in the same letter 
 
History of MacMurray College 151 
 
 she lamented: "The school is daily growing smaller, and if 
 some more pupils do not come in next term, I think it will 
 not be very interesting." How much the loss of students 
 was the result of the fire, how much of the Civil War or 
 other causes, one does not know. 
 
 The comments made about the losses suffered by the 
 two literary societies indicate the important place these 
 organizations occupied in college life. Mary King wrote her 
 brother: "Nothing very important was burned but the 
 Belles Lettres Society hall and library, also beds, chairs, 
 carpets, with the corresponding Phi Nu Society with its good 
 library. These two societies . . . were formed about ten or 
 twelve years ago, entirely by the diligent study and careful 
 attention of the girls. Lucie, Annie, and I were members 
 of the Belles Lettres and Will was an honorary member. We 
 had secured a large and good library by the initiation fees 
 and also the contingent or quarterly fees. Also had the cor- 
 responding Phi Nu Society, which was burned entirely, not 
 a single book saved but those that were lent out in town. We 
 may never again obtain such a library except by hard work 
 and time." 47 Eppie wrote Jemima: "As two societies have 
 lost all their property by the fire, the Phi Nus asked a con- 
 tribution for the purpose of replenishing their library. I 
 don't know how much was given. Some promised books, 
 I among the number. As I had nothing else to give, I sent 
 them my Elliott On Slavery, two volumes, that Ma gave me 
 years ago." 48 J. L. Crane, pastor of the East Charge Church 
 and a trustee of the College, made an appeal through the 
 Central Christian Advocate for contributions to these soci- 
 eties. They had had well -furnished halls, he declared, and 
 each a library worth more than $1,000. The citizens of 
 Jacksonville had already contributed, he stated. 49 The edi- 
 tor, Charles Elliott, the author of Eppie's volumes On Slavery 
 and a great scholar, educator, and writer, responded in the 
 same issue with an editorial on behalf of the societies and of 
 the College. In and between the lines of his comment one 
 can learn much of the contemporary conception of libraries 
 
152 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and laboratories and of the methods of building these. He 
 wrote: 
 
 We call attention at this time to the communication of Brother Crane 
 with reference to this noble institution. As there is now no preparation 
 for the immediate rebuilding of the boarding house, we are glad some- 
 thing is to be done in regard to the libraries of the young ladies and 
 their cabinets. We second the motion of Brother Crane, and we will 
 commence culling out of our own library some volumes to help the 
 library. Most of our books are antiquated, yet we have some that will 
 suit. We will also try to collect some specimens of minerals, and may 
 take a trip to the Iron Mountain for that very purpose. If any of our 
 friends think it more convenient to send the books or minerals to us 
 than to Jacksonville, we will take charge of them and see that they are 
 safely conducted to the young ladies' societies at Jacksonville. Let as 
 many as can do a little and the whole will amount to much; and some 
 few may have five, ten, or more dollars to send on to purchase some 
 things that may be necessary, but which will not be sent on in kind . . . 
 Other literary institutions that have duplicates of specimens could aid 
 in this time of need. Let Brother Cobleigh run over the specimens at 
 McKendree College and from their duplicates, triplicates, or quadruples 
 see if a little box of minerals and curiosities may not be sent on to Jack- 
 sonville. Let our friends at Salem, Bloomington, and Quincy do like- 
 wise. All these little gatherings will be earnests of the rebuilding, endow- 
 ment, and perpetuity of the Jacksonville Female College. We have a 
 large number of thinkings on this subject laid up since we heard of the 
 burning of the College. We must give vent to them very shortly. The 
 Methodists of Illinois are unworthy of the name of Wesley if this Col- 
 lege does not rise again after the Union is consolidated to more than 
 its former position. 50 
 
 How much the societies secured at this time their records do 
 not show. The minutes of the Phi Nu Society of Decem- 
 ber 5, 1861, recorded orders for a bookcase and five hun- 
 dred book labels. On February 5, 1862, the society extended 
 a vote of thanks to the Sigma Pi's of Illinois College for the 
 gift of twenty-six volumes (a case of rare generosity, since 
 the Sigma Pi's were the brothers of the Belles Lettres) . 61 If 
 the books the societies possess today are the contributions of 
 that time to any extent, the "cullings" to which editor El- 
 liott referred resulted in the donation of masterpieces of 
 literature, history, and philosophy. 
 
 This emphasis in the church press on the rebuilding of the 
 literary society libraries at a time of crisis, when existence 
 of the institution was at stake, may appear the height of 
 
History of MacMurray College 153 
 
 timidity, even of cowardice. But editor Elliott declared 
 that the main issue must be faced "after the Union is con- 
 solidated." He had, moreover, in an earlier editorial ap- 
 pealed to the Methodists of Illinois to support the rebuilding: 
 "We propose that friends rally, pay the whole debt, and 
 rebuild. . . . Brethren of Morgan, Sangamon, and adjoining 
 counties: rise in your strength and zeal and carry out this 
 enterprise. We call on Governor Yates, Dr. Cartwright, 
 and Judge Brown to the rescue. Take care of the daughters 
 of Illinois. We look to you and your chosen men to step 
 forth as heartily as you do for war. This, too, is a war 
 against ignorance and female depression." 52 This ripe scholar 
 remained an enthusiastic protagonist of the College through 
 his paper until his retirement in 1864. By this time the debt 
 had been paid and the west wing rebuilt. 
 
 MORE PAGES OF FINANCIAL HISTORY: THE ff SECOND 
 FOUNDATION" AND ITS FOUNDERS 
 
 A year passed after the Conference of 1860 in Jackson- 
 ville, which Mrs. Dumville's courageous appeal on behalf of 
 the College had made historic, before anything was done 
 toward canceling the debt of the institution. Before the 
 Conference of 1861 assembled, however, a friendly arrange- 
 ment had been made with the creditors, by which three trus- 
 tees of the College — John A. Chesnut, John Mathers, and 
 James H. Lurton — were selected as trustees for the creditors, 
 and at the September 1861 term of the circuit court of 
 Morgan County these men brought suit against the College 
 for debts amounting to$35,359.50. Judgment was rendered 
 against the College in favor of these trustees for the amount 
 and costs, and execution was directed to the sheriff to levy 
 on all the property of the College to satisfy the judgment. 53 
 
 The only reference to the College in the conference min- 
 utes of 1861 was a resolution requesting the Bishop to ap- 
 point Colin D. James as financial agent. 54 This appointment 
 proved a fruitful one. James became one of the foremost 
 "second founders." He was a younger contemporary of 
 Cartwright, Akers, Trotter, and the other fathers of the 
 
154 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Illinois Conference. Largely self-educated, he made the 
 educational work of the Church for both men and women 
 one of his first concerns. From 1854 to 1866 he was a trus- 
 tee of the Illinois Conference Female College. Two of his 
 daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Cornelia, were graduated 
 from it. Upon his appointment as financial agent, James 
 moved to Jacksonville, arriving in September 1861. His 
 son, Edmund J. James, later to be a leading educator in Illi- 
 nois as president, first of Northwestern, then the University 
 of Illinois, told of his first days here and of the sacrifices 
 made for the College by his parents: 
 
 As a lad of six years of age, from the piazza of a building which stood 
 opposite the northwest corner of the college ground, I gazed on the 
 greatest fire I had ever seen. I little realized at the time what a period 
 of privation, of hunger and nakedness this fire foretold for us. A fam- 
 ily of six children with more on the way, a great war beginning, a time 
 for wearing out our old clothes and those of others who might be per- 
 suaded to give them. My father and mother led the canvass for funds 
 to rebuild the old college. I mention my mother especially because she 
 more than did her part in bringing to this campaign the spirit that her 
 father, the Reverend Anthony Wayne Casad, had displayed in the build- 
 ing of McKendree. He had drawn up and circulated the first subscrip- 
 tion paper for McKendree and had helped his son, Thomas, cut and shape 
 the first load of logs which went into the building. 55 
 It is heartening to see and desirable to record how the energy 
 and genius for the building of one institution for the en- 
 lightenment of mankind carried over into the history of 
 another and how one generation rises on the shoulders of its 
 predecessor. Of the difficulties encountered in raising this 
 money many stories have been told. James himself said, con- 
 tinuing the story of his father's work: 
 
 It was a fearful year 1861-62, and those who remember what it was 
 to raise $30,000 in those times from the farmers of the country around 
 Jacksonville will appreciate what hardships were endured by the family 
 of Colin D. James in that trying time. And yet I do not remember a 
 single complaint on the part of any member of the family. I met recent- 
 ly a man ninety-three years old who was one of the contributors to that 
 fund and who laughingly said: "Your father was the greatest money 
 raiser I ever knew. I subscribed $100 when that was all I could hope 
 to clear in that year from my labor." 150 
 
 A later president of the College, Doctor W. F. Short, sold 
 his only cow in order to make a contribution. 67 This was 
 
History of MacMurray College 155 
 
 the "heroic period" of the college history, and, although the 
 men made the gifts, the women perhaps bore the chief bur- 
 den of the sacrifices. 
 
 On October 1, 1861, soon after James' appointment as 
 agent, the Board of Trustees held a meeting at the East 
 Charge Church, to which other friends of the College were 
 invited. 58 Again the questions were raised, "Shall we sell 
 the College? or should we make one more effort to save the 
 institution to the Church ?" 5J The vote was to save it, and 
 plans were made to secure funds. It was estimated that the 
 assets of the College in notes would reduce the debt to 
 $30,000 dollars, and it was agreed that these be transferred 
 to the treasurer, John Mathers, on condition that he assume 
 the entire indebtedness beyond $30,000. 60 The trustees 
 agreed to pay two-thirds of the rest if the other third could 
 be secured by the sale of Ashland lots or otherwise. They 
 then drew up the following subscription paper, which James 
 was to circulate: 
 
 Whereas, the lot, building, and appurtenances of the Illinois Confer- 
 ence Female College in Jacksonville, are about to be sold on execution 
 to satisfy a judgment of the Morgan County Circuit Court; and where- 
 as, an agreement has been made with William Thomas, William Brown, 
 and Matthew Stacy, as Trustees in the premises, to purchase the said 
 property as joint tenants, and not as tenants in common, and to convey 
 the same to a corporation hereafter to be created, for the use and under 
 the control of the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 as a College; and, desiring to secure said property to the said Conference 
 free from all indebtedness' and incumbrances, and that it may be used 
 as a college, we severally agree to pay to the said Thomas, Brown, and 
 Stacy, Trustees as aforesaid, the sums set opposite our names with in- 
 terest at the rate of ten per cent per annum from October 1, 1861, to 
 enable them to pay the judgment aforesaid, payments to be made on 
 the first day of January 1863. But if the sum of thirty thousand dol- 
 lars is not amply secured by the first day of October 1862, then the 
 above subscriptions are to be void. 61 
 
 Before October 1862, James had secured subscriptions 
 totaling $33,586.77, including interest to January 1, 1863, 
 and John Mathers was able to report to the Conference of 
 that year "the pleasing fact that the College is out of debt." 6 
 In his report he included the following list of subscribers 
 and the amounts subscribed: 63 
 
156 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Hon. W. Thomas 
 
 $5,100 
 
 E. Lambert 
 
 100 
 
 J. Mathers 
 
 3,225 
 
 J. N. Brown 
 
 90 
 
 M. Stacy- 
 
 2,700 
 
 Rev. A. S. McCoy 
 
 50 
 
 Rev. N. Cloud 
 
 700 
 
 Rev. O. P. McMains 
 
 50 
 
 Rev. R. W. Travis 
 
 500 
 
 W. Fitzsimmons 
 
 50 
 
 Rev. G. Rutledge 
 
 2,000 
 
 Rev. W. H. Webster 
 
 40 
 
 Hon. J. A. Chesnut 
 
 1,750 
 
 B. F. Gass 
 
 40 
 
 Hon. Win. Brown 
 
 1,600 
 
 E. Hamilton 
 
 40 
 
 T. J. Larimore 
 
 1,600 
 
 G. T. Newman 
 
 40 
 
 J. H. Lurton 
 
 1,400 
 
 I. Buckingham 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. H. Buck 
 
 1,240 
 
 G. Long 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. C. D. James 
 
 1,400 
 
 J. M. Snyder 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. P. Cartwright 
 
 1,000 
 
 J. Wood 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. W. S. Prentice 
 
 900 
 
 H. Russell 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. W. J. Rutledge 
 
 500 
 
 N. Milburn 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. J. C. Rucker 
 
 500 
 
 T. J. Crowder 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. W. H. H. Moore 
 
 400 
 
 W. H. Cockrane 
 
 40 
 
 M. Rapp 
 
 400 
 
 W. P. Barr 
 
 40 
 
 Rev. J. L. Crane 
 
 375 
 
 J. L. Martin 
 
 40 
 
 H. M. Ennis 
 
 250 
 
 M. McCausey 
 
 40 
 
 J. Gorham 
 
 200 
 
 M. Fry 
 
 40 
 
 V. Ridgley 
 
 200 
 
 Rev. H. Wallace 
 
 40 
 
 J. Bennyworth 
 
 200 
 
 B. F. Stevenson 
 
 25 
 
 W. Richardson 
 
 200 
 
 J. Hockenhull 
 
 35 
 
 C. Samples 
 
 140 
 
 Rev. L. Smith 
 
 50 
 
 P. Spates 
 
 100 
 
 J. Goodrick 
 
 10 
 
 J. S. Foster 
 
 100 
 
 Rev. J. Nottingham 
 
 50 
 
 Rucker [Thomas] 
 
 100 
 
 S. Keplinger 
 
 15 
 
 J. Davenport 
 
 100 
 
 M. Weir 
 
 5 
 
 J. Capps 
 
 100 
 
 
 
 Total $30,180 
 
 A few comments on this list: It is the official list of those 
 who assisted in the payment of the debt, and these men 
 have been referred to as the "Founders of 1862," an honor 
 which they merit. But there are other names that should 
 be included. The lists of those contributing in 1857 from 
 Jacksonville and among the ministers in the Conference are 
 not extant. By means of the contributions made in 18 57 
 the debt had been reduced and much accruing interest had 
 been paid; it was $40,000 in 1857 and was only $3 5,000 in 
 
 1861. And with reference to the contributors of 1861 and 
 
 1862, it may be noticed that Mrs. Dumville's name does not 
 appear on the list, yet the minute book of the Board of 
 Trustees recorded a payment of $100 from her. 04 It had 
 
History of MacMurray College 157 
 
 been made perhaps in 1860 or 1861 previous to the circula- 
 tion of the subscription list. There may be other such omis- 
 sions. Some probably contributed later to help these sub- 
 scribers. John Mathers had made appeal for such aid in his 
 report to the Conference in 1862, and the Conference in 
 turn had resolved "to use our influence to procure material 
 aid for those of our number who have contributed so heavily 
 to pay the indebtedness of the College." 65 Cartwright wrote 
 in February 1863 to the Central Christian Advocate: "I 
 am glad the Female College debt is cleared and that it is in 
 a flourishing condition . . . And I hope our friends through- 
 out the length and breadth of the Conference will send up 
 their daughters thick and fast. They cannot do better in 
 this state or anywhere else. A few of us have made great 
 sacrifices. Will not the members come to our aid? Four 
 years' salary from the Church will not reimburse me." 66 
 Cartwright must have included his contributions of 1857. 
 Two years' salary would have covered that of 1862. How 
 much aid Cartwright and the other ministers secured on 
 their subscriptions the writer has not discovered; some such 
 contributions to the ministers were reported in the Central 
 Christian Advocate. One other point: Ashland lots, by the 
 sale of which the trustees had hoped to pay their pledge in 
 1857, still figured in these settlements. For example, Wil- 
 liam Thomas' subscription for $5,100 consisted of $2,500 
 cash and $2,600 for sixty-five Ashland lots, and lots were 
 involved in most of the other contributions. 67 Some minis- 
 ters had complained that the trustees had not met their 
 pledges of 1857. In the subscriptions of 1862 all of the 
 $30,000 except $1,230 came from the trustees. 
 
 Seven laymen— Thomas, Mathers, Stacy, Chesnut, Brown, 
 Larimore, and Lurton — gave more than $17,000. Hiram 
 Buck Prentice, son of the William Prentice who contributed 
 $900 to this subscription of 1862, said of these laymen: "I 
 am of the impression that these Jacksonville laymen were 
 the great financial power back of the college movement. 
 Judge Thomas and John Mathers not only gave liberally 
 
158 History of MacMurray College 
 
 themselves, but must have underwritten a large part of the 
 preachers' subscriptions. I am led to think so because I 
 have among my father's papers an old cancelled note given 
 by him to Judge Thomas which John Mathers had signed as 
 security." 68 That the ministers might require help to carry 
 their indebtedness is suggested by the smallness of their sal- 
 aries in comparison to their pledges: George Rutledge sub- 
 scribed $2,000 on a salary of $642; C. D. James, $1,400 on 
 a salary of $800 as agent in 1862, $600 as pastor the next 
 year; Cartwright, $1,000 on a salary of $500, and so on; 
 and interest charges added to the burden of their pledges. 
 Prentice, writing of his father's debt to Thomas, said that 
 in 1865 it had been reduced to $500 and that he did not 
 know how long it took to cancel it. These men were not 
 afraid to mortgage their future. All these sums may seem 
 small today, accustomed as we are to think in terms of mil- 
 lions. They were large then and had to be paid in a time 
 of rising costs of living due to the War and without propor- 
 tionate advance in preachers' salaries. 
 
 Space does not permit the relation of the history of these 
 "Founders of 1862," who saved the College from forced sale. 
 Six of them: Thomas, Brown, Stacy, Cartwright, W. J. 
 Rutledge, and Nicholas Milburn had been on the first Board. 
 Several other names have appeared before in this history: 
 former President McCoy, for instance, or John Mathers, who 
 had served the Board almost from the beginning; Ches- 
 nut, banker and businessman of Springfield; Larimore, Mor- 
 gan County farmer; James Lurton, Jacksonville business- 
 man, neighbor to the College on the west, whose land was 
 long coveted and finally acquired by the institution; and 
 Newton Cloud, a prominent leader in State as well as 
 Church: all these men gave years of service as trustees as 
 well as contributions of money. Those making large gifts in 
 1862 no longer had daughters to educate, if they had ever 
 had. To these men and the other "founders of 1862," Hiram 
 Buck Prentice paid tribute in his Founders' Day address at 
 the College in 1910, "Our Homage to the Past." By request 
 
History of MacMurray College 159 
 
 he built his speech about the life of his father, William Pren- 
 tice, and his father's friend, Hiram Buck, who had been as 
 David and Jonathan to each other. These two, with Cart- 
 wright and Crane, were prominent Democrats among their 
 Republican colleagues. They were "war Democrats," al- 
 though Crane, Buck, and Prentice, along with Doctor 
 Adams, had been accused of Copperheadism. Crane served 
 as chaplain in Grant's regiment. Prentice, a special friend of 
 Stephen A. Douglas, urged the latter to come out to Illi- 
 nois to stem the tide of disloyalty. 69 Thus these men were 
 busy saving the nation while striving to keep the College 
 alive. Prentice and Buck, with J. L. Crane, the younger 
 Prentice described as a trio "of genial spirits whose close 
 companionship became the center of consecrated good fel- 
 lowship from which radiated influences that brightened and 
 cheered and gave to their brethren a relaxation from the 
 sterner duties of the itineracy, adding zest to the preachers' 
 daily task that stimulated and inspired them to their best ef- 
 forts." One may guess that these genial spirits and others 
 like them, such as W. J. Rutledge, also a war chaplain, "a 
 jovial man and true, always bristling with ideas which seemed 
 to be dancing and prancing, impatient for utterance," were 
 of inestimable value in the dark hour in galvanizing wills 
 and fortifying minds against the thought of failure. 
 The Illinois Female College Is Chartered: 
 Doctor Adams On Names 
 On January 24, 1863, the property of the College was sold 
 at public auction to Thomas, Brown, and Stacy, as trustees 
 of funds raised in the subscription. Steps were taken at once 
 to secure a new charter, according to the agreement with 
 the subscribers, under which the entire property would be 
 conveyed "to a corporation to be held for the use and under 
 the patronage and control of the Illinois Annual Confer- 
 ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church as a Literary In- 
 stitution." 70 This charter was granted by the Illinois Legis- 
 lature on June 13, 1863, and, with slight modification, has 
 continued to define the legal status of the College down to 
 
160 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the present. The name of the institution was to be the Illi- 
 nois Female College, Conference being dropped from the 
 title. Nine men — George Rutledge, William Thomas, Wil- 
 liam S. Prentice, Matthew Stacy, Colin D. James, John 
 Mathers, Hiram Buck, John A. Chesnut, and William 
 Brown — were named in the charter as trustees. These men 
 must have been selected by the old Board, but there is no rec- 
 ord of such action. Trustee minutes are lacking from 1858 
 to 1863, except those for a meeting on October 1, 1861. 
 
 The new charter contained few changes from the pro- 
 visions of the charter of 1847. The trustees possessed under 
 it the customary powers and duties. The relation of the in- 
 stitution to the Illinois Conference was the same. The Con- 
 ference had the right to nominate persons as trustees, such 
 persons to be appointed by the Board. And, as stated in the 
 preamble, the College was to be "for the use and under the 
 patronage and control of the Conference." Limitation on 
 the amount of land that could be owned by the College was 
 continued: one hundred acres was set as the maximum, as 
 in the original charter. The following provision, however, 
 was new and the result of the experience of being sold for 
 debts. 
 
 The lot of five acres of ground to be conveyed to this corporation on 
 which the building and improvements of the Illinois Conference Female 
 College are situated, being purchased and dedicated in perpetuity as and 
 for the use of a Literary Institution, it is hereby declared that the trustees 
 shall have no power to sell, convey, or mortgage the same, or to create 
 or permit the existence of any liability for or on account of which the 
 same may be subject to sale under any decree, judgment, or process of 
 any kind; but the same shall forever remain free and exempt from sale 
 for or on account of any indebtedness or liability created by the trustees, 
 or permitted by them to accrue or exist against the corporation, anything 
 in this act to the contrary notwithstanding. 71 
 
 On September 10, 1863, a deed was made by Matthew 
 Stacy, president of the Board of Trustees of the old College, 
 by which the property was conveyed to the new corpora- 
 tion, and the Illinois Conference Female College passed out 
 of existence. 72 The new institution began its history with 
 a clean slate, free from all indebtedness, including the obli- 
 gation to honor the perpetual and negotiable scholarships. 
 
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 liillll iillllll f IMALB ISLLB6B. 
 
 ®3Jffi>SS 
 
 
 
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 pbay;er. 
 
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 Miss rIinehVIa R. Duklaf,' Morgan Co. 
 
 -1 
 
 LJ 
 
 £ 
 
 '■I 
 
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 ■fifcf 
 
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 Miss Hasma'^ £ Gillkam, . Venice. 
 
 • : .. »\\ Wisuzy, Jacksonville. [15 
 
 Mi>; 
 
 Influence of Art> Miss Ellss p. Rscker, Jacksonville. &> 
 
 Mind as Connected with A'dfisrc t iff 
 
 Miss Jaxc A, Ebwakm, Greene Co. M; s 
 
 Progress tf Science, MissElizasetm A.Devoxb, Morgan Co. ||| 
 
 HH 
 
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 1 
 
 T/jf Spirit handy .Miss Makoarst A. Morrison, Scott Co. 
 
 Yid$&lctOFft Bliss Ltrcv Askixs, CarrolUoB. 
 
 Degrees Conferred, 
 
 I 
 
 Program of the First Commencement 
 
^■■^S^'^-Wxi^ 
 
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 / 
 
 SALLIE SHUMWAY MOORE. - 64 
 
History of MacMurray College 161 
 
 At the first meeting, however, the trustees of the Illinois Fe- 
 male College passed a resolution "that while the Board does 
 not recognize any obligation to the holders or owners of 
 scholarships in the Illinois Conference Female College each 
 holder of such scholarship may be entitled to tuition equal 
 to the amount paid for the same after deducting the tuition 
 heretofore received." 73 This action of the Board reduced the 
 income from tuition for many years. Some of the old cer- 
 tificates were allowed as payments on tuition as late as 19 10. 74 
 
 The dropping of the word Conference from the title of 
 the College signified no change in its relation to the Illinois 
 Methodist Conference. This change in name may have been 
 one cause, however, of certain questionings among the min- 
 isters of the Conference with regard to the character of 
 the College. James Montgomery wrote to the editor of the 
 Central Christian Advocate in August 1863: 
 
 Some of us who have paid for the school wish to ask Dr. Adams what 
 relation the College has to the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Illi- 
 nois Conference . . . Last year at Bloomington we were informed that a 
 few kind friends, preachers, and members had again paid off the debt 
 of $36,000 and now the College was out of debt, and an appeal was 
 made to help those who paid. We have done so; eighty dollars was col- 
 lected in this charge to help one. Now we hear that the College has 
 been sold and a new charter obtained; that the College is now in other 
 hands and does not belong to the Conference or to the Church; and that 
 our scholarships are lost . . . 
 
 Now, Brother Adams, will you please tell us what relation the College 
 has to the Church and to the Conference and what became of the pledge 
 the trustees made to the Conference in 1857? We would like to under- 
 stand the matter. 75 
 
 Doctor Adams patiently explained the whole situation 
 in the same periodical, enclosing a copy of the new charter, 
 which was published. 76 Nevertheless, the doubts were not 
 entirely removed; complaints that the College was not 
 really a conference institution continued to appear from 
 time to time. 
 
 Several years later and in another connection, Judge 
 Thomas related the history of the charters and the change 
 of names in the Jacksonville Journal and stated that Doctor 
 Adams, he thought, had suggested the name Illinois Female 
 
162 History of MacMurray College 
 
 College. 11 The latter vigorously denied this charge, for it 
 involved a point on which he felt deeply, and declared: 
 "When the new name was under consideration, I did suggest 
 omitting Conference, which was agreed to. I should cer- 
 tainly have proposed also a substitute for the epithet Female, 
 but I was fearful that the proposal would not be approved." 78 
 
 Doctor Adams' opinions on the name of the institution are 
 worthy of further comment. MacMurray women, past and 
 present, are indebted to him for the first protest recorded 
 locally against the use of the word female applied to women, 
 and he was perhaps among the first in the country to pro- 
 test its use. He declared in his inaugural address in 1858, 
 for which he took the subject, "The Education of Women," 
 "In the remarks I have to make touching ladies and their 
 education, I shall discard the epithet female so prone to be 
 applied to the fair sex as well as to their seminaries and their 
 education." 79 He went on to say that he saw no more 
 reason to use female than male, that its use degraded women 
 to the level of animals, that woman or lady was in vastly 
 better taste. 
 
 A decade later, Doctor Adams returned to the question 
 of the name of the institution in one of a series of letters 
 to the Jacksonville Journal. He admitted that the entire 
 name was open to criticism, "although now not so easy of 
 alteration." He continued: 
 
 The critic might urge and with some degree of justice that the name 
 is too pretentious, as a whole; and as such not exactly accordant with 
 the true character of the school. It should be remembered, however, that 
 the institution was founded about twenty years ago when neither the 
 Methodist denomination nor any other had, with an exception or two, 
 any ladies* schools under its patronage in this state. It was, therefore, 
 a very considerable novelty in the state, a sort of new thing in Illinois, 
 and entitled somewhat to assume the name of the state as a part of its 
 title . . . The word college as applied to an institution like ours would not 
 fail to be subjected to the critic's dissecting knife. It is a great name — 
 the name of college — associated in American and English ideas with ample 
 and magnificent buildings, grounds widespread and ornamental, exten- 
 sive libraries, apparatus, and cabinets, learned professors, and all the as- 
 sociated ornaments; by caps and gowns, degrees, diplomas, and such like. 
 Is not the name then as well as the first of the epithets too pretentious 
 to be consistent with either truth or modesty? I must be excused from 
 
History of MacMurray College 163 
 
 reply save to submit deferentially that it seems to have grown into a 
 sentiment in this country that a name to a literary institution may be 
 given anticipatory; in other words, one may name such an institution 
 with an eye upon its great destiny, irrespective of its present character 
 and almost irrespective of its present existence. The institution begins 
 with "small things," but what will it be in the "great and good time 
 coming" when it shall have outlived its century and shall have been 
 enriched by the genial contact of successive generations? Thus you see, 
 Mr. Editor, I apologize for the epithet by glancing backward and for 
 the name by glancing forward ... If the critic's knife slashes at the 
 other epithet of our school, at the epithet Female, I simply confess that 
 I have no response to offer, no defense to set up. If there be any dis- 
 graceful epithet tolerated amid civilization, I esteem the adjective female 
 as applied to women or to institutions for woman to be such an epithet. 
 I think I lately read that a French judge decided not long since that the 
 applying of this epithet to woman is an actionable offense. If this be 
 true, I pronounce him to be, so far, an eminently "just judge." 80 
 
 Doctor Adams revealed here his characteristic modesty; 
 he wished to claim no deserts not fully merited. But he also 
 sympathized with young America's tendency to look beyond 
 the limited present to its great destiny. He himself pos- 
 sessed a strong sense of history, of a culture enriched by 
 "the genial contact of successive generations," to which we 
 are all heirs and for which we are all trustees with an obli- 
 gation to the future. Incidentally, his comments foreshadow, 
 unwittingly perhaps, or it may be with wise foresight, the 
 rise of the standard college for women, in competition with 
 which these ante bellum colleges, excellent for their day, 
 could not hold their rank. Hence, before that "great and 
 good time coming," the Illinois Female College was to under- 
 go severe hardships. 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE NEW BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 
 — THE WEST WING REBUILT — THE COLLEGE AND 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL OF METHODISM 
 
 With the reorganization of the College in 1863, the Board 
 of Trustees was reduced from a membership of thirty to 
 the original number, nine. These men had all been mem- 
 bers of the old Board for some years, three of them of the 
 original Board of 1846, and a fourth, John Mathers, almost 
 from the foundation. Chesnut had been a member since 
 1858. Four better men could not have been found in the 
 
164 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Illinois Conference than George Rutledge, W. S. Prentice, 
 C. D. James, and Hiram Buck. Without exception, it was 
 an excellent Board of Trustees, and most of its members 
 were to continue to serve for many years. At the first 
 meeting on July 1, 1863, the Board elected William Brown 
 president and Matthew Stacy secretary. Brown retired at 
 the end of a month in favor of William Thomas, having 
 accepted the position only until the latter's return to the 
 city. 81 Brown then served as treasurer for several years 
 during the time when the wing was being rebuilt and until 
 threatened blindness forced his retirement from the office. 
 His place as treasurer was taken in 1866 by A. C. Wads- 
 worth, who had been elected to the Board that year in the 
 place of C. D. James, who retired. Wadsworth, a prominent 
 businessman of Jacksonville, was to be associated with the 
 College as trustee for forty-five years. 
 
 The new Board of Trustees undertook at once the re- 
 building of the west wing. They were encouraged to be- 
 gin this work by the brighter prospects of the school. Doc- 
 tor Adams reported to the Conference in October 1863 that 
 the College had opened with 140 young ladies enrolled, one- 
 half of them boarding students, that the Main Building 
 was nearly filled, and that others were applying for ad- 
 mission. 82 Before Conference met the trustees had raised 
 the question of rebuilding. William Brown offered to lend 
 $2,000 to $2,500 for this purpose, the interest to be guar- 
 anteed by a claim on the rent of rooms. 83 The Board proceed- 
 ed cautiously, considering at first the erection of three sto- 
 ries with the third only to be finished for use. Eventually, 
 in March 1864, they decided to erect four stories complete. 84 
 The catalogue published in the summer of 1864 announced 
 that this wing would be ready for use immediately. 85 Al- 
 though not so large as the original wing, this addition of four 
 stories could accommodate sixty students. The first floor 
 contained the dining room and kitchen, the three above, 
 dormitories. 
 
 The financial records of these years are meager, but some 
 
History of MacMurray College 165 
 
 data can be found in board and conference minutes. The 
 contractor had agreed in 1863 to erect three stories for 
 $4,500. 86 The cost of the completed four stories was not 
 recorded; prices were rising, and it was probably much 
 above this initial estimate. The contractor had the right to 
 use the south wall of the old wing and any brick found 
 suitable. Mathers, Brown, and Thomas were appointed as 
 a committee to raise money for this building, but their re- 
 ports were not recorded, except a statement in February 
 1864 that the funds justified the completion only of the 
 third and fourth stories. 87 In a letter in the Jacksonville 
 Journal in 1867, Doctor Adams gave some suggestions, if 
 no very specific data, of how this rebuilding was accom- 
 plished: "This good work was mainly due to those three 
 great-souled and excellent men — Judge Brown, Judge 
 Thomas, and Reverend John Mathers — aided by a few 
 others. It arose from its ashes at exactly the right time; 
 arose suddenly as if by some magical influence, arose with 
 moderate cost amid costly times, and leaving but a slight 
 debt, which is in a way of liquidation and is likely to trouble 
 no one." 88 According to a letter of Doctor Adams to the 
 Board of Trustees in June 1871, he himself had contributed 
 $1,000 to the building fund. 89 
 
 It is probable that the money for the liquidation of 
 this debt came in part from the College's share in the cen- 
 tenary fund. In 1866, the Church celebrated the one- 
 hundredth anniversary of the founding of Methodism in 
 America, and raised a centennial fund as a memorial to be 
 used to pay the debts on schools and churches and for church 
 extension. It was agreed in the Illinois Conference that 
 seventy per cent of this be devoted to the three confer- 
 ence schools to pay their debts, the residue to go equally 
 to their endowment and to church extension. 90 How much 
 the College secured from this source the writer has not 
 discovered. The hope was that an endowment of $100,000 
 might be raised for Illinois Wesleyan and $50,000 for the 
 Female College. 91 A report of the centenary fund in 1867 
 
1 66 History of MacMurray College 
 
 showed subscriptions of $10,036 for the Illinois Female 
 College. 92 How much of this was paid the writer does not 
 know. At a meeting held in December 1865, at Strawn's 
 Hall, in Jacksonville, as a preliminary to the centenary cam- 
 paign, William Brown offered to give $5,000 to the endow- 
 ment if $15,000 could be raised in Morgan County. Five 
 thousand of this amount was pledged at that meeting. 93 The 
 minutes of the trustees later recorded a contribution of 
 $5,000 by Judge Brown and $1,000 by Henry Wiswell. 94 
 Brown also reported $535 of "unspecified" centenary funds 
 applicable to the payment of the debt of the College. 95 At 
 this same meeting the following rather complicated arrange- 
 ment with Doctor Adams was adopted: 
 
 Doctor Adams, having subscribed $1,000 to the centenary fund of 
 the College which has not been reported to the centenary agent, the 
 Board agrees that his notes be taken for the sum, one-third payable an- 
 nually with interest at eight per cent and that the payment of those 
 notes shall extinguish the liability of said Adams to pay the Board $300 
 annually upon his contract with the Board dated January 1, 1866 and 
 also his liability to pay interest on $1,000 of the debt due William Brown 
 by this contract and the said $1,000 so subscribed with the interest to 
 be paid to Brown on his claim against the College, the foregoing ar- 
 rangement being made with a view to the liquidation of the debt of 
 the College. 96 
 
 It was shortly after this that Doctor Adams announced that 
 the debt of the College was in the way of liquidation and was 
 likely to trouble no one. As to the endowment, Judge Brown 
 stated in a summary report on the College to Newton Bate- 
 man, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, in 1868, 
 that the College had an endowment of $8,000, exclusive of 
 buildings valued at $100,000. 97 Thus from centenary funds 
 and other sources, especially from Judge Brown, enough 
 money had apparently been obtained to rebuild the west 
 wing and leave that amount as a residue. 
 
 The financial arrangements of the Board of Trustees with 
 the president were not made entirely clear in the records. 
 As stated before, there are no minutes of the trustees from 
 18 58 to 1863, and after 1863 the financial reports are in- 
 complete. Very likely the original contract with Doctor 
 Adams in 1858 continued the arrangement by which a scale 
 
History of MacMurray College 167 
 
 of salaries for president and teachers was established, but the 
 payment was not guaranteed by the Board. The president 
 and members of the faculty received proportionate parts of 
 the income from tuition, which was much limited by schol- 
 arships. In theory, any income above this went to the trust- 
 ees to be held for the College. From various references to 
 the operation of the dining room and the college household, 
 it would appear that Doctor and Mrs. Adams had to manage 
 those expenses on the income from the board and rent and 
 did so with much difficulty during the war. When the new 
 trustees came into office in 1863, they immediately made an 
 agreement with him to continue a year on the same terms. 
 According to the minutes of June 21, 1864, a contract for 
 two years was made, but the terms of it were not included 
 in the minutes; it was probably on essentially the same basis 
 as the preceding one. 
 
 In 1866, a somewhat different arrangement was made be- 
 tween the president and the Board, the essential features of 
 which continued in operation down to Doctor Harker's 
 administration. By this agreement the president assumed 
 complete financial responsibility aside from the building 
 costs — he paid the teachers, the cost of the boarding depart- 
 ment, and all expenditures for furniture, repairs, and in- 
 surance. In return he had the entire income. 98 In other 
 words, the institution reverted in administration to some- 
 thing like the old-time private, or family, academy. This 
 status raised more doubts among conference ministers as to 
 the denominational character of the institution — it looked 
 to them like a personal affair of the president. Without doubt 
 this situation injured the prestige and the patronage of the 
 school so far as the Conference was concerned. Doctor 
 Adams' contract with the Board was complicated by the 
 special obligations under his centenary pledge. Greenback 
 inflation added difficulties to his administration. In 1868, 
 for example, he reported that the cost of insuring the build- 
 ing for $30,000, to which he had agreed in his contract, had 
 increased from $300 to $450." At the close of his adminis- 
 
168 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tration, the trustees apparently made a special settlement 
 with him and, in a letter, he declared they had dealt with 
 him "with very great kindness and generosity." 100 He left, 
 however, burdened still with a part of his centenary 
 fund obligation to the College, although he had paid $500 
 on this, a very generous contribution. 101 According to a 
 letter written in 1871, Doctor Adams declared that soon 
 after he had given this pledge "a sudden and most painful 
 reverse of circumstances came over me whereby most of my 
 little property was sacrificed; while, at the same time, some 
 circumstances seemed to render it desirable for me to make 
 way for a change in the administration of the College. Thus 
 I was left comparatively poor, and, at the same time, with- 
 out place — a situation which, at my time of life, it is difficult 
 to improve." 102 Obviously, his administration had not 
 brought him adequate material returns, but he received these 
 reverses of fortune with equanimity. 
 
 The Board of Trustees had returned to assert considerable 
 authority in the administration of the school and the main- 
 tenance of discipline, as the minutes from 1863 to 1868 
 indicate. Doctor Adams was not the traditional stern school- 
 master; the administration of rules and regulations was not 
 congenial to him. Reading between the lines one can sur- 
 mise that the trustees were often impatient with what they 
 considered his too great mildness. In the agreement made 
 by the new Board with him on July 1863, it was stipulated 
 as a condition of his employment, that "he [should] rigidly 
 enforce the rules for the government of the pupils pub- 
 lished in the last catalogue and with such amendments there- 
 of and other rules and regulations as the Board [might] from 
 time to time adopt." 103 The Board asserted its authority to 
 examine teachers instead of merely accepting them on the 
 president's recommendation. 104 And it finally voted to visit 
 at the College once a month and form acquaintance with the 
 faculty, its motive probably not entirely social. 105 The Board 
 intervened on occasion to maintain its moral code and the dis- 
 
History of MacMurray College 169 
 
 cipline of the Church as the following statement in the 
 minutes indicates: 
 
 The members of the Board, being informed that at a strawberry feast 
 recently held at the College a cake was presented for sale in pieces, with 
 a gold ring in it, with the understanding that the purchaser of the piece 
 with the gold ring should be entitled to it, thereby offering an induce- 
 ment to purchase, hereby express their disapprobation of this manner of 
 selling the cake and agree that no such or like conduct shall be per- 
 mitted hereafter. 106 
 
 This intermixture of the Board into school affairs should not 
 be taken as a reflection on the character of Doctor Adams. 
 He had maintained his reputation in the town and in the 
 school as a fine and courteous Christian gentleman. 
 
 "LETTERS TO YOUNG LADIES IN THE WEST" — DOCTOR ADAMS 
 ON THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN 
 
 It is a relief to turn from these details of finance, which 
 Doctor Adams confessed to be "more depressing and weari- 
 some" to him than any of his other duties, to his speculations 
 on the education of women, which he apparently found 
 among the most attractive of his occupations. Although the 
 shelf of books he produced are mainly descriptive and nar- 
 rative works rather than critical or philosophical studies, in 
 the field of education he displayed considerable powers of 
 analysis and criticism in both the theory and the methods 
 of teaching. The historian is indebted to him for the pub- 
 lished record of his ideas. Women of MacMurray (and else- 
 where) should be grateful for the generosity of his views on 
 woman's capacities and her rights in the intellectual sphere. 
 Many of his writings concerned women — the great women 
 of the past and the interests of women in the present 
 and the future. In 1860, soon after he came to Illinois, he 
 wrote a series of "letters to young ladies in the West" for 
 the Central Christian Advocate^ justifying woman's educa- 
 tion and urging young ladies to use every effort to go to 
 college. He insisted that these last forty years of the nine- 
 teenth century would be "their time." 107 Later, in 1867, he 
 published (in the Jacksonville Journal) a series of letters on 
 some of the problems of women's colleges. His general ideas 
 
170 History of MacMurray College 
 
 on the education of women were best expressed in his in- 
 augural address made at the commencement in 1858, a dis- 
 quisition which was highly commended by Peter Cartwright 
 and other conference leaders and published in the catalogue 
 of that year. 108 
 
 Doctor Adams advocated the complete and harmonious 
 education of women — physical, social, intellectual, and mor- 
 al. Above the preparatory level he thought the instruction 
 of women could best be accomplished in separate schools, 
 although many western educators were already beginning 
 to defend co-education. 109 Educated in separate colleges, 
 he would offer to woman, nevertheless, all the opportunities 
 opened to men, a discipline that would train her "to reason, 
 to generalize, and if possible, to originate." 110 No narrow 
 specialization as to subjects sufficed: she must be acquainted 
 with all the main branches of learning and understand their 
 interrelationships. His ideas were in line with present-day 
 discussions of educational reform. 
 
 It is a tribute to the work of his predecessors that 
 Doctor Adams found little modification of the curriculum 
 necessary to keep it up to the best practice of that day. His 
 chief problem, like theirs, was to get the students as a whole 
 to take full advantage of the opportunities offered. At 
 times he became discouraged because of the distance be- 
 tween his ideal and its realization. Since 1856, two years 
 before he became president, the collegiate courses had been 
 distributed over three years instead of four. The division 
 of the year into three terms provided opportunity for a 
 more frequent change of course and the inclusion of about 
 as many subjects as before. The speed-up was probably due 
 to the desire of parents that their daughters hasten their 
 graduation, or perhaps even more to the impatience of the 
 girls themselves. Doctor Adams continued this three-year 
 plan (with two years of preparatory work) until 1864, but 
 he lengthened the college year in 1859 to forty-two weeks in- 
 stead of forty. He insisted that girls ought to have seven 
 years beyond public school, but accepted the fact that few 
 
History of MacMurray College 171 
 
 would spend that much time. 111 In 1864, he returned to the 
 four-year college course and discontinued the preparatory 
 work. 112 This change was a decided step toward the modern 
 standard college, but was a practice difficult to maintain be- 
 cause students came to college ill-prepared. The new eastern 
 girls' colleges had to provide preparatory schools for many 
 years to educate their students up to the college level. Presi- 
 dent DeMotte reestablished the preparatory department of 
 the Illinois Female College in the fall of 1868. 
 
 A few changes were made in the subjects offered (and 
 required if one sought a degree). Mineralogy had already 
 been discontinued and meteorology was dropped in 1860, but 
 all the other subjects in the field of the sciences were re- 
 tained — physical geography, geology, astronomy, natural 
 philosophy, chemistry, botany, zoology, and physiology. 
 New textbooks appeared — Silliman in chemistry was sup- 
 planted by Porter and then Youmans; the celebrated Mc- 
 Nally became the text in geography; Smellie took the place 
 of Olmstead in natural philosophy. From the mathematics 
 curriculum conic sections had been dropped in 1857; book- 
 keeping taught in the early 1850s, then dropped, was re- 
 stored. The requirements in Latin were unchanged. The 
 most interesting and significant change in the curriculum 
 was the substitution of lectures on English literature for 
 Butler's Analogy in the senior year. Grammar and com- 
 position continued to occupy a very prominent place in the 
 college course. American history (not commonly found 
 in college then) , political economy, and political science 
 were continued, with Wayland's famous treatise as the text. 
 French and German were offered as extras beyond the re- 
 quired subjects. Students probably had to be of exceptional 
 ability or had to spend another year to take these subjects. 
 Greek was offered on the same basis. Under the disturbing 
 conditions of wartime and in the face of great financial hard- 
 ship, Doctor Adams had maintained the academic work 
 with slight losses and had achieved one notable advance 
 (English literature) . 
 
172 History of MacMurray College 
 
 To the "ornamental" subjects more consideration was 
 given. This emphasis had begun in the 1850s as parents be- 
 came able to afford lessons in piano for their daughters. 
 Both the Art and the Music Departments were enlarged under 
 Doctor Adams. Although he did not advocate the type of 
 education given in the finishing school, he insisted that college 
 should prepare a woman to make an attractive appearance 
 with respect to dress, manners, and conversation; woman 
 should be as "a cornerstone polished after the similitude 
 of a palace," she should be able to give to every sojourner 
 in her home "something to remember angels by." 113 To the 
 creation of such an ideal woman the entire curriculum and 
 the life in the College should contribute, but the fine arts, 
 Doctor Adams thought, might have special values. He 
 took, however, a common sense view of this matter. If 
 the young lady had reached college age without any prepa- 
 ration in music, if she appeared to have little taste or genius 
 for it, or, if more essential studies filled her hours, then it 
 was doubtful that she should undertake this study. 114 The 
 social and ornamental values of this study did not exclude 
 other values — the intellectual and the professional. Courses 
 in harmony and musical composition were offered for the 
 particular advantage of those who wished to make music 
 a profession. 115 Art, too, received more emphasis, but ap- 
 parently it bore less fruit than that in the field of music. The 
 catalogue of 1859 announced that "celestial, oriental, Gre- 
 cian, and Roman styles" would be taught, if desired. An- 
 other subject that contributed to the preparation of the 
 young lady for social life was domestic economy, still taught 
 according to the plan of Miss Beecher. The course in book- 
 keeping, which followed it, was probably largely household 
 economics. Doctor Adams had also insisted upon the need 
 of physical education, and introduced a course in gymnas- 
 tics. In this field, as in other departments, the Illinois Con- 
 ference Female College was trying to keep up with the 
 best thought and practice of the day. 
 
History of MacMurray College 173 
 
 THE COLLEGE IN OPERATION: TEACHERS AND TEACHING 
 
 It is difficult to describe the College as a going concern, 
 as a living process in these earlier years. One can do so only 
 the best one can. The fluctuation in the size of the faculty 
 from year to year is one index of the shift in the fortunes 
 or the prospects, which did not always balance each other. 
 The number of teachers declined from eleven in 1858 to 
 five in 1862, rose to eleven again in 1864, then to thirteen 
 in 1866, but dropped to nine in 1868. The considerable an- 
 nual turn over in the faculty personnel was the result pri- 
 marily perhaps of failure to pay adequate salaries, but the 
 general instability of the war years also must have contrib- 
 uted to the change. The faculty, as well as the student body, 
 came mostly from Illinois during the War. Alumnae com- 
 prised a considerable percentage of the teachers. From 1858 
 to 1861 the Adams family constituted a large part of the 
 faculty: three daughters and a son-in-law assisted Doctor 
 Adams. Although women predominated, the faculty usual- 
 ly contained several men. In 1864, four out of eleven were 
 men, but, with the exception of Doctor Adams, these were 
 probably only part-time instructors (of German, guitar, 
 and gymnastics). Several teachers were employed at the 
 same time by other schools of the city — the School for the 
 Blind or Crompton's (later Brown's) Business College. Al- 
 though most of the teachers were from central Illinois, there 
 were teachers from New York, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, New 
 Hampshire (the Adamses) , and perhaps from other states. 
 
 Instruction beyond the preparatory department was de- 
 partmentalized as in modern colleges and had been thus or- 
 ganized from its foundation. According to Professor Ram- 
 melkamp, teaching at Illinois College up to 1864-65 was 
 still by class, a teacher for each class. 116 Such a practice, it 
 is believed, was not common in colleges even then, although 
 most of them, including the Illinois Female College, found 
 it necessary to require a teacher to give instruction in more 
 than one department. Both the designations of the teach- 
 ers in the catalogue lists and letters and other records of the 
 
174 History of MacMurray College 
 
 students indicate that there were teachers of mathematics, 
 natural science, and mental and moral philosophy. The last 
 two were usually taught by the president. Under Doctor 
 Adams a teacher of belles lettres (literature) was sometimes 
 designated, and one of composition. It is probable that sev- 
 eral teachers, if not all, had to assist with the sections of the 
 latter subject. 
 
 Faculty minutes for these years, if kept, have not been 
 preserved. One of the teachers, Mary Pegram, later referred 
 to faculty meetings as if they were an established institu- 
 tion. 117 From her comments one gets the impression that 
 Doctor Adams' relations with the members of his faculty 
 were characterized always by the greatest kindliness and sym- 
 pathy. "When a year after my graduation I became a mem- 
 ber of the college faculty, Doctor Adams maintained the 
 same kind fatherly regard for me as during my pupilage; 
 indeed, I never knew him to speak to pupil or to associate 
 teacher but with courtesy and deference. He was not ex- 
 acting of his teachers but accepted well-meant efforts for 
 success," she wrote. In this statement is expressed the 
 strength and the weakness of Doctor Adams as administrator 
 and teacher. The conscientious pupil and teacher, such as 
 Mary Pegram, loved him and served him well; those not so 
 well-intentioned took advantage of him. 
 
 Lack of money still limited the equipment for instruc- 
 tion in the form of libraries and laboratories. With respect 
 to such facilities, the Illinois Female College would not suffer, 
 however, in comparison with the other colleges of that time. 
 The fire of 1861, which destroyed the libraries of the liter- 
 ary societies, did not touch the fairly good college library, 
 the writer believes. The description of the building at an 
 earlier date had stated that the library was in the Main 
 Building. 118 The report on the College made by Judge Brown 
 to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1868 
 stated that the library contained 2,000 volumes. 119 Reports 
 of other Illinois colleges in the same year gave the follow- 
 ing figures as to the volumes in their libraries: Monticello, 
 
History of MacMurray College 175 
 
 1,000; Rockford, 2,000; Jacksonville Female Academy, 275; 
 Illinois Wesleyan, 1,500; McKendree, 6,250; Illinois College, 
 8,500. 120 The last two of these colleges, it might be recalled, 
 were then twice the age of the Female College. In addition 
 to the books, the college library subscribed to, or received 
 through donations, an unusually large and well-selected list 
 of periodicals and newspapers. 121 Among the magazines were 
 The London Quarterly Review, Corn Hill Magazine, North 
 British Review, Blackwoods, Edinburgh Review, Electic, 
 Harpers, Atlantic, Godey's Ladies 9 Book, Methodist Quar- 
 terly Review, Ladies 9 Repository, two art journals (The 
 Crayon and the Cosmopolitan Art Journal), the musical 
 periodicals, Dwighfs Journal of Music and the Musical 
 World, and the Illinois Teacher. It is to be noted that pro- 
 fessional interests were not neglected. In addition to the 
 whole family of Advocates, one finds a list of more than a 
 score of newspapers, which included the leading journals 
 of the East as well as of Illinois. 
 
 A word might be added here about the administration of 
 college libraries in that era. What Professor Rammelkamp 
 said of the practice at Illinois College was probably the gen- 
 eral rule: books were for preservation rather than use. 122 
 They were kept in locked cases open to circulation only at 
 stated intervals and could be taken out of the reading room, 
 if at all, only under severe limitations. It is probable that 
 the society libraries were far more extensively used than 
 the college library. They were open to use so freely that 
 there was danger that all the books would be lost. A presi- 
 dent of the Belles Lettres had written a boy friend in 1856 
 that their books must be collected, that they were scattered 
 all over town. 123 Donors may have made complaints. At 
 any rate, the Board of Trustees took a hand in the adminis- 
 tration of these libraries, agreed to preserve them on condi- 
 tion that it have control as of right and duty. 124 These soci- 
 eties together probably possessed as many books as the Col- 
 lege. Doctor Adams made liberal donations to them before 
 he left. 
 
176 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Additions were made to the scientific equipment from 
 time to time. Doctor Adams announced in 1861 that ar- 
 rangements were being made to illustrate the natural sci- 
 ences more fully, that the chemical apparatus particularly 
 was being improved so that a full course of experiments in 
 this subject could be given. 125 The laboratories, it is believed, 
 were unharmed by the fire. They were still very small, how- 
 ever; the report of 1868 gave the estimated value of equip- 
 ment at $500. 126 Nevertheless, some practical and experi- 
 mental work was done. Botanizing expeditions furnished 
 exercise and information. 127 Rachel Seegar, *66 9 wrote years 
 later of the observations in astronomy, perhaps with more 
 enthusiasm than she felt at the time: "I do not remember," 
 she said, "the teacher's name in astronomy; but it came in 
 the winter; we waded about in the snow to see the con- 
 stellations and find the stars that formed them. January 
 skies are the finest of all. I was fascinated by this glorious 
 study and have followed it ever since. When I was mar- 
 ried, I would get my husband up in the night to go out to 
 see the stars. It was not very pleasant for him, but he be- 
 came interested." 128 Equipment for the teaching of the fine 
 arts had been enlarged. By 1859 seven pianos supplied the 
 services once filled by the "Academy piano." A report in 
 the Central Christian Advocate of September 26, 1866, 
 stated that the College then owned thirteen pianos and a 
 number of guitars and melodeons. 
 
 Beyond the enumeration of courses and the description 
 of equipment, what could one say of the actual academic 
 achievement of these years? Conflicting conclusions could 
 be reached from the evidences at hand. Interestingly enough, 
 the most unfavorable of these could be formed from the 
 statements of the president himself, published in the Jack- 
 sonville Journal. One can surmise that the uneasiness of 
 the war years was not conducive to studious habits, and 
 the postwar relaxation of energies and ideals threatened to 
 make conditions in the last years of Doctor Adams' admin- 
 istration even worse. Disturbing incidents — the fire, finan- 
 
History of MacMurray College 177 
 
 cial uncertainty, talk of closing the school, and frequent 
 change of teachers — did not provide the best conditions for 
 scholastic progress. Doctor Adams expressed doubts and 
 fears common to all educators of all times. Others have 
 not always put them in print in the daily press as he did. 
 He was discouraged that girls in general, not just in this 
 college, did not continue to complete the course. His ex- 
 planations of this failure did not cease to apply with the 
 end of his era. In the first place, he said, girls did not real- 
 ize the prodigious advantages of an education and would 
 not submit to the labor required. He continued: 
 
 They seem willing to be partially educated, or, at least, to have the 
 reputation of having enjoyed special scholastic privileges. But they are 
 not willing to give terms and years to close study. Their inclination 
 and tastes are in another direction. They will consent to study some, 
 but they are fully as fond of dissipating some. They are fond of vis- 
 iting here and there and sometimes a day or two abroad and away from 
 their books. It costs these girls but precious little sorrow or trouble 
 to lose a recitation — to lose several recitations, or if they should spend 
 several days out of town, or on some excursion and have a general good 
 time, they are as likely to count it as so much gain as so much loss . . . 
 The truth is these poor girls are not here to study or labor; it is all a 
 weariness to them. Their paramount passion is for present enjoy- 
 ment . . . 129 
 
 Time and experience had not dealt kindly with his lofty 
 ideals of woman's education. Miss Pegram recalled Doctor 
 Adams' reply to the teachers' expressions of discouragement 
 over unpromising pupils: "Ladies, you are only required to 
 make angels of them." 180 She agreed that it was often easier 
 to make angels than scholars. 
 
 Other explanations of why girls left college he found 
 to be: homesickness (girls had stronger local attachments 
 than boys) ; the intervention of marriage (marriage before 
 twenty he thought premature) ; dislike of some teachers 
 who were considered too severe; dissatisfaction with the food 
 provided (good and substantial, but not enough "nicknacks," 
 luncheons, etc.) ; objection to the rules; failure to get a 
 certain room; or the withdrawal of a girl friend (although 
 she might not see her afterwards). 131 He did not intend to 
 cast reflections on the sex itself, for which he had the pro- 
 
178 History of MacMurray College 
 
 foundest respect, but, "I am obliged to conclude," he said, 
 "that with women as with the rougher sex there is a pro- 
 portion far too large of refuse and common material and 
 a great multitude, I fear, who will never take rank among 
 the daughters 'polished after the similitude of a palace'." 
 
 Doctor Adams was quick to come to the defense of his 
 college and other similar institutions, however, when Pro- 
 fessor Sanders charged existing colleges and seminaries for 
 women with superficiality in instruction, with graduating 
 students who could hardly read or write. "I deliberately 
 and boldly deny it and wait for the proof," Doctor Adams 
 declared. "That some graduates of ladies' seminaries are but 
 imperfectly educated will, of course, be admitted; but in 
 no sense or degree is this true of these schools more than 
 of Illinois College, where the Principal of the Athenaeum is a 
 professor, or in any college in the country; and the implied 
 sneer at women graduates is as unjust as it is ungenerous." 132 
 
 Indeed, many facts bear evidence that the scholastic stand- 
 ards of the College were maintained very well under Doc- 
 tor Adams. The average number of graduates during his 
 administration was higher than it had been up to this time 
 and the percentage very much higher. Only four and one- 
 half per cent of those enrolled from 1851 to 1858 were 
 graduated; more than seven per cent of those enrolled from 
 1858 to 1868 received degrees. From the achievements of 
 a number of these graduates, and from comments of students 
 about their courses and about the teachers it would seem 
 that this larger percentage was not the result of the low- 
 ering of standards. Some of the best early products of the 
 school — Mary Pegram, Belle Paxton, Mary Flint, Ella Yates, 
 Jennie Kinman, and others — were graduates under Doctor 
 Adams. An unusually large group of these graduates be- 
 came teachers, a number in the Jacksonville schools, or did 
 other socially useful work. Letters of students bear evi- 
 dence that they had to study diligently and that they liked 
 their studies. Reports of the public examinations in the local 
 press or by conference visitors were always full of praise, 
 
History of MacMurray College 179 
 
 often specific, for achievements in trigonometry, moral phil- 
 osophy, evidences of Christianity, French, botany, and other 
 subjects. A report in 1866 in the Jacksonville Journal de- 
 clared: "Although there were several admirably sustained 
 examinations by the different classes, the seniors, of course, 
 occupied a large share of the time and attention and well 
 they deserved it. The classes in Moral Science and Christian 
 Evidences were particularly interesting and the young ladies 
 not only displayed a thorough knowledge of their textbooks, 
 but evidenced an unusual degree of independent thought 
 upon the different subjects under discussion." 133 Miss Essie 
 Finley's classes in Latin also "bore evidence that they were 
 instructed by a teacher who not only herself fully appreci- 
 ated the beauty of Vergil and the strength of Sallust and 
 the rich gems of Horace, but who could make her pupils 
 aspire to know thoroughly the Latin language." 
 
 Doctor Adams was professor of natural science in some 
 years, in others of mental and moral philosophy. Sallie 
 Shumway wrote also of his teaching geometry. She attend- 
 ed the College in the slim years when there were only two 
 other teachers of academic subjects. Whether Doctor Adams 
 taught any of the "sections" in composition is not recorded, 
 but his ideas on the subject were recorded and are in line 
 with the best current theory. Many schoolgirls consid- 
 ered their theme-writing a burdensome task, he observed, 
 but they liked to write letters (girls wrote twenty-page let- 
 ters to their girl friends) . Why should they not write com- 
 positions about their personal experiences, a trip, for ex- 
 ample; or their everyday activities, or material used in 
 other courses. 13 * Indeed, the course in composition should 
 he made a sort of "summing up" of other courses, a correla- 
 tion of them, he insisted, which reveals another modern con- 
 ception of his. 
 
 As a teacher some students recalled Doctor Adams as ex- 
 tremely dignified, severe with the girl who did not know her 
 lessons, a man of whom they were afraid. Most of them 
 remembered him, however, as kind and fatherly and a bit 
 
180 History of MacMurray College 
 
 too easy. Mary Pegram wrote: "As a teacher Doctor Adams 
 was very kind to us, not exacting enough for our own good, 
 treating us too tenderly to develop the strong character of 
 womanhood we have since found the world demands." 135 She 
 herself was reputed to be a very stern disciplinarian. One 
 cannot escape the conclusion that Doctor Adams' integ- 
 rity, his fineness of character and sweetness of spirit out- 
 weighed in ultimate influence any lack of severity. 
 
 Concerning a few of the many teachers of this decade 
 records remain; others are little more than names. Few of 
 them stayed long. Mary Pegram, '64, who began as a teacher 
 of mathematics under Doctor Adams in 1865, remained, 
 however (except for a short interval), until 1881 and be- 
 came one of the outstanding early teachers of the College. 
 Her life and work are considered in a later chapter, also the 
 work of Esther Finley, teacher of Latin, who continued 
 under President DeMotte. A dozen or more graduates or 
 former students taught a year or more — Elvira Hamilton, 
 Lydia Tomlin, Sophia Blair, Minerva Masters, Marian Mc- 
 Clintook, Emma Winn, Eveline Shirley, Eugenia Trotter, 
 Hester Trotter, Belle Paxson, Mary Flint, Emma Thomas, 
 and Ella Harmon. Elvira Hamilton, a graduate in the class- 
 ical course, married Charles Adams, a son of Doctor Adams, 
 after three years of teaching. Minerva Masters, of Peters- 
 burg, belonged to the family of Edgar Lee Masters, poet 
 of the Sangamon and Spoon. Lydia Tomlin left to serve 
 the Christian Commission in camps at Decatur and St. 
 Louis during the Civil War. 138 It may be that others gave 
 up their positions for similar work. 
 
 Perhaps the most notable member of this group of teach- 
 ers was Belle Paxson (later Mrs. Charles Drury) , a foremost 
 citizen of Morgan County, a devoted alumna, and a remark- 
 able woman of whom the College can be very proud. As 
 a young girl, she had encouraged her father, Stephen Paxson, 
 to overcome personal handicaps and obtain an education, 
 as a result of which he achieved a great work as chief or- 
 ganizer of Sunday Schools in Illinois. 187 Soon after her 
 
History of MacMurray College 181 
 
 graduation, she became a member — one of the earliest — of 
 the Plato Club of Jacksonville and was long a leader in 
 this organization, serving it as corresponding secretary, an 
 important office since the Club spread its influence through- 
 out central Illinois and even far beyond. 138 Other alumnae 
 or former students of the Illinois Female College were ac- 
 tive members of this group — Anna Paxson, Mary Selby, 
 Emma Thomas, Elizabeth Wright, Mary and Emma King, 
 and Julia Palmer. 189 All except the last were students under 
 Doctor Adams. Among the intellectual elite of Jackson- 
 ville membership in the Plato Club used to be the supreme 
 test of scholarly interest and ability. According to Doc- 
 tor Paul Anderson, a former professor of philosophy in Mac- 
 Murray College who has made a considerable study of the 
 history of the Club, this group of young women, most of 
 them teachers, were considered a very valuable addition to 
 the organization because of their enthusiasm for study. 140 
 In the course of a busy domestic and social life Mrs. Drury 
 wrote a number of papers of considerable merit, among them 
 a paper on Shakespeare that was read before the literary 
 lights of Boston — Lowell, Longfellow, Holmes, and others 
 — and a biography of her father. 141 
 
 A student, bright little Rachel Seegar, wrote of Miss Pax- 
 son as a teacher: "She taught poetry and made it so attrac- 
 tive that we soon learned to appreciate our American poets 
 and some of England's, too." 142 Tennyson, Rachel enjoyed 
 particularly. It is heartening to see that the teaching of lit- 
 erature had fallen into the hands of one so devoted to its 
 study. Evidences of more interest in the study of literature 
 appear in the subjects for commencement essays — Dickens, 
 Byron, Our Literature, and others. In an open meeting in 
 1868, the Phi Nu Society dramatized selections from Idyls 
 of the King. 1 * 3 Another dramatization, "The Meeting of the 
 Muses," reflected the classical tradition. Sallie Shumway 
 wrote David Moore that she had just read Sense and Sensi- 
 bility and wanted to get Great Expectations, recently pub- 
 lished. 144 Novel-reading was apparently not proscribed. Sallie's 
 
1 82 History of MacMurray College 
 
 reading of these books may not have been required or even 
 recommended (indeed, she read the first mentioned on Sun- 
 day, when only the Bible or other religious books were to be 
 read) ; but a paper on Dickens at commencement seemed 
 to indicate official approval of the study, especially when 
 the essayist represented him as her favorite author. Sanc- 
 tion of novel-reading represents an attitude more liberal than 
 that of some schools of that day. 145 Moreover, Methodist di- 
 vines did not approve the practice. Edmund James discov- 
 ered his father, Colin James, late in life reading Oliver Twist 
 with great relish. The title page of the book had been lost. 
 When his son informed him that he was reading a novel of 
 Dickens, he threw it down. Doctor James observed, nev- 
 ertheless, that his father returned to finish it later. 146 Some 
 of the old fashioned sentimental women writers who had 
 been popular in ladies' magazines for years were still favor- 
 ites, especially Mrs. Sigourney and Mrs. Hemans. An edi- 
 tor of the Jacksonville Journal, commenting in some detail 
 on the various commencement essays of the Female College, 
 complained that although a certain essay on Poetic Crea- 
 tions was good, the author would have to go outside the 
 range of Mrs. Sigourney and Mrs. Hemans to get "the bright- 
 est flowers from Mount Parnassus. 147 The appearance of a 
 paper on Byron among the commencement essays is rather 
 surprising. A lover of literature, Doctor Adams was, nev- 
 ertheless, not a defender of Byron. In his inaugural address 
 he referred to him as one who had arisen "to enchant and 
 poison the world." 
 
 Professor William H. Barnes, a teacher from Baldwin 
 University, Berea, Ohio, and husband to Doctor Adams' 
 daughter, Sarah, came out in 1858 and remained two years, 
 teaching Latin and natural science. He was "a gentleman 
 of excellent literary taste, a fine scholar, and a successful 
 teacher." 148 Mrs. Barnes taught art and music. In 1859, Miss 
 Jennie DeWolfe, of New York, "a lady of elegant and 
 thorough education" became the governess and instructor 
 in mental and moral philosophy. 149 She, too, left after two 
 
History of MacMurray College 183 
 
 years, perhaps because of the approaching war. Of the 
 teachers "from abroad," Miss Mary A. Proctor, of Centre- 
 ville, Indiana, and perhaps farther east, remained longest. 
 She came for the year 1860-61, as teacher of mathematics, 
 then returned for three years, 1865-68, as governess and 
 teacher of mental and moral philosophy. One wonders if 
 she entered some war work in the interim. She was praised 
 by the Jacksonville Journal in 1866 as a "lady of fine cul- 
 ture eminently qualified for her position at the top of the 
 teaching staff." 150 
 
 Students enjoyed intellectual opportunities outside the 
 College in the form of lectures given at Strawn's Opera 
 House. During this decade a score or more of the leading 
 lecturers of the time appeared in Jacksonville, among them 
 Emerson, Wendell Phillips, Bayard Taylor, Mark Twain, 
 Theodore Tilton, George W. Curtis, William Lloyd Gar- 
 rison, Clara Barton, and Dio Lewis. How many of these 
 the students heard the writer does not know. Sallie Shum- 
 way wrote her friend, David Moore, on February 2, 1862, 
 that she had recently heard Bayard Taylor and liked him. 
 "His subject was principally the faults of Americans. He 
 said that, having defended the Americans 'through thick and 
 thin* while abroad, now that he had come home he was go- 
 ing to tell them some of their faults that he was so ready 
 to notice after travelling and seeing the customs of all the 
 civilized world." Mrs. Ella Yates Orr, '67, wrote of her 
 schoolgirl impressions of Clara Barton: 
 
 When I was at College Doctor Adams took quite a company of girls 
 to Strawn's Opera House to hear Clara 1 Barton. I cannot tell you the 
 mingled feelings of prejudice and curiosity that led me to attend her 
 lecture. She was the first woman I ever heard on any platform. I had 
 been reared in a very conservative family and community and uncon- 
 sciously imbibed the belief that ladies did not seek a public life. But 
 I am glad that my curiosity overcame my prejudice. 
 
 Not a word or a gesture escaped me. I cannot say that I liked her, 
 for Clara Barton was not eloquent. She simply recited the story of her 
 life . . . , but she interested me, and from effects in later life I think 
 she must have fascinated me, for every line and word concerning her 
 has been of intense interest. 151 
 
 More such thought-arousing and custom-breaking influ- 
 
184 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ences must have entered the lives of these college girls of 
 the 1860s. Their interest in public affairs is discussed be- 
 low in connection with the College in the Civil War. A 
 word might be said here, however, about the general ques- 
 tion of woman's rights to participate in public affairs. Ella 
 Yates, quoted above, revealed her conservative attitude on 
 this question in her commencement essay in 1867. The Jack- 
 sonville Journal wrote that she handled her subject with de- 
 cided ability. "She recognized the rights of women to as- 
 pire to the walks of literature and art, but she would deny 
 them the franchise of suffrage, regarding politics as foreign 
 to their mission. We could have sympathized with Miss 
 Yates in her desire to keep woman out of the domain of 
 politics more fully had she not trespassed upon her own 
 precepts by advising men not to strike the words "white" 
 and "male" from the organic laws of the state! It came 
 with bad grace from a lady opposing female suffrage to ad- 
 vise against colored suffrage." 152 
 
 Another student, Mary Ware, presented the radical view 
 on the question. In an essay, "Woman's Rights," apparent- 
 ly offered as a mixture of fun and seriousness, she insisted 
 that women should have not only the vote but also the 
 right to hold any office. Moreover, she proposed that the 
 students do something about the matter, that they draw 
 up resolutions, get the signatures of all the women in the Illi- 
 nois Female College and other women in colleges, and send 
 out lecturers to those not in college. They would resolve "to 
 go forward to this great work with renewed courage" and to 
 proclaim the year in which a woman first occupied the presi- 
 dential chair as the Year of Jubilee! 188 Students were not 
 only getting lectures by famous men and women on the 
 topics of the times, but were actively discussing these topics. 
 The Phi Nus at their program of March 14, 1863, had a 
 "Dress Reform Convention." 
 
 It remains to relate something of the teachers and teach- 
 ing in the field of the fine arts. Enrollment in music — piano, 
 voice, guitar — was large. There were always two instructors 
 
History of MacMurray College 185 
 
 in music, in some years as many as five. In 1864-65, 121 
 students were enrolled in this department. No doubt the 
 most notable teacher of music, although apparently not a 
 successful one at the College, was Professor Herman Strach- 
 auer, a native of Germany, an able pianist and composer. 154 
 He was one of the many musicians, mostly foreign and many 
 of them German, who, during the nineteenth century, did 
 such fine work in organizing the public interest and culti- 
 vating the public taste in music in many small communi- 
 ties over the United States. Perhaps most of these men dis- 
 appeared, as Professor Strachauer did, leaving behind little 
 permanent recognition or even record of their work. At 
 the time (1859) he was engaged to teach at the College, 
 he was professor of music at the neighboring Institute for 
 the Blind. Through some years on into the 1860s he con- 
 tinued to live in Jacksonville, although he soon gave up 
 these positions. Perhaps he was too much an artist to en- 
 dure the playing of schoolgirls. He organized a Philhar- 
 monic Society in Jacksonville and developed some enthusi- 
 asm for music among adults. 155 The celebrated Doctor G. 
 V. Black was an early member of the organization. In 1862, 
 this society gave a benefit concert for the Soldiers' Aid So- 
 ciety of Springfield, and Professor Strachauer was proclaimed 
 one of the "institutions of Jacksonville," who deserved the 
 highest praise for the perfection to which he had brought 
 the Society. 156 After giving up his classes in the two schools, 
 he sought to make a living from private lessons in the city 
 and a course of lectures on musical theory, which "the ex- 
 cited state of the public mind and the newness of the sub- 
 ject to the public had deterred him from offering earlier." 157 
 It was announced that he would have to leave the city un- 
 less patronage was secured. But apparently he was too much 
 in advance of his audience. Artists could face starvation 
 even in the Athens of the West. He left and dropped out 
 of sight. 
 
 As to Professor Strachauer's teaching at the Illinois Female 
 College, one can guess that the case of Joanna Lurton was 
 
1 86 History of MacMurray College 
 
 typical. She had been a pupil of Miss Mary Adams, but Doc- 
 tor Adams urged her to take lessons from "the Professor." 
 She declared that she was very frightened by him. He told 
 her she must not play the pieces she had been playing, that 
 he had a system better than any other in the world. The de- 
 nouement of this drama came swiftly. On going home, her 
 father asked for one of her old pieces; she protested, telling 
 him what the professor had said, but he was insistent. The 
 professor passed, heard her playing, and refused to teach 
 her — to her great joy. 158 But this brief teaching at the Col- 
 lege and in the city bore fruit no doubt in raising instruc- 
 tion in and appreciation of music to a higher level. Several 
 teachers who worked with him in the Philharmonic Society 
 and kept it alive after he left taught at the Illinois Female 
 College — Professor Ramsey, Miss Maria Reed, and Miss Har- 
 riet Gibbs. The latter was highly praised for her singing 
 and the excellent work of her pupils. The ballads she sang 
 as encores, such as Robin Adair, endeared her to her public. 
 She went on to New York for study and a career in con- 
 cert work. 159 Whether the students attended the concerts of 
 Gottschalk, Patti, Carlo Scola, and others who appeared in 
 Jacksonville in the 1860s was not recorded; perhaps some 
 did. They did attend such concerts in the next two decades, 
 when Jacksonville received the best talent in music the coun- 
 try offered. 
 
 Musical performances by the students had always had a 
 place on the commencement programs. In the 1860s special 
 concerts and recitals were given several times during the 
 year at Strawn's Opera House. In a letter to Jemima on 
 November 28, 1859, Eppie wrote that Mr. Lurton had pro- 
 nounced two given during the fall as "grand, magnificent." 
 The Journal had equally fulsome praise. "The concert of 
 the Musical Association of the Female College at Strawn's 
 Hall was really a magnificent affair, and did great credit to 
 the managers and performers," it wrote on December 8, 
 1864. The young ladies began to scatter sweetness and light 
 abroad, too, with their music. Of a concert given by "The 
 
History of MacMurray College 187 
 
 Highlanders" at Sandy Creek, the Journal declared: "The 
 three great pieces of the evening were by three Jackson- 
 ville ladies — Mattie E. Richards, Joanna Lurton, and Mattie 
 Bell." 160 The last two of these were Illinois Female College 
 students. Although drawing and painting did not become 
 so popular as music, some progress was made in establishing 
 these ornamental subjects. The largest enrollment recorded 
 up to 1868 was twenty-two in 1864-65. Painting in oils 
 was introduced in 1858. In 1866 there appeared the first 
 reference the writer has discovered to an art exhibition in 
 the Journal comment on the commencement: "Several fine 
 pictures on the wall showed that the lovers of art had not 
 been idle." 161 
 
 The introduction of physical education in the form of 
 gymnastics in 1864-65 was an interesting innovation of 
 Doctor Adams. Although calisthenics had been taught in 
 some of the ante bellum seminaries, it had not been general- 
 ly popular. Public criticism of the injury to health from 
 close study and too little attention to recreation and physi- 
 cal exercise in girls' schools and the crusade for health and 
 physical education conducted by Dio Lewis, head of the 
 Family School for Young Ladies in Lexington, Massachu- 
 setts, and author of the New Gymnastics, bore fruit in a 
 more general introduction of some form of physical train- 
 ing after I860. 162 Dio Lewis came out to Jacksonville to 
 lecture in 1861. 163 Gymnastics was first taught in the Illi- 
 nois Female College by Professor J. W. Shannon, who had 
 been trained according to the system of Dio Lewis and had 
 recently established a gymnasium in Jacksonville. 164 In the 
 following year Eliza Hewes was the instructor; then it was 
 dropped for several years, or, at least, no mention was made 
 of it. Apparently a little more crusading was necessary to 
 make it popular. 
 
 Sundry Facts and Observations About the Students, 
 the Regulations, and Other Matters 
 
 Fluctuations in the enrollment between 1858 and 1868 
 are difficult to account for with certainty. Doctor Adams 
 
1 88 History of MacMurray College 
 
 assumed the presidency on a downward curve, but the en- 
 rollment went up in his second year from 166 to 183 (136 
 college students) . The political situation and the outbreak of 
 the war, as well as the uncertainty with respect to the future 
 of the school, were the main causes very likely of the de- 
 cline to 106, the lowest ebb, in 1861-62. It is interesting 
 to note that before the war closed, however, the enrollment 
 reached its highest point under Doctor Adams. In 1864-65, 
 the number was 225, all of collegiate rank. The turn in the 
 tide of the war, the approaching centennial of Methodism 
 with its stress on educational institutions, the completion of 
 the new wing and the efforts of the trustees to fill it, all per- 
 haps had a part in this increase. Inflation may have helped 
 some to send their daughters to school. The costs of tuition 
 and board did not rise at the rate of other prices and services. 
 This larger enrollment was secured in the face of two factors 
 that might have operated adversely: the discontinuance of 
 the preparatory work and the opening of the Athenaeum. 
 These factors may account particularly for the drop in the 
 Jacksonville enrollment. During the early years of the war, 
 almost all the students were from Illinois. By 1864, however, 
 there were sixteen from other states — Indiana, Iowa, Mis- 
 souri, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California. 
 
 No advance in the rates was made until the fall of 1864. 
 Students later recalled the rigid economy Doctor Adams 
 found necessary to meet wartime prices for food and other 
 supplies. The catalogue of 1864 contained an announce- 
 ment of an increase of fifty cents a week in board — "an ad- 
 vance rendered indispensable from the greatly increased cost 
 of living." In 1865, board and room were advanced another 
 fifty cents to $3.50 a week. Washing, ironing, and wood 
 were seventy-five cents a week. Gas for lighting had been 
 installed in 1857. Students could use it at a dollar a month 
 or furnish their own candles. Tuition in the academic sub- 
 jects was advanced from $24 to $36 a year in 1865; in 
 music from $42 to $60 a year. The average total expenses 
 of a student were still considerably lower than in the other 
 
History of MacMurray College 189 
 
 local schools or in Monticello. The estimated total expense 
 of the student was $216 in 1867-68 as compared with $300 
 in the Jacksonville Female Academy, $275 at the Athenaeum 
 for non-resident students living in town (it had no board- 
 ing department), and $280 at Monticello. 165 At Rockford, 
 however, the estimated cost was only $187. 
 
 The three-term plan of dividing the school year was 
 continued. In 1859, a week's vacation was given at Christ- 
 mas between the fall and winter terms. This vacation dis- 
 appeared the following year. Travel was too difficult doubt- 
 less for many to go home, and the war increased its difficul- 
 ties and dangers. Some girls who attempted to go home 
 for Christmas suffered dreadful consequences. Charity Bur- 
 nett, who made the; trip by stagecoach to her home at the 
 neighboring town of Waverly in 1863, incurred a serious 
 illness from exposure, and was confined to her bed for more 
 than a year. 166 The long school year of forty-two weeks 
 with no vacation remained the practice until 1865, when a 
 forty-week year with two weeks at Christmas was an- 
 nounced. Public oral examinations were held still at the 
 close of each term. 
 
 The system of discipline and the rules and regulations 
 of dormitory life were changed little. Doctor Adams had 
 announced in his inaugural that he favored the patriarchal 
 system of discipline. The term might be misleading. He 
 advocated simply that the young lady be treated not as under 
 a municipal regime to be judged and punished according to 
 formal law, but as a member of a family. Relationships 
 should be based on love and trust, but also on faithfulness 
 and regularity in meeting appointments and obligations. 
 There was no suggestion yet of student participation in 
 campus government nor of student government. Although 
 Doctor Adams emphasized the importance of vigilance in 
 successful discipline, he did not mean obtrusive or oppres- 
 sive watchfulness, but an eternal vigilance in the study of 
 the personalities and the needs of each individual. Students 
 recalled how he warned them of his approach as he "passed 
 
190 History of MacMurray College 
 
 through the wide old corridors, snapping the heavy tongs 
 purposely to let us know that he was coming, or singing 
 one of Charles Wesley's beautiful hymns in quiet sweetness 
 such as belongs to aged voices only." 167 
 
 In practice Doctor Adams found the problems of dis- 
 cipline very burdensome. The unrest of the Civil War years 
 may have made the students difficult to govern; or, it may be 
 that the perverse and troublesome girls were more numer- 
 ous; or, perhaps, his own disposition did not prepare him 
 to cope successfully with the unpleasantness of reproving 
 young ladies. His comments on problems of discipline were 
 almost as gloomy as those on the problems of instruction. 
 In 1867, in his series of letters to the Jacksonville Journal, 
 he insisted, nevertheless, that most of the girls were good 
 girls. "These are not perverse girls, they did not know they 
 screamed just now, nor that they bounced down stairs by 
 two or three steps at a leap, nor that they raced through 
 the halls instead of walking as ladies should walk; nor that 
 there was jumping and tumbling and thundering in their 
 rooms after study hours. These and twenty other things 
 will transpire in school-girl communities; but, occurring 
 without naughty intent, let them be met without sever- 
 ity." 168 On the other hand, he declared that at times the 
 naughty element amounted to eight or ten per cent. 169 Goats 
 appeared among the lambs. "Now and then it is suspected 
 a case is forwarded here because it is a goat." Of these 
 naughty members, he observed that "this unhappy class of 
 girls seem to carry with them some spirit of evil difficult 
 of eradication — some demon not easily cast out. I recall 
 instances of this sort that have filled me with amazement, 
 and have been reminded that while the sex presents so many 
 examples of angelic goodness as well as beauty, it exhibits 
 withal shocking specimens of an opposite genius. A school 
 governor who has the power should sever these corrupt mem- 
 bers from the body without hesitation or delay. . . . We may 
 have averaged one such excluded specimen a year during 
 our administration here; but I have never revealed to any 
 
History of MacMurray College 191 
 
 one to how many others, as they passed out with bag and 
 baggage, I have whispered that they would better not re- 
 turn." 170 Obviously, the good Doctor did not succeed in mak- 
 ing angels out of all our great -grandmothers who entered 
 the College. 
 
 It may not be out of place to mention in passing a fight 
 of Doctor Adams for the maintenance of his standards of 
 decency and decorum in the conduct of the larger com- 
 munity. Tolerant of other opinions in the realms of re- 
 ligious or political ideas, Doctor Adams was adamant on 
 matters in which he considered that ethical or moral prin- 
 ciples were involved. His background and preconceptions 
 were Puritan. The relaxation of restraints following the 
 Civil War, the political and social corruption of the Recon- 
 struction era and the Gilded Age perturbed him greatly. 
 He accepted seriously his responsibilities as a guardian of 
 public morals. He was an active supporter of the temper- 
 ance cause in Jacksonville, even to the point of writing 
 poems to celebrate the anti-license triumph. 171 But his op- 
 position to the deterioration in morals crystallized around 
 a play or musical comedy, The Black Crook, the first exhibi- 
 tion of the European ballet in this section. It was presented 
 on a lavish scale and at great expense in St. Louis in 1867, 
 and a considerable crowd of Jacksonville young people at- 
 tended it. Doctor Adams protested through the Jacksonville 
 Journal against patronage of what he considered a scandalous 
 and debasing entertainment. 178 The battle was on. It raged 
 for weeks and passed beyond Jacksonville to the press of 
 Peoria, Springfield, Alton, Quincy, and other communities. 
 It became a legend, a regional cause celebre; the expression 
 an affair of the Black Crook passed into common speech. 
 Doctor Adams hardly had the best of the argument — the 
 trend of the times was against him; but he showed himself 
 a valiant fighter. Perhaps the publicity was unfortunate 
 for the school, although the institution was in no way in- 
 volved. One who signed himself "Nineteenth Century" re- 
 garded the Doctor's protest, however, as of a piece with his 
 
192 History of MacMurray College 
 
 discipline and observed: "A religious opinion which has al- 
 ways to fight against nature and to confine school misses 
 to the recreation of stately walks in columns and the ex- 
 citement of sermons and prayer meetings always takes fright 
 when any unusually attractive form of recreation is intro- 
 duced." 173 That Doctor Adams was not alone in his protest 
 against this ballet is shown by the disturbance in Chicago re- 
 corded by Dorsha B. Hayes in his Chicago: Crossroads of 
 American Enterprise. An editor who had criticized the show 
 was waylaid and caned by Lydia Thompson, a member of 
 the troupe. 
 
 To return to the matter of rules, a few changes might 
 be noted. Most of the additions sought the establishment 
 of more genteel and courteous conduct. "Students are not 
 to enter each other's rooms without knocking." "All scream- 
 ing and every rude noise and all running in the halls are 
 to be absolutely avoided." Doctor Adams wished his young 
 ladies to be polished after the similitude of a palace. Student 
 correspondence and other comments would suggest that the 
 discipline was not very rigidly enforced on routine matters. 
 Sallie Shumway sat up after lights. She also wrote letters 
 on Sunday, contrary to rule, and read Sense and Sensibility 
 on the Sabbath. And yet her letters would suggest that she 
 was considered a good girl. Mary Pegram spoke of the 
 "stealthy truants' slippered feet and muffled rap" during 
 study hours. And Doctor Adams was disturbed, but not 
 too seriously, by the "tumbling and thundering" in their 
 rooms after study hours. Of the major offenses that led to 
 expulsion no records were left. 
 
 As to religious observances, all students were required as 
 a matter of course to attend some church on Sunday morn- 
 ing. The earlier practice had made attendance on an eve- 
 ning service optional. The catalogue of 1860 stated that 
 students in the future would be required to attend a Sun- 
 day evening service in the college chapel 174 Thus originated 
 the present vesper service. At these services and at the morn- 
 ing chapel from 8:40 to 9:00 o'clock, all knelt in prayer. 
 
CLASS OF 1887 
 
 First Row, Left to Right, Standing — Luella Blackburn, Kansas McKinley, 
 President Short, Martha Layton, Callie Guy 
 
 Second Row — Ella Smith, Emma Knotts 
 
 Third Row — Cassie Boggs, Mary Rexroat, Lulu Thompson 
 
 Fourth Row — Ina Daub, Grace DeVine, Clara Allen 
 
History of MacMurray College 193 
 
 Doctor Adams was long remembered in the College and in 
 the city for his beautiful prayers and his manner of read- 
 ing the Scriptures. 
 
 The policy of the College remained very liberal with re- 
 spect to members of other religious groups. Professor San- 
 ders had advertised non-sectarianism as one of the virtues 
 of his school. It is interesting to note the fact pointed out 
 by Doctor Rammelkamp that this professor had tried to 
 force the adoption of a rule at Illinois College by which one- 
 half the faculty places would have to go to Presbyterians 
 regardless of the relative fitness of the candidates. 175 Doctor 
 Adams could declare that the Illinois Female College accept- 
 ed both teachers and pupils of all denominations. Incidental- 
 ly, he insisted, too, that an educational sectarianism might 
 be as dangerous as religious exclusiveness. 178 One wonders if, 
 in the long years that followed, Doctor Adams' dreams were 
 disturbed by memories of Professor Sanders and The Black 
 Crook! When he sought a fair haven in Jacksonville for his 
 old age, he had not anticipated these battles of the mid-years 
 still ahead. 
 
 Problems of War and Peace 
 
 Wars in their manifold influences on the life of a people 
 leave few, if any, aspects of that life untouched. They are 
 the source of countless legends and traditions, of song and 
 story. Around them the recording of history tends to re- 
 volve. Events are dated as ante bellum, post bellum, or be- 
 tween the wars. The life in a young ladies' boarding school 
 of a century ago, a school located outside the war area, one 
 might expect to be safe from the sound of conflict if such 
 a place could be found at all. On examination, however, 
 one discovers that in countless ways the Civil War affected 
 the fortunes of the College and the daily life within its walls. 
 Many references to such influences have been made in the 
 preceding pages. It remains to deal more specifically with 
 the impress of the war on the intellectual and social history 
 of the College. 
 
 Incidentally, the echoes of an earlier conflict, the Mexican 
 
194 History of MacMurray College 
 
 War, had resounded in the College in its earliest days. Har- 
 riet Tomlin, a student in the first year, 1848, wrote: "I was 
 there when our soldiers came home from the Mexican War; 
 they had to come around the Cape and a big storm got them 
 delayed and out of provisions, and when they got to New 
 Orleans they were so famished that the officers could not 
 control them. The soldiers gorged themselves, and a number 
 of them died. Some of our students had relatives that 
 died." 177 The opening of California, following the War with 
 Mexico, took sweethearts and a husband off to the Far West 
 in search of adventure and gold, and very soon the alumnae 
 and former students began the trek to settle and educate this 
 new empire. The Illinois hero and victim of this war, Gen- 
 eral John J. Hardin, had been a citizen of Jacksonville, 
 whose home stood near the College. The legends of the 
 Mexican War remained fresh in the memories of the stu- 
 dents until they were overshadowed by the greater cataclysm 
 of the Civil War. 
 
 Catalogue lists indicate that there were many girls from 
 southern Illinois in the College in the war years. Perhaps 
 some were sent for safe-keeping — to remove them farther 
 from the battle area. Doubtless students of southern back- 
 ground still formed a considerable part of the group — Rut- 
 ledges, Jameses, Trotters, Akerses, Yateses, Shumways, Lari- 
 mores, Warrens, Casads, and other southern families were 
 represented. Nevertheless, no letters, reminiscenses, or other 
 records suggest that there were any southern sympathizers 
 in the group. It is probable that the fathers of some girls, 
 because of their southern traditions, sympathized with the 
 South's conception of the nature of the Union and consid- 
 ered the war a fight for independence, not just a defense of 
 slavery, and that they followed the southern view on the 
 social and political status of the Negro. In the Illinois Con- 
 ference a small group objected to a majority report that 
 slavery was the principal cause of the war, and drew up a 
 minority statement, declaring that they would support the 
 
History of MacMurray College 195 
 
 Union but that they refrained from stating the cause of the 
 conflict. 178 
 
 The outbreak of the war naturally intensified the interest 
 in national affairs, which the controversy over slavery had 
 provoked. In recollections of her school days Sallie Shum- 
 way wrote: "I was there in perilous times. . . for the na- 
 tion. The news of the firing on Sumter, which came to us in 
 the spring of 1861, well-nigh drove all thoughts of lessons 
 from our minds. Ancient history seemed dull in comparison 
 to what was occurring and what might still occur." 179 Her 
 letters written during the war refer less to it than one might 
 expect, however; the routine of school duties sometimes 
 could shut out, fortunately, the immediacy of the conflict. 
 She could even write: <C I never hear anything from the war 
 any more, so do not know what is going on. While learning 
 things that have been written years ago, I am letting go 
 the history of my own age, so when it is written I will be 
 under the necessity of reading it as if I had never heard of 
 it before." Perhaps Sallie felt something of the impatience 
 of college students of the present at being required to study 
 the civilizations of the past. The College, nevertheless, made 
 an effort to keep the student abreast of the issues of the war. 
 For example, Sallie wrote on September 26, 1861: "Today 
 is the great national fast-day. I have just returned from 
 church, taken a slight repast of crackers and cheese and sat 
 down to try to answer your last letter. ... I heard an ex- 
 cellent discourse from the Reverend Glover of the Second 
 Presbyterian Church. . . . His subject • . . was 'Political 
 Atheism,' which I think is rather too severe a name, for he 
 said he did not mean disbelief of the existence of a God 
 among the great ones of the nation, but their dependence 
 upon their own strength for the guidance of the 'ship of 
 state'." 180 
 
 The subjects of commencement essays and literary society 
 papers reveal the predominance of the war or of other na- 
 tional questions as topics of discussion. In June 1861, there 
 were graduating essays on: The Hero of Fort Sumter, Our 
 
196 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Glorious Union, The Temple of Liberty, Earth's Battle Field, 
 and There is Room for Earth's Homeless Millions Here. 181 
 In 1862, there was still more concentration on war themes 
 in the graduating essays, with such subjects as: Events of the 
 War, Women and the War, America's Dead, Buchanan's 
 Administration, The Glory of the Soldier, Our Bethesda, 
 and other papers that probably related to the war. 182 The 
 Phi Nu programs taken from their minutes of these years 
 reveal a similar attention to the course of the war. And there 
 were pageants with white dresses, flags, national anthems, and 
 much intricate marching. 
 
 The thinning of the ranks at Illinois College, the march- 
 ing of soldiers through Jacksonville (Grant camped for a 
 time in the neighborhood), speeches, farewells, flag-waving 
 (Eppie wrote Jemima of the elaborate demonstrations) — all 
 these things kept the war before them, even though Illinois 
 soil was not a battlefield. Sallie described to David Moore 
 the difficulties of travel, also the joys of meeting a college 
 friend on the way to ease the feeling of homesickness: "Per- 
 haps you would like to know how I reached here, whether 
 the cars or anyone else ran off with me — I believe you ex- 
 pressed some fears upon that score, . . . but I will say that 
 I had no trouble whatever. Jennie was not at Springfield, 
 but I found her on the train when I went to get on. I was 
 very glad, I can assure you, for I had come as near to feeling 
 blue as I ever allow myself to. . . . General McClernand was 
 on the train with us, and there was such an immense crowd 
 of people at the depot that we could not get through to 
 come up to the College for some time. We hearH him 
 speak 183 
 
 One would like to know more about the practical con- 
 tributions of students, alumnae, and faculty to the war 
 effort, but few records of such are at hand. Certain indi- 
 vidual instances of war activity have been mentioned: Miss 
 Clarinda Olin, as matron of a hospital, and Lydia Tomlin's 
 work in the Christian Commission. Louisa Vance, '5 5, served 
 three years as a nurse with the well-known Mother Bicker- 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 197 
 
 dyke, in the course of which she met Lincoln, Grant, Sher- 
 man, and other great figures of the war. 184 Perhaps many 
 others did similar service. The students, too, probably made 
 larger contributions in work and gifts than are known. From 
 the incomplete files of the Jacksonville journal of the war 
 years a news item of a subscription raised by the Ladies Loyal 
 League in 1863 for the families of soldiers credited the college 
 group with one of the largest donations. 185 The Philharmonic 
 Society to which several members of the faculty and prob- 
 ably some students and alumnae belonged gave benefit con- 
 certs for war relief. These are chance bits of information 
 that one can discover. They indicate at least that the Illinois 
 Female College was actively participating in the prosecution 
 of the war. 
 
 One hardship of the war the present-day college girl 
 could appreciate, or the college girl of the years 1941- 
 1945; that is, the youthfulness of the young lady's "dates," 
 if she dated at all. On November 28, 1861, Sallie wrote 
 about attending a mite society, at which she met five gentle- 
 men. "Most of them were college students and very hard 
 to entertain, though I did my utmost. I do not think I shall 
 want to go again very soon," she declared. She attended 
 another, however, during the same school year and confided 
 her observations on men to her friend: "I had introductions 
 to several gentlemen and found them just about as agreeable 
 as you could expect bashful boys of eighteen to twenty to be. 
 Do you know if I was a man I would not go into company 
 until I was twenty-five years old? I don't think they would 
 appear so verdant then." 186 There were visits of farewell. 
 Eleanor Belle Eskridge, '63-64, wrote: "Often there would 
 appear at the College young men in uniform to say goodby 
 to their girl friends," and described one such touching scene, 
 in which she saw her future husband, then a stranger to 
 her, who had come to say goodby to another girl. 187 
 
 There was no rationing of foods, but it was doubtless 
 difficult to get it in good condition and at a reasonable price. 
 Sallie wrote her mother on April 11 [1862?]: "The butter 
 
198 History of MacMurray College 
 
 is so bad I cannot eat it. There were two girls in here just 
 now. I told them that I believed I would send home for 
 some butter. . . but I am not afraid of starving. ... It is 
 really a hard matter to get a variety. I have no doubt they 
 do the best they can." Butter remained a problem even after 
 the war closed. In 1868, Doctor Adams wrote to the Jack- 
 sonville Journal a protest in the form of a long series 
 of questions beginning with and centering around: "Whether 
 merchants by their profession enter into an implied con- 
 tract to supply at a reasonable price the ordinary wants 
 of the community around them." 188 He wished to know 
 whether butter should not be considered as merchandise just 
 as staples, such as flour. One notes his query, too, as to a 
 reasonable price. There were no ceilings then. Doctor 
 Adams' protest is a notable expression of the consumer inter- 
 est. It is also typical of his habit to do something about 
 a question that concerns the public welfare or convenience. 
 
 The grim side of the war was bound to invade the peace 
 of the college halls soon or late. How many lost loved ones 
 we do not know. Among the bereaved ones were Doctor 
 Adams and his family. Two sons were lost. Mary Pegram 
 described his desolation: "Doctor Adams, though a man of 
 heroic faith, was bowed by this great bereavement to such 
 depths of sorrow that those who knew him best dared not 
 intrude upon his lonely solitude as he sat unmindful of all 
 around him save the presence of his dead, responding not by 
 word or sign to sympathy or solicitude until the lapse of 
 hours had given nature strength to bear the stroke." 189 The 
 birth of a grandson may have helped to heal the wound. 
 This was the son of Elvira Hamilton Adams, '57, born while 
 his father was away in the war — the first child born within 
 the College of which there is record. 190 These classic halls of 
 learning had thus witnessed the great human experiences of 
 birth, marriage, and death. "It makes it all dear to me," 
 Elvira declared. 
 
 Before the war ended, attention had been turned to the 
 prospects and problems of peace. As early as 1863, Sallie 
 
History of MacMurray College 199 
 
 Shumway had written her graduating essay on the subject: 
 "When Peace Comes." A copy of it in her own neat hand- 
 writing is found in the college archives. Her picture of the 
 future was roseate. She seemed less aware of the problems 
 than of the progress and prosperity that must come to an 
 America restored to peace. College students today feel no 
 such assurance about the future. Reading Sallie's essay might 
 easily incite one to envy of her generation. An essay of 
 Henrietta Keplinger, '76, on the topic: "Has Increased 
 Wealth a Favorable Effect on the Morals of a People?" re- 
 veals, however, an appreciation of the problems of prosperity 
 by the students of that generation. After considering many 
 examples drawn from the history of the ancient and modern 
 world, including the France of Napoleon III and the United 
 States of Pierce and Buchanan, in which, in her opinion, 
 increased wealth had not proved an unmixed blessing, she 
 concluded on a note far from certain of the future. She 
 could appreciate some of the problems of the Gilded Age 
 and industrial America. In the subjects of the essays at 
 the end of the war recorded in the local press, often with 
 a digest of the contents, one finds, however, no note of 
 defeatism or skepticism. The individual could rise above the 
 obstacles of life by force of moral power: Moral Grandeur 
 Makes the Mighty Man, Virtue the True Guide to Lasting 
 Favor, Are Life's Pleasures Worth Winning?, Isolation [of 
 the genius] were topics discussed in June, 1866 and 1867. 191 
 Or one could by sheer force of will overcome all handicaps: 
 Do and Dare, We Build our own Monuments, and Advance- 
 ment, were assertions by graduates of 1867 and 1868 of a 
 positive faith in the future. 192 
 
 In his annual address to the Senior Class in 1865, Doctor 
 Adams chose to discuss "The National Prospect." Despite 
 his own bereavement, his losses, and his uncertain personal 
 prospects, he sounded no negative note. He almost out- 
 Whitmaned Whitman in his vision of the "democratic vistas" 
 opening up before a free and united America. "The future 
 that is opening up before you is a very peculiar one. There 
 
200 History of MacMurray College 
 
 was never such a prospect in all the history of the world as, 
 in this year of grace, 1865, presents itself before the educated 
 and virtuous youth of these United States." 193 He predicted 
 a future marked by untold wealth, by immeasurable great- 
 ness and power, by unprecedented progress and prosperity, 
 by lasting peace. It would also be a future of union and 
 unity and of freedom — for the white man as well as for the 
 Negro slave. He emphasized, especially, the blessing of free- 
 dom of thought and expression denied to all under slavery. 
 The press, public opinion and the pulpit, once silenced, 
 would now be free. Doctor Adams' ardent patriotism did 
 not express itself in gloating over the defeated, but in 
 glorifying the re-union. He revealed his own fine sense of 
 values in his appreciation of Lincoln's place in history: 
 "Abraham Lincoln arose and acted in troublous times, and 
 died untimely; yet was he the most fortunate man in Ameri- 
 can history. Please remember him not as president, not as 
 a great man, but as a great emancipator — he who struck 
 down slavery, and who was the providential agent of opening 
 up to you and your country a future of freedom." 194 
 
 Doctor Adams did not choose to dwell upon the problems 
 of this American future. He did, however, urge those 
 graduating to face this prospect seriously: "It becomes you, 
 therefore, to launch not away upon this great voyage with 
 a dim vision — with a frivolous spirit — with groveling mo- 
 tives — with mean or palsied energies. . . . You should be 
 stripped for this great race and harnessed for this triumphant 
 warfare, and strengthened to participate in the world's regen- 
 eration." 195 He closed with particular emphasis on their obli- 
 gations. They would not be fit for this great future without 
 special goodness of heart and nobility of character; they must 
 be "elect Ladies." They must have disciplined minds and 
 large intelligence, clear vision, comprehensive views, ex- 
 tensive and varied information. And, finally, they must be 
 ladies of strong energy and splendid activity. "No indolent, 
 dreary, listless, or frivolous woman will be fit to live along 
 these forthcoming years and in this regenerated land." 100 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 201 
 
 The national prospect may be different today, but the good 
 Doctor's advice to the young graduate would still be ap- 
 plicable, for it touched permanent values and eternal veri- 
 ties. And it is to be noted especially that he stressed inter- 
 national as well as national obligations. The new American 
 nation had become a power in world politics, he insisted — 
 a fact which the United States only slowly recognized or ad- 
 mitted, and the "world's regeneration" was their responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 LIFE IN THE COLLEGE IN THE 1860s 
 
 LETTERS OF SARAH NANCY SHUMWAY 
 
 The physical surroundings of gardens, orchards, pasture, 
 outhouses, and animals gave the College something of the 
 appearance, the friendliness, the familiarity of the home 
 and perhaps some of its inconveniences, too. The beautiful 
 Main Building with its stone porch and huge Corinthian pil- 
 lars had little to set it off, it seems, until Doctor Adams 
 came. With both utilitarian and aesthetic objectives, he un- 
 dertook to develop the grounds. A writer to the Central 
 Christian Advocate declared in 1859 that he had improved 
 them 700 per cent — that trees, shrubs, and flowers were 
 growing, that the indefatigable man was cutting his third 
 crop of grass for hay and would probably get a fourth crop, 
 that the vegetable garden had produced bountifully and 
 then contained $300 worth of potatoes, cabbages, beets, 
 and so forth; that "all this haying, gardening, planting of 
 trees, shrubs, and vines was chiefly the work of this same 
 Yankee president." 197 Everything, the writer declared, was 
 kept as clean and neat as a pin. Doctor Adams himself 
 discussed the physical surroundings some years later in the 
 Jacksonville Journal. 198 He lamented the fact that the front 
 lawn, was too contracted for the dignity of the college edi- 
 fice. "Grounds wide-spread and ornamental" he had included 
 in his definition or description of a college, along with li- 
 braries, laboratories, and learned professors. "When our 
 good neighbors — Yates on the east and Lurton on the west 
 — shall donate their present homes to the College, it will 
 
202 History of MacMurray College 
 
 exhibit a campus worthy of such an institution and of the 
 city in which it is, even now, one of the capital ornaments," 
 he declared. But he found some compensation in the ex- 
 tension to the south. "If our front is limited, yet our rear 
 grounds are far more ample and equally beautiful, where 
 we count acres instead of rods, where the groves of the acad- 
 emy and the fair lawn of the playground spread themselves 
 in beauty and where lie the garden of pleasant fruits and 
 the sunny pasture lands beyond." 
 
 By some stretch of the imagination — equal to that of Doc- 
 tor Adams — one could convert this pastoral scene into a 
 real Watteau, but outhouses and odors of barns and sta- 
 bles must have taken away something of its idyllic per- 
 fection. In the "sunny pasture" (where Ann Rutledge now 
 stands) there was kept a horse and perhaps cows and pigs, 
 as in the previous decade. Girls of today might be remind- 
 ed that horses were kept then for utilitarian purposes only, 
 for plowing the garden and for travel — not for lessons in 
 horsemanship. One wonders if the "groves of the Academy 
 and the fair lawn of the playground" back of Main con- 
 tained a croquet court. This genteel game for Victorian 
 ladies had just been introduced into Jacksonville. 199 Doctor 
 Adams had developed a considerable horticultural business 
 alongside his gardening and shrub-planting, thus following 
 the course of the well-known Professor Turner of Illinois 
 College. The "City of Elms" may owe him something for 
 its beautiful tree-lined, tree-arched avenues. He advertised 
 for sale: "soft maples — all sizes, osage orange plants [the 
 Turner hobby], grape vines, currants, strawberries, and law- 
 ton berries." 200 Very likely some of the trees now standing 
 on the campus were planted by him. 
 
 The general description of the building has been given 
 in earlier pages. Some more intimate pictures would add 
 to the personality that makes a house a home. Sallie Shum- 
 way wrote in 1861: "The wind is whistling around the house 
 almost like winter. He will soon be here, carpeting the earth 
 with snow and painting the window panes with frost-work, 
 
History of MacMurray College 203 
 
 and I will be glad, for I like cold weather so much, and 
 Minnie and I anticipate a pleasant time this winter in our 
 pleasant room with a bright fire in the stove with the stand 
 covered over with books drawn up close so as to 'keep 
 warm'." 201 But, since her letters were to a boy friend, she 
 did not give a description of the furnishings and the decora- 
 tion of her room that one would like. Mary Pegram spoke 
 of "the dingy old college walls defaced by idlers' names and 
 straggling caricature." 202 Before the end of Doctor Adams' 
 administration, the building, described earlier by visitors as 
 being "neat as a pin," had doubtless become somewhat run- 
 down as to furnishing and care due to lack of money and 
 perhaps to the difficulty of getting help and materials dur- 
 ing the war. Doctor Adams, in assuming charge, had fur- 
 nished all the bedding. After 1863, the girls were required 
 to bring blankets, a comforter, sheets, and pillow cases. 203 
 Student recollections of these years contain no references to 
 the servants. A communication of the conference visitors 
 to the Board of Trustees in 1867 in regard to the character 
 of the employees about the institution might imply a failure 
 to get desirable help. 204 A change in the method of handling 
 wood suggests Yankee ingenuity and economy in labor. A 
 student described the system: "Outside the east end of the 
 building was a crude elevator used in bringing up wood; 
 near the east window in each hall was a large box; from that 
 box each girl carried wood to her room." 205 
 
 It is perhaps significant that, in the series of letters she 
 wrote from 1861 to 1863, Sallie Shumway did not complain 
 of inconveniences, whatever they may have been, and only 
 mildly of the food. The satisfactions and social amenities of 
 life in the dormitory must have owed much to the minister- 
 ing care of the New England housewife, Mrs. Adams. A 
 writer, "J. H. M." (probably J. H. Moore) described in the 
 Central Christian Advocate her place in the college life: 
 "She is a power in the institution. She looks after the general 
 interest as few women have the capacity to do. She is always 
 solicitous in reference to the happiness and health of the 
 
204 History of MacMurray College 
 
 young ladies. Indeed, being herself nearly always well and 
 perpetually cheerful, she acts as a sort of matron over the 
 whole house — president, teachers, pupils, and all." 206 An old 
 and faded portrait pictures Mrs. Adams as a somewhat plump 
 woman of smiling face and lively eyes with her hair in curls 
 after the fashion of the early nineteenth century. In addi- 
 tion to her duties as matron, she was apparently the nurse. 
 The health of the school was generally reported as good. 
 Sallie Shumway, it is true, had frequent headaches, the result, 
 she admitted, of staying indoors too much. Nevertheless, 
 she replied to the solicitations of her boy friend, that she 
 would come home in the summer looking just as well as 
 when she left. 207 In 1863, "a clear case of smallpox almost 
 caused a stampede among the students." 208 Sallie, writing 
 later of the trials of these years, said: "Then in the spring of 
 '63, smallpox was prevalent in the city and one case in the 
 college building came very near breaking up the school before 
 commencement, but the members of the Senior Class rallied 
 to the support of the president and decided to stay by the 
 College to the end of the year." 209 
 
 The picture of the college life of the 1860s is made more 
 intimate and convincing by the letters of this same student 
 to "Mr. Moore," whom she married six months after gradua- 
 tion. Sallie belonged to a tradition very different from that 
 of Eppie — she might be counted one of the "upper crust," 
 the important people. Her grandfather Roundtree, of a 
 Virginia and North Carolina family, was one of the builders 
 of Illinois. The "early history of Montgomery County is 
 practically a record of his work." 210 He was well-educated, 
 had taught school, and continued to teach Greek and Latin 
 at night even after he had entered law and politics. At one 
 time both he and his son-in-law, E. R. A. Shumway, of 
 Taylorville, (Sallie's father) were members of the legislature. 
 Sallie herself had had good schooling under her husband- 
 to-be, David Moore, head of the Taylorville Academy. Her 
 life had been pleasant and easy. Her mother kept a maid, 
 and Sallie could take her college friends home for summer 
 
History of MacMurray College 205 
 
 vacations. After her marriage to Mr. Moore in January 
 1864, they moved to Iowa, then in 1869 to Nebraska. They 
 helped build the latter state, educationally and politically, 
 repeating the work of Grandfather Roundtree and Father 
 Shumway in Illinois. Incidentally, a recent charming study 
 of Sallie's letters by Alice Godard, '45, published as Mac- 
 Murray Sketches, discovers "the sameness of young people's 
 thoughts and inclinations through the years." 
 
 One thing that must have made school very burdensome 
 to everyone was the long year with no real vacation except 
 the summer weeks from late June until sometime in August 
 or early September. One can sympathize with Doctor 
 Adams' lamentation: "From summer on to summer the care 
 abides; the manifold cares; the cares relative to studies, 
 diligence, progress, and successful scholarship; the care of 
 manners and morals, deportment and habits; care of food 
 and fire and exercise and health and general comfort." 211 
 Or from the students' viewpoint, with Sallie's sigh of relief: 
 "This is our last week of school, for which I am very thank- 
 ful, for I am positively tired of studying and can't think 
 I am to blame for it. 5 ' 212 Between terms there was a free 
 day for which Sallie expressed gratitude, even though she 
 had to help give a Belles Lettres Exhibition on that day. 218 
 One benefit of wartime travel difficulties was fewer visits 
 home and fewer visitors at school — at least this was true to 
 judge by Sallie's experience. She mentioned no visits home 
 in her letters and only two visits from her mother. Methodist 
 ministers still traveled. Sallie wrote that Doctor Short called 
 to see her and brought a letter from Mr. Moore. William 
 Prentice took tea at the College and encharged the pastor of 
 Centenary to look after her with special care. 
 
 The full and beautiful and exciting Thanksgiving cele- 
 bration of MacMurray College today stands out in contrast 
 to the very quiet and simple observance of Thanksgiving in 
 the 1860s. Sallie found it satisfying, but not quite enough 
 to crowd out thoughts of home. She described the day in 
 1861 : "Thanksgiving Day. I have been to church and heard 
 
2o6 History of MacMurray College 
 
 an excellent sermon just as it should have been on such an 
 occasion. Came home and found a real Yankee Thanksgiv- 
 ing dinner, consisting of turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin 
 and mince pies, and other things accordingly. I did ample 
 justice to it, and since dinner have been reading. I have 
 enjoyed the day very well, but cannot resist the temptation 
 of indulging in fancies of what it 'might have been' if I 
 could only have been at home. We always have such a 
 'good time' at home that I would like very much to be 
 there." 214 She added a postscript in the evening: "I have 
 been playing this evening in the parlors. We had a very 
 pleasant time, and I am quite ready to go to studying tomor- 
 row." Christmas day Sallie also spent in Jacksonville, but 
 was invited to dinner in town with her roommate's mother, 
 who was boarding in the city. In the afternoon she went 
 out in town, and "an old gentleman gave me as much candy 
 as I could eat," she said. 215 These quaint records of the ways 
 of Old Jacksonville are interesting. Another time Sallie re- 
 ported that on a walk up West State Street a gentleman 
 had presented her with a bouquet of flowers. In the evening 
 of this Christmas day she went to a supper at the church 
 given for the Sunday School. (There is no mention of 
 Christmas trees; they were not yet the custom.) "I came 
 home," she said, "as well satisfied with Christmas as possible 
 unless I could have been at home. When I tell you this is 
 the first time I was ever away from home Christmas, you 
 will not wonder that I cried, of course, but my little friend 
 Jennie [Ballard] soothed me." In the college archives there 
 is a copy of a letter written by Lizzie Kuhl, a student in 
 1859 and grandmother of Doctor Elizabeth Rearick, Direc- 
 tor of Physical Education at MacMurray. This letter to her 
 mother, dated December 21, 1859, and written in German, 
 tells of the excitement over Christmas, the gifts her mother 
 had sent, a visit she was to make to Quincy, and "the great 
 dinner we had here [at the College] last night." 
 
 For the conscientious student, such as Sallie, most of 
 the waking hours were spent in studying and practicing 
 
History of MacMurray College 207 
 
 (she took piano and voice). She practiced her music two 
 hours a day and three hours on lesson days. "As to my 
 everyday life," she wrote, "the description of one day is 
 that of all. I still get along very well with my geometry. 
 Latin I like better than I did at first. Perhaps I will be a Latin 
 scholar yet — who knows? Music I am progressing in. . . . 
 I do not find chemistry very difficult, and history is very 
 interesting, so altogether I have a very pleasant list of studies 
 and enjoy them very well." 216 Sallie was calm, unexcitable, 
 a bit whimsical, and perhaps somewhat melancholy and 
 weary — she did not go into raptures over her studies or 
 anything else. Eppie was far more capable of being stirred 
 to enthusiasm. Perhaps Sallie was trying to suit her letters 
 to her correspondent. Mr. Moore sent her Harpers, which 
 she said she liked, and asked her whether she was reading 
 Locke. As a student of law and government Locke was, 
 of course, his Bible. Sallie admitted she had not read much 
 Locke yet, but had encountered passages from him in her 
 textbook in logic. 217 Trigonometry she liked, but had not 
 discovered why a young lady should study it. 218 She indulged 
 in some lighter reading — Fudge Doings by Ike Marvel, and 
 an English novel, Lelia Ada, The Jewish Convert. 219 She 
 knew Scott and quoted lines from his "Soldier, Rest" in her 
 graduating essay. Her comments on the burned west wing, 
 as well as her descriptions of the weather and of nature, 
 might suggest familiarity with his romances. "The wind," 
 she wrote, "is howling dismally through the ruins of 'our 
 house' here, and it reminds me of the description of an old 
 castle in some novel." 220 
 
 The day students felt perhaps somewhat abused or ignored, 
 as they usually do in a boarding school. Rachel Seegar re- 
 called that they were not permitted to come in from College 
 Avenue, "but had to go around to East State Street and 
 come up the front steps, which being made of stone and on 
 the North, were icy and slippery. The girls might go down 
 the basement steps, but they were even worse being never 
 swept of snow." 221 When not in class, day students were 
 
208 History of MacMurray College 
 
 required to sit in the large room under the chapel. The 
 seats were too high for tiny Rachel. Although a college 
 young lady, she resorted to a seat on the floor. The chapel 
 above, where all met together for hymns and prayers and 
 Bible reading, became the center of college life, college unity. 
 
 Aside from study (and sometimes in study hours), much 
 time was spent in letter-writing. In a day when the fine 
 art of letter-writing still flourished, Sallie considered herself 
 a poor scribe, but she wrote many letters. She reported that 
 she had eight to write at one time. To her former room- 
 mate, Jenny Ballard, of Rochelle, Indiana, she wrote a letter 
 of twelve pages. "What kind of a letter do you think it 
 would be? Not much sense to it, do you think? Well, per- 
 haps you wouldn't like to read it, but she would." 222 
 Another roommate, Minnie Maxfield, of Taylorville, wrote 
 her twenty pages. Fathers probably wrote as seldom and as 
 briefly as in the present day. Sallie was surprised when her 
 mother wrote that her father had actually begun a letter 
 to her. At another time she wrote: "I had a letter from Pa 
 about two weeks ago. It was real good though not very 
 long — full of advice, of course. 223 All college girls of all time 
 could sympathize with Sallie 's comments in a letter of May 
 23, 1863, (the last written from the College): "You can 
 hardly imagine what a blessing letters are to poor school 
 girls. I never thought I should prize so highly a few words 
 written perhaps with a pencil, but I find them very precious 
 indeed. Since Jennie has been away, I want letters more 
 than ever. I have no one to talk to. I receive one of good 
 length from her about once a week — the last one only twenty 
 pages. I answered with one of the same length." 
 
 They took walks in procession. "The c y° un & ladies' were 
 taken out for a walk very regularly. A member of the 
 faculty led the front, another walked in the rear. Between 
 them the girls went, two by two, quietly, not a word was 
 spoken. Just how much they were refreshed is not known," 
 a day student observed. 224 At least the day students escaped 
 this ritual. But letters suggest that there was exercise under 
 
History of MacMurray College 209 
 
 less rigid discipline. Sallie wrote of long walks with a girl 
 friend only or a small group. "I had to stop writing to go 
 out walking with Minnie, as I promised to do this morning. 
 We had quite a pleasant walk, about a mile and back again.'' 
 Another time she spoke of a long ramble in the woods. And 
 again she wrote: "Wednesday evening I went out walking 
 with the girls to a reservoir about a mile and a half from 
 town, enjoyed it very much. The next afternoon we went 
 out botanizing." Those young ladies might even have quali- 
 fied for the hiking club. 
 
 There were picnics for recreation. Sallie wrote of one in 
 May 1863, which she "enjoyed very well," even though she 
 was caught in the rain on the way home. Fifteen girls and 
 "two gentlemen" went, Doctor Adams being one of the 
 men. A more eventful excursion occurred in the spring of 
 1862. About a dozen students were allowed to go on a 
 fishing trip to Rockbridge upon the invitation of some of 
 the country girls. No boys were to be present, but Sallie 
 recorded: "When we arrived at the appointed place, there 
 were collected from ten to twenty as green specimens of 
 humanity as it has ever been my fortune to see. The boys 
 were all standing together in one crowd, the girls in another, 
 and all were enjoying it very much, I know." 2 The fishing 
 was poor; again it rained. Sallie and two others caught a 
 Du ggy f ide with a passing gentleman, an act very contrary 
 to regulations; but they went immediately to explain to 
 Doctor Adams, and he "only said he was much obliged to 
 the gentleman." Perhaps he did not hear of the race of the 
 gentleman escort with another buggy on the way home. 
 Jacksonville was a center of horses and horsemanship. Doctor 
 and Mrs. Adams gave parties in the college parlors. Sallie 
 wrote on April 18, 1862, a Friday: "We were all invited 
 down into Doctor Adams' parlor to play, eat apples, talk, 
 and have a good time generally. I enjoyed it very much." 
 
 Dinner was always at noon, and was perhaps a New 
 England dinner. Suppers were light (but they must have 
 added pounds to many plump girls! ) Sallie wrote her mother: 
 
210 History of MacMurray College 
 
 "Well, I have had my supper. We had hot biscuits and 
 butter and molasses, . . We have very nice dinners, but 
 supper and breakfast — bread and molasses." 226 Apparently 
 there was no cooking on Sunday. "I should have liked to 
 have taken dinner with you on Sunday," Sallie wrote in this 
 letter. "As you well know without my telling you, we 
 always have cold meat and bread for our Sunday dinner 
 here." "Feeds" were probably not so common then, but 
 girls purchased some food in town. Sallie's roommate ap- 
 peared one day with a cocoanut, which Sallie had to eat, 
 although she did not like it. 
 
 If Sallie's letter had been to a girl friend, she would 
 doubtless have told about the schoolgirl's wardrobe. In the 
 one letter to her mother that exists in the collection, she 
 wrote that she wore her black silk dress to church. "It 
 rained as we came home (it always seemed to be raining) , 
 and I got my dress a little damp, but did not hurt it any." 
 She wrote Mr. Moore once: "I told you I was intending to 
 have a new dress. I have it made. I cannot say whether 
 you would like it or not. You said my hair was too long 
 (she wore it in curls) , and I have had it cut — not because 
 you advised it, but because I wished to have it done." 227 After 
 the war, there was more display in dress perhaps. The 
 Jacksonville Journal, in a description of a commencement 
 reception given in the parlors of the College, declared that 
 the young ladies were "tastefully, even richly attired." 228 
 
 There were still Illinois College boys and other young 
 men in Jacksonville, even though the war vintage might 
 be bashful and verdant. Serenaders visited the Female Col- 
 lege. In her first letter from the College on September 16, 
 1861, Sallie declared: "While I am writing, sweet strains of 
 music are emanating from a guitar and violin beneath the 
 window. It sounds very sweet indeed." Incidentally, an 
 Illinois College boy roomed at the College once with Doctor 
 Adams' son (also a student on the Hill) . One of the school- 
 girls, discovering that his socks were wearing out, knitted 
 some for him. 229 Doctor Adams was perhaps trying to 
 
History of MacMurray College 211 
 
 increase the meager income by taking boarders. There may 
 have been other "outsiders." At any rate, the Board of 
 Trustees on July 30, 1863, decreed "that no person is to 
 be boarded in the building except those connected with or 
 belonging to the school." It is unlikely that the old rule 
 that boys could not call on the young ladies was ever 
 enforced strictly. "Cousins" could always come. The war 
 perhaps relaxed restraints; one could hardly refuse friends 
 in service. But even before the war began the rule had 
 been changed (in the Catalogue of 1860) to read that no 
 calls from gentlemen were to be received "without per- 
 mission." Callers had to be received in the public parlor, 
 where, as one young lady lamented, "there was no privacy." 230 
 Illinois College boys and other gentlemen friends attended 
 the public examinations of the young ladies in the College 
 Chapel and were invited by Doctor Adams to "converse 
 with the young ladies until dinner time." 231 Young ladies 
 could now go to mite societies, socials, and walking and riding 
 with young gentlemen "with permission." Matches were 
 made, and weddings took place at the College. The Jackson- 
 ville Journal carried the story of one in 1860: "Tuesday 
 night was the finals of commencement week in this place. 
 The graduating class of the Female College gave a reception 
 which was undoubtedly the 'gayest' event of the season, not 
 the least attractive feature of which was the marriage there 
 and then of one of the graduates, Miss Amanda Potter, to 
 Mr. Boon. The ceremony was performed in the College 
 Chapel by the President 'and all went merry as a marriage 
 bell'." 232 
 
 To what extent the young ladies enjoyed the privilege 
 of riding with their gentlemen friends and under what 
 conditions is not recorded. The rules said only they could 
 not walk or ride with them without permission. But the 
 habits and customs of the Jacksonville in which they lived 
 inevitably became a part of their life. The Saint Louis Daily 
 Press thus described society in Jacksonville in 1866: 
 
 One of the most conspicuous characteristics of the people is their pas- 
 sion for horses. Everyone who is able seems to own a horse and some 
 
212 History of MacMurray College 
 
 sort of vehicle in which the wives, young ladies, and children drive up 
 and down the streets continually. After business hours gentlemen bring 
 out their "trotting stock," and until late in the evening the streets are 
 enlivened by the rapid passing of sulkies and other road furniture, while 
 the conversation at the corners shows that everybody has horse mania. 
 Some of the gentlemen have formed themselves into a "trotting club" 
 and practice in the extensive fair grounds near town, while livery stables 
 turn out as fine stock as can be found even in St. Louis. 288 
 
 In these years just after the war the social life reflected 
 unusual gayety. Sleigh-riding was a great sport in the winter 
 months. The Jacksonville Journal in a special article on 
 "Sleighing"in 1867 gave the following report of this activity: 
 
 The deep snow has now been well-packed and forms as desirable a 
 sleighing foundation as could be asked for. This golden opportunity is 
 being well employed by the young, and every evening and even far into 
 the morning, the air is vocal with the music of bells and happy voices. 
 Jacksonville can boast of as fine a turnout in the sleigh line as any place 
 in the region and the sight of them is quite pleasing. Here goes the 
 light cutter with its load of two, there the heavier double sleigh with 
 four or five as its complement of passengers, while ever and anon comes 
 one of those four and six-horse vehicles loaded down with merry parties. 
 Sometimes the company is a reading circle, a neighborhood clique, or a 
 school banded together for a night of pleasure. Often the goal is some 
 hospitable farm house where warm fires, hot suppers, and lively music re- 
 ward the revellers, who, letting "the world wag as it will," are deter- 
 mined to "be gay and happy still." 234 
 
 And a news item in 1866 announced that Mac Springler's 
 sleigh that seated twenty-two had been requisitioned by the 
 "young and pretty maidens of the College . . . And what 
 drivers! what speed, what gayety, laughter and mirth!" 235 
 Strawberry festivals were another popular diversion and in 
 addition a satisfactory method of raising money for the 
 literary societies or to redecorate the public parlors of the 
 College. 
 
 Commencement was still a "season" in Jacksonville — to 
 hotel keepers, merchants, caterers, and livery men, as well 
 as to fond parents of the city and from abroad. These events 
 were restricted by the war, but blossomed forth afterwards. 
 The president's reception to seniors and their guests had 
 come to be a more elaborate feature of the season at the 
 Female College. The Journal declared the reception in 1866 
 
 must have been abundantly satisfactory to the teachers and pupils as it 
 
History of MacMurray College 213 
 
 certainly was to Doctor Adams, whose ever pleasant and smiling face 
 was lit up with an expression of more than usual gratification . . . Be- 
 tween two hundred and three hundred persons were present and the eve- 
 ning was spent promenading, singing, and social chatting — and perhaps 
 love-making, for the young folks under such bewitching influences could 
 not well help making love. The various apartments of the truly com- 
 modious, college buildings were well-lighted and well-filled; and the eve- 
 ning being moonlight, the beautiful groves that surround the buildings 
 afforded a cool retreat. We can truly say that all the exercises connected 
 with this college have been of an unusually interesting character. 238 
 The choruses by a specially-trained girls' choir had become 
 a prominent feature of the final commencement program. 
 After the reading of the essays, the graduates received their 
 diplomas from Doctor Adams "in a few neat remarks, Miss 
 Ellen Woods [a graduate in the classical course] being ad- 
 dressed by the Doctor in Latin, a pleasant feature of the 
 exercises to the few distinguished Romans present," the 
 Journal reported in 1868. 
 
 One might wonder how the "sweet girl graduate" felt 
 about her own commencement. Sallie took the writing 
 of her commencement essay seriously, feeling that much was 
 expected of her. "My friends," she said, "expect me to have 
 an essay that will astound the natives, and I don't think they 
 will be disappointed, for I think they will be astounded." 237 
 But finally she arrived at a philosophical attitude, or perhaps 
 one a bit cynical, toward the approaching great event. "In 
 four weeks from next Tuesday I expect to render my name 
 immortal either by excelling all that was or has been ex- 
 pected of me or by coming so far below I can but be 
 remembered. What difference does it make whether one 
 way or the other? I am sure I cannot tell," she wrote. 238 
 Perhaps the burden of final examinations and graduating 
 essays clouded her appreciation of the "Athens of the West" 
 in these last few weeks. At any rate, she wrote in this same 
 letter: "I think there are some beautiful places in this same 
 city of Jacksonville, but I do not think any consideration 
 could induce me to live here. I never was so tired of any 
 place in my life." But she admitted that after she took her 
 "departure nevermore to return" that a "deep longing for 
 
214 History of MacMurray College 
 
 old scenes and associations" might take possession of her. 
 And it did. 
 
 Just as her life in college was typical of the class of well- 
 to-do girls, her experiences after college were repeated per- 
 haps in the life of many other alumnae who moved into the 
 farther West. Out in Nebraska she and David lived for a 
 time in a two-room sod house. She had brought with her 
 some bright silk dresses, for which she found no use. Once 
 she took them out to air them, and was greatly embarrassed 
 when a bare-footed neighbor came in to visit. She knew at 
 once she would be accused of trying to show off her finery. 
 After a time they moved into the new town of York. She 
 was a charter member of the Methodist Church, helped to 
 organize the first woman's club, and fostered the public 
 schools. When Susan B. Anthony visited York on a lecture 
 tour, she was entertained by Judge and Mrs. Moore. 
 
 "GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS" — DOCTOR ADAMS IN WASHINGTON 
 
 At a meeting of the Board of Trustees on December 30, 
 1867, Doctor Adams resigned his position as president, the 
 resignation to take effect at the end of the school year. 
 During these ten years he had been active in community 
 affairs. His principal church connections were with the 
 East Charge, which became Centenary in 1866, but his liberal 
 views led him to support actively and enthusiastically an 
 interdenominational Sunday School Mission in Jackson- 
 ville. 239 In spite of financial reverses, he joined with six others 
 in making a gift of a lot and residence in Jacksonville to 
 Peter Akers, who had returned to the city. 240 He was an 
 active supporter of the temperance crusade. When com- 
 plaint was made that the Jacksonville schools and teachers 
 did not organize the county teachers and foster a teachers* 
 institute, Doctor Adams, admitting that the complaint of 
 indifference might be partially justified, offered to invite the 
 county teachers to the College Chapel or to meet with them 
 at any other place. 241 He was host to the Third Illinois Press 
 Association meeting and spoke to the group. 242 He paid 
 tribute in verse to Jacksonville, the city of homes, of 
 
History of MacMurray College 215 
 
 churches, of schools, of havens for the afflicted ones, a city 
 set in a landscape "fair as the Vale of Trebizand and fertile 
 as the famed Cashmere." 243 
 
 Doctor and Mrs. Adams settled, after a short interval, 
 in Washington, where he held a minor government position. 
 He maintained his connections with the Illinois Conference. 
 In Washington, he attended the Metropolitan Church and 
 sometimes preached in the city. He enjoyed the pursuit of 
 his scholarly interests there in the Library of Congress. In- 
 vited to the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the 
 College, observed in 1887, he sent his regrets with a poem, 
 "Mary and Martha," and his "best regards to all the dear 
 ladies." 244 It is indicative of the esteem in which he w?« 
 held that the first endowed scholarship established by th<? 
 alumnae was in his honor. In response to a solicitation of 
 funds for this scholarship one of his students replied: "If 
 my financial ability was equal to my love and veneration 
 for the memory of Doctor Adams, you would have to go 
 no further for the scholarship." 245 Appreciation of Doctor 
 Adams* influence on them deepened as his former pupils came 
 to understand better the value of the fundamental ties in 
 home and family and early associations. Some who had 
 thought him somewhat pompous or too severe came to love 
 him for the memories he stirred, and for himself, too. 
 
 The only intimate picture of Doctor Adams after he left 
 Jacksonville that the writer has discovered is a story signed, 
 "E. H.," by a Washington correspondent to the Chicago 
 Times, which was copied by the Jacksonville Journal, on 
 December 2, 1877. "E. H." was describing a visit to the 
 Metropolitan Church in Washington: 
 
 But the best part of the service to me was when Brother Adams was 
 asked to conclude the exercises by leading in prayer. Then a short man 
 arose from a seat behind the desk, lifted up two gloved hands to heaven 
 and said: "Let us pray." It was old Doctor Adams formerly president 
 of the Illinois Conference Female College in Jacksonville. I had not 
 seen nor thought about him for years: gloves and prayer the very same 
 I have seen and heard a hundred times if I have once in the Old East 
 Charge Church. Even the "Amen" was chopped off in the same old 
 place. While the doxology was sung, he turned his face to the wall and 
 
216 History of MacMurray College 
 
 stood with his hands behind his back, just as he used to stand. His nose 
 is as short, his beard a little grayer; his hair may be thinner, his man- 
 ners the very same. I used to stand a trifle in terror of the Doctor 
 twenty years ago. I did not admire him. He was too gruff to suit a 
 school girl. How faces now gone from earth forever gather in the 
 throng and make more clear the living who were once their friends! So 
 memory stood beside me in the strange church and filled me up with 
 tears. My father and mother were his friends. Many a time has Pres- 
 ident Adams "broken bread" with us "around our family board," as he 
 quaintly expressed it. My parents — good Methodists — always called him 
 Brother Adams . . . After the service I passed through the crowd and 
 took the patriarch's hand. I told him my new name, which fifteen years 
 had made old to me. No recognition. I told him my old name, my 
 old home. His face lighted. "I am glad to greet you. I am glad you 
 presented yourself to me," he said with the same stately pomposity. (How 
 well I remember the pompous I-am-better-than-thou manner, which 
 chilled people until acquaintance broke the crust and showed them the 
 warm heart beneath.) "I am forgetful of faces. I trust that should 
 you chance to encounter me hereafter at any time, you will salute me." 
 (The same cold, gold-headed cane sort of way he used to have.) After 
 a little, when we had talked over old times, "How is Sister Catherine 
 Thomas?" "Dead." "Sister Mary Ransdell?" "Dead." "Sister Wilk- 
 inson?" "Dead." Brother Joseph Capps?" "Dead." "Brother Nicho- 
 las Milburn?" "Dead" . . . Then the tears came . . . 
 
 I went to a fashionable church. I found a humble old friend, and 
 whether the sermon or not, the gospel entered my heart. The past and 
 the present stood with clasped hands beside the pulpit and the Metro- 
 politan chimes rang out above our heads in "Washington the familiar 
 tunes we had each heard years ago sung by voices that are silent — in 
 a Methodist Church in a shady quiet college town in Illinois. 
 
 In our "remembrance of things past," this dignified, 
 scholarly, somewhat ineffectual Mr. Chips should have an 
 honored place. He passed away in Washington on January 
 19, 1890, and was laid to rest beside his ancestors in "the 
 place of graves" in Stratham, New Hampshire. 
 
CHAPTER HI 
 
 THE TWIDDLE (PERIOD 
 
 President William H. DeMotte, 1868-1875, and 
 President William F. Short, 1875-1893 
 
 Aside from destructive fires in 1870 and 1872, this long 
 quarter of a century was lacking in dramatic incidents. 
 There was no crisis from which the institution 
 had to be rescued — perhaps that fact explains in part the de- 
 cline of conference interest in the College. In some respects, 
 however, this middle period was the critical time in the his- 
 tory of the institution. The movement for the higher educa- 
 tion of women gained new impetus with and after the Civil 
 War. New colleges for women — Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, 
 and others — organized on a more generous scale began to 
 raise the standard of collegiate instruction beyond that 
 reached by the best colleges of the ante bellum era (and the 
 Illinois Female College was among them) with respect to 
 curriculum, faculties, administration, libraries, and labora- 
 tories. The ante bellum colleges and seminaries could not 
 compete very long with these new institutions. Aside from 
 the relative merits of the institutions concerned, people of 
 wealth preferred that their daughters have some years in 
 the East. The western college for women had to compete, 
 too, with the neighboring co-educational college or univer- 
 sity. The idea of separate schools for men and women de- 
 clined more rapidly in the West, for it had never taken such 
 deep root there. The Methodists were quick to welcome the 
 idea of co-education. Illinois Wesleyan opened its doors to 
 women in 1870, and Northwestern and McKendree became 
 
 217 
 
218 History of MacMurray College 
 
 co-educational about the same time. From below, the high 
 school soon began to threaten the patronage of the prepara- 
 tory department. 
 
 The Illinois Female College possessed some advantages. Its 
 age and early reputation gave it prestige for a time yet. 
 President DeMotte made considerable improvement in aca- 
 demic work, which gave it survival powers, and President 
 Short maintained and, in some respects, added to the ad- 
 vancements. Nevertheless, the College could not hold its 
 place long without far larger resources, a fact recognized 
 indeed by both these presidents. Some attempt was made 
 to secure an endowment, but results were negligible. Presi- 
 dent DeMotte resigned before the situation became acute; 
 the abilities of President Short did not lie in the realm of 
 finance. The fact that the institution had become almost 
 entirely the personal concern, the "business" of the president, 
 under his sole financial responsibility, restricted the interest 
 of the Conference and even of the trustees in its fate. The 
 presidents did not allow this interest to disappear entirely; 
 Conference was periodically reminded of what it had called 
 its "favorite institution," but it sometimes appeared to 
 question even its connections with the Female College. 
 
 This period might be called an era of "progress and pov- 
 erty" — the progress real, but severely restricted by the pov- 
 erty. It was a middle period of uncertainty between the 
 golden age of the ante bellum Illinois Conference Female 
 College and the modern standard college for women, which 
 MacMurray is today. Yet — and this fact should be empha- 
 sized — it was not merely a period of transition. If it had 
 been only that, the institution would hardly have survived 
 this quarter of a century. This college of the mid-Victorian 
 age had an integrity, an authentic character of its own. Its 
 academic achievements were real and solid even though 
 limited, and the advancement in the fine arts both in organi- 
 zation and in instruction was very considerable. The aim was 
 not primarily to measure up to a type or to fit a standard, 
 but to provide a satisfactory education. Indeed, standards 
 
History of MacMurray College 219 
 
 were not yet too rigidly defined; each school was still some- 
 what a law unto itself — at least this condition was true 
 until the later years of the century. These several genera- 
 ions of students and faculty enriched the life of the College. 
 In 1870, the alumnae were effectively organized. In their 
 "remembrance of things past" at their annual reunions they 
 preserved something of the history of the preceding decades 
 and deepened the interest of students in their Alma Mater. 
 The relations of the institution with the cultural life of Jack- 
 sonville became more intimate and its contributions to that 
 life much larger. The 1870s were a golden age of local 
 cultural activity, particularly in the patronage of the fine 
 arts, which brought benefits to all the schools. Fortunately 
 for the social historian, alumnae of this period, even of its 
 earlier years, still live and enjoy the full use of their facul- 
 ties. Daughters of Presidents DeMotte and Short reside in 
 Jacksonville. Their recollections are of some historical 
 value; their lives are an index of the fine character of the 
 education they received in the Illinois Female College. 
 
 WILLIAM H. DE MOTTE: THE EARLIER YEARS 
 
 The roster of the presidents of MacMurray College (un- 
 der its series of names) reveals a group of men of widely 
 varied origins, background, and personal characteristics, a 
 fact that has significance in interpreting its history. The 
 group comprises the mixture of nationality and class and 
 regional cultures that constitute the American nation. Wil- 
 liam H. DeMotte was born in Kentucky of French Hugue- 
 not and Dutch ancestry on the father's side and Dutch on 
 the mother's. 1 The Dutch strain was pronounced. The Ken- 
 tucky community where William was born was known as the 
 "Dutch Settlement," and the father's name had once been 
 spelled DeMut. Makers of edge-tools and carriages were 
 prominent in the family, although William's father, Daniel 
 DeMotte, was a tailor and farmer turned Methodist parson. 
 Soon after William's birth in 1830 the family moved to 
 Indiana. It was sometime after this removal that the elder 
 DeMotte decided to enter the Methodist ministry. 
 
220 History of MacMurray College 
 
 In an autobiography, closed in 1902, Doctor DeMotte re- 
 lated in considerable detail the story of his journeyings in 
 youth as the son of an itinerant preacher. From rural com- 
 munity to rural community the family went. With rare ex- 
 ception their contacts were with people of meager education; 
 and Daniel DeMotte and his wife had little. William and his 
 younger brother, Mark, later a senator, lived, however, in a 
 boy's paradise of forest and field and stream. They learned 
 the ways of the. wild animals and the life of trees and flowers. 
 They saw few people; but once they lived briefly on the 
 great National Road to the West and watched the emigrant 
 trains, the Mormons among them, rolling westward. Their 
 education in schools was indifferent. In their wanderings 
 through southern Indiana they met the Hoovers, and were 
 their neighbors for a season. William later married Cath- 
 erine Hoover. This family of Quaker traditions had papers, 
 books, pictures, and good conversation in their home. These 
 things William enjoyed. Without choosing the good in his 
 environment from any moral objective, he turned to it natu- 
 rally. Women he loved as he did flowers and music. His 
 mother's influence through her "sweetness of temper and 
 quietness of behavior" was a powerful factor in forming 
 his character. 
 
 In 1844, William entered the preparatory department of 
 Indiana Asbury University. Five years later, in 1849, he 
 was graduated in the classical course, having studied both 
 Latin and Greek. As salutatorian of his class he delivered 
 his oration in Latin. In 1852, his Alma Mater granted him 
 the Master of Arts degree on the grounds that he "had con- 
 tinued his studies and was engaged in literary work." Indi- 
 ana Asbury was a good school and small; the teachers were 
 friends and helpers. At its head was Matthew Simpson, 
 later bishop; and the faculty was a strong one. 2 One 
 teacher, W. C. Larrabee, professor of mathematics and nat- 
 ural science, influenced William more than any other 
 "toward goodness and excellence." He was a son of a Maine 
 sea captain, a graduate of Bowdoin, teacher in various schools 
 
History of MacMurray College 221 
 
 in the East, and later the founder of Indiana's system of pub- 
 lic instruction. 3 William "dated" Professor Larrabee's 
 daughter. She had the only piano in town and could play 
 and sing. 4 
 
 He had continued in school and out to love reading. His 
 selections are interesting in what was omitted as well as in 
 what was included. He wrote: 
 
 It would be strange if I had not had some taste for fine poetry and 
 lighter literature, living as I did in the prime of production of Long- 
 fellow, Tennyson, Wriittier, Holmes, Morris, and Willis Irving, the Clarks, 
 and many others whose completed works now form the crop of the XIX 
 Century. A new poem in the Louisville Courier, the Cincinnati Gazette, 
 or the Advocate, or a story in the Saturday Evening Post, was hailed with 
 joy, read by almost all, memorized and recited. Dickens and Bulwer were 
 "to be continued" then. But I did not read widely. The completed and 
 shelved novels of the time were those of an earlier date, Smollet's, Field- 
 ing's, Sue's. Those I did not like. In the first place I held a strong 
 religious objection to fiction. [It might be noted that novels published 
 as serials, as Dickens' were, were not then considered novels.] I have 
 since in my literary studies read some of them, and am glad that I did 
 not read them then. They could have done me no good, and would I 
 now think have done me harm. Besides new publications we had Burns' 
 and Moore's songs — always favorites with me, and Milton, Pollock, Scott, 
 Campbell, Shakespeare, and others, though our society libraries were poor- 
 ly supplied. The college library was either inaccessible or of no value. 
 We never used it. 5 
 
 When a boy, Doctor DeMotte had recognized (chosen 
 would hardly apply) his profession. He was asked to help 
 in teaching one day. "When I reached home in the even- 
 ing," he wrote, "I simply announced that I was going to be 
 a teacher. I have no recollection of ever afterward refer- 
 ring to the question; nor of looking forward to my life 
 work with any anxiety, or even questioning. ... As to 
 qualifications, I seemed to look for them just as I did for 
 physical abilities. I was no more anxious than I was for 
 what I should eat or wear." 6 Although he admitted that 
 the inspiration of a purpose, an ambition might have incited 
 him to special preparation, he felt there were compensations 
 — his education had been broader and more general than it 
 would have been if he had sought training for a special work. 
 After graduation, while waiting for a position to be offered 
 
222 History of MacMurray College 
 
 him, he read Bancroft's new History of the United States 
 and other books. In 1849-50, he taught a village school, 
 and on June 1, 1850, he became a teacher in the Indiana 
 School for the Deaf. Of this work, for which he had not 
 the slightest special preparation and which he was to follow 
 throughout most of his life, he declared: "As one feels the 
 fit of a garment, so I felt the fitness of the work for me and 
 I for it. I recognized I was in my element. As a fish in the 
 sea, as a bird in the air I moved without friction, with ease." 7 
 His superintendent declared that he took to it like a New- 
 foundland dog to water. 
 
 In 1852, Professor DeMotte married his boyhood friend, 
 Catherine Hoover. For some years they spent their vaca- 
 tions in her home. Her mother was a great influence; she 
 was excellently educated in English and American litera- 
 ture and a great practical philanthropist. Catherine herself 
 had scholarly tastes, studied especially the Bible and history, 
 and wrote "for the newspapers"; and, perhaps best of all, was 
 an excellent conversationalist. 
 
 Scarcity of teachers for the deaf caused Professor DeMotte 
 to forego the temptation to enlist in the United States Army 
 at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1864, however, he ac- 
 cepted a position as head of the Indiana Sanitary Commission 
 created to look after the interests of Indiana soldiers, par- 
 ticularly of the sick and wounded. His headquarters were 
 in Washington. Against his custom, for theatres were not 
 approved by the Church, he went to Ford's Theatre to see 
 Lincoln and Grant on the night of April 14, 1865, and wit- 
 nessed the assassination of Lincoln at close range. This story 
 and that of his work on the Sanitary Commission he related 
 in interesting detail in his autobiography. 8 Although he had 
 expected to return to his teaching in the Institute for the 
 Deaf at the termination of his work on the Sanitary Com- 
 mission in 1865, he was offered and accepted a position as 
 head of the Indiana Female College, a Methodist school in 
 Indianapolis. This place he filled very successfully for three 
 years. Plans for the union of that institution with Indiana 
 
History of MacMurray College 223 
 
 Asbury caused him to resign in 1868. Hearing through a 
 friend in McKendree that Doctor Adams had resigned as 
 head of the Illinois Female College, he came out to Jackson- 
 ville to talk with the trustees, and accepted their offer of 
 the presidency of this college. 
 
 FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND POLICIES 
 
 THE FIRES OF 1870 AND 1872 
 
 President DeMotte was interested primarily in teaching, 
 not in administration. It might be noted, too, that, although 
 he was admitted to the Illinois Conference and ordained as 
 a deacon in 1870 and often filled pulpits, he never held a 
 charge as a Methodist minister. He was the first lay head 
 of the College. His work in academic improvement was 
 solid and constructive, but, in the nature of the case, not 
 sensational. The two destructive fires were spectacular, 
 however, and served later, unfortunately, to underline his 
 administration. At the time of the semi-centennial in 1897, 
 he protested — pleasantly — that it was designated on the 
 program as the "era of the fire." In giving first place to the 
 discussion of the fires and the financial problems of the 
 administration, the writer would insist, nevertheless, that 
 they not be magnified out of proper proportion to other 
 aspects of its history. 
 
 On the other hand, President DeMotte himself admitted 
 that the fire, the first one at least, brought considerable com- 
 pensation. It destroyed "a great deal of archaic goods, the 
 residium of past years, unfit for use and scandalous in the 
 fact they were permitted to remain in the building as part 
 of the outfit of the College." 10 His comments bear evidence 
 of the privations to which President Adams had been re- 
 duced. The physical changes resulting from the fire made 
 other changes easier. "There was an advance made," Presi- 
 dent DeMotte declared, "in the course of study and efforts 
 to provide facilities and comforts more in accord with the 
 home life of our patrons." One should recall the phenom- 
 enal material progress of the United States following the 
 Civil War. The hardships of frontier life receded rapidly 
 
224 History of MacMurray College 
 
 before a rising standard of living. The day when the presi- 
 dent made the soap for the College (as President Jaquess 
 had done) or hauled the wood for fuel up to the fourth 
 floor by a hand-operated elevator (as President Adams did) 
 was gone. Changes in material standards brought demand 
 for more "culture," for social refinement and sophistication. 
 The East and Europe had come nearer. The curriculum and 
 the social regime were changed to meet these demands, al- 
 though old-fashioned Methodist ministers and parents ques- 
 tioned and delayed any considerable changes in the latter. 
 
 President DeMotte took charge of the school on the same 
 terms as those made with President Adams in 1866. He was 
 to pay the entire cost of operation, including furniture and 
 equipment, salaries of teachers, cost of the boarding depart- 
 ment, the ordinary repairs and care of buildings and grounds, 
 and insurance for $33,000. In return he received all the in- 
 come from board and tuition. "The school was virtually 
 my own," he declared. 11 The Board of Trustees was to 
 receive all gifts and control their administration as endow- 
 ment and to assume responsibility for extraordinary expen- 
 ditures for buildings and grounds. The interest on the en- 
 dowment might be used for permanent improvement. The 
 physical renovation "proved a greater task than I appre- 
 hended," President DeMotte declared. 12 "I began with clear- 
 ing up the wilderness of shrubbery and shade trees, which 
 had been allowed to grow to excessive luxuriance. . . . This 
 with a thorough cleaning, a little repairing, and the intro- 
 duction of the furniture I had used in Indiana College made 
 the place ready for an opening in September which was at 
 least not discouraging." Upon his arrival, he declared, the 
 College had little usable furniture or apparatus. The trus- 
 tees had taken over the furniture from Doctor Adams as 
 partial payment of his indebtedness, and they sold this to 
 President DeMotte, although he secured the Board's permis- 
 sion to dispose of some of it to the poor. 18 President De- 
 Motte made the following observations on the equipment: 
 
 The "furniture" of a student's room consisted of one or two rough 
 old-style bedsteads according to the size of the room — whether for two 
 
-,,A 
 
 •/-: 
 
 
 
 I- 
 
 ,4 
 
 CHARLES ADAMS 
 
 1858-1868 
 
 WILLIAM H. DeMOTTE 
 
 1868-1875 
 
 WILLIAM F. SHORT 
 
 1875-1893 
 
 THREE PRESIDENTS OF THE COLLEGE 
 
History of MacMurray College 225 
 
 or four women — a stove, a rough table, and a few chairs. No carpet 
 or curtains, not even a bureau, dresser, or wardrobe. Students were al- 
 lowed to bring what they chose from home. Thus some rooms would 
 be furnished in part. Arrangements were made for students to do their 
 own washing and ironing in the laundry. Indeed, the attempt was every- 
 where in evidence to get along at the least cost. 14 
 At its first meeting after the arrival of President DeMotte, 
 the Board of Trustees agreed to repair the plastering, repaper 
 the halls, and whitewash the ceilings. 15 In addition, the 
 Board decided to construct an outside stairway (apparently 
 a fire escape) from the second floor of Main to the ground. 
 In May 1869, the Board of Trustees approved a recom- 
 mendation of President DeMotte that the rates be set at 
 $230 a year for board and tuition in the literary depart- 
 ment. 16 According to the announcement in the catalogue, 
 this charge covered the cost of a two-girl room, fully furn- 
 ished, the students supplying only their linens and a knife, 
 fork, and spoon. For a partly furnished room (with bed- 
 stead, mattress, pillows, table, and washstand) the rate was 
 $210. The rates of tuition in the fine arts were also ad- 
 vanced. Music with the head of the department was raised 
 from $60 to $82 (including use of the instrument) ; oil 
 painting from $36 to $50. In explanation of the change 
 in rates, President DeMotte wrote later: 
 
 The school had been run on the cheap plan; not that the patrons were 
 poor nor yet niggardly, for the average Illinois farmer is neither. I was 
 convinced that a mistake had been made, and at the start made a con- 
 siderable raise in boarding and fees, with the assurance of better and more 
 extended advantages. I found my action heartily approved by the Board 
 and by a number of the most considerable patrons. The word went out 
 that an advance was proposed by the new administration. 17 
 
 Then came the fire of February 28, 1870, which destroyed 
 the Main Building. The fire originated, it was thought, 
 from a defective flue. 18 It was discovered about eight o'clock 
 in the morning, while President DeMotte was teaching a 
 Senior Class in the Evidences of Christianity. 19 When first 
 seen, the Jacksonville Journal stated, the flames were break- 
 ing through the roof. 20 A west wind saved the wing, but 
 hastened the consumption of the Main Building. The Jour- 
 
226 History of MacMurray College 
 
 nal described the confusion, not concealing a certain relish 
 of the reporter for sensational news: 
 
 Hundreds of men and boys distributed themselves about the building 
 and labored, often with more zeal than wisdom, carrying and throwing 
 out the furniture, carpets, and trunks, and all the thousand and one little 
 articles usually found in an establishment of this kind. Wash-stands, 
 wardrobes, mirrors, and stoves were thrown out of windows in the most 
 bewildering confusion, while, true to traditional custom, mattresses and 
 bedclothing . . . were carefully carried downstairs and laid to rest on 
 the green sward. Books and sheet music came down upon the devoted 
 heads of those below in anything but gentle showers, and pandemonium 
 seemed to reign in atria academi . . . 
 
 The Union fire engine was on the scene, but the Franklin 
 engine was in the shops. It happened that there was an ade- 
 quate supply of water in the College and neighboring cis- 
 terns, but the coordination of work was poor. The Journal 
 declared there were too many captains and too few privates. 
 President DeMotte insisted later that the simplest apparatus 
 or the slightest fire organization in the town would have 
 readily extinguished it. 21 
 
 The sentimental picture of the "homeless girls" given by 
 the Journal reporter is interesting as a sample of the jour- 
 nalism of the mid- Victorian age: 
 
 During the course of the fire the young ladies, who had been so un- 
 ceremoniously turned out of their rooms, were engaged in searching after 
 their lost treasures, sometimes we imagine without success if their rueful 
 countenances told the story aright. Many were the silent tears we saw 
 rolling and gliding! and plunging down fair cheeks, and we wished we 
 were cousins or something of the sort to fifteen or twenty of the mourn- 
 ers that we might have comforted them. Luckily some "cousins" were 
 there, and at their approach smiles broke forth like the sun after an 
 April shower. We noticed several couples ("cousins") whispering com- 
 fort into each other's ears. By night all the young ladies had been domi- 
 ciled in the homes of friends and are now doing as well as could be ex- 
 pected. 22 
 
 The "treasures" of one young lady at least were not scat- 
 tered or lost. Martha Leaton Guthrie, '70, recalled that short- 
 ly before the fire her mother had written her "to keep her 
 things in her trunk for fear something might happen;" and, 
 she continued, "As we were taught to be obedient in those 
 days . . . , I did as she wished. I did! not lose anything." 23 
 Although the College opened again in a week, she recalled 
 
History of MacMurray College 227 
 
 that only four of the eight seniors returned. The wing was 
 large enough to accommodate all who remained, and classes 
 were held in their one-time home, the basement of Centen- 
 ary Church. Martha's account tells us something more of 
 the physical conditions in dormitory life inherited from the 
 past and still existing in 1870: 
 
 This happened [she said] in the days of fourposter beds, which were 
 held together with rope . . . fastened to the sides and ends of the bed- 
 stead by wooden pins; the ropes were woven back and forth in filet fash- 
 ion and held the straw bed, over which the feather bed was laid. We 
 had to kindle our own fire and take care of our own rooms; it was all 
 very primitive, but "life was real and life was earnest" in those days. 
 
 The loss of the building was covered by insurance, but 
 President DeMotte carried no insurance on the furniture, 
 his personal property. Although much of it was saved, it 
 was badly damaged by the handling. A card of thanks, 
 signed by him, appeared in the paper shortly after the fire, 
 in which he expressed personal obligation to a large number 
 of Jacksonville businessmen, prominent among whom were 
 the "Old Guard" of the trustees, "for substantial and valu- 
 able assistance in repairing the damages of the late fire." 24 
 
 There seems to have been slight regret over the fire of 
 1870, even though it removed the first great landmark, the 
 original building with its stone porch, its stately, massive 
 Corinthian columns, its simple lines and fine proportions, 
 a building more beautiful, it appears to the writer, than 
 the one that replaced it. But the new building was in the 
 fashion of its time, and it was new. These things meant 
 more to young Illinois and young America than age and 
 tradition or even classic beauty. There was no note of dis- 
 couragement at the loss. The Central Christian Advocate 
 expressed the common sentiment that apparent calamities 
 often proved to be the greatest blessings. 25 
 
 The Board of Trustees turned at once to the rebuilding. 
 From the insurance $30,000 was collected. 26 This amount 
 included over $2,600 which the College received from a 
 policy Judge Thomas had been carrying on the buildings. 27 
 Nevertheless, the cost of the rebuilding and the installation 
 
228 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of steam heat and gas went beyond these resources. The 
 trustees had to borrow about $2,700, a part of it from the 
 small endowment. 28 On June 13, 1871, the Board resolved 
 "that the treasurer be authorized to use the interest on the 
 endowment fund in paying the indebtedness of the trus- 
 tees; and, if the interest is not sufficient for that purpose, 
 to use the principal . . . ; and that the proceeds of the 
 lease of the lots south of College Avenue ... be appropri- 
 ated to reimburse the principal, so used, with interest." The 
 rebuilding after the fire in 1872 involved more borrowings 
 from the endowment, indeed, its absorption. With refer- 
 ence to the lots south of College Avenue, where Ann Rut- 
 ledge Hall now stands, the Board had voted in 1870 to lease 
 this property for ninety-nine years, since the charter pro- 
 hibited its sale. 29 It is interesting that they foresaw no need 
 that the College would have for it in the future. In 1872, 
 these lots were leased for a period of ninety-nine years at 
 $2,600. 30 
 
 On July 28, 1870, the cornerstone of the new building 
 was laid with elaborate ceremonies, quite in the spirit of 
 this "Gilded Age" of expansive and progressive America. 
 It was all a good bit of advertising a la Professor Sanders 
 (Doctor DeMotte confessed later that he resolved to face 
 the professor on his own grounds of aggressive advertising) . 
 Dinner was served on the college grounds to three hundred 
 Masons, including many visiting brothers, and later in the 
 college dining room to the "press gang," musicians, Meth- 
 odist ministers, and other visitors. At two o'clock a long 
 procession of Masons, trustees, city and state officials, and 
 citizens marched from the Court House around the Square, 
 led by the Jacksonville Zouaves, who appeared for the first 
 time in their picturesque costumes with glittering bayonets. 
 L. B. Carpenter, of Decatur, delivered an address on 
 "Woman and her Mission in the Nineteenth Century," and 
 the cornerstone was laid according to the Masonic ritual. 
 "The grand effect of the procession was very imposing," the 
 Journal declared. "The brilliant costumes of the advance 
 
History of MacMurray College 229 
 
 guards and the more costly uniforms of the stately Sir 
 Knights, the fraternity in full regalia, and the inspiring 
 music of three bands all contributed to effect this result. 
 Our citizens turned out in great number to gaze upon and 
 admire the spectacle." 31 In a special article on "The Crowd 
 of Yesterday," the Journal declared that Jacksonville had 
 not seen such a gathering of people for a long time. "The 
 streets were one complete blockade, and, previous to the 
 moving of the procession for the ceremonies attending the 
 laying of the cornerstone of the Illinois Female College, it 
 was with great difficulty that people could make their way 
 on either side of the Square. During the early part of the 
 day the merchants did a thriving business and soda fountains 
 were constantly running at full force." 32 It is interesting to 
 note that the soda fountain had appeared on the American 
 scene. And, with reference to the crowd, strict honesty 
 forces one to admit that there was a circus in town on the 
 same day. 
 
 The new building, constructed at a cost of $34,500, was 
 ready for use by the opening of the second term in January 
 187 1. 33 This three-story building, with its three towers and 
 mansard roof, was in keeping with the fashion of that ro- 
 mantic period. The Indiana School Journal, which carried 
 a picture of it, declared it a "handsome building in a hand- 
 some city" and the most comfortable college building in 
 Illinois. 34 The Jacksonville Journal was impressed with its 
 external ornamental features, especially the main tower, 140 
 feet high. 35 And the Central Christian Advocate praised its 
 internal arrangements: "The Illinois Female College, as it 
 stands today, is one of the most perfect boarding school edi- 
 fices in the West. Light, cheerful, well-arranged for health 
 and comfort, lighted by gas and heated with steam ... all 
 the old, oft-repeated objections to boarding school life cease 
 to have any force. Neither surveillance, prison confine- 
 ment, nor starvation can be urged against it. . . ." 36 One notes 
 the emphasis here on a new social regime associated with 
 the new building. The Advocate added that much was 
 
230 History of MacMurray College 
 
 needed to furnish adequately and to beautify "this home for 
 your daughters, who come here to spend what are the most 
 important and ought to be the happiest years of their lives." 
 This journal had observed earlier that the grounds had been 
 tastefully laid off with "winding walks and flowery hil- 
 locks." 37 The Journal advertised its "large retired play- 
 ground." 
 
 This building contained the parlors, chapel, classrooms, 
 offices, and the apartment for the president and his fam- 
 ily. The tower housed the "cabinet" and served as an "obser- 
 vatory." On the second floor, there were twelve dormi- 
 tory rooms (fewer than in the old building), but the wing 
 was used primarily as a dormitory. One feature added was 
 a gymnasium in the basement with a dressing room for day 
 students. Naturally everyone was proud of the steam heat. 
 Of the plans and the construction, President DeMotte wrote 
 later that it was a better and much more convenient build- 
 ing than the one burned. "The house was planned by 
 my wife and myself," he said. "We were embarrassed by 
 the determination of the Board to retain and use a portion 
 of the foundation and to build within the amount received 
 for insurance. We could have planned better had we been 
 at liberty, but, considering our limitations, I have never 
 been ashamed of our work." 38 He bought a good deal of 
 new furniture. In January 1871, just before the opening 
 of the school, the ladies of the Methodist churches gave a 
 "festival and soiree," from which they raised $300 for new 
 furnishings. 39 And the Jacksonville Journal of November 
 26, 1870 had reported that the young ladies of the College 
 had presented a cantata, "The Future of Nations," to raise 
 money to furnish the classrooms. 
 
 The advertisements of the new building and the academic 
 improvements at the Illinois Female College were perhaps 
 inspired in part by the opening of Illinois Wesleyan to girls 
 by conference action in 1870. The Jacksonville Journal 
 published the following statement shortly after the confer- 
 ence session: 
 
History of MacMurray College 231 
 
 As a paragraph has been published in some of the papers of the state 
 with reference to the action of the late Methodist Conference, which 
 may mislead the public, we give the facts in the case. The trustees of 
 the Wesleyan University at Bloomington expressed their readiness at the 
 Conference to admit young ladies to the University with the consent 
 of the Conference and it was given them. Afterwards a resolution was 
 passed suggesting to the trustees of the Illinois Female College the pro- 
 priety of opening the doors to young gentlemen. It is, however, scarce- 
 ly probable that it will ever be done,, as it is contrary to the original 
 design of the institution, besides the present patronage of the school is 
 in advance of its accommodations for pupils under the present plan. 40 
 
 Less than two years after the new building was occupied 
 it was burned — on November 18, 1872. The president and 
 trustees had felt particular gratification that this building 
 was fireproof, and its destruction came as a terrible shock. 
 In its construction a "dust shaft" had been made, extending 
 from basement to tower, with a view to convenience in 
 sweeping. A live match, or one fired by friction or a mouse, 
 was supposed to have started the fire in this shaft. 41 It came 
 while the great Chicago fire was still fresh in memory and 
 immediately on the heels of a big one in Boston. The Jack- 
 sonville Journal, usually more restrained, emphasized the 
 catastrophe in sensational headlines: "Fire! The Red 
 Demon Loose Again! Illinois Female College Chicagoed! 
 Down for the third time — Jacksonville has free fireworks — 
 Fourth of July Outdone — No Water! No Engine! No 
 Firemen! No Head — All Tails and Confusion. Loss $45,000, 
 Insurance $35,000. How about those waterworks now!" 42 
 These two fires, it might be said, were a factor in hastening 
 the installation of city water works. The Journal insisted, 
 too: "This fire teaches what other fires should have im- 
 pressed on us that, without a responsible fire brigade and 
 competent engineers and fire machines to take charge of a 
 fire, it is utterly foolish to expect to save a building after 
 it is once fired." 43 In this instance, there was almost no 
 water at hand; a limited amount was brought from the In- 
 stitute for the Deaf. The old Union Fire Company was 
 sadly disorganized; twenty minutes were lost, the Journal 
 said, at the most critical point, before any one could be 
 found who knew how to work the engine. The tall tower 
 
232 History of MacMurray College 
 
 got its share of the blame; the fire broke out in that most 
 inaccessible region, and the mansard roofs shared the respon- 
 sibility. As in the fire of two years before, the west wing 
 was saved and most of the furniture was removed, but it 
 was badly damaged. Doctor DeMotte's personal losses were 
 considerable, for he again had no insurance on the furniture. 
 A few girls suffered losses. Two of them, from Chicago, 
 had recently twice lost their wardrobes in fires in other 
 schools. 44 The fire furnished a topic of discussion in the 
 press for days. Crowds visited the ruins "of what was once 
 one of the most beautiful structures of the kind in the 
 West," now a "sad and depressing picture." The final touch 
 of this "Gothic tale" was the story of the pigeons which had 
 nested in the cupola. They circled over the fire, refusing 
 to desert their home, and were finally consumed in the flames, 
 the reporter declared. 45 
 
 This trial by fire was met with no such buoyancy of 
 spirit as that which faced the loss in 1870. Friends and pa- 
 trons of the College were stunned. The disaster excited "sur- 
 prise and universal comment." There were those who saw 
 a parallel with the famous Cokesbury case. No doubt some 
 considered the disaster providential. 46 Apparently, the 
 doubts were few and short-lived, but they existed and were 
 expressed. In spite of a deep personal bereavement in the loss 
 of his wife a few months before, President DeMotte kept up 
 his courage and cheered others. He had no thought of 
 closing the school, even temporarily. A mass meeting was 
 held in the basement of Centenary Church, again the "col- 
 lege home," to discuss the question of future arrangements. 
 The Journal reported the meeting with impressive captions: 
 "Never Say Die! The Burned College Redivivus. Old 
 Phoenix in Business Again! A Lively Meeting of the 
 Scorched Ones Yesterday. School to Reopen at Once. And 
 That's What's the Matter!" 47 At this meeting of the 
 "scorched ones," Peter Akers, eighty-two, not only gave no 
 ear to whispers of closing the school but "very earnestly in- 
 sisted that the institution must take no backward step on 
 
History of MacMurray College 233 
 
 account of the recent calamity." Doctor Gillett, head of 
 the School for the Deaf and patron of the College, declared 
 that the interest of Christian education would not permit 
 its closing. Miss Belle Leonard, one of the teachers and a 
 very devout lady, apologized for having advised against re- 
 building; Miss Emeline Allyn, another teacher, declared she 
 would stand by — she refused to be burned out. Doctor 
 W. F. Short, later president of the College, closed the meet- 
 ing with a resolution that "we heartily approve the deter- 
 mination of President DeMotte and the faculty to carry 
 on"; Peter Akers seconded the motion, and it was carried 
 by a unanimous vote. The editor of the Journal announced: 
 "The Illinois Female College is to continue in session as a 
 matter of course. It always does when it burns out. . . . 
 Next spring just as soon as Jack Frost will permit, the burned 
 building will begin to Phoenix and before the fall will be 
 confidently expected to show a handsomer front than be- 
 fore." Offers of aid came from many sources. Quincy 
 (Chaddock College) offered its buildings, but the College 
 accepted the use of the Centenary basement and other rooms 
 in the neighborhood. 48 Girls who could not be placed in 
 the west wing found rooms in town. Professor Sanders 
 generously offered to give a benefit concert to aid the musi- 
 cal department of the College, and his offer was accepted. 49 
 That the excitement of these days offered considerable com- 
 pensation to the schoolgirls for their losses and discomforts 
 is revealed in Hattie Hobbs Barnes' account of the fire: 
 
 I well remember . . . how the girls pumped the cistern dry in trying 
 to put out the flames before the fire department could reach us ... ; 
 how after hours of excitement we were housed in the hospitable homes 
 of Jacksonville; and the next morning literally trailed back through the 
 park, for every girl wore long- trained wrappers for evening study; how 
 we all stood around that mountain of police-guarded clothing in the 
 back yard that cold November morning and each selected her own gar- 
 ments. Next door, Mrs. Orear opened wide her doors as headquarters for 
 the girls, to whom this was a great lark. The trustees, president, and 
 faculty no doubt held many an anxious meeting until we were safely 
 housed in the west wing . . . Our motherly matron [Mrs. Woodson] 
 wrought for our comfort, so that the girls felt no hardships, only an 
 added coziness, because there were not many of us left. 50 
 
234 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Soon after the fire, the question of co-education was again 
 rumored. A meeting of Jacksonville citizens assembled at 
 the Court House to discuss plans of getting the Methodist 
 Conference to locate at Jacksonville a co-educational insti- 
 tution said to have been proposed at the recent session in 
 Rushville. 51 At this meeting it was announced that a com- 
 mittee of the Conference on location was to assemble in 
 Jacksonville on December 3. This citizens' meeting named 
 a committee to solicit subscriptions that might induce the 
 Conference to place the College in Jacksonville. On De- 
 cember 3, the Journal announced that the Education Com- 
 mission of the Conference was to meet in the city, but the 
 paper contained no further information as to the proposed 
 co-educational college. 52 
 
 The new Main Building was constructed on the same 
 plans as the one burned, and was ready for use by Decem- 
 ber 1, 1873. 53 From the walls of the old building consider- 
 able material could be used; a settlement by arbitration was 
 made with the insurance companies, and the sum of $25,741 
 was awarded the College, $3,640 of which came from a 
 policy carried, as before, by Judge Thomas. 54 In the re- 
 building, more money was borrowed from the endowment 
 fund. The first report shows a use of over $6,000 from 
 this source, and further borrowing was made to pay off the 
 indebtedness. 55 Upon beginning the construction, the trus- 
 tees had decided apparently to invest permanently their 
 small endowment in the building. They passed a resolution 
 to use it thus and to charge the president a rental, by which 
 a reasonable interest on the endowment could be secured. 56 
 At the same meeting, the Board appointed President DeMotte 
 and John Mathers as a committee to examine the scholar- 
 ship accounts to determine how many were still outstand- 
 ing, and to inform the holders of the situation of the Col- 
 lege and to ask them to come to its assistance by surrender- 
 ing the scholarships. By this means it was thought, perhaps, 
 the president might make up in tuition what he paid out in 
 rental. The minutes of the trustees contain no statements 
 
History of MacMurray College 235 
 
 of the results of this investigation nor of the rentals required 
 of the president. The Main Building cost, according to a 
 report made in March 1874, approximately $33,500, but 
 statements in later minutes indicate that there were some 
 additional expenditures. 57 
 
 The trustee minutes contain no reference to the laying 
 of a cornerstone, and the dates on the existing cornerstone 
 of Main indicate that it was the same one laid in 1870. 
 There is no reference on it to the fire of 1872 or to the 
 rebuilding. Incidentally, this cornerstone contains several 
 errors as to dates. The school opened in 1848, not 1849; 
 the original Main was erected in 1852 (completed then, 
 cornerstone laid, 1849) not 1850; the institution secured an 
 amendment to the charter giving it the rank of college in 
 1851, not 1852; and the west wing burned in 1861, not 1862. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL CHANGES IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 President DeMotte was by predilection a teacher rather 
 than an administrator and carried a full load of teaching as 
 professor of natural, mental, moral, and political science. 
 He taught more than any president of the College before or 
 since his day. He loved best the classroom work to the very 
 end of his long life. "It keeps me young," he declared. He 
 wished the single word "Teacher" placed on his casket after 
 his death. Although he accused himself of being satisfied 
 with doing well the work in which he was placed without 
 any special ambition to blaze new trails, one discovers that 
 he made considerable changes in the program of education 
 at Illinois Female College during his presidency of seven 
 years. In addition to changes in the curriculum, he prob- 
 ably made even more radical modifications in the adminis- 
 tration of it, which are not revealed by the catalogue or 
 other statements. In his autobiography he recorded that, 
 when considering the position offered, he was told "the 
 course of study had deteriorated, and the standard of instruc- 
 tion and scholarship was low, and the object of seeking a 
 change in the presidency was with the hope of bringing these 
 features up to a creditable point." 58 To what extent these 
 
236 History of MacMurray College 
 
 weaknesses existed has been discussed in the preceding chapter. 
 President DeMotte, although by choice a classroom in- 
 structor, was apparently an efficient administrator; Doctor 
 Adams did not excel in the latter field at least. 
 
 The objectives of the changes in the curriculum seem 
 to have been: first, to raise the academic level in keeping 
 with the general movement of higher education; second, to 
 emphasize certain practical and cultural objectives to fit 
 a young lady for a useful and genteel social life. These 
 two objectives were both served by some changes in the 
 course, but there seems to have been some distinction of aim 
 and method. The first objective would have led to more 
 effort to keep the course of study equal to that of the best 
 colleges for men or women (and there was some effort to 
 do this) ; the second sought to give woman an education in 
 modern languages, literature, the fine arts, and fine manners, 
 it would seem, without trying to fit the school to any stan- 
 dard established by colleges generally. The modern languages 
 and literature, to be sure, were of intellectual as well as of 
 "social-polish" value and the greater emphasis on the fine 
 arts served intellectual and professional ends as well as the 
 "cultural" in the narrower sense of that term. The increase 
 of wealth, the rising standard of living, and some leisure for 
 housewives gave an incentive for a cultural education that 
 would fit a woman for leadership in literary and musical 
 clubs, which multiplied amazingly in the later nineteenth 
 century. Americans were soon interested, too, in travel to 
 Europe, which gave practical value to modern languages and 
 also encouraged training in the history and criticism of art 
 and architecture. Certain emphases in the curriculum, par- 
 ticularly the large place given to the fine arts, were encour- 
 aged by the competition with the Athenaeum, discussed be- 
 low. The following statement, which appeared first in the 
 catalogue of 1872, suggests an effort to broaden the educa- 
 tion of the student in physical, social, and aesthetic values 
 outside the regular curriculum. It was entitled The Depart- 
 ment of Physical and Moral Culture and read: 
 
History of MacMurray College 237 
 
 From years of experience in the education of woman and from obser- 
 vations upon the means and methods best calculated to give her the 
 ability and skill which her lifework so imperatively demands, we have 
 come to esteem the studies and exercises usually set down in the literary 
 course as but a portion of the educating means which are needed; that 
 there are many things of the first importance to her which are not to 
 be learned from books nor to be acquired by the usual drill of the 
 schoolroom. And feeling that our students — especially those from a dis- 
 tance — look to us for instruction, we have perfected a plan to meet such 
 expectations. It will include Lectures and Conversations conducted by 
 competent persons upon such practical subjects as Health, including the 
 influences of diet, exercise, and habits of life in promoting and preserving 
 it; the importance of food and dress in their relations to it; and the 
 care of the sick. Aesthetics, the cultivation of taste and skill in dress, 
 the arrangement and keeping of rooms, etc. Etiquette — The reasonable 
 demands of society and how to meet them properly. 
 
 The number of competent ladies connected with the school and the 
 large college "family" will afford ample means and opportunities for 
 treating these subjects without extra charge. Sufficient time will be 
 given each day for physical exercise; and a class in Light Gymnastics 
 will be kept up. 59 
 
 The background of a cultured home possessed by Mrs. De- 
 Motte and her pronounced liking for intelligent and pol- 
 ished society, as well as the training of the lady principals, 
 gave excellent opportunity for such culture in fine living. 
 The emphasis on the social education that was facilitated by 
 the large college "family" was perhaps in part an answer to 
 Professor Sanders' arguments against boarding schools and 
 in favor of placing girls in private homes. 
 
 The main features of the academic course remained much 
 the same. The preparatory department was restored, and 
 four years of collegiate work were given. One might choose 
 still either the classical course leading to the degree of Mis- 
 tress of Liberal Arts or the English course with the degree of 
 Mistress of English Literature, From 1868 to 1870 the lat- 
 ter was designated, more properly in keeping with its con- 
 tents, the Scientific Course, but the degree granted was still 
 Mistress of English Literature! In 1871, the old title was 
 restored, but with changes in the course which gave it some 
 justification. Certain changes in the curriculum are inter- 
 esting. The most notable were the larger provision for lan- 
 guages — two years each for French and German under na- 
 
238 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tive instructors (in some years, at least) and the greater 
 emphasis on literature. Both English and American litera- 
 ture were studied by 1875, also the history of the English 
 language and the analysis of poetry. The customary empha- 
 sis on composition and rhetoric was maintained. Domestic 
 economy was dropped from the prescribed curriculum, but 
 some of its teachings were covered in the Department of 
 "Physical and Moral Culture. Bookkeeping also disappeared 
 from the list of subjects required for graduation (it had 
 probably never been more than practice in the keeping of 
 household accounts) . It was replaced by a special division, 
 the Business Department, advertised first in the catalogue 
 of 1872 and described as follows: "The very best instruction 
 in this important and often much neglected department of 
 education has been amply provided for. Professor G. W. 
 Brown of the Jacksonville Business College will give a course 
 in Bookkeeping and Penmanship to consist of two exercises 
 each week for the first six months of the year. The most 
 approved business forms now in use such as bills, notes, 
 checks, and drafts will be employed in these exercises. . . ." e 
 This course was entirely optional, and a special fee of five 
 dollars was charged. To what extent it was patronized the 
 records do not show. It was an attempt to meet the compe- 
 tition the College might face from institutions offering a 
 purely practical education. Professor Brown later became 
 head of the school mentioned above, which had been known 
 as Crompton's Business College and was to become the 
 Brown's Business College of today. It became the leader of a 
 chain of institutions throughout the West, and was and is an 
 excellent institution of its class. Graduates of the Female Col- 
 lege were already patronizing it. Faithful Shipley Ebey, '53, 
 for example, took a course there in 1868. Founded to pro- 
 vide a "solid" academic education with no special provision 
 for training in either the vocational subjects or the genteel 
 graces, the Illinois Female College now sought patronage on 
 all these levels. 
 
 The mathematics course remained unchanged and the cur- 
 
History of MacMurray College 239 
 
 riculum in science was practically the same — physiology, 
 physical geography, botany, natural philosophy, chemistry, 
 geology, and astronomy. For several years a new subject, 
 Science of Common Things, was given in the freshman year. 
 In the earlier years of this administration more work in his- 
 tory was required — United States, Greek (with mythology) , 
 Roman, English, and French. Later United States history 
 was dropped back to the preparatory department and in 
 the collegiate course only a year in general history was re- 
 quired. Political economy and government were a year's 
 course for seniors. The early ambitious program of two 
 years of Latin in the preparatory department, instituted in 
 the 1850s, had been discontinued some years earlier; Latin 
 was begun as a freshman collegiate subject and continued 
 through four years. The required readings were extended 
 to include Horace's Ars Poetica as well as the Odes. Latin 
 was featured by having the salutatory address of the gradu- 
 ating class given in this language. Proficiency in French and 
 German was exhibited also by commencement essays written 
 and read in those languages. Mental and moral philosophy, 
 senior subjects, were maintained, but Butler's Analogy, re- 
 stored, disappeared again after 1874. The study of Evidences 
 of Christianity (Alexander's) was maintained throughout 
 these administrations. Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth recalls 
 that she and other students wondered why evidence was re- 
 quired! Texts were changed from time to time, and the 
 books used were the standard college texts of the period, as 
 Woody's list shows. 61 Dana's Geology, Gray's Botany, Whate- 
 ly's Logic, Goodrich's histories, Shaw's English and Ameri- 
 can Literature were some of the new textbooks. 
 
 The most revolutionary changes made in the curriculum 
 and in methods of instruction were in the fine arts. Doctor 
 Adams had attempted to raise the standards of musical edu- 
 cation by employing Professor Strachauer, but the experi- 
 ment did not succeed. It was premature. President De- 
 Motte's emphasis on the fine arts was encouraged by com- 
 petition with the Athenaeum as well as by recognition of 
 
240 History of MacMurray College 
 
 their intrinsic values and of a general rise in demand for 
 these studies after the Civil War. With respect to the 
 Athenaeum, it should be stated that Professor Sanders, an 
 extremist in some of his educational policies, was, neverthe- 
 less, a very able man and did constructive service doubtless 
 to all the women's schools in Jacksonville by the competition 
 he aroused. In the field of fine arts, it is true, the Illinois 
 Female College got an excellent start under President DeMotte 
 and in turn helped to force Professor Sanders to advance his 
 instruction in the fine arts. As to the academic field, the 
 Athenaeum, by allowing a student to choose whatever sub- 
 jects she wished, "was exerting a bad influence on all regu- 
 lar work," President DeMotte insisted; but the Presbyterian 
 Academy, he said, "was suffering more from this than our 
 school, as the Methodists were quite disposed to patronize 
 their own." 62 And he continued: 
 
 Sanders was a blowhard, an advertiser, the first school advertiser I 
 ever knew. It was not then usual for professional men to advertise. I 
 adopted as much of his customs as I thought judicious; began advertising 
 discreetly, visited the conferences, etc., setting out the advantages of the 
 College wherever I found opportunity. Among my preparations for the 
 opening was the selection of the best musical talent I could reach, the 
 purchase of some new instruments, and the organization of a Musical 
 Department with a carefully arranged course of study. ... I also 
 planned an Art Department, but did not succeed in securing a competent 
 teacher during the first year. But it grew afterwards, and our record in 
 art as well as in music was greatly to the advantage of the school. 
 
 In the first catalogue he issued, President DeMotte adver- 
 tised the Department of Music primarily with an eye to the 
 church patronage. Times had changed since the pioneer 
 days of Peter Cartwright's circuit-riding. "The increasing 
 demand for musical ability, created in a measure by the 
 fact that instruments have been introduced into many of 
 our churches, gives additional importance to this depart- 
 ment," the president declared, and added: "It is rapidly 
 passing from the purely ornamental to the useful." 08 He 
 announced the purchase of a new Mason and Hamlin seven- 
 stop, pedal-bass metropolitan organ for the Chapel. In ad- 
 dition to instruction in piano and voice, lessons were given 
 in organ, guitar, violin, and in harmony and musical com- 
 
History of MacMurray College 241 
 
 position. In 1875, he announced that the department as- 
 pired to give the most comprehensive and thorough instruc- 
 tion in this part of the country. "We esteem a musical edu- 
 cation among the utilities, and are prepared to qualify pupils 
 for excellence as performers or as teachers in all branches of 
 the art." 64 Fifteen rooms were devoted to music. A new 
 Hallett and Davis grand piano had been purchased for the 
 Chapel. 65 Later Steinway and Knabe pianos were purchased. 
 
 In the field of art, notable improvement began in 1871 
 under the instruction of Mrs. E. O. Browne, of St. Louis, 
 and was continued under Mrs. Mary Vigus. A revolution 
 in the objectives sought is indicated by the catalogue state- 
 ment: "It may be truthfully said of the Art of Design as 
 of music, that it has passed into the useful. . . . Free-hand 
 drawing, object lessons, studies from casts, models, and na- 
 ture have taken the place of the old superficial system of 
 copying from flats; and the object aimed at is not picture 
 making, but the development of artistic talent, the cultiva- 
 tion of taste, and the creation of an independence of ability 
 and skill. . . . ,,6e Lessons in free-hand drawing were still given 
 to the entire school without charge. 
 
 Record should be preserved of the contribution that the 
 Illinois Female College made to the artistic life of Jackson- 
 ville in the creation of the Jacksonville Art Association, 
 which flourished for several decades and did much for art 
 education in the city. The Association was organized under 
 the inspiration and leadership of Mrs. Browne at the Col- 
 lege on December 17, 1873, after a series of exploratory 
 meetings at the same institution. 67 An interesting typo- 
 graphical error probably set tongues to wagging in orthodox 
 Methodist circles. The Journal announced: "A number of 
 ladies and gentlemen met in the parlors of the Illinois Fe- 
 male College for the purpose of discussing the propriety and 
 feasibility of organizing the practical and theatrical art tal- 
 ent of the city." 68 The next issue admitted that the wrong 
 impression had been created by the word theatrical, which 
 should have read theoretical. 69 Former graduates of the Col- 
 
242 History of MacMurray College 
 
 lege, especially Mary Selby, '65, as well as members of the 
 faculty — Mrs. Browne, Mrs. Vigus, President DeMotte — 
 were founders and early promoters of this useful community 
 enterprise, which was soon to spread its influence, as the 
 Plato Club did, to all central Illinois. It held monthly meet- 
 ings for papers and discussions on art history and criticism 
 and arranged exhibitions of local work and pictures from 
 other places. It secured a charter in 1875 and later was given 
 a permanent home by Mrs. Phoebe Strawn, who donated 
 her residence for this purpose. 
 
 Although equipment for the teaching of the fine arts, 
 especially music, increased phenomenally, there was only 
 slight improvement in libraries or laboratories, so far as one 
 can discover. A report to the State Superintendent of Pub- 
 lic Instruction in 1870 stated that the college library con- 
 tained 1,000 books, the society libraries 500 each, and that 
 subscriptions to forty periodicals were maintained or had 
 been donated. The "cabinet" for scientific study was evalu- 
 ated at $500.™ A similar report in 1872 announced that re- 
 cent additions had been made to "the cabinet and the stock 
 of philosophical and astronomical and atomical apparatus." 71 
 In 1873, the Journal reported that President DeMotte had 
 just received a cabinet of shells, comprising 338 specimens, 
 which was "supposed to be the most complete in this part 
 of the country." 72 The prescribed work was still primarily 
 in textbooks. 
 
 Efforts to introduce more physical training were not suc- 
 cessful. A "gymnasium" was provided in the basement of 
 the new building, with a dressing room for the day stu- 
 dents, but it was apparently little used. In his address at 
 the semi-centennial celebration in 1897, Doctor DeMotte de- 
 clared: "When I was here thirty years ago one of your lead- 
 ing physicians said to me, 'Fortune and fame are assured the 
 educators of young women who will develop equally the in- 
 tellectual and physical.' It was not possible then. Patrons 
 did not ask it, would not pay for it, nor take it even gratui- 
 tously." 73 
 
History of MacMurray College 243 
 
 Although the enrollment was smaller than it had been in 
 the 1850s, the faculty was as large — eleven or twelve, some- 
 times more. Only five or six taught the collegiate academic 
 subjects, however. There were teachers of natural, politi- 
 cal, mental, and moral science (President DeMotte) ; Latin, 
 English and history, mathematics, modern languages, and 
 bookkeeping. In addition, there were one or two teachers 
 in the preparatory department and four in fine arts. For 
 a year or so a teacher of ornamental waxwork was listed 
 in the catalogue, but nothing was said about it or her. In 
 1873, Doctor J. P. Willard, a physician of Jacksonville, later 
 a trustee of the College, was placed on the faculty as lec- 
 turer on physiology and hygiene. His appointment initiated 
 a practice continued for a number of years of employing 
 professional men in Jacksonville as lecturers on scientific, 
 economic, and philosophical subjects. The faculty always 
 had three (with Doctor Willard, four) men as members. 
 Trustee minutes contain no financial reports of the president 
 as to salaries of teachers; that was entirely a matter now 
 between the president and the teacher. A report of Presi- 
 dent DeMotte to the State Superintendent of Public In- 
 struction in 1870 gave the annual expenditure for instruc- 
 tion as $4,875 — an average of about $450 for each faculty 
 member. 74 
 
 There are few records of faculty relationships. President 
 DeMotte's reference in his "Autobiography" to the sym- 
 pathy and help of the teachers after the death of his wife 
 would suggest a congenial family group. "They were a corps 
 of teachers the best I ever knew not simply professionally, 
 but as women," 75 he said. One of them, Miss Gildersleeve, 
 had taught with him in Indiana; another, Miss Pegram, went 
 later to teach with him in Xenia, Ohio; Miss Anna Graves, 
 teacher of piano and voice, he married after the death of 
 his first wife. A number remained from year to year. The 
 faculty group, considering the number of young women 
 on it, was a relatively stable one. The proportion of alumnae 
 on the faculty was smaller than it had been in the 1860s. 
 
244 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Miss Eliza Gildersleeve, the lady principal, who had held 
 the same position in the Indiana Female College, appears to 
 have embodied the dignity, even the primness and austerity, 
 that is usually associated with that office in former select 
 boarding schools for young ladies in the East. Doctor De- 
 Motte admitted that some of her pupils found her exacting 
 and arbitrary, but thought maturity brought them a more 
 adequate appreciation of her virtues. "Her most marked pe- 
 culiarity was she was wholly a teacher. At all times and in 
 all places her entire life was wholesomely didactic. To her 
 associates her dress was a daily lesson in good taste; her 
 conversation, in elegance of speech; her carriage, in pro- 
 priety; her spirit, an incessant animation of the finest moral 
 influence." 7 Her selection is indicative of the elevation of 
 tone that President DeMotte wished to give the College. 
 Such a paragon of inexorable excellence one might suspect 
 would discourage suitors, as well as frighten young ladies, 
 but she married a businessman in Indianapolis during her 
 second year at the College. Her place was taken by Miss 
 Mary C. A. Thompson, of the Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, 
 New York. 77 Mrs. Ophelia Forward, the last to fill the posi- 
 tion of lady principal under President DeMotte, continued 
 on into President Short's administration. A young widow, 
 with a ten-year-old daughter, she came to the College from 
 Cornell College, Iowa. Students remembered her as a tal- 
 ented Latin teacher and kind and helpful to all, especially 
 to the underprivileged. 78 Her daughter, Mrs. Vigus' two 
 boys, lively and mischievous, and President DeMotte's grow- 
 ing family — all living in the College — gave the institution 
 the character of a big family. The lady principals, Mrs. De- 
 Motte, and, indeed, all the teachers who lived in the Col- 
 lege, helped to entertain the girls on weekend nights. A 
 pretty picture is that of the Saturday night readings in the 
 parlor. President DeMotte usually led in these meetings, 
 selecting poetry, sometimes Dickens (a favorite), and once 
 for weeks he read serially Jules Verne's Around the World 
 In Eighty Days. The girls could hardly wait for the next 
 
History of MacMurray College 245 
 
 Saturday night. 79 Another favorite of Doctor DeMotte's 
 was Hawthorne. In his "Autobiography" he stated that he 
 voted for Franklin Pierce in 1852 for two reasons: he did 
 not like "military" government and was not willing to sup- 
 port General Scott; he did admire educated and literary men, 
 and voted for Pierce because Hawthorne supported him. In 
 passing, it may be added that Doctor DeMotte, although he 
 served most of his life in state institutions, was never active 
 in politics. He voted regularly the Republican ticket. 
 
 Among many good teachers, there were some especially 
 fine ones, who gave their lives to the work. Hattie Hobbs 
 Barnes, y 76, wrote in the College Greetings of November 
 1906: "No one went out of the college walls untouched 
 in character by the noble women whom we daily met in the 
 classroom. Miss Allyn, Miss Pegram, Miss Graves, and others 
 as noble were those days building homes and society, for 
 they were building women who mould them. To me my 
 daughter went home when she went back to the old Col- 
 lege." Mary Pegram, '64, of Lincoln, Illinois, had a con- 
 nection with the College as pupil, teacher of mathematics, 
 preceptress, and trustee of almost forty years. She was tiny, 
 dark-eyed, a wizard with figures. Poor students were fright- 
 ened by her, although she was very patient in explanations. 
 No one did more to foster standards of excellence in scholar- 
 ship and discipline. She was the delight of the superior stu- 
 dent and intrigued her with problems beyond her text- 
 books. 80 Miss Emeline Allyn, teacher of English literature and 
 history, was the daughter of Doctor Robert Allyn, an edu- 
 cator second to none in Illinois in the mid-century. Born 
 and educated in Connecticut (Wesleyan University) , teach- 
 er in Wilbraham and other schools in the East, Commission- 
 er of Public Instruction in Rhode Island, friend of Horace 
 Mann, Henry Barnard, and Louis Agassiz, he had a back- 
 ground of culture superior to most Illinois teachers. Eme- 
 line was born in the East, but the family came west in the 
 1850s. Doctor Allyn taught in Ohio University and was 
 president of McKendree and finally of the Southern Illinois 
 
246 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Normal at Carbondale. 81 Miss Allyn was recalled as a rather 
 stately person who "fully maintained the dignity of her 
 position." 82 To one of the superior students of this decade, 
 Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth, who later went on to Welles- 
 ley, she was treasured as one lovely and beloved, who gave 
 her students a fine appreciation of the best in literature. 
 Mrs. Wadsworth held her as a favorite along with Alice 
 Freeman Palmer of Wellesley. 88 Miss Esther Finley, "a lady 
 of culture and Christian refinement, who could skillfully 
 conduct young ladies through the mysteries of Caesar, Cicero, 
 and Xenophon," might also be included with these two as 
 a superior instructor in the literary branches. 84 She was the 
 daughter of Doctor James C. Finley, physician, Methodist 
 minister, classical scholar and teacher, once president of 
 McKendree, who intrigued biographers by his fine mind 
 and spirit. "He saw truth so clearly that it fascinated and 
 absorbed his entire being." 85 Miss Finley taught Latin from 
 1866 to 1871. Later she taught for years in the Southern 
 Normal University, cared for her invalid parents, and finally 
 spent her last years in an Indian mission in Oregon. 86 The 
 westward movement took many Illinois Female College 
 women into its current. Miss Belle Leonard impressed, if 
 she did not always attract, the students with her extreme 
 devoutness. She was the inspiration of the "praying band." 
 Mrs. Ellen DeMotte Gates believes she had once been a mis- 
 sionary in India. Her scruples would not permit her to mail 
 a letter unless it could reach its destination before Sunday. 87 
 The Board of Trustees spoke in the highest terms of the 
 service of Miss Leonard. Elizabeth Simpson Fraley, relative 
 of Bishop Matthew Simpson and teacher in the Institute for 
 the Blind later, was more influenced by her than by any other 
 teacher. 88 Yet, so contradictory is human personality, Miss 
 Leonard was discovered to be a good sport in the Saturday 
 meetings, could play popular music, and was quite willing 
 to do so. Sunday might be all religion, but not Saturday 
 night. 
 
 In the modern languages (French and German and some- 
 
History of MacMurray College 247 
 
 times Spanish, all classed as extras, for which a special fee of 
 twenty dollars each was charged) , there was a succession of 
 native French or German teachers — Mademoiselles F. Latard, 
 Ernestine Guerard de Vinci, and E. L. Muhlemann, none of 
 whom received much comment. Mademoiselle Latard stayed 
 several years and attracted some attention as a teacher of 
 music as well as of French. In 1874-75, Lillian Hurlburt 
 Gist, 9 75, former student of Mrs. Forward's at Cornell Col- 
 lege, taught French and German and completed the work 
 for her degree. 
 
 In the fine arts the Illinois Female College established an 
 excellent reputation during these years through the work 
 of Professor A. E. Wimmerstedt, a Swedish composer and 
 concert performer of distinction. His concerts in Chicago, 
 Springfield, and other midwestern towns were accounted 
 among the chief events of the season. 89 His work on the 
 organ was particularly outstanding. Professor Wimmer- 
 stedt, who taught also at the Institute for the Blind, re- 
 mained at the Illinois Female College for eleven years. Under 
 his instruction the enrollment in music passed beyond the 
 hundred mark. In 1871-72 it was 137. Professor Wimmer- 
 stedt created an interest in and appreciation of music by 
 lectures on musical history to the entire school and elevated 
 the social life by charming little teas and parties in his own 
 home. Among teachers of music was Miss Anna Graves, 
 of Jacksonville, who taught for several years, taking time 
 off for study in Boston. Miss Amelia DeMotte has record- 
 ed in recollections to the writer that her mother, the former 
 Miss Graves, taught music in the small town of Sheffield, 
 Illinois, before coming to the College, and that she was long 
 remembered there for having introduced the charms of 
 music and some acquaintance with its technique. She rode 
 out in a wagon with the first piano introduced into the com- 
 munity. Miss Graves was the first organist of Grace Church. 
 Mrs. Mary Turner Carriel, in her charming sketches of 
 Jacksonville women, wrote that she instituted this instru- 
 ment at Grace Church "to the great satisfaction of most 
 
248 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of the church members but to the sacrilegious horror of a 
 few." 90 In the field of art — painting and drawing — the 
 growth was not so rapid, but in 1874-75, thirty- three were 
 enrolled, twenty-five of them in painting. Mrs. E. O. 
 Browne, of St. Louis, was the teacher who first gave some 
 distinction to this department. St. Louis was the center 
 then of midwestern culture. As first president of the Art 
 Association, Mrs. Browne brought Professor W. T. Harris, 
 of St. Louis, leading educator and philosopher of the West, 
 to Jacksonville to lecture on "Art and Religion." 91 Students 
 in the Art Department were eligible to membership in this 
 Association. Mrs. Browne was succeeded by Mrs. Mary 
 Vigus, of Colorado, and originally from the East, where 
 she had studied with A. B. Durand and S. P. Gifford. She 
 remained for some years and maintained and extended prog- 
 ress in this field. She spoke before the Art Club on new 
 theories in art, using her classes to demonstrate the prin- 
 ciples. 92 
 
 Other facts about the faculty and students, their life in 
 the school and out are discussed below in a survey of these 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 PRESIDENT DEMOTTE AS CITIZEN HIS EDUCATIONAL 
 
 WORK IN OTHER FIELDS 
 
 President and Mrs. Catherine DeMotte took a leading 
 part in the intellectual life of Jacksonville and in com- 
 munity welfare. They raised the status of the College in 
 the city however difficult it might be to maintain its stand- 
 ing in competition with eastern institutions. 93 Their activity 
 in clubs deserves special mention. The women's club move- 
 ment was a great national development of the later nine- 
 teenth century for adult education (although this term was 
 not then used) . Jacksonville has the oldest of these women's 
 clubs, the Education Association. An alumna of the Illi- 
 nois Female College, Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, made a 
 historical study of the women's club movement in Illi- 
 nois, in which alumnae of the College had played a prom- 
 inent part. 9 * A cultured gentleman of another church had 
 
History of MacMurray College 249 
 
 declared, she said, that the real origin of this notable move- 
 ment had been the Methodist class meeting, where women 
 first had a chance at intellectual leadership. In Jackson- 
 ville, more than in most towns perhaps, the literary clubs 
 attracted the men also. There were men's clubs, women's 
 clubs, and clubs for both. In the oldest of the men's clubs, 
 the Literary Union, President DeMotte took an active part, 
 although he insisted later that he was not a "society" man 
 and that this was the only club to which he ever belonged. 
 He had been instrumental in the organization of the Art 
 Association. Both he and Mrs. DeMotte participated in the 
 Odeon, a sort of local lyceum, which held debates on tem- 
 perance, equal education for men and women, woman 
 suffrage, and other current subjects, and gave the admission 
 fees to a fund for a museum and public library. 95 Mary 
 Selby, Mary Palmer, Lida Akers, and other alumnae took 
 part in these public debates. Mrs. DeMotte was a charter 
 member and president of Sorosis organized in 1869, the sec- 
 ond club in the country of that type and name. 96 President 
 DeMotte was the chief promoter of the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association and its first president, and Mrs. DeMotte 
 was the first vice president of the Ladies' Christian Associ- 
 ation. 97 The college parlors became a popular meeting place 
 for clubs, as the files of the Jacksonville Journal show. 
 
 Incidentally, the College Chapel also began to be a plat- 
 form for speakers other than Methodist ministers. There 
 were the regular academic lectures, such as those of Doc- 
 tor Willard mentioned above. But it was a sort of red-let- 
 ter day when Bronson Alcott appeared. Doctor DeMotte 
 told the story of his appearance for the College Greetings 
 in April 1907: 
 
 One forenoon the call to Chapel was sounded at an unusual hour, and, 
 with curiosity as to the cause, all were soon seated to receive Mr. A. Bron- 
 son Alcott, the Concord philosopher. After a moment's consultation as 
 to what he should talk about, someone suggested the interest we all felt 
 in his daughter, Miss Louisa M. Alcott, then producing some of her best 
 work. In his fatherly affection and pride he readily acceded to this 
 proposition, and for an hour he talked quietly and entertainingly of 
 Miss Louisa's trials and successes. 
 
250 History of MacMurray College 
 
 And doubtless he never had a more sympathetic audience! 
 Doctor DeMotte told, too, of the visit of Dwight L. Moody, 
 who came along with several others. Dispute arose as to 
 which of the party should speak, and Moody declined, de- 
 claring that "the thought of facing all those young women 
 is frightful." 
 
 On May 26, 1872, on the eve of the annual commence- 
 ment, Mrs. DeMotte died, after a brief illness, leaving a 
 family of six, the youngest nine months old. Through the 
 help of the faculty and of the faithful matron, Mrs. Wood- 
 son, President DeMotte managed to carry on his work the 
 following year. In December 1873, he married Miss Anna 
 Graves, his voice teacher. Their daughter, Miss Amelia De- 
 Motte, was born at the College, of which she was later to 
 become an alumna. His niece, Margaret DeMotte, from 
 Indiana, attended several years. Even his son, Marshall, was 
 enrolled in the primary department, along with such notables 
 as Dickie Yates, later Governor of Illinois, Julius Strawn, 
 and Carl Black. His daughter, Frances, was outstanding in 
 local musical circles and became a teacher of piano at the 
 Institute for the Blind. Two other daughters soon married 
 and settled in Jacksonville. One of these, Mrs. R. A. Gates, 
 was to be a sort of fairy godmother to successive groups 
 of college girls, and, still residing in Jacksonville, has a place 
 of honor in all college functions and is a gracious benedic- 
 tion of the past upon the present. His youngest daughter, 
 Amelia (now a member of the MacMurray Board of Trus- 
 tees) , returned after the death of her father to teach in the 
 Jacksonville Institute for the Deaf. 
 
 President DeMotte confessed in his "Autobiography" that 
 he could find no very satisfactory explanation for his resig- 
 nation as head of the College. The pinch of its struggle for 
 existence had not arrived and apparently was not clearly 
 foreseen. It was in a good condition, and he enjoyed his 
 work; he had made friends in Jacksonville and a place for 
 himself and his family. 08 Yet, when a position as superin- 
 tendent of the Wisconsin School for the Deaf was offered, 
 
History of MacMurray College 251 
 
 he decided to return to his first work. During his residence 
 in Wisconsin the honorary Doctor of Laws degree was con- 
 ferred on him by Lawrence University. He found prob- 
 lems and disappointments in his work there and resigned in 
 1880. After two years in a similar institution in Kansas, 
 from which he was removed by a turn of the political wheel, 
 he took the presidency of the Methodist Female College at 
 Xenia, Ohio. This old and one-time excellent school he 
 found without endowment and in a precarious condition. 
 Unable to carry out the reforms he considered essential to 
 its advancement, he resigned in 1887. For two years he served 
 as secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association which 
 he had organized in Jacksonville, and did constructive work 
 in promoting the public library and gymnasium under the 
 supervision of that organization. Fortunately, as a balm 
 for his last years, he was invited to return as a teacher to 
 the Indiana School for the Deaf, where he died in 1910. His 
 ties with Jacksonville and the College had remained close. 
 He returned to speak at the semi-centennial, on the first 
 Founders' Day, and on other occasions; he wrote various 
 articles for the College Greetings. He insisted upon its need 
 of endowment for libraries, laboratories, and better instruc- 
 tion." Many influences — Methodist humanitarianism, the 
 proximity of local institutions, and others — have given stu- 
 dents and alumnae of the College a particular interest in 
 the deaf mute and the blind, but the work of Doctor De- 
 Motte and his daughters for the welfare of these unfor- 
 tunates has deepened and personalized this concern. 
 
 WILLIAM F. SHORT, 1875-1893: ILLINOIS 
 EDUCATION, METHODIST MINISTRY 
 
 Although not a native of the state, William F. Short be- 
 longed to Illinois more completely than any other presi- 
 dent of the College. 100 Not only so, he belonged to "historic 
 Morgan and classic Jacksonville." No fitter choice could 
 have been made for a person to edit its history, published 
 with the Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois in 1906, than 
 this "Old Settler." He was born in 1829, in Ohio, of Vir- 
 
252 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ginia parents — Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia, than 
 whom there were no more forceful pioneers and state build- 
 ers. Daniel Short, the father, like many another Virginian, 
 left the state to escape the influences of slavery. In 1834, 
 he moved from Ohio to central Illinois. Ministers were fre- 
 quently pressed into service as lawmakers in a day when 
 literate citizens were not numerous; thus Daniel Short served 
 Sangamon County as legislator, as Newton Cloud, Peter 
 Cartwright, and others had served their "terms." On the 
 side he did some farming, as most Methodist ministers 
 did, too. 
 
 William F. Short grew up on the farm under the priva- 
 tions and hardships customary to the life of the frontier and 
 of the family of a Methodist minister. At the age of twen- 
 ty, he decided to enter the ministry himself, and as prepa- 
 ration for it enrolled in McKendree College, taking the class- 
 ical course. His senior year he spent in the new men's col- 
 lege of the Illinois Conference, Illinois Wesleyan, from 
 which he was graduated in 1854 with the Bachelor of Arts 
 degree. In 1857, McKendree College granted him the Mas- 
 ter of Arts degree for continued literary pursuits, a prac- 
 tice common to colleges of that time. The Doctor of Di- 
 vinity degree was conferred by Ohio Wesleyan University 
 in 1877. 
 
 In 1854, soon after his graduation, William Short mar- 
 ried Sarah Laning of Petersburg. Minerva Masters, of the 
 same city and a recent graduate of the Illinois Female Col- 
 lege, was bridesmaid. The Lanings were old settlers and dis- 
 tinguished citizens of the Petersburg-New Salem country 
 immortalized by Abraham Lincoln. Edgar Lee Masters, 
 in his charming Sangamon, refers to "the genial-natured, 
 high-minded character of the leading people there, like the 
 Lanings." They "proved their blood in such cases as Harris 
 Laning, the son of C. B. Laning, a partner in the 'broad- 
 guage store/ who became a rear admiral in the navy, and 
 as Edward Laning, the grandson of the excellent lawyer of 
 that name, who made a place for himself as an artist." "Per- 
 
History of MacMurray College 253 
 
 haps the finest house still in Petersburg," [he wrote], "is that 
 of the elder Edward Laning, all of pressed brick and Vic- 
 torian towers and balconies, standing in a picturesque view 
 at foot of the hill which one passes going out of town to- 
 ward Tallula." 101 Sarah Laning was the sister of C. B. Lan- 
 ing and the elder Edward. Since for eighteen years she was 
 the mistress of the "College Home," this page of her social 
 background is a part of college history. 
 
 The Shorts went immediately after marriage to take charge 
 of the Missouri Conference Female Seminary at Jackson, 
 Missouri. After three years of successful work there, they 
 returned to Illinois, where all the remaining years were 
 spent. He held charges at Island Grove, Waverly, Win- 
 chester, Carlinville, Jacksonville (Grace Church), and sev- 
 eral other places, most of them in Morgan. At the time 
 he was elected to the presidency of the College, he was pre- 
 siding elder of the Jacksonville District. He had had inti- 
 mate association with the school for many years. Several 
 sisters attended in the 1850s, and he had visited them and 
 other young ladies when he was a student at McKendree. In 
 the crisis of 1857 to 1863, he had contributed to the cam- 
 paign to pay the debt, selling his only cow and his horse 
 and buggy to meet his payments. 102 Mrs. Short was rejoiced 
 when the Conference in 1868 moved him to Jacksonville, 
 although the minister's wife suffered the chief inconveni- 
 ences from moving. Her three daughters could now attend 
 college, a thing difficult to manage on the minister's salary 
 if they had to board in the school. The eldest, Luella Belle 
 Short, was entered in 1868 and graduated in 1873 under 
 Doctor DeMotte. Indicative of the popularity of the Ladies* 
 Repository, this daughter had received the name Luella 
 from a contributor, Luella Clark, whose verse Mrs. Short 
 enjoyed. Thus these Victorian ladies selected the names for 
 their children. All three daughters were graduated from 
 the College. The youngest (Maie) and a sister of Doctor 
 Short's were also members of the faculty. The eldest daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, gave years of useful service 
 
254 History of MacMurray College 
 
 as an alumna trustee and secretary and a field representative. 
 No daughter has served her Alma Mater more faithfully. 
 Today a granddaughter (Mary Waller) is on the staff of 
 MacMurray. The Short connections with the College have 
 formed a long chain, covering almost the century. 
 
 The choice of Doctor Short would seem a happy one. He 
 was widely-known and liked in central Illinois. A popu- 
 lar preacher, a genial and sympathetic friend, he was sought 
 constantly to serve on those intimate and sacred occasions 
 of baptism, marriage, or the last rites for the dead not only 
 in his own denomination, but often outside it. If any- 
 one could secure a patronage for the College, it would seem 
 that he could. Seven years' residence in Jacksonville had 
 given him an established place in the city's social and re- 
 ligious life. A Democrat and more actively partisan than 
 preceding presidents, his partisanship did not seem to in- 
 jure his popularity. As a War Democrat, he had been even 
 more aggressively nationalistic during the Civil War per- 
 haps than many Republican colleagues. 103 
 
 EFFORTS TO SECURE AN ENDOWMENT 
 
 COLLEGE AND CONFERENCE RELATIONSHIPS 
 
 Although the College was forced to live virtually from 
 its income from tuition, fees, and board during these twenty- 
 five years, its presidents and trustees were not content with 
 this limitation. Various plans for an endowment were tried; 
 the results were meager. The most ambitious of these schemes 
 was another land deal, this time in railroad lands in regions 
 west of Illinois. In 1874, Judge Thomas reported to the 
 Board of Trustees that the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe 
 Railroad was offering a liberal commission to benevolent 
 institutions for the sale of its lands received from the Fed- 
 eral Government. He recommended the appointment of 
 an agent to undertake such a sale, and the Board approved 
 this plan. A committee of two from the Board and one 
 from the Conference was named to take the matter up 
 with the railroad. 104 At the Conference in October, this plan 
 was modified. Illinois Wesleyan University was interested 
 
History of MacMurray College 255 
 
 in a similar project to raise money to pay off its large debt. 
 An agreement was made, with conference approval, that 
 the two schools employ the same agent, each to pay half 
 the expense (to be taken from the profits) and each to re- 
 ceive one-half the profits, and that the contract be with 
 the Missouri, Kansas, and Topeka. At a meeting in October 
 the Board of Trustees approved this modification of its 
 plan. 105 W. J. Rutledge was appointed as the agent of the 
 two schools. Although the trustees had hopes of raising a 
 considerable endowment from this enterprise and voted to 
 put it to interest as endowment or to lend it to the College 
 for buildings, the rents of which would reimburse the en- 
 dowment fund, the minutes contain no note of any income 
 from this score. The Central Christian Advocate did report 
 in May 1875 that the amount accruing to Illinois Wesleyan 
 University from the sale of western lands was $40,000. 106 
 Perhaps this was another deal. In June 1875, this same paper, 
 reporting the commencement at the Illinois Female College, 
 declared that the financial outlook was encouraging, that 
 W. J. Rutledge had done well, and that if the next year 
 was a prosperous one in Kansas, he would sell enough to yield 
 the College a handsome revenue. 107 But no further state- 
 ments about this plan of endowment have been found. 
 
 In 1875, the Board of Trustees, with conference sanction, 
 appointed E. J. Hamill, as agent, to solicit gifts to an endow- 
 ment fund. Judge Thomas, president of the Board of Trus- 
 tees, undertook to explain in detail in the Central Christian 
 Advocate the use to which such gifts would be put and the 
 exact relation of the school to the Conference. His report 
 shows that the Board was looking to an enlargement of the 
 institution physically and academically. The funds would 
 be used: (1) to pay a debt of about $700, incurred in mak- 
 ing repairs after the last burning of the Main Building and 
 in putting a new fence around the college lot; (2) to pur- 
 chase additions to the library and the chemical and philo- 
 sophical apparatus; (3) to pay for an addition to the west 
 wing of the building and for furniture for the same; (4) 
 
256 History of MacMurray College 
 
 to build and furnish an east wing; (5) to add to the endow- 
 ment of the institution, the money to be invested in inter- 
 est-bearing securities, the interest only to be used to pay sal- 
 aries and other expenses. 108 After two years' work, the re- 
 sults of this agency were hardly enough to pay the agent's 
 salary, although a gift of land made by W. H. Webster, a 
 trustee, brought in a return of $1,000 many years later. 109 
 Hamill reported in June 1877 that, if some of the larger 
 promises and expectations were not realized by the Confer- 
 ence meeting in October, he thought it useless to continue 
 the agency, "at least until a more stable financial policy will 
 render collections easier." 110 Although conference visitors 
 continued to give flattering reports oi religious and educa- 
 tional conditions in the school, the members were apparently 
 not enthusiastic to aid a school which appeared to them a pri- 
 vate business of the president. That there was strong senti- 
 ment still to make it a co-educational school is suggested by a 
 letter of Peter Akers to his son, Joshua Akers, in July 1875, 
 about the time that Doctor Short was chosen president. In 
 it he said, "The words used by the trustees are, I suppose, 
 The Female College.' But the last Northwestern Christian 
 Advocate editorial says: 'Get that word out — Female!' Yes, 
 I add, and let the College be for the education of all the chil- 
 dren that can be sent" 111 
 
 In the spring of 1880 pressing needs for special repairs 
 led to the calling of a "parlor conference" of friends of the 
 College with the president and Board of Trustees. Plans 
 were made to raise $10,000; the trustees pledged $1,200, and 
 instructed Doctor Short to solicit donations. 112 The confer- 
 ence visitors in June made the following comments: 
 
 We note with pleasure the contemplated formation of an association 
 auxiliary to the Board of Trustees. Such a society could increase the 
 museum and apparatus, solicit donations and bequests to the endowment, 
 secure funds to establish prizes, and perhaps chiefly encourage the attend- 
 ance of students and very materially assist young ladies of promise who 
 are pecuniarily unable to secure the advantages of college education 118 
 
 Although nothing more was said about the "auxiliary as- 
 sociation," this effort produced a pittance, used chiefly for 
 essential repairs. The conference visitors in 1882 noted that 
 
History of MacMurray College 257 
 
 the buildings had received a coat of paint "in the most ap- 
 proved style." 114 President Short reported gifts of $2,000 
 in 1883. 115 In her annual address to the alumnae in 1881, 
 on "The Mission of our Society," Mary Pegram had ap- 
 pealed for contributions to an endowment. 116 In the follow- 
 ing year the alumnae omitted the annual banquet and gave 
 $150 to the library fund. 117 
 
 Some realized, President Short among the number, that 
 such puny efforts would never keep the College alive. In 
 the later 1880s the enrollment in the collegiate department 
 dropped to a small figure (it was 55, for example, in 1887- 
 88 and only 38 in 1892-93), although the numbers in music, 
 art, and the preparatory department kept the total to a 
 respectable level. Radical reforms were necessary or the 
 College was destined to go the way many another ante bellum 
 college and seminary had gone. The fortieth anniversary 
 was taken as an occasion for a larger program. The presi- 
 dent and others began to talk of an endowment of $100,000, 
 of a larger and better faculty, a music building, a gym- 
 nasium, and of libraries and laboratories, but nothing came 
 from these dreams. 118 In 1892, however, Hiram Buck, long- 
 time friend and benefactor of the school, offered land valued 
 at $16,000, if the College would raise $40,000 from other 
 sources. 119 The Board of Trustees accepted the offer. Doctor 
 Short talked enthusiastically of building an institution equal 
 to Smith, Vassar, or Wellesley. 120 But in a short time he had 
 decided to leave the College. The failure to secure the 
 $40,000 in the time allotted (by June 1, 1893) and the death 
 of Hiram Buck left the executors unable to continue the 
 offer. 121 Thus ended the work of two decades to obtain an 
 endowment. 
 
 During Doctor Short's administration the Board of Trus- 
 tees met seldom, and the meetings were rather perfunctory. 
 There was an annual meeting in early June to approve the 
 candidates for degrees and the faculty appointments for the 
 following year. In 1878, the president of the College made 
 a formal report (the first ever recorded) of the work of 
 
258 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the year. A few meetings were held to discuss Hiram 
 Buck's offer of an endowment, but the function of the trus- 
 tees had been temporarily suspended. Their duties consist- 
 ed in the administration of an endowment that did not 
 exist. During these years death removed many of the old 
 guard — Judge Brown, George Rutledge, John Mathers, 
 Matthew Stacy, John A. Chesnut, William Prentice, William 
 Thomas, and Hiram Buck. Among the new members the 
 most notable, through official position and long service, was 
 A. C. Wadsworth, an outstanding businessman and banker 
 of Jacksonville. He was a member from 1866 to 1911 and 
 president after the death of William Thomas in 1889. 
 Among other new members who appeared was Doctor T. 
 J. Pitner, physician and intellectual leader in Jacksonville, 
 frequent lecturer at the College, in whose home "Fair- 
 view" many social functions were held for the students, 
 including an annual picnic. Doctor Pitner's mother-in- 
 law, Alice McElroy Griffith, an early graduate of the Col- 
 lege, was one of the most effective ties between the genera- 
 tions of alumnae and students. Doctor J. P. Willard, an- 
 other trustee and a lecturer in physiology, was also a link 
 with the early days through his wife, Lydia Larimore, and 
 his sister, Vassie Willard. William Orear, an "old settler" 
 of Morgan, wealthy farmer and businessman, and a state 
 senator, was a trustee for some years, and Stephen Capps, 
 of the Woolen Mills, husband of Rhoda Tomlin and rela- 
 tive of the Akerses, another. Doctor Lloyd Brown, J. H. 
 Osborne, S. S. Dewees, and Henry C. Tunison were other 
 lay members. W. H. Webster, G. R. S. McElfresh, and W. 
 D. Best were the minister-trustees. The Board consisted 
 still of nine members, in addition to the president of the 
 College, who served as its secretary. The membership was 
 chiefly local, as the College had become primarily a Jack- 
 sonville institution. 
 
 ACADEMIC CHANGES: THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 
 
 The changes in the curriculum during President Short's 
 administration can be explained in terms not only of the 
 
History of MacMurray College 259 
 
 general evolution of education in the period, but also, and 
 perhaps more correctly, in terms of the exigencies of the 
 institution and the character and demands of a particular 
 constituency. Although ministers' daughters received free 
 tuition, a few students special aid, and some still came 
 on scholarships in spite of periodic efforts to secure their 
 surrender, the adjustments, it would seem, were primarily 
 made to suit a class in comfortable circumstances who 
 wanted a protected girlhood and polite education for their 
 daughters. In the later years of his administration, more 
 than half of the students came from Jacksonville and 
 most of them were enrolled in the primary or preparatory 
 departments or as "unclassified" students in the fine arts. 122 
 Some parents preferred a private school for girls only, such 
 as the Illinois Female College with its decided Christian in- 
 fluences and careful discipline, to the public schools for 
 boys and girls with their mixture of races and classes and 
 their uncertain discipline. In describing its accommodations 
 and internal regime, the administration declared that most 
 of the students came from the best homes of the country. 123 
 A number of students in the preparatory department, as 
 well as in the College, came from other states or from towns 
 at a distance, although the greater proportion came from 
 Jacksonville. 
 
 As to the collegiate work, the enrollment rather steadily 
 declined from 115 in 1875-76 to 38 in 1892-93, and the de- 
 cline was more pronounced in the freshman and sophomore 
 years. There were young ladies no doubt who desired a year 
 or two beyond high school with some music or art to "finish" 
 their education, or others who wanted a year or so of "solid" 
 college work at or near home before going on to a school 
 in the East; hence they enrolled in the junior or senior year. 
 The catalogue announced that graduates of good high schools 
 could complete the English course in one year, the classical 
 in two years. Records show that a number of graduates or 
 former students went to eastern colleges. 124 The following 
 figures relate to what has been said in these paragraphs: 
 

 Total En- 
 
 Year 
 
 rollment 
 
 1875-76 
 
 160 
 
 1879-80 
 
 147 
 
 1883-84 
 
 109 
 
 1886-87 
 
 148 
 
 1889-90 
 
 124 
 
 260 History of MacMurray College 
 
 In Collegi- Total from 
 
 ate Courses Jacksonville 
 
 115 65 
 
 76 79 
 
 54 45 
 
 59 95 
 
 49(33 juniors and ( no addresses 
 
 seniors) given) 
 
 1892-93 155 38(22 juniors and 
 
 seniors) 
 The enrollment in 1892 consisted in large part of a group 
 of "unclassified" students (97) in the fine arts or special 
 subjects. 
 
 For those who wished a solid education the instruction 
 in the literary and scientific branches was maintained up 
 to the established level and raised in certain respects. Doc- 
 tor Short himself was devoted to the classical tradition and 
 did what he could to encourage students to take the full 
 classical course. Of 248 graduates in academic courses dur- 
 ing his administration, 113 took the classical course, a higher 
 percentage than in earlier years. In some years the graduates 
 in the classical subjects exceeded those in the English course; 
 in 1890, ten took the classical, six the English. Some stu- 
 dents took more than the required years of Latin. Maie 
 Short Wadsworth had six years of Latin and began the study 
 of Greek. The requirement in Latin was raised, too, by 
 returning first year Latin to the preparatory department, 
 but two years of French or German might now be substi- 
 tuted for one year of the classical course. The work in 
 French and German was advanced by a larger reading re- 
 quirement and practice in conversation, which Doctor De- 
 Motte had instituted under native teachers. Some additions 
 were made to the curriculum, all of the more "cultural" 
 character — English, French, and Roman history, mythology, 
 and a course in art history and criticism. Emphasis on Eng- 
 lish literature was continued. Although not listed with these 
 other subjects, there were also lectures on musical history 
 and criticism open to all students. These musical lectures 
 were advertised as comparable to such courses recently in- 
 
History of MacMurray College 261 
 
 troduced into Vassar and as a feature of the plan to make 
 music a more intellectual and cultural study instead of mere- 
 ly ornamental. For those who wished a college course and 
 a degree without a struggle with mathematics or classical 
 languages, a Belles Lettres course of three years' work be- 
 yond the preparatory level was devised and the degree of 
 Mistress of Belles Lettres conferred upon its completion. 
 
 Devices were used to enliven and modernize the teaching. 
 Texts were changed to keep them up-to-date. In economics 
 and government and in the various sciences, as well as in 
 art and music, lectures and demonstrations by specialists 
 and field trips were instituted. The names of the lecturers 
 are sufficient evidence of the scholarly character of most 
 of these lectures to anyone who is acquainted with intellec- 
 tual Jacksonville; for example, David Prince, on electricity; 
 Arthur Prince, on the eye, ear, and the spectroscope; G. V. 
 Black, on the microscope (with demonstrations) and on 
 the teeth; Askew and Duncan, lectures and experiments in 
 chemistry; Hiram K. Jones, on Athens, Attica, and Shakes- 
 peare; William H. Milburn, on the voice and on Carlyle (a 
 personal friend of his) ; G. W. Brown and M. P. Ayers, on 
 banks and banking; Professor H. W. Milligan, of Illinois 
 College, on free trade, labor, and other economic questions; 
 R. C. Crompton, on comets; T. J. Pitner, on art history; 
 and others. 125 Trips were made by classes in economics to 
 the Capps Woolen Mills to see the process of manufacture 
 from raw wool to the finished cloth and to observe the ad- 
 vantages of division of labor; and to the gas works, the elec- 
 tric light plant, the railroads, the new telephone company, 
 the telegraph office, and other local industries; and by the 
 government classes to the Court House. The loan of a 
 telescope was secured for classes in astronomy. Sometimes 
 groups attended the classes of outstanding teachers in Illi- 
 nois College — the Latin classes of Professor Johnston, or the 
 astronomy classes of Professor Shaw "to observe the spots 
 upon the sun, which are becoming of great interest to stu- 
 dents of astronomy," it was reported, "because of the increase 
 
262 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in their number." 126 In the absence of laboratories, the in- 
 structors had to seek to give such experimental or practical 
 character to their courses as they could. And at least the 
 young ladies got some exercise! 
 
 In a report to the Jacksonville Journal of November 9, 
 1879, a young lady in the class in political economy insisted 
 that its members were able to discuss all such questions as 
 labor, the tramp, Communism, Indian affairs, commerce, and 
 the policies of free trade and protection. Although these 
 young ladies of the Middle West took the rights of women for 
 granted, they were not aggressive feminists nor blue stock- 
 ings. It would be difficult to find among them young women 
 such as the feminists pictured by Henry James in The Bos- 
 tonians, for example. They had never felt oppressed or 
 suppressed to the degree that some of their eastern sisters 
 had, and hence could not get terribly excited about political 
 rights or a political career (although they debated the ques- 
 tion of woman suffrage from time to time) . In many 
 respects, nevertheless, the intellectual interests of these girls 
 show a rather masculine taste and reflect no doubt the influ- 
 ence of their friends in Illinois College, with whom their 
 relations were much closer than with any woman's col- 
 lege. The subjects discussed by them in their graduating 
 essays and society exhibitions indicate the range of their 
 reading and discussion. Newspaper comments on their pro- 
 grams declared them quite up to the level of those of the 
 men's colleges, if not indeed superior to the latter. The 
 noted Professor Jonathan Baldwin Turner, for example, 
 made such an evaluation. 127 And the following comment 
 from the College Rambler (Illinois College) of June 1878, 
 might be regarded as high praise indeed coming, as it did, 
 from the "enemy's camp": "It is the general opinion that 
 the closing exercises of the Methodist Female College were 
 of the highest order. The tone of the essays and orations 
 was particularly noticeable, there being no out-gushings of 
 feeble female emotion." 
 
 Running through their programs, often summarized in 
 
History of MacMurray College 263 
 
 several newspaper columns, one is reminded that certain 
 problems are perennial. In the middle 1870s the pro and 
 con of inflation were presented, the labor problem, effects 
 of inventions on labor, capital and labor, political corrup- 
 tion in the United States, racial questions (the Indian prob- 
 lem and Chinese immigration) , problems in British- Ameri- 
 can trade, the dangers of wealth and materialistic philosophy, 
 the Bible in public schools, modern skepticism, science and 
 religion, the Catholic question in the United States, the prob- 
 lem of Spain — these are a few. The railroad question, then 
 a big issue, was discussed. It is interesting to note the con- 
 temporaneousness of their interest in Africa — the sources 
 of the Nile, "Chinese" Gordon, and Livingston were sub- 
 jects of essays. Irish landlordism was another. Studies of 
 Chaucer, Philip Sydney, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Madame 
 de Stael as well as of Tennyson, Thackeray, Mrs. Browning, 
 Horace, and Homer show the spread of interest. There was 
 even a paper on the atom! Students were critical of their 
 own system of education. The question of co-education 
 was the subject of many debates; also, whether Latin and 
 Greek were essential elements of a liberal education. 
 
 For some years a normal course was offered for the girl 
 who wanted an accelerated schedule to prepare for teach- 
 ing. This course, introduced in the first year of Doctor 
 Short's administration, was announced as follows: 
 
 To meet the demand for competent and trained teachers as also the 
 necessity of young ladies whose circumstances will not allow them to 
 complete the collegiate and English course, we have arranged a normal 
 course, including such branches as will prepare them for teaching in the 
 public schools of the state. . . . Provision will be made for lectures and 
 attendance at Teachers' Institutes for the benefit of those in this depart- 
 ment. 128 
 
 Apparently this course did not prove very popular. It dis- 
 appeared after 1880. It consisted of a review of common 
 branches with a number of collegiate studies and covered 
 two years. In 1881, a kindergarten class was organized by 
 Miss Catherine J. Marshall, '59, and conducted under the 
 auspices of the College for several years. 
 
 In the field of the fine arts much progress was made under 
 
264 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the direction of a group of excellent instructors — Professor 
 Wimmerstedt and his successors, and these subjects pro- 
 vided without doubt most of the income. Through the 
 assistance of Judge Thomas authority was secured from 
 the State in 1875 for the foundation of an Illinois Academy 
 of Music and Art with the right to give diplomas to those 
 who completed prescribed courses in these fields. 129 The 
 first diplomas were granted in 1879, this school being the 
 first in the State to confer such honors, it is said. 130 Graduat- 
 ing recitals became a new feature of the commencement 
 "season." A year of harmony and musical composition 
 was required for graduation in any phase of music. The 
 character of the instruction in music would seem to jus- 
 tify the claim of the College that its Academy of Music 
 was equal to the best conservatories of the West. "From 
 that time [1875] music and art became of ever increasing 
 importance to our school," Mrs. Belle Short Lambert re- 
 ported later (1907). "A building devoted to these inter- 
 ests was a large part of Doctor Short's plan, and the Lurton 
 property, now the northwest corner of the campus, was cov- 
 eted for that purpose. Great efforts were made to carry 
 out the desire to purchase the property and erect thereon 
 a suitable building." 131 A music building was the first item 
 in plans for expansion. If the enrollment of boarding stu- 
 dents had not declined as the music school grew, there would 
 have been no place for practice rooms. In 1892-93, 114 
 were enrolled in the Music Department. The College had 
 become largely an Academy of Music. 
 
 The Art Department under Mrs. Vigus expanded to the 
 extent that an assistant was necessary; in 1880-81, 64 were 
 enrolled. 132 "In no department in the College," it was said, 
 "has there been such enthusiasm and marked progress during 
 the last few years, as in the studio." 138 For a number of 
 years the work of the art classes constituted a large part of 
 the exhibitions of the Jacksonville Art Association. 134 The 
 Chicago Evening Journal pronounced this one of the most 
 successful art schools of the West. 135 Exhibitions of its work 
 
History of MacMurray College 265 
 
 became an established feature of commencement programs. 
 In the later years of President Short's administration the en- 
 rollment in art declined; in 1892-93, only eighteen were en- 
 rolled, and in some years the number had been even smaller. 
 Speech (elocution) made its appearance as a part of the 
 formal curriculum tardily and was then designated the De- 
 partment of Elocution and Gymnastics, not included in the 
 Academy of Music and Art. Orations and declamations, 
 dramatic scenes (including Shakespeare) , readings, tableaux, 
 and pantomimes had long been features of the weekly pro- 
 grams and semi-annual exhibitions of the literary societies. 
 Such old favorites as "Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight" 
 (even Mrs. Siddons read it on a program in Jacksonville), 
 Poe's "Bells" and "Annabel Lee," "The Polish Boy," "The 
 Blue and the Grey," "The Burial of Sir John Moore," "Locks- 
 ley Hall," "Maud," "Lady Clare" and a little further down 
 the scale of the sentimental, "The Gambler's Wife," "The 
 Drunkard's Dream," and '"Nobody's Child" appeared, some 
 many times (apparently they enjoyed tears!) . But prejudice 
 against the theatre had delayed, no doubt, the introduction 
 of elocution into the published curriculum. When W. H. 
 Milburn commented on an elocutionist, Mrs. Waughop, pre- 
 sented at the College in 1872, he declared there was nothing 
 "stagey" about her; and, as an added recommendation to a 
 mid- Victorian audience, that she was doing "single-handed 
 battle in this hard world to keep the wolf from the door." 138 
 The fact of his letter to the editor suggests that there had 
 been criticism of this presentation made perhaps on his 
 recommendation. Although the Department of Elocution 
 was not established until 1887-88, there were certain steps 
 toward instruction in speech earlier. In the College Greet- 
 ings of November 1906, Hattie Hobbs Barnes, '76, referred 
 to Miss Dresser as the "elocution teacher" who drilled them 
 in orations. She was listed in the catalogue as teacher of 
 natural science, but it is possible that she taught elocution 
 "on the side." Professor S. S. Hamill held a Summer School 
 of Elocution at the College in 1878 and for several years 
 
266 History of MacMurray College 
 
 after that date. From 1880, a teacher of elocution ap- 
 peared in the faculty list, but the description of the curricu- 
 lum contained no reference to the subject. 
 
 Upon the introduction of the Department of Elocution 
 in 1888, it was advertised primarily for its benefits to health 
 and physical appearance, and the same instructor taught 
 elocution and gymnastics. Emphasis was placed also on the 
 benefit of the course as training in the art of conversation. 
 The system used was that of Delsarte. The Jacksonville 
 Journal of December 21, 1887, reported that Professor Ray- 
 hill had a class of 74 at the College and also some private 
 pupils. The same Journal described a program, which had 
 included a dramatization of Hiawatha, with the single ad- 
 verse comment that for the famine scene "the ladies did not 
 make very good skeletons!" Perhaps that fact gave some 
 patronage to the other part of his program. 
 
 The training in gymnastics with dumbbells and Indian 
 clubs, "the weight of the clubs being adapted to the strength 
 of the pupils," was designed to give graceful carriage to 
 the body. Calisthenics and gymnastic exercises had been 
 advertised in the catalogue since 1875 "to promote easy and 
 graceful manners and carriage," but no special instructor 
 had been provided. From student comments in the "Col- 
 lege Scraps" on Miss Pegram's Guards and their drills, it 
 appears that this energetic preceptress and teacher of mathe- 
 matics had organized the girls, or some of them, in imitation 
 perhaps of the popular Morgan cadets, whose drills and band 
 music threw the young ladies into ecstacies. Professor Smith 
 had assisted her, using as a textbook Upton's Infantry Tac- 
 tics. But after the withdrawal of Miss Pegram in 1882 
 nothing more was heard of the "Guards." Croquet and lawn 
 tennis made their appearance. Students reported in 1878 
 that swinging and grace hoops were the popular amuse- 
 ments and in 1879 that a new swing on the college grounds 
 had been a source of great enjoyment. 137 But the Victorian 
 young lady could be stirred into no great enthusiasm for 
 physical education or organized sports. 
 
History of MacMurray College 267 
 
 As a part of the education of the young lady in the Illi- 
 nois Female College the program of lectures and concerts 
 probably played a large part in the 1870s and 1880s. These 
 attractions became more numerous. Strawn's Hall, remod- 
 elled in 1869 and decorated by the artist who designed Nib- 
 lo's Garden in New York, was the first and for some years 
 the only opera house in Illinois outside Chicago. 138 To it in 
 these decades came the best talent in the country, much of 
 it through the sponsorship of the literary societies of Illi- 
 nois College. 139 The catalogue of the Female College an- 
 nounced that provision was made for the young ladies to 
 attend "such lectures and concerts as may be deemed bene- 
 ficial." Comments of the students indicate that they at- 
 tended many; more girls were no doubt able to afford these 
 attractions; the music instructors and others encouraged 
 them and sometimes paid their admission. 140 Among the 
 lecturers who came were Emerson, Theodore Tilton, Henry 
 Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Bayard Taylor, Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Fred Douglass, Bron- 
 son Alcott, George Cable, Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain. 
 The latter (a neighbor in Hannibal) came often. As a writer 
 recalled later: "One of their favorites was Mark Twain, who 
 came annually. Invariably he acknowledged his audience's 
 approval by approaching the center of the stage and saying, 
 'It is nice to be with you again. They ask me where I spend 
 my time, and I always say one half of my time is spent at 
 Hannibal on the Mississippi and the other half I spend at 
 Chapin waiting for a train.' " 141 Dramatists who appeared 
 included Edwin Booth in Hamlet, Joseph Jefferson in Rip 
 Van Winkle, Mrs. Scott Siddons in Shakespeare and other 
 readings, Fred Ward in The Virginians and Romeo and 
 Juliet, Thomas Keene in Richard III, and Charles Frohman 
 and Janauschek. Sol Smith Russell, a very popular light 
 entertainer, appeared almost every year. He was claimed 
 by Jacksonville as one of its own. Popular favorites of his 
 were "Dorcas Pennyroyal" and "Casabianca." Buffalo Bill 
 came. Uncle Tom's Cabin was a perennial favorite. 
 
268 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Whether the young ladies were allowed to go to see a stage 
 performance is a question, but one wonders if an exception 
 were not made of this one. In music there were Patti, Anton 
 Rubinstein, Teresa Carrefio, Philip Phillips, the Theodore 
 Thomas Orchestra of Chicago often, the violinists, Wilhemj 
 and Remenyi, the Boston Symphony, the Mendelssohn Quin- 
 tette, Gottschalk, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and many others. 
 For Christine Nilsson, who came, Professor Wimmerstedt 
 wrote his song, "Dare I Tell?" 142 At the old Strawn's Opera 
 House the company was illustrious. 
 
 But all the attractions offered inside and outside the Col- 
 lege were not sufficient to make up for its lack of an up- 
 to-date and up-to-standard academic program. President 
 Short confessed to his successor that, although the income 
 of the College had comfortably covered the expenditures 
 for the earlier years of his administration, it had become 
 more and more difficult to make ends meet. 143 
 
 THE FACULTY OF TWO DECADES 
 
 President Short deserved credit for his maintenance of an 
 able, well-trained, and experienced faculty under these 
 straightened circumstances. How he did it one does not 
 know. The fine arts income probably met the expendi- 
 ture of that department with something over. A report 
 to the Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1881-82 gave 
 the total expense in salaries as $7,000. 144 The faculty at that 
 time included twelve besides Doctor and Mrs. Short. No 
 doubt teachers found some compensation for small salaries 
 in the agreeable surroundings and life, although there may 
 have been some who found the duties too confining and the 
 social regime too restricted. The stay of a number was 
 brief. Some general facts about the faculty might be noted. 
 As stated above, the family occupied a big place. A daugh- 
 ter and a sister taught for some years and another daughter 
 for a time. Mrs. Short was matron after the first year. More 
 men appear in the list — one and sometimes two or three in 
 music, the teacher of elocution, teachers of physiology, 
 bookkeeping, and, for two years, natural science. Teachers 
 
History of MacMurray College 269 
 
 came from states from Maine to Colorado with several from 
 the South. A number of eastern men and women were 
 employed in the later years, especially in the fine arts, but 
 also in the literary subjects — graduates of the New England 
 Conservatory of Music, Syracuse University, Wellesley, and 
 other schools. Some had traveled and studied in England 
 and Europe. In the early years of the administration the 
 literary faculty was larger than that of the fine arts; in the 
 later years the reverse was true. In 1887-88, for example, 
 there were eight teachers in music alone, and only five in 
 the collegiate literary faculty. Doctor Short retained most 
 of President DeMotte's faculty, and several of these — Mary 
 Pegram, Professor Wimmerstedt, and Mrs. Vigus — stayed on 
 for some years. The excellent English teacher, Miss Eme- 
 line Allyn, remained two years longer. 
 
 Student recollections of their teachers after years have 
 passed probably have little historical value as to details, but 
 they have some weight in the general as an evaluation 
 of the pupil perhaps as much as of the teacher. 145 Broadly 
 put, we are what we remember. One student, after fifty 
 years, recalled only that her teachers were "fair and lovely." 146 
 What a good report! Another loved her teacher "like a 
 shining star." 147 One remembered that all her teachers were 
 "refined, rather prim, neatly dressed, rather strict, and some- 
 times stern. They were all Christian gentle-women," she 
 said. 148 Some were quaint and old-fashioned. Most of them 
 were considered well-educated by these former students, some 
 as very superior in education. One recalled a geology 
 teacher who did not appear to have specialized in that sub- 
 ject, but more often "they knew Latin or Greek [or what- 
 ever they taught] perfectly." 149 A number associated their 
 teachers with Wellesley. It must have been much talked 
 about. There were three Wellesley teachers on the faculty 
 in 1883-84. Maie Short Wadsworth recalls that, as a stu- 
 dent in Wellesley in 1881-82, she not only helped her father 
 in selecting teachers from the East, but wrote her parents 
 long letters of "how things were done there." There was an 
 
270 History of MacMurray College 
 
 effort to make the College as much like that eastern school 
 as possible. Most of the women on the faculty lived in the 
 College. Certain teachers are recalled as "hall teachers" on 
 third Main or elsewhere. They took the girls to walk, on 
 shopping expeditions, to church, sat at the tables with them 
 in the "funny old dining-room" in the basement, and, if 
 they went away for a rare weekend, sometimes took girls 
 home with them. 150 Their lives were a continuous lesson 
 spread before their students. No doubt all these teachers 
 left their marks, however brief their stay, and took away the 
 marks of the Illinois Female College. Space would not per- 
 mit a recital of the history of each one of this goodly com- 
 pany of pilgrims between earth and heaven, even if the facts 
 were at hand. 
 
 Doctor Short taught mental and moral philosophy and 
 political economy, using the Socratic method, one student 
 recalled. He was kindly, made the students feel at ease, 
 especially on "blue Monday," and was "an introspective sort 
 of man . . . living in the clouds," one said. 151 Perhaps he 
 was concerned with more mundane matters of making ends 
 meet. His classes were often disturbed by visitors and were 
 favorites for examination by conference visitors. One girl 
 remembered that it was easy to divert the attention of 
 these examiners by asking them questions. 152 The position 
 of preceptress was magnified in importance as the training 
 of the young ladies in dress and conduct in polite society 
 came to be emphasized more. Miss Pegram held this posi- 
 tion for six years, taught mathematics, and trained her 
 "Guards." Nothing escaped her watchful eye. In 1882, her 
 place was taken by Miss Lucy Booth, a graduate of Ohio 
 Wesleyan University. She offered to teach calculus along 
 with her other courses in mathematics and Greek and 
 Hebrew. 158 She remained three years. For the last six years, 
 Miss Flora Meadows, of Indianapolis, who had been teach- 
 ing natural science for several years, served as preceptress. 
 She married Theodore Laning, brother of Mrs. Short, in 
 1890, but continued on the faculty until the end of the 
 
History of MacMurray College 271 
 
 administration. She was a little woman, very precise, "a 
 grand preceptress," who gave frequent talks in Chapel on 
 dress, conduct, and good manners. 
 
 Among other teachers in the literary faculty "so well- 
 remembered" was Mrs. Julia Palmer Stevens, sister of Gen- 
 eral J. M. Palmer, who had attended the College in the 1850s. 
 She was small, a cripple, but had a brilliant mind, and was 
 a writer of some ability. 154 Several beautiful translations 
 of German poems made by her appeared in various issues 
 of the College Greetings as well as some essays. She taught 
 French and German and sponsored a Shakespeare Club. In- 
 cidentally, she and her husband were closely identified with 
 the philosophical studies in central Illinois and in St. Louis. 
 The latter center, under the leadership of W. T. Harris, 
 stressed the German idealists, notably Hegel, more than 
 Plato. This intellectual interest may help to explain, along 
 with many students of German descent, the emphasis on 
 German in the College. Miss Palmer taught one year in the 
 1870s; then, after her marriage, she returned for three years 
 in the 1880s while her husband was pastor of Grace Church. 
 She is remembered as an exquisite hostess, as well as a fine 
 teacher, one who gave delightful little breakfasts to students 
 and teachers. Minnie Broadwell, a graduate of 1877, taught 
 Latin and English after she returned from three years at 
 Wellesley, and patronized the "studio" by taking lessons in 
 china painting from Maie Short. She belonged to an old 
 Jacksonville family, descendants of pioneers. 155 Her sister 
 Alice, also a "Wellesley girl, taught in the preparatory de- 
 partment. Another Wellesley product was Grace Dewey, 
 now a physician in Jacksonville. After graduation at Wel- 
 lesley, she had studied in Oxford, Heidelberg, and Berlin 
 universities. 156 She taught mathematics and modern lan- 
 guages, especially German, for several years with great effi- 
 ciency. 
 
 Several teachers from the East remained only briefly, but 
 made a name. 157 Miss Mary Dwight, of Massachusetts, a 
 very superior teacher of languages and art criticism, who 
 
272 History of MacMurray College 
 
 "knew Latin and Greek perfectly"; Mrs. M. A. Macdonald 
 (Latin), a graduate of Cazenovia, former head of a semi- 
 nary in New York and a writer of some reputation; Miss 
 Emma Stone, of Maine (natural science) ; Miss Alice Hoyt, 
 of New York, and Miss Carrie Lathrop, of Syracuse Uni- 
 versity (Latin). Miss Ella Trout, of Lancaster, Ohio, a 
 very capable teacher of Latin and French, continued in the 
 faculty of President Harker for some years. Mary Dickson, 
 an alumna, was also a link between these administrations. 
 She taught in both the literary and musical faculties, and 
 was remembered as a very thorough teacher who "put the 
 students through extra drill in spelling, grammar, and com- 
 position," and was very religious. 158 Mr. J. B. Smith, whose 
 wife, Kate Murdock Smith, taught voice, was professor of 
 natural science for several years. He popularized the field 
 trips to industries in Jacksonville and helped Miss Pegram 
 drill her Guards; he was very energetic and very sociable. 
 His education was secured in Union College, New York, 
 and in Rome and Paris. 159 
 
 In the music faculty, Professor Wimmerstedt continued 
 as head until 1879; then he withdrew because of failing 
 health and moved to California. More than any other 
 teacher in the city he had given distinction to musical edu- 
 cation in Jacksonville and elevated the public taste in music. 
 His successors as head of the Academy were all fine musi- 
 cians and instructors. Professor Bretherick, the first, had 
 taught a long time at the Jacksonville Female Academy 
 and the Illinois Conservatory of Music, established by 
 Professor Sanders of the Athenaeum. Professor J. H. Davis, 
 who followed him in 1882, came from the East and had 
 been trained in the New England Conservatory of Music. 
 Maie Short found him for her father. From this time the 
 Academy modeled its curriculum and methods on the New 
 England Conservatory of Boston. Several assistants in piano 
 and voice were graduates of that school — Miss Minnie Alger, 
 Miss Louise Allen, Miss Olive Harrison, and perhaps others. 
 Faculty recitals became a special attraction at the College. 
 
History of MacMurray College 273 
 
 In 1882, Professor Davis and Miss Alger gave a series of 
 programs — a Beethoven concert, a Schubert program, and 
 an evening of Mozart. In 1884, he and Miss Allen gave, 
 in combination with the Shakespeare Club, Mendelssohn's 
 "Midsummer Night's Dream." 160 Professor Wallace P. Day 
 succeeded Professor Davis in 1886 and remained head of the 
 Academy until his death in 1899. He was born in Boston 
 and was a graduate of the New England Conservatory. 161 
 He had gone as a young man to teach in the Ontario (Can- 
 ada) Institute for the Blind, and in Jacksonville he also 
 taught at the School for the Blind. Professor Day organized 
 a Choral Society of seventy-five voices that did fine work 
 and was compared to the famous Philharmonic of Professor 
 Strachauer (after thirty years the work of that musical pio- 
 neer of the Illinois Female College was remembered \) . 162 As 
 an organist, Professor Day's work was also notable; and, as 
 a man, apart from any professional ambitions, he did out- 
 standing service, along with his predecessors and colleagues, 
 for the unfortunate. 163 Benefit concerts were frequent 
 events in the city. As organists, choir directors, and con- 
 cert performers, the musical faculty of the College made 
 a noteworthy contribution to the education and entertain- 
 ment of Jacksonville. 
 
 In art, Mrs. Vigus trained her assistant and successor, 
 Miss Maie Short, who went east to study in New York. 
 The latter insists that she had no great talent for art, that 
 her interests were mainly literary, but the department flour- 
 ished under her direction. She began the instruction of tal- 
 ented Gertrude Stiles, who was to be head of the depart- 
 ment some years later. After three years' service, Miss 
 Short resigned her position in 1885 to marry Julian Wads- 
 worth, son of the trustee, A. C. Wadsworth. For a number 
 of years he served churches in New England. After World 
 War I, he was named by the General Conference as direc- 
 tor of the Methodist Mission in Chateau Thierry, in which 
 notable work his wife was an able assistant. After his death 
 in 1939, she returned to the United States and today lives at 
 
274 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the College, where she spent her girlhood. Her cultivated 
 mind and charming personality, her "sweetness and light" 
 are fine testimonials of her education. To her the writer is 
 indebted for information graciously given. Among other 
 successors of hers in the Art Department was Miss Helen 
 Stanley Porter, of Charlottesville, Virginia, "a fine teacher 
 in her easy-going way," a student wrote. 164 Miss Gertrude 
 Stiles, who became head of the department in 1890, con- 
 tinued as another link between this administration and Presi- 
 dent Harker's. In the field of elocution, Professor J. H. Ray- 
 hill was the instructor. His teaching was a sort of educa- 
 tional circuit-riding, in which he served schools from South 
 Carolina to New Mexico and for both men and women. 
 The standing of these schools and his continued employment 
 in them would indicate that he was an able instructor in 
 the Delsartian system of elocution. 
 
 THE STUDENTS — THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE 
 COLLEGE HOME 
 
 In order to know the complete history of the College one 
 should know the students as well as the faculty. It is not 
 possible to learn much about the several thousands of stu- 
 dents who attended during these twenty-five years or even 
 about the 372 graduates. A few general observations which 
 may be suggestive can be safely made. In the early seventies 
 the daughters and nieces of the first graduates began to ar- 
 rive — three daughters of Margaret Morrison Turley, '51, 
 two of Eleanor Kennedy, '55, the second generation of the 
 Mathers and Rutledges, the Keplingers, and many others. 
 There were perhaps more Sallie Shumways and fewer Eppies; 
 more in comfortable circumstances. Outside Jacksonville 
 the Palmers, the Yateses, the Lanings, the Hinrichsens, the 
 Alexanders, the Gillhams, the Chamberlains, the Callahans, 
 and others prominent in business and politics in Illinois were 
 patrons; and, in Jacksonville, the Wadsworths, Pitners, Wil- 
 lards, Springers, Wolcotts, Gilletts, Broadwells, Blacks, 
 Browns, Dobyns, Whitlocks, and so forth. Many students 
 took piano, voice, and art at rates not low for that day. 
 
History of MacMurray College 275 
 
 There were some, however, who attended under difficulties. 
 The Ladies' Education Society sent a girl occasionally, one 
 of them on a scholarship furnished by Mrs. John Mathers, 
 and the Woman's Christian Union of Chicago sent one at 
 least. 165 Then there was the former circus tight-rope walker, 
 whom Peter Akers and his wife boarded so that she might 
 go to college. 166 She had been left stranded and ill in Beards- 
 town and was taken into the home of good people there, 
 who educated her as far as they could, then appealed to 
 Peter Akers. She lived with the Akerses two years and at- 
 tended college. He saw her happily and satisfactorily mar- 
 ried, performing the ceremony himself in the Congregational 
 Church, and she went off to Colorado to live — the whole 
 story like a Victorian romance of the unprotected girl saved 
 by the benevolent gentleman. 
 
 The descendants of the German settlers continued to be 
 a prominent element in the school and probably encouraged 
 the study of German. Students of German descent were 
 sometimes mentioned as the bright lights of the class. One 
 of these went on to Germany to complete her musical edu- 
 cation. 167 The Portuguese began to arrive. The first grad- 
 uate of this nationality was Marie Ferreira, '90, a distin- 
 guished alumna. She wrote her graduating essay on "Portu- 
 guese Discoverers of the Fifteenth Century," and soon took 
 the path of those explorers across the Pacific to teach in 
 Hawaii. Although the patronage became more narrowly local 
 (Jacksonville) in the 1880s and early 1890s, there were about 
 the same number as earlier from other states. In 1886-87, 
 eight states other than Illinois were represented — Indiana, 
 Iowa, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, Arizona, Ohio, and 
 New York. From eight to ten per cent of the enrollment 
 came from outside Illinois. The Far West had representa- 
 tives, the result of the migration of the first graduates and 
 other students very likely, but Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
 the neighbors, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, and Kansas sent 
 more. During these twenty-five years the enrollment never 
 reached the point of the 1850s. Even with the kindergarten 
 
276 History of MacMurray College 
 
 it hardly reached 200, although it never fell below 100 (109 
 in 1883-84 was, it seems, the smallest total enrollment). 
 
 As the concern of the Conference for the College de- 
 clined, the patronage of the Methodist ministers decreased. 
 The catalogue contained the list of parents and guardians 
 up to 1884. In 1883-84, for example, only one Methodist 
 minister (from Iowa) appeared in the group aside from the 
 Jacksonville ministers, always patrons. Incidentally, two 
 very interesting, devoted, and useful alumnae, Hattie and 
 Annie Hobbs, were daughters of a Methodist minister, R. 
 C. H. Hobbs, of Rolla, Missouri. Their mother, Clarissa 
 Emily Gear Hobbs, daughter of a wealthy Galena settler 
 from Connecticut, told the story of their coming in an 
 autobiography written for her grandchildren. "We worked 
 day and night to get ready. Your grandfather said, 'All I 
 can do for my children is to give them the best education 
 I can. I can't tell how it will come, but some way/ There 
 was never a happier family started out on an uncertainty 
 than we that afternoon, . . . Richard going back to Evans- 
 ton, your grandfather going with us to put the girls in the 
 Woman's College at Jacksonville, all so glad to do this, Rich- 
 ard singing the refrain 'Big box, little box, band box, bundle.' 
 Oh that happy day!" 168 
 
 Rates were changed little during these twenty-five years. 
 Board and tuition remained $230 a year. Tuition in piano 
 with the head of the department advanced to $90 ($105 
 with the use of the instrument) and tuition with the other 
 teachers was $60. If a young lady took music with "the 
 Professor" and art (oil) in addition to literary courses she 
 would pay $485. If she added French and German (still 
 "extras") , the cost would be $525. 
 
 To the general description given above of the building 
 erected in 1872 and the grounds at that time, a word might 
 be added. The observance of Tree Day and Ivy Day con- 
 tributed something to the shade of the campus and the ven- 
 erableness of the building. Trees and shrubs grew luxuri- 
 antly, and one of the first tasks of Doctor Harker (as of 
 
History of MacMurray College 277 
 
 Doctor DeMotte) was to cut out and trim in order to light- 
 en the "Gothic shade." 169 Flowers and fruit trees still grew 
 at the back of Main. In the front a new iron gate was added 
 by the Senior Class of 1877, the first class gift to be record- 
 ed. 170 Over it an arch was erected with the name of the Col- 
 lege in gilt letters. A white fence enclosed the front "lawn." 
 
 Inside, the general pattern of the decorations and furni- 
 ture was the Victorian — dark paper and woodwork, heavy 
 walnut and mahogany furniture. Excess of stuffiness was 
 curtailed perhaps by lack of money, which prevented crowd- 
 ing the rooms with furniture and bric-a-brac. The par- 
 lors were pronounced "elegant" by guests at the commence- 
 ment receptions. Spring flowers gave grace and freshness. 
 The picture of these old parlors was fixed in the mind of 
 the students by important associations. Here they entered 
 to be introduced and enrolled; here they received their guests, 
 including their boy friends ("with no privacy") ; here they 
 held their occasional college social gathering; here they met 
 for the final reception for graduates. 
 
 The dining room in the basement did not lend itself well 
 to being made attractive. It was plainly furnished with sub- 
 stantial tables and chairs. A pretty touch for many years 
 was a nosegay of flowers at each place on the occasion of the 
 first dinner in the fall, a contribution of Mrs. Belle Short 
 Lambert. Food was good and plentiful. President Short 
 was perhaps able to secure it cheaply. The pork chops, sweet 
 potatoes, apple sauce, corn bread, and hot biscuits of cook 
 Mills and her successors were long remembered. 171 The ap- 
 pearance and comfort of the girls' bedrooms had improved. 
 Steam heat, gaslights, even a bathroom on each floor— all 
 added vastly to the pleasantness of living. In 1880, a tele- 
 phone was introduced, and "happy and favored was she who 
 had a friend in the city to call her so that she might have 
 an opportunity for a conversation over the telephone." 172 
 The rooms were furnished in the same heavy furniture as 
 the parlors, mostly walnut, a student recalled. 178 They 
 contained four-poster beds, bureaus, wardrobes, a wash- 
 
278 History of MacMurray College 
 
 stand with bowl and pitcher, and straight chairs. If a young 
 lady wished drapes, curtains, and easy chairs, she furnished 
 them. Girls began to give more attention to the decoration 
 of their rooms even to the point of potted plants from the 
 greenhouses. 
 
 The general features of the social regime are suggested in 
 a division of the catalogue entitled Department of Moral and 
 Physical Culture, mentioned above, which emphasized aes- 
 thetics — "The cultivation of taste and skill in dress, the ar- 
 rangement and keeping of rooms, etc.," and etiquette — 
 "The reasonable demands of society and how to meet them 
 properly." One can guess that Mrs. Catherine Hoover De- 
 Motte was the author of this system. In 1877-78, this sec- 
 tion of the catalogue was replaced by another entitled The 
 College Home, which stressed the advantages of the board- 
 ing school regime over boarding in private homes or even 
 over living in one's own home. Although one can read into 
 its idealization of the girls' boarding school an answer to 
 Professor Sanders' attack on this institution and a sort of 
 desperate effort to build up a patronage, it is, at the same 
 time, thoroughly in harmony with the Victorian ideal of 
 the protected life for the young lady. Public receptions at 
 the College, it was insisted, gave them all the "society" they 
 needed, since the primary objective was study. And it con- 
 tinued: 
 
 Not only does the history of the past in respect to the education of 
 young ladies attest the wisdom of this method but the vastly multiplied 
 exposures and temptations of the times, meeting our daughters and young 
 women at every turn, demand corresponding vigilance and restraint. So 
 fully convinced are parents residing in Jacksonville who have tried both 
 methods that they have often stated that it would have been better to 
 put their daughters in the College than to keep them in their own homes. 
 
 Visits and visitors were subject to parents' approval and 
 were generally discouraged, but their regulation continued 
 to be a perennial problem. The white fence was not a con- 
 vent wall, even though William Jennings Bryan recalled that 
 the College was known as a "Prison for Angels." No visitors 
 other than members of a girl's family were received on 
 Sunday; friends in town were urged to call during recrea- 
 
History of MacMurray College 279 
 
 tion hours, if possible on Saturday afternoons. Strangers 
 were to present letters of introduction. The administration 
 also undertook after 1875 to regulate the correspondence 
 of the boarding students, a subject that had never been 
 mentioned up to this time. Parents were requested to fur- 
 nish lists of persons with whom their daughters might cor- 
 respond. All other correspondence was subject to inspection. 
 This regulation sought to prevent both improper corres- 
 pondence and the employment of too much time in letter- 
 writing. Letter- and note-writing were difficult to control, 
 however, especially with local boys, to whom day students 
 could carry letters. 
 
 The administration found increasing difficulty in main- 
 taining such a strict regime as the "Gay Nineties" ap- 
 proached. The Board of Trustees, which had ceased to 
 assume much voice in college affairs, saw reason to assert 
 itself against the custom of dancing and passed a resolution 
 to "request and instruct the principal and teachers of the 
 College to use all their influence to discourage, and so far 
 as possible to prevent, any who are connected with the 
 College from attending any places where dancing is per- 
 mitted." 174 It goes without saying that the College did not 
 permit boarding students to attend dances nor did it hold 
 dances on the campus, but many of the students were local 
 girls. This resolution was, it seems, an effort to control them. 
 When so many students were local girls not living under the 
 discipline, it was difficult to prevent restlessness on the part 
 of the boarding students, specially if some of these were 
 "wild" girls sent for "safe-guarding." 175 One alumna, who 
 commended some features of the administration, felt very 
 keenly about the narrowness and severity of the discipline 
 and the "cruelty" of the punishments and sent her daugh- 
 ters elsewhere. 176 The administration, however, did begin 
 to bend a little to changing customs. Receptions and parties 
 to which young men were invited became more frequent, 
 especially for seniors. An alumna of 1891 wrote that the 
 girls even used to dance on third floor hall on Saturday 
 
280 History of MacMurray College 
 
 evenings until Miss Mary Dickson, who "considered it not 
 right for a Methodist college to permit dancing," persuaded 
 Doctor Short to stop it. 177 Chaperonage on walks, shopping 
 expeditions, and so forth, was strictly maintained. The 
 Victorian ideal is further suggested in student recollections 
 of the instructions on how to sit (never to cross feet or limb 
 at the knees) , how to walk, etc. 178 In the conflict of Metho- 
 dist discipline, Victorian conventions, and the demands of 
 the younger generation, the administration did what it could. 
 
 ff THE ILLINOIS FEMALE COLLEGE SCRAPS" — COLLEGE LIFE 
 IN THE VICTORIAN AGE 
 
 No Eppie Dumville or Sallie Shumway has left letters 
 revelatory of the life and thought of the Illinois Female 
 College girl of the 1870s and 1880s. The lack of such an 
 intimate contemporary source of information is supplied 
 in part by a weekly student contribution to the Jacksonville 
 Journal, which ran for some years and was entitled school 
 "Notes" and later school "Scraps." These notes were a step 
 beyond the "Prism" and the "Gem" of the literary societies 
 in the evolution of college journalism, but they were appar- 
 ently the joint work of these organizations. The following 
 extracts are copied from the various issues from 1877 to 
 1882 as suggestive of the interests and activities of the 
 students in the various seasons of the year and their reactions 
 to the stream of daily life about them. 
 
 Spring is coming, is here — The "gentle robins" now wake us from our 
 slumbers. There was quite a nice "festival" in No. 20 Friday evening — 
 Miss Palmer's second-year class in German now converse in that language 
 to those who can understand — "I am writing my essay" is the response 
 of the senior when applied to for help — The Pegram Guards met three 
 afternoons this week instead of two as usual — What is the matter with 
 our Seniors? They keep the whole town in an uproar — It is said that 
 the College is haunted. Apply at No. 24 — Splendid evenings for croquet 
 — The class in Sallust is almost ready to commence Cicero — Thursday 
 the young ladies of the natural philosophy class went to the C. and A. 
 depot to examine an engine. Any one of them is now able to run a 
 train of cars unassisted — A number of the young ladies have visited 
 the greenhouses this week, and with the flowers and the brackets which 
 they bought have made their rooms very attractive — The Seniors received 
 their helmet-shaped hats this week and now look very intellectual — 
 
History of MacMurray College 281 
 
 Professor Wimmerstedt's first lecture of the year on "National Music," 
 illustrated by characteristic dance music, was equal to any delivered last 
 year — On Monday Professor Smith invited Doctors Duncan and Askew 
 to visit the school and perform some experiments for the chemistry class. 
 All the school was invited in to see the effect of nitrous oxide on some 
 pupils. The action of some of the subjects was quite amusing — No 
 lecture at the College has been more talked of than Doctor Black's on 
 the microscope — How pleasant the sound of steam as it rushes through 
 the coils these cold frosty mornings! — Since the weather has been so 
 inclement and outdoor exercise impossible, the young ladies have com- 
 menced to practice calisthenics — Professor and Mrs. Wimmerstedt's music 
 pupils had the pleasure of having tea with them — The Juniors received 
 their class hats this week — A number of the young ladies attended the 
 Mendelssohn Quintette Concert and were greatly pleased — A few of the 
 young ladies attended the temperance society meeting Friday evening 
 ■ — The members of the Shakespeare Club are now reading Hamlet — 
 Some of the young ladies are reading Fritheofs Saga — On Tuesday at 
 the Odeon the Pegram Guards had the pleasure of seeing the Morgan 
 Cadets "march up the hall and down again." They performed their 
 evolutions, involutions, convolutions, and revolutions in a highly creditable 
 manner. It was queried whether so great dexterity in their manoeuvers 
 might not tempt them to apply their skill to social tactics — Examinations 
 kept all busy last week — Saturday now finds all busy with fancy work 
 for Christmas gifts — Several young ladies received copies of the College 
 Rambler this week. They congratulate their brothers upon producing 
 such an interesting paper— The lecture of Wendell Phillips was enjoyed 
 by a goodly number from the College—A number attended the lecture 
 of Theodore Tilton and felt well repaid — The wood-carvers have made 
 some pretty walnut easels for photographers — The young ladies visited 
 the Art Exhibition on Thursday and Friday — The botanists are beginning 
 to analyze flowers earlier than usual this year — Since the weather has 
 been so pleasant the young ladies spend most of their recreation hour 
 in outdoor exercise, and the Pegram Guards drill on the campus — Senior 
 vacation began Friday morning — The young ladies attended the opening 
 of the millinery store — The Senior vacation ended Tuesday. It will take 
 a week to restore the wasted energies of the rest (?) enjoyed by them — 
 A drunken man claiming to be a sailor invaded the sacred precincts of 
 the Illinois Female College last Tuesday evening, and, as there was no 
 gentleman in the house, created a slight panic. There was talk of calling 
 out the Pegram Guards, but the intruder was finally persuaded to leave 
 without resort to arms and peace reigned — The former pupils are very 
 much pleased with the improvements made in the buildings during the 
 summer — On Monday a part of the studio class, equipped with sketch 
 books and dinner baskets, visited Morgan Lake. A number of such excur- 
 sions during the past few weeks have been very successful — The gentle 
 zephyr wafted to the College on Thursday sweet strains of melody from 
 the Jacksonville Cornet Band — Tuesday afternoon occurred the last sleigh- 
 ride of the season — The phonograph displayed its wonderful powers in 
 
282 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the presence of the school Wednesday morning [1879]. Those pupils 
 who expect to spend Thanksgiving at their homes are disappointed 
 because Wilhemj [the great violinist] gives his concert Thursday night 
 — After hearing Eli Perkins the young ladies decided that they were 
 satisfied with their own philosophy of fun. But that fur -lined over coat ! 
 How could they be expected to see or hear anythings else — Most of the 
 girls attended the Blind Tom concert and were highly entertained by 
 his music — The young ladies desire to thank the ladies who furnished 
 the supper for the Literary Union (held at the College) for a quantity 
 of nice cake — The regular Friday night prayer meeting was held in No. 5 
 — The debate, Resolved that frizzes and bangs are detrimental to the 
 brains of school girls was entered into with spirit. Although the favor 
 was given to the negative, we do not think that the "banging" estab- 
 lishment (No. 3) will have any more work than formerly — Commence- 
 ment is fourteen weeks from next Thursday. 
 
 Always changing, ever the same — the life and thought of 
 the schoolgirl! 
 
 One discovers from the "Scraps" and other sources that 
 college life was becoming more organized as compared to 
 the past, when there were only the two literary societies. 
 Aside from the definite organizations there were little groups, 
 "inner circles" they called them, of bosom friends who 
 wrote Round Robins to each other, swore undying friend- 
 ship and sometimes kept it. Hattie Hobbs Barnes, '76, wrote: 
 "Then the 'inner circle'! All the years that have come 
 have never brought any dearer than they. Possibly our 
 president, Doctor DeMotte, in his long-remembered chapel 
 talks, of which I still have notes, thought this little circle 
 visited too much when he took his text one morning: 'With- 
 draw thy foot from thy neighbor's house, lest he be weary 
 of thee!' " 179 Caroline Rotis mentions another "inner circle" 
 of seven, who met each evening before bedtime and read 
 together what they had confided to their diaries. 180 Such 
 groups as these characterized the social features of this period 
 more than the recognized organizations with a specific ob- 
 jective. Miss Rotis herself regretted later that there was 
 not more planned activity for the students. The outbursts 
 of undesirable activity (such as a Hallowe'en prank of which 
 she was a victim) thus might have been avoided, she 
 thought. But some progress was made toward organized 
 activity of a healthy character, sometimes through student 
 
History of MacMurray College 283 
 
 initiative, sometimes through faculty action. Most of these 
 organizations were short-lived, but others sprang up to take 
 their place. A few, such as the missionary society and the 
 college class organizations, were permanent, as the liter- 
 ary societies were. Then there appeared the Zeta Gamma, 
 the Shakespeare Society, the Pegram Guards, the Boutons de 
 Rose, the Mandolin Club, and no doubt others whose names 
 have been lost in the stream of time. Some classes— the 
 studio group and the music pupils — were well-integrated 
 social groups through their teas, their excursions, etc., al- 
 though there was no reference to a definite organization. 
 
 The Boutons de Rose and the Mandolin Club may be 
 dismissed with a word. The former was a large organiza- 
 tion of the small folks in the early 1870s. 181 It must have 
 been the work of Miss Mary Palmer and of Mademoiselle 
 Latard, who taught music to the younger folks. They held 
 public exhibitions with tableaux (Faith, Hope, and Char- 
 ity), and the sentimental recitations of that day — "Old 
 Grimes," "The Indian Girl's Lament," and others. The 
 Mandolin Club (or Clover Club) of mandolin and guitar 
 appeared in 1891, sponsored by Professor Frank Metcalf, 
 who gave lessons on those instruments. 182 
 
 The Shakespeare Club, referred to occasionally in the 
 "Scraps," perhaps owed its origin and early direction to Mrs. 
 Julia Palmer Stevens. The reading and the dramatization 
 of the plays was the objective, and in the absence of a class 
 in Shakespeare it did constructive work. One student wrote: 
 "Then, too, the Shakespeare readings — how much we en- 
 joyed them and what friends we made with the fair Juliet 
 and gentle Romeo, the 'melancholy Dane,' and the 'jealous 
 Moor,' and the 'innocent Desdemona'; and I am glad the 
 friendship never became wearisome by a closer companion- 
 ship and acquaintance." 183 It is uncertain whether this club 
 survived many years, but the literary societies may have per- 
 petuated its work. Their programs contain many Shakes- 
 peare numbers. The readings of Edwin Booth, Mrs. Siddons, 
 
284 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Fred Ward, Thomas Keene, and others must also have 
 created a lively interest in Shakespeare. 
 
 The Zeta Gamma had a brief but interesting history. 
 Nine members of the "Centennial Class" of 1876 formed this 
 oratorical union, the event of the year for this generally 
 notable class. Aroused by the oratorical contests in Illinois 
 College, these girls organized secretly, telling only Miss 
 Charlotte Dresser, the natural science teacher, who trained 
 them in oratory. They secured the use of Grace Church 
 and invited the public for their demonstration. The Jack- 
 sonville Journal declared: "The grand march of ideas has 
 opened to women, as well as to the sterner sex, the forum 
 and the drawing room alike, the field of oratory, as well as 
 of belles lettres. So argued the seniors of our Illinois Female 
 College and so demonstrated the members of Zeta Gamma 
 last night as with grace and self-possession they presented to 
 that cultivated audience the evidence of their faithful study, 
 their vigor of thought, and their mastery of some of the 
 deep problems of earnest life." 184 Among the oration sub- 
 jects were: "The Jew (his persecutions)"; "Labor and 
 Capital," and "The Ideal and the Practical." "The society 
 lived and died with that occasion," declared Hattie Hobbs, 
 a member, "but we felt that night the greatest of our col- 
 lege life." 185 Thus felt Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth, another 
 member, who recalls it vividly across all these years. This 
 organization deserves mention because it expressed a vig- 
 orous interest in the oration and the declamation in this 
 woman's college. The oration took a prominent place on 
 commencement programs, replacing the essay for those who 
 selected it; and both declamation and oration, along with 
 debates, were popular in the literary society programs. 
 Nevertheless, there were Illinois Female College girls who 
 criticized efforts to "ape the men's colleges." 
 
 The Pegram Guards eludes the historian. Its activities 
 filled the "Scraps." It elected officers, civil and military; 
 it drilled regularly. Yet there is no definitive statement of 
 its primary function. Apparently it was a sort of cross 
 
History of MacMurray College 285 
 
 between an athletic association and a student government 
 society. Miss Pegram was preceptress and in charge of the 
 discipline; perhaps she devised this means of securing stu- 
 dent co-operation. There were "praying bands," prayer cir- 
 cles, and usually a weekly prayer meeting, to which girls 
 went if they chose. But the young ladies' Missionary So- 
 ciety took on a more definite and permanent character. 
 To Mrs. Macdonald, to judge by the "Scraps," was due much 
 credit for the success of this organization, a sort of fore- 
 runner of the present Young Women's Christian Associa- 
 tion. The social sense of these young ladies, their interest 
 in the underprivileged and the oppressed, their humani- 
 tarianism, is evidenced by their choice of themes for essay 
 and oration and the many digests of these subjects. It can 
 also be seen in their choice of careers. Alumnae of this 
 generation were going to Hawaii (Marie Ferreira) ; to the 
 Philippines (Bertha Rush) ; to Japan (Mary Melton) ; to 
 Bulgaria (Kate Blackburn) as missionaries and teachers, and 
 many were entering social service careers in the United 
 States. Although they debated the woman's suffrage ques- 
 tion, women's rights attracted them less than women's 
 duties. Returned missionaries occasionally spoke in Chapel. 
 The "Scraps" recorded the interest aroused and the volun- 
 teers secured from these talks. How much practical social 
 work the students did in Jacksonville is uncertain. They 
 visited the Schools for the Deaf and Blind and the Hospital 
 for the Insane. Among the first recorded trolley rides on 
 the new street railway built in 1871 were trips to the School 
 for the Deaf on the Hill. 186 A group of recent alumnae — 
 Mercy Jackson, Lottie Moore, and others — instituted reli- 
 gious services in the county jail in 1871. The Jacksonville 
 Journal announced this service the first ever held there. 187 
 The literary societies, the Belles Lettres and the Phi Nu, 
 remained the most stable and constructive student organiza- 
 tions and the most effective forums of student opinion. Such 
 college "spirit" as existed centered around them and the 
 Junior and Senior Classes; alumnae returned for their ban- 
 
286 History of MacMurray College 
 
 quets and reunions. They had difficulties and embarrass- 
 ments. After the first fire they had no rooms of their own. 
 Generally meetings were held in the Chapel, but at times 
 that was in use. Classrooms were used. They had to rent 
 a piano, and sometimes had none in the room used. Some- 
 times there was no heat. The minutes indicate that, in spite 
 of obstructions, meetings were held with remarkable regu- 
 larity and with programs of serious intent. They were soci- 
 eties of "mutual improvement"; all members were required 
 to contribute to the programs. Their eductaional value was 
 impressive. Questions were debated here that doubtless 
 would not or could not have been discussed in any other 
 group — whether dancing and more dates should be allowed, 
 the advantages of co-education, or whether Negro women 
 should be admitted to the College. 188 Somewhat more re- 
 moved in space, but not in time, was a debate on the "Dis- 
 puted Election of 1876," held while it was still in dispute, 
 the question of whether women should get equal pay for 
 equal work, or whether infidel publications should be pro- 
 hibited by law. 189 Here girls practiced speaking in foreign 
 languages, giving readings in German. In the later years in- 
 ternational news appeared as a regular feature on the pro- 
 grams. Although the regular "closed" program might be 
 slighted at times, the occasional open meetings and the vale- 
 dictory exhibitions for seniors were major efforts, for which 
 they planned and practiced. 
 
 Rivalry over their libraries spurred them on. At a Belles 
 Lettres meeting in 1869, it was remarked that many of the 
 new scholars were joining the Phi Nu Society, because it 
 possessed a set of Dickens' works, whereupon Miss Palmer 
 offered to present a complete set of Dickens to the Belles 
 Lettres. 190 They spent much time and thought on the selection 
 of books. Years later a graduate of '79 wrote to ask that a 
 list be published for the benefit of the "ex's" who had la- 
 bored to keep the library to the highest standard and "who 
 loved every book as a dear friend." As the enrollment in 
 the College declined (with the exception of the specials in 
 
History of MacMurray College 287 
 
 music), the membership of the literary societies dropped, 
 especially that of the Belles Lettres. There are no minutes 
 of this society from May 30, 1890 to September 17, 1893, 
 and its activities seem to have been temporarily suspended. 
 
 College classes, the juniors and seniors at least, became or- 
 ganized and active as groups. They had pins, rings, hats, 
 mottoes, even yells in the "Gay Nineties." "One ring I wear 
 is a pink cameo with the raised white figure, *76'; other rings 
 find their way into my fancy, but few mean to me what 
 this old-fashioned bit does," wrote Mrs. Annie Hobbs Wood- 
 cock thirty years later. 191 The "badges" and pins changed 
 from year to year — a navy blue ribbon with "Z.B." in gilt, 
 a medallion in Roman gold with "I.F.C.," a miniature of 
 the Main Building — they all became memorabilia. Class 
 Day and Tree Day featured these upper-classes. The first 
 Class Day was observed in June 1871, with the planting of 
 the ivy to solemnize it. The seniors appeared in "plain 
 calico dresses without ornament," and established a prece- 
 dent for this costume. The program consisted of a class his- 
 tory, a prophecy, and the ivy oration. 192 Although Class 
 Day was not observed in 1872 because of the death of Mrs. 
 DeMotte, by 1873 it had become a "time-honored custom" 
 to be held in the "abundant shade of the college maples." 
 The "traditional wooden spoon" for planting the ivy was 
 passed on to the juniors in formal presentation, and an ivy 
 song was sung. 193 In 1874, a tree was planted and the spoon 
 became a spade, the ivy oration an oak oration. 194 The 
 "Centennial Class of 1876" made a gala affair of Class Day 
 with an elaborate burlesque of college life. The burning of 
 examination papers became a new feature of the day. 195 
 
 After 1879, Class Day was not mentioned as a commence- 
 ment event. In or about 1882, Tree Day was instituted, 
 and around it the former Class Day ritual was performed. 
 It began, tradition says, with a student request for a holiday 
 on November 9, Doctor Short's birthday. By 1884, Tree 
 Day had become an elaborate ceremonial, with classical 
 music, a senior program, and an address by an outside 
 
288 History of MacMurray College 
 
 speaker. The Journal wrote of the "planting" in this year: 
 
 Just prior to the planting, the under classes marched to the place 
 prepared for the tree and the seniors came down the steps singing their 
 tree song as they marched around the trees planted by previous classes, 
 bestowing a flower on each one as a mark of esteem for the classes gone 
 before. At last, upon arriving at their own tree, they formed a circle 
 and proceeded to incinerate their examination papers and old essays with 
 heartfelt rejoicing, and when the cremation act was ended, the ashes 
 were deposited as a basis for the tree to rest upon. 196 
 
 The day was an event in the College and the city comparable 
 to the Osage Orange Day of Illinois College. The Journal 
 referred to them as outstanding annual events in 1886. 197 
 In 1883, Illinois College presented a play "The Wedding of 
 the Orange and the Pine," in which the Female College par- 
 ticipated. 198 But, after 1886, Tree Day seems to have disap- 
 peared as Class Day had gone. The irregular enrollment of 
 local art and music pupils was not conducive to the main- 
 tenance of such institutional customs. 
 
 In these later 1880s, however, the Senior Class enjoyed 
 more social recognition than before. The president's recep- 
 tion to them and their friends had existed from the begin- 
 ning and was still the major social event of the year. During 
 the years the Senior Class went "under proper chaperon- 
 age" to open meetings and receptions of the literary soci- 
 eties at Illinois College (if they were members of sister so- 
 cieties). In 1888, they were "signally honored" by several 
 receptions preceding commencement. Early in May, Doctor 
 and Mrs. Short entertained them and "the knights of the 
 black silk hats from College Hill," and there were receptions 
 in Jacksonville homes. 199 In 1890, the seniors and juniors 
 entertained each other at teas in the homes of local mem- 
 bers. 200 The restraints of the "seminary" were slowly relaxed 
 as the "Gay Nineties" approached; girls were complaining 
 more openly that they were "born to blush unseen." 201 
 Other favors the seniors had acquired through the years. 
 As the "Scraps" reveal, they had a spring vacation as early 
 as 1877; and in the 1880s, at least, they had the privilege of 
 going out unchaperoned on their walks at least a part of the 
 year. 202 For misdemeanors this latter privilege was canceled. 
 
JOSEPH R. HARKER 
 President 1893-1925 
 
FANNIE E. MARKER 
 
History of MacMurray College 289 
 
 In 1883, Doctor Short took the Senior Class to Springfield 
 to see the museum and the historical places. 203 Perhaps there 
 were other such excursions. 
 
 Commencement remained the important season of the 
 year for the city as well as for the seniors. Students and 
 faculty began to prepare weeks ahead. The "Scraps" de- 
 clared on May 20, 1877: "It is a well-beaten path that leads 
 to Centenary Church, and still the sweet strains of 'I Dreamt 
 that I Dwelt in Marble Halls' greets our ears." After 1881, 
 commencement was held in Grace Church. Its pattern 
 changed but slowly. In 1870, the first alumnae reunion 
 took place (except for the abortive one of the late 1850s), 
 and an alumnae program and banquet became regular fea- 
 tures of commencement from that year. The seniors were 
 formally admitted to this organization. The twenty-fifth 
 class (1875), the last of President DeMotte's administration, 
 was honored by the presence of the Governor, J. L. Bever- 
 idge, on the stage. A small stone on the front campus com- 
 memorates this class and his visit. 204 Perhaps the "Centennial 
 Class of 1876" deserves special recognition in this history of 
 commencements. "Their appearance upon the stage — a 
 semi-circle of bright-eyed, richly dressed, flower-trimmed 
 fair ones will long be remembered," the Journal declared. 208 
 The subjects of their essays and orations represent a sort of 
 survey and criticism of the state of the nation, a statement 
 of philosophy, and a summing up of the century. Is our 
 Republic a Success?, Is Increase of Wealth a National Good?, 
 Radicalism, Outlaws, The National Heart (common man), 
 Toleration, Americans, Shall it be Done? (the Bible ex- 
 cluded from public schools), Individual Responsibility, In- 
 dividualism, Universal Egotism, Thoughts of a Century — 
 these were some of the subjects. In 1 882, "by the unanimous 
 request of the class," the reading of the essays and the deliv- 
 ery of orations gave way to the single address by a guest 
 speaker. Graduating theses were still written, some were 
 delivered at the society anniversaries, and a list of the sub- 
 jects appeared on the programs and in the press. Something 
 
290 History of MacMurray College 
 
 was lost, something gained. It must have been tiring to 
 listen to twenty or more. 
 
 The commencement speakers deserve a word. A tradi- 
 tion arose that the speaker chosen was assured immediate 
 elevation to a bishopric. Doctors W. X. Ninde, J. M. Wal- 
 den, and Earl Cranston had this experience. Doctor Short 
 warned David H. Moore, the speaker for the fiftieth 
 anniversary in 1897, that unless he "put up an episcopal 
 lightning rod he might expect this result." 206 And it followed, 
 and the same for several successors. Of special interest were 
 the addresses of 1889 and 1890 delivered by Doctor Rena 
 Michaels, dean of the Woman's College of Northwestern 
 University, and the first woman to appear as the commence- 
 ment speaker. Her subjects were "The American Girl" 
 (1889) and "The American Woman" (1890). 
 
 Aside from the organizations — classes, their "days," and 
 so forth — what made up the life of the boarding school 
 girl? A few facts (mixed with some fancies, perhaps) may 
 be assembled to supplement the "Scraps." Added together, 
 the sum was happiness, it seems, to young ladies in this "age 
 of confidence." Arrival and departure were a blend of joy- 
 ous anticipation and sweet sorrow. The sentimental and 
 pious editors could write of the sad good-byes to homefolks 
 as the young ladies left "to fight their way up the steep and 
 rugged hills of science." But the "hills of science" were not 
 quite so steep; students came better prepared to mount them. 
 Nor was their leaving the college halls quite so sorrowful 
 as in the 1850s. Woman's sphere had expanded — they left 
 to go to school again or to travel before or after marriage. 
 The end of their Illinois Female College days for some at 
 least was not the end of youth and adventure. Alumnae 
 reunions reminded them that they might meet again and 
 often, so their tears at commencement were sooner dried. 
 
 "The sound of the college bell is heard once more, and 
 the college belles have reappeared." The excitement of open- 
 ing days, of rooms (which they exchanged perhaps as often 
 as now) and roommates, of society rushes and pledges, all 
 
History of MacMurray College 291 
 
 filled the opening until term examinations and Christmas 
 holidays absorbed their thoughts. Christmas vacation had 
 become a permanent institution (about two weeks, after 
 1882, when the dates were first included in the calendar), 
 and was the only vacation of the year except that for sen- 
 iors. The Journal described at great length the excitement 
 at the stations as the young ladies took the trains for home — 
 how the young gentlemen's endeavors to help them and bid 
 a fond good-bye were thwarted by the faithful instructors 
 and chaperones. Students overstayed their vacation limits. 
 Society minutes record the slim attendance caused by holi- 
 day absentees. 
 
 The daily life in the dormitories was filled with the un- 
 ceasing sound of pianos. "The pianos seem like clocks; 
 wound up in the morning, they run all day. The only dif- 
 ference is they tick a little louder," the "Scraps" observed. 
 In the memories of a graduate of '81 were mingled the dis- 
 cords that issued from third floor hall — the "clashing notes 
 of 'The Caliph of Bagdad' opposing the distant ones of the 
 Toet and Peasant' and 'The Last Smile' becoming very faint 
 through the hurrying notes of Webber's 'Invitation to the 
 Dance.' " 207 The afternoon walk "in procession" (never past 
 the Dunlap Hotel, Illinois College, or the Square — the inter- 
 esting places) might be enlivened by the chance to pass notes 
 or to entrap a poor man between the lines or depressed by 
 an encounter with the procession of another "institution" and 
 the speculation as to whether "we all looked alike." Or it 
 might be an obstacle race as some mischievous boy piled 
 leaves in their path. There were long hikes, too, for those 
 who liked them. Suppers — still biscuits and molasses — in 
 the dining room; the benediction of Doctor Short with his 
 favorite verse, "The angel of the Lord encampeth around 
 about them that fear him and delivereth them" (to hear it 
 was to see again the dining room, one recalled) were a part 
 of "their day" which closed with story-telling or perhaps 
 gossip in their rooms after study hour and an occasional 
 
292 History of MacMurray College 
 
 midnight feast from boxes of cake and chicken and apples 
 from home. 
 
 The servants of the later years are a matter of record: 
 the maids — the Coffee girls — and William Patterson, the 
 colored "help." The former were Irish. This nationality 
 had become so prominent in Jacksonville that there was con- 
 siderable Fenian excitement in the city in the late 1860s. 
 The Shorts had a stream of visitors — relatives, their daugh- 
 ters' friends, Methodist ministers, visiting celebrities, and 
 parents of the students. The "Scraps" recorded their names; 
 they enlivened the social scene a little. Both the DeMottes 
 and the Shorts made the College a sort of residential hotel 
 for non-paying guests. The small boarding enrollment made 
 this increasingly possible. The college family maintained the 
 old hospitable custom of open house on New Year's Day. 
 
 Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and Washington's Birthday 
 were always observed. Sometimes there were special touches 
 as in the Thanksgiving of 1878 planned by Mrs. Macdon- 
 ald, the Latin teacher. An evening reception was added to 
 the Thanksgiving dinner and "a group of white-robed 
 maidens representing the graces, preceded by Pomona and 
 Ceres," entered and dispensed gifts to members of the fac- 
 ulty and the students — "a blooming plant of white carna- 
 tions" to each teacher and "golden apples" to the students. 208 
 The greenhouse was then quite new. Washington's Birth- 
 day was observed with a program in the morning and a re- 
 ception, often in costume, in the evening. The hundredth 
 anniversary of Washington's first inauguration was cele- 
 brated with a very special program on April 30, 1889. 
 Columbus Day was a big occasion in 1892 with Columbus, 
 Ferdinand, and Isabella in costume. The patriotism of the 
 school was earnest. National heroes were subjects of fre- 
 quent essays, particularly the Civil War heroes, Lincoln 
 and his generals. American literary lights were also favorite 
 subjects — Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Emerson, Irving, 
 but not Whitman or Mark Twain. The latter was still re- 
 garded by some as "slightly ridiculous," not to be put in the 
 
History of MacMurray College 293 
 
 class with Longfellow or Whittier. Longfellow, "our great- 
 est classical poet," sometimes got a "day" even. Although 
 the active political interest of the students was reflected in 
 their programs, there are few references as to their partisan- 
 ship. The Jacksonville Journal noted in October 1880, that 
 "one pleasing thing in soliciting for the dinner of Wednes- 
 day (Garfield- Arthur dinner) was the donation given by 
 the Republican young ladies of Illinois Female College." 209 
 Graduates of 1891 recalled their class yell, "Hurrah for Mc- 
 Kinley!" (he had just risen into national prominence over 
 the issue of the tariff) . 210 
 
 Students were occasionally allowed to attend a missionary 
 tea or a festival sponsored by the church ladies, where they 
 spent an evening "promenading," talking, and eating. "Good 
 old Judge Whitlock" was the fairy godfather of the genera- 
 tions of the 1880s, as Nicholas Milburn, William Brown, and 
 John Mathers had been of earlier ones and as Doctor T. J. 
 Pitner and the Gateses were to be in later years. He fed his 
 Sunday School class on strawberries and ice cream. Once 
 he and Mrs. Whitlock entertained all the "boarders" at an 
 elaborate Cinderella party. 
 
 Days and years were marked by other events — some fa- 
 miliar, others new and unusual. In the spring of 1881, the 
 College entertained at a reception the delegates to the Inter- 
 State Collegiate Oratorical Association, to which Illinois Col- 
 lege was host. Six states were represented in it — Minnesota, 
 Iowa (by a woman) , Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, 
 and there were "crowds" of delegates. Doctor Rammel- 
 kamp considered it one of the greatest events in the history 
 of student activities at Illinois College (although this school 
 was not represented in the contest) . 211 The boys assisted in 
 the preparations at the Female College, decorating the 
 grounds with Chinese (?) lanterns. The reception was pro- 
 nounced a great success. The Journal declared: "The Illi- 
 nois Female College was ablaze last night with dazzling 
 brilliance and 'bright the lights shone o'er fair women and 
 brave men,' for Jacksonville had certainly gathered there her 
 
294 History of MacMurray College 
 
 beauty." 212 Among the delegates was young Jane Addams 
 of later Hull House fame. This occasion held special inter- 
 est and significance, too, in the fact that William Jennings 
 Bryan, then a senior at Illinois College, was the vice president 
 of the Intercollegiate Association. A word further about 
 Bryan's contacts with the Female College. Incidentally, he 
 returned later (1917) to deliver the Founders' Day address, 
 and in 1925 spoke at commencement, and he recalled the 
 occasions when he had visited it on nocturnal serenades from 
 the Hill, not always smiled upon by Doctor Short or the local 
 police. Bryan was a member of a little club, the "Utili- 
 Dulci," composed of six boys and six girls, among them some 
 recent Illinois Female College girls. One of the young ladies 
 was Maie Short, and her future husband, Julian Wadsworth, 
 was also a member. 213 This club was formed for the serious 
 purpose of education in public affairs and parliamentary 
 procedure. 
 
 Another red-letter day for the young ladies of the College 
 was the reception given the Oberlin College Glee Club in 
 March 1882, when it came to Jacksonville upon invitation 
 to sing at the Opera House. 214 At an afternoon reception 
 at the College, they gave a program and were presented but- 
 ton hole bouquets for their evening performance. The or- 
 ganization of an Illinois College Glee Club now gave added 
 attraction to the familiar serenades from the Hill, and it be- 
 guiled the young ladies with "Farewell My Own True Love," 
 "Dreaming Eyes that Haunt me Still," or such old favorites 
 as "Annie Laurie." The Glee Club went on concert tours 
 to neighboring towns and always visited the College on the 
 way from the railroad station. The annual closing serenade 
 became a gala affair. The young gentlemen made their 
 rounds in great style in open barouches. 215 
 
 These young ladies were average American girls — healthy, 
 hopeful of the future. Life had become easier in its physical 
 and material aspects, more complex and difficult in its social 
 organization and problems. They were becoming conscious 
 of these problems, their national and, in a small way, their 
 
History of MacMurray College 295 
 
 international aspects. Their older sisters of the College were 
 beginning to be scattered around over the world in travel, 
 study, or work. They themselves were becoming more res- 
 tive under Victorian conventions and Methodist discipline 
 and in a school too limited to be considered a real college 
 any longer. 
 
 PRESIDENT SHORT RESIGNS: THE LAST YEARS 
 
 Doctor Short had accepted with enthusiasm Hiram Buck's 
 offer of land and a plan of endowment for the College in 
 1892 and began to talk of making it a high grade college for 
 women like Wellesley or Vassar. It now appeared that the 
 fate of the institution was either radical change and advance- 
 ment or extinction. But he must have realized that far more 
 was required than Hiram Buck's offer promised and that his 
 years were long for undertaking a task of such proportions. 
 When the new Governor of Illinois, J. P. Altgeld, offered him 
 the position as superintendent of the School for the Blind 
 in 1893, he welcomed it no doubt as a means by which he 
 could more adequately "make ends meet" as well as serve 
 his fellowman. His recognition by a man of such high cour- 
 age and liberal humanitarianism is itself a commentary on 
 the life of Doctor Short. After four years of constructive 
 labor in this school, during which several new buildings were 
 added to its plant, the turn of the political wheel terminated 
 his work there. 216 For six years, until his retirement in 1903, 
 he served as presiding elder of the West Jacksonville District 
 of the Illinois Conference. His home during all these years 
 and until his death in 1909 was still in Jacksonville. He 
 spoke on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Col- 
 lege in 1897, urging the need of advancement, and was a 
 visitor and speaker on other occasions and from 1905 until 
 his death a trustee. No man knew the College more inti- 
 mately through long-continued associations and service. 
 
 Of scholarly interests, a good preacher and speaker (no 
 person in Jacksonville was more popular as a speaker, espe- 
 cially for impromptu talks, which he gave so felicitously) , 
 the distinctive ability of Doctor Short seems, however, to 
 
296 History of MacMurray College 
 
 have been that of pastor. He was the friend of all, high and 
 low. When his body lay ready for burial, an old Negro 
 friend came to pay his respects and lamented that Doctor 
 Short had departed too soon, for he had expected his friend 
 "to lay him away." 217 At the College he had experienced a 
 period of uncertainty and discouragement, but he had main- 
 tained the institution and preserved its ideals and traditions 
 so that under more fortunate circumstances younger minds 
 and hands might advance its standing. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ILLINOIS WOMAN'S COLLEGE IN THE 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY 
 
 PRESIDENT JOSEPH R. HARKER, 1893-1925 
 
 The year 1893 marked the coming of a new president 
 and a turning point in the fortunes of the Illinois Fe- 
 male College. During this long administration of thirty- 
 two years the College advanced academically to the point that 
 it received full recognition as a standard college for women, 
 the campus and buildings were expanded and increased, new 
 friends were secured, and closer relations with the Illinois 
 Annual Conference were established as the school lost its 
 private-school character. Student organization and activity 
 took on the general characteristics of those of other colleges 
 for women with certain peculiarities due to tradition, local 
 background, or the ideas of the president. The alumnae, 
 already organized as a social group, were recognized officially 
 by the right to name representatives of their body to the 
 Board of Trustees, and their support, material and moral, 
 was solicited. Interest in the history of the College was 
 promoted by the fiftieth anniversary in 1897 and the sev- 
 enty-fifth in 1921, the latter observed with considerable 
 ceremonial, and even the intervening sixtieth and seventieth 
 anniversaries were emphasized. For the promotion and organi- 
 zation of this interest both the president and the Alumnae 
 Association deserve credit. The materials they gathered and 
 recorded in the early issues of the College Greetings and 
 Doctor Harker's manuscript history have been invaluable 
 
 297 
 
298 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in the writing of this volume. Strict historical justice would 
 compel one to admit, however, that the latter, while paying 
 merited tribute to the founders, did not give adequate recog- 
 nition to the contributions made during the long period 
 from 1868 to 1893. The administration did not begin to 
 build a modern college in 1893 with quite such a tabula rasa 
 as one might gather that it did from this manuscript and 
 the Eventide Memories. If these administrations had done 
 no more than to maintain the school at its earlier level of 
 instruction that service would have been considerable. Doc- 
 tor Harker himself admitted that the fifty years of con- 
 tinued existence was a great asset in the task of making the 
 modern college. The preceding pages of this story should 
 indicate that the College had done more, however, than 
 maintain its status and its reputation for conscientious in- 
 struction; some constructive progress had been made. More- 
 over, the College had been kept a school for women only in- 
 stead of following the general trend of co-education in the 
 West, and in Doctor Short's administration this policy had 
 been maintained in the face apparently of considerable pres- 
 sure to follow the more popular trend. 
 
 THE EARLIER YEARS OF JOSEPH R. HARKER: FROM IMMI- 
 GRANT COAL-MINER TO COLLEGE PRESIDENT 
 
 The education of Joseph R. Harker is the legend of a self- 
 made man in a country and a century where anything could 
 happen. Doctor Harker himself always regarded it and 
 finally recorded it with pious simplicity in the first and more 
 interesting part of his Eventide Memories as a "guided life." 
 From this story one discovers that, with limited opportunity 
 for education in schools or for research in the realm of mod- 
 ern scholarship, Doctor Harker had, nevertheless, gained in- 
 timate knowledge of the educational development in Illinois 
 from the elementary school up to the college from hard 
 experience as a school administrator. As a college adminis- 
 trator, he was to prove himself alert to the main trends in 
 academic evolution and remarkably quick, in view of finan- 
 cial limitations, to bring the school into line with these new 
 
History of MacMurray College 299 
 
 developments to the point that it could secure the approval 
 of the standardizing agencies. He possessed a shrewd mind, 
 a good sense of timing, boundless energy, and an evangelical 
 zeal of the early Methodist character — qualities that served 
 well to lift the institution from its moribund condition and 
 set it on the road to progress. One may wonder if, in his 
 lack of acquaintance with the old seminary type of educa- 
 tion for women, he did not ignore too completely certain 
 intangible values in that system, a certain grace and dignity, 
 a flavor, that might have been well worth preserving. 
 
 Joseph R. Harker was born on June 30, 1853, near Rain- 
 ton Gate in County Durham, England, the son of a coal- 
 miner. 1 His father, Ralph Harker, had gone into the mines 
 at seven; his mother worked in domestic service until her 
 marriage at eighteen. Like most members of the English 
 laboring class in the nineteenth century, neither had had op- 
 portunity for any education. When Joseph was five, the 
 family moved to the Castle Eden mines near the North Sea. 
 Here Joseph was entered at six in an Episcopal church 
 school, which he attended until ten, receiving in it about 
 all the actual schooling he ever had. Arithmetic, in which 
 he showed special aptitude, grammar, a little geography 
 and natural history constituted the course, along with a 
 study of the catechism and the memorization of Psalms and 
 other passages of the Bible. During his last year at the 
 school, the headmaster often invited Joseph and some of 
 the other boys into his home and read them Robinson Cru- 
 soe and The Last of the Mohicans ; or he took them on walks 
 on the seashore and talked on natural history or his life at 
 Oxford, inspiring them with a desire to attend college, im- 
 possible as such a course appeared to an English coal-miner's 
 son. 
 
 This school, or church, maintained a reading room. Here 
 in the Illustrated London News Joseph read about or looked 
 at the pictures of the Civil War then in progress in America. 
 Of his reading in youth, he wrote later: 
 
300 History of MacMurray College 
 
 We had few books and papers in our home in my childhood. For a 
 year or two my father paid a penny a week for a small story-paper 
 for me to read to him, the stories being mainly exciting adventures of 
 noted highway-men like Jack Shepherd, Dick Turpin, and other heroes 
 of that kind. But that class of reading was discontinued after he became 
 interested in the Methodist Church. The only books I can recall reading 
 were Robinson Crusoe, The Last of the Mohicians, Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
 Progress, The Arabian Nights, and the Bible. The last three of these 
 I treasured most and read them over and over many times. I have always 
 been most thankful that in school we were required to commit to 
 memory the Psalms and other portions of scripture, for it gave me an 
 interest in the Bible that has increased through the years. . . . My early 
 knowledge of the Bible, and love for it, have enriched my life more 
 than has any other mental acquisition. 2 
 
 Educated in an Episcopal church school, Joseph had been 
 a constant attendant at its worship and had served as choir 
 boy. After he left school, however, he turned to the Meth- 
 odist church. In the services of these psalm-singing evan- 
 gelicals and in their Sunday schools, he received such addi- 
 tional education as he could. When he was ten, the family 
 moved from Castle Eden to other mines, and Joseph went 
 to work. Employed first in a store, he soon left it for the 
 mines, which paid better. The family now consisted of 
 eight children, and his wages were needed. Doing various 
 jobs in the mines, he never actually dug coal until he came 
 to America. Recognized as a bright lad with some claims 
 to education, he was set to learn telegraphy and served as 
 telegraph operator for the mines for a time. In his Even- 
 tide Memories Doctor Harker related simply and effectively 
 the story of the hardships of an English coal-miner's family 
 in the mid-nineteenth century. Through his mother's influ- 
 ence, the father refrained from drink, planted a garden, and 
 saved enough to tide them over a period of unemployment 
 due to his protest against the form of labor contract then 
 required. One gets a glimpse of the beginnings of group 
 action of the miners for improvement of their lot. 
 
 In 1871, the Harkers moved from County Durham, 
 which Joseph had never left to thisi date, to Duquoin, Illi- 
 nois. Certain members of the family had preceded them 
 to America. Here they continued in coal-mining, and Jo- 
 
History of MacMurray College 301 
 
 seph, now eighteen, took up the pick. Before he left Eng- 
 land, he had come to: accept his status as fixed. "The last 
 years in England my ambition had largely died out, I had 
 ceased to dream of a future as I used to do when a boy at 
 school and had settled down to be content as I was. There 
 was no hope of anything else," he declared. 3 America, the 
 prairies of Illinois, gave him a new outlook, and he began 
 to think again of an education. During the spring and 
 summer months, the mines of southern Illinois were oper- 
 ated only two or three days a week. The "free" days offered 
 him his chance for study. Securing textbooks, he set him- 
 self to learn Ray's Arithmetic, Warren's Physical Geography, 
 and later algebra and geometry, with some help from the 
 county and the city superintendents of schools. A retired 
 Presbyterian minister, Doctor William T. Hamilton, offered 
 to teach him Latin and Greek. In his Latin reader, Viri 
 Romae, he encountered one of those maxims that inspired 
 him through life and by which he sought to edify others: 
 "I will either find a way or make it." 4 Doctor Harker's life 
 and thought combined the conflicting philosophies of the 
 self-made and self-reliant man and the instrument of God, 
 a combination of Poor Richard and the religious mystic. He 
 never seemed conscious of the contradiction, or perhaps 
 there is none. 
 
 In a chapter of his Eventide Memories entitled "I Find 
 Out What I was Born to Do," Doctor Harker told how he 
 became a schoolmaster. His teacher-friends had suggested 
 that he enter the profession, but his study had not yet cov- 
 ered the fields required even for a county certificate. In 
 1873, however, the superintendent of Perry County offered 
 to grant him a temporary certificate without examination. 
 He wanted him to teach the Negro school required under 
 the new constitution of Illinois but so unpopular in this 
 southern county that it had been impossible to find a teacher. 
 Mr. Harker taught this school satisfactorily for some months, 
 beginning in December 1873. This date marked his farewell 
 to coal-mining. During the year 1873-74, while teaching 
 
302 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in DeSoto, Illinois, he walked down to Carbondale one night 
 to hear Bayard Taylor, and added the theme of the lecture, 
 "Contentment with present attainment is the beginning of 
 decline," to the collection of maxims which inspired his life. 
 By continued study of the subjects required for teachers' 
 certificates, he secured in succession ("One foot up, the 
 other foot down, And that's the way to London town") 
 the various certificates, until he obtained a life certificate to 
 teach in the public schools of Illinois in 1876. In that year 
 he married an English girl, Miss Susan Amass, of Brighton, 
 Illinois. Four years later she died, leaving him a small daugh- 
 ter, Maude. 
 
 In the meantime, Mr. Harker had advanced from DeSoto 
 to be superintendent of schools in Bear dst own, which posi- 
 tion he left after a year to go to Meredosia. At Meredosia 
 he organized the first graded high school and graduated the 
 first class. In 1882, he married one of the two members of 
 this class, Miss Frances Wackerle, who, in the meantime, had 
 had a year's instruction in the Illinois Female College. She 
 was the daughter of a Virginia mother (Fannie Browning) 
 and a German physician, Doctor W. J. Wackerle. To her 
 industry and encouragement, Doctor Harker attributed 
 much of his later success. To them were born three sons 
 and three daughters. After four years as superintendent of 
 the Waverly schools, during which he organized a high school 
 there and graduated the first class, Mr. Harker accepted the 
 position as head of Whipple Academy, the preparatory de- 
 partment of Illinois College. Himself an immigrant, he 
 had done pioneer work in public education in Illinois for 
 both Negroes and whites. Since 1874 he had been contin- 
 uously called upon to conduct county institutes for teachers 
 and had become thoroughly grounded in common school 
 subjects and acquainted with the public school teachers of 
 central Illinois. Through twelve years' experience in Illi- 
 nois public schools during their formative period he had 
 shown himself an efficient organizer and administrator. Long 
 contact with secondary schools (continued to 1893 at Whip- 
 
History of MacMurray College 303 
 
 pie) encouraged his tendency to didacticism, which was car- 
 ried over into his chapel talks and other aspects of college 
 administration. But he could give zest and inspirational 
 appeal to platitudes; in his hands the obvious became a unique 
 discovery of virtue and power. 5 
 
 During ten years' successful administration of Whipple 
 Academy, Mr. Harker made a place for himself in Jackson- 
 ville. With some help from the Illinois College teachers, 
 he continued his studies. For his success in his later years 
 of self -study, Doctor Harker paid tribute also to the English 
 editors of Cassell's Popular Educator, a compendium for 
 self -education. 6 By passing an examination upon all the 
 college courses, he was granted the Bachelor of Arts degree 
 from Illinois College in 1888. In 1890, the College con- 
 ferred the Master's degree on him, and, upon his resignation 
 in 1893, the honorary Doctor's degree. 7 
 
 The death of President Tanner in 1892 left Illinois Col- 
 lege leaderless for a time. The uncertainty as to its future, 
 which uncertainty might affect the success of the Academy, 
 and the fact that such academies were destined to give place 
 soon to modern high schools, made Doctor Harker willing 
 to listen to other offers. Among these came the offer of 
 the presidency of Illinois Female College in the spring of 
 1893, which he accepted. It may be hard to determine how 
 much of the later development he foresaw at that time, but 
 the bases of his decision, as recorded in his Eventide Mem- 
 ories, were probably fairly well appreciated in 1893. He 
 foresaw, he declared, that the day of the old seminary had 
 passed but the day of the modern college for women was 
 just beginning, at least in the Middle West, and the Meth- 
 odists should be encouraged to raise the school to that level 
 instead of abandoning it. 8 Doubtless Doctor Harker under- 
 stood then but slightly all that would be involved in making 
 a standard college, but "one foot up, one foot down." More 
 limited in their ambitions, the trustees hoped he might at 
 least build up the college enrollment through his acquaint- 
 ance with the public school teachers of central Illinois. 
 
304 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Looking back and summing up in his Eventide Memories 
 the course of his life, Doctor Harker was convinced that the 
 steps of it had been divinely guided to lead to its final goal, 
 his "London Town," the presidency of the Illinois Woman's 
 College. The legend of the rise of the coal-miner's son be- 
 came a valuable asset to his later success in an individualistic 
 America where the self-made man was the hero of its epic. 
 
 ADMINISTRATIVE RELATIONSHIPS: THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 AND THE ILLINOIS ANNUAL CONFERENCE 
 
 The course of the material and financial history of the 
 College during this long administration becomes more com- 
 plicated than that of the preceding epochs of "private school" 
 administration. Perhaps it may be clarified by defining first 
 the president's relation to the Board of Trustees and that 
 of the College itself to the Illinois Conference. And these 
 two are related questions. Doctor Harker declared in his 
 Eventide Memories that he had not understood the distinct- 
 ly private-school character of the institution when he de- 
 cided to accept the presidency, and was much perturbed 
 when he discovered the nature of the agreement into which 
 he was about to enter. 9 He insisted that the school could 
 never be permanent on such a basis. The trustees were un- 
 willing, however, to undertake the responsibility. Finally a 
 modified contract was worked out by Doctor Harker. He 
 would keep full records of income and expense and report 
 them to the Board of Trustees. If the income exceeded the 
 expense, he was to receive a salary of $2,000 (or any sur- 
 plus under that amount) . If there should be a surplus above 
 $2,000, the trustees would receive two- thirds of it as a col- 
 lege fund for improvement or endowment, the president 
 one-third to reimburse him for furnishings and equipment. 10 
 Doctor Harker, it might seem, was entering a speculative 
 business in which he gave away at the outset the larger part 
 of any gains he might make and retained all the responsibil- 
 ity for losses. The situation was not quite that. He realized 
 no doubt that as long as the school was strictly private there 
 would be little hope of an income above $2,000. He had 
 
History of MacMurray College 305 
 
 to change the financial character of the College to build it 
 up. His courage was displayed in his willingness to assume 
 the presidency at all; his insistence on a modified contract 
 was sound business judgment. The trustees naturally agreed 
 to his terms, and entered into a contract for ten years. With 
 minor changes this contract was extended twice, the last 
 time to run until 1918; but before its expiration it was an- 
 nulled, in 1910, upon President Harker's suggestion. 11 By 
 that date the property and endowment of the College were 
 estimated to be something more than $467,000 (on which 
 there was a debt of $68,000), and the annual business turn- 
 over was around $100,000. 12 For several years after he 
 assumed control, his expenditures exceeded his income, but 
 for some years before 1910 he had received a profit. From 
 the beginning, there had been a surplus for the trustees, and 
 in the course of the seventeen years, this surplus had totaled 
 over $85,000. 13 
 
 By 1910, Doctor Harker thought the time ripe for a 
 complete change from the private-profit basis. Such a sys- 
 tem would make it increasingly difficult to raise the large 
 endowments needed to maintain a standard college; more- 
 over, it was not a healthy relationship for the president. As 
 long as he assumed the risks, which increased with the size 
 of the investment in faculties and equipment, he had to 
 think in terms of immediate returns, perhaps to the sacrifice 
 of long-time interests. 14 The Board of Trustees accepted 
 his recommendation that the contract be annulled. Under 
 a new contract, Doctor Harker was to be paid $5,000 a year 
 and living; the Board of Trustees assumed all the risks and 
 enjoyed the profits for the benefit of the institution. The 
 trustees agreed to purchase the college furnishings and 
 equipment for $22,397. 15 In the course of the next six years, 
 Doctor Harker returned this amount to the College in con- 
 tributions to the endowment. 16 The year 1910 thus marked 
 the final termination of the private-school personal-profit 
 basis of the institution. This change constituted an important 
 milestone in the progress toward the modern college. 
 
30o History of MacMurray College 
 
 The Board of Trustees was increased from nine to eighteen 
 members in 1893 and by 1895 to twenty-four. 17 To remove 
 the opinion that the institution was privately owned, Doc- 
 tor Harker sought to bring the Board into prominence. 
 Meetings were held more frequently, especially meetings of 
 the executive committee. The president made more detailed 
 reports than had appeared before and asked the approval 
 of the Board on all academic changes as well as on financial 
 policies. Outside Board meetings he sought to acquaint each 
 member with his objectives, his "dreams" for the school 
 (as he did every other person, high or low, that he chanced 
 to meet) . The Board never assumed the control it had exer- 
 cised in the 1850s or 1860s, but it emerged from its relative 
 inactivity. Doctor Harker, a regular member, served as 
 secretary until 1921. Up to 1910 most of the minutes were 
 recorded by his own hand. In 1921, A. C. Metcalf, regis- 
 trar of the College, was made secretary. In 1919, Doctor 
 Harker resigned his place as regular member for the cus- 
 tomary ex officio status. When Mr. MacMurray was elected 
 president of the Board in 1921, the first president since 
 Cartwright's time who did not live in Jacksonville, the office 
 of vice president was created. Doctor Harker was chosen 
 for this office. Although there was some movement toward 
 specialization of function by the creation of committees, 
 these groups functioned only slightly with the exception of 
 the executive committee. There were no by-laws to define 
 the function of committees or to authorize their action with 
 the exception of the executive committee provided for in 
 the charter. As the College acquired properties and endow- 
 ments, a more fully defined financial and investment policy 
 was needed. Only in 1923 was a finance committee ap- 
 pointed. Investments had been left to the discretion of the 
 treasurer. 18 One of the first acts of the next administration 
 was to bring about the enactment of by-laws and the formu- 
 lation of an investment policy. 
 
 With respect to personnel, the Board was expanded geo- 
 graphically and became more diversified in interests, par- 
 
History of MacMurray College 307 
 
 ticularly through the inclusion of women in its membership. 
 Upon the recommendation of President Harker, the Illinois 
 Conference adopted a resolution in 1893 whereby the 
 Alumnae Association was authorized to nominate college 
 trustees from its membership. 19 Six of the twenty-four 
 members were alumnae representatives. The trustees chosen 
 under this provision were a notable group of women. Most 
 of them had won recognition as religious, social, and intel- 
 lectual leaders in their communities; some had attained a 
 wider recognition. They had made their own organization 
 as alumnae successful as a social and intellectual club; they 
 were now to lead it in endowing scholarships and professor- 
 ships. Several of these women made large individual con- 
 tributions. Most of the alumnae trustees up to 1925 were 
 graduates of the 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s — years in which 
 the school had been restricted financially. They are a testi- 
 monial of its moral and intellectual integrity in those years 
 of poverty. One was a graduate of the Class of 1852; several 
 were Doctor Harker's "girls." Two were descendants of 
 founders — Mrs. Rowe and Mrs. Dillon. The list includes: 
 Mrs. Rhoda Tomlin Capps, '62, Miss Mary Pegram, '64, Mrs. 
 Alice Don Carlos Vogel, '71, Mrs. Lillian Woods Osborne, 
 '79, Mrs. Minerva Dunlap Scott, '52, Mrs. Ella Yates Orr, 
 '67, Mrs. Ella Crain Rohrer, '76, Mrs. Mary Turley Oakes, 
 '74, Miss Mary Selby, '65, Mrs. Marietta Mathers Rowe, '75, 
 Mrs. Lizzie Dunlap Nixon, '81, Mrs. Rachel Harris Philippi, 
 '72, Mrs. Mary Callahan Mercer, '79, Mrs. Jennie Kinman 
 Ward, '65, Mrs. Hortense Bartholow Robeson, '89, Mrs. Susie 
 Brown Dillon, '75, Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, '73, Mrs. Annie 
 Reavis Gist, '84, Mrs. Emily Allen Fay, '13, Mrs. Letta Irwin 
 Shonle, '14, and Mrs. Nelle Yates Taylor, '05. They brought 
 representation on the Board from Kansas, Nebraska, and In- 
 diana as well as from many communities in Illinois. One 
 alumna, Mrs. E. C. Lambert, after twelve years as an alumnae 
 representative, was elected to fill another vacancy. Two 
 other women were given places on the Board apart from the 
 alumnae representation. After the death of Doctor Pitner, 
 
308 History of MacMurray College 
 
 his widow, the daughter of Alice McElroy Griffith, was 
 made an honorary trustee. Mrs. Mary Hardtner Blackstock, 
 of Springfield, a generous friend of the College, was made 
 an active trustee in 1917. Thus nine women sat on the Board, 
 eight as active members. The admission of women to this 
 administrative body was another milestone in the progress 
 toward the modern college for women. Several of the women 
 were very active in the work of the Board. 
 
 A. C. Wadsworth (see Chapter III) continued to serve 
 as president of the Board of Trustees until his death in 1911. 
 He was followed by Doctor T. J. Pitner, also discussed above. 
 Upon the death of Doctor Pitner in 1920, Mr. James Mac- 
 Murray, prominent Chicago businessman, later state senator, 
 was chosen president. He had been a member since 1916. 
 Although he made considerable gifts to the school during 
 this administration, his relation to the College as outstanding 
 benefactor belongs to the history of the administration of 
 President McClelland. In addition to Wadsworth and Pitner, 
 several other trustees formed a link with the past — H. C. 
 Tunison, famous map-maker, continued on the Board for 
 some years; also Lloyd Brown, S. S. Dewees, and J. H. 
 Osborne, and several ministers, and S. R. Capps returned 
 to it. 20 Some notable names appear among the new members. 
 Governor Richard Yates, former student, became a trustee 
 in 1903 and remained on the Board for more than a decade; 
 Senator L. Y. Sherman accepted a seat in 1913. The wife 
 of each of these was an alumna. The most scholarly member 
 by far was Doctor Edmund J. James, who served briefly 
 just before his death in 1925. Son of one of the founders 
 of 1862, brother of two alumnae, Doctor James had close 
 ties with the College and made liberal donations of money 
 (a library fund in honor of his father, Colin D. James) as 
 well as of service. This is hardly the place to recount the 
 remarkable educational career of this distinguished son of 
 Illinois, which included in its course the presidencies of 
 Northwestern University and the University of Illinois. As 
 president of the latter, he had been able to assist Doctor 
 
History of MacMurray College 309 
 
 Harker in his arduous task of raising the academic level of 
 the Woman's College. Hiram Buck Prentice, of Chicago, son 
 of William Prentice, was another link with the founders of 
 1862, to whom he paid eloquent tribute in the Founders' 
 Day address of 1910, published by the College. Another 
 notable trustee outside Jacksonville was Doctor C. E. Welch, 
 of Westfield, New York, head of the grapejuice corporation. 
 How Doctor Harker "discovered" him is related in the 
 story of endowment. 
 
 Although the geographical distribution of the trustees 
 became wider, a considerable part of the Board consisted of 
 local business and professional men. Judge T. B. Orear, 
 member of an outstanding Morgan County family of Vir- 
 ginia background, nephew of William Orear, an earlier 
 trustee, served the Board as trustee and treasurer for some 
 years. He was president of the Jacksonville National Bank. 
 His successor as treasurer, E. E. Crabtree, of Farrell and 
 Company, bankers, gave many years of faithful service. 
 Judge H. G. Whitlock, perennial Santa Claus to college 
 girls, served some years until his death in 1901. Judge Owen 
 P. Thompson, a sort of latter-day William Thomas as legis- 
 lative friend of education, added intellectual weight to the 
 Board. Doctor C. P. Gillett, head of the School for the 
 Deaf; Doctor J. W. Hairgrove, distinguished surgeon; Joseph 
 W. Walton, newspaper publisher; H. M. Andre, grandson 
 of one of Napoleon's "Old Guard," well-to-do merchant, 
 who gave liberally to the College; T. A. Chapin, bridge 
 constructor; Alexander Piatt, brickmason and donor of 
 more than $5,000; and Richard Yates Rowe, prominent busi- 
 ness and political figure of central Illinois were other local 
 men on the Board, some of them still serving. Then there 
 were the Blackburns, Edmund and Fletcher J., the latter 
 still a member. Their family had been friends and neighbors 
 of Peter Akers at Ebenezer, and it has furnished the longest 
 list, no doubt, of alumnae of any single family, among them 
 a distinguished missionary to Bulgaria. Mrs. Elizabeth Black- 
 burn Martin and Miss Mary Frances Scott represent the 
 
310 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Blackburn line in the present faculty. Other lay members 
 of the Board during this administration were W. E. Hall, 
 W. E. Veitch, J. E. Hutchinson, J. W. Taylor, H. H. Harris, 
 D. H. Lollis, W. G. Cochran, J. S. Starr, A. C. Metcalf, 
 Harvey Sconce, and C. C. Grimmett. Several of these came 
 from other communities: D. H. Lollis was a friend of the 
 Harkers from Meredosia and a frequent visitor at the College; 
 C. C. Grimmett, of Palmyra, was a leading layman of the 
 Illinois Conference and at the time he was admitted to the 
 Board was chairman of the Laymen's Association. 
 
 Among the ministers on the Board three had served under 
 Doctor Short— W. H. Webster, W. D. Best, and Greenbury 
 R. S. McElfresh. W. H. Webster became a member of the 
 Board in 1876 and served until 1903. He was an able man 
 and generous donor to the endowment. 21 As conference 
 visitor, local pastor, and finally as trustee, W. D. Best was 
 a faithful friend. In the 1880s, when the Conference had 
 been indifferent, he was a loyal supporter, insisting that the 
 College be raised to standard rank and that it be kept a 
 college for women. 22 Aside from his service as trustee and 
 recorder of certain significant aspects of college history in 
 the files of The College Greetings, Greenbury McElfresh is 
 notable for the line he represented and the tradition he 
 maintained right back to the sources of American Method- 
 ism. His father, John McElfresh, member of the old Balti- 
 more Conference, was ordained by Bishop Asbury. He was 
 elder brother to Peter Akers at Ebenezer, patronizing the 
 Manual Labor School and giving his blessing to the founda- 
 tion of the Woman's College. Greenbury himself was bap- 
 tized by George Rutledge and licensed to preach by J. S. 
 Barger, and was one of the last of the "Old Guard" of the 
 Illinois Conference. His brother, William McKendree Mc- 
 Elfresh, served the College as financial agent for a short 
 time. The latter's grandson, McKendree McElfresh Blair, 
 Harker professor of Bible in MacMurray today, continues 
 the McElfresh succession. Horace Reed was another of "the 
 heroes and makers of the Illinois Conference" on the Board. 
 
History of MacMurray College 311 
 
 Charles A. Crane, son of the beloved conference companion 
 of Buck and Prentice, was a trustee in the early years of 
 this administration. At the time, he was pastor of the 
 People's Church in Boston. His father had been an elder 
 brother to Doctor Short when the latter was a young con- 
 ference minister and the sons, among them Charles and 
 Frank, were constant visitors in the college home during his 
 administration and knew the school intimately. Doctor 
 Short himself was a member of the Board from 1905 until 
 his death in 1909. R. G. Hobbs, brother of Hattie and 
 Annie, who came up from Missouri to attend the College 
 in the 'seventies, was one of the intellectual lights of Illinois 
 Methodism on the Board. F. C. McCarthy, J. A. Kumler, 
 and E. L. Pletcher complete the list of Methodist divines 
 who were trustees during these thirty-two years. The list 
 is very short; indeed, there was often no minister on the 
 Board other than Doctor Harker himself. This scarcity of 
 ministerial representation may appear strange in view of 
 the fact that Doctor Harker set out to secure conference 
 support for the College. At the first annual meeting of the 
 Board and the conference visitors, however, a committee 
 was appointed (very likely upon Doctor Harker's sugges- 
 tion) "to see what changes may be made so as to secure 
 closer official relations between the trustees and the visitors." 23 
 At the next annual meeting in June 1895, a resolution was 
 adopted "that the Board request the visiting committee not 
 only to advise but also to vote on all questions that may 
 come before the meeting and that the Board hereby agrees 
 to ratify all motions passed by a joint vote of the Board of 
 Trustees and visitors." 24 This visiting committee consisted 
 of from six to ten members. Doctor J. A. Kumler, a min- 
 ister educated also in law, voted against this resolution, 
 whether on grounds of its doubtful legal correctness is not 
 certain. Although the resolution as to voting did not become 
 a fixed rule of action, the visitors were usually invited to 
 vote. It might be noted that Doctor Harker was three times 
 
312 History of MacMurray College 
 
 a lay delegate to General Conference of the Church and in 
 1908 was made a member of the Board of Education. 
 
 "My deepest anxiety during the first summer was as to 
 the attitude of the Illinois Conference toward the College/' 
 Doctor Harker confessed in his memoirs. 25 Although only 
 a minor part of the total endowment secured later came 
 through conference intervention, he seemd to feel that con- 
 ference support was essential. And, it is true, the early 
 endowments came largely through church-sponsored cam- 
 paigns. "If Conference could not be won back, the effort 
 to keep going would be in vain," he had concluded, whether 
 correctly or not. Under a recent permissive ruling of the 
 General Conference, the Illinois Conference had voted in 
 1892 to raise an educational fund of $4,000, in the place 
 of the Children's Day Fund, which had been collected for 
 this purpose for some time. The proceeds of this special 
 educational fund was to be divided among the recognized 
 conference schools. At this Conference in 1892 a motion 
 had been made that it be divided between Chaddock and 
 Illinois Wesleyan as the only conference schools, leaving out 
 the Female College on the grounds that it was merely a 
 private school. 26 Doctor Short had protested against this 
 opinion, and the decision had finally been left to a com- 
 mittee of nine, named "to ascertain the relations between 
 the Illinois Wesleyan University, Chaddock College, Illinois 
 Female College, and the Conference." 27 When Doctor 
 Harker accepted the presidency, he became immediately 
 concerned about the action of this committee and was not 
 encouraged by the responses of the chairman, "a friend of 
 the Wesleyan and of co-education." 28 Upon the decision of 
 this committee depended not merely the possession of a share 
 of this small fund, but also the future status of the College 
 with reference to the Church. But the decisions of the 
 special committee and of the committee on education were 
 favorable to the Female College. The committee of nine 
 declared: "We regard each of our educational institutions 
 
History of MacMurray College 313 
 
 as under the control of the Illinois Conference and that the 
 difference in the method of electing trustees is simply a 
 difference in form." 29 The committee on education reported 
 with respect to the Female College: 
 
 Without reflecting in any way upon the wisdom of the arrangement 
 hitherto maintained with the President of the school, which was prob- 
 ably the best arrangement practicable under the circumstances existing 
 at the time it was made, we are glad that the trustees, in the election 
 of the new President, were able to place the managment of the College 
 on a new basis by which all justification of the feeling that the school 
 was little more than a private enterprise ... is entirely removed. Presi- 
 dent Harker is employed upon a specific salary, and will be required 
 to render detailed statements of the financial affairs of the school. . . 30 
 This report did not admit that the element of private profit 
 had not been entirely eliminated. The education commis- 
 sion not only defended the conference status of the school 
 but added the following recommendation: 
 
 We would urge upon the attention of the Conference the necessity 
 of providing for the endowment of this important institution; and as 
 the semi-centennial of its history will be reached in 1897, we recom- 
 mend that measures be adopted with a view to securing for it by that 
 date an endowment of at least $S0,000. 31 
 
 Doctor Harker felt that a good beginning had been made 
 in conference relations. But the maintenance of this rela- 
 tionship with respect to any constructive program took time 
 and effort and brought relatively small returns. He sought 
 assiduously the aid of the Methodist press. As one runs 
 through the history of commencements during these thirty- 
 two years one finds that with one or two exceptions the 
 addresses were made by editors of the various Methodist 
 journals or by Methodist ministers rather than by leaders 
 in education, public affairs, or other fields of intellectual 
 activity. Just before the Bi-Conference Campaign in the 
 early 1920s several ministers were added to the Board of 
 Trustees. With all his efforts it was difficult to secure finan- 
 cial support through conference action. Nevertheless, the 
 basic issue had been settled: the College was to remain under 
 the patronage of the Illinois Conference. 
 
314 History of MacMurray College 
 
 THREE DECADES OF FINANCIAL HISTORY: 
 DOCTOR HARKER ^DISCOVERS" FRIENDS 
 
 It is fatiguing to read the long record of the slow accumu- 
 lation of money for expansion and endowment during this 
 administration. The task of securing it, bit by bit, must 
 have been toilsome indeed. Fortunately, the president was 
 by nature tenacious and sanguine. He could make a small 
 gain appear a major victory and took a defeat as a point 
 of departure for a new effort. In rare moments of self- 
 examination and self-criticism he realized that in his com- 
 plete absorption in his objective he outran the enthusiasm 
 of others. At the end of twenty-five years, he confessed: 
 "I fear I have been too strenuous, and that many times in 
 my zeal and impetuosity I have hurt some of the best friends 
 of the College. It has been true, I fear, that at times 'the 
 zeal of the College has eaten me up.' " 32 This observation 
 was no doubt a correct one. But his simple faith and 
 indefatigable industry as "traveling salesman" of the Col- 
 lege generally won sympathy even though not always the 
 desired financial support. Perhaps both his persistent, never- 
 ending efforts to secure gifts and some doubt as to the future 
 of the College may have discouraged large donations and 
 hence added to his task of getting adequate endowment. 
 
 To build the standard modern college, advance had to be 
 made simultaneously along academic, material, and financial 
 lines. It will simplify matters, however, to trace the develop- 
 ment in each line separately. When Doctor Harker assumed 
 control in 1893, the College possessed a property evaluated 
 at $70,000 approximately, a few hundred dollars of cash 
 from the conference educational funds, and several hundred 
 dollars in collectible notes, all totaling only something over 
 $71,000. 33 Doctor Harker had to borrow $5,000 in the 
 summer of 1893, half of which he paid Doctor Short for 
 the furniture of the College; the rest of this loan was soon 
 tied up by the closing of the bank in the Panic of 1893. 34 
 This financial panic, attended and followed by Populist 
 protest and industrial unrest, all reaching a climax in the 
 
History of MacMurray College 315 
 
 Pullman strike and in the Free Silver campaign of 1896, 
 made any chance of securing financial aid very slight until 
 1897, in spite of the recommendation of the educational 
 committee of the Illinois Conference that an endowment 
 of $50,000 be raised. The school may have gained some 
 students who otherwise would have gone east; it perhaps 
 failed to get others who could not afford to go at all. The 
 literary department gained in enrollment in comparison to 
 the last years of Doctor Short's administration, but it did 
 not equal the enrollment of the better years of that admin- 
 istration in spite of Doctor Harker's energetic efforts to 
 build it. The enrollment in the College of Music declined 
 considerably from the figures of Doctor Short's last year. 35 
 Once past the election of 1896, however, Doctor Harker 
 was favored by the general prosperity and financial optimism 
 of the country until near the end of his administration. 
 The Bankers' Panic of 1903, the usual uncertainty of elec- 
 tion years, the temporary uneasiness resulting from the 
 outbreak of World War I and later from the entrance of 
 the United States into that war only briefly upset the rising 
 tide of economic well-being in this "billion-dollar country" 
 that Mark Hanna had foreseen as a result of the election 
 of McKinley. 
 
 Doctor Harker's skillful management of small resources 
 was proved in these difficult early years. Each year he was 
 able to report a small surplus over the current expense. 
 Up to the end of the school year 1897, this totaled $15,126, 
 two-thirds of which belonged to the trustee fund for per- 
 manent improvements or endowment. 36 Doctor Harker's 
 third was applied to the cost of new furnishings. Perhaps 
 a large share of the credit for the creation of this surplus 
 belonged to Mrs. Harker who, although a matron was em- 
 ployed, had general supervision over household administra- 
 tion. During these years small sums had come to the College 
 as gifts from the students, alumnae, trustees, and friends. 
 Up to 1897 this sum was only $1,642. 37 From the con- 
 ference educational fund $1,875 was received during these 
 
316 History of MacMurray College 
 
 four years. 88 An effort to get Mrs. Buck to renew the offer 
 of conditional endowment that her husband had made 
 shortly before his death, after some promise of success, ended 
 in failure. 39 
 
 Another bit of financial history of these years is interesting 
 as a final venture in frontier finance, even though its import- 
 ance was negligible. Mrs. F. H. Luce, of Davenport, Wash- 
 ington, offered to give the College 5,000 shares of stock in 
 the Palmer Mining Company on condition that a certain 
 young lady be allowed to have free instruction in any of 
 the fine arts from whatever instructor she might choose. 40 
 This student entered in 1897 and was graduated from the 
 College of Music in 1900, having studied piano, voice, and 
 organ. In 1907, the trustees voted that this stock might 
 safely be estimated as an asset worth $5,000, but by 1910 
 they had been notified that the property was worthless and 
 the company dissolved. 41 
 
 From the beginning of his administration Doctor Harker 
 had sought to interest the alumnae in the future of their 
 college. His first step had been their representation on the 
 Board of Trustees. He worked industriously to secure a 
 more complete register of the members and began to publish 
 the revised register with addresses in the college catalogue. 
 One alumna wrote that she was pleased with the revision 
 since her name had been starred for several years, an error 
 "naturally rather depressing." 42 Although Doctor Harker 
 began at once to try to interest the alumnae in the endow- 
 ment of the College, his appeals bore little fruit during these 
 uncertain years of the 1890s. Some small gifts were made 
 — forty dollars for carpets, fifty for a microscope. 43 In 1896, 
 however, the organization voted to raise a subscription to 
 the general College Improvement Fund. 44 The fiftieth anni- 
 versary of the foundation of the College offered the president 
 an occasion for appeal to alumnae support. To advertise this 
 reunion of 1897 (the year 1847, when the College secured 
 a charter, was taken as the date of foundation), the officers 
 of the Alumnae Association voted "that Doctor Harker be 
 
History of MacMurray College 317 
 
 authorized to plan an alumnae paper to be sent out at three 
 or four different times for the purpose of promoting alumnae 
 spirit" and agreed that the thirty dollars in the treasury 
 be devoted to that purpose. 45 Three numbers of this paper, 
 the Jubilee Greetings, came out in the spring of 1897, 
 carrying news of the alumnae and of the school and an- 
 nouncements of the commencement and reunion. Each issue 
 underlined "some things the College needs." Incidentally, 
 this "news letter," changed to the College Greetings in July 
 1897, has continued to the present as the college journal. 
 For some years (until 1903), it was an alumnae rather than 
 a student publication. 
 
 As an interlude, an "oasis" in this story of the struggle 
 for money, one might pause briefly to relate the history 
 of the Jubilee Reunion as an event in the general history 
 of the school. It is strange that the trustee minutes contain 
 no reference to this semi-centennial; nor did Doctor Harker 
 do more than mention it incidentally in his memoirs. Per- 
 haps it had slight practical results, although he had plainly 
 intended that it should have. The Jubilee Greetings show 
 that. No historical pageant had been planned; there were 
 the usual commencement events. Alumnae Day, with an 
 "all-day Welcome Home," as the invitation announced, was 
 the big feature, and the heroes of this "drama" — the "lions" 
 of the occasion — were the three past presidents who attended 
 — Jaquess, DeMotte, and Short. Colonel Jaquess, whose Civil 
 War adventures had given his name such romantic appeal, 
 was the central figure. He was entertained in the homes 
 of Mrs. Minerva Dunlap Scott and Mrs. Margaret Morrison 
 Turley, two of his "old girls," where hours were spent over 
 the coffee cups "in remembrance of things past." 46 Doctors 
 DeMotte and Short also found a goodly attendance of their 
 former students. In their addresses these presidents very 
 loyally tried to direct attention to the future, but plainly 
 the tone of this reunion was sentimental and reminiscent 
 rather than prospective and practical. These reminiscences, 
 however, had their ultimate practical value; they became 
 
318 History of MacMurray College 
 
 a point of departure for the study and recording of the 
 history of the College in successive issues of the College 
 Greetings. At the business meeting of the Alumnae Associa- 
 tion subscriptions amounting to $870 were raised for the 
 College Improvement Fund, much the largest gift the 
 alumnae had made thus far. 47 During this year gifts from 
 friends totaled $4,70 5. 48 No doubt this Jubilee Celebration 
 contributed to the closer integration of the alumnae, since 
 more attended, and to their interest in the College — results 
 that are difficult to measure. 
 
 The $20,000,000 Twentieth Century Thank Offering, 
 requested by the bishops of the Methodist Church in "recog- 
 nition of God's mercies and blessings in the century now 
 closing," offered Doctor Harker his next opportunity to 
 promote the College. Aid for education was recommended 
 as a main object of this offering. 49 The Illinois Conference 
 appointed a special commission to direct the movement, 
 of which Doctor Harker was named secretary. The presi- 
 dential campaign of 1900 interrupted the progress of this 
 offering, and it was continued until 1902. Although a 
 general conference agent was employed for a time, each 
 institution directed its own campaign. The faculty of the 
 College presented a paper to the Board of Trustees at a 
 called meeting, February 16, 1899, recommending that the 
 Board designate $100,000 for endowment and $50,000 for 
 present needed improvements as the reasonable sum to be 
 realized from this Twentieth Century Offering. 50 The Board 
 of Trustees had already been considering two steps forward 
 in the physical expansion of the College — the purchase of 
 the Lurton property to the west and an addition to Main 
 Building. At this same February meeting it voted to under- 
 take to raise the sums suggested by the faculty, and author- 
 ized its executive committee to borrow money and proceed 
 at once to make such an addition to cost not more than 
 $10,000. It was believed that expansion in process might 
 carry weight in securing gifts. Indeed, debts might be an 
 effective means of getting assistance. At this February meet- 
 
History of MacMurray College 319 
 
 ing, W. M. McElf resh, the college agent, reported that he had 
 been kindly received everywhere but had secured no dona- 
 tions, and added that "in many places he had found that 
 the fact that the College is in good running order and 
 has no debts and is prosperous is a reason assigned for not 
 assisting." 
 
 Related to the new effort to secure funds were certain 
 academic changes in the institution and the change of its 
 name. The academic development is considered below; the 
 history of the new name, Illinois Woman's College, might 
 be related here. The faculty letter to the Board, mentioned 
 above, contained also the following suggestion: 
 
 In order that the name of the school may be in keeping with the 
 progressive spirit of the times and with the advanced standing which 
 new buildings and an endowment fund ought to give us, we recommend 
 that the name be changed at the earliest date possible from Illinois Female 
 College to the Woman's College of Illinois. We are convinced that the 
 prestige due to a modern name would overbalance any loss which might 
 result from the change. 51 
 
 Consideration of this question was taken up at a special 
 meeting of the Board of Trustees on March 28, 1899. At 
 this meeting Doctor Harker reported that a circular letter 
 sent to alumnae with regard to a change of the name had 
 brought the following responses: out of ninety-four replies, 
 sixty-eight favored a change, twenty-two opposed, and four 
 had not voted on the question. 52 According to the editor 
 of the College Greetings, three names had been suggested 
 (whether to the alumnae or by them is not clear) : Illinois 
 College for Women, Woman's College of Illinois, and 
 Willard's College of Illinois. 53 Doctor Harker reported to 
 the Board that forty-five alumnae had voted in favor of 
 Woman's College of Illinois and twenty-two for Illinois 
 Woman's College. The discussion of the Board of Trustees 
 on the question was not recorded, but it voted unanimously 
 for Illinois Woman's College, which, it might be noted, was 
 neither the choice of the faculty nor of the alumnae. 54 It is 
 interesting to note that some of the alumnae preferred the 
 old name so distasteful to Doctor Adams. "The name of 
 Illinois Female College was always dear to me," one wrote. 55 
 
320 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Some favored it naturally because it was on their diplomas. 
 But the alumnae editor observed philosophically: "And so 
 the decree has gone forth from alumnae and trustees that 
 the name no longer will be I.F.C., but I.W.C., and like 
 obedient children of an honored mother we will all acquiesce 
 whatever have been our views, knowing that she was old 
 enough to change her name." 56 
 
 In the meantime, Doctor Harker and the Board of 
 Trustees were proceeding with plans for the new addition, 
 erected in the summer of 1899, and with the search for 
 funds. To encourage this effort, Doctor Harker offered to 
 give $5,000 if the alumnae would raise $5,000, and the 
 trustees, the City of Jacksonville, and other friends $15,000 
 by June 1, 190 1. 57 McElfresh had resigned as financial agent; 
 J. G. Bonnell, then named, soon resigned, because he could 
 secure no funds. After a few months' service from R. G. 
 Hobbs, Joshua Soule Akers, son of Peter Akers, was em- 
 ployed. He proved to be one of the most successful of the 
 succession of such agents. In the course of a year he had 
 secured about $10,000 in good subscriptions. 58 The confer- 
 ence minutes of 1901 reported the subscriptions as $10,000 
 to the Illinois Woman's College under the Twentieth Cen- 
 tury Offering. 59 In 1901, Doctor Harker was gratified and 
 heartened to receive $5,000 for the endowment of a scholar- 
 ship in memory of Doctor John Hardtner, of Springfield, 
 Illinois, a gift made by Mrs. Fannie B. Hardtner, his wife, 
 and Mrs. Ira B. Blackstock, his daughter. 60 But he was still 
 far from the $100,000 goal set. On November 18, 1901, 
 he recommended a plan, which the executive committee 
 approved, to raise $50,000 by accepting annuities and selling 
 perpetual scholarships at $1,000 for tuition or $5,000 for 
 board and tuition. It is surprising to discover the revival 
 of this device that had proved so disastrous in the past. The 
 committee instructed him to push this plan as vigorously as 
 possible. In 1906, the Board approved a similar proposition. 
 
 By 1903, Doctor Harker was able to report gifts through 
 alumnae, trustees, and other friends to the amount of 
 
HARKER RESIDENCE HALL 
 
History of MacMurray College 321 
 
 $30,000 for the first ten years of his administration. In the 
 same period the surplus of income over expense had been 
 $37,000. 61 With this the College had secured two valuable 
 pieces of property and made three considerable additions 
 to Main Building at a cost of $97,600, which left a debt of 
 $30,600. 62 Against this debt there were certain future assets 
 — gifts by will of $5,000 from Mrs. Narcissa Dunn Akers, 
 '80, and of an Illinois farm by Miss Hannah Dever. 63 About 
 the latter donation there is an interesting story that Doctor 
 Harker liked to tell. To him it was a clear case of the 
 operation of Providence in human history. He needed a 
 boiler house: this gift supplied the money. 
 
 Sometime in the fall of 1902, it seems, Doctor Harker 
 received the following letter signed by Mrs. Sarah Coutlett, 
 of Springfield, Missouri: "Dear Sir: Enclosed you will find 
 the patents giving title to the land which my sister left to 
 your college in her will." 64 The letter contained the original 
 parchments signed in 1828 by Andrew Jackson, Secretary of 
 State, giving title to 160 acres of land in Marshall County, 
 Illinois. Neither Doctor Harker nor any of the Jacksonville 
 trustees had ever heard of Miss Dever, the donor. After a 
 visit to Springfield to see Mrs. Coutlett he related the story 
 as follows: 
 
 For several years Mrs. Sarah Coutlett and a younger sister, Hannah 
 C. Dever, had lived together in Springfield, Missouri. About two years 
 before my visit, Miss Dever had been taken seriously ill, and it was 
 apparent she could not recover. . . . When taken with her last illness, 
 Hannah had not made a will; and she and Mrs. Coutlett often spoke 
 about it and wondered what she should do with her properties. 
 
 Just at this time the Central Christian Advocate had a brief article 
 about the Illinois Woman's College at Jacksonville, Illinois, telling 
 of the good work it was doing, its recent rapid growth, and its need 
 of financial assistance. They had been Methodists all their lives, and 
 had taken the Advocate since its first issue. One day, Mrs. Coutlett 
 was reading the Advocate to her sister, ill in bed; and when she read 
 of the Woman's College, Hannah said, "Would not that be the very- 
 place to leave my Illinois farm? Our father in the early days used to 
 talk of the need of educational opportunities for women, and such a 
 disposition of his land would certainly be pleasing to his memory." 65 
 
 Thus the property came to the College. Another sister, 
 Nancy Dever, was to have the possession of it during her 
 
322 History of MacMurray College 
 
 lifetime, but she surrendered it in 1904 for an annuity, and 
 the College sold the farm for $14,480. 66 One can agree with 
 Doctor Harker that this was a remarkable happening. These 
 sisters had never seen the College, knew no one connected 
 with it, and had never been solicited for a gift. Some might 
 consider it a lucky windfall; to Doctor Harker it was a di- 
 rect answer to prayer. This gift was followed by a $5,000 
 gift from Mrs. Rachel Harris Phillippi, '72, the first large 
 gift from an alumna, and $5,000 from Mrs. Emma Sconce, 
 of Sidell. 67 In December 1905 came the promise of the first 
 $1,000 from Mrs. G. F. Swift, of Chicago, who gave larger 
 gifts later on. 68 With his boiler house built, Doctor Har- 
 ker began now to dream of a new gymnasium, a music build- 
 ing, and the $100,000 endowment talked about for years. 
 He set these goals as objectives to be realized by the sixtieth 
 anniversary in 1907. At the annual meeting in May 1905, 
 the Board of Trustees approved his plans and authorized the 
 executive committee to proceed with the construction of a 
 gymnasium as soon as $10,000 could be secured in good sub- 
 scriptions. 69 This project of a gymnasium met the hearty 
 response of the students, who had been unable to become 
 too enthusiastic over his "dream of a power house." In the 
 Greetings of December 1904, there had appeared a story, 
 "A $1,000 Mystery," announcing the offer of a friend to 
 match the Athletic Association if it would raise $1,000 by 
 January 15.™ Who the friend was or whether they finally 
 got the donation was not told, but by June 1905, they had 
 $700 in their fund. At the Athletic Association party in 
 May 1905, "Doctor Harker dreamed dreams and saw visions 
 of a new gymnasium with all modern equipments, a stage 
 with curtains, and other improvements undreamed of by 
 the girls." 71 Miss Eleanor Holmwood, director of physical 
 training, gave enthusiastic support to the girls in their proj- 
 ects. She supervised the "college pound" of lost articles on 
 which a charge was made for redemption, and collected the 
 "pin and tack money," a fine for sticking tacks in the wall, 
 gave a circus and other programs. 72 In May 1906, the 
 
History of MacMurray College 323 
 
 Athletic Association reported $1,500 raised. 73 But, by that 
 time, Doctor Harker had advanced to the larger dream of 
 a Music Hall, which "absorbed" the Athletic Association 
 Fund. 
 
 What turned Doctor Harker from the gymnasium to a 
 Music Building was the promise of a conditional grant from 
 Andrew Carnegie which would make this more ambitious 
 project possible. In January and February 1906, he had car- 
 ried on a correspondence with Mr. James Bertram, Car- 
 negie's private secretary. Mr. Bertram's letter of February 
 7 seemed to end all hope of aid. He wrote: "You have not 
 a dollar of endowment, and yet you say that your most 
 vital need is a hall for music and art, with organ, etc. It 
 seems to us that your needs are more in the nature of 'frills' 
 than anything else, and altogether is not a case in line with 
 Mr. Carnegie's work." 74 
 
 Doctor Harker wrote again, but received no answer. Then 
 he wrote Doctor W. F. Anderson, secretary of the Methodist 
 Board of Education, who advised him to come to New York 
 and seek a personal interview with Mr. Bertram. In New 
 York he met President Chamberlain of McKendree College, 
 who had been cooling his heels for some months in the 
 anteroom, unable to get past "the snip of a young fellow" 
 who guarded Mr. Bertram's door. Doctor Harker sent Mr. 
 Bertram a telegram that he would call the next day, got past 
 the "snip of a young fellow" with the explanation that he 
 had an engagement with Mr. Bertram, and secured the prom- 
 ise of $25,000 on condition that the College raise $75,000, 
 half of the total to be used for endowment, the rest for a 
 building. The story of his conversation with Mr. Bertram 
 he told in considerable detail and with great satisfaction in 
 his Eventide Memories. 
 
 Back at home, the College celebrated his success and de- 
 scribed the rejoicing in the Greetings as "A Day to Be 
 Remembered." 75 Disappointed over the delay of a gym- 
 nasium, the students rallied loyally, however, to the new 
 plan; Miss Holmwood "accepted it gracefully" even though 
 
324 History of MacMurray College 
 
 she had worked so hard for the other project, and every- 
 body got a holiday. Even Mr. Wadsworth, "who had always 
 refused to speak in public, was carried away by his enthusi- 
 asm and addressed the crowd." The gymnasium plans were 
 burned in a campus bonfire and a speech after the fashion 
 of Mark Antony's was pronounced over their decease. The 
 following year the students watched the progress of the 
 campaign with growing interest. In a Greetings story of 
 November 1906, "Wanted — 1,000 Friends," one wrote: "A 
 great deal of interest is being taken in the chart that hangs 
 in Doctor Harker's office. It is the register of the 1,000 
 friends who are to be found who will make the generous 
 gift of Mr. Carnegie possible. This chart is marked off into 
 spaces, each one representing a friend who has subscribed 
 $10 or more. There are now 260 spaces marked off, . . . 
 and there is always a noticeable increase after one of Doctor 
 Harker's trips." 78 In the years that followed and the cam- 
 paigns they brought, Doctor Harker's trips, his reappear- 
 ance in chapel with a special smile, his charts and little piece 
 of black crayon were familiar recurring items in the campus 
 scene. 
 
 During the spring of 1907 the students were busy discov- 
 ering devices for raising money. "That money raising is 
 now a fad as well as a necessity cannot be doubted," the 
 Greetings editor declared. 77 All classes had their projects. 
 The senior "preps" swept floors; others ironed shirtwaists; 
 some sold candy; the college seniors contributed their class 
 gift to the endowment, and the literary societies gave plays. 
 The faculty presented Cranford. "And our ladies of the 
 faculty! Weren't they dear Cranfords!" an annalist de- 
 clared later. The juniors donned hats and gloves (sun-tan 
 was not fashionable, and the girls took parasols even on 
 picnics) and kept the campus the last six weeks of school. 
 Passers-by observed the pastoral scene in which " a group 
 of Maud Mullers may be seen every day busy with lawn- 
 mowers, rakes, and brooms." 78 To the participants this proj- 
 ect was not so idyllic. They declared that their experience 
 
History of MacMurray College 325 
 
 with dull machines would be remembered "longer than any 
 other experience in college life." 79 
 
 Alumnae interest, which seems to have lagged after 1897 
 in spite of Doctor Harker's appeals, was revived by this 
 campaign. As long as the Greetings was an alumnae publi- 
 cation, they had enjoyed it for the news of old friends it 
 brought. Annie Hobbs Woodcock called it her carrier- 
 dove. "You savor of the tender grace of a day that is dead," 
 she declared. But this publication had already passed to the 
 students, and their interests crowded out alumnae news. In 
 1901, Mary Dickson, president of the Alumnae Association, 
 had proposed the establishment of a Students' Aid Associa- 
 tion to endow a $1,000 scholarship. In 1902, such a society 
 was formed, but by 1905 it had raised only $73. 80 In the 
 spring of 1907, however, the local alumnae, who furnished 
 most of the officers and active members of the Association, 
 held a series of meetings to discuss plans for the sixtieth 
 anniversary in June. In March and April they published 
 the Jubilee Greetings. Out of these meetings came the idea 
 of the memorial scholarships in honor of former presidents. 
 It all began in a February meeting with a proposal to endow 
 a $1,000 scholarship in memory of Doctor Adams. By the 
 May reunion the idea had grown to a $1,000 scholarship 
 each for Presidents Jaquess, Adams, DeMotte, Short, and 
 Harker. 81 These were later increased to $5,000, and endow- 
 ments of $1,000 each raised for Presidents Andrus and Mc- 
 Coy, along with $40,000 professorships for Presidents Short 
 and Harker. Thus, out of this small beginning in 1907, a 
 sum of $107,000 was raised by 1926, a notable group 
 achievement. In passing, one might note another feature 
 of this campaign, a curious, but somewhat cautious, return 
 to the perpetual scholarship idea. In May 1906, "after con- 
 siderable discussion," it was resolved "that the trustees offer 
 to not more than ten donors of $5,000 each, a scholarship 
 covering board and literary tuition for one student per- 
 petually." 82 No one, it appears, purchased such a scholar- 
 ship. The funds collected by the Students' Aid Association 
 
326 History of MacMurray College 
 
 were combined with the Jaquess scholarship, and that organ- 
 ization was dissolved. 
 
 In a special meeting of the Board soon after Doctor Har- 
 ker secured the Carnegie offer, the trustees approved his 
 plans to erect the Music Hall instead of the gymnasium and 
 to begin it at once. By January 1907, it was completed. At 
 the beginning of May 1907, there remained $20,000 out of 
 the $75,000 to be raised by June 1 in order to secure the 
 Carnegie gift (even though they apparently counted the 
 questionable mining stock as $5,000). Doctor Harker de- 
 cided to go to New York and Chicago — "to see what I could 
 find," he said. On this trip he "discovered" Mr. Welch. 83 
 
 Doctor Harker related this unique event as follows. 
 Through delay of trains he reached Buffalo too late at 
 night to get a train into New York. Instead of taking an 
 early morning train, which would reach New York too late 
 for business, he decided to remain in Buffalo and "look for 
 friends." While waiting at the Union Station to secure a 
 Pullman reservation, he stood behind a man who purchased 
 a ticket to Westfield. The name attracted him; he found 
 that he could make a trip there and back to Buffalo by noon 
 in time to see friends. In a barber shop at Westfield he 
 learned that this was the home of Doctor Welch. President 
 Harker visited him, found him friendly, and thus began a 
 remarkable association. Doctor Welch admitted that he 
 was just then looking for a place to use a few thousand dol- 
 lars, and promised to send $5,000 before June 1. Later he 
 gave the organ for Music Hall and gifts to the amount of 
 $65,000, and, as a member of the Board of Trustees, took a 
 sincere interest in the welfare of the College. His friend- 
 ship brought great personal gratification to Doctor Harker. 
 
 Notable progress had been made during the year 1906-07, 
 which Doctor Harker reported to the trustees in May. Six 
 things he emphasized: the establishment of a Home Eco- 
 nomics Department; the advancement of the curriculum to 
 a four-year college course; a new building; the beginnings 
 of an endowment; the bishops' meeting at the College; and 
 
History of MacMurray College 327 
 
 the sixtieth anniversary, which had revived the interest of 
 the alumnae. One other incident in the history of the Car- 
 negie gift occurred in the fall of 1907 — the "reception" of 
 the check. Doctor Harker made it the occasion for a chapel 
 demonstration, at which he announced that he would read 
 "a short letter from a friend": "Pay to the order of Joseph 
 R. Harker or bearer the sum of $25,000. Andrew Car- 
 negie." The Greetings editor declared: "We were very 
 glad and very thankful, and it did not end in smiles. There 
 
 was some noise." 84 
 
 From 1907 to 1912 there were no special campaigns foi 
 funds. Certain facts in the history of these years are related 
 to the later financial history, however, and should be noted 
 here. In April 1908, Doctor Harker reported that the Col- 
 lege was entirely free from indebtedness of any kind and had 
 an endowment of $5 0,000. 85 In June, however, he pressed 
 the need of a new building for residence and classrooms, 
 and in January 1909, the Board of Trustees approved its 
 construction and authorized the borrowing of $40,000 for 
 this purpose. 86 This building, Harker Hall, completed in 
 the fall of 1909, cost about $70,000, but was partly financed 
 from the surplus. When the trustees the following year as- 
 sumed full responsibility for the school and bought the fur- 
 niture from Doctor Harker, the College was left with a debt 
 of $68,000. 
 
 Other problems soon had to be faced. In 1908, the school 
 had secured recognition from the Methodist Senate as a 
 standard four-year college and in 1909 from the North 
 Central Association of Colleges. The standardizing agencies 
 began, however, to raise their requirements. In 1910, Doc- 
 tor Harker announced to the trustees that the University 
 Senate would require $100,000 endowment by 1913 and 
 $200,000 by 1916. 87 He summarized very well later on the 
 past advantages and future difficulties of the College with 
 respect to such academic standards: 
 
 It had been to our advantage that we were among the first to sense 
 the coming increasing demand for the college education of women. We 
 had also been especially fortunate to secure standard college recognition 
 
328 History of MacMurray College 
 
 before endowment had been made one of the requirements. So far our 
 advance had been almost wholly in grounds, buildings, and equipment, 
 things which attract attention, and which are much more easy to secure 
 than the less visible but more fundamental need of endowment. In 
 permanent stability a college may aptly be compared to an iceberg, 
 which requires seven-eights of its bulk underneath the water or it 
 topples over. But I had learned that I could find ten persons to give 
 to what they could see to one who would give to endowment. 88 
 
 Certain other difficulties in the way of getting an endow- 
 ment he analyzed clearly, and set about removing one of 
 them at least — the fact that he, as president, enjoyed one- 
 third the income of the College. The change to a strict 
 salary basis has been discussed above. This change was 
 widely publicized and fully explained. In reports to the 
 Annual Conference detailed financial statements began to 
 appear. It helped to clear the way for the Forward Educa- 
 tional Movement initiated in 1911. In these years after 
 1907, Doctor Harker longed for some friend to offer a con- 
 ditional gift that would operate as an incentive. Mrs. Buck 
 had just offered $200,000 to Illinois Wesleyan if it could 
 raise twice that amount, but no such friend appeared to help 
 the Woman's College. Thus he had to press the point that 
 the College would lose its status if the endowment was not 
 raised. Another thing he did to crystallize filial piety and 
 encourage memorial donations: he established Founders' 
 Day and initiated an Endowment Foundation. 89 In May 
 1909, he suggested to the Board of Trustees the organization 
 of an Endowment Foundation. One could become a mem- 
 ber by donating $1,000; for each additional $1,000 he might 
 name another. The Board of Trustees would appoint from 
 the Endowment Founders an advisory committee. This 
 group in turn would organize by electing a president and 
 secretary and drawing up by-laws, and would assist the 
 Board in the search for further endowments. The Board 
 approved the plan, and Doctor Harker publicized it through 
 the Greetings as a sort of "Legion of Honor," by which one 
 could be admitted to the select company of Peter Akers or 
 Peter Cartwright or that of the "second founders of 1862." 
 This Foundation never seems to have existed other than as 
 
History of MacMurray College 329 
 
 a list of names, and the term itself was soon dropped. Found- 
 ers' Day, however, has continued to the present, and to Doc- 
 tor Harker belongs the credit for its initiation. At the same 
 time that he proposed the Foundation, he suggested that the 
 second Thursday in October be observed as Founders' Day, 
 commemorating the first meeting of the Board of Trustees, 
 October 10, 1846. The first Founders' Day was delayed and 
 took place on November 5, 1909. 90 Doctor Harker used the 
 occasion to advertise the Endowment Foundation and insisted 
 that such friends (its potential members) were living, that 
 "like America in the fifteenth century they were only wait- 
 ing to be discovered." The main address on this day was 
 given by Doctor DeMotte, who died the next year. His sub- 
 ject was "Some Things in the Past and a Parable for the 
 Future," and he, too, spoke on the need for endowment. 
 Incidentally, he provided Doctor Harker the parable or fig- 
 ure of speech about the iceberg that he and conference vis- 
 itors used so effectively on later occasions. 91 In 1910, Hiram 
 Buck Prentice spoke on "Our Homage to the Past." Bishop 
 McDowell, Richard Yates, Senator Sherman, and William 
 Jennings Bryan were among the Founders' Day speakers in 
 the years that followed. 92 In 1917, Bryan spoke on "Man's 
 Relation to his Government, to Society, and to God." 
 
 In the meantime, the alumnae were slowly building up 
 their scholarship fund, a work that owed much to Mrs. 
 Jennie Kinman Ward, the secretary of this fund, and to Mrs. 
 Belle Short Lambert, general secretary of the Alumnae As- 
 sociation and also field secretary for the College for some 
 years. 93 In turning through the minutes of the Board of 
 Trustees, of which the latter was a member for more than 
 two decades, one discovers how frequently she was the first 
 to speak in support of any advancement proposed or to sug- 
 gest resolutions of appreciation of Doctor Harker's work. 
 Other alumnae to whom Doctor Harker paid especial tribute 
 for service in these years were Mrs. Lillian Woods Osborne, 
 Mrs. Marietta Mathers Rowe, and Mrs. Alice Don Carlos 
 Vogel. 94 As general secretary, Mrs. Lambert had encour- 
 
330 History of MacMurray College 
 
 aged the organization of local alumnae clubs. In 1910, she re- 
 ported local organizations in Danville, Decatur, and Spring- 
 field. 95 Soon clubs appeared in St. Louis, Kansas City, Chi- 
 cago, Champaign, and Los Angeles. Many of the alumnae 
 were alert to the changes in women's colleges and the need 
 for endowments. They were interested in the Woman's 
 Collegiate Association (forerunner of the American Asso- 
 ciation of University Women) to which they, as earlier 
 graduates, were not eligible, but they wished their grand- 
 daughters to be members. Mrs. Minerva Masters Vincent, 
 '55, wrote: "Our college must not fail in this endeavor. As 
 a college woman among collegiate alumnae I am always 
 embarrassed and chagrined that I cannot belong to that 
 organization." 96 
 
 One fact might be noted in passing that handicapped the 
 College in securing aid from alumnae. It could not be 
 claimed as unique; every such institution might make a 
 similar report. The College from the beginning had em- 
 phasized service as an ideal. Many alumnae were teach- 
 ers, social service workers, missionaries, and as such had 
 found demands at their doors for any donations they could 
 give. For example, Mrs. Amanda Harnsberger Hanbac, '74, 
 wrote from San Cristobal, Cuba: 
 
 We rejoice in the prosperity of the school. It has been brought about 
 by intelligent Christian leaders. Doctor DeMotte, Doctor Short, and 
 Doctor Harker are reaping the harvest of years of patient sowing . . . 
 Only eternity can reveal the extent of their influence on the nations 
 of the earth for their pupils are engaged in evangelistic, missionary, and 
 medical work in many lands. I hope to contribute to the scholarship 
 fund for Doctor Short and Doctor Jaquess, both of whom I cherish 
 among my choicest friends, but just now Cuba in her poverty and 
 suffering claims all we have to give. 97 
 
 Miss Kate Blackburn wrote from Bulgaria of her regret that 
 she could not help: her adopted country was already in- 
 volved in the Balkan wars, which terminated in World War 
 I. 08 Such instances could be multiplied, both at home and 
 abroad. Some were pastors' wives trying to lift debts on 
 their churches, or college professors' wives whose husbands 
 had to contribute to the endowment of the schools they 
 
History of MacMurray College 331 
 
 served. Such letters as the above were gratifying as proof 
 of the service the College had given, but discouraging in the 
 face of existing emergencies. In spite of difficulties, how- 
 ever, the alumnae were to make a large contribution in the 
 next great endowment effort, the campaign of 1912-1913. 
 Doubtless Mrs. Lambert reached many both within and 
 without the group whom Doctor Harker could not have in- 
 fluenced. Her contributions to the College through her gra- 
 cious personality and as a bridge between the generations, 
 between the past and the future, cannot be exactly meas- 
 ured, but they must have been large. 
 
 In 1911, there was launched a general campaign for funds 
 for Methodist educational institutions in the Illinois Con- 
 ference and the Central Illinois Conference known as the 
 Forward Educational Movement. This campaign was the 
 most serious effort yet put forward by the Church in this 
 area for its schools; and, as its executive secretary, Doctor 
 J. C. Nate, declared, it indicated some recognition of the 
 fact that "the modern conditions of efficiency among all 
 schools meant that either we must build up the institutions 
 of our Conference or give them up." 99 Doctor Harker in- 
 sisted that "these years marked a turning period in the edu- 
 cational history of the Illinois Conference." 100 At any rate, 
 the Forward Educational Movement was the most ambitious 
 program of financial expansion the Woman's College had 
 yet attempted even though its apportionment, $280,000, was 
 much less than that allotted Illinois Wesleyan ($400,000, a 
 sum increased to more than $900,000 by special gifts) . The 
 history of this movement compiled by its conference secre- 
 tary is found in the Minutes of the Illinois Conference, 1911- 
 16. To quote Doctor Harker's summary, its program pro- 
 vided: 
 
 1. That a great centralized Forward Movement be entered upon to se- 
 cure for all the educational institutions of the two Conferences at 
 least $1,250,000 in the five-year period ending 1916. 
 
 2. That the fund be raised by two methods: (a) A conference educa- 
 tional fund to be secured each year by collections in each church, 
 including all gifts of less than $100, amounting if possible to a goal 
 of one dollar per member. This fund was to be paid to a treasurer 
 
33 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in each Conference, and by him distributed among the institutions on 
 an agreed ratio. The expenses of the movement were to be met by 
 each institution contributing in the ratio of its benefit; (b) by each 
 institution putting on a campaign of its own to solicit gifts of $100 
 or more; but planning its campaign so as to assist each other and 
 cooperate in every way possible. 101 
 The conference collections might be used for "sustentation" 
 to make up deficiencies or deficits due to lack of endow- 
 ments; the returns from the separate campaign were to be 
 used for debts, buildings, and endowments. Since 1893, the 
 Illinois Woman's College had received $10,331 as the total 
 of its share of the annual conference educational collection, 
 but as a result of this special effort it received $17,396 from 
 1912 to 1916. 102 
 
 These sums could be credited to conference efforts. To 
 what extent the larger sum realized from its own campaign 
 was the result of the influence or work of the Church it 
 would be difficult to determine. Jacksonville contributed 
 about a third in the 1912 campaign, a contribution in which 
 Methodist interest was perhaps less than civic, and many 
 other gifts were doubtless independent of any church influ- 
 ence. These facts were pointed out by the conference 
 secretary in an effort to encourage a more general Methodist 
 support. 103 The conference visitors to the Illinois Woman's 
 College in their annual report of 1913 emphasized its 
 Methodist connections and the opportunity the Church pos- 
 sessed to make it one of the greatest women's colleges in the 
 United States through the fact that the Methodists were 
 the strongest Protestant group in the extensive Mississippi 
 Valley and possessed adequate wealth to maintain a great 
 school. 104 But, in a supplementary private report to the 
 trustees, these same conference visitors placed the main em- 
 phasis on building up the support of Jacksonville rather 
 than that of the Church. They urged the trustees to 
 "awaken Jacksonville to the fact that the greatest possibility 
 of the city lies in this particular school; that the city can 
 gain more fame as the seat of this place of learning than 
 through factories secured . . .; that the atmosphere of the 
 city is peculiarly that of the institution city and it can per- 
 
History of MacMurray College 333 
 
 manently stamp that upon itself through this institution's 
 possible growth, so that whatever else the city may later 
 acquire may be permeated and uplifted by this same atmos- 
 phere to the advantage of both school and shop. . . ." 105 
 
 The campaign of the Woman's College was divided into 
 two periods: from the spring of 1912 to June 1, 1913 with 
 $180,000 as the goal; from September 1915 to January 1, 
 1916 with $100,000 as the objective. Doctor Harker set up 
 his chart with 180 squares in Chapel and the process of 
 crossing them out began. By commencement 1913, $50,000 
 had been raised and a telegram from Doctor Welch raised 
 it to $55,000. In the fall of 1913, Doctor J. W. Hancher, 
 counselor of the Methodist Board of Education, came out 
 to conduct the campaign in Jacksonville, for which a goal 
 of $60,000 had been set. The day before Thanksgiving, 
 Julius Strawn offered $10,000 if the rest of the city would 
 give $50,000. This gift was a great boost. The college girls 
 serenaded Mr. Strawn and sang their new "Endowment 
 Song." 106 After the holidays the students made their con- 
 tribution of $6,750. The Young Women's Christian Asso- 
 ciation gave $1,000, the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu Societies, 
 $500 each, and the various college and academy classes 
 contributed. The Indiana Club gave $50 and the Minne- 
 sota Club, $25. 107 During the commencement the first goal 
 was reached and passed by more than $2,000. 
 
 Just at the close of the first campaign, Mr. W. A. Rankin, 
 of Tarkio, Missouri, offered $10,000 toward the second cam- 
 paign if the College would raise the other $90,000 by Janu- 
 ary 1, 1916, and Doctor Welch promised $5,000. The ac- 
 tive campaign was not to begin, however, until the fall of 
 1915. Doctor Harker had agreed to accept a greatly needed 
 vacation in the summer of 1913, which he spent in England 
 with a week on the continent. By the fall of 1915 about 
 90 per cent of the pledges made in the first campaign had 
 been collected and the debts on the College paid. The sec- 
 ond campaign was briefer and more intensive, and Doctor 
 Harker used a thermometer instead of a chart. Doctor Han- 
 
334 History of MacMurray College 
 
 cher came again to help and Bishop W. F. McDowell, presi- 
 dent of the Board of Education, to add inspiration. Only 
 by great effort in the last days was the goal finally reached 
 by January 1, 1916. 
 
 "It was especially difficult," Doctor Harker declared, "to 
 get people to understand what right the college standardiz- 
 ing agencies had to make these recurring arbitrary require- 
 ments." 108 As a matter of fact, both the Conference and 
 the city had taken the College for granted as a "business" 
 that could support itself. Only slowly could its public be- 
 come accustomed to the idea that educational institutions 
 in the twentieth century must spend far beyond their in- 
 come to maintain adequate standards of instruction. The 
 wisdom of the standardizing agencies in demanding larger 
 endowments is evidenced by the fact that from 1916 the 
 College had an increasing annual deficit in spite of all pos- 
 sible economies. 109 Doctor Harker and the trustees only 
 slowly became accustomed to the idea that a deficit was to 
 be expected as a normal rather than an extraordinary con- 
 dition and should be regarded as something that could not 
 be adequately handled by taking up a collection to pay it. 
 Since 1893, Doctor Harker had proudly reported his surplus 
 each year. But the labor market and the salary scale were 
 so radically changed in World War I that even the most 
 faithful employees could not be expected to remain without 
 more adequate compensation. Other costs also increased more 
 rapidly than the College would or could increase its charges, 
 although there were several advances in board and tuition. 
 This all required no less than a revolution in financial policies. 
 Doctor Harker realized now that the endowment of about 
 $240,000 was a mere beginning. 110 He began at once to 
 establish new goals to be reached by 1921, the Diamond 
 Jubilee — an endowment of $500,000 and properties to the 
 same amount. In 1916, the total endowment and property 
 assets were about $670,000. 111 Before 1921, Doctor Harker 
 had enlarged his million-dollar goal. 
 
 From 1916 to 1921 there was no major campaign for 
 
History of MacMurray College 335 
 
 funds. Doctor Harker's persistent search for "friends" con- 
 tinued, however. For years he had urged people of substance 
 to leave gifts by Will or preferably before death on an an- 
 nuity basis, and a small accumulation of such gifts had 
 already been made. He declared in his annual report in 
 1903, published in the Greetings, that he believed "exemption 
 from death of the trustees and friends for the past ten 
 years has been providential, and our Father is letting us all 
 live until we get interested enough to make our wills in 
 favor of the College or change them if they have already 
 been made without such provision. . . . And, if any friends 
 have so made their wills, how it would cheer the heart of 
 the president to have a little inkling of it in strict confi- 
 dence!" 112 
 
 The income from the existing endowment was restricted 
 to the degree that it consisted of scholarship funds and gifts 
 on which annuities were to be paid. The alumnae scholar- 
 ships alone in 1916 had reached the sum of $24,218.37, more 
 than ten per cent of the endowment. 113 And there were other 
 scholarship funds of about $15,000. In 1918, the annuities 
 in force and bearing interest from five to eight per cent 
 amounted to $37,400. 114 Gifts by Will delayed the income 
 from the endowment. The College borrowed endowment 
 funds in 1917 to build the gymnasium. This debt, about 
 $30,000, was paid back in 1921 out of certain undesignated 
 gifts secured in the next endowment campaign. 115 Much of 
 the endowment fund was also borrowed to buy up properties, 
 only a part of which were productive. And there were the 
 normal, perhaps more than normal, losses through unfor- 
 tunate investments. The endowment expense account in 
 some years was much larger than the revenues from it. 
 
 A few facts about the internal history of the College 
 might be noted before advancing to the next stage of finan- 
 cial history. These years, 1916-1921, were significant in 
 academic evolution and in social changes accelerated by 
 World War I. The academy course was discontinued, and 
 the college departments were strengthened and expanded as 
 
336 History of MacMurray College 
 
 far as funds made this possible. Recognition was secured from 
 the American Association of Colleges in 1920 and the gradu- 
 ates were admitted to membership in the American Associa- 
 tion of University Women in 1921. As mentioned above, 
 the gymnasium was constructed in 1917, the Blackstocks 
 donating the entire cost of the swimming pool. In 1918, the 
 College celebrated with considerable demonstrations the 
 twenty-fifth anniversary of Doctor Harker's acceptance of 
 the presidency; and, in 1921, the seventy-fifth anniversary 
 of the foundation of the College. The latter was observed 
 in the fall with Conference in session in Jacksonville. A 
 historical pageant, "The Torch Bearer," planned and di- 
 rected by John Kearns, of Jacksonville, a former member 
 of the faculty of the College of Music, was presented. 
 
 Since 1911, Doctor Harker had been trying to secure a 
 conditional grant from the General Education Board of the 
 Rockefeller Foundation, but his continuous requests had 
 been rejected. 116 He finally discovered, he declared in his 
 memoirs, that the chief difficulty lay in the doubt of these 
 leaders that a permanent and worthwhile woman's college 
 could be built in Jacksonville. 117 Although leaders in the 
 Methodist Board of Education had supported his requests, 
 some of them shared the doubts of the General Education 
 Board and had suggested that the Woman's College be com- 
 bined with Northwestern at Evanston. Doctor Harker in- 
 sisted that the Methodist Board appoint a committee to come 
 to Jacksonville to make a survey. Such a committee came 
 in 1922. It found that the College filled a real need and did 
 not recommend a change. 118 Before this committee made 
 its survey, however, the General Education Board had agreed 
 in 1920 to make a grant of $133,333 if the College would 
 raise twice that amount, the income from the whole to be 
 used for teachers' salaries; and it offered an annual grant of 
 $7,500 and $6,000 respectively for the two years following. 
 This offer to the Women's College was an item in a distri- 
 bution of $50,000,000 to American colleges at that time by 
 the General Education Board. Other Illinois colleges shared in 
 
History of MacMurray College 337 
 
 this grant. In the final agreement between this Board and 
 the College, the date June 30, 1923 was set for the termina- 
 tion of the campaign, September 30, 1926, for the payment 
 of die pledges. 119 The Board of Trustees, accepting the offer, 
 resolved to seek approval of its campaign from the Confer- 
 ence meeting in September, "said campaign to be completed 
 if possible by the time of the seventy-fifth anniversary 
 (1921)." The Board added the following resolution with 
 respect to this financial program: "That the above campaign 
 be regarded as only the first unit toward meeting the need 
 of the College for standard equipment and endowment as 
 set by the Conference Educational Commission of 1919, 
 namely a total endowment of $1,250,000 and a total plant 
 and equipment of $750,000 and that plans should be author- 
 ized and made and approved to secure these larger require- 
 ments as soon as practicable." 120 A suggested removal of Illi- 
 nois Wesleyan to Springfield had led to the appointment of 
 the commission referred to above, which included represen- 
 tatives from the Methodist schools in the Illinois, Central 
 Illinois, and Southern Illinois Conferences to discuss the in- 
 terests of the various schools which would be affected by 
 such a removal. 121 As it turned out, the Illinois Wesleyan re- 
 mained in Bloomington. 
 
 With reference to the request of the Board of Trustees, 
 the minutes of the Illinois Conference in 1920 contain only 
 the following statement: 
 
 Resolved, That the Illinois Conference respectfully call the attention 
 of the Jacksonville community to the needs of the Woman's College, in 
 view of the proposition of the General Education Board, and the neces- 
 sity of doing for the College as other communities have done for their 
 institutions, and suggest that they indicate their thought and plan in the 
 premises as has been their custom at such times, as a matter of encour- 
 agement to the Conference at large. 
 
 Resolved, That we request Superintendent E. L. Pletcher of the Jack- 
 sonville District and Counsellor J. W. Hancher of the Board of Educa- 
 tion to represent us in any possible negotiations with the Jacksonville 
 
 community. 122 
 
 At this session of Conference, Doctor Merle N. English, 
 later a trustee of the Woman's College, made an address, 
 "Looking Forward — The Illinois Annual Conference," that 
 
338 History of MacMurray College 
 
 stirred the Conference to launch a ten-year program of ad- 
 vancement. Paying tribute to the founders of Illinois 
 Methodism as the builders of Illinois, he declared: "It is the 
 conviction of many that the time has come for the great 
 Illinois Conference to lay out a program which will be in 
 keeping with the needs of the day and the resources in men 
 and money and strategy of a great church. . . . We are near- 
 ing the hundredth anniversary of the Conference. . . . We 
 wish that in the next decade we might consecrate ourselves 
 to a new ambassadorship. . . ." Among these great needs of 
 the new day was education. "The Church never had a great- 
 er mission in the field of education than now," he declared. 
 "In the Illinois Wesleyan, the Illinois Woman's College, and 
 the Wesley Foundation we have the means of making a con- 
 tribution for the enrichment of the world second to no other 
 conference in Methodism. . . . The total needs of these in- 
 stitutions will run into millions. This Conference has the 
 millions and must not close without making plans adequate 
 to the needs of her institutions." 123 His statements remind 
 one of the pronouncements of W. D. R. Trotter on the edu- 
 cational opportunities and responsibilities of Illinois Method- 
 ism in 1854. 
 
 It will be recalled that these years were the flush times, 
 the postwar boom that preceded the Great Depression. Col- 
 leges and universities were expanding phenomenally in mate- 
 rial and educational facilities. Before the session closed, plans 
 were initiated to formulate such a program as English 
 suggested. 124 In the conference minutes of 1921 there 
 appeared in elaborate outline the ten-year program. With 
 respect to education, it proposed a joint campaign with the 
 Central Illinois Conference to raise $5,000,000 for schools, 
 $1,000,000 of this to go to the Woman's College. 125 As a 
 part of this same campaign, $500,000 was to be raised for 
 retired ministers. Doctor J. W. Hancher was brought in 
 again to assist in the campaign. By 1922, this movement was 
 fully organized and had come to be called the "Bi-Confer- 
 ence Movement." Before Conference met in September 
 
History of MacMurray College 339 
 
 1922, the business outlook of the farming area, depressed long 
 before the Wall Street crash, had led to a modification of 
 the program. "Without invalidating the askings approved at 
 the Conference of 1921, we recommend that the plan of 
 campaign be modified because of current conditions," the 
 committee reported. It recommended as a present objective, 
 $1,250,000; of this, $250,000 was apportioned to the Wom- 
 an's College. 126 
 
 In the meantime, Doctor Harker and the Board of 
 Trustees had already begun the search for funds to meet 
 the conditions of the General Education Board, and by the 
 fall of 1922 pledges of $150,000 had been secured. Under 
 the Bi-Conference Campaign the amount required to secure 
 the grant of the General Education Board was completed. 
 Jacksonville gave more than $60,000; the faculty and stu- 
 dents at the College more than $20,000. Student devices for 
 raising money were ingenious as always; some of them 
 reflected the changing social customs. A student "hop" was 
 given (manless, it is true), which would have been pro- 
 hibited a year or so earlier. Movies had appeared, and 
 "Uncle" Tom Buckthorpe gave the girls half the proceeds 
 of one. They sold candy outside the theatres, standing in 
 the snow. One girl thus realized a childhood ambition to 
 be a "barker." The sophomores sold a cookbook, College 
 Crumbs, which contained recipes of the famous cinnamon 
 rolls and other favorite college dishes. On the train home 
 at Christmas time some girls "warbled for endowment," 
 giving a concert through the cars, ending with "By Stately 
 Elms Surrounded." The Greetings in January reported that 
 they "lifted" $26. 
 
 The organization and activity of the alumnae made 
 definite progress during this campaign. A field secretary 
 was again employed, and Miriam McOmber, '22, was chosen 
 for this office. Esther Davis, local secretary, and Genevieve 
 Mount assembled a new and more complete register of alum- 
 nae and former students. The Alumnae News and Record 
 was begun in August 1922. In June 1922, candle lighting 
 
340 History of MacMurray College 
 
 was first observed, a beautiful custom since followed on 
 alumnae day of the commencement season and on Founders' 
 Day. More local clubs appeared, including a Jacksonville 
 Club. Gifts from these local clubs and the general organi- 
 zation were considerable, aside from individual gifts. The 
 Chicago Club gave $2,000, the Springfield Club, $1,000, the 
 Association itself, $2,000. 127 By December 1926, the alumnae 
 had completed their fund of $107,000 for memorial scholar- 
 ships and professorships. 
 
 Through other subscriptions that came after July 1, 1923, 
 the final total of pledges in the campaign reached $467,794, 
 including the gift from the Board. 128 This gift had been 
 increased to $157,833 by several annual grants. According 
 to statements of the executive committee of the Board of 
 Trustees this campaign had been costly. A report in Novem- 
 ber 1923 gave the expenditure thus far as $17,000; a later 
 statement brought the payments up to April 1924 to more 
 than $30,000. 129 This sum represented merely the College's 
 share of the conference effort, not the cost of its own efforts. 
 There were complications in adjusting claims. "Bi-Confer- 
 ence is a thorn in the flesh," one member declared. 130 Cer- 
 tainly a separate campaign would have had advantages. Over 
 and above any such minor difficulties, it was recognized that 
 the returns from this campaign did not provide for present 
 needs to the extent that the totals suggested. The Committee 
 on Education itself declared "that present financial condi- 
 tions made it necessary to write a great deal of long-time 
 paper, such as annuities and estate notes, which furnish no 
 immediate relief for our institutions in the form of available 
 funds for maintenance." 131 And it went on to declare with 
 regard to the future that, although no further conference- 
 wide campaign was possible at the time, the work should 
 not end. "The results of the past year and a survey of the 
 expanding and imperative needs of our educational program 
 are but proof of the wisdom of the larger goal set by the 
 Conference in 1921," it insisted. The report to the Con- 
 ference from the Woman's College in 1923 stated: 
 
History of MacMurray College 341 
 
 The greatest problem before the Illinois Woman's College today is 
 that of adequate endowment and current support. The Bi-Conference 
 campaign will help, but even when this is all collected, the College has 
 barely enough to meet present standards for the present enrollment. No 
 additional growth of any consequence is possible without additional en- 
 dowment. 132 
 
 The outlook in October 1924 was still more discouraging, 
 as financial conditions in the Corn Belt became worse. The 
 following facts reported in the executive committee of the 
 Board of Trustees are significant: a loss of ten per cent in 
 enrollment and, in spite of the increased endowment, an 
 anticipated deficit of $22,000, the latter due in part to the 
 fact that there would be no annual grant from the General 
 Education Board and less from the Methodist Board (both 
 the conference collection and the Board of Education grants 
 had furnished several thousand dollars a year for some 
 years). 133 Already some of the investments were being 
 written off the books as non-collectible. 134 To his successor 
 Doctor Harker left a current debt of $50,000. In his last 
 address to the Board of Trustees in June 1925, he pointed 
 to the fact that the assets of the College had been increased 
 from about $75,000 to $1,300,000 during his administration. 
 But there were heavy and increasing liabilities. The pace in 
 collegiate development was making it very difficult for the 
 College to maintain its rating. Along with problems of 
 inadequate endowment there was pressing demand for new 
 grounds, buildings, and equipment as well as for an increase 
 in teachers' salaries. These problems his successor had to 
 face on the eve of the Great Depression. 
 
 PHYSICAL EXPANSION FROM 1893 TO 1925 
 
 When William Rutledge and several other members of 
 the first Board of Trustees bought five acres of land south 
 of East State Street in 1846 for a college site ("It was pro- 
 ducing a good crop of corn, and ought to produce a good 
 crop of young ladies," Rutledge observed whimsically) , they 
 were convinced no doubt that these acres were adequate for 
 all the needs of the College. Indeed, there was room for an 
 orchard and a pasture as well as for a campus. In 1872, 
 
342 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the College, in straightened circumstances, leased the pasture 
 land south of the present College Avenue for ninety-nine 
 years. On it, near where Ann Rutledge Hall stands, George 
 Rutledge lived for a time after he sold his home to help 
 pay his contribution to the college debt. In the later history 
 of the College, one of the chief problems has been to secure 
 space, not only the lost acres but many more — space suffi- 
 cient for campus, buildings, playing fields, and social elbow- 
 room with respect to the encroaching business districts. Such 
 a development is difficult and costly after a city, even a 
 small one, has surrounded a school. On the other hand, 
 lands and houses that have been occupied may bring with 
 them an accumulated history and tradition that enhance 
 their social and sentimental values. 
 
 The first effort of the new administration was to secure 
 the lots east and west of Main Building — the Lurton and 
 the Self (formerly Abner Yates) property. Doctor Adams 
 had coveted these lots for his college. His conception of 
 the real college included "ample and magnificent buildings, 
 grounds widespread and ornamental," and he looked to the 
 day "when our good neighbors, Yates on the east and Lurton 
 on the west" should donate these lands. 135 One is recurringly 
 reminded of the reach of Doctor Adams' mind into the 
 future, a foresight not fully appreciated, perhaps, because 
 of the poetic, rather than logical or practical, form in which 
 he often put his recommendations. From 1894 to 1900, the 
 minutes of the executive committee of the Board of Trustees 
 are filled with reports of the negotiations for the Lurton 
 property between Main Building and Clay Avenue. Every 
 issue of the Greetings carried an appeal for money to buy 
 this land. "Think of Illinois Female College as a lion couch- 
 ant, pawing in the tulip beds of the old Lurton place," 
 the editor wrote. 186 It was finally secured for $11,000 in 
 1900. Here Eppie had been maid to the Lurton children, 
 Willie and Joanna, for she had to look after them, as well 
 as their grandparents. Here Joanna had played to please her 
 father, trustee Lurton, instead of the German professor, 
 
History of MacMurray College 343 
 
 Mr. Strachauer, who tried to teach her music scientifically. 
 When the College finally secured the lots, the "For Sale" 
 sign was dug out with procession and ceremony. Curious 
 passers-by thought the president, faculty, and students were 
 burying some pet. 137 
 
 On the Self property to the east the Catholic Church had 
 had an option, but had let it expire. 138 Discovering in 1902 
 that it was for sale, Doctor Harker purchased it at once 
 without waiting for the money, $5,600, later paid out of 
 the trustees' surplus. 139 When Music Hall arose here a little 
 later, adjoining the Catholic college and shutting out its 
 west view, the presiding elder of the Jacksonville District 
 observed facetiously: "Whether this indicates a growing 
 fraternity between Roman Catholicism and Methodism, or 
 is interposed as a barrier to the further progress of Catholi- 
 cism, I submit as an interesting question." 140 Only slowly 
 did the administration find opportunity to buy back the 
 lost patrimony south of College Avenue. In 1908, the 
 Campbell house, apparently the first purchase, was secured; 
 in 1913, two other lots and houses were bought. 141 These 
 were repaired and rented. It was left to the next adminis- 
 tration to regain much of this beautiful plot, site of Ann 
 Rutledge and the hockey field. Several properties were 
 secured across East State to the north, and to the west the 
 former home of Doctor G. V. Black was bought. 
 
 Was it perhaps the frontiersman's love of the axe that 
 set a new president to cutting down trees and trimming 
 shrubs as soon as he crossed the threshold, or maybe a char- 
 acteristic manner of asserting proprietorship? Both Doctor 
 DeMotte and Doctor Harker wrote with emphasis of 
 the need of letting in more light and air as if a forest had 
 grown up. 142 Perhaps Doctor Adams had lived in the 
 "pleasant shade" too much, and Doctor Short's girls had 
 celebrated too many "Tree Days." After the initial clearing, 
 however, these other presidents began planting again. In 
 1907, the Athletic Association bought and planted the hedge 
 of spiraea to replace the old fence, beautify the campus, 
 
344 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and "furnish flowers for commencement." 143 It remained for 
 the next administration to cut down! In 1914, the seniors 
 held what they called the "first class tree-planting," ignorant 
 of the many tree-plantings of the 1870s and 1880s. Doctor 
 Harker did not approve of the apple; Mr. Frank Heinl, the 
 florist, discouraged any exotic trees; hence, they decided to 
 plant another elm, "which is the historical tree of Jack- 
 sonville," they said, and of the College "by stately elms 
 surrounded." 144 Other arbor days succeeded, until Joyce 
 Kilmer's poem could be made a part of the ceremonial. 145 
 Flowers had long been grown on the back campus — lilacs, 
 roses, and others — and more were planted; but most of this 
 area had to be used as a playground for tennis and croquet 
 and later for hockey. There were also swings and hammocks. 
 And it is interesting to note that the campus continued for 
 many years to be a "fine lawn." The small court between 
 the wings was a favorite spot for bonfires and marshmallow 
 toastings. To the east, around the power house, there were 
 some unlovely spots, later redeemed. Girls then, as now, 
 named their corridors — and those on the eastern exposure 
 changed theirs from "Tin Can Alley" to "Paradise Regained," 
 when their outlook was improved. 
 
 During the first six years of Doctor Harker's adminis- 
 tration there was no addition to the buildings. Painting and 
 papering and refurnishing went on each summer as far as 
 the small gifts of students, alumnae, and trustees, plus the 
 savings from the income, would permit. One improvement 
 of the first summer Doctor Harker advertised for some 
 years in the catalogues and other notices as a major reform: 
 a skylight in the central hall. Although the enrollment of 
 boarding students grew slowly in these years, the College 
 soon was crowded, since Main also contained the College of 
 Music. Hence, the old building began "stretching her 
 wings." In the spring of 1899 the Board of Trustees agreed 
 to borrow $10,000 to make an addition. This East Annex 
 built in the following summer provided a larger Chapel. 
 The stage and the stained glass window in the east end, 
 
History of MacMurray College 345 
 
 pride of an earlier day, were removed, and the old seats were 
 replaced with opera chairs. Connected by folding doors 
 with several classrooms added in the next annex, the seating 
 capacity of the Chapel was considerably enlarged. The new 
 addition contained a gymnasium and laboratories in the 
 basement and more than twenty dormitory rooms on the 
 floors above. 146 An east entrance was opened to Main in this 
 annex. In 1900, a similar addition was made to the west 
 at a slightly smaller cost. It provided a larger dining room, 
 some further dormitory space, and several practice halls. 
 For several years before the College purchased the Lurton 
 property, it had the use of the old Lurton home. The Art De- 
 partment and the two literary societies found residence there. 
 When the College bought this property in 1900, it was 
 renamed the Fine Arts Building. The societies, shifted from 
 pillar to post since their original homes burned in the fire 
 of 1861, were very proud of their new quarters and set 
 about furnishing them. 147 From each of the societies Doctor 
 Harker secured a subscription of $500 for the west front 
 addition to Main in 1902. 148 The societies did not always 
 agree with Doctor Harker and were more assertive of their 
 views (the prerogative of age perhaps) than other organ- 
 izations. Their minutes make interesting reading, and their 
 debate subjects suggest lively discussions. When annoyed 
 with Doctor Harker, they might delay their payments or 
 refuse contributions. 149 School life was enlivened further 
 by their devices for raising their pledges. The Belles Lettres 
 gave A Bachelor's Romance, announcing that it had been 
 "made famous by Sol Smith Russell and that fact is suffi- 
 cient to guarantee its real merit." 150 Miss Frances Hook, an 
 old Belles Lettres and owner of the trolley lines, brought 
 out a party of forty to attend the play. This third addition 
 to Main was an extension on the west front, which brought 
 the old wing out to the line of the Main Building. The top 
 of the principal tower was removed. This extension provided 
 new homes for the art studio and the societies, and more 
 office, dormitory, laboratory, and music space, all at a cost 
 
346 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of about $35,000. 151 Electric lights were introduced into 
 this wing and gradually extended to the older parts of 
 Main. This building now became really labyrinthine to the 
 uninitiated. In 1916, with a gift from David Strawn (about 
 $10,000), a fourth addition was made on the west end to 
 provide an enlargement and stack room for the library. 152 
 
 Even before the addition of 1902, Doctor Harker had 
 reported that the boilers were not adequate to heat the 
 enlarged building, and was asked to investigate the cost of 
 securing a larger boiler. At the next meeting, he announced 
 that it would cost $1,000. "It seems quite probable," the 
 secretary recorded, "that the present boiler will prove ade- 
 quate to heat the building." 153 A new boiler was put in the 
 next year, but the larger addition of 1902 made it inadequate. 
 Hence, the next expansion was a power house erected in 
 1904. One can dream or have "visions" perhaps of new 
 chapels or beautiful libraries or residence halls, but one must 
 smile at Doctor Harker's "dream of a boiler house." Students, 
 generally loyal, found it difficult, it seems, to become inter- 
 ested in this dream. The Phi Nus recorded that Doctor 
 Harker came and talked of "his future boiler house" and 
 asked for $100 for it. They took no action. At the next 
 meeting, however, they voted instead to pay $100 on their 
 hall pledge, still unpaid. 154 The money for the power house 
 came largely from the Dever farm, it will be recalled. In 
 it was put a laundry and an electric light plant. The water 
 problem was another troublesome question. In the early 
 years of his administration, Doctor Harker was concerned 
 about the danger of epidemics through impure water and 
 undertook to have the sewage system improved and a new 
 well dug. The public had been alarmed by a typhoid 
 epidemic at the Jacksonville Female Academy, and that 
 school was adversely affected. Although the College escaped 
 a similar epidemic, the shortage of the Jacksonville water 
 supply caused periodic inconvenience. 
 
 In 1906, Music Hall was built. This five-story red brick 
 building became the home of the College of Music, with the 
 
History of MacMurray College 347 
 
 art studio on the top floor and the Domestic Science Depart- 
 ment on the first. It also contained an auditorium capable 
 of seating about 600, a stage sufficient "for a chorus, piano, 
 and pipe organ, which it is hoped will be supplied by some 
 interested friend before very long," the Greetings an- 
 nounced. 155 Doctor Welch gave the $5,000 organ in 1912. 
 During the fall the students, disturbed by the noise of 
 welding, rejoiced in the fact that practice halls would soon 
 depart from Main. "Heard melodies are sweet, but those 
 unheard are sweeter," they insisted. The dedication of Music 
 Hall took place on January 29, 1907, with a concert by the 
 fine arts faculty and speeches followed by open house in 
 the studios. Miss Nellie Knopf, the art teacher, whose 
 "aspirations had long been skyward," had arranged an ex- 
 hibition on the top floor. Domestic science girls served 
 refreshments. It was a big day and lasted until the unusual 
 hour of eleven o'clock. The February issue of the Greetings 
 was almost entirely devoted to the description of the build- 
 ing and the ceremonies. Not until 1911, it seems, was the 
 daily chapel moved to the new auditorium. "It was with a 
 feeling of both regret and pleasure that we met in Music 
 Hall for our chapel services on the first day of school," a stu- 
 dent declared. 156 The old Chapel with its many and varied as- 
 sociations had a special place in their affections; even the 
 improvements made in it in 1899 had caused some regret 
 at the loss of the old stage and windows. This room had 
 been the center of college life from its beginning. Although 
 its functions in the future were to be more restricted, it 
 remained the center of the social life and soon was renamed 
 the Social Room. To many, however, it was still the "old 
 Chapel" for years to come. 
 
 The increase of enrollment made more classroom and 
 dormitory space essential. Harker Hall, a five-story building, 
 erected in 1909, answered both needs; and in addition, on the 
 second floor, provided the literary societies their third home. 
 Later they were moved from the front to the back of second 
 floor Harker, and finally to their present home on the first 
 
348 History of MacMurray College 
 
 floor. In 1910, the Belles Lettres (and perhaps the Phi Nu, 
 too) talked about erecting a house of their own and voted 
 to raise $6,000 for this purpose, but the project apparently 
 did not go beyond the discussion stage. 157 On the three top 
 floors of Harker Hall were dormitory rooms; on the two 
 lower, classrooms and laboratories. The Domestic Science 
 Department was moved to the first floor; the Expression 
 Department replaced it in Music Hall. It seems there was 
 a continuous moving day. For some months in the fall of 
 1906, the newly created Domestic Science Department had 
 been homeless. Harker Hall was connected by corridors 
 with Main, the whole a huge pile of rooms and maze of 
 corridors. Elevator service installed in Harker led to frequent 
 insistence through the Greetings on elevator etiquette and 
 proper respect and precedence to upperclassmen. 
 
 Delay in the completion of this building, due to strikes, 
 illustrates the relation of such an institution to the life 
 around it and its dependence on that life. The weather in 
 the summer of 1909 also retarded the work. 158 For about six 
 weeks after the opening of school, girls were stacked three 
 and four in a room. As a deserved recognition of Doctor 
 Harker's "untiring, faithful, and efficient service," this 
 building was named in his honor by act of the Board of 
 Trustees. 
 
 The final addition to the physical plant made by Doctor 
 Harker was the gymnasium built, as he facetiously observed, 
 around the swimming pool donated by the Blackstocks. This 
 building, erected at a cost of $50,000, was dedicated on 
 May 15, 1917. For two reasons it was fortunate that its 
 construction was delayed no longer: World War I brought 
 great increase in cost of materials and labor, and it enhanced 
 the importance and the popularity of physical education 
 for women. "At last, Illinois Woman's College has an ade- 
 quate and beautiful gymnasium," the Greetings declared; 
 and added, "With the gymnasium we hope will come the 
 spirit of sport, in which our College has been so woefully 
 
History of MacMurray College 349 
 
 lacking." 159 This building contained on the basement floor a 
 bowling alley in addition to the pool. On the main floor 
 there was, besides the basketball court and other athletic 
 equipment, a stage for dramatic productions. A fireplace 
 added to its attractiveness as a social room. 
 
 From 1918 to the end of this administration there was 
 increasing need for repairs and refurnishings and an increas- 
 ing difficulty in meeting these demands because of higher 
 costs. All that could be spared for the physical plant had 
 to be used for replacement rather than expansion. Increasing 
 wealth in the United States in the twentieth century, par- 
 icularly in the war years, had brought higher standards of 
 material well-being, demand for more bathrooms, better 
 beds, more commodious wardrobes, more attractive parlors 
 and dining rooms. Colleges had to meet these new standards. 
 The cost of improvements and replacements in furnishings 
 was almost prohibitive for the Woman's College in view 
 of its small productive endowment. In this difficulty the 
 MacMurrays came to the rescue. Much of their early giving 
 was in the form of contributions to redecoration and refur- 
 nishing; and they gave counsel on these matters, as well as 
 money. In 1918, Mr. MacMurray, noticing the great need 
 of new paint, gave $1,000 for this purpose and in the 
 following year another $1,000. In 1919, Mr. and Mrs. Mac- 
 Murray secured for the College a donation from the Sebring 
 Pottery Company of a complete new outfit of china. In 
 this same year, Mrs. MacMurray was a member of a special 
 refurnishing committee appointed by the Board of Trustees, 
 with Mrs. Lillian King as chairman. It might be noted that 
 the women on the Board proved their special value in all 
 these questions of physical accommodations. This committee 
 made a survey and reported that the dining rooms and 
 dormitories needed many things — new hardwood floors, 
 paint, plaster, redecorations, new beds, larger dressers, new 
 lights, carpets for the halls, chairs, tables, and linens for the 
 dining room. 160 The administration attacked these problems 
 by degrees. In 1920, Doctor Harker reported that $10,000 
 
350 History of MacMurray College 
 
 had been spent and that $10,000 more should be spent. In 
 1922, he declared that new furniture for most of the resi- 
 dence rooms was needed, but that it was entirely impossible 
 to buy it. 161 Obviously, the cost of keeping a respectable 
 college for young ladies had mounted to an alarming degree. 
 In the meantime, the cost of instruction had gone up in 
 proportion. It is time to turn from material foundations 
 to the real business of the College, the education of young 
 women. 
 
 THE STANDARD COLLEGE: EVOLUTION OF THE 
 COURSE OF STUDY 
 
 Since 1851 the Illinois Conference Female College, later 
 Illinois Female College, had been designated and esteemed a 
 college. In the ante bellum period it had taken its place with 
 the best women's colleges of that day. After the Civil War 
 it had been advanced academically and an excellent Academy 
 of Music had been established. When the new eastern schools 
 with more advanced and more extensive curricula appeared 
 in the later nineteenth century, the Illinois Female College 
 did not claim equality with them, but it was still considered 
 a college as distinct from a secondary school. That fact in 
 itself counts for something, perhaps for much. Its outlook 
 on life was more mature; its emphases were different, and 
 the cultural content of its curriculum different and in some 
 respects richer than those of the secondary school. To women 
 educated in this school in its first half century it was some- 
 what disturbing that their Alma Mater had ceased to be 
 rated as a first-class college. Mrs. Minerva Masters Vincent, 
 for example, who had been a leader as teacher and lecturer 
 at Chautauqua for years, was humiliated by the fact that 
 she could not be admitted to the Woman's Collegiate Asso- 
 ciation. Life had tested the worth of her college education; 
 her insistence that it was excellent was not mere sentimental- 
 izing. Nevertheless, by the end of the century, the College 
 had to face the fact that judged by the purely mechanical 
 standards of units and credits it fell short of the modern 
 college, although in the content of its curriculum it was still 
 
History of MacMurray College 351 
 
 considerably above the high school. It was necessary to go 
 backward in order to go forward; to admit that it was not a 
 real college; to discontinue the granting of degrees; to secure 
 recognition as a standard junior college before it was ready 
 to advance to the senior college level. 
 
 The advancement from the old seminary-type college to 
 the modern four-year standard college was perhaps hastened 
 by the fact that the president had had no previous associa- 
 tion with the old type and was thus free from any precon- 
 ceptions that its pattern might have formed with respect 
 to educational ideals and practices or social discipline. He 
 was thus free to follow whatever demands twentieth century 
 conditions happened to make so far as he could secure the 
 necessary financial backing. Nevertheless, Doctor Harker 
 had certain preconceptions based on his English and evan- 
 gelical inheritance and background and his public school 
 experience that did influence the evolution of the curriculum. 
 Indeed, the earlier changes made in the course of study, 
 instead of being in the nature of a general reorganization 
 or elevation of the course, were mainly the result of these 
 preconceptions or experiences. Doctor Harker's religious 
 bent caused him to give large place to the study of the 
 Bible; his educational experience, to the study of pedagogy. 
 Both these subjects he introduced in his first year. In his 
 Eventide Memories he listed Greek, German, and physical 
 culture as other subjects he introduced, but German had 
 been taught for many years (it may be that no one took 
 it the previous year) and physical culture for more than 
 ten years. Greek had been in and out the curriculum from 
 ante bellum days, and was not listed in the catalogue in 
 1892-93. 
 
 With respect to advancement in the curriculum, one finds 
 it difficult to discover any considerable progress for ten 
 years. During these years those who could be considered 
 college students, even according to the old classification, were 
 few in number, and for more than fifteen years the academy 
 department remained much larger than the college division. 
 
352 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Although the advancement in the course was very slight 
 for a decade, it is probable that more attention was paid 
 to the exact classification of students. Doctor Harker had 
 displayed a zest for organization and classification in public 
 school administration, and thus was thoroughly prepared to 
 organize his academy according to public school standards. 
 Under Doctor Short's administration there had been four 
 years of preparatory work beyond the elementary level and 
 four years of college work. Doctor Harker declared that 
 this so-called college work was really secondary. 162 Never- 
 theless, under his administration it continued to be desig- 
 nated "college" and, until 1898, the total number of years 
 required for a diploma was reduced by one year, only three 
 years of preparatory work being listed. In 1895, Doctor 
 Harker announced that, beginning with the year 1895-96, 
 two years of "post-graduate" work would be offered upon 
 the completion of which the "regular collegiate degrees 
 of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of 
 Philosophy would be granted." 163 Apparently, this change 
 was not effected. No further reference was made to it. 
 After 1895, however, the old degrees, Mistress of Liberal 
 Arts and Mistress of English Literature, ceased to be granted; 
 only a diploma was given for the completion of the four- 
 year college course. This apparent step backward was really 
 a step forward. The Belles Lettres course was discontinued 
 in 1894. 
 
 During these years, Doctor Harker was very busy recruit- 
 ing a student body. He declared that his Whipple Academy 
 boys helped him to build up the patronage in Jacksonville 
 in return for the promise of social opportunities at the 
 Female College. 164 His acquaintance with the public schools 
 of central Illinois was an asset. The emphasis he placed on 
 pedagogy was probably in part an inheritance from teachers' 
 institute days, in part a drawing card for recruits from 
 young ladies preparing to teach. The course consisted of 
 a review of the common school branches along with some 
 instruction in methods of teaching and in practice teach- 
 
MUSIC HALL 
 
9m% 
 
History of MacMurray College 353 
 
 ing. 165 He had introduced such a course at Whipple and 
 secured the consent of the president that young women be 
 admitted to it. 166 Thus, he recalled later, he had been the first 
 to introduce co-education into Illinois College. The catalogue 
 sought also to attract those who wished to go on to other 
 schools. It announced (beginning in 1895) that the course 
 of study through the junior year offered complete prepara- 
 tion for entrance to any college; also that the College would 
 make any necessary adjustment in courses to enable the 
 student to meet the special requirements of any eastern 
 college. For some years it pointed with pride to the fact 
 that its graduates were admitted to standard colleges without 
 examination. The same thing might have been said in the 
 preceding administration. 
 
 In 1902, some real advancement was made in the course 
 of study. Since 1898 there had been three years of inter- 
 mediate work and one of preparatory work between the 
 primary and the college course. In 1902, another year of 
 preparatory work was added and Caesar and plane geometry, 
 freshman college subjects, were dropped back to the pre- 
 paratory department. This additional year required for 
 graduation was not put into force, however, until 1905. 167 
 
 It was only in 1907 that a radical change in the college 
 course was made. How much longer this change might have 
 been delayed if the Carnegie offer of a conditional gift of 
 money had not come in 1906 one might wonder. When 
 Doctor Harker returned from his second trip to New York 
 in the spring of 1907, he read a letter from Doctor W. F. 
 Anderson, secretary of the Methodist Board of Education, 
 recommending that the administration "take steps at once 
 to advance the College to full collegiate rank." 168 The Board 
 instructed him to do this as soon as practicable, and the 
 catalogue published in the following summer announced 
 the changes. The curriculum was raised to a four-year 
 college course, which secured the approval of the Method- 
 ist University Senate in 1908 and of the North Central 
 Association in 1909. 169 
 
354 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Beginning in the fall of 1907, four years of preparatory 
 work, equivalent to the modern high school course, were 
 required for admission to college. Until 1920, the prepar- 
 atory department of the College was maintained, although 
 after 1916 it was reduced one year annually. One might 
 regret the passing of the primary department, which had 
 disappeared sometime earlier. It had been a pleasing picture 
 that enlivened the campus and added to the big home at- 
 mosphere. Miss Katherine Cole, who taught the children 
 elocution, called them Miss Patterson's "pansies." These 
 children sometimes "made" the dignified College Greetings 
 in long feature articles that relate the childhood activities 
 of some of Jacksonville's present notables. There were 
 Chester Hemphill and Jeannette Taylor Hemphill (perhaps 
 the courtship began in Miss Patterson's room), Millicent 
 Rowe Samuel and Janette Powell (who got all her under- 
 graduate education in the Woman's College) , John Mathers, 
 "Gentleman," who always wore a stiff collar and bowed so 
 solemnly to the teacher, and others. 
 
 To avoid sudden loss of students, no doubt, the College 
 advertised a special course, the Seminary course, when it 
 adopted the more exacting requirements for graduation 
 from college in 1907. This course was very similar in its 
 flexibility as to content to the old Belles Lettres course, 
 which Doctor Harker had discontinued in his first year. 
 It was a two-year course, in which all the work was elec- 
 tive except eight semester hours of Bible and twelve of 
 English. Until 1911, Doctor Harker offered a teachers' 
 training course, which included a review of the common 
 school subjects with some training in psychology and meth- 
 ods of teaching. This course might draw students; it ex- 
 pressed his zeal for training teachers. 
 
 With the adoption of the new college curriculum in 1907, 
 two degrees were offered, the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor 
 of Science. In 1909, the first Bachelor of Arts degrees ever 
 conferred were granted to Elizabeth Davis and Neva Wiley. 
 In that year the Bachelor of Science degree was discontinued. 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 355 
 
 Although no explanation was given, it is probable that the 
 laboratory standards were not adequate to meet the require- 
 ments of the North Central Association. In 1912, the 
 Bachelor of Science in Home Economics was offered. The 
 work in the College of Music might lead to the Bachelor 
 of Music degree. 
 
 In the new curriculum the student was given more choice 
 of subjects than in the old nineteenth century prescribed 
 course. In 1907, 88 hours out of 120 were prescribed; in 
 1925, 68 out of 126. This represents perhaps a larger pro- 
 portion of prescribed subjects than would be found in many 
 colleges. In 1907, the required subjects for the Bachelor of 
 Arts degree were: twelve semester hours in English, sixteen 
 in Bible, eight in mathematics, eight in Latin, sixteen in 
 modern languages and Greek, six in history, two in physi- 
 ology, eight in natural science (physics, chemistry, or 
 biology) , two in domestic science, eight in philosophy, and 
 two in drawing. 170 The requirement in Bible was extraor- 
 dinarily large. One wonders if this was due to conference 
 influence, as well as to Doctor Harker's predilections. Per- 
 haps not. It led to complaints, especially from students who 
 wished to transfer credits, and was gradually reduced. It 
 would be tedious to follow all the changes in requirements 
 from 1907 to 1925. A few may be noted. The number of 
 hours required for graduation was increased in 1920 to 126 
 by the addition of six hours in physical education. By 1925 
 the Bible requirement had been reduced to six hours. In- 
 stead of a Latin requirement there was by 1925 a general 
 language requirement of sixteen hours. The others re- 
 mained about the same. In 1915, the catalogue contained 
 the first statement on the choice of a major field required 
 from that time at least. 
 
 Aside from the fine arts, the curriculum in 1907 contained 
 65 courses; in 1909, 91 courses; in 1925, 175. Many of these 
 were session courses. Some were probably never given 
 through lack of sufficient demand. In 1909, there were 
 only 42 college students; until 1911 there were fewer than 
 
356 History of MacMurray College 
 
 100; in 1925, only 259. Although figures for the distribu- 
 tion of enrollments by departments or subjects are not at 
 hand for all these thirty-two years, the following figures for 
 1915 are probably fairly representative. In that year, 1914- 
 15, there were 197 college students (including 51 unclassi- 
 fied college specials). Enrollments by departments and 
 subjects were: Bible, 66; biology, 97; chemistry, 59; clas- 
 sical languages, 50; domestic science, 74; English, 207; 
 French, 33; German, 99; geology, 19; history, 92; mathe- 
 matics, 55; physics, 8; philosophy, 18. 171 
 
 And what of the content of the curriculum and its 
 changes? One must say something, even at the risk of 
 being tedious. Around the question of what we shall teach 
 academic battles are still waged. The classical tradition was 
 not only maintained but enhanced in the new college cur- 
 riculum and the instruction offered under it, although the 
 popularity of the "dead" languages declined as in other col- 
 leges. The College was fortunate to secure the services of 
 Miss Mary Johnston, who built this curriculum and has con- 
 tinued to maintain it. She has a distinguished heritage in the 
 field of classical scholarship from her father, Professor H. W. 
 Johnston, of Illinois College, and later, until his death, of 
 Indiana University. He had been a friend and teacher of 
 Doctor Harker, to whom he dedicated his edition of Cicero. 
 In 1925, the Latin course consisted of nine two-semester 
 courses, which included studies in literature, Roman life, 
 criticism, and palaeography. Student translations in verse 
 from the Latin poets, Horace, Catullus, and others, appeared 
 from time to time in the Greetings, and in a special depart- 
 ment number in 1912, a sort of Battle of the Books, stu- 
 dents ably defended the study of the ancients. The labora- 
 tory method was sometimes used. Students built Roman 
 houses, held funeral games, and served Roman "bread and 
 wine." Greek was also included in the classical studies. 
 Among the courses was one in the Greek Testament. After 
 1921, Greek ceased to be listed in the catalogue. 
 
 Instruction in the German language, a casualty of World 
 
History of MacMurray College 357 
 
 War I, was up to that time the most popular field in the 
 modern languages. As preceding pages have indicated, its 
 popularity was in line with well-established traditions in 
 the College. One finds German history prominent also. 
 The figures of enrollment given above show ninety-nine 
 in German in 1915. At this time twelve courses were 
 offered, including a course in historical German gram- 
 mar. This department, too, was fortunate to have the con- 
 tinued instruction of one of the strong teachers of this 
 period, Miss Grace Cowgill. Although the German courses 
 were listed in the catalogue until 1921, with the comment 
 that they would be offered on demand, Miss Cowgill left 
 in 1919. In that year, Doctor Harker recommended that 
 Spanish be introduced on the grounds that it would take 
 the place of German in public schools and the College should 
 prepare young ladies to teach it. 172 French was a smaller 
 department than German until the war; there were fewer 
 courses, and the instructors did not remain long. The war, 
 of course, changed its status. For students in German and 
 French, and later in Spanish, there were clubs and language 
 tables, which offered opportunity for conversation, compo- 
 sition, and dramatic work. Commencement essays ap- 
 peared on such themes as "The Individuality of Heinrich 
 Heine" and "The Influence of Folklore on German Litera- 
 ture." Students in the French classes carried on a corres- 
 pondence with girls in French schools, and the Greetings 
 published the letters from France. Under an early teacher, 
 Miss Ella Ludwig, French plays were presented. The "adop- 
 tion" of French orphans during the war increased the in- 
 terest in France and the French language. 
 
 In the late Victorian period, English literature had se- 
 cured a larger place in the curriculum, and it continued to 
 expand. Composition still had special emphasis, however, as 
 the required freshman subject, and there was an advanced 
 composition course for seniors. For some years senior essay 
 reading, revived by Doctor Harker, had a place both as a 
 commencement event and on chapel programs. Old themes 
 
358 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and new appeared. Current social and political problems 
 were popular subjects; such as, Compulsory Sanitation, Re- 
 quirements for Medical Practice in Illinois, Science in Pub- 
 lic Schools, The Prisoner and How He Lives, The Southern 
 Mountaineer; and the Indian and Mormon problems re- 
 flected old regional and current national questions. Many 
 essays were published in the Greetings. It might be noted 
 that throughout this period the Greetings was more maga- 
 zine than newspaper, and offered some encouragement for 
 creative work. It seems not to have functioned satisfac- 
 torily in either capacity, however, and in 1923 a separate 
 publication, the Greetings Quarterly y appeared as a literary 
 magazine and the College Greetings was devoted more 
 strictly to news. The Quarterly was short-lived. Other 
 courses — a course in versification and several in journal- 
 ism — encouraged writing. The meager attention given to 
 American literature is noticeable, but perhaps not unusual 
 for the first years of the twentieth century. In the "heart 
 of America" one might have expected more concern per- 
 haps for national writers. Out of more than fifteen courses 
 in English (some of them session courses) , there was up to 
 1925 only a single semester course in American literature. 
 General courses in modern poetry and the novel introduced 
 in the 1920s included some study of American works along 
 with the English. In line with the modern trend toward 
 directed readings courses, there was a general readings course 
 without lectures or recitations and a journal club for the 
 study, with college credit, of current periodical literature. 
 For several years after 1893 the old nineteenth century 
 favorites, moral science and Christian Evidences, taught by 
 the head of the school to all seniors, were continued. As 
 stated in the catalogue, which, in 1894 and for the first time, 
 described the courses, the former was designed to explain 
 "the nature and right of Divine Government, Civil Gov- 
 ernment, and Parental Government," and the latter, among 
 other purposes, to establish "the harmony [of the Christian 
 religion] with modern science." 178 A student declared in 
 
History of MacMurray College 359 
 
 the Greetings of May 1899 that a young lady, after tak- 
 ing this course, could not "help being convinced that she, 
 in spite of Darwinian theories, is a branch of the ances- 
 tral tree whose trunk is Adam and Eve." These courses did 
 not satisfy Doctor Harker's enthusaism for instruction in 
 the Bible, however, and he immediately introduced its study. 
 Its introduction was not unusual. About this time it began 
 to be included generally as a part of the formal college 
 curriculum, but the degree of emphasis he gave to it was 
 exceptional. The course offered was of a broadly historical 
 and literary character. Miss Ruby Neville, who taught 
 Bible for much more than a decade, had traveled in the 
 Near East and during several summers continued her study 
 in Biblical literature and history under Moulton, Shatter 
 Matthews, and others in the University of Chicago. Pro- 
 fessor Moulton's Literary Interpretation of the Bible she 
 used as a textbook in the Woman's College. Although not 
 radical in her views, she was criticized by some Methodist 
 leaders, it is said, who thought her teaching smacked too 
 much of the "higher criticism" of the University of Chi- 
 cago. In 1921, she was transferred to the English Depart- 
 ment, and a man was chosen as head of a new Department 
 of Bible and Religious Education. Several practical courses 
 were introduced about that time, including a course in vo- 
 cational guidance in church and social work. 
 
 Development in the field of history and the social studies 
 was considerable. Owing to the middle- American location of 
 the College perhaps, this development took place in a some- 
 what narrower field than one might have expected to find 
 in the later years of this administration and especially dur- 
 ing and just after World War I. Up to the twentieth cen- 
 tury, the classical tradition in American colleges had em- 
 phasized Greek and Roman history, and European travel 
 encouraged these same fields and English, French, and Ger- 
 man history. The history of the United States, like its liter- 
 ature, was neglected. Social and economic history and soci- 
 ology were yet in their infancy. In the Woman's College 
 
360 History of MacMurray College 
 
 even political economy and political science, which had been 
 taught in the nineteenth century, were discontinued early 
 in this administration. In 1907, the college history curric- 
 ulum consisted of four courses only: Medieval and Modern 
 Europe, England, France and Germany, and the United 
 States. Throughout this administration English history, in- 
 stead of the customary European, was the prescribed course, 
 a result perhaps of Doctor Harker's background. From 
 1909, the number of courses was increased rapidly to include 
 periods and movements in American and European history 
 and studies in economic and social history. Special regional 
 interest finally found expression in 1921 in courses on the 
 Middle West and the Pacific Coast States. In the same year, 
 Latin American history was added, but up to 1925 there 
 were no courses on the Far East, no special courses on East- 
 ern Europe, and none in the field of international relations. 
 Economics was restored in 1911 and included with his- 
 tory, and, in 1914, a course in the elements of sociology 
 was added. In 1921, these fields were expanded to three 
 courses each and, along with government, made divisions 
 of the Department of History and Social Science. The His- 
 tory Club sought to promote the study of current public 
 affairs. Incidentally, one of the most interesting innovations 
 in the social science field was made in 1912 by Miss Jennie 
 Anderson. This was a course in Practical Problems of So- 
 cial Service. Thus applied sociology preceded the theo- 
 retical contrary to the usual order. The catalogue de- 
 scribed it as follows: "This course is designed to give a 
 general survey of some of the great movements organ- 
 ized for the betterment of social conditions. Visits will 
 be made to the various state institutions located in the vicin- 
 ity of the College." 174 Clearly the course merely formalized 
 a practice of the students for years back and reflected the 
 religious and local background. Although it disappeared 
 upon Miss Anderson's departure two years later, a similar 
 course in social case work was introduced in 1922. It was 
 given by the superintendent of the Social Service League 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 361 
 
 of Jacksonville, under the supervision of the Department of 
 History and Social Science. 
 
 Mental science disappeared after 1903 to reappear as 
 psychology, and moral science became ethics. Doctor Har- 
 ker had taught these subjects himself when he first came to 
 the College. In 1918, Miss Annie Hinrichsen, '97, then sec- 
 retary of the Welfare Commission of the State of Illinois 
 and the first woman to hold the position, reminded him 
 that he had taught her ethics, and she was frequently in 
 prison; economics, and she was often in the almshouse; 
 mental science, and she lived among those whose mental 
 lives had been blasted! 175 In 1907, single courses in psychol- 
 ogy, ethics, logic, and pedagogy constituted the Depart- 
 ment of Philosophy. In 1911, pedagogy became a separate 
 division as the Department of Education. In 1922, these 
 fields were recombined as a Department of Education, Psy- 
 chology, and Philosophy. 
 
 In 1907, the new mathematics curriculum included most 
 of the courses usually offered in undergraduate instruction, 
 and there were few additions later. Miss Mary Anderson, 
 one of the "Old Guard," instructed students in this sub- 
 ject for many years. In 1923, physics, a small department, 
 was joined with mathematics. The other natural sciences 
 were geology, biology, and chemistry. Geology was not 
 listed in the catalogue after 1919. In 1915, nineteen stu- 
 dents had been enrolled. Biology and chemistry were much 
 larger departments with ninety-seven and fifty-nine re- 
 spectively in 1915. The introduction of home economics 
 in 1906 increased the enrollment in these sciences, since 
 general chemistry, household chemistry, bacteriology, and 
 physiology were prerequisites for courses in home economics; 
 and courses such as sanitation and home architecture re- 
 quired also some work in physics; and textiles, the study 
 of botany. 
 
 Instruction in these fields and in domestic science also 
 was handicapped by lack of space and equipment. When 
 the East Annex was built in 1899, the laboratories were 
 
362 History of MacMurray College 
 
 placed in the basement of that wing. Later they were moved 
 to Harker. In view of the fact that all things demanded 
 money at the same time, the administration achieved much 
 in the provision of laboratories, and something even under 
 the very limited resources of the middle 1890s. In 1896, Doc- 
 tor Harker secured the consent of the Board of Trustees to 
 spend $100 each for laboratories, the library, and for maps 
 and charts. 176 During this decade the alumnae gave a 
 microscope. No longer would Doctor Prince or others of 
 the famous Microscopical Society have to bring theirs up 
 for demonstration. Pictures in the old catalogues reveal 
 laboratories rather bare, however, although the one micro- 
 scope occupies a place of distinction quite to the front of 
 the picture. Certain courses might be taught with rela- 
 tively little equipment, as botany had once been taught 
 through field trips. One was the "bird course," ornithol- 
 ogy; and the geology class "made expeditions to Morgan 
 Lake, following the Mauvaisterre back to civilization and 
 noting the meanders and flood plains." One interesting 
 event of the earlier years (1909) was a "science spread," 
 or luncheon, in honor of the Darwin centennial. The in- 
 structors and students in the sciences with a number of guests 
 had a luncheon program, with Doctor Harker as toastmas- 
 ter. There were papers on Darwin's Life, Darwin as Biol- 
 ogist, Darwin as Geographer, and the Limitations of Dar- 
 win. "At a late hour in the afternoon, the party separated, 
 feeling that this new course in science was well worth 
 repetition." 177 
 
 Domestic science taught from Miss Beecher's famous 
 text had been a study in the ante bellum college and was con- 
 tinued for some time after the Civil War. Although one 
 discovers no references to laboratory work, the young ladies 
 often made their own dresses while in school, or knitted 
 socks and embroidered scarfs for Christmas gifts. One did 
 not go to college to learn these things, and they never 
 expressed any particular interest in the textbook study of 
 the subject. Restored to the curriculum in 1906 (Doctor 
 
History of MacMurray College 363 
 
 Harker considered the restoration one of the outstanding 
 events of that significant year), it has continued to the 
 present as an important feature of the curriculum. In this 
 respect MacMurray is more "feminine" than some of the 
 modern women's colleges. The objectives Doctor Harker 
 had in mind in creating the Home Economics Department 
 were to give practical experience for homemaking and train- 
 ing for teachers of the subject. Until 1912 the course 
 covered two years' work, upon the completion of which a 
 diploma was granted. In 1912, a four-year course leading 
 to the Bachelor of Science degree was established. Students 
 seeking the Bachelor of Arts degree could elect courses in 
 home economics or might take a major in this field. 
 
 The Home Economics Department was first placed in the 
 basement of Music Hall. In 1909, it was moved to first 
 floor Harker. During the later years of this administration 
 among the many other physical needs of the College was 
 a home management house. Miss Eleanor Thompson, the 
 librarian, loaned hers for a time. 178 The department must 
 have been very cramped in laboratory space, for it was a 
 popular course. Eighty were sometimes enrolled, and the 
 number was usually above fifty. Like the College of Music, 
 home economics produced a surplus of income over expense. 
 The Greetings through the years contain many interesting 
 bits of news from this department. And the early catalogue 
 descriptions are intriguing: girls were taught the care and 
 curling of ostrich plumes, the making of lined and unlined 
 elaborate gowns; Tarn O'Shanter crowns, and so forth. 
 Seniors made tailored and fancy shirtwaists. There was a 
 special course of six lessons in chafing-dish cooking for six 
 dollars, and the Greetings featured chafing-dish recipes. One 
 learns from the Greetings also of Mr. Crabtree's lectures to 
 the domestic science classes on banking, Mr. Frank Heinl's 
 on planning gardens and planting trees, of visits of the 
 home economics classes to the Capps Woolen Mills — all in 
 line with the traditional town and gown relationship. 
 
 The work in physical education and the fine arts is dis- 
 
364 History of MacMurray College 
 
 cussed below. A word might be included here about the 
 secretarial work introduced in 1919. These courses resulted 
 from the enlarged opportunities opened to women in this 
 field during World War I and their consequent demand 
 for instruction. In addition to the secretarial work, the 
 department included commercial law, business psychology, 
 and other courses, in which college credit was given. When 
 the first instructor left, Doctor Harker persuaded Miss 
 Annabel Crum, of an "old settler's" family and trained in 
 the historic Brown's Business College, to "come for a year." 
 She stayed on, and is today a member of the administrative 
 secretarial staff. 
 
 It was necessary to enlarge the library, as well as the 
 laboratories, to secure and maintain the rank of a standard 
 college in the twentieth century. The library of the Female 
 College had met very well the standards of that day, or at 
 least the prevailing conditions, for there were then no arbi- 
 trary standards. Pictures of the old library located on first 
 floor Main reveal a small room much like "the private library 
 of a book-loving gentleman." 179 "Tall bookcases with glass 
 doors, one of them surmounted by a large stuffed eagle, 
 gave the atmosphere of study," a later librarian observed. 
 In 1902, the library was moved to the west front addition, 
 but even the small increase of books soon outgrew the space 
 given it, and there was little room for reading. Later Miss 
 Eleanor Thompson, the first librarian, had to keep some 
 books stored in the basement to give reading room and fre- 
 quently had to send out for extra chairs. 180 The Strawn 
 addition of 1916 gave a fairly adequate physical basis for 
 the library for a little while, but by the end of this admin- 
 istration, it was again cramped for space. 
 
 The minutes of the Board of Trustees and the issues of 
 the Greetings reveal the continuous, even though small, 
 growth of the library after 1893. The Board sanctioned 
 the purchase of the New Standard Dictionary in 1895 and 
 an appropriation of $100 for the library in 1896. 181 Issues 
 of the Greetings in the 1890s record various gifts. The 
 
History of MacMurray College 365 
 
 Methodist Book Concern, of Cincinnati, gave 150 volumes 
 "well-adapted to our purposes"; Doctor J. T. McFarland, 
 of Grace Church, gave a parting gift of thirty-five volumes; 
 Judge Whitlock, a new atlas and a subscription to the 
 Literary Digest. 182 "A great many books in our library bear 
 Judge Whitlock's name," the editor observed. Another 
 trustee, Alexander Piatt, brickmason, took a special interest 
 in the library and gave a new Globe-Wernicke case and 
 a donation of books. 183 The collection thus was growing 
 by the old nineteenth century methods. Girls accustomed 
 to "drives" for their society libraries set about raising a 
 fund for Warner's Library and the Encyclopedia Britan- 
 nica. 18i "The Library is entirely out of proportion to the 
 size and dignity of the school," the Greetings declared. By 
 1910, however, the collection of books had grown to about 
 3,000 volumes. 185 
 
 The new standards set for colleges made necessary further 
 advancement with respect to both the size and the admin- 
 istration of the library. Teachers were requiring more work 
 outside textbooks. Often the books assigned were not in 
 the library or were buried in the basement. "It is enough 
 to dampen the spirits of the most enthusiastic and ambitious 
 student to spend half her allotted time for study searching 
 for a volume that we never possessed," one girl declared. 186 
 In 1911, a real "drive" for books and money was initiated, 
 and April 12 was set aside as Library Day. "A walk through 
 the corridors might make you imagine that an experiment 
 in co-operative housekeeping was on foot," the Greetings 
 reporter concluded from the "coffee and wafers," "mending 
 and darning," and other signs on the doors. 187 Commercial 
 art classes were beginning to specialize in posters; girls 
 welcomed any such occasion to display their talents. As a 
 result of this special effort, $1,246 was raised for the library. 188 
 
 The College needed a librarian as much as it needed books. 
 Overworked teachers had had to give such assistance as 
 they could in listing and shelving the books and directing 
 their use. Perhaps the trained librarians of the city library 
 
366 History of MacMurray College 
 
 gave much help in this work. From 1908, the College offered 
 a course in library science, which was taught by one of the 
 officials in the Jacksonville Public Library (Miss Lorena 
 Webber from 1909 to 1915) . Students used the city library, 
 and enjoyed the opportunity this privilege offered them to 
 roam further away perhaps more than they enjoyed the 
 reading. In 1911, the College secured as its first librarian, 
 Miss Eleanor Thompson, from the city library. "One of the 
 pleasantest changes of the year is the improved condition 
 of the library under Miss Thompson's supervision," the 
 Greetings declared the next year. 189 In 1914, she reported 
 an addition of 800 volumes during the year, largely by gift, 
 which made the total accessions 6,000 volumes. Gifts had 
 come from the Illinois Woman's College Guild, Centenary 
 Sunday School, Mrs. D. W. Hyde, of Pittsfield, who gave 
 eighty-four volumes of Harpers, dating back to the Civil 
 War, and Mrs. Elizabeth DeMotte Carter, donor of nearly 
 a hundred volumes. 190 The Guild, a local organization of 
 alumnae, former students, and friends had given $258 by 
 1915. 191 The College Greetings made the library the bene- 
 ficiary of its surplus and in 1915 gave $100. The Strawn 
 gift of the annex came opportunely in 1916 to provide more 
 room and stacks. In the same year the College secured 
 through the Strawns 1,000 books from the library of Judge 
 Thomas Dent, of Chicago. 192 Also in 1916, Doctor Edmund 
 James made the library the beneficiary of an endowment 
 fund in honor of his father, Colin Dew James. The cata- 
 logue of 1924-25 stated that the library had an endowment 
 of $8,800. The records contain no library reports except 
 that of 1914. According to Doctor Harker's statement in 
 his Eventide Memories, there were 13,000 volumes in 192 5. 193 
 Financial statements gave the value of the library in May 
 1924 as more than $16,000. 194 A library built to such a 
 considerable extent through gifts possessed both real and 
 sentimental values, but it also suffered limitations. There 
 was need for a larger proportion of carefully selected books. 
 The College of Music was an inheritance from the past, 
 
History of MacMurray College 367 
 
 and its prominence as a division of the College, although 
 not its existence, was more in line with the late nineteenth 
 century seminary type of school than with the modern 
 woman's college. It had maintained its patronage as that 
 of the academic departments declined, and in the early 1890s, 
 at least, the school had become largely a preparatory school 
 and a conservatory. Although Doctor Harker's main inter- 
 est was in the academic departments, the College of Music 
 received the full support of the administration. In 1899, 
 Professor E. F. Bullard, head of the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy and superintendent of the Illinois Conservatory 
 of Music, proposed to the Board of Trustees a consolida- 
 tion of the two schools of music as a separate school 
 independent of both College and Academy. The Board 
 rejected his proposition, declaring that it regarded the College 
 of Music a very important part of the institution and did 
 not look with favor upon its abandonment or its incorpora- 
 tion with any other musical institution. 195 
 
 That a College of Music too much out of proportion to 
 the academic departments might become a liability with 
 standardizing agencies and endowment foundations is sug- 
 gested by Mr. Bertram's reply to Doctor Harker's request 
 for money for a music building. But the College of Music 
 as an economic asset could not well be sacrificed. Even in 
 later years, when the academic departments showed a con- 
 siderable deficit, the College of Music produced a satisfactory 
 surplus. In 1912, for example, the profit was more than 
 $2,000; in 1924, more than $4,000. 196 In addition, it pos- 
 sessed considerable advertising value; and, as academic re- 
 quirements were established for students in the College of 
 Music, it brought an increase of revenue from literary tu- 
 ition. 
 
 Whether the change of administration in 1893 contributed 
 to a decline in the enrollment of the College of Music in 
 the middle 1890s one cannot say. Probably not. Professor 
 "Wallace Day, director of the School of Music, and most of 
 the same faculty remained. More likely the economic con- 
 
368 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ditions of those years caused the decline. In 1893-94, 63 
 were enrolled as compared to 114 in the last year of Doctor 
 Short's administration. 197 In 1895-96, 82 were enrolled, but 
 by 1905 there were 185 and in 1910, 256. There was some 
 decline from that figure later; in 1917, the enrollment was 
 174 and in 1925, 269. The College was opened to both men 
 and women, but the number of men enrolled was small. 
 
 In 1903, the music course was reorganized and advanced, 
 and it was announced that, beginning in 1904, all candidates 
 for graduation must have a literary education equivalent to 
 that required for entrance to the Junior Class (actually for 
 graduation from high school). After 1909, to enter the 
 advanced course (last two years of music), one had to have 
 the equivalent of a high school education. The catalogue 
 of 1915 announced the requirements for the Bachelor of 
 Music degree to be offered from that date. With some 
 modifications later, these requirements by 1924-25 were: 
 126 hours — thirty-six in academic subjects, six in physical 
 education, the rest in music. In 1907, a teachers' training 
 course was offered, and in 1912 a normal course in public 
 school music. 
 
 Most of the directors of the College of Music were able 
 men, and they remained long enough to give the College 
 stability in spite of a considerable turnover in the faculty 
 of ten or more instructors. The director needed to be a 
 good businessman and administrator as well as instructor 
 and musician, for competition was still keen in Jacksonville. 
 The new Music Hall (1906) and the new organ (1912) 
 were great assets. Up to 1912 the College had a business 
 arrangement with Centenary Church for the use of its organ. 
 Students in the College of Music had opportunity for special 
 training in the Jacksonville Choral Club (later the Mendels- 
 sohn Club), in the College Glee Club, the orchestra (1901), 
 and the Madrigal Club (1914). 198 Pictures of the Glee Club 
 about 1898 found in the college catalogues present the "shirt- 
 waist girl" of that decade. Members wore mortar boards, 
 and were probably the first group in the College to use them. 
 
History of MacMurray College 369 
 
 After 1912, the College maintained a Lecture and Concert 
 Series. Although the artists as a whole hardly ranked with 
 those who had appeared at the Opera House in the 1870s 
 and 1880s, the course was a valuable addition to musical 
 instruction. Students of the 1890s were able to enjoy the 
 twilight of old Opera House and hear the Seidl Orchestra 
 with Madame Rive-King, Modjeska in Macbeth, a lecture 
 by Booker T. Washington, and a little later (1913) Madame 
 Schumann-Heink; and some went to Springfield to hear 
 Paderewski in 1905 and 1924, and Fritz Kreisler in 191 5. 199 
 In their own concert series, they enjoyed the New York 
 and Minneapolis Symphony Orchestras; Joseph Bonnet on 
 the organ; Maude Powell, violinist; and Maurice Dumesmil, 
 pianist; and many others. 
 
 The College of Music contributed much to Jacksonville, 
 even though the periodic student programs and numerous 
 graduating recitals might try the patience of the faithful. 
 Many of the faculty were able performers who could give 
 pleasure to music lovers. Some of the ambitious programs 
 of the Mendelssohn Club were very fine. For some years it 
 gave a May Festival of Music with guest artists that fur- 
 nished the big event of the musical year for the city. 200 
 In 1914 and 1915, students in the College of Music furnished 
 the chorus for the Greek plays, Electra and Antigone, pre- 
 sented by the Classical Club of Jacksonville, the first on the 
 Illinois College campus, the second on that of the Woman's 
 College. 
 
 In the 1890s the School of Elocution was combined with 
 physical culture under the same instructor, and the once 
 famous Delsarte system was followed. There were few special 
 students in elocution, but class lessons were given to the 
 entire school. For excellence in declamation Judge Whitlock 
 gave prizes for several years. 201 The catalogues of the 1890s 
 are intriguing both in the descriptions of courses in elocution 
 and in the pictures of the "exhibitions." Deportment was 
 one field of instruction included under elocution. "Pupils 
 are taught the various forms of salutation in use in the 
 
370 History of MacMurray College 
 
 drawing room and on the street; how to enter and leave a 
 room; besides many valuable hints on social and professional 
 etiquette," the catalogue announced. 202 Dramatic posing was 
 emphasized and exhibitions given. The participants, dressed 
 in flowing Greek robes, presented "The Battle of the 
 Amazons," "The Death of Virginia," and other pantomimes. 
 Bible reading and hymn reading were a part of the course. 
 Perhaps these Victorian customs held too long. The depart- 
 ment had little standing with the academic faculty. When 
 Mrs. Theodora C. B. Dean arrived in 1904, however, she 
 sought to win respect for this field of instruction, and no 
 one dared disparage it in her presence, tradition says. She 
 changed the title to School of Expression in 1905. In 1908, 
 the Wesley Mathers declamation prizes were offered to 
 sophomores and juniors. The general prize open to both 
 classes provoked a lively competition that reminds one of 
 the oratorical contests of the young men's literary societies 
 of that day. In later years a part of the Wesley Mathers 
 prize fund was given to the winner of the essay contest. 
 In 1912, the course was reorganized and advanced, with 
 provision for four years of work in expression in combina- 
 tion with a course leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree 
 with a diploma in expression. In 1922, the School of Expres- 
 sion became the Department of Public Speaking, in which 
 one might major as in any other field. Private lessons were 
 continued, but no diploma was granted. For some years ora- 
 tory, debating, and parlimentary usage had equal place in the 
 curriculum with interpretation of literature and dramatics. 
 The Dramatic Club (1914) helped to turn the interest 
 toward the latter field. Up to this time the presentation of 
 the major plays of the year had been the privilege of the 
 literary societies. The Dramatic Club plays soon became 
 an outstanding event on the college calendar. Sherwood, 
 Quality Street, Much Ado About Nothing, The Cricket on 
 the Hearth, and Irish plays of Synge and Lady Gregory were 
 some of the selections. In May 1919, Rostand's Romancers 
 was given outdoors. Although the college Artists Series was 
 
History of MacMurray College 371 
 
 rather heavily weighted in favor of the College of Music, 
 there were attractions also for the students of literature and 
 speech. The Devereux Players gave Russian comedies and 
 tragedies and French and Italian plays, Edwin Markham 
 pleased the girls with his poetry, and so did Vachel Lindsay, 
 of Springfield. 
 
 The School of Expression suffered as other departments 
 from physical limitations. For several years in the 1890s it 
 had a place in the Lurton house. Later it was moved to 
 Main. After the Home Economics Department was moved 
 to Harker in 1909, it found a home in Music Hall. The 
 erection of the gymnasium in 1917 provided a much better 
 stage. Financially, the department had always been a liability, 
 and its deficits tended to increase, a natural result of the 
 emphasis on class work in public speaking rather than private 
 lessons in later years. In 1912, there was a deficit of less 
 than fifty dollars; in 1924, the loss was almost $1,400, even 
 though the expense charged to it was less than in 1912. 203 
 
 There was art before Miss Knopf. In the 1870s and 1880s 
 there had been good instructors and sometimes more than 
 fifty enrolled. The enrollment had declined by 1893, and 
 dropped still lower in 1893. Only fourteen studied art in 
 that year. In the later 1890s the number increased. The 
 course consisted of drawing, painting in water color and 
 oil, art history, and china painting. Studies from life were 
 made; a sketch class worked from the "costumed model." 204 
 A studio club met "fortnightly for the purpose of discussing, 
 informally, current art topics, the prominent artists of our 
 own country and time, exhibitions, or the latest fad in 
 paint, or clay." 205 The studio secured the popular art jour- 
 nals, The Amateur and Interchange. Students attended the 
 Jacksonville Art Club exhibits, and some went to see the 
 exhibitions in St. Louis. 206 In 1897, the studio was moved 
 to the Lurton house, which was then renamed the Fine 
 Arts Building. After the 1902 addition it was moved back 
 to Main. 
 
 In 1900, Miss Nellie Knopf came, young, enthusiastic, 
 
37- History of MacMurray College 
 
 just out oi the Chicago Art Institute. In the years that 
 followed for almost half a century (1900-1943) the Art 
 
 Department was Miss Knopf. Changes and advancement soon 
 began. By 1904 a pupil oi hers. Doctor Harker's daughter, 
 Elizabeth, had won a scholarship to the Art Students' League 
 of New York and other students won honors later. In 
 summers. Miss Knopf continued her own studies and sketched 
 and painted on the New England coast and in the mountains 
 of Colorado. Soon the new studio on the top floor of Music 
 Hall was filled with her pictures. The Greetings through 
 the years carried news often of the exhibition of some picture 
 of hers in Chicago, Washington, and other cities. Her classes 
 frequently attended exhibitions in Chicago; and Miss Knopf 
 brought to the College, sometimes as a feature of the Artists 
 Course, exhibitions of note. To one of these, an exhibition 
 of contemporary American artists, the Greetings reported 
 that 2,SS7 visitors had come in the course of two weeks. 207 
 Lorado Taft came to lecture on American sculpture and 
 sculptors. The Illinois State Register declared in 1916 that 
 Miss Knopf, "like many other women of flue training and 
 high ideals, is adding her quota to the training in public 
 taste in the small cities and towns of our great country, 
 whose people have so far not been noted for their apprecia- 
 
 tion of true art."" 
 
 As the years passed. Miss Knopf enlarged her course. Classes 
 in composition, in design, in applied art — leather and metal 
 work — and in commercial art, scientific art (for the stu- 
 dents in scientific courses) , and mural painting appeared. In 
 the latter, girls did scenes from Hiawatha and Maeterlinck's 
 ''Sightless," that showed "very real spiritual insight." Eliza- 
 beth Harker came back to teach applied art for a while. The 
 enrollment in art was fifty-seven in 1907; in 1915, it was 
 seventy-seven. Top floor Music Hall became a busy place. 
 During World War I it was described as "filled with statues, 
 art students, war posters, and paintings. On all sides, smocked 
 and paint-bedaubed, the girls stand, working hard on posters, 
 urging the world to buy Liberty Bonds, War Savings Stamps, 
 
History of MacMurray College 373 
 
 or to give to the Red Cross." 209 A limited number of hours 
 of art in certain courses could be counted as credit for the 
 Bachelor of Arts degree. A diploma might be secured by the 
 completion of a prescribed three-year course. Art, like 
 expression, showed a deficit on the financial statement. 
 
 In addition to the honors won by students in art — scholar- 
 ships to the Art Students' League by Elizabeth Harker and 
 Lillian Ransom — similar ones were achieved in other fields: 
 a fellowship in Juilliard (Christine Cotner, '25) ; a scholar- 
 ship to the Eastman School of Music (Laila Skinner, '21) ; 
 an AAUW fellowship for graduate study in Latin America 
 (Ruth Esparza, '24) ; a scholarship in the International In- 
 stitute of Teachers' College, Columbia University (Sarita 
 Jones, '24) ; and graduate scholarships each year to the Uni- 
 versity of Illinois. In 1924, an honor society, the Cap and 
 Gown Society, was founded. Three juniors of that year were 
 elected to membership: Hazel Moore, Irene Fruit, and 
 Beatrice Hasenstab. 
 
 THE FACULTY OF THREE DECADES 
 
 For this expansion and advancement in the course of 
 study outlined above, as well as for the generally excellent 
 instruction given under it, credit must be given to a faculty 
 of women inadequately paid, heavily burdened with curricu- 
 lar and extra-curricular duties, and insufficiently supplied 
 with libraries, laboratories, and other equipment. Certain 
 general facts about this faculty might be noted first. For 
 several years there was little growth in size over the nine- 
 teenth century average of about fifteen. By 1906, however, 
 the number was twenty-five; in 1916, thirty-seven. There 
 was little further growth; in 1925, the faculty numbered 
 thirty-eight. Of these thirty-eight only seventeen, including 
 the teachers of public speaking, were in the liberal arts 
 faculty as distinguished from the "fine" and "applied" arts; 
 fourteen were in music, one in art; two, home economics; 
 three, physical education, and one, secretarial training. Ac- 
 crediting authorities probably still found the emphasis on the 
 special fields too great in proportion, although more the- 
 
374 History of MacMurray College 
 
 oretical and general cultural courses had been included in 
 those fields. The administrative organization had grown 
 in about the same proportion. In 1894, it consisted of the 
 president and Mrs. Harker (in charge of the college home), 
 the lady principal, and the matron. In 1898, an office assist- 
 ant was added; in 1903, a nurse; in 1909, a registrar, an 
 alumnae field secretary, and a bookkeeper; in 1911, a li- 
 brarian. During the 1920s, a housekeeper and more staff 
 assistants were added. In 1919, a vice president was named, 
 but after a year the office was discontinued. 
 
 The percentage of women on the faculty was larger 
 than it had been even in the nineteenth century. Until 1921, 
 there were no men in the literary faculty; and after that 
 date only one, the head of the Bible Department. The direc- 
 tor of the School of Music and one instructor, sometimes 
 two, in that school were men. The conference visitors 
 recommended in 1919 that the faculty "be strengthened by 
 the election of a few high grade men as heads of depart- 
 ments," and they were outspoken in praise of the reorgani- 
 zation in the Bible Department with a man as head. 210 The 
 matter of salary was perhaps a main reason for choosing 
 women; they were cheaper. As long as the burden of dis- 
 cipline fell entirely on the faculty it was an advantage also 
 to have a considerable number of women to live in the 
 dormitory. 
 
 As to degrees, there were none who held the doctorate 
 until Doctor Wallace Stearns came as head of the Bible 
 Department in 1924, with the exception of Doctor Mary 
 Steele, teacher of biology and physics, 1906-08. An increas- 
 ing number of the faculty had secured the Master's degree, 
 however, and had work beyond it toward the Doctor's 
 degree. With respect to schools attended one discovers some 
 interesting facts. When Doctor Harker came in 1893, he 
 retained Miss Ella Trout, graduate of Ohio Wesleyan. 
 Whether she encouraged the introduction of more graduates 
 from that school, or Miss Olive Austin, who came in 1896, 
 the fact remains that eighteen teachers during this admin- 
 
H : ; Ma cM array College " 5 
 
 istration held degrees from Ohio Wesfeyan (and probably 
 more). No other school set m r.me been : ^. 1 : - 
 sented except the Illinois Woman's College itsel£ About 
 
 thirty mmmae - ere teamen it :,;=zie time immm ::..: 
 mmmmrmm. the iirie: --."it: m lie Ome^e :: Mm:: 
 About 1915, graduates from the University of Mlrkigjn 
 began to come, particuL: h trjfhfn in tk iuTtj I 
 
 Ecier.cey m.;m men ?•' Ai:m Aiezmier ;: me pre:en: 
 facuiry A mi-c -untie: — h; hei: i err re*: ::;::. tmer 
 :m;-u: iii mmmtt nuiy .- me Vr._- entry ;: Chtmm 7m 
 
 :m u: mrt m 
 well represented, with the UinVersity of Illinois in die lead 
 There were fewer from rm~ e:tt : - : r 2 e rmrh: ha "c 
 mm;:-: A: :; me eastern mm ::mm mere ~ ere ::u: 
 ::m iey ::u: :r:rr. m :th :r : ::: earn :r;m "mm; 
 
 M:u:.: H;!yme. m: hryr. "' mm Smm.m: mi ?:::: Lmti- 
 ,::.-: ; -urn her in i.ne emmm:: mi Simen: 
 several in physical education 7e~ came Eram :;mmm 
 :<h:-:m miy ::ur :r £~e ut timrty-— : mm There -=rere 
 ::2;:.::: :r:m me L'nmersmr: :: "• immitm mi mmirmi. 
 from Boston Urmemt mmeh. in: rimi:: mi mm. 
 2 large number of schools between mm Nevcrdiekm, :ne 
 cm mm :: :.n: the imr^memumg mi mm ;: ::.: faculty 
 rece:~e-i men iurher eiuc:::m m n: - :::::: mm: Imt 
 m the Schtoi :: Vu:m timmm semm :m;:::: "ere 
 c:mua:es :: me Ne~ mmlmi Cim-emitim mi many 
 teachers hid smmuei ut Ne~ Y:rk :: i:::m : i:~:>e: 
 cine rr:m me .iner.cn mrmervmiry n: :mer mm: 
 ?crxj in mmm: Severn — ere student: :: Z21 medium 
 mi Maiem: is-eiie 5imrn£eid-Ze;rier, :: :mer fmmu: Cm- 
 :m: teachers. :r :: n m rlr :men :: Sim: L:uii Ann in 
 art. Mii.s Kn:r: s ::. :'.. me Cmmm Anr mmrme. r;n::t: 
 si^en. nr.tr "ticr.eri A_mrum ~r.- "";.";; r -. : " ~ mmie n 
 condui:~e 2 fm:emen: ~.:r. resre-m :: r_rrr_r.me 15 :: — =••• - 
 ng. k is 2 ^:e rne<5 mi: 2 iirre mi :rrr ~ere m:."e: 
 :: me Mii~e5: Tne mim: 527 mi: mm me n:r:neir:ern 
 mr, :^e 5: -mem — r.v.enre-5 :: m em_er mv. —nne r:_ 
 
376 History of MacMurray College 
 
 present to some degree, were entirely subordinate to the 
 midwestern. A few teachers were foreign-born like Doctor 
 Harker himself. A great many more had received training 
 abroad, especially teachers in the College of Music, but also 
 a number in the liberal arts. There were teachers who had 
 attended the Universities of Edinburgh, Heidelberg, Berlin, 
 Gottingen, Grenoble, and the Sorbonne. 
 
 Although there was an "Old Guard" who remained year 
 after year, and others who stayed long enough to make a 
 name, the turnover in the faculty was considerable. Doctor 
 Harker, it is said, sought to retain a few experienced teachers 
 to maintain the reputation of the school. For other positions 
 he secured often young girls just out of college who came 
 for a year or so at a very small salary. This practice was 
 no doubt the best adjustment possible to a limited budget. 
 As to salaries, there are no complete records for the early 
 years. In 1899, the committee on faculty in the Board of 
 Trustees recommended an increase of $30 a year for several 
 teachers and $50 for the lady principal. 211 After considerable 
 discussion and a motion to leave the salaries as they were, 
 the Board voted to grant the increase. From a later discus- 
 sion of salaries in 1901, one discovers that these salaries after 
 the increase ranged from $465 to $500 a year. 212 Since the 
 teachers named were the principal instructors, one can guess 
 that some salaries were much lower. In comparison, at 
 Mount Holyoke, a full professor received $1,000 and home 
 in 1900 and an assistant professor, $800; and that college, 
 recognizing its salary scale as low, soon advanced it. 213 In 
 spite of the advance in the cost of living during World 
 War I, the average salary of a teacher in Illinois Woman's 
 College in 1919 was $1,088; the highest was $1,375; the 
 lowest, $600. At that time recent graduates of the College 
 were earning $2,500 as high school teachers. 214 In 1920, a 
 salary scale was recommended (and apparently adopted) 
 which established $1,600 as the maximum for heads of 
 departments, $1,400 as the minimum; $1,400 as the maxi- 
 mum for assistant professors; $1,100 for instructors. 215 These 
 
History of MacMurray College 377 
 
 salaries did not include living. If the teacher lived in the 
 College, she paid $350 for the nine months. The College 
 recognized these salaries as too low. They were advanced 
 $100 a year at least twice before the end of this adminis- 
 tration. 216 
 
 Upon the advancement to a four-year college course in 
 1907, the title lady principal was changed to dean. With 
 his customary appreciation of dramatic suspense, Doctor 
 Harker, after announcing in chapel the fact that the insti- 
 tution was a full-fledged college, followed this announce- 
 ment with the statement that Miss Weaver's position had 
 been abolished, that a college, of course, could not retain a 
 "lady principal." In the shocked silence of students and fac- 
 ulty, he introduced Miss Weaver as the new dean. In 1909, 
 the Board of Trustees approved the titles professor and associ- 
 ate professor and classified the existing faculty accordingly. 
 These titles probably had little significance at the time; they 
 did not appear in the catalogues, and salaries were not scaled 
 according to rank until 1920. After that date the titles 
 professor, assistant professor, and instructor appear, but not 
 associate professor. In 1917, the first definition of the duties 
 of the dean, the director of the College of Music, the 
 registrar, and the faculty appear in the records of the 
 Board. 217 The office of dean combined the functions of a 
 dean of instruction and a dean of women; that of registrar, 
 which included that of assistant to the president (the office 
 was defined in terms of Mr. Metcalf ) , combined the offices 
 of registrar, business manager, supervisor of field service, 
 and secretary to the faculty and the Board of Trustees. The 
 faculty members were expected to perform faithfully all 
 duties curricular and extra-curricular, to be active members 
 of some evangelical church, to engage in community serv- 
 ice, and to keep growing in teaching ability, scholarship, 
 and Christian character. In lighter vein, one member of 
 the faculty, recalling the daily meetings of the famous 
 "Radiator Club" of resident teachers in the front hall and 
 their occasional sigh for a holiday, declared that Doctor 
 
378 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Harker could not see why able-bodied women needed holi- 
 days. It must have been difficult to maintain the pace of 
 one who so seldom played. 
 
 There are no faculty minutes earlier than 1909; no doubt 
 there were meetings. Doctor Harker stated in his Even- 
 tide Memories that Miss Weaver and other members of the 
 faculty helped him to prepare the first course of study for 
 the catalogue. In most questions of curricular changes, the 
 decisions were probably left largely to the professor in charge 
 or to the faculty. Doctor Harker, it is! said, was less con- 
 cerned with training girls for the higher reaches of scholar- 
 ship than for training them for active service. His special 
 interests in the curriculum— Bible, pedagogy, and home 
 economics — have been mentioned above. 
 
 The faculty minutes were often quite brief, disappoint- 
 ingly so. At one meeting there was no business, and Doc- 
 tor Harker read articles from a magazine. Incidentally, a 
 faculty "literary society" existed for a while. Miss Knopf 
 read a paper on "What is Art?" and Miss Tanner one on 
 "The Short Story." Apparently, this organization soon 
 died. Occasionally the faculty retired to the Social Room 
 to take tea. A custom of the resident faculty for some 
 years was the Monday morning hike with picnic lunch to 
 Nichols Park or elsewhere — the flight of the chaperones, 
 one might call it, and they must have relished this brief es- 
 cape. Sometimes the members discussed faculty parties 
 for the students or for the purpose of raising money for 
 endowment. But more serious questions were brought into 
 faculty meetings at times. The faculty as a whole admired 
 Doctor Harker's devotion to the school and his remark- 
 able achievements in its behalf; doubtless they did not always 
 agree with his decisions. But the battles of wits were not 
 recorded in the minutes, even if they took place in the meet- 
 ings. As to subjects introduced and sometimes discussed, 
 a few observations might be interesting and suggestive of 
 the life and problems of the day. At a meeting in October 
 1909, Doctor Harker spoke of the need that lights be out 
 
History of MacMurray College 379 
 
 at ten o'clock and stated that this applied to the faculty, 
 as well as to the students. For some years no question 
 received as much attention as the problem of the literary 
 societies. Later student government and class privileges 
 pushed the literary societies into the background. Scho- 
 lastic standards received much attention. At one meeting 
 in 1910 the faculty were asked to notice carefully the visits 
 of town girls to students' rooms, which shows that the 
 "sheltered life" notions of the Victorian age had not disap- 
 peared. The table manners of the girls were discussed, spe- 
 cific cases of discipline, the improvement of the library, 
 the use of the gymnasium, and church attendance. The 
 faculty members were frequently reminded to attend eve- 
 ning prayers and to uphold the religious traditions of the 
 school. Doctor Harker urged contributions to endowment 
 and informed the faculty that professors in other colleges 
 contributed from $500 to $1,000, and he insisted on the 
 urgent necessity of economy in all departments. Frequently 
 he was absent, and the dean took charge. 
 
 One would like to know more and record more about 
 the life of these teachers of three decades, even of those 
 who remained only a year or so, for they became a part of 
 the human stream that is the College. As the Greetings 
 took note of their activities while they were on the fac- 
 ulty, the Alumnae News and Record has often followed 
 them into other lands and other duties, whether they were 
 alumnae or not. Among them the large group of alumnae, 
 some of whom were also daughters of alumnae, helped to 
 preserve the traditions and the "personality" of the school. 
 Of the faculty as a whole a student of 1910 declared in the 
 October Greetings: "When we returned to school this 
 fall we were glad to be welcomed by so many familiar fac- 
 ulty members, for it is they who give the real home atmos- 
 phere to the College. Most of them have been growing 
 still wiser these months that we have been forgetting the 
 little we struggled to learn." 
 
 Doctor Harker himself was designated in the catalogue 
 
380 History of MacMurray College 
 
 as teacher of mental and moral philosophy, pedagogy, and 
 Bible and taught those subjects at least a part of the time. 
 Other members of the faculty often taught in more than 
 one field, and, as long as the Academy was continued, in 
 both College and Academy. In the summer of 1893 all the 
 literary faculty except Miss Ella Trout, teacher of Latin 
 and French, resigned. Miss Martha Weaver, a graduate of 
 McKendree, became the new lady principal and teacher 
 of literature and history. Miss Weaver worked tirelessly 
 to live up to her conception of the varied privileges and 
 responsibilities of a lady principal and, it seems, succeeded 
 remarkably well. Her Thanksgiving toasts, published in 
 the Greetings, show preparation and a relish for such occa- 
 sions. Prospective teachers she passed upon as to social fit- 
 ness, as well as upon the manners and morals of young ladies. 
 She left in 1897 to become dean in Upper Iowa University, 
 but returned and was lady principal and then dean from 
 1903 to 1913. From 1897 to 1901 Miss Maude Gilchrist, 
 graduate of Wellesley and student in Harvard and in 
 Gottingen, was lady principal. 218 Excellently qualified by 
 education and experience for duties of social direction, she 
 preferred, nevertheless, the more scholarly pursuits and soon 
 left for a professorship in Michigan. Miss Olive Austin, 
 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan, had come to the College in 1898 
 as teacher of mathematics and rhetoric, and in 1900 she 
 took mental and moral science. She served as lady principal 
 until Miss Weaver returned in 1903. Then Miss Austin 
 left to go to Pomona College in California, but returned 
 as dean of women in 1918 to remain until 1931. During 
 the later years of Doctor Harker's administration, and es- 
 pecially during his year's leave of absence, she shared with 
 Mr. Metcalf the responsibilities of the college administration. 
 Capable, conscientious, friendly, she endeared herself to 
 hundreds of girls, who in later years perhaps remembered 
 with nostalgia even her Wednesday evening talks on con- 
 duct and manners. From 1913 to 1917, Miss Amy Mor- 
 ris Mothershead had served as dean. Miss Mothershead was 
 
History of MacMurray College 381 
 
 a graduate of Wellesley and had studied in Heidelberg, Chi- 
 cago, and Columbia. From all that has been said of her, 
 she had the authentic virtues and graces that are associ- 
 ated with the genteel tradition at its best. As professor 
 of philosophy, she reorganized the work in that depart- 
 ment and maintained a high standard of scholarship. Dur- 
 ing the difficult years of World War I and the Educational 
 Forward Movement, she wore herself out in the interest of 
 the College and died during the Christmas recess of 1917. 
 To the College her sister donated Miss Mothershead's li- 
 brary of several hundred books and in her memory a school 
 friend has established a scholarship. 
 
 Teachers who served on the faculty for many years, 
 built their departments, and established the scholastic stan- 
 dards of the twentieth century college — Miss Mary Johns- 
 ton, Miss Mary Anderson, Miss Ruby Neville, and Miss 
 Grace Cowgill — have been introduced into this history in 
 connection with the evolution of the course of study. 
 These teachers were also perennial favorites as class offi- 
 cers and gave many hours to the extra-curricular life 
 of the students. The columns of the Greetings record the 
 teas and parties they provided for the diversion of countless 
 college girls. Along with them Miss Nellie Knopf, with 
 her studio parties, should be remembered; and Miss Jennie 
 Anderson, although her years at the College were fewer. 
 Another teacher not so widely known, but well remembered 
 by those who were fortunate enough to know her, was Miss 
 Laura Tanner, who came first in 1898 to teach English 
 and Bible. Miss Tanner, daughter of President E. A. Tan- 
 ner of Illinois College, had attended the Illinois Female Col- 
 lege under Doctor Short. Then she went on to Wellesley. 
 To Miriam Akers, great-granddaughter of Peter, Miss Tan- 
 ner was a favorite teacher; and to Louise Gates Eddy, grand- 
 daughter of Doctor DeMotte. 219 
 
 Around the turn of the century came teachers from the 
 East whom some may still remember after fifty years. Miss 
 Carrie Elizabeth Line, of Western College, taught science 
 
1^2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and did spade work in the building of a laborarory. She went 
 
 east in summers to study at Harvard or with Princeton pro- 
 fessors ar \Tood J s Hole and broughr back enthusiasm and 
 ideas for a laborarory and zoological specimens as well. Miss 
 Vila Breene. oi Springrield, Massachusetts, seems to have 
 created more interest in historical research. Girls recorded 
 her dearest wish as '''unlimited stores of hitherto unknown 
 historical documents.'" Always interested in what took 
 place in other colleges, they declared that she ct told us about 
 her college. Smith — the things we most want to know, the 
 real life oi rhe student, their organizations, their playtimes, 
 and many orher things dear to the heart oi a schoolgirl." 
 Then there was Miss Amanda Kidder (expression), who 
 gave new meaning to Browning and much pleasure through 
 her presentation of the popular favorites of that decade, 
 such as The Passing of the Third Floor Back and The Set- 
 i an: in the House; Miss Esther Ludwig (Latin and Greek), 
 who married soon, went out to Japan, and sent back letters 
 that kept active the missionary interest (along with the 
 letters of Lois Coultas, Laura Shaw, and Harriet \Thitmer 
 from China' ; Miss Alida Alexander (biology), who helped 
 to start graduates of Michigan University in this direction 
 and built up the natural sciences along with Laura McLaugh- 
 lin i chemistry : Frances \Takely, who helped Miss Johns- 
 ton in the Latin Department; Fidelia Abbott, still a member 
 of the English faculty: Janette Powell, who taught English 
 and expression and who has contributed much to the mak- 
 ing of this history; and Miss Beatrice Teague, who came 
 near the end of that era to take over the teaching of French. 
 En the College of Music and in the fine arts, Doctor Har- 
 ker retained the excellent faculty that Doctor Short left, in- 
 cluding the director, Professor Wallace Day, who died in 
 1 S 9 S : Miss Phoebe Kreider, an alumna and author of the 
 ■1 college song "By Stately Elms Surrounded"; Miss 
 Mary Dickson: and in art. Miss Gertrude Stiles, who left in 
 1898. Among the elocution teachers of these years was Miss 
 Katherine Cole, granddaughter of James Dickens, who had 
 
History of MacMurray College 383 
 
 had had some part in the founding of the College, and daugh- 
 ter of an early alumna. She taught ably the old system of 
 Delsarte, soon to be replaced by a new method of expres- 
 sion. In 1897, Professor Otto Soldan came to teach violin 
 and was at once recognized as "the greatest artist on the 
 violin that Jacksonville has had for many a year." 220 Years 
 later the following comment in the Greetings showed how 
 far out into the world was the reach of the Woman's Col- 
 lege through her former teachers. This notice read: 
 
 A simple and dignified letter of appeal read to us in chapel the other 
 morning is a cause for thought. When one who was a member of our 
 college faculty is in need of the fundamentals of life — bread, meat, 
 shoes — with an income of 5,000 marks from his estate worth seven 
 loaves of bread because of the colossal wreck of his country, the trouble 
 of Europe seems near. Something that the eye cannot see goes with the 
 more substantial message from Jacksonville, Illinois, to Professor Otto 
 Soldan. 221 
 
 Among other foreign teachers in later years who gave the 
 interest of the new and strange along with capable instruc- 
 tion was Mrs. Florence Pierron Hartman, teacher of voice 
 from 1909 to 1920, and director of the Glee Club. Many 
 stories center about Mrs. Hartman, her early concert career, 
 and her friends among the great artists, including Fritz 
 Kreisler. In the 1920s came Miss Beatrice Horsburgh, 
 English-born teacher of violin, and Miss Olga Sapio, piano. 
 Miss Sapio, born in the United States, had been educated 
 in Europe, and had traveled the world with her mother, 
 an opera singer. These two soon became inseparable com- 
 panions. The Greetings made much of their interesting 
 background, and all recognized them as capable musicians. 
 The Alumnae News and Record continued to furnish news 
 of these interesting personalities. Incidentally, the few 
 teachers from the South were objects of curious interest, as 
 if they were from another land; their accent was noted, 
 and their impressions of the Prairie State recorded. One of 
 these, Miss Ethel Black, of Virginia, found Jacksonville less 
 hurried than she expected, rich in historical interest, and 
 pleasantly self-satisfied. 222 
 
384 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Professor Frank Stead, graduate of the New England 
 Conservatory, student later with teachers in Chicago and 
 Paris, became the director of the College of Music in 1898 
 and for a dozen years contributed to the development of it. 
 Among those who assisted him were his talented wife, Mabel 
 Riggs Stead; Mrs. Helen Brown Read, daughter of Profes- 
 sor G. W. Brown, head of Brown's Business College and 
 teacher of bookkeeping at the Female College under Doc- 
 tors DeMotte and Short, and Mr. W. P. Phillips, grandson 
 of the noted head of the School for the Blind, Doctor F. W. 
 Phillips, and an alumnus of the College of Music. After 
 Miss Kreider left, he took over the direction of the early Glee 
 Club out of which grew the Madrigal Club. In 1908, came 
 Miss Lula Hay, of Jacksonville, educated in Bavaria, New 
 York, and Chicago, who remained as a capable and beloved 
 teacher of piano for more than three decades; and, a little 
 earlier, Mrs. Mathilda Colean, pupil of E. R. Kroeger, of St. 
 Louis, and Mrs. Lucy Dimmitt Kolp, an alumna of the Col- 
 lege of Music. In 1911, the Swarthouts, Max and Don, 
 cousins of Gladys and educated in Chicago and Leipzig, took 
 over the direction of the College of Music. The former was 
 handsome as a matinee idol, it is said, and the latter 
 looked like a poet. They created quite a breeze, and were 
 successful directors until they left in 1914. Professor Henry 
 V. Stearns, graduate of the American Conservatory of Chi- 
 cago and student for three years in Berlin, was director until 
 he was succeeded by Professor Henry Ward Pearson in 1921. 
 Professor Stearns took special interest in the development of 
 the orchestra; and one of his assistants, Miss Rena Lazelle 
 did beautiful work with the Madrigal Club. 223 He fell heir 
 to the somewhat lean years of the war, when enrollment in 
 special subjects declined, and may have lacked something in 
 business ability, but maintained well the standards of instruc- 
 tion. Miss Louise Miller, piano and voice, and Miss Clara 
 Moore, violin, were two of a considerable number of alum- 
 nae in the College of Music in the later years of this admin- 
 istration. 
 
JAMES E. MacMURRAY 
 
History of MacMurray College 385 
 
 One has to stop somewhere in this review of the long roll 
 of the faculty, and one should perhaps offer apologies for 
 its omissions and limitations. Although not a member of 
 the faculty, one other member of the college family should 
 be included with this group — Mr. A. C. Metcalf, business 
 manager, registrar, secretary of the Board of Trustees and 
 of the faculty, assistant to the president (and son-in-law) — 
 his duties were varied and manifold. He was the students' 
 faithful friend from arrival (or before) to departure in 
 matters of travel, tickets, schedules, checks, and in the physi- 
 cal arrangements and properties for all their activities. 
 
 THE STUDENT BODY: ENROLLMENT, RATES, SESSIONS, 
 AND HOLIDAYS 
 
 When Doctor Harker accepted the presidency in 1893, 
 the enrollment in the literary departments of the College 
 was fast disappearing. To build this enrollment was neces- 
 sarily his first problem. Through the alumnae, the Illinois 
 Conference and neighboring conferences, from which he 
 solicited students and official visitors, through his public 
 school contacts and his Whipple Academy boys, and by 
 persistent appeals through personal visits, he sought stu- 
 dents. Numbers he insisted would bring numbers. Most 
 of the students were below the level of the existing collegi- 
 ate classes. In 1896, out of a total enrollment of 144 in the 
 literary department, 62 were collegiate; in 1904, 91 out of 
 204 were above the preparatory level as the school was then 
 organized. With the establishment of the four-year col- 
 lege course in 1907, the college enrollment declined for sev- 
 eral years. In 1906, it was 65; in 1909, 42; in 1910, 64; 
 in 1911, 117. It reached its peak during this administra- 
 tion in the earlier 1920s — 290 in 1923-24, but in the fol- 
 lowing year it dropped to 259. 
 
 Although the geographical distribution of students was 
 broadened considerably, a large percentage still came from 
 Illinois. Most of the rest were from surrounding midwest- 
 ern states. On the whole the school was regional rather 
 than national in patronage. Enough students came from 
 
386 History of MacMurray College 
 
 other sections and even from foreign countries, however, to 
 add interest and variety. In 1924, for example, out of 259, 
 forty-eight came from sixteen other states. Indiana led all 
 other states usually by a considerable margin. In 1914, there 
 were twenty- four from Indiana. Missouri came next as a 
 rule, but the number from Missouri was much less, usually 
 no more than eight or ten. The only other southern state 
 that had any considerable representation was Kentucky. In 
 view of the early trek through Kentucky, one might discover 
 some family ties at the basis of this patronage if all the facts 
 were known. Arkansas sent several students in certain years 
 (four in 1924). Some of the Larimores, who had moved 
 west from Kentucky in the early days, had settled in Searcy, 
 Arkansas, and they patronized the school. Luretta Best, a 
 student in the Woman's College in 1894, went down to 
 teach music in Galloway College in Searcy. It would be 
 interesting to know the history of the patronage from the 
 various states. That from states other than Indiana was small 
 and rather variable. Most of the midwestern states had a 
 few representatives each year. One might have expected 
 more from Ohio in view of the large number of Ohio Wes- 
 leyan graduates on the faculty. Usually there were stu- 
 dents, one or two, from three or four far western states 
 each year. Few girls came from the East. 
 
 For a decade or more state clubs flourished; or rather the 
 Indiana Club flourished and Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota 
 Clubs appeared briefly. In 1913, the Iowa Club had nine 
 members; the Missouri, thirteen; the Minnesota, four, and 
 the Indiana, thirty. The latter challenged the world to a 
 basketball game. 224 In 1914, these clubs, except the Minne- 
 sota, had pages in the Illiwoco, and the Indiana Club con- 
 tinued to appear there. This organization, which had Miss 
 Mary Johnston as an active member, celebrated James Whit- 
 comb Riley's birthday on October 7 with special tables in the 
 dining room, Indiana decorations and songs, and sometimes 
 with a chapel program on Riley. In 1918, his picture ap- 
 peared in the Illiwoco. During the year there were picnics 
 
History of MacMurray College 387 
 
 at Nichols Park or a waffle breakfast at the Peacock. Some- 
 times the Club held a reunion in Indiana during the sum- 
 
 mer. 2 ' 
 
 One hears nothing of sectional divisions in the student 
 body, such as existed in ante bellum days, although there may 
 have been such. Perhaps the 1918 llliwoco comment that 
 there were varying opinions of "The Birth of a Nation" 
 suggests sectional differences. The Civil War had made 
 Illinois national, and it is this spirit, along with a growing 
 interest in Illinois history and politics, that one observes in 
 student expressions and their topics for papers. Neverthe- 
 less, an Egyptian Club (Little Egypt), founded in 1914, 
 perhaps reflected some division still among Illinois folk. 22( 
 Comments in the Greetings on the few southern teachers 
 showed merely a curious outsider's interest in southern ac- 
 cent or ways. Graduates who went south to teach wrote 
 articles for the Greetings in which they showed the same 
 curiosity about the Southerners. Incidentally, some of these 
 articles give excellent descriptions of some southern towns 
 (Searcy, Arkansas; Morristown, Tennessee), of travel, edu- 
 cation (Tougaloo University), homes, etc., as they existed 
 a half century ago. 227 Laura Heimlich, 9 99, found southern 
 girls more frank! "They have a naive way of treating all 
 sorts of dangerous subjects that is truly refreshing." 228 Other 
 articles and sometimes short stories on Old and New Mexico, 
 California, the Indians, perhaps had some connection with 
 students from the Far West. 
 
 In the nature of a geographical group were the day stu- 
 dents, or town girls, who eventually formed a club, perhaps 
 in defense of their interests. Day students in boarding school 
 are generally stepdaughters. In the Woman's College for 
 years they were suspected of carrying notes from the Hill 
 or elsewhere to the boarding students, and the faculty were 
 instructed to watch their visits. The woes of the town girl 
 were expressed from time to time in the Greetings or llli- 
 woco — her long cold trips down West State Street to an 
 eight o'clock class, her late trips home after hours in the 
 
388 History of MacMurray College 
 
 library "doing parallel" or papers. At the College she had 
 small accommodation — only a cloakroom for her hat and 
 coat. In 1897, the day students acknowledged with grati- 
 tude the donation of a "looking glass" to their cloakroom. 
 Through the efforts of the College Council a town girls' 
 room was granted in 1914, which they had the "privilege" 
 of furnishing. Here they soon entertained students and 
 faculty at a "cocoa drinking." With the movement to end 
 the Academy, there came a decided drop in enrollment from 
 Jacksonville, which Doctor Harker sought to correct. The 
 day students co-operated by entertaining the high school 
 seniors. 
 
 Whether or not sectional controversies disturbed the stu- 
 dent body, party battles did, and these included the fac- 
 ulty, too. Although the Southerners were no longer out- 
 spoken, the Democrats were, and the controversial possibil- 
 ities were increased by the division of Republicans into Taft 
 and "Teddy" Roosevelt followers. The Greetings of No- 
 vember 1908 described the "racket" in the halls on the 
 night of the election as "the like of which had not been 
 heard since that night last fall when we were told that 
 Jacksonville had gone dry." Describing the summer activ- 
 ities of the faculty in 1912, the October Greetings con- 
 cluded: "Politically our faculty is a house divided against 
 itself. Miss Jennie Anderson was an enthusiastic Bull Moose 
 supporter at the Progressive convention in Chicago. She 
 did not outdo Miss Tanner, however, who attended the Re- 
 publican convention and later cooled off in Michigan." 
 Miss Johnston's strong Democratic proclivities were adver- 
 tised. The question of woman suffrage had become an issue 
 in national politics. A straw vote, taken after much debating 
 and discussion in the College and a breakfast of the "mili- 
 tant suffragettes" at the Peacock Inn, resulted in a major- 
 ity of twenty-nine in favor of the woman's vote, the 
 Greetings of April 1912 announced. One girl recalled that 
 she went with some faculty members to the local option 
 election in 1907, in which the women of the city first voted. 
 
History of MacMurray College 389 
 
 "At the hedge we were greeted by a group of eager photog- 
 raphers, who wished to have a picture of the first I.W.C. 
 voters." In 1916, the straw vote on the presidential elec- 
 tion was 134 to 120 in favor of Hughes." 9 Harding and Cox 
 Clubs in 1920 had table parties, stunts, and snake dances. 
 
 Foreign students began to appear — from China, Mexico, 
 Colombia, Chile, and France. There were two students from 
 France in 1918-19, and two others in the following year. 
 Outstanding among the foreign students was Sarita Jones, 
 of Santiago, Chile, who came upon the recommendation of 
 Doctor W. F. Oldham, Methodist bishop of South America. 
 Sarita stayed four years and received a degree (1924). She 
 taught a course in Spanish conversation. The presence of 
 these Latin-Americans gave zest no doubt to the study of 
 Spanish recently introduced. Sarita was very active in stu- 
 dent organizations, especially in the religious life, was a 
 member of the executive council of student government, 
 and in her senior year was chosen May Queen. Very loyal 
 to her Alma Mater, she still keeps in touch after more than 
 twenty years back home in Chile. Ruth Esparza, from 
 Guadalajara, Mexico, received a degree also in 1924 and was 
 awarded a fellowship by the American Association of Uni- 
 versity Women. 
 
 The founders' families and other early patrons were repre- 
 sented in the student body — Akers, Mathers, Rutledge, 
 Capps, Keplinger, Blackburn, Yates, Morrison, Kinman, Gil- 
 ham, Willard, Palmer, McElroy, Layton, and others. Gov- 
 ernor and Mrs. Yates, both of whom had attended the school, 
 sent their daughters, Katherine and Dorothy. A number of 
 the students went to Springfield to his inauguration in 1900; 
 and in 1901, he visited the College, talked in chapel, and 
 "all the young ladies had the pleasure of meeting the Gov- 
 ernor." 230 Another item in the Greetings recorded the visit 
 of William Jennings Bryan to see his cousin, Ann Mar- 
 shall. 231 Ever loyal and generous, Mrs. Rachel Harris Phil- 
 lippi, '71, sent her two daughters. Mrs. Annie Hobbs Wood- 
 cock wrote, "Since daughter Grace is living in the old Col- 
 
390 History of MacMurray College 
 
 lege halls, I feel that I am in a measure re-living my school- 
 girl days." 232 In 1915, thirty- two descendants or relatives 
 of alumnae were enrolled. 235 One of these, Mae Black- 
 burn, had had twenty-two relatives to attend. Although 
 there was talk of a Kinship Club, it does not seem to have 
 been formed. A former student who was a member of the 
 college family for several years was Mrs. Caroline A. Wilson, 
 housekeeper, a granddaughter of Peter Cartwright and 
 daughter of W. D. R. Trotter. A page of the 1917 llliwoco 
 was dedicated to her memory. "We listen for her merry 
 laugh and her word of cheer," the Greetings declared. 
 
 For some years after 1893, the rates remained unchanged — 
 $275 a year for board and literary tuition. Ministers' daugh- 
 ters did not pay tuition, but were charged a twenty-dollar 
 incidental fee. In 1904, the rates were raised five dollars a 
 year; in 1905 to $300; 1908, $325; 1911, $340; 1916, $400; 
 1918, $450; 1919, $500; 1920, $525. The increase of $125 
 between 1916 and 1920 was overdue. Rates had risen much 
 higher in eastern colleges. Mount Holyoke, a rather con- 
 servative school with respect to charges, had raised rates to 
 $750 in 1920 and to $900 by 1926. 234 The College might 
 expect to lose on the tuition charges, as it was compelled 
 to advance teachers' salaries. As early as 1912, the liberal 
 arts department showed a loss of $9,303. The boarding 
 department in the same year, however, produced a profit 
 of $1 5,748. 235 By 1920, the boarding department was show- 
 ing a deficit of several thousand dollars a year. 236 
 
 Until 1916 the only recess granted was two weeks at 
 Christmas. Seniors continued to enjoy a vacation in late 
 spring to get ready for commencement. There was an oc- 
 casional special holiday when an endowment campaign was 
 ended or a library day declared, and a half-holiday on 
 February 22 to get ready for the "ball." The literary so- 
 cieties, weathervane of student opinion in the day when 
 there was no college press, debated the question of a spring 
 recess in the early 1900s. 23T After 1912 a short Easter re- 
 cess was granted. 
 
History of MacMurray College 391 
 
 The period immediately after the Christmas recess was 
 the Great Depression anticipatory of semester examinations. 
 Perhaps by the next centennial these inquisitions will be 
 banished. The dean gave January talks to build the morale, 
 the faculty planned "examination teas" to relieve the strain, 
 but the weary student still lamented that "for a few days 
 college is a very real 'Black Hole'." 238 But examinations 
 over, the beautiful Illinois spring was just around the corner. 
 
 THE COLLEGE AND WORLD WAR I 
 
 Five wars the United States has fought since the Illinois 
 Conference Female Academy was founded in 1846, includ- 
 ing the Mexican War then in progress. The difficulties the 
 College faced in the Civil War have been related. The brief 
 Spanish-American War had slight effect on the routine of 
 college life. A few Illinois College boys enlisted, and there 
 were patriotic demonstrations. The Greetings, then an 
 alumnae and administration publication, recorded the fact 
 that Mrs. E. C. Lambert made an address of welcome at the 
 Opera House to Company I of the Fifth Illinois Volunteer 
 Infantry. 239 Again the minutes of the literary societies sup- 
 ply information not discovered in other college records. 
 A year before the war began they were discussing the Cuban 
 issue. 240 If decisions in the several debates are an indication 
 of opinion, the students were anti-war and anti-imperial- 
 ist. 241 Once war was declared, however, the attitude was 
 very loyal. At an open meeting of the Belles Lettres So- 
 ciety with the Illinois College boys, a patriotic address on 
 Uncle Sam was given and a speech on Sampson. Comments 
 on the latter implied that it might apply to the Biblical char- 
 acter, the campus character, or the commander of the West 
 Indian Squadron. 242 They discussed the question of an isth- 
 mian canal, closely related to the issues of this war, and, 
 broadening out, the conflict between the Greeks and the 
 Turks, between the European powers and China, and be- 
 tween Russia and Japan; and finally they questioned the 
 merits of war as a method of settling international disputes. 
 In view of the general sympathy with Japan in the war with 
 
392 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Russia, it is interesting that a debate, "Resolved, That the 
 United States should have sympathized with Russia instead 
 of Japan," was decided for the affirmative. 243 And in view 
 of present-day discussions, it is of interest that the Phi Nus 
 debated the question that a large standing army was a men- 
 ace to the Republic and decided for the affirmative. 244 
 
 The first World War affected the entire program of 
 higher education in the United States in its material, finan- 
 cial, educational, and social aspects. By opening many new 
 fields to women it had profound results for women's educa- 
 tion. It is impossible to discuss here the full scope and 
 significance of these changes. Certain concrete results they 
 had for the Illinois Woman's College may be noted, how- 
 ever, and the temporary effect of the participation of the 
 United States in the war on the life and thought of the 
 school. The effect of the war on financial and employment 
 policies of the administration have been discussed above and 
 the difficulties of operation in the face of rising costs of labor 
 and supplies pointed out; also the indirect effect through 
 the fact that the war hastened advancements in American 
 education which the College found it difficult to meet. 
 
 With respect to the issues of the war up to the entrance 
 of the United States, one discovers little expression of opin- 
 ion or evidence of discussion. During the first decade of the 
 century the literary societies had continued to give much 
 attention to national and international politics. The early 
 Russian Revolution (1905), the relations of France and 
 Germany, of England and Germany, increasing armaments 
 in Europe, the Near Eastern problem (Miss Neville's talk 
 on it was pronounced "most enjoyable"), and others were 
 discussed. Before World War I began, however, these soci- 
 eties were evolving into clubs more social than literary. It 
 is true the Belles Lettres devoted one program in the fall 
 of 1914 to the causes and the course of the war. In the 
 meantime, the Greetings had become a student publication, 
 and from its monthly issues one gets an occasional refer- 
 ence to the war — a review of Usher's Pan-Germanism and 
 
History of MacMurray College 393 
 
 an Atlantic article on the causes of the war. In 1914, one 
 of the essays entered in competition for the Wesley Mathers 
 prize considered "The Historical Antecedents of the War 
 in Europe" and another "The Reasonableness of the Demand 
 for Universal Peace." 245 The essay that won the prize in 
 1913 had as a subject "The United States in the Council of 
 Nations." In 1915, H. W. Laidler gave two lectures at the 
 College on socialism, emphasizing the efforts for peace of 
 the Second International at the meeting of its bureau in 
 Brussels in the summer of 1914. There appears to have 
 been no editorial or other discussion of the war in the 
 Greetings, however, until 1916. In October of that year 
 the editor sought to provoke interest and action. She wrote: 
 Just before vacation began [in June] several of us became interested 
 in war relief and regretted we had not become interested in time to do 
 something. ... It has been well and frequently said that "There is a 
 tremendous struggle going on across the water," but how many of us 
 ever read a week's summary of the news in the war zone in the cur- 
 rent magazines in our library. Let's not be provincial and out of touch 
 with everything but our college life; let's keep open to new ideas out- 
 side the classroom as well as inside. 246 
 
 Other issues pointed to what other colleges were doing in 
 war relief, and protested: "If we were nearer the war 
 zone, without a doubt a few trips to Ehnie's would not bal- 
 ance the life of a starving French baby or a convalescent 
 soldier." 247 
 
 Of course, these college girls were not alone in their rela- 
 tive isolation from the course of the war. It was a fault 
 common to the American people. Perhaps on the whole, 
 both in the classroom and out, there was as much discussion 
 of public affairs as in colleges generally and more than in 
 some; for it does appear that throughout the history of the 
 College, students had shown intelligent interest in the politi- 
 cal and social problems of their day. Some have attributed 
 this interest to association and competition with Illinois 
 College boys. To what extent it was due to that cause, the 
 writer would not venture to say. It would be natural if 
 the location of the College in the interior should have de- 
 layed the response to international issues. And perhaps the 
 
394 History of MacMurray College 
 
 concentration in putting over the final drive in the Educa- 
 tional Forward Movement may have diverted attention from 
 the war. 
 
 With the entrance of the United States into the war in 
 April 1917, both students and faculty contributed gener- 
 ously to the various demands and accepted cheerfully the 
 limitations that the war brought. A Red Cross room was 
 set up at the College, bandages were rolled and packed, and 
 comfort kits were prepared as Christmas gifts for soldiers. 
 Some girls made scrapbooks, "hoping that they would 
 cheer the lonely hours of men at the front," and they prob- 
 ably did. 248 Girls knitted, and "not on bright colored 
 yarn." Students and faculty subscribed more than $700 
 to the Red Cross, $274 to the War Camp Recreation Fund, 
 and $2,124 to the United War Work Program. 249 The 
 Young Women's Christian Association raised $1,068 for 
 the Student Friendship War Fund. 250 There were self- 
 denying meals, wheatless days (and incidentally bathless and 
 heatless days, for there were coal and water shortages), 
 parties, and even commencement, without flowers. When 
 the maids at the College left, the girls took their places until 
 they could be replaced. (Even Woodson left in 1918 to go 
 to Chicago to work, but he soon returned to live "where 
 there are educated folks.") 21 The Home Economics Depart- 
 ment studied conservation of food, prepared wheatless 
 menus, and featured remade dresses in its spring style 
 show. 252 The public speaking classes trained four-minute 
 speakers to serve in the various war drives, and the art 
 classes made posters. The French Club adopted a war or- 
 phan, and the College itself gave free tuition and board 
 to the four French students who came in 1918 and 1919. 25S 
 Miss Knopf sent some of her paintings to make the rounds 
 of the soldiers' and sailors' camps. 
 
 The war gave a new emphasis to physical education and 
 sports. The editor of the Greetings, commenting on the 
 earlier lack of interest, insisted: "Perhaps we have needed 
 to see sports as a means to an end. Chicago University has 
 
History of MacMurray College 395 
 
 drawn up a pledge for national service, which pledges people 
 to make themselves physically fit. Here is another way 
 besides knitting to be patriotic. With our new gymnasium 
 and far increased opportunity for physical development we 
 can take part in all sports as a means to national service. 
 Vassar and Wellesley have mobilized and pledged them- 
 selves to this campaign. Let's not be behind." 254 It would 
 be difficult to say how much the new interest owed to the 
 spirit of patriotism, how much to the provision of the new 
 gymnasium. Even the faculty contributed to the sports 
 program by a faculty game under the direction of Mr. 
 Metcalf and Professor Stearns. Of it a Greetings reporter 
 wrote that "while peculiar and unscientific from the stand- 
 point of a basketball expert," it was successful as an enter- 
 tainment and a source of money for a banner to be awarded 
 to class winners in gymnasium exhibitions. 255 At the spring 
 demonstration of 1918 "a group of young Amazons ex- 
 hibited their military ability in a brilliant display of compli- 
 cated marching tactics, which might have made Napoleon 
 sit up and take notice." 256 
 
 Changes in the curriculum, effected by the war, have 
 been listed above: the introduction of Spanish, secretarial 
 studies, and certain new courses in history, and the omis- 
 sion of German through lack of demand. The French De- 
 partment grew in popularity; the French Club sang the 
 "Marseillaise" with vigor and took up again correspond- 
 ence with French students. Professor Stearns gave an organ 
 recital of "Allied music." The Wesley Mathers prize essay 
 in 1918 was "The War and Modern Surgical Science," 
 written by Esther Hetherlin. The various literary soci- 
 eties gave attention to war themes, the review of books on 
 the war, and the study of war poetry. The May Day 
 pageant of 1918 featured costumes, dances, and songs of 
 the Allied nations. Two hundred fifty girls with colored 
 umbrellas were grouped to form the American flag. War 
 was less grim then than in this present, but it had brought 
 a new seriousness. A History Club for the study of cur- 
 
396 History of MacMurray College 
 
 rent problems was formed soon after the war, and juniors 
 and sophomores debated the question of the League of Na- 
 tions. A miniature Disarmament Conference was staged, 
 and a telegram sent to Hughes, chairman of the Confer- 
 ence in Washington. Doctor E. A. Steiner came to lecture 
 on "The Mind of Europe." Greetings articles and editorials 
 called attention to the racial conflicts in the United States, 
 to the intolerance of the white race toward the Negroes, 
 and to the responsibility of this nation for the success of the 
 League and for the peace of the world. 257 The form of the 
 world, it declared, will be determined by us. "As America 
 goes, so goes the world. America is yours." 258 All of which 
 problems and responsibilities are still ours, even though we 
 may lack something of their confidence in the power of 
 the United States to control the future. 
 
 In the meantime, graduates of the College had entered 
 various war or war-related activities. Incidentally, this war 
 recalled to mind the services of the early graduates in the 
 Civil War, especially that of Louisa Vance, who had served 
 several years with Mother Bickerdyke. When delegates from 
 the College went to a Student Volunteer Convention in 
 Galesburg in 1918, they decorated Mother Bickerdyke 's 
 grave, but perhaps held Louisa in mind. 259 Issues of the 
 Greetings and the Alumnae News record the war service 
 of alumnae and former students. Perhaps it was less in 
 proportion than that of alumnae of some eastern schools 
 nearer the war, but it was considerable. Alumnae entered 
 canteen work, YWCA work in war industries, nurses' train- 
 ing, the training school at Vassar for war work, the United 
 War Work Campaign, work with the War Industries Board 
 of the Council of National Defense, and other activities 
 closely related to the war. The Armistice came before some 
 had passed the period of training. The most notable contri- 
 butions came in postwar relief and rehabilitation work. 
 Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth, '76, went with her husband 
 to take charge of the Methodist Memorial Mission in the 
 
History of MacMurray College 397 
 
 war-devastated area at Chateau-Thierry, where for nearly 
 two decades they did a notable work of social and educational 
 reconstruction. Mary Wadsworth and Vera Wardner, '21, 
 assisted them for a time. Cornelia Young, former student, 
 worked with the American Friends Service Committee, 
 affiliated with the American Relief Administration in South- 
 ern Russia. Fjeril Hess, '15, was a YWCA secretary in charge 
 of a girls' camp in Czechoslovakia. She paid tribute to 
 Miss CowgilPs instruction in the "maligned tongue," Ger- 
 man, upon which she had to rely when her knowledge of 
 the Czech language ran out, and to Miss Neville's class in 
 architecture, which gave her appreciation for the cathedral 
 in Prague. 260 Her work with the War Industries Board fin- 
 ished and a later employment with the National Industrial 
 Conference Board in Boston, Margaret Goldsmith went on 
 to Germany for work with the trade division of the Ameri- 
 can embassy. Incidentally, she has published several useful 
 books on Germany, including a life of Frederick the Great. 
 In World War II she worked with the British Broadcasting 
 Service. Bessie Morgan, '07, did interesting work both in the 
 war and in postwar rehabilitation. As a physiotherapist 
 she went with the Army to France and remained with it for 
 four years after the war. In 1922, she began work with the 
 Veterans Bureau in Indianapolis. In this city, after graduate 
 study in Europe, she established a private practice, and 
 came to be known as the "dean of physiotherapy." In 
 college she was a music major! The work of alumnae and 
 former teachers in the Far East was in a sense related to 
 World War I. They fell heir to upheavals there which 
 attended and followed it and which are yet unquieted. 
 Among these women were Esther Ludwig Martin, Harriet 
 Whitmer, Lois Coultas, '13, and Laura Shaw. The work of 
 some of these women here and in Europe continued until 
 World War II resulted from the failure to end the first and 
 demanded another crop of women from the College. 
 
398 History of MacMurray College 
 
 HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE 
 TWENTIETH CENTURY COLLEGE 
 
 According to all the records that have been discovered, 
 the Illinois Female College had been fortunate throughout 
 its history with respect to health. There had been a case 
 of smallpox in the 'sixties and of typhoid later, but an 
 epidemic such as threatened the existence of some boarding 
 schools had been avoided. And, in spite of heating and water 
 problems, the general health apparently had been good. 
 Regular habits, plenty of sleep, wholesome food, and free- 
 dom from the strains of modern society helped to bring 
 this result in the absence of any positive constructive pro- 
 gram of health education or physical development or any 
 tests or measurements. The curriculum had included courses 
 in physiology, and there had been lectures by the lady prin- 
 cipals or other teachers and by local physicians on health. 
 Catalogues had insisted that students come provided with 
 rubber shoes, umbrellas, and waterproof coats and for a 
 time recommended flannels. Unlike many colleges which 
 discouraged or prohibited boxes from home, nothing was 
 said about this delight of the schoolgirl. There was no 
 college nurse and no infirmary. In the later years of the 
 nineteenth century, when most of the girls were local, the 
 problem of care for the sick was simplified. 
 
 Along with a general change in standards of comfort and 
 convenience in the twentieth century came new ideas about 
 sanitation, foods, and exercise. Colleges had to meet these 
 new standards. Public opinion had been aroused and in- 
 formed by crusades against the methods of the meat-packing 
 industries, the handling of dairy products, and the use of 
 contaminated water supply. Pure food laws and other sani- 
 tary regulations followed. The individualistic methods of 
 the past had to give way to social control. These require- 
 ments added to the physical and financial problems of the 
 administration. Doctor Harker's immediate concern about 
 the water supply has been mentioned, but problems of heat 
 and water continued to trouble the administration. New 
 
History of MacMurray College 399 
 
 paper and paint and the gradual provision of more bath- 
 rooms made the dormitories more healthful, as well as more 
 comfortable. For some years little change was made with 
 respect to a health program or for care of the sick. Doctor 
 Harker's reports to the Board contain little information as 
 to health problems; but he made frequent mention of 
 the general good health and freedom from accidents and 
 attributed these blessings to "the good hand of our God." 
 Catalogues continued to advertise the general good health 
 resulting from regular habits and wholesome food, and began 
 to insist that parents not send boxes other than fruit. 
 "Cakes, pastry, etc., are a prolific source of sickness," they 
 declared. Fudge-making over gas jets, cocoa -drinking, and 
 chafing dish parties, however, seem not to have been 
 restricted. 
 
 A "sick room" was first mentioned in the catalogue of 
 1902, although one may have been provided earlier. Some 
 of the "pin and tack" money was spent to buy furnishings 
 for this room. 261 The catalogue of 1902 stated that the 
 lady principal and physical director looked after the health 
 of the students. In the fall of 1903 a resident nurse was 
 employed. Until Miss Helen Miner came in 1912, these 
 nurses changed frequently. She evolved into an "institution" 
 along with her little pills and her sick room and was the 
 subject of frequent comment, sometimes in verse, in the 
 Greetings, She had a cheerful but firm manner of dispelling 
 schoolgirl ills. Her initials, signed to orders, were interpreted 
 "Her Majesty." With the director of the Home Economics 
 Department, Miss Lucy Gillett, of Pratt Institute, she revised 
 the plans for the course in practical nursing, which had been 
 offered in that department for some years previously, 
 although the prerequisites for it had never been established. 2 ^ 
 The "sick room," with two beds, was for some years on 
 the top floor of Main; later the infirmary was moved to 
 first floor Main. In the later years of this administration 
 there was considerable discussion of the problem of isolation 
 of contagious cases, for which no satisfactory solution was 
 
400 History of MacMurray College 
 
 found. 268 But, fortunately, "by the good hand of our God" 
 perhaps, serious epidemics were few. There was a difficult 
 time during the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. The school 
 was closed early in December 1918 for this cause. 
 
 From the beginning of this administration the catalogue 
 stated that a physical examination was made of each student 
 upon entrance and a prescription of exercises given to fit the 
 individual need. How thoroughgoing these examinations 
 were or what use was made of the results one could not 
 say, but there was probably progressive improvement in 
 thoroughness and use. As to theoretical instruction in health 
 and physical education, nothing was done until 1906 aside 
 from the course in physiology, a preparatory subject. In 
 1906, a college course in physiology was offered in the Science 
 Department. In 1911, a Department of Physical Science was 
 outlined with courses in gymnastic pedagogy, anatomy, and 
 in the theory and systems of physical training. The Depart- 
 ment of Physical Training (practical courses) was a separate 
 division. In 1913, these two departments were combined. 
 In the following year the catalogue announced that twenty 
 semester hours of physical training were required for the 
 Bachelor's degree, a requirement listed until 1919, when the 
 six-hour requirement was announced. In the meantime, 
 some additions had been made to the curriculum, among 
 them courses in "rhythm," or folk dancing. No doubt the 
 introduction of such courses had to be managed skillfully 
 in view of the prejudice in church circles against dancing. 
 There was little change in the theoretical courses until 1920, 
 when normal training in physical education was expanded 
 beyond the course in gymnastic pedagogy and a major in 
 physical education with a certificate was offered. 
 
 As to the practical side, gymnastics and sports, the evo- 
 lution toward a larger program was slow and uncertain 
 until the first World War. One criticism of the nineteenth 
 century boarding schools for young ladies had been based 
 on their neglect of physical development. Dio Lewis had 
 tried to correct this lack with his system of gymnastics. 
 
History of MacMurray College 401 
 
 Doctor Adams had made a gesture at least toward the in- 
 troduction of this famous system into the Illinois Female 
 College, but his experiment was short-lived. Calisthenics 
 of a milder sort was advertised in the 1870s and the popular 
 Delsartian system of the late Victorian age was taught in 
 the later years of Doctor Short's administration, with pub- 
 lic demonstrations of proficiency in wand-waving and In- 
 dian club exercises. Hence, the statement in the catalogue 
 of 1893-94 that physical culture was being introduced for 
 the first time is incorrect. It is safe to say that neither under 
 Doctor Short nor for some years under Doctor Harker was 
 there any enthusiasm for the program of gymnastics or 
 sports. The day of the sportswoman had not quite arrived. 
 Conventions in dress did not encourage vigorous exercise. 
 Girls might play a mild game of tennis or of genteel cro- 
 quet. They preferred the swings and the hammocks (!) 
 listed with the athletic equipment. And their tennis rackets 
 were used for wall decorations. Physical culture was still 
 a sort of handmaiden of elocution, and was taught accord- 
 ing to the system of Delsarte (Americanized version) , even 
 though Doctor Harker introduced a special teacher. Some 
 young ladies might be interested in its catalogue guarantee 
 to "reduce corpulency." Pictures in the catalogues of the 
 later 1890s show the gymnasium with some equipment in 
 rings and bars and girls in bloomers ("divided skirts") and 
 high-necked, long-sleeved shirtwaists. Bloomers, which 
 came discreetly below the knees, were never worn outside 
 the gymnasium. 
 
 The gymnasium shown in these pictures was the "new 
 gymnasium" just then provided in the East Annex of Main. 
 It was an improvement over the old one, but far from 
 commodious. Few spectators could be admitted to ex- 
 hibitions, and even then they became mixed with the 
 players. Thus, one of the main incentives to excellence for 
 these young ladies not interested in play for its own sake 
 was removed. The playing grounds for outdoor sports on 
 the back campus were somewhat better, but far from ideal. 
 
402 History of MacMurray College 
 
 It required the work of some years to get an improved 
 tennis court. 264 "Walking in line" continued to be a main 
 form of exercise. The Greetings calendar in 1912 recorded 
 under the date of September 26: "This morning a time- 
 honored custom of the Illinois Woman's College was be- 
 gun — the short walk after breakfast." And there were longer 
 walks in the afternoons "all in the same direction." In- 
 cidentally, the young ladies continued to go "in procession" 
 to church and concerts for some years. A "philosophical 
 old gentleman," seeing such a line on its way to hear Emil 
 Liebling play, observed: "What a perfect stream of human- 
 ity migrating they know not whither and most of them 
 women, too." 2(5 Although he doubtless had profounder 
 thoughts of lack of spiritual direction in mind, his observa- 
 tion might have been applied to lack of direction or ade- 
 quate motivation in sports. 
 
 Toward the end of the decade, however, more attention 
 was given to outdoor games, especially to basketball. 
 Whether the literary societies led or followed the admin- 
 istration and faculty in the discussion of more sports, at any 
 rate their programs contained many speeches and debates 
 on athletics on such subjects as: The Place of the Athletic 
 Association in College, The Question of Intercollegiate 
 Games, Music Hall Versus Gymnasium (1906), That It Is 
 Just As Well for Girls To Wear Bloomers As Any Other 
 Dress, and If I Were Physical Director. 266 Since the texts 
 of these discussions are not extant, one cannot tell to what 
 degree they expressed a serious interest in athletics. The be- 
 ginnings of competitive sports in Illinois College shortly be- 
 fore the end of the century no doubt turned the interest 
 of the young ladies in that direction. As their mothers had 
 taken up oratory in imitation of the boys on the Hill, they 
 would take up sports, which were tending to replace ora- 
 tory as a collegiate interest. Moreover, they were informed 
 on developments in the eastern colleges for women along 
 this line. In the fall of 1897, the Greetings announced that 
 basketball had become a favorite sport. Organized sports, 
 
History of MacMurray College 403 
 
 largely a product of urbanization, came much sooner in 
 the East. Even as late as 1922, girls spoke with respect 
 of the "real New Jersey methods" in the tennis -playing 
 of a new student. In June 1900, the Greetings reported the 
 first field day held at the College, "which was attended by a 
 large group from the Hill and the city." After the games 
 (tennis and basketball) "the contesting teams with their class 
 officers went to Vickery's and Merrigan's." 
 
 In 1902, the catalogue contained a new division, Physi- 
 cal Training and Health, entirely distinct from elocution 
 and physical culture. It announced that the physical direc- 
 tor would be the "guardian of the health," she would make 
 a chart of each student giving "a statement of the actual 
 numerical size of the parts of the individual," etc. Four 
 courses in gymnastics were offered, including corrective 
 gymnastics. During this year six class basketball teams had 
 appeared: the Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, Midgets, 
 and Brownies. Some years earlier three loyal ladies had do- 
 nated a banner of heliotrope satin with dumbbells on it 
 as an award to encourage inter-class contests. 267 In 1901, 
 an Athletic Association was formed. 268 This organization 
 had a continuous existence, although interest in it declined 
 lamentably at times. From a limited organization it changed 
 to an inclusive one in 1905, and all members paid a fee of 
 fifty cents to buy apparatus. 269 Although membership in 
 it returned to a voluntary basis later, before the end of this 
 administration it again included all students. With the 
 YWCA it helped to unite the student body before the Stu- 
 dent Government Association appeared. 
 
 The agitation of the gymnasium question encouraged 
 sports and the Athletic Association for several years. The 
 new interest owed much, too, to Miss Eleanor Holmwood, 
 the physical director from 1903-06, who had received train- 
 ing under Sargent at the Harvard Summer School. Inci- 
 dentally, the College secured a number of good physical di- 
 rectors, trained in Chicago University, Columbia, Iowa 
 State Teachers College, the Harvard Summer School, and 
 
404 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in later years several from Sargent, but these women only 
 stayed a year or so. The story of Miss Holmwood's battle 
 for the gymnasium has been related. She was followed by 
 another good director, Miss Julia Piersol (1906-1909), who 
 instituted the May Day Festival, described below. She pre- 
 vented an immediate slump of interest in sports that might 
 have followed the failure to build the gymnasium in 1907. 
 In her gymnastics she sought general development, not 
 stunts, the Greetings declared, and used both the Swedish 
 and German systems. One well-remembered incident of 
 the athletic history of 1908 was the presence of "Billy" 
 Sunday, popular evangelist, at the field day games, which 
 included a baseball game. To quote the Greetings: "The 
 crowning feature of the latter was the umpire, Mr. Sunday. 
 . . . The game was a hotly contested one between the An- 
 cients and Moderns, the Moderns being victorious. Mr. Sun- 
 day's remarks, 'The girls played like everything, and one 
 side beat the other', was philosophical, as well as concilia- 
 tory." 270 
 
 From 1909 to 1912, sports seem to have reached a low 
 ebb. A Greetings editorial in May 1913 declared: "In many 
 schools athletics is a big interest; that is, athletics aside from 
 gymnastics. Here at Illinois Woman's College the students 
 have been almost indifferent to this form of activity. In- 
 different, however, as we may have seemed on the surface, 
 the lack of sufficient outlet for the right kind of enthusi- 
 asm has been felt and deplored." 271 During this period the 
 question of the status and privileges of the old literary so- 
 cieties was being disputed. There was especial need for a 
 unifying factor. The Greetings article went on to state: 
 "This spring marks what we feel confident is the auspicious 
 beginning of a vital interest in this important part of the 
 college spirit and loyalty. The Athletic Association, for the 
 past three years a purely nominal organization, has, under 
 its efficient president, Feril [Fjeril] Hess, become aroused 
 to its possibilities." The faculty encouraged the new inter- 
 est by giving a cup as a tennis tournament trophy. New 
 
History of MacMurray College 405 
 
 sports were added: hiking, archery, and, the next year, track. 
 Hiking Clubs, including a Faculty Club, totaled many hun- 
 dreds of miles in cross-country hikes. 272 In the following fall 
 a new constitution was adopted by the Athletic Associa- 
 tion. This constitution, as amended in 1914, provided for 
 direction of sports by a staff to consist of the executive 
 committee (athletic director, one other faculty member, 
 and four officers elected by the Association) and represen- 
 tatives from each class. 273 Although Fjeril Hess had aroused 
 some new interest in sports to which the efficient work of 
 Miss Louise Robinson, physical director from 1914 to 1916, 
 contributed, the physical handicaps — lack of both gym- 
 nasium and adequate playing grounds — were still discourag- 
 ing factors. The new gymnasium helped to remove the 
 physical obstacles. World War I added a new incentive, 
 but it took several years to get a new and larger program 
 into operation. 
 
 In June 1916, the first athletic banquet was held in the 
 old gymnasium as a farewell to it (but it had to be used 
 all the next year). The new gymnasium was dedicated in 
 May 1917 and was ready for use in the fall. Other new 
 sports appeared: swimming and bowling in the gymnasium, 
 hockey and volleyball outdoors. Golf was played on the 
 course at Nichols Park. Hockey and swimming began to 
 outdo tennis and basketball as major interests. In 1917, 
 it was announced that all girls were to be members of the 
 Athletic Association. In the same year the point system 
 was adopted for rating and the awarding of honors. In 
 this year the Thanksgiving hockey game became the main 
 "highlight in the realm of sport." The new gymnasium 
 provided more space for public demonstrations. The swim- 
 ming meet became a big spring event, and in 1925 it was 
 made the central feature of the program for Dad's Day, in- 
 stituted in that year. The Athletic Association picnic at 
 Nichols Park was one of the "mixers" at the opening in 
 September. 
 
 The crowning spectacle of the year in the Department 
 
406 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of Physical Education, however, was the May Day pageant. 
 A bit of its history and its evolution might be recorded. 
 The first mention of a May Day party and Maypole (not 
 pageant) was in 1899. The Senior Preparatory Class crowned 
 their class officer, Miss Carrie Elizabeth Line, queen of May 
 and wound their class colors around the pole. 274 There were 
 other such parties, and pictures of them appear in the cat- 
 alogues. On May 16, 1906, there was a somewhat more 
 elaborate performance, with "stunts" by the various classes, 
 among which the "fine pantomimes of Lady Clare, Robin 
 Hood and his men, and Lochinvar by the seniors received 
 many compliments." Miss Weaver, the lady principal, was 
 crowned queen! The various classes planted trees, shrubs, 
 and vines; the seniors wound the Maypole; and, to cap it 
 all, "an elegant luncheon was served on the lawn." 2 In 
 1908, the first May Festival with a student queen, (Helen 
 Colean) , was presented. The Greetings described the day: 
 .... Nothing prettier ever happened. We found out for the first time 
 the real beauties of our campus and the genuine delight of a party out 
 under our trees; and in the elaborate drill with about two hundred girls 
 in line, in the crowning of the May Queen under a lovely iris canopy 
 with green streamers and attended by a bevy of flower girls and pretty 
 maids-in-waiting, in the winding of the flower-crowned May Pole, we 
 came into our own. 
 
 The prettiest of paper hats in class colors had been made or a-making 
 for weeks. This touch of color and mode of class distinction was par- 
 ticularly enjoyed. Eschewing hats, the specials carried pretty little 
 purple parasols, and each class had been responsible for some special 
 item in the day's scheme. The most hotly contested election in the 
 history of the school had called to her rightful throne and scepter the 
 prettiest of May Queens, Miss Colean, and the crowning was a notable 
 feature of this best and probably most typical of college days. Miss 
 Piersol was the particular genius of the day's festivities and well deserved 
 all the hearty words of congratulation that were showered upon her. 276 
 
 In the years that followed, the May Day pageant con- 
 tinued to be observed with various themes (often English 
 in character, sometimes Grecian, and Allied Nations in 
 1918) or with no particular theme. What it may have 
 lacked in artistry it made up in color and enthusiasm. It 
 drew crowds of spectators. In 1913, the Congress of Moth- 
 ers were guests. 2 " May Day became the occasion to honor 
 
History of MacMurray College 407 
 
 mothers before Dad's Day was instituted for the fathers. 
 In 1916, the seventieth anniversary, "A Pageant of the 
 Growth of the School" was presented. Like Milton's Satan, 
 the Fire Dance captured the spectacle. The most English 
 of the pageants was perhaps that of 1921, "The Enchanted 
 Thorn," in which a motley throng on the London High- 
 way, including lords and ladies, shepherds and milkmaids, 
 and — surprising touch of realism — a real cow and a drove 
 of geese made up the procession. One point of discussion 
 in these years was the method of choosing the queen. Pop- 
 ular vote must have proved too exciting. For several years 
 there existed a rather complicated method of popular nom- 
 inations followed by choice by lot (in one year a few min- 
 utes before coronation) . 278 But the pageant remained the 
 high point in the year's activities in physical education. 
 
 In conclusion, one might say that most of the Illinois 
 Woman's College girls had come to enjoy sports, although 
 they still might object to compulsory "gym." The pattern 
 of the Victorian lady with its restraints, physical and social, 
 had passed. 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE COLLEGE: ITS ORGANIZATION 
 AND EXPRESSION 
 
 Founded by the Illinois Conference of the Methodist 
 Church, the College had, nevertheless, always advertised in 
 its catalogue and followed in practice a non-sectarian policy. 
 Young women of other denominations attended from the 
 beginning. Although required to attend church, they might 
 go to whatever church they selected. Methodist ministers 
 had been prominent as visitors, official and unofficial, and 
 as chapel speakers, however, and the school was commonly 
 called the Methodist College. Ministers of other denomina- 
 tions were not excluded, although how frequently they were 
 invited to speak in earlier times one could not say. W. H. 
 Milburn, who left the Methodist Church for a long period, 
 was always a welcome speaker. In the later years of Doctor 
 Short's administration, when the Conference had become 
 cool towards its "favorite child," the administration under- 
 
408 History of Mac Murray College 
 
 lined its non-sectarian policy. Doctor Short's own liberal- 
 ism toward other denominations (his friendship with his 
 neighbor, the Catholic priest, has been frequently men- 
 tioned) accounts in part for the emphasis on non-sectarian- 
 ism, but the appeal to a wider patronage, especially to a 
 wider local patronage, was probably also a cause. Among 
 the local intelligentsia who delivered annual series of lec- 
 tures at the College was W. W. Harsha, an outstanding 
 Presbyterian pastor of the city, and Presbyterians were 
 prominent among the other lecturers chosen. 279 In 1888, 
 the statement on religious policy in the catalogue was re- 
 vised to emphasize its non-sectarian character. To quote 
 (italics as found in the catalogue) : 
 
 While the College is under the general supervision of a great church, 
 nevertheless the broadest liberality and tolerance are constantly exer- 
 cised. Nothing offensively sectarian is taught or allowed. We have 
 had for years past students from Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Con- 
 gregational, Christian, Protestant, Episcopal, Hebrew, and Roman Catho- 
 lic, and other families. We understand that their parents send them 
 to us primarily for intellectual education with the expectation and de- 
 sire that their peculiar religious beliefs will not be purposely meddled 
 with. In this just desire we keep faith with our patrons. . . . 280 
 
 Under the new administration the general policy as to 
 sectarianism did not change, but the religious emphasis be- 
 came more pronounced. Evangelization was stressed; re- 
 ligion was not to be subordinate to intellectual education 
 as stated in 1888. The catalogue now read: 
 
 The College was established and is controlled by the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church, but there is nothing sectarian in its management. It is 
 our constant prayer and our earnest desire that every young lady in at- 
 tendance may feel the importance of a religious life, and may enter upon 
 one. . . . We aim to make every student familiar with the Word of God, 
 its books, its history, its literature, its doctrines. 281 
 In 1912, the word doctrines was replaced by teachings. 
 Doctor Harker's zeal for evangelization was real but not 
 obtrusive. Students not responsive to emotional appeals 
 found the insistence of some in the college family objec- 
 tionable and embarrassing, however, especially in seasons of 
 revival or during the Day (or Week) of Prayer. "Billy" 
 Sunday, who met a rather cold reception from Illinois Col- 
 
History of MacMurray College 409 
 
 lege, had "heartfelt commendation" for the religious life 
 in the Woman's College. 282 
 
 The religious life within the College found its center in 
 the daily morning chapel, which all students attended. Here 
 Doctor Harker gave short inspirational talks and read, or 
 more often quoted, the Bible. He insisted that students 
 memorize designated chapters and verses, the repetition of 
 which formed a prominent part of the chapel service. Later 
 Brown Books specified the chapters to be thus used. Some 
 students, perhaps many, wearied of these exercises. One who 
 came, perhaps a dozen years, said she never learned to say 
 the Apostles' Creed alone. The literary societies debated the 
 question of compulsory chapel and "resolved that chapel 
 seats be cushioned." 283 Nevertheless, after they left, many 
 students looked back to the chapel services as their most 
 precious memory of college life. Doctor Harker's faith 
 was simple and sincere. He loved the Bible and read it with 
 devotion. On the hills of Athens one student recalled with 
 particular delight a favorite passage of his: "There is no 
 speech nor language where thy voice is not heard." 284 
 Equally well-remembered with his prayers and his quota- 
 tions of the Bible were his chapel talks and his baccalau- 
 reate sermons, admonitions to positive, useful Christian liv- 
 ing. Chapel services were occasionally varied. Senior es- 
 says were read for a season; members of the faculty spoke 
 (Miss Austin, Miss Neville, Miss Cowgill, and others) and 
 missionaries and other visitors. In early days, Mr. S. W. 
 Nichols came frequently to tell of his travels in and outside 
 the country, and even W. H. Milburn, who lingered on for 
 a year or so. But the student body as a whole preferred 
 Doctor Harker and welcomed him home from his "trips." 
 
 For the boarding students and the faculty there were 
 also evening prayers. The "busyness" of collegiate life 
 finally restricted these to one evening a week. Church at- 
 tendance was required of all students until 1919. Under 
 student government regulations they were allowed a certain 
 number of cuts; then, in 1919, the Brown Book stated merely 
 
410 History of MacMurray College 
 
 that students were on their honor to go. Apparently there 
 was no check on attendance and no penalty for non-attend- 
 ance. According to the report of the dean to the president 
 in 1925, the large majority of the students attended Sun- 
 day school or church regularly. 285 There are no statistics 
 of church affiliation until 1920. In that year, of the 246 
 students enrolled, there were 131 Methodists, 23 Presby- 
 terians, 13 Christians, 9 Congregationalists, 6 Baptists, 4 
 Lutherans, 2 Catholics, and the rest were from a number 
 of other groups. 286 
 
 The most notable development in the religious life of the 
 College during this period was the active participation of 
 the students in their own voluntary organization, the Young 
 Women's Christian Association. It was the first organiza- 
 tion of those still existing that sought to include all stu- 
 dents. Organized in 1899, it antedated the Athletic Asso- 
 ciation by two years. Together with the Athletic Associa- 
 tion, it formed the background and furnished the training 
 for student government. Aside from its religious func- 
 tions it sought to unify the students as a social group. 
 Through participation in state and regional, and finally, 
 national, conferences, it provided the first intercollegiate 
 contacts; and through its World Fellowship Service it 
 broadened the horizon of the student to include the world. 
 Although some have found the predecessor of the Associa- 
 tion in the Epworth League organized early in this admin- 
 istration, its spiritual connections seem closer to the old 
 missionary society, which had existed since the 1870s. From 
 its beginning the Association emphasized the missionary 
 phase of its work by aid in both the home and foreign fields. 
 Both its general program and its special missionary interest 
 found examples and encouragement in the life and work of 
 faculty and alumnae. Miss Weaver was a member of the 
 state board and very active in the work; Miss Cole left the 
 College in 1904 to go into YWCA work; Susan Reb- 
 ham, Fjeril Hess, and other graduates did outstanding work 
 in the YWCA, and to it Louise Gates Eddy has devoted her 
 
History of MacMurray College 411 
 
 life. Letters to the Greetings from these former associates 
 gave zest to the work of the Association. 
 
 To incite to home and foreign mission work there was a 
 goodly heritage of alumnae work and a distinguished com- 
 pany. There was Kate Blackburn, '83, who gave her life to 
 the education of Bulgarian girls and was signally honored 
 by the community which she served by a memorial build- 
 ing, dedicated in 1922 by Doctor Julian Wadsworth, and 
 by the Kate Blackburn Fund for the education of poor 
 girls. 287 She had built a great school. Asked to write an 
 essay or poem for the Greetings, she replied that she had no 
 talent or time for literary efforts, but the relation of her 
 experiences in war, earthquake, and plague made a heroic 
 story. Mary Melton, '91, went out to Japan soon after her 
 graduation. Her "letters from Japan" filled a large space 
 in the early Greetings. She wrote of how vague her no- 
 tions had been of this country and its great cities — Tokyo, 
 Yokohama, or Nagasaki. In the latter she worked and in 
 1916 died and was buried, a city since made fateful by 
 atomic bomb action. The first exchange publication re- 
 ceived in the Greetings office, The Kwassui Quarterly, came 
 from her school, which bore the romantic name "The 
 Fountain of Living Waters." The YWCA helped to edu- 
 cate a child in this school. 288 Both Miss Melton and Miss 
 Blackburn visited the Woman's College and spoke in chapel. 
 In 1903, these two, with Mary Ferreira, '90, who had gone 
 to teach in Hawaii, where she did a notable work for crip- 
 pled children, and Bertha Rush, teacher in the Philippines, 
 met at a missionary conference in historic Ebenezer. 281 
 Their exchange of experiences must have been interesting. 
 To Hawaii, Delia Mae Larimore, '23, went later to teach. In 
 the Far East, Mary Melton met Emma Mitchell, '82, who 
 had done a heroic work as teacher in Northern China dur- 
 ing the Boxer revolt. 290 In later years, other teachers and 
 alumnae went to the Far East — Harriet Whitmer to China, 
 where she was entangled in the civil struggle and war with 
 
412 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Japan; Esther Ludwig Martin to Japan, where she was 
 joined later by Lois Coultas and Laura Shaw. In Cuba, there 
 was Amanda Harnsberger Hanbac, '74, and Ellen Burke in 
 the Congo. And there were others on the Mexican border, 
 among the Indians, and elsewhere. On the home field were 
 Emma Graves Perkins, '75, who did distinguished work 
 among the oriental peoples in California; Sophia Naylor 
 Grubb, '52, with immigrants in New York; Mary Thomp- 
 son, '03, in settlement work in Chicago; Edith Weber, '04, 
 in Tougaloo University, Mississippi, a Methodist mission 
 school for Negroes; Myra Kirkpatrick, '19, in a mission 
 school in the mountains of Tennessee, and a host of others. 291 
 Among the objects to which the YWCA contributed 
 regularly were the education of a child in Miss Melton's 
 school in Japan, the salary of a secretary in China and some- 
 times Christmas boxes to China, the education of a south- 
 ern mountain child, and aid to the sister college in Madras, 
 India. 292 The interest in India had begun through Mrs. 
 R. G. Hobbs, sister-in-law of Hattie and Annie, who had 
 gone to that country, or perhaps even earlier through the 
 distinguished brother of Mrs. Julia Palmer Stevens (and of 
 General Palmer) , Doctor Henry Palmer, who was a medi- 
 cal missionary in India. The YWCA adopted an orphan 
 from the famine-stricken district and named her Martha 
 Weaver. 293 Upon her death shortly afterwards they adopted 
 another. For some years they dressed several hundred dolls, 
 gave an elaborate Doll Show and Dolls' Tea Party at the 
 College, and then sent them to the Christopher House Settle- 
 ment in Chicago. 294 They also dressed dolls for one of Miss 
 Annie Hinrichsen's "institutions," the Illinois Charitable In- 
 firmary for Eye and Ear Trouble. 295 The work of the YWCA 
 during World War I has been related above. Its international 
 interests, especially in students of other lands, were empha- 
 sized through its World Fellowship Service and it contrib- 
 uted to the Student Friendship Fund. 2 H; In the first year of 
 its existence the YWCA sent delegates to the state confer- 
 ence of students. Regularly delegates went to the annual 
 
History of MacMurray College 413 
 
 summer conferences at Winona or Lake Geneva. In 1914, 
 a Student Volunteer Band was formed, and delegates were 
 sent to these conferences. In 1924, the Woman's College 
 YWCA sent the one woman delegate allotted to Illinois to 
 the Fifth National Council of Student Volunteers in Yon- 
 kers, New York. 297 Incidentally, three student representa- 
 tives from the College attended the Conference of North- 
 ern and Southern Methodist Students held in Louisville, 
 Kentucky, in 1924, in the interest of bringing together the 
 northern and southern branches of the Methodist Church. 298 
 Although the early activities of the YWCA were largely 
 for non-local objects, it became interested through its So- 
 cial Service Circle in various sorts of work in the city — 
 programs for the Old Peoples' Home, the School for the 
 Blind, Thanksgiving baskets to the needy, boots and mittens 
 for children in the Open Air School, Thanksgiving and 
 Easter parties for the Free Kindergarten children, and night 
 classes for the college maids. 299 An interesting project of 
 later years was an annual exchange of visits and ideas with 
 a group of working girls in the Springfield YWCA. In- 
 side the College its first social effort and always its main 
 responsibility was to welcome the new girls. This function 
 was very important before the day of student government 
 and freshman orientation. Representatives of the YWCA 
 met the trains, helped the girls to find their way around in 
 the labyrinth, Main Building, and gave a big party on the 
 first Saturday night. There were Christmas and Easter 
 services and celebrations, the Christmas Bazaar, and the May 
 Breakfast for its members. The YWCA raised a $1,000 
 scholarship fund as a donation to the College. Its mission 
 study and Bible study classes were an important activity 
 in its earlier years. When the girls were shut in by the 
 quarantine in 1918 so that they could not go to Ehnie's or 
 Batz's, the YWCA opened a Blue Triangle Tea Room at 
 the College. Although there are no exact statistics of mem- 
 bership, general statements declared that it usually included 
 a large part of the students. As a group effort in practical 
 
414 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Christian living it made a valuable contribution to educa- 
 tion in the College. For its success much credit was due 
 Miss Austin, Miss Cowgill, Miss Neville, and other mem- 
 bers of the faculty. 
 
 OTHER STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS: LITERARY SOCIETIES, 
 CLASSES, CLUBS, AND STUDENT PUBLICATIONS 
 
 Of clubs there were many, perhaps too many. From a 
 condition of simple, unorganized student life in the nine- 
 teenth century, the young ladies were inclined to go to the 
 other extreme of overorganization. They were critical of 
 their own inclination. The Phi Nus discussed in 1902 the 
 tendency among women to over-organize. The genial 
 "Spectator" ( Janette Powell) , a Greetings observer of cam- 
 pus life, declared on a return to the College in 1916 that 
 she found the girls club-mad and sighed for the day when 
 she could enjoy the masterpieces of literature in solitude. 300 
 And from time to time other criticisms of the multiplica- 
 tion of clubs appeared. These organizations were of two 
 types: those that sought to include all girls — the YWCA, 
 the Athletic Association, and the Student Government As- 
 sociation; those based on some special tie or affinity — 
 classes, literary societies, state and town girls clubs and the 
 departmental organizations. Many of these have been dis- 
 cussed above. Although the literary societies have been 
 frequently mentioned, the "problem of the literary soci- 
 eties" deserves some further discussion. 
 
 The programs, open meetings, entertainments to new 
 girls, candy sales, plays, and other activities of the Belles 
 Lettres and Phi Nus continued for a time after 1893 to 
 occupy the main place in student extra-curricular life. In- 
 deed, the prominence of these societies was enhanced for a 
 season. The fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries of the Col- 
 lege brought back many former members (thirteen ex- 
 presidents of Belles Lettres were present in 1907) and the 
 reunions, the "retrospects" and "prospects" of the societies 
 integrated the groups. The catalogues around 1900 carried 
 full-page histories of each and pictures of their officers. 
 
History of MacMurray College 415 
 
 The college colors, blue and gold, first mentioned in 1897, 
 were a combination of the colors of the two societies. 301 
 The effort to secure money from old members for their 
 halls was sometimes more successful than the College's cam- 
 paign for its improvement fund. (Mrs. Julia Palmer Stev- 
 ens, for example, left $600 to the Belles Lettres by Will.) 
 Devotion to these societies was a prominent factor in the 
 "old school tie." There was even a movement to form a 
 Phi Nu Alumnae Association in Danville. 302 Society halls 
 gave new enthusiasm to the local groups. At their first 
 meeting in the hall in West Main in 1902, the Phi Nus 
 declared it a memorable occasion. "The sunlight streamed 
 in through the windows, we were all in the best of spirits 
 and as happy as we could be, enjoying the hall that the Phi 
 Nu Society had dreamed of for years." 303 Incidentally, the 
 societies became more interested in the decoration of their 
 halls than in the building of their libraries. Some members 
 at least received good training in household management. 
 Matters of stoves, coal, cleaning, etc., have a large place in 
 their minutes. One society sold its old chairs to Doctor 
 Harker to replace them with better ones. Rugs, pianos, 
 lamps, easy chairs, velour drapes, pictures, pillows with the 
 society emblem, and potted plants soon gave an air of lux- 
 ury to their apartments. The Belles Lettres had inherited 
 that picture of Guido Reni, "The Aurora," favorite of the 
 Victorian age, which they had reframed. "We hope soon," 
 the Phi Nus declared, "to have one of the most elegantly 
 furnished society halls found in the State of Illinois." They 
 went on to more ambitious plans. The Belles Lettres talked 
 of building a $6,000 house. 304 
 
 Enough has been said before to indicate that these soci- 
 eties had made an important contribution, educational as 
 well as social. Their programs on American history, past 
 and current, and on American literature filled gaps in the 
 curriculum; and in other fields — English literature, world 
 history, and the fine arts — they had an opportunity to em- 
 phasize what they had received from classroom work. Be- 
 
416 History of MacMurray College 
 
 yond all this they were a forum for student opinion on col- 
 legiate life. Mention has been made of their discussion of 
 athletics and compulsory chapel. Other subjects discussed 
 between 1893 and 1909 included: the merits of college se- 
 cret societies, the adoption of a uniform, the introduction 
 of home economics, the abolition of examinations, the semes- 
 ter plan as compared with the term plan, cooking in col- 
 lege rooms, the system of distributing the mail, the college 
 lecture course, the fine arts curriculum, chaperones, and, 
 finally, student government. It is unlikely that there was 
 a serious dissent from administrative and faculty rulings. 
 Nevertheless, there were recorded protests and perhaps more 
 unrecorded. The Belles Lettres, refused a candy sale, sug- 
 gested that their town members talk to Doctor Harker 
 about "his treatment of the society," and a motion was 
 made (but lost) not to do anything about raising money. 305 
 And the Phi Nus objected to faculty suggestions on the 
 division of members into academy and college groups and 
 both societies to the suggestion that they have joint open 
 meetings. There was difficulty over the failure of the soci- 
 eties to post programs in advance. The early faculty min- 
 utes (1909 and later) contained frequent discussion of the 
 problem of society plays. The presentation of plays was 
 their most productive source for funds to buy their halls, 
 and the societies were given almost a monopoly of this busi- 
 ness until 1914. But the faculty felt that they spent too 
 much time on their plays, and thus established scholarship 
 standards for participation and limited rehearsals. 
 
 Doctor Harker appreciated the value of the societies to 
 the College. Aside from their educational uses, they en- 
 couraged patronage by furnishing a vital student interest. 
 And the discussion of college issues in these groups no doubt 
 was useful as a safety valve if for no more constructive 
 purpose. Nevertheless, he was disturbed by their increas- 
 ing exclusiveness and the hurt feelings of girls not ad- 
 mitted. And there may have been other reasons for change 
 that do not appear in the records. In 1912, with the aid 
 
History of MacMurray College 417 
 
 of Miss Weaver, two new societies were formed, Theta Sigma 
 and Lambda Alpha Mu, the old societies agreeing that year 
 to elect no new members other than sisters of the existing 
 members. These societies for a time probably took most of 
 the eligible girls (an average grade of eighty was required) 
 not taken by the other societies, and delayed the search for 
 a more radical solution of the problem. A committee on 
 intersociety relations consisting of society presidents and 
 the dean was formed to promote "sisterhood." 
 
 In the meantime, both the character and the place of the 
 literary societies were undergoing significant changes. The 
 YWCA, the Athletic Association, and, finally, Student Gov- 
 ernment became inclusive groups for student opinion and 
 action (so far as they were allowed to go). The depart- 
 mental clubs had assumed the educational function. Al- 
 though the two new societies began with the apparent in- 
 tention of being real study clubs and the World War stirred 
 the interest of all four in solid programs, the social function 
 became progressively more prominent. Their banquets at 
 the Colonial Inn or Peacock's, their breakfasts and teas, 
 filled the social calendar of the College. Although they 
 had never been affiliated with national groups and did not 
 call themselves sororities, they had essentially the character 
 of such groups. As early as 1913, Miss Mothershead had 
 tried to get them to give up "rushing" and meet all the girls 
 on terms of friendship, but the societies did not agree to 
 this. 306 The rules established by the faculty in 1916 placed 
 the earliest date for the admission of new members in 
 March. 307 The societies sought and finally secured a new 
 ruling that rushing open in early October, continue for six 
 weeks, and that new members be admitted in November. 308 
 The rushing period was changed later to two weeks and 
 only one major party was allowed. 
 
 At a faculty meeting on November 23, 1920, Doctor 
 Harker called attention to the "impossible situation caused 
 by the societies." He had once looked to the societies to 
 maintain morale and school spirit, and to build the patronage. 
 
41 8 History of MacMurray College 
 
 He was now convinced that they did the exact opposite. A 
 faculty committee was appointed to consult other women's 
 colleges as to their experience with and their solution of this 
 problem. To an alumna who was disturbed by reports she 
 had heard that the societies were either to be abolished or 
 opened to all and who considered them the best means of 
 binding students to the College, Doctor Harker wrote: 
 
 We are now up against a stone wall with regard to growth. Half of 
 our students feel so humiliated by being excluded without any apparent 
 reason and yet having to live in the same house with those who have 
 excluded them that they of course refuse to come back after their first 
 year; all the society girls say they would do the same thing if they were 
 the ones left out. It so happens that of those elected to the societies 
 quite a large number do not care to come back; they have secured all 
 they wanted in securing membership and they are ready after the first 
 year either to drop college altogether or to go to some other institution. 
 The growth of the College in the last two or three years has been in 
 spite of this handicap, but we are feeling it more and more keenly every 
 year. 
 
 The colleges that have made the reorganization all insist that it has 
 been better in every way, and that even the society members have liked 
 it better after it was once done. I think it can be done without in any 
 way injuring the present societies; indeed, I think it would be to their 
 advantage. I suppose you know that the present societies are not at 
 all representative of the societies as they were twenty years ago or more. 
 When these societies were organized and until twenty or even fifteen 
 years ago, or even less than that they were literary societies and not social 
 clubs. They prided themselves on their literary work; their main interest 
 was in their annual public exhibitions. The spirit of these societies has 
 changed altogether, particularly in the last ten years; they are not now 
 literary societies, but wholly social, and they are becoming more and 
 more definitely exclusive. . . . 309 
 
 Whether Doctor Harker was correct in attributing the too 
 slow growth of the college enrollment to the influence of 
 the literary societies one might question.* Nevertheless, he 
 had seized upon this as the major cause and was determined 
 to do something about it. Reports from other women's 
 colleges, six of which had had sororities and had abolished 
 them, confirmed him in his views of the harmfulness of the 
 existing organizations. A special committee of society and 
 non-society girls, working with the student relations com- 
 mittee (faculty and student members), recommended the 
 following solution, which was adopted: membership was to 
 
History of MacMurray College 419 
 
 be limited to eligible upperclassmen, there was to be no pledg- 
 ing or rushing, membership in each society was restricted 
 to thirty per cent of the total eligibles, and a new society 
 was to be formed, open to all freshmen. 310 This new society, 
 the Alpha Pi Delta, was founded in 1921. The societies were 
 not satisfied with the new plan. The Greetings of 1923 
 contained opinions pro and con as to whether societies were 
 a failure. In 1924, Dean Austin reported to the Board of 
 Trustees that the plan adopted to remove some of the ob- 
 jectionable features of society organizations had not proved 
 successful and that certain changes were being made. 311 
 The next year she made the following statement on the 
 problem: 
 
 The social life of our College centers largely in the societies. This 
 year we have again permitted rushing and perfect freedom in the num- 
 ber of invitations given by each society to those students above the 
 freshman class, eligible according to scholarship requirements. It has 
 resulted in better feeling among the members, but in some heart-ache 
 to those who did not receive invitations. However, I know of no stu- 
 dent who is not returning because of this. . . . The wisdom of having 
 a separate society for the freshman has again been demonstrated and 
 the officers of the class, with their adviser, Miss Alexander, have been 
 very successful in the management of it. 312 
 
 Thus, the societies of the 1 8 50s lived on, considerably changed 
 in character and purpose, it is true, but with pride in their 
 history and traditions and in their grandmothers. 
 
 In the meantime, college classes had come to fill a large 
 place in both the social and the ceremonial life of the cam- 
 pus. Even before 1893, junior-senior teas and parties had 
 begun. In 1898, the president's dinner for the Senior Class 
 was initiated. Later senior-sophomore and junior-freshmen 
 sisterhoods developed. Interclass games gave the zest of 
 competition to sports. The junior-sophomore essay and 
 declamation contest was a big event on the spring calendar, 
 and in the 1920s interclass debates were instituted. Classes 
 entertained each other with trolley rides with refreshments 
 at Vickery's, sleigh-rides, picnics in the East Woods, or 
 nutting parties. "Class officers" (faculty advisers) were 
 often hostesses at parties for their groups. In the spring of 
 
420 History of MacMurray College 
 
 1902 the juniors, dressed as men (popular substitute for real 
 men), entertained the freshmen at an old-time box supper, 
 some of the freshmen appearing for the first time "in long 
 trains." 313 In the same year, in February, occurred the first 
 senior- junior banquet at the College. Even as late as 1917 
 the senior-junior reception with real men was able to occa- 
 sion excitement. A Greetings reporter thus described the 
 scene: 
 
 To the underclassmen all is a mystery. Bits of information float about, 
 but these are far too intangible to be satisfying. There will be men in 
 profusion — men simply over-running the lower floor! Oh, delight! 
 The uninvited can at least lean over the banisters and gaze. But, no! 
 On Wednesday night preceding the date set for the reception the girls 
 are called together and very decidedly impressed with the unladylike 
 qualities of such procedure. . . . Finally the day comes. Palms and 
 ferns arrive and speedily transform the front hall. Only the splash of 
 -an invisible fountain is needed to complete the idea of a sub-tropical 
 scene. Chairs are arranged into interesting rows. Rooms are trans- 
 formed. Weary seniors disappear. In a little while they are to reap- 
 pear all glorious in gorgeous gowns "a la train*' . . . And after the 
 fashion show, the party. 314 
 
 Back in October 1901 one declared: "The only fault to be 
 found was that the whole chapel wasn't made into corners, 
 for the soft ruddy glow from lights and lanterns revealed 
 in every nook the gleam of a white dress with the inevitable 
 black coat somewhere near." Frappe — it sounds more in- 
 teresting than punch — was always served. Sometimes the 
 neglected underclassmen went off to Music Hall and had 
 a "wedding" all their own or to the gymnasium for a game 
 of basketball. In 1918, the senior-junior reception was 
 given up for patriotic reasons. In 1919, it was transferred 
 to the Colonial Inn "far from prying eyes." 
 
 Commencements, with old and some new features, were 
 held at Centenary, Grace, and once the Opera House, until 
 Music Hall was built in 1906. Essay-reading, revived for a 
 season, disappeared again in a few years. Class days followed 
 no exact pattern. Usually ivy was planted; once an elm 
 tree. Juniors in 1905 formed lines with ivy chains through 
 which the seniors passed, later the freshmen formed the 
 chain. In 1899, the class presented a Pageant of the Trees, 
 
History of MacMurray College 421 
 
 in which the campus trees told the secrets of campus life. 
 At one early class day the juniors let four pigeons tied with 
 junior colors into chapel during the senior class day exercises. 
 In 1903, the seniors appeared in white dresses with sweet peas 
 in their belts, but it rained, and they had to plant the ivy 
 in a box. In the following year, the class instituted step- 
 singing, using college songs and old favorites such as "Annie 
 Laurie." (The list used in 1905 included the Lorelei, Illinois, 
 Estudiantina (senior song), Juanita, the Drum Major of 
 Schneider's Band, The Spanish Cavalier, the Soldier's Fare- 
 well, Clementina, Solomon Levi, Jingle Bells, Sweet and Low, 
 and Old Kentucky Home.) In some years the seniors gave 
 commencement plays — The Lady of Lyons, Midsummer's 
 Night Dream 9 As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing, 
 and Every Girl at Commencement Time, Just when the 
 cap and gown appeared to replace the sweet girl graduate's 
 white dress, the writer has not discovered. The report of 
 commencement in 1898 stated that the juniors, who replaced 
 the Illinois College boys as ushers, wore caps and gowns, but 
 there was no reference to the senior dress, and later descrip- 
 tions of commencement mention the senior white dresses. 315 
 It seems that the mortar board appeared first as a senior dis- 
 tinction before the gown was used. The following notice 
 appeared in the Greetings of November 1903: "Not long 
 ago the seniors got their mortar boards and to celebrate had 
 a trolley party and refreshments at Vickery's. The juniors 
 had not even dreamed that the seniors might get caps and 
 were consequently surprised when they started on their af- 
 ternoon walk to see the seniors in their new caps just getting 
 on the cars." 316 The new preparatory student in 1905 won- 
 dered where the girls got "those cute caps with tassels," and 
 decided to buy one to wear on morning walks. In 190?, 
 and perhaps before, the seniors had both caps and gowns. 
 The earliest reference (1901) to class recognition the 
 writer has discovered declared it already an established 
 custom. The Greetings reporter stated that on October 
 29, the seniors made their formal entrance into chapel but 
 
422 History of MacMurray College 
 
 that it occasioned no surprise as it was a college institution 
 of all the classes. They sang their class song; conducted 
 chapel, the chief feature of the service being an address by 
 the class president on the place of classes in college life. 
 The reporter added the following interesting note: "The 
 members of the class looked serious indeed in their plain 
 black skirts, white waists, and black ties, the somber effect 
 relieved only by a red carnation, the class flower. Much 
 surprise was occasioned, however, when the town members 
 were seen departing at noon wearing mortar-board caps." 317 
 In 1909, the seniors appeared for the recognition service 
 wearing caps and gowns for the first time. "In honor of 
 the occasion, the faculty wore theirs also." After this date 
 the seniors wore caps and gowns to chapel two days a week. 
 In 1913 and after, they were escorted by sophomores on 
 recognition day. Recognition services for other classes, even 
 the senior specials (1914) were observed. In 1910, it seems, 
 the Freshman Day was instituted. "The freshmen came 
 in two by two with green and white their colors new." The 
 inheritance of class colors dates from 1915. The Junior Class 
 in 1914 had the privilege of unveiling the college seal in 
 Music Hall and had made a banner in their colors, blue and 
 white, for the cover. They retained these colors and the 
 banner as seniors and then handed them down. The other 
 classes followed the same custom. Up to this time each 
 class chose its own colors. 318 
 
 The student publications, College Greetings and the year- 
 book, llliwoco (Illinois Woman's College) , have been men- 
 tioned in these pages, but deserve a more conclusive state- 
 ment. The origin of the Greetings as the Jubilee Greetings, 
 begun in January 1897 to prepare the alumnae for the 
 Jubilee in June, has been related. The first editor, Mrs. 
 Martha Capps Oliver, '62, was a writer of some ability, 
 especially in verse. The name Greetings accorded well with 
 its initial purpose; and since the paper continued to promote 
 administration policies, financial and academic, among 
 alumnae, former students, and friends as a primary objec- 
 
History of MacMurray College 423 
 
 tive, it was! not inappropriate even in later years. In July 
 1897, the name was changed to College Greetings, and Doc- 
 tor Harker assumed the management with student and 
 alumnae assistance. In 1898, an alumnae editor was again 
 selected, Miss Delia Dimmitt, '86, who also had received 
 some recognition as a writer. For six years articles by and 
 news of the alumnae along with the statement of plans and 
 interests of the administration filled the pages of the College 
 Greetings. As a literary magazine it was evidence of the 
 breadth of interest, the intelligence, and the culture of the 
 older generation of alumnae. Articles and poems by Mrs. 
 Belle Paxson Drury, Mrs. Julia Palmer Stevens, Mrs. Alice 
 Don Carlos Vogel, Mrs. Rachel Harris Phillippi, Mrs. Ella 
 Yates Orr, and others appeared on a wide range of sub- 
 jects. Some senior essays appeared along with news of the 
 faculty and the various departments of instruction, but it 
 was in no sense a student organ. In 1903, the responsibility 
 for the publication passed to the Senior Class assisted by a 
 faculty committee; and in 1909, a staff representing the 
 several classes was set up. Student productions — articles, 
 short stories, poems — replaced the alumnae contributions, 
 and school activities occupied a larger place. In 1914, with 
 the establishment of student government, a constitution for 
 the Greetings was drawn up. 319 In 1912, the staff had se- 
 cured a small office in Harker. Its surplus, set aside as a 
 college library fund, was $782 in 1924. 320 From time to 
 time, it offered prizes to encourage student writing. 
 
 As to its character, The College Greetings, a monthly, 
 remained more magazine than newspaper. Its merit as a 
 magazine of student production was uneven from year to 
 year, but as a rule was worthy of note. As an organ of 
 opinion it had some value, but one must admit that ex- 
 pressions of student views appear restrained. In its edi- 
 torials students were admonished to take more interest in 
 athletics, to support the new student government organi- 
 zation, to uphold the scholarship standards, and support the 
 endowment program. The publication sought to discour- 
 
424 History of MacMurray College 
 
 age complaining, inculcate school spirit, and get students 
 to return to college. Although there was only occasional 
 reference to public issues until World War I, the paper 
 showed a progressive liberal spirit. In 1913, for example, 
 there appeared an appeal to support the Consumers' League 
 by buying only goods made on a fair basis. At the same 
 time, it insisted: "We at the Woman's College might take 
 our pledge with Bryn Mawr and Wellesley to shop early (at 
 Christmas) and do all we can to aid the cause of the work- 
 ing man." 321 Jacob Riis, who lectured in November 1913 
 at the College, was discussed at some length and praised 
 highly for "turning our thoughts to the 'other half'." 322 
 The issue of May 1916 (seventieth anniversary of the Col- 
 lege) contained much historical material as did the early 
 alumnae and certain other issues. 
 
 In 1917, a weekly news sheet, the Greetings Extra, ap- 
 peared and continued somewhat irregularly for two years as 
 an attempt at a college newspaper. But war prices de- 
 feated it. In 1924, the Greetings became a bi-monthly pub- 
 lication, larger in size and with the features of a newspaper 
 more in evidence. At the same time the Greetings Quarterly 
 took over the literary function. The Greetings became 
 somewhat more representative of student interests and of 
 student opinion at least on world questions. Its articles and 
 editorials favored international co-operation, racial tolerance, 
 religious unity, student fellowship. It published much on 
 activities and opinions in other colleges and news of stu- 
 dents in other lands. It favored inter-class and intercolle- 
 giate debates. In 1925, it was admitted to the Illinois Col- 
 legiate Press Association. 323 In 1924, a Scribblers' Club was 
 founded to encourage writing. 
 
 The first annual, The 1905 Book, published by the Senior 
 Class of that year, contained the record of commencement 
 (the sermon, addresses, class prophecy, etc.) with some at- 
 tention to college organizations. It had no successors until 
 1914. In that year the Junior Class published the first Illi- 
 woco (Illinois Woman's College), a full-fledged and attrac- 
 
History of MacMurray College 425 
 
 tive college annual. In 1915, the heads of departments dis- 
 couraged its publication because of the expense and time re- 
 quired, but it reappeared in 1916. Again in 1919 occurred 
 a gap, when World War I interrupted it along with some 
 other regular collegiate activities. The pictures and snap- 
 shots in the Illiwoco, as well as some accounts of events, 
 furnish an historical record of considerable value. 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT 
 
 In his Eventide Memories, Doctor Harker declared that he 
 was not in sympathy with the old system of discipline in 
 girls' boarding schools under which the lives of the students 
 were subjected to a rigid conventual routine and a strict sur- 
 veillance by faculty and administration. 324 The fact that 
 he had had no experience in such institutions and hence had 
 no prejudices or preconceptions in favor of their methods 
 would make it easier for him to create a new system. Never- 
 theless, his deans and his teachers had taught in such schools, 
 some of his patrons favored the old system of discipline, and 
 he himself admitted that as long as most of the students were 
 of academy rank changes could only be made slowly. And, 
 although he may have been free from prejudice for particular 
 Victorian conventions, his own tendency was paternal, if not 
 even paternalistic. Any freedom granted must be strictly 
 controlled. 
 
 It is difficult to discover any considerable change of rules 
 and regulations before the four-year college course was es- 
 tablished in 1907, nor any radical changes even after that 
 day. The routine of dormitory life, lights, study hours, 
 meals, exercise, chapel, evening prayers, Sunday quiet hour, 
 no Sunday callers, etc., were unchanged and still subject to 
 faculty enforcement. Corridor teachers kept watch during 
 study hours and saw that "all young ladies were horizontal 
 beneath the sheets" at 9:30. The Greetings of September 
 1900 announced that never before had so many teachers 
 "lived in" and it issued a note of lamentation for "lovers 
 of midnight feasts." The faculty front hall Radiator Club 
 passed judgment on the procession of freshmen, and "Gym" 
 
426 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Evans inspected the line for morning walks to see that they 
 were properly dressed. Correspondence, except with persons 
 approved by parents, was inspected; shopping was chap- 
 eroned. Girls went "in procession" to church, concerts, and 
 on long walks "all in the same direction and never past inter- 
 esting places." In the first annual, The 1905 Book, a writer 
 interpreted thus the philosophy and practice of the lady 
 principal: 
 
 Now we come to the ruling power, our lady principal, Miss Weaver. 
 She consents and she does not consent, to our thousands of requests, 
 with great thought and care. Listen to what she says about the girls. 
 "That we may not spare the rod and thus invite sorrow, we oppose your 
 every heart's desire. When you would go, we make you stay. When 
 you would stay, we make you go, and walk and walk and walk with 
 companions that we thrust upon you. . . . We make you lie in darkness 
 when you would sit in light. We urge you to feast three times each 
 day, and remonstrate when you make it three times three each night. 
 We compel you to sit in chapel, in solemn silence, and listen to discourses 
 upon manners and morals, subjects most distressing to your tender minds. 
 . . . We shadow you, reprove you, report you, because — we love you." 
 
 She is most interested in our spring hats and gowns, and gives advice 
 when it is most needed; likes to meet our friends; guides us in the 
 straight and narrow path of etiquette by the Monday morning talks, and 
 selects our callers as our parents would do. How attentive she is when 
 she regards our housekeeping. Does she not show us our weak points, 
 and, in short, sees to almost everything and seems to be thinking of 
 everything? How we must try her marvelous patience! Without Miss 
 Weaver to look after us our parents would see, instead of improvement, 
 the very opposite. 
 
 And what would or could we do without our most respected faculty 
 at the Woman's Club meet? How would we know what time to go to 
 bed? We would miss the gentle tap reminding us that it is time for 
 "lights out." And then so many of us need a guiding hand when we 
 venture out of the building and college grounds. A little advice as to 
 the reasonable price for a hat, and whether it is becoming, and someone 
 who knows where we can get the desired articles, and someone to take 
 the place of mother and father serving at the table. . . . 825 
 One could hardly desire a more complete picture of the "shel- 
 tered life." 
 
 The main change that came in the years that followed 
 was the gradual extension of more privileges to upperclass- 
 men, especially seniors, but this was a change in scope, not 
 in direction, because senior privileges, such as walking un- 
 chaperoned, had been granted by Doctor Short. By 1902, 
 
History of MacMurray College 427 
 
 at least, juniors and seniors were making trips to the Public 
 Library "to study, you know," and Doctor Harker used 
 seniors as chaperones for underclassmen on walks. Seniors 
 had special recognition in a week's spring vacation, senior 
 tables in the dining room, the front seats in chapel, the 
 "Senior Perch" on the front steps; and juniors and seniors, 
 with a few favored sophomores as senior "flunkies," had 
 the rare and delightful privilege of a fall weekend under 
 faculty chaperones at Lake Matanzas. All juniors and sen- 
 iors looked forward to this outing on which seniors occu- 
 pied a cottage with the romantic name "Sans Souci," while 
 the juniors lived at "Elsinore." "There is no fun like Matan- 
 zas fun," they declared. But there were sandburs! For all 
 students during these early years there were apparently more 
 picnics and parties but, except on rare occasions, all with- 
 out men. 
 
 On March 5, 1913, the first step was made toward stu- 
 dent government. Although the institution of such a sys- 
 tem had been debated by the literary societies ten years 
 earlier, there is nothing to suggest that it came in 1913 as a 
 result of student action. It was apparently handed down 
 from above; as a student expressed it, "the student association 
 existed first in the mind of Doctor Harker." 326 He was 
 probably already disturbed by the "problem of the literary 
 societies." For some years there had been little interest in 
 the Athletic Association. Doctor Harker was deeply con- 
 cerned to improve morale and school spirit and increase the 
 college enrollment. No doubt, too, he believed that it would 
 be valuable training for students. The constitution of the 
 College Council, the predecessor of student government, 
 states its origin and purpose as follows: 
 
 This College Council is organized so that the students may co-operate 
 in all possible general ways in the upbuilding of the College. The presi- 
 dent hopes that it will greatly aid in the development of true college 
 spirit and loyalty. As experience may show changes to be necessary 
 or desirable, he reserves the right to modify this plan in any way at any 
 
 time. 
 
428 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ARTICLE I OBJECTS 
 
 The College Council stands for the following definite objects: For 
 the promotion of college spirit; for the conserving of college loyalty and 
 enthusiasm; for the continuance of college students to graduation; for 
 the honor of high scholarship, and securing the highest ideals of honor 
 and true womanliness among students; for advancing interest in the 
 literary, scientific, musical and other general societies, and in athletics 
 and out-door sports; for the unifying of all college interests; and for 
 suggesting, organizing, and directing all general student activities. 327 
 
 The Council consisted of "the class officers" (faculty ad- 
 visers) of the five college classes, class presidents, the presi- 
 dents of the four literary societies, the YWCA, the Athletic 
 Association and the Glee Club, the editor-in-chief of the 
 Greetings, the class officer and president of the Senior Acad- 
 emy Class, and the president of the Academy Literary So- 
 ciety. The president, vice president, and secretary, to be 
 chosen from its membership by the Council, were to be stu- 
 dents. Each member had one vote. The Council was to take 
 no action on a motion not supported by two-thirds of the stu- 
 dent vote and two-thirds of the faculty members. An 
 amendment passed October 1, 1913, provided for an execu- 
 tive committee of nine members: the president, the dean, 
 two faculty members, three student officers, and two other 
 student members. This committee was empowered to sug- 
 gest matters for consideration and to carry out decisions. 
 At the first meeting of the College Council held in February 
 the limitation of the Council's power was discussed; "it 
 was to advise the faculty, but in no way to dictate to them." 
 It was foreseen that academy students (84 enrolled with 
 three members) might object to under-representation in 
 proportion to college students (144 with eighteen mem- 
 bers) . Discontent over this was to be quieted as quickly as 
 possible. 328 After all, the object was primarily to co-ordinate 
 college interests. The student body had no direct part in 
 the work of this Council. At mass meetings the president 
 of the Council reported its decisions, and students might re- 
 quest that matters be brought before it. 
 
 The minutes of the Council during its year and a half of 
 existence are interesting. 320 At its first meeting two ques- 
 
History of MacMurray College 429 
 
 tions were presented — a spring vacation and a "May Day 
 less wearing on the girls." The spring vacation of one day, 
 Saturday before Easter, was granted by faculty action. This 
 decision involved the matter of the customary Easter recep- 
 tion given by the Harkers. The Council decided to ask that 
 it be cancelled "owing to the holiday, the ungrateful recep- 
 tion of invitations by Jacksonville men, and the already 
 crowded social calendar of the College." A committee 
 named to see Miss Weaver about May Day reported that she 
 "expressed the hope that the exercises this year might be 
 made even prettier than usual owing to the meeting of the 
 Mothers' Congress in Jacksonville at that time, and the gen- 
 eral inference was that simplicity was not going to be the 
 key-note of May Day." The Council undertook the man- 
 agement of the election of May Queen, however, which had 
 been a somewhat disturbing procedure. It planned a col- 
 lege luncheon for the "lady faculty members and senior 
 girls from high schools interested in the track meet held in 
 May, the purpose being to advertise the College." It agreed 
 to support the Athletic Association for a larger sports pro- 
 gram. In May, it discussed some plans that might be worked 
 out the next year. A system providing for a certain num- 
 ber of legitimate chapel cuts was proposed (one cut a week 
 suggested) . "It was thought unwise," the minutes read, "to 
 dispense with evening chapel entirely, although it should 
 not be compulsory; it was proposed that prayers be held in 
 the dining room before dinner to save time." And the ques- 
 tion of larger social privileges was discussed. During the 
 next year the Council supported the juniors in their plans 
 for the first Illiwoco and the town girls in their efforts to 
 secure a room; it worked out further regulations for May 
 Day and rules for the use of the elevator (to judge by the 
 discussion that had appeared from time to time in the 
 Greetings this was a major traffic problem) ; and, most im- 
 portant of all, it worked on a constitution for a Student Gov- 
 ernment Association. The two presidents of the Council, 
 Lois Coultas and Fjeril Hess, were outstanding student lead- 
 
430 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ers. The Council had done constructive work, no doubt 
 with considerable faculty guidance, in preparing the way 
 for a larger student participation. Incidentally, the minutes 
 of this Council are far more detailed and informative than 
 those of the later Students Association, which existed only 
 for 1923-24 of this administration. 
 
 In the fall of 1913, after a series of mass meetings, the 
 student body voted in favor of adopting a plan of student 
 government, with three votes in the negative. In February 
 1914, a temporary house government under a board of proc- 
 tors was instituted to take the place of the former resident 
 faculty in administering dormitory regulations. Sophomores 
 lamented that, free from their former duties, "the faculty 
 will study hard and assign harder lessons, and we'll have a 
 worse time than ever." 330 After a month's trial, members of 
 the faculty stated in their meeting that the experiment had 
 not proved a complete success, that the proctors were trying 
 to enforce the rules, but the students were not giving com- 
 plete support and up to that time had not shown themselves 
 qualified for self-government. It was decided, nevertheless, 
 to grant the student petition that the plan continue. 331 In 
 the fall of 1914 the new constitution, drawn up by a com- 
 mittee of the Council and approved by the faculty with 
 some amendments, was adopted by the students, and the first 
 student government officers selected under it were installed 
 on November 28, 1914. This government was instituted 
 under a charter granted by the faculty and trustees, which 
 defined its general scope and limits. Fjeril Hess was chosen 
 president. The legislative power resided in the student body 
 as a whole, the executive power in the executive committee 
 consisting of the major officers; the board of proctors was 
 an executive body for house government. Judicial power 
 rested in the executive board as a court of first instance, 
 from which appeals might be taken to the Association as a 
 whole. There was an advisory council composed of certain 
 faculty members and the main student officers of the Asso- 
 ciation and other student groups to unify the interest of the 
 
History of MacMurray College 431 
 
 various student activities. A joint committee of conference 
 (three faculty members, three students, with the dean as 
 chairman) was established to decide whether a question in 
 consideration came within the scope of the privileges of the 
 Association as set forth in the charter. 
 
 The rules and regulations of student government were 
 published in The Brown Book, With regard to privileges, 
 they indicate considerable evolution from the restrictive 
 regime still existing at the turn of the century. Church at- 
 tendance was still required and quiet hour on Sunday, but 
 some cuts from church and chapel were permitted. Lights 
 were allowed until 10:00 (later 10:30) , and there were light 
 permissions beyond this. There was considerable freedom 
 of movement without chaperonage, although this ancient in- 
 stitution was not abolished by any means, and its uses were 
 extensive for academy students. Certain features of the 
 earlier Brown Books probably reflect Miss Mothershead's in- 
 fluence. Her notions of decorum in dress were more con- 
 servative than those of some Midwesterners. The Brown 
 Book insisted that hats and gloves must be worn downtown. 
 This rule was soon amended to permit one to go in warm 
 weather as far as the Square or the Public Library without 
 hat and gloves. Middy blouses must not be worn to dinner 
 or downtown. Students were expected to dress for dinner. 
 Serenades were a venerable institution that required special 
 regulation. The Brown Book read: "During serenades 
 lights are turned off, shades are drawn down, and deepest 
 appreciation is signified by absolute silence." 
 
 Although early Brown Books had nothing to say on such 
 subjects as dancing, card playing, or smoking, these trouble- 
 some questions presented themselves. Later Brown Books 
 stated that the "use of tobacco in any form is prohibited." 
 Minutes of the Association in the 1920s indicate that there 
 was some smoking sub rosa. Students were "requested to 
 refrain from card-playing." Dancing was soon given a 
 limited and, on the part of some in authority, a reluctant 
 recognition. In January 1917, the Students Association asked 
 
43 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 that students be allowed to include the Virginia reel among 
 their amusements. The faculty members of the student re- 
 lations committee, who presented this, question to the fac- 
 ulty, did not recommend it. They had talked to Doctor 
 Harker, who discouraged any such change in the historic 
 policy of the school. Some members of the faculty favored 
 it, others feared that it would soon lead to demands for other 
 forms of dancing. Thus the matter rested. 332 In June 1919, 
 Doctor Harker presented to the Board of Trustees a petition 
 from the Senior Class for permission to dance within the Col- 
 lege and without men. This petition stated that "during 
 the past year, because of unusual war conditions, and especi- 
 ally because of considerable sickness resulting from the "flu," 
 and because of the quarantine for so many weeks, the stu- 
 dents felt that it would greatly help to relieve the strain and 
 the monotony of the quarantine if they could be permitted 
 to dance among themselves in an informal and recreational 
 way." 333 Incidentally, this petition reveals another of the 
 many results on college life that came from World War I. 
 The class, which requested this privilege for all students, 
 insisted that other Methodist colleges allowed dancing, that 
 they had the backing of the entire student body, and that 
 this privilege would contribute to the happiness of the girls 
 in the school and "the good will and enthusiasm of prospec- 
 tive students whom we might influence to make this their 
 college home." After considerable discussion the Board re- 
 ferred the question to the executive committee and a faculty 
 committee for decision. In the fall of 1919 intramural 
 dancing among the girls was permitted. The Brown Book 
 published a negative statement only: that dancing outside 
 the College was regarded as a serious offense. Whether cer- 
 tain editorials on the dancing of the "jazz age" that appeared 
 in the Greetings were faculty-inspired, they expressed no 
 doubt the sentiments of the administration and teachers. Its 
 vulgarity and cheapness were deplored. "Can dancing be 
 made beautiful and kept from the bestial? There is no doubt 
 about the art in general, but what about social dancing in 
 
History of MacMurray College 433 
 
 public halls, at parties, at the Illinois Woman's College?" 3 
 The rather gloomy conclusion was that censorship would 
 do little good, and "we probably do not know how to dance 
 any other way." One of Ring Lardner's imitators wrote 
 thus to "Friend Al" on the dean's attitude: 
 
 Speaking of dancin', Al, you know the Dean give us girls a talk one 
 nite about how it should be did and she seemed to think as most every- 
 one does that it should be reformed. She said as how she thought when 
 some of we girls were dancin' together we used our imagination and 
 thought we had some other sort of partner. Now, Al, what do you sup- 
 pose she meant by that? I can't imagine what she meant besides being 
 able to imagine that Florence Weber is another sort of partner, say one 
 like Hazel Logan, for instance. I think I'd better take a correspond- 
 ence course in imagination, Al. 335 
 
 In 1924, the students asked for "mixed" dancing privileges. 
 The Board of Trustees voted that seniors and juniors be 
 allowed to have not more than two dances with men during 
 the college year. 336 In the following June, Miss Austin re- 
 ported that the privilege, she thought, had done the College 
 no harm and that it had done much to remove the dissatis- 
 faction of students over refusal of mixed dancing. 337 The 
 MacMurray gift of a new hardwood floor in the refurnished 
 Social Room provided a beautiful setting, and the Junior 
 and Senior Proms became the big events of 1924-25. Doc- 
 tor Harker, who attended the first formal dance in the Col- 
 lege in his last year, wished that he might have been spared 
 that innovation. 
 
 In 1922, the honor system was adopted to replace the "po- 
 licing" of the board of proctors, which was abolished. House 
 chairmen in Main and Harker continued to have general 
 supervision, but students were obligated to report them- 
 selves if they violated regulations and to report others who 
 might fail to report their own infringements. In 1924, 
 Miss Austin stated that, although the system had not worked 
 perfectly, she thought students were developing more per- 
 sonal responsibility for the use of their "large liberty." In 
 the following year her report announced that the executive 
 committee of the Student Government planned to try to 
 "safeguard the evening study hour of freshmen more care- 
 
434 History of MacMurray College 
 
 fully." 338 Apparently they had not used their "large liberty" 
 with complete satisfaction. Comments of the students on 
 their own experiment in self-government reflect a whole- 
 some amount of self-criticism. The main weakness, one 
 common to all efforts at democratic government, was the 
 lack of sufficient "civic consciousness" on the part of the 
 student body as a whole, the tendency to leave too much to 
 the officers. 339 It seems safe to say that this institution, in- 
 troduced at an early stage of its history among college stu- 
 dents, had proved reasonably satisfactory. 
 
 FROM THE GAY NINETIES TO THE JAZZ AGE: LIFE IN 
 THE COLLEGE 
 
 Changes in American society in dress, manners* morals, 
 sports, amusements, and ideas were reflected in the life of 
 the college girl, for college was a part of life, even though 
 a specialized part and, until World War I, a somewhat iso- 
 lated part. The student evolved from the young lady of 
 pompadours, shirtwaists, long skirts, and generous curves 
 into the slim, boyish, short-skirted, bobbed-hair type of the 
 jazz age. Girls changed from cloistered peripatetics to cross- 
 country hikers; swimming and hockey replaced hammocks 
 and croquet. Ukeleles, victrolas, and jazz tunes superseded 
 mandolins, guitars, and the old sentimental airs; and instead 
 of open society meetings, sewing circles, and fudge parties 
 one finds movies, dancing, hamburgers at Ehnie's, and jam 
 sessions to discuss eugenics. Tennyson, Ruskin, and William 
 Morris gave way to modern poetry and Russian novels. 
 Aspects of this transition have been treated above; a few 
 additions may be added here, although this picture attempts 
 only to be suggestive of the scene. 
 
 A part of American life, the young ladies recognized, 
 nevertheless, that their life was "peculiar," that it possessed 
 a flavor all its own. A student of the 'nineties declared that 
 "all gains a halo of romance when taking place within col- 
 lege walls." 340 Another declared that the Phi Nus sang their 
 society song "with the feeling peculiar to college students." 
 In 1922, a girl wrote: "Parties — hilarious middy-and-bloom- 
 
History of MacMurray College 435 
 
 er or costume affairs in the gym; even the more formal col- 
 lege functions — the banquets and receptions — have a certain 
 fresh spirit. Slumber parties, a bit rowdy; "feeds," with the 
 cake from home, and one's roommate perched on the bed 
 discussing eugenics and gesticulating with a dill pickle; col- 
 lege parties — the perfection of the species." 341 It is gratify- 
 ing that in a troubled and disillusioned world they could 
 keep something of that halo of romance, that certain fresh 
 spirit. 
 
 Girls' rooms received considerable attention, perhaps much 
 more before there were so many outside attractions. Open- 
 ing week was a time of great excitement, during which the 
 "fixing" of rooms was a major indoor sport. Old girls made 
 a tour of the building to inspect improvements or new 
 "wings." Sometimes additions had not been completed, and 
 students deplored the conflicts of capital and labor that de- 
 layed progress and praised Teddy Roosevelt for his vigorous 
 efforts to end the strife. Three or four had to be crowded 
 into a single room. "If this state of things were to continue 
 indefinitely, there would undoubtedly not be the atmosphere 
 of hearty good will and cheerfulness that pervades the 
 school," one wrote. 342 Under the title "Our Penates," a 
 student of 1898 discussed girls' rooms. "All girls, she wrote, 
 "have ideas as to how a room should be decorated, and the 
 idea of quantity seems to prevail among college girls." 343 
 The pictures of rooms published in the catalogues and an- 
 nuals prove the correctness of her observation. The collegi- 
 ate paraphernalia was profuse — pennants, college pillows, 
 tennis rackets, megaphones, posters, etc. "Though of course 
 inmates of the Illinois Woman's College are strictly temper- 
 ate yet many dark bottles and charred pipes are seen," she 
 added. "The pipes bear the names of the present owners 
 carved in bowls from which no doubt thoughts of the fair 
 one have gone up in smoke." The craze for posters as keep- 
 sakes made the auctioning of these a profitable device for 
 raising funds. Dorothy Yates paid $2.05 for the "Billy" 
 Sunday poster. Literary societies auctioned the posters made 
 
436 History of MacMurray College 
 
 for their plays. Students kept their own rooms, subject to 
 inspection. One of the privileges of seniors was freedom 
 from this surveillance. 
 
 Girls were awakened at 6:20 by a "cow bell" rung by 
 William or Tom or Woodson, who passed through the cor- 
 ridors. An electric bell rang a little earlier, but they never 
 heard it, they said. Meals were still served in the old base- 
 ment dining room in Main, enlarged and redecorated. Here 
 teachers and students became better acquainted. At the eve- 
 ning meal, there were guessing games and later table-singing, 
 and innumerable special table parties — Valentine, Christmas, 
 birthday, and "unbirthday" parties. In time dinner replaced 
 supper. Maids — Irish girls and others — waited on the tables, 
 and lived over in the Maids' Cottage, where they had night 
 classes conducted by the YWCA. Doctor and Mrs. Harker 
 kept William Patterson, the colored man-of -all-work, and 
 the Coffee girls, who had served under Doctor Short. Of 
 William a girl wrote: "All college girls, past and present, 
 have a warm spot in their hearts for William, that humble 
 individual whose sphere is so important that, when trunks 
 are to be taken up to the third floor or the northwest rooms 
 are at freezing point, it quite overshadows that of the presi- 
 dent himself." 344 In a special chapel service at Christmas- 
 time in 1901, they gave him a gold watch and received a fine 
 speech in return. Servants were an integral part of the col- 
 lege family. The legends surrounding Woodson later riv- 
 alled the traditions of William. Of Woodson's departure 
 and return during World War I mention has been made. 
 He was janitor and master of ceremonies in Music Hall, and 
 at formal receptions in Main "bowed in and out" the guests 
 with great dignity. His airedale, his Sunday regalia, com- 
 plete with badge "won perhaps in the Cuban war," his desire 
 to be a musician, all were topics of comment. Among other 
 "college characters" was Mr. Starkweather, friend of juniors 
 and seniors at Lake Matanzas. After breakfast, the morning 
 constitutional, early classes, and chapel, girls rushed to their 
 rooms for letters, which had been "inspected" if they were 
 
History of MacMurray College 437 
 
 not on the approved list. A rare privilege of seniors was the 
 right to walk up to the office and claim letters just as the 
 faculty did. 
 
 The "gay nineties" brought more parties. In the enter- 
 tainment of the girls, Mrs. Harker endeared herself to the 
 hundreds who passed their college years here. "Mother" 
 Harker she was to them. The loyal lady principals and 
 resident teachers were also generous in time and money spent 
 in this way. The Greetings reported chafing dish parties, 
 studio teas, sewing bees, cocoa -drinkings, and progressive 
 corridor parties, at which Miss Austin served "Ohio jelly" 
 and played the guitar. Favorite parties within the faculty 
 circle seem to have been "spinster teas" and onion parties. 
 Sometimes there was an all-school party in the Chapel, which 
 had been turned by screens and lamps into many cozy cor- 
 ners padded with cushions. Outside in East Court there 
 were marshmallow toastings and Japanese teas with lan- 
 terns or umbrellas, according to the hour. On one memorable 
 occasion, Judge Whitlock entertained the entire school at a 
 watermelon feast on the back campus. Writing on "The 
 Merrier Side of College Life," a girl of the "gay nineties" 
 recorded: 
 
 One great pleasure of the college girls is the period granted for candy 
 and fudge-making in which art she grows wonderfully proficient. On 
 Saturday evenings . . . excited girls are seen rushing up and down the 
 halls flourishing tin pans, carrying crocks of milk, and bags of sugar 
 and returning an hour later carefully bearing the stock of provisions they 
 have laid up for the lengthy period of besiegement during the quiet hour 
 period. 345 
 
 And she recalled the event of the annual reception to Illinois 
 College brothers, in preparation for which girls disappeared 
 into the furnace room to curl their hair and receive an in- 
 voluntary Turkish bath. 
 
 Trolley rides on Miss Frances Hook's street cars, which 
 ran up East State Street past the College, were a favorite di- 
 version of this decade and a popular method of entertaining 
 a class or society. Cars were decorated with class colors, girls 
 rode over the "Athens of the West," singing college and class 
 
438 History of MacMurray College 
 
 songs and even giving the class yells. Sometimes they paused 
 at Vickery's and Merrigan's for a cup of chocolate. At Mor- 
 gan Lake, where they went for picnics, the young ladies took 
 rides in the "naphtha launch" (prose form, motor boat). 
 On excursions to Havana, they ate barrels of ice cream and 
 drank "soda pop" bought by Judge Whitlock. There was a 
 famous class party "rich in college lore" at Congressman 
 W. H. Hinrichsen's, whose daughter, Annie, was the young- 
 est member of the Class of '97, The big event of the year 
 outside the College, however, was the annual picnic at the 
 Pitners' beautiful home, Fairview. Year after year in the 
 fall the entire school feasted there on the lawn and rambled 
 through the house. The Pitner picnic became an institution. 
 Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, and Washington's Birthday, 
 were other gala days in the college calendar, although their 
 observance did not originate with this administration. The 
 Hallowe'en Party and the costumed "ball" of February 22 
 were unchanged except in details. The observance of 
 Thanksgiving went through a considerable evolution, how- 
 ever, and acquired a special ritual still treasured as a favorite 
 college custom. For some years after 1893 there was the 
 usual big Thanksgiving dinner, at which Judge Whitlock 
 presided as toastmaster as long as his health permitted. About 
 1900, the YWCA took over all the housework, so that the 
 maids could have the day free, the seniors waited on the 
 tables at breakfast, and girls helped prepare the dinner before 
 they went to church. 346 In 1906, the breakfast was served 
 on the corridors, the girls no longer did the morning chores, 
 but the Sophomore Class decorated the tables; and in the fol- 
 lowing year the procedure was the same, except that the 
 freshmen took over the function of decorating the tables, 
 a practice still continued. By 1910, at least, the resident 
 faculty had assumed the duty of serving the corridor break- 
 fast. Just when the celebrated cinnamon rolls appeared as 
 the main item on the breakfast menu the writer is not cer- 
 tain; they were there in 1921 and likely much before. The 
 dinner was a formal one where girls appeared in "trains," 
 
History of MacMurray College 439 
 
 satin slippers, and feather fans. Some regretted to miss a 
 football game on that day. "What fun it would be to sit 
 on the bleachers and yell at a football game," a girl of 1907 
 exclaimed. "But out of deference to the powers that be 
 who have the development of our Puritan virtues in mind 
 and us in hand, we are here and cheerfully submissive. We 
 have learned that there is no other way." 347 But students 
 came to love their college home Thanksgiving, and old girls 
 returned for it. In 1917, it seems, the first Thanksgiving 
 hockey game took place. Thanksgiving evening programs 
 evolved from a taffy pull in the gymnasium or a magic lan- 
 tern and phonograph entertainment in chapel (Mr. S. W. 
 Nichols once showed his pictures of Mammoth Cave), a 
 faculty recital, or a minstrel by the Mallory Brothers, into 
 a dance in the gymnasium by 1920. 
 
 The Christmas celebration never accumulated the wealth 
 of ritual that Thanksgiving did, since it was spent away from 
 the College. But anticipation of it — counting days, paint- 
 ing china, and doing doilies — filled many weeks. And on the 
 eve there were talks by the lady principal or dean on the 
 "do's and don'ts" of travel. The academy classes, it seems, 
 initiated the custom of Christmas trees, first in their class- 
 rooms, then a tree for the entire school. After the tree, girls 
 sang carols to "shut-ins" in Jacksonville and were regaled 
 on their return by hot chocolate in the home economics room. 
 The YWCA added other Christmas activities — the Christmas 
 Bazaar, the party for the Free Kindergarten children, the 
 doll shows. 
 
 Although they missed football on Thanksgiving, the young 
 ladies attended games occasionally and brought home tro- 
 phies. Memories of these years will include also an assort- 
 ment of Schneider's Band, gramophone parties, kodaks, Sara- 
 toga chips, olives (stuffed and unstuffed) , frappe, flashlight 
 pictures, tally-ho rides, street fairs, visits of the venerable 
 W. H. Milburn and his famous stories of persons and places, 
 Mrs. Lambert's persimmon tree, and Miss Patterson's "pansy 
 bed" of primary children, who romped on the lawn or played 
 
 
440 History of MacMurray College 
 
 "insane asylum" in the basement. Of the picturesque street 
 fairs, one writer declared that at them the girls "no doubt 
 gathered material for future society debates . . . that will go 
 a great way toward proving that the much maligned street 
 fair was not half so black as it was painted." 348 And, of 
 course, there were serenades. Sometimes girls ventured to 
 instruct the boys from the Hill through the press as to 
 what and how and when they should sing. They were asked 
 to sing more than one verse of "Old Kentucky Home" and 
 all of "Lorelei," but not to the tune of "Du Bist wie eine 
 Blume." "And," the writer added, "would it be any 
 hardship for the young gentlemen to come sometime be- 
 tween ten and eleven rather than later?" 349 
 
 As the twentieth century wore on, outside attractions 
 began to gain favor over fudge parties and sewing circles. 
 Banquets with Mr. HeinPs Marechal Niel roses, place cards, 
 candles, and party frocks, waffle breakfasts, dinners at the 
 Grand Hotel or Peacock's were frequent events, always strict- 
 ly chaperoned. Some girls said they were better than ten 
 o'clock, midnight feasts. Automobiles replaced the tally-ho 
 and trolley car. Movies entered with Mary Pickf ord, Charlie 
 Chaplin, Coleen Moore (The Perfect Flapper), and best of 
 all, Rudolph Valentino. Sad was the day when a girl re- 
 ceived a "campus" slip on the day that the latter appeared 
 at "Uncle Tom" Buckthorpe's theatre. 
 
 The change of seasons always had a special fascination 
 for the schoolgirl. Snow fights and sleigh-rides in winter, 
 and an occasional escape from Sunday church service; nut- 
 ting parties and leaf-rakings at the Pitners', the Gates', or on 
 their own lawn in fall. But best of all was spring. They 
 watched for its earliest intimations — the first robin, Wood- 
 son washing windows, dandelions, spring fever, and the study 
 of the spring fashion books. Even in the jazz age they were 
 still romantic, and in 1924, hailed spring's coming: 
 
 When the front steps are crowded with a strictly feminine population 
 that seems content to sit there and yet wishes to be walking, that makes 
 occasional references to the moon or the beauty of the night and does not 
 feci foolish, then you may be sure that spring is at least on the way. Spring 
 
History of MacMurray College 441 
 
 makes anything possible. It accomplishes the task of making the worst 
 pessimist see a bit of the good in everything, even in examinations and 
 such. It exhilarates the optimist past all doubt. We become a nation 
 of Pippas even as early as March. And especially here in Jacksonville at 
 the Illinois Woman's College. 
 
 Spring works wonders here. The trees that gave some of the inspira- 
 tion for our college song leaf out into a sort of canopy made of green 
 breezes. The good old serenaders who have been hibernating all winter 
 appear in Harker Court and strive among themselves for individual star- 
 dom as well as for our entertainment. 350 
 
 Always changing, ever the same. The jazz-age girl, free 
 of some Victorian fashions and inhibitions, was under the 
 surface much the same. These were the daughters of Rachel 
 Harris, Mary Rutledge, Belle Lambert, Jennie Kinman, or 
 the granddaughters of Alice McElroy or Margaret Morri- 
 son. Their mothers and grandmothers were still in the back- 
 ground. Sometimes they appeared in the foreground. Sophia 
 Naylor Grubb came to chapel to give "sprightly talks on 
 'From '52 to '97' " Mrs. Lambert, as trustee and alumnae 
 secretary, as hostess to girls in her home or under her per- 
 simmon tree, was a fairy godmother, as were "Daddy" and 
 "Mother" Gates at their famous Sunday night suppers. 
 To Mrs. Alice McElroy Griffith, often at "Fairview" and 
 a visitor in the College, the following tribute was paid upon 
 her death by a member of the Class of '23, a tribute that 
 might be paid to many others: 
 
 She used to come to us on festive days — 
 That college girl of years ago — and speak 
 Of all the trial and glory of the past, 
 And say our College was a growing thing, 
 And that the future, if we also worked, 
 Would be more glorious. She loved it so. 
 It was her life; she watched its every change. 
 And now that she has gone, we promise her 
 That we will keep the faith its makers had — 
 That her devotion, like a spreading fire 
 Shall burn up what is selfish in our hearts, 
 Shall heat them for new service and new faith 
 To make our College beautiful and great. 351 
 If many of the little things, the small round of ac- 
 tivities, the persons and places that filled the lives of the 
 students, their joys and sorrow seem of small consequence 
 
44^ History of MjcMurray College 
 
 in the general scheme of things, one might be reminded that 
 to them these things were important and that they them- 
 selves "'ere 5:rn:£ja::: ai a >.:ce of America. 
 
 DOCTOR. ITARKFR RETIRES: PRESIDENT HSCEBJTL'S 
 
 In the spring of 1925 the Board of Trustees granted a 
 year's leave of absence to Doctor and Mrs. Harker. After 
 spending some months on the Pacific Coast with children 
 and alumnae, they returned to the College in January to 
 leave again in March for Europe. Three months the;* spent 
 in France, Switzerland, and England. At Chateau-Thierry 
 they visited the Julian ^"adsworths and married Vera ^Tard- 
 ner, 5 2L to Ronald Dougan. Their daughter., Patricia Dou- 
 gan, is now a student in MacMurray. In England. Doctor 
 and Mrs. Harker visited his old home in Durham. Mrs. 
 Harker's sudden illness hastened their return home. 
 
 On October 10, 1924, Doctor Harker announced to the 
 nKTiilive committee his intention to retire in June 192). 
 "I have counted it the greatest honor of my life that I was 
 called to the presidency of the College nearly thirty- two 
 years i::." he declared, "and I have enjoyed the work be- 
 yond expression. I have always regarded it as a divine call." 2 
 tr But." he added, "as the years go by we become increasingly 
 aware of the limitations of age. The College is constantly 
 enlarging, and we cannot much longer face increasing re- 
 sponsibilities with decreasing strength. The time has now 
 fully come when the interests of the College will be best 
 served if I step aside for a younger and more vigorous man." 
 His decision was another example of his excellent sense of 
 timing. In July 1925. Doctor McClelland was chosen as 
 
 Doctor Harker was made president emeritus and continued 
 to serve as vice president of the Board of Trustees. Upon 
 his request, he was granted a home across East State in front 
 of the College. His deep concern for the College might have 
 made his continued participation in its affairs embarrassing 
 for the new administration, which showed patience, respect. 
 and consideration for him on all occasions. For thirteen 
 
History of MacMurray College 443 
 
 years Doctor Harker was a familiar figure on the campus he 
 loved so well. On Founders' Days and other special occasions 
 and in chapel services he loved to relate the history and tradi- 
 tions of the College. He spent much time compiling it and 
 writing his Eventide Memories. After a very brief illness he 
 died on July 8, 193 8, and was laid to rest in Diamond Grove 
 Cemetery. 
 
 Doctor Harker had had a spectacular career as a man and 
 as an educator. His personal success has sometimes been com- 
 pared to a Horatio Alger romance. For the College he had 
 achieved a monumental work against great odds. But one 
 must agree with the appreciation of him expressed by Presi- 
 dent McClelland in his funeral message. Doctor Harker's 
 achievements should not be evaluated on a quantitative basis, 
 he declared, but in terms of the personality he developed and 
 the quality of the education he provided. i:: It is for this 
 character he built and the hundreds of lives he helped in 
 and through the building of it that he might be called the 
 "Little Giant/' a name sometimes applied to him. These lives 
 are his finest monument. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 zMACMURRAY COLLEGE FACES 
 THE FUTURE 
 
 PRESIDENT CLARENCE P. MCCLELLAND, 1925 
 
 As one looks at the beautiful campus of MacMurray 
 College in the month of April, Centennial Year of 
 1946 — at Old Main with the Japanese magnolia 
 ("Maggie") in full bloom in the foreground, the forsythia, 
 daffodils, red bud, tulips, and Lilac Court in the background, 
 at the lovely expanse! of ground extending on down to the 
 Brook, at the dignified Georgian architecture of the newer 
 buildings — McClelland Hall, Ann Rutledge, Jane, the Pfeif- 
 f er Library, and MacMurray Science Hall — one wishes that 
 William Rutledge could see the cornfield that he bought for 
 $500 in 1846. And, when one sees the seven hundred and 
 more women who annually receive here their education, 
 one is convinced that he was correct in his faith and judg- 
 ment that this same ground would produce a good crop of 
 young ladies. 
 
 During the administration of Doctor Clarence P. Mc- 
 Clelland the expansion of MacMurray College — physical, 
 financial, and academic — has been remarkable. It weathered 
 an economic depression of alarming proportions and a second 
 world war. Its promise for the future encouraged a self- 
 made "captain of industry" to give a large proportion of his 
 fortune to its buildings and endowment. It has become what 
 Peter Akers and Peter Cartwright intended — the leading 
 institution for the education of young women in the Middle 
 West. Located in the heart of America, it is perhaps more 
 
 444 
 
History of MacMurray College 445 
 
 typically American, less sectional in character, than the 
 schools of the East. It has grown with the Middle West, 
 endured and survived the hardships of pioneer life and fron- 
 tier finance, and preserved the democratic spirit of the 
 people from which it sprang. Today, through continuous 
 criticism and reform of its program of education, the ad- 
 ministration and faculty seek to prepare young women for 
 life in the "Atomic Age." 
 
 THE EDUCATION OF CLARENCE P. MCCLELLAND 
 
 This eighth president of MacMurray introduced another 
 national and regional element into the cultural composition 
 and tradition of the College. Born in Dobbs Ferry, New 
 York, in 1883, he is the son of a Scotsman, Charles P. 
 McClelland, who arrived in the United States at the age 
 of seventeen, in 1871, and Janette Meta Babcock McClelland, 
 school teacher and native of Massachusetts. Charles P. Mc- 
 Clelland, graduate in law from New York University, soon 
 achieved distinction in political and legal circles, served in 
 both houses of the New York State Legislature and in 1903 
 was named judge of the United States Customs Court at 
 New York by President Theodore Roosevelt, a position he 
 held until his retirement in 1939. In 1934, he was made pre- 
 siding judge in this court by the appointment of President 
 Franklin D. Roosevelt. Indicative of his reputation in poli- 
 tics, ex-President Cleveland wrote of him: "He is a Scotch- 
 man and the stubborness of his race runs toward honesty. 
 And so far as he is a politician he has not been accustomed to 
 follow party leaders unless his notions of right lead him in 
 the same direction." 1 From Grover Cleveland this was the 
 height of praise. From his retirement in 1939 until his death 
 in 1944, Judge McClelland was a familiar and beloved figure 
 on the MacMurray campus. He donated the beautiful Charles 
 P. McClelland Bowling Green and introduced the game of 
 English lawn bowling, which he loved. In 1941, the Board 
 of Trustees conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doc- 
 tor of Laws. President McClelland was very proud of his 
 father. The father in turn was proud of the two educator- 
 
446 History of MacMurray College 
 
 sons with whom he had endowed American higher education, 
 the elder son, Doctor George W. McClelland, being president 
 of the University of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Son of educated parents, who lived in comfortable cir- 
 cumstances, product of the eastern metropolis, Clarence P. 
 McClelland enjoyed opportunities for culture superior to 
 those of any preceding president. He received his early 
 education at a private school for boys, the Westminster 
 School, conducted according to the English classical tradition, 
 and at Centenary Collegiate Institute, Hackettstown, New 
 Jersey. 2 With his father he made several trips abroad during 
 summer vacations. After completing his secondary educa- 
 tion, he worked four years for the Mutual Life Insurance 
 Company of New York. In 1903, he decided to enter the 
 Methodist ministry and enrolled in Wesleyan University at 
 Middletown, Connecticut. In college he exhibited his broad 
 range of interests and his versatility through leadership in 
 baseball, debate, dramatics, the Glee Club, and the YMCA. 
 His major field of study was English literature, especially 
 poetry, his devotion to which is reflected in all his writings 
 and addresses, although in later years the broader field of 
 social and political philosophy has drawn more of his atten- 
 tion. After his graduation from Wesleyan in 1907, he 
 entered Drew Theological Seminary, from which school he 
 received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1910. In 
 1920, Syracuse University conferred upon him the degree 
 of Doctor of Sacred Theology. From his Alma Mater he has 
 received the degree of Doctor of Divinity and from Illinois 
 Wesleyan that of Doctor of Laws. In 1910, he was married 
 to Mary E. Adams, of Philadelphia and a graduate of Goucher 
 College. The two had met as members of the same choir 
 and the same circle of young people, the "Philadobbs," from 
 Philadelphia and Dobbs Ferry, who enjoyed vacations at 
 Ocean Grove, New Jersey, in the happy days before World 
 War I. Mrs. McClelland, a Presbyterian, had to enter at 
 once upon the duties of a Methodist minister's wife. 
 
 Doctor McClelland held pastorates in Pine Plains, Harts- 
 
History of MacMurray College 447 
 
 dale, and Peekskill, New York, to all of which he brought 
 material improvements and an especially progressive work 
 among the young people. At Peekskill, where he served a 
 large congregation, his church was host to the New York 
 Conference. Here he met Chester D. Pugsley and Chester 
 A. Smith, who later financed annual Institutes on Public 
 Affairs at MacMurray. In 1917, the New York Conference 
 named Doctor McClelland president of Drew Seminary for 
 Young Women at Carmel, New York. As president of this 
 school from 1917 to 1925, he doubled the enrollment, ad- 
 vanced the curriculum, expanded the campus, and erected 
 new buildings. From this position he was called in 1925 to 
 the presidency of the Illinois Woman's College. 
 
 As a citizen of "historic Morgan and classic Jacksonville" 
 and of the State of Illinois, Doctor McClelland has filled 
 a large place in the religious, philanthropic, and public life 
 of the community as well as in education. An active member 
 of the Morgan County Historical Society, he has written for 
 its meetings several monographs later published in the Journal 
 of the Illinois State Historical Society. His contribution to 
 state historical studies has been recognized by his appoint- 
 ment as president of the Board of Trustees of the State 
 Historical Library at Springfield. He has served as president 
 of the State Federation of Colleges, as a member of the 
 Governor's Commission on Taxation and Education and on 
 Veterans Education, and as member of the National Council 
 of the YMCA. And he has been a director of the Association 
 of American Colleges. During his years as president of 
 MacMurray he has made two summer trips to Europe as a 
 member of the Sherwood Eddy Seminar, on the second of 
 which he was accompanied by Mrs. McClelland. Following 
 these trips he was invited to deliver a series of lectures over 
 the State on political conditions in Europe. One of these 
 lectures is included with other addresses, especially on his 
 educational philosophy, in a book published in 1935 under 
 the intriguing title, Question Marks and Exclamation "Points? 
 Doctor McClelland has been a constant student of the 
 
448 History of MacMurray College 
 
 process of education in America and its changing currents. 
 His ideas on education are discussed below. 
 
 The home life and the family of college presidents, at 
 least at MacMurray, become "institutional property." In 
 spite of the greatly increased enrollment in recent years, 
 Doctor and Mrs. McClelland still entertain all the students 
 at some time during the year. The friendly spirit of a "col- 
 lege home" is thus maintained. Three hundred freshmen 
 are entertained in small groups at Saturday and Sunday eve- 
 ning supper parties that extend throughout the year well 
 into the spring. The president's home, bought early in this 
 administration, remodelled, and used for several years as a 
 senior residence, was formerly the home of Doctor J. W. 
 Hairgrove. Before that it was the residence of Doctor J. 
 P. Willard, whose maternal grandfather, a brickmason, had 
 laid the cornerstone of the original Main Building. Its 
 lovely stairway is one of the architectural gems of Jack- 
 sonville. This home gives a beautiful setting for the formal 
 luncheons, suppers, and teas for students and faculty. 
 
 "An appreciation of Mrs. McClelland" adopted by the 
 Board of Trustees in its annual meeting in May 1945 was 
 presented to her at the alumnae luncheon in May 1946. 
 From this the following paragraphs are taken: 
 
 Among our contemporaries we think of many noble women who have 
 loved and served and lifted and inspired. Such a woman has for a genera- 
 tion given of her love and service to MacMurray College. While her 
 husband has served the college as its President and Administrator, Mary 
 McClelland has been an inspiration to him, to the members of the Board 
 and Faculty, and to an ever changing student body. 
 
 To a degree over and beyond her line of duty she has given of herself 
 to the life of the College. She has been an inspiring wife, a noble mother 
 and a devoted friend. Her house has been a bit of home to many a 
 homesick student. Her friendly counsel has been a solace to many a 
 troubled spirit. To the Faculty and Trustees this gracious lady has been 
 a charming hostess, a warm friend, a queenly woman. 
 
 The five children of Doctor and Mrs. McClelland have 
 grown up on the campus. Two sons are graduates of Wes- 
 leyan University, Connecticut; one of them, a Doctor of 
 Philosophy of Yale, is now on the faculty of this oldest 
 Methodist college in the United States. The other son is 
 
CLARENCE P. McCLELLAND 
 President 192 5- 
 
mary e. McClelland 
 
History of MacMurray College 449 
 
 a chemist with the United Carbon and Carbide Company, 
 in New York City. The three daughters have attended 
 MacMurray, and the eldest is an alumna. The other two 
 chose to take their final years in Carleton College and Duke 
 University. The busy life of a college president has not 
 left Doctor McClelland much time for sports, to which 
 he is devoted. Nevertheless, he can sometimes be seen on 
 the bowling green, endeared to him no doubt through its as- 
 sociation with his father. Here he gives informal instruc- 
 tion to students or members of the faculty in this interest- 
 ing game of ancient origin. 
 
 The future of the Illinois Woman's College was far from 
 assured at the time Doctor McClelland assumed the presi- 
 dency. Doctor Harker had done a monumental work in 
 raising it to the rank of a first-class college. It has required 
 equally heroic effort on the part of Doctor McClelland to 
 bring it to the place it occupies today. And there is no 
 point for stopping. 
 
 THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: SENATOR JAMES E. MACMURRAY 
 
 The function of Boards of Trustees in most present-day 
 colleges, including this college, is a limited one. They choose 
 the president and leave to him the responsibility for ad- 
 ministration. On the whole, this may be the most satis- 
 factory arrangement; more satisfactory at least than the 
 intervention of the Board in the details of administration. 
 That Boards of Trustees should have a larger share in the 
 formulation of general policies, however, might be a con- 
 structive departure. President McClelland has presented 
 the academic problems and his educational policies to the 
 Board of Trustees in great detail and has even introduced 
 its members to the merits of concentration papers. In all of 
 this the trustees express interest. But, aside from the work of 
 the executive and finance committees which have given 
 some counsel and assistance in the administration of col- 
 lege property, the burden of administration, financial as 
 well as academic, has been left largely to the president. 
 
450 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Formerly, when the membership was smaller and generally 
 local, it was easy to assemble the Board for regular and spe- 
 cial meetings. Today the larger part of the Board is not 
 local, a number live outside Illinois, and some are scattered 
 from New York to California. Recent Boards have been 
 comprised almost entirely of laymen. The proportion of 
 women on the Board has been increased by the election of 
 several in addition to the six alumnae trustees. Nine of 
 the present Board of twenty-four are women; and, for the 
 first time, a woman is president of the Board. 
 
 Certain changes have been made in the organization of- 
 the Board of Trustees during this administration, some of 
 which were long overdue. Financially, the College had grown 
 beyond a small private concern, in which the income be- 
 longed to the president, to a corporate business of consider- 
 able importance, but its organization and its administration 
 of finance had not been changed. Early in this administration 
 President McClelland had moved the appointment of an in- 
 vestment committee and the adoption of by-laws to specify 
 needed committees and outline their duties and limitations, 
 and these proposals were approved. 4 By-laws drawn up by 
 J. W. Walton and R. Y. Rowe were adopted in 1928 5 An- 
 other change, made upon the suggestion of Mr. MacMurray, 
 concerned the method of composing the Board of Trustees 
 and required an amendment to the charter. 6 According to 
 the charter, the Illinois Conference nominated persons to 
 fill vacancies, the Board elected (in fact the Board always 
 suggested nominees to the Conference). Mr. MacMurray 
 preferred that the initiative belong legally, as well as actual- 
 ly, to the Board. Now, the Board elects; the Conference con- 
 firms. Although the technical dependence on the Confer- 
 ence exists, the Board is practically a self -perpetuating body. 
 
 Relations between the College and the Illinois Conference 
 have remained otherwise unchanged. Official visitors have 
 issued enthusiastic commendation of its material and aca- 
 demic progress and of its Christian spirit and ideals and its 
 religious program. Certain ministers have been perturbed 
 
History of MacMurray College 451 
 
 at times at changes in social customs and practices, and have 
 had fears that advancement in the academic qualifications 
 of the faculty has not always brought teachers active in 
 church work. 7 Some have complained that weekends are 
 too full of other activities. 8 These are criticisms that any 
 church-related school must expect from some individuals 
 and groups in the Church, who often overlook the fact that 
 habits of attendance or non-attendance upon religious serv- 
 ices are pretty well fixed before a student enters college. 
 
 Although the participation of the Board of Trustees in 
 the actual administration of the College has been slight, cer- 
 tain members of the Board have played a prominent part as 
 individuals in the advancement of the institution during 
 these two decades. Foremost among these was James E. Mac- 
 Murray, one-time state senator in Illinois, in whose honor 
 the College was given its present name in 1930. The chief 
 facts in his biography have been related in a book, The Man 
 From Missouri, by George R. Grose. 9 Of Scotch descent, 
 Mr. MacMurray's ancestors had migrated to Virginia, and 
 the family reached Missouri by way of Kentucky before the 
 Civil War. Here he grew up on a farm, but at the age of 
 sixteen decided that he would not become a farmer. From 
 country school-teaching, he was able to extend his own 
 education in district schools, and at the age of twenty en- 
 tered Chaddock College, a Methodist school located at 
 Quincy, Illinois. Here he studied the classics and took the 
 course in law, and upon graduation opened a law practice 
 in Quincy. This profession did not offer adequate oppor- 
 tunity for his energies and ambition, and he soon left it for 
 a business career — that virgin field which attracted the in- 
 ventive, creative, and organizing genius of America in the 
 last half of the nineteenth century. By way of the Quincy 
 Hardware Company, he arrived at the head of the Acme 
 Steel Corporation, of Chicago, when he was still a young 
 man. In this company he made a fortune of some millions. 
 The last years of his life he devoted to the enjoyment of his 
 
452 History of MacMurray College 
 
 wealth in world travel and to the greater enjoyment of in- 
 vesting it in MacMurray College. 
 
 As an active member of the Methodist Church, Mr. Mac- 
 Murray chose the Illinois Woman's College as the school 
 for his elder daughter, Miriam. Attracted by Doctor Har- 
 ker's energetic effort to build a standard college, he was 
 encouraged to give some financial assistance, and up to 1925 
 had contributed about $45,000. 10 In 1916, he accepted a 
 place on the Board of Trustees, and in 1921 was made presi- 
 dent of the Board. During the administration of President 
 McClelland he gave to the buildings and endowment of the 
 College more than $4,000,000. The complete story of these 
 benefactions has been told and a beautiful appreciation of 
 Mr. MacMurray as a person and as a friend expressed by 
 Doctor McClelland in his Founders' Day address, of October 
 8, 1943, published by the College. 11 The history of these 
 gifts will appear in the story of the financial and material 
 expansion of the College. The spirit and manner of his 
 giving deserve a word here. 
 
 As a cautious businessman, Mr. MacMurray made up his 
 mind to give his money with considerable deliberation, but, 
 having decided where to put it, he placed no limitations to 
 and established no controls over its use. As a "captain of 
 industry" of the age of rugged individualism, the philosophy 
 of which stuck with him throughout life, his views on poli- 
 tics and economics differed no doubt from those of the 
 present administration. He made no attempt to control 
 educational policies or practices. This attitude thus removed 
 an embarrassment often found in the endowment of schools 
 by men of large wealth. Mr. MacMurray had simply con- 
 cluded that this college was doing a fine work in the educa- 
 tion of young women, that it was conducted under Chris- 
 tian influences, and that it was a good place to invest his 
 money. Its advancement under President McClelland's ad- 
 ministration had been a great satisfaction to him, he de- 
 clared, and he added: "MacMurray College has been more 
 to me than I have to the College." 12 
 
History of MacMurray College 453 
 
 These observations should not lead one to conclude that 
 Mr. MacMurray did not take a direct and personal interest 
 in the College. He and Mrs. Jane MacMurray (who died 
 in 1937) made many visits to the campus. The two Scotch- 
 men, the two "Macs," featured in campus snapshots and 
 stories, were genial friends and companions. The death of 
 Mr. MacMurray in 1943 was a great personal bereavement 
 to President McClelland. When Mr. and Mrs. MacMurray 
 returned to the College after their trips to Europe or around 
 the world, the entire school gathered in the Social Room, 
 made elegant by their gifts, to listen to Mrs. MacMurray's 
 interesting stories of their travels. Mr. MacMurray took 
 personal interest and pride in "his girls"; and, as one girl 
 put it, "charmed his way into their hearts." He liked to 
 make the physical accommodation of the College comfort- 
 able and attractive for them. Aside from his larger gifts, 
 he and Mrs. MacMurray made innumerable smaller ones for 
 some repair, some special adornment. Her zeal was equal 
 to his in trying to make the College the equal of any in the 
 country. 
 
 Other members of the MacMurray family have served 
 on the Board of Trustees. For several years a son-in-law, 
 Edward J. Winters, businessman of Chicago and New York, 
 was a trustee. Donald MacMurray, only son of Mr. Mac- 
 Murray, was a member of the Board several years before 
 his death in 1939; and Miriam MacMurray Martin, daugh- 
 ter and former student, took his seat. Upon the death of 
 Mr. MacMurray, his widow, Mrs. Kathryn MacMurray, of 
 Pasadena, California, was made trustee and the president of 
 the Board. 
 
 In the first year of this administration two outstanding 
 men of the Board were removed by death — Doctors Ed- 
 mund J. James and C. E. Welch. Both left additional gifts 
 to the College. In memory of Doctor Welch (and Doctor 
 Harker) the Welch -Harker lectures on Christian Missions 
 and World Peace, have been established. Several other trus- 
 tees retired or passed away within a few years, but some 
 
454 History of MacMurray College 
 
 members who were here to welcome Doctor McClelland as 
 president have continued up to the present — H. M. Andre, 
 T. A. Chapin, R. Y. Rowe, E. E. Crabtree (died 1946), 
 and Fletcher Blackburn — all of Jacksonville. Chapin and 
 Rowe, as members of the executive committee, and Crab- 
 tree, as treasurer, were among the few who did the real 
 work of the Board. Another member of this first board, 
 A. C. Metcalf, college registrar, served as secretary until 
 his death in 1942, when his place was taken by Rowe. 
 Among the new men added during this administration none 
 have been more faithful in service than Mr. A. C. Craw- 
 ford, prominent Methodist businessman of Chicago. He 
 has been active in encouraging patronage in the Chicago 
 area. He and Mrs. Crawford, like the MacMurrays, have 
 been frequent visitors on the campus, have studied the 
 numerous and recurring needs for improvement and equip- 
 ment, and have given many personally selected gifts as well 
 as generous donations in money. The electric clock system, 
 dishes for the senior house, stacks and books for the library, 
 and furnishings for social rooms are among their many con- 
 tributions that have enhanced the comfort and beauty of 
 the "college home." The presence of their daughter, Lu- 
 cille, at MacMurray as student and, since her graduation, 
 as assistant librarian, has made closer their ties with the 
 College. Mr. Charles F. Eichenauer, editor of one of the 
 outstanding journals of the State, the Quincy Herald-Whig, 
 a man of broad and liberal views in politics, national and in- 
 ternational, was a trustee for fourteen years and until his 
 death in 1945. He had served on the executive committee and 
 was chairman of the centennial committee. Mr. Eichen- 
 auer added intellectual weight and height to the Board and 
 to the process of education of young women in the College. 
 He was a frequent speaker at chapel and in the Institutes 
 on Public Affairs. In friendship with him Doctor McClel- 
 land found great satisfaction. He was a member of the 
 group with whom the president visited Europe in 1937. 
 Another editor recently added to the Board is Milburn 
 
History of MacMurray College 455 
 
 Akers, member of the editorial staff of the Chicago Sun and 
 great-grandson of Peter Akers. On Founders' Day 1945, 
 he delivered an address, "The Year of Decision," comparing 
 the America of 1846, the year of decision for women's edu- 
 cation in the Illinois Conference and for manifest destiny 
 in the United States, with the problems and outlook of 1946, 
 its centennial year. 13 
 
 Among others who have been added to the Board from 
 time to time during this administration are H. L. Caldwell, 
 Hugh Green, Chester A. Hemphill, and Albert H. Dollear — 
 all business and professional men of Jacksonville. Doctor 
 Dollear, one of the outstanding men in the medical profes- 
 sion in the State, has been a mainstay on the executive com- 
 mittee. Reverend C. F. Buker, superintendent of the Jack- 
 sonville District of the Illinois Conference, was a trustee 
 for several years, and Doctor Merle N. English, pastor of 
 the Oak Park Methodist Church. Out-of-town business 
 and professional men on the Board have included Chester 
 D. Pugsley, of New York, Troy Appleby, of Cincinnati, 
 Mac Irwin, of Quincy, and Lester O. Schriver, of Peoria. 
 Their addresses indicate the wider geographical distribution 
 of the trustees. C. H. Thrall, of Bloomington, executive 
 secretary of the Board of Education of the Illinois Con- 
 ference and chairman of the historical committee for the 
 MacMurray Centennial, has been a member of the Board 
 for some years. Until his death in 1938, Doctor Harker 
 was an ex officio member of the Board as president emeritus 
 and held the office of vice president. 
 
 Among the women who have held positions as alumnae 
 trustees during this administration are several whose names 
 were mentioned in the preceding chapter. Two of these — 
 Mrs. Marietta Mathers Rowe and Mrs. Belle Short Lam- 
 bert — were elected by the Board as honorary trustees when 
 they retired from active membership. Other alumnae trus- 
 tees have been: Mrs. Erma Elliott Johnston, '14, Millicent 
 Rowe Samuell, '11, Ann Marshall Orr, '13, Alice W. Apple- 
 bee, '05, Louise Gates Eddy, '12, Nina Wagner Sherman, '11, 
 
456 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Rae Lewis Kendall, '99, Alice Hand Agger, '26, Martha 
 Byland Landis, '28, Elizabeth Mathers Goebel, '05, Ann 
 Scott Fogler, '32, and Amelia DeMotte, '36. Two of these are 
 descendants of President DeMotte — Amelia, his daughter, 
 and Louise Gates Eddy, a granddaughter. Mrs. Rowe and 
 Mrs. Goebel are descendants of founders Akers and Mathers. 
 Mrs. Landis had served the College as field representative 
 and Mrs. Agger as a member of the faculty. Since becom- 
 ing a trustee in 1928, Mrs. Orr, of St. Louis, has taken a 
 deep interest in her Alma Mater and has been a frequent 
 visitor to the campus. In 1944, she made one of the most 
 unique gifts the College has ever received — the beautiful 
 porch of Old Main, with its high columns, harmonizing 
 this building with the Georgian features of the newer build- 
 ings — costing $10,000. Women trustees other than alumnae 
 have included Mrs. Mary Hardtner Blackstock, of Spring- 
 field, Mrs. Ernest L. Waldorf, widow of Bishop Waldorf, of 
 Wilmette, Mrs. M. C. Gamble, of Peoria, and Mrs. Kathryn 
 MacMurray and Miriam MacMurray Martin mentioned 
 above. 
 
 EXPANSION OF MAC MURRAY: THE TWENTY- YEAR 
 DEVELOPMENT PLAN 
 
 It is easy for a "foreigner," such as the writer, to become 
 enthusiastic in praise of the MacMurray campus and build- 
 ings today. Daughters of MacMurray acquainted with the 
 limitations of the past must be proud indeed. This phase 
 of his work, Doctor McClelland has declared to be the body 
 only, the foundation for the educational edifice. But beau- 
 tiful surroundings are an educative force, too. The improve- 
 ments made in the "body" of the College have been no easy 
 achievement. In 1925, the Illinois Woman's College was 
 not yet out of the woods, educationally speaking. The de- 
 pression, rapidly approaching, discouraged the large scale 
 money-raising for schools that had characterized the post- 
 war boom era. A fire, a flood, and the chinch bug that 
 destroyed crops were forerunners of the real depression of 
 the early 'thirties. The ability to face difficulties, even 
 
History of MacMurray College 457 
 
 tragedies, courageously had ample chance for demonstra- 
 tion, and, if Mr. MacMurray was waiting for proof of the 
 sturdiness of the institution in weathering adversities before 
 investing his money, he could have found it. 
 
 The first year of the new administration was a sufficiently 
 encouraging beginning. The president was able to report 
 an increase of regular college enrollment from 259 to 304; 
 an addition of $108,000 to the endowment funds and an 
 increase of more than $3,000 in income from endowment; 
 an increase of $24,292 in income from other sources; and 
 the creation of a Loyalty Fund of annual contributions by 
 alumnae to be used as needed after the expenses of the Asso- 
 ciation were paid. 14 When the year began, the Bi-Confer- 
 ence Campaign collections were still incomplete and about 
 $50,000 more was needed in order to secure the remaining 
 payments from the General Education Board. By Septem- 
 ber more than enough was collected to obtain the remainder 
 of that fund. During the spring a "Game of Time" con- 
 test was initiated in the College to raise funds for endow- 
 ment. The president, trustees, faculty, and students "bought 
 time." Students bought days and sold the hours. They 
 resorted again to the time-honored methods of raising cash 
 by selling food and services. It was flood time, and the city 
 water was muddy. Two girls sold Gravel Springs water for 
 three cents a glass. More than $4,000 was raised, and all 
 enjoyed the picnic at Nichols Park. 15 Such campaigns con- 
 tributed even more to morale than to coffers. 
 
 The prestige and dignity of the College were enhanced 
 by the inaugural ceremonies that closed the year. Former 
 presidents, Doctor Harker observed whimsically, had been 
 "dumped" into office. One president — Doctor Adams — had 
 delivered an inaugural address at the commencement pre- 
 ceding his entrance upon the duties of office, but there was 
 no ceremony of inauguration. The inauguration of Presi- 
 dent McClelland was attended by official delegates from 
 more than sixty colleges and universities, among them seven 
 college presidents. Doctor Florence E. S. Knapp, Secretary 
 
458 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of State of New York and Dean of the School of Home 
 Economics of Syracuse University, was one of the speakers 
 along with Doctor Raymond L. Forman, of New York City 
 and long-time friend of President McClelland, who also de- 
 livered the commencement address. President McClelland's 
 inaugural address was a vigorous declaration of faith in the 
 essential intelligence and virtue of the much maligned mod- 
 ern youth, then at the height of the jazz age, and a statement 
 of his ideals for the education of women. 16 
 
 In February 1926, President McClelland had recom- 
 mended to the executive committee of the Board of Trus- 
 tees the adoption of a definite plan for future expansion 
 of grounds, building, and endowment. Surveys were made, 
 and such a plan was sanctioned by the Board of Trustees 
 in May of that year. As finally elaborated, this plan called 
 for the addition of $1,500,000 in buildings and grounds and 
 $3,000,000 in endowment by 1946. 17 Four years before 
 this date these objectives had been realized. The most press- 
 ing need of the College and the first item in the plan of ex- 
 pansion was a combined science and classroom building. 
 Old Main was still an all-purpose building with offices, class- 
 rooms, laboratories, library, social rooms, and dormitories. 
 In the summer of 1926, Mr. MacMurray agreed to President 
 McClelland's proposal that he give $125,000 on condition 
 that friends of the College contribute an equal amount. It 
 was a bad time for a general campaign for funds in an 
 agricultural area, where seventy-five per cent of the land 
 was up for sale at one-half price and without buyers even 
 at that price. 18 Nevertheless, the City of Jacksonville re- 
 sponded with more than $40,000 in a short campaign ably 
 managed by Mr. E. E. Crabtree, and students and faculty 
 gave more than $1 8,000. 19 Doctor McClelland was able 
 to report to the Board in May 1927 that $83,000 had already 
 been raised. Mr. MacMurray agreed to release his gift and 
 the cornerstone of MacMurray Science Hall was laid by 
 him as a feature of the commencement program. 20 The 
 building was ready for use for the second semester of the 
 
History of MacMurray College 459 
 
 next year. After living entirely under one roof (except 
 for the adjoining gymnasium), students declared they felt 
 very "collegiate" going out to class and were delighted with 
 the fine appointments of the new hall. One girl declared 
 she had to buy a new yellow "slicker" and adorn it after 
 the fashion of the ancient autograph albums in honor of the 
 occasion. At the commencement of 1928 the MacMurray 
 Science Hall was dedicated. Bishop F. J. McConnell spoke 
 on "The Relation of Science and Religion," Doctor Knight 
 Dunlap, of the Johns Hopkins University, on "The Place of 
 Science in a Woman's College," and the venerable Jane 
 Addams on "Efforts Toward World Peace." It was a great 
 day. 
 
 The new building, erected at a cost of about $230,000, 
 was an excellently equipped modern structure, Georgian in 
 style of architecture. It contained ten laboratories for 
 chemistry, biology, physics, and home economics (includ- 
 ing a complete apartment for housekeeping for the classes 
 in home management, furnished by Andre and Andre and 
 said to be their masterpiece), a large lecture room, nine 
 classrooms, and five conference rooms. Located on the 
 west side of Clay Avenue, it advanced the campus in its 
 westward extension. Other new buildings were to take a 
 southern direction. Old Main and Harker now experi- 
 enced one of the periodic moving days. The library was 
 enlarged by the addition of the president's office and the 
 former business offices, which were relegated along with the 
 Secretarial Department to rooms in Harker, formerly occu- 
 pied by the Home Economics Department. The Social Room 
 was enlarged by the inclusion of the romance language 
 classrooms. The old chemistry laboratory was added to 
 the dining room and the physics laboratory made into a town 
 girls' room. The Lambda Alpha Mu and Theta Sigma soci- 
 eties were given more commodious quarters adjoining the 
 Belles Lettres and Phi Nu halls, and the four freshman soci- 
 eties received larger rooms in Main. Better provisions were 
 made for the Greetings and the YWCA. In the summer 
 
460 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of 1926, Mrs. MacMurray had given money for the installa- 
 tion of a college post office in the basement of Main with 
 lock boxes for faculty and students. This accommodation 
 removed a long-standing complaint of students at delay in 
 getting their mail. All these other alterations and improve- 
 ments were made possible by further gifts of the MacMur- 
 rays. Inside the front hall of Main a beautiful chest had 
 been added to the memorabilia of the College, a gift of Doc- 
 tor Julian Wadsworth, the commencement speaker of 1928. 
 This chest, carved by him with the college seal on the top 
 and figures of the twelve apostles on the sides, contains at 
 present the service used in the annual senior communion. 
 
 In spite of the removal of some classrooms and all the 
 laboratories from Main and Harker, more dormitory space 
 was needed. The enrollment had increased from 259 to 342 
 by 1928. In the fall of 1926, the former Hairgrove (Wil- 
 lard) and Black houses were opened to seniors, and became 
 West Senior House and East Senior House respectively. 
 These houses, distinguished by their former residents and 
 graced by the presence of Miss Mary Johnston and Mrs. 
 Caroline Hart as hostesses, not only gave relief to the pres- 
 sure for space in Main and Harker but deserved recognition 
 to upperclassmen. Doctor Carl E. Black donated a beautiful 
 guest register for the East House, where his famous father 
 had lived. Mrs. A. C. Crawford gave tea services (also 
 memory books to all seniors) . Life was domesticated to 
 the point of the introduction of the family cat and the 
 planting of trees and flowers. The buildings were explored 
 for ghosts. Soon these houses could not accommodate all 
 seniors; there were fifty in 1927-28. President McClelland 
 began to consider the opening of another house. In the 
 meantime, a tearoom, the Corner Cupboard (now the Town 
 House), had been opened in 1927, and here meals as well 
 as tea were served. Although it provided a pleasant feature 
 of campus life, it was not able to compete successfully with 
 "Ham's" and was closed. The present Hub has proved a 
 more popular resort. 
 
MacMURRAY hall 
 
u 
 
History of MacMurray College 461 
 
 A tragic occurrence on February 22, 1929, interrupted 
 the progress that had attended the administration up to 
 this point and resulted in a decline of enrollment in 1929-30. 
 In the course of a Washington's Birthday Party in the gym- 
 nasium, a fire, started apparently from the powder from a 
 flashlight picture, caught the stage curtain. 21 Although 
 the fire was soon extinguished and the building aside from 
 the stage was little damaged, a score of faculty members 
 and students were seriously burned by the intense heat, 
 others were injured in escaping from the building, and one 
 young lady jumped to her death. Two members of the 
 staff, Miss Eleanor Thompson, the beloved librarian since 
 1911, and Miss Winifred Wackerle (affectionately known 
 as "Aunt Win") , niece of Mrs. Harker and matron of the 
 College, died from the effects of burns received. Mrs. Mc- 
 Clelland and Miss Hazel Young, governess for the McClel- 
 land children, received major injuries from a fall from the 
 window ledge to the pavement below. Mrs. McClelland 
 suffered a complex leg fracture, which kept her confined 
 to the hospital for months; Miss Young, a broken back. 
 School was dismissed for two weeks, the time recovered 
 later by canceling the spring recess and extending the ses- 
 sion for a week. No president of the College had ever faced a 
 trial of this character and proportion; from conference 
 ministers, trustees, and friends far and wide came praise 
 for the courage, the good judgment, the heroism of Presi- 
 dent McClelland at the time and in the months that fol- 
 lowed when the recovery of Mrs. McClelland was still doubt- 
 ful. In his report to the Board in June, 1929, he declared 
 that "contrary to some newspaper reports, there was no 
 panic," and continued: "The students were clear-headed, 
 orderly, and prompt in leaving the building. Had it not 
 been for the swiftness of the catastrophe and the blasting 
 heat there would have been no casualties. I cannot com- 
 mend too highly the morale of our girls that evening and 
 the following day. Their great desire was to prove their 
 loyalty and to lend a hand. At the end of the recess every 
 
462 History of MacMurray College 
 
 student returned to the college." 22 To Dean Olive Austin, 
 "a tower of strength in holding the students steady," he ex- 
 pressed special gratitude. 
 
 Although the freshman enrollment dropped from 178 to 
 107 in 1929-30, a decline Doctor McClelland attributed 
 to the fire, the Sophomore Class had a banner enrollment 
 of 105 and the other classes about maintained their former 
 levels. In 1930-31, the enrollment entirely recovered from 
 this temporary loss. The gymnasium was restored to advan- 
 tage with enlarged floor space and an improved stage. 
 
 In the meantime, President McClelland had suggested to 
 Mr. MacMurray that he pay the cost of a new residence 
 hall for seniors so urgently needed. After considerable dis- 
 cussion, Mr. MacMurray not only agreed to do this but 
 proposed to erect a larger hall than Doctor McClelland had 
 suggested. 23 Mrs. McClelland, an important figure in the 
 co-ordination of campus activities, urged the necessity of a 
 new dining hall that perhaps might be included in the resi- 
 dence hall. It was finally and fortunately decided, however, 
 that a separate dining hall for all college students would be 
 the better arrangement. Mr. MacMurray agreed to give 
 both buildings. They were completed in the spring of 1930, 
 at a cost of $343,000, and dedicated on May 3. 24 The resi- 
 dence hall was given the name Jane Hall in honor of Mrs. 
 Jane MacMurray, and the dining hall later became the 
 McClelland Hall by vote of the Board of Trustees in recog- 
 nition of the man who had secured these gifts and had sig- 
 nally advanced the College in many other respects. At the 
 ceremonies of dedication, attended by official representatives 
 of many colleges and universities, addresses were made by 
 Francis G. Blair, Superintendent of Public Instruction for 
 the State of Illinois, and Bishop Edwin H. Hughes. 25 Bishop 
 Hughes emphasized the spiritual purpose of such beautiful 
 material foundations. Mr. MacMurray, a man of few 
 words in public address, declared that he and Mrs. Mac- 
 Murray wanted only to do what they could to "strike a 
 blow against superstition and ignorance and help people to 
 
History of MacMurray College 463 
 
 help themselves." The buildings, he declared, were of no 
 value except in the guiding hands of the president, the fac- 
 ulty, and the student body. All his gifts he was accus- 
 tomed to dismiss summarily from conversation with the 
 comment: "But you should see the girls!" The monu- 
 ment that he and Mrs. MacMurray sought to erect was the 
 enlarged lives of the students. 
 
 On his own initiative, President McClelland suggested at 
 the dedication ceremonies that the name of the College be 
 changed to MacMurray College for Women. His sugges- 
 tion was later approved by a unanimous vote of the Board. 26 
 Aside from the fact that Mr. MacMurray's generous gifts 
 to the College in service, as well as in money, merited such 
 an honor, President McClelland recommended a change of 
 name on other grounds. The Illinois Woman's College was 
 often confused with Illinois College. Some thought it a 
 state normal or a branch of the State University. Also the 
 College had become more than an Illinois institution in its 
 patronage; hence, the name was too narrow. It might be 
 noted that this objection is the reverse of Doctor Adams' 
 criticism of the name. He had considered the use of the 
 term Illinois as too ambitious. Mr. MacMurray himself de- 
 murred at the proposed change and agreed to it only several 
 months later. 27 Although there was some objection to the 
 change of the name on the part of alumnae, apparently the 
 new name was generally approved from the time of its 
 adoption. 
 
 Without reservation one pronounces three-storied Jane 
 Hall, built originally for one hundred students, an elegant 
 residence. One feels safe in asserting that a more beautiful 
 college residence hall could not be found (unless it be Ann 
 Rutledge!). The simplicity and dignity of its Georgian 
 lines and its lovely entrance and doorway are pleasing to the 
 eye. An interesting detail of the doorway is the plate brought 
 from China by Mrs. Caroline Hart, first hostess of Jane Hall. 
 It contains a Chinese expression meaning "welcome," beauti- 
 ful suggestion of MacMurray hospitality. 28 Jane Hall was 
 
464 History of MacMurray College 
 
 furnished through the generosity of Mr. Donald MacMur- 
 ray. The deep rugs and couches, the rich drapes, the mir- 
 rors, the great fireplace and mantle and the beautiful lamps 
 make the parlors a perfect setting for the formal class recep- 
 tions, teas, and coffees held there. The two-girl students' 
 rooms, with connecting shower or bath, are comfortably 
 furnished. On the second and third floors there are lounges. 
 Other accommodations include a well-equipped kitchenette 
 and laundry rooms on each floor. With the removal of the 
 seniors to Jane, the West Senior House was remodelled as the 
 president's home and East Senior House became the Fac- 
 ulty House. 
 
 The McClelland Dining Hall opposite MacMurray Hall 
 across the campus to the east seats about 700. A smaller 
 dining room used by the resident faculty can accommodate 
 seventy-five more. The main room is arched and unsup- 
 ported, with a mezzanine tea room and a balcony for musi- 
 cians over the main room. Huge fireplaces in each end give 
 a homelike touch to its elegance. This room furnishes a 
 delightful contrast to the dark one in Main basement where 
 students ate for seventy-five years. Mealtime group singing 
 is one of the pleasant customs of MacMurray students, and 
 this hall invites to geniality. It is the banquet hall for all 
 gala days — Founders' Day, Thanksgiving, Dad's Day, and 
 May Day — and the ballroom for the larger school dances. 
 It has also been used by many groups outside the College, 
 especially during the summer months. Ministers of the Illi- 
 nois Conference in annual session on the campus have en- 
 joyed meals mixed with Methodist songs in this spacious 
 hall. One summer two hundred Daughters of Union Vet- 
 erans "camped" here and donated the flagpole in memory 
 of the Illinois heroes of the Civil War, and the Illini Girls 
 State gave the flag in appreciation of the college hospitality 
 to their convention. The College finds it possible to ex- 
 tend hospitality to many groups during the year — the Illi- 
 nois State Historical Society, the Association of Science, the 
 Illinois Federation of Colleges, the State Federation of Music 
 
History of MacMurray College 465 
 
 Clubs, regional conferences of the International Relations 
 Clubs, the National Students' Federation, the YWCA, and 
 others. On one occasion the girls agreed to "eat out" to let 
 a great Masonic convention use the hall, and the Rotarians 
 have used it for large conventions. Shrubs, ivy, and time 
 have now mellowed the rose-tinted brick of these once new 
 buildings into the landscape. They belong to the land. 
 
 In the spring of 1931, a group of experts, including Doc- 
 tors Floyd Reeves and John Dale Russell, of Chicago Univer- 
 sity, were employed by the Board of Education of the Meth- 
 odist Church to make a survey of MacMurray along with 
 thirty-four other colleges. The new science hall, their re- 
 port stated, would be a credit to any college, the laboratories 
 were spacious and well equipped, and the whole showed 
 foresight in planning. "The new dormitory, Jane Hall, is 
 one of the finest ever seen by the members of the survey 
 staff," they declared, "and the beauty and convenience of the 
 new dining hall unsurpassed." 2 A less spectacular but no 
 less essential addition was made in 1930 through another 
 MacMurray gift — a new smokestack and enlarged heating 
 plant made at a cost of about $27,500. 30 
 
 In the meantime, expansion and improvement in the 
 grounds had kept pace with the growth of the plant. Presi- 
 dent McClelland reported acquisition of real estate costing 
 $108,801 in 1927 and other properties at a cost of $27,360 
 in 1928-29. The remainder of the original patrimony south 
 of College Avenue was regained, except one lot added in 
 1936. On this early "pasture land," since filled with houses, 
 the athletic field was built. During the commencement 
 of 1928, Mr. MacMurray agreed to pay the cost of removing 
 these houses and of developing the field. 31 During the 
 summer it was graded, seeded, and planted with ornamental 
 shrubs; three tennis courts were made on the east end, and 
 the present playing field prepared to the west. For the first 
 time the College had a regulation size hockey field. One of 
 the cottages was retained on the east side of the field and 
 remodelled for use as a field house for athletic equipment and 
 
466 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Athletic Association parties. The Crawfords donated fur- 
 niture for its social room. Improvements were made on 
 other parts of the campus; the old fence and dense shrub- 
 bery surrounding it were cleared away and evergreens and 
 poplar trees planted. 
 
 One might turn now from the record of the expansion 
 of the buildings and the grounds to the financial history. 
 Although the years from 1925 to 1929 include the crux 
 of the postwar boom, money was already scarce in the 
 farm district. Aside from the gifts of Mr. MacMurray, the 
 College secured only limited financial aid. Somewhat more 
 than $100,000 had been raised for the MacMurray Science 
 Hall, about one-fifth of it from the faculty and students. 
 Collections on the Bi-Conference pledges plus the contribu- 
 tions of the General Education Board added $108,000 to 
 the endowment in 1926, and small sums were added to it 
 later. 32 Conference collections for education brought small 
 sums, usually about $1,000 a year. This "sustenation fund" 
 amounted to $4,200 in 1928. 33 The alumnae loyalty fund 
 added a little each year. A few larger gifts came from time 
 to time, most of them in the form of scholarships or of 
 annuities, which brought no immediate returns. Among 
 the larger gifts were the following: $22,000 from Edgar 
 T. Welch, son of Doctor C. E. Welch, in 1929 (he gave 
 $5,000 more in 1932); $40,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus 
 L. DeWitt; $10,000 from the estate of Mrs. Eva Knight; 
 $6,000 from Mrs. Rae Lewis Kendall (for library endow- 
 ment) ; and $10,000 from Mrs. Gertrude W. Haweis for the 
 endowment of a scholarship for students from Havana, 
 Illinois. 34 There was great need for additional endowment, 
 and President McClelland declared in 1930 that he thought 
 the Illinois Conference should conduct a campaign for the 
 College. Campaigns for other conference schools had re- 
 cently been undertaken, and it seemed to be the turn for 
 the Woman's College. The financial crash made such an 
 effort impractical, however, and the College has waited for 
 additional conference support until the present. 
 
History of MacMurray College 467 
 
 The years 1930 to 1935 were difficult ones. The expan- 
 sion program was suspended, and even needed repairs were 
 postponed. It probably cost President McClelland some 
 effort to keep his contagious smile. Some figures will indi- 
 cate the losses suffered and the economies required. The 
 endowment and annuities fund declined from $765,000 in 
 1928 to $723,000 in 1934 ($719,000 in 1933) ; and the in- 
 come from endowment from $46,042 to $21,306 (only 
 $19,000 in 1933). Although the enrollment was about 
 the same — 322 in 1928, 317 in 1934 — the net income from 
 fees (scholarships deducted) dropped from $186,000 to 
 $145,000. The salary budget fell from $75,000 in 1928 
 ($86,000 in 1930) to $55,000 in 1934. Although the enroll- 
 ment had recovered from the effects of the fire and passed 
 the 400 mark in 1930-31, it dropped again as the depres- 
 sion continued. Income from student fees declined more 
 rapidly than the enrollment. Many students came on schol- 
 arships or worked for a part of their expenses. In 1934, 
 for example, the president reported that 137 of the 317 
 were employed in the dining room and college offices. Some 
 aid for student employment ($450 a month) was secured 
 from the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission. A stu- 
 dent loan fund (about $4,000 a year was available) en- 
 abled some to come. In 1934, the College opened a co-opera- 
 tive house for students who wished to economize, in which 
 eleven girls lived. In spite of reduction of salaries and 
 other economies, the administration found it impossible to 
 avoid an annual deficit. In 1933, President McClelland 
 admitted the difficulties he had been facing: 
 
 I confess to a good deal of discouragement over the condition of our 
 investments, but in view of the universal debasement of values, I am 
 not disposed to be critical. The diminishing returns from endowment 
 have made it exceedingly difficult to carry on, but I know of no college 
 in this section which is not in the same plight. . . However hard, we 
 must now face the task of rebuilding our endowment, first taking care 
 to conserve what is left. This may be a slow process; it probably will be. 
 The day of financial drives is past, so also seems to be the day of the 
 generous grants to small colleges from the General Education Board and 
 the Carnegie Corporation. However, if we are courageous, determined, 
 
468 History of MacMurray College 
 
 alert, and energetic, we can find friends who will help us. From now 
 on we must concentrate on this objective. . , 35 
 
 In the spring of 1934, Mr. MacMurray gave $85,000 to the 
 College to pay off the current deficit of about $50,000. 
 This marked the turning of the tide. It might well be re- 
 membered that the achievement of this college and others 
 in enabling students to remain in college was an important 
 contribution to the relief of unemployment. 
 
 The excellent equipment in the new buildings made the 
 poorer accommodations of Main and Harker stand out in 
 contrast, but little could be done toward refurnishing them 
 until 1935. Several improvements were made in 1931-32, 
 however, through a gift of $7,500 from Mr. MacMurray. 
 The infirmary was moved from the cramped quarters in 
 Upper Main to the first floor where six rooms, a diet kitchen, 
 and a dispensary were fitted up. The old dining room was 
 made into classrooms. Outside new boulevard lights im- 
 proved the appearance and the safety of the campus. Stu- 
 dents, interested as always in "historic Jacksonville," made 
 note of its "going modern" in the Greetings.™ In the sum- 
 mers of 193 5 and 1936 the College was able to undertake 
 the refurnishing of Main and Harker, Mr. MacMurray do- 
 nating more than one-half the cost of $28,000. Among 
 other gifts for this post-depression improvement was $1,100 
 from the estate of Mrs. Christina Marshall Armstrong, '59, 
 for the equipment of the kindergarten. 37 In the 1880s she 
 had taught the kindergarten classes at the College. 
 
 At commencement, 1936, President McClelland announced 
 two important donations to the College: the improvement 
 of the gymnasium by gift of Mrs. Blackstock and a new 
 residence hall to be constructed at the expense of Mr. Mac- 
 Murray. The swimming pool, gift of Mrs. Blackstock in 
 1916, was now too small to meet the needs of the College. 
 At the suggestion of Doctor McClelland, she agreed to pay 
 for its enlargement and to provide other needed improve- 
 ments in the gymnasium. This work was done during the 
 summer at a cost of $10,000, and on Founders' Day the 
 
History of MacMurray College 469 
 
 enlarged swimming pool was formally opened and the build- 
 ing given the name Hardtner Gymnasium in honor of Mrs. 
 Blackstock's parents. In 193 5, Mr. MacMurray had offered 
 to give a new residence hall or to add to the endowment. 
 President McClelland felt that an addition of 100 students 
 would bring more income than the addition of the $100,000 
 to the endowment Mr. MacMurray had suggested. 38 In 
 conference with the finance committee, it was agreed that 
 the residence hall be preferred. The only condition that 
 Mr. MacMurray set for the construction of the new build- 
 ing was that it be the equal at least of Jane Hall. It was 
 to face Jane across Clay Avenue and the athletic field. The 
 cornerstone was laid on Dad's Day, March 24, 1937, with 
 Bishop Ernest Lynn Waldorf as the chief speaker for the 
 occasion. Treasurer Crabtree, Dean Roma Hawkins, and 
 Geneva Carver, president of the Student Government Asso- 
 ciation, all had a hand in the laying of the stone. 
 
 The name, Ann Rutledge, chosen for the new hall might 
 find historical justification in the proximity of New Salem, 
 her home, and in the intimate associations of Lincoln with 
 Jacksonville. On grounds of sentiment, it is appropriate for 
 this beautiful home for young women. The dedication of 
 the building on October 31, 1937, was a memorable occa- 
 sion. The perfect autumn day was auspicious. The great 
 bowl of the athletic field was an excellent amphitheatre, 
 from which the crowd of two thousand enjoyed the pro- 
 gram of dedication. These ceremonies took place on the 
 terrace in front of Ann Rutledge. This terrace has served 
 since as the stage for commencements and May Queen 
 coronations. The chief speakers for the dedication were 
 Bishop H. Lester Smith, of Cincinnati, and Judge Florence 
 Allen, of Cleveland, who spoke on "Old Standards in a 
 Changing World." Carolyn Gillespie, '40, dressed in cos- 
 tume of the 1840s, took the part of Ann Rutledge. Mr. and 
 Mrs. MacMurray, unable to be present, sent the following 
 message to President McClelland: "With the new building 
 we give you, the College, and the faculty every good wish. 
 
470 History of MacMurray College 
 
 May it be of use to young women for seventy years, and 
 may they be of use to the world for seventy times seventy 
 years." 39 Mr. Donald MacMurray presented the keys to 
 President McClelland, who accepted the gift for the College. 
 Ann Rutledge (built for 100 girls at a cost of $218,000), 
 although similar to Jane Hall, is distinguished externally 
 by the pillared white portico, which gives a classic touch to 
 the Georgian style. Inside, the crystal chandeliers of the 
 parlors, the winding stairs, the fine portrait of Mr. Mac- 
 Murray, painted by Othmar Hoffler and presented to the 
 College by the Acme Steel Corporation, first attract one's 
 admiration, along with the general elegance of furnishings 
 and decorations. A tiled sun deck is the special delight of 
 the seniors, to whom the building belongs. 
 
 The completion of Ann Rutledge brought a new sense 
 of corporate obligation and responsibility to the students. 
 In a special dedication issue of the College Greetings, which 
 paid tribute to the work of the founders and of past pres- 
 idents and to the remarkable progress under President Mc- 
 Clelland, the editors expressed this sentiment of corporate 
 personality in an editorial, "Us, Incorporated," from which 
 the following is taken: 
 
 With the dedication of Ann Rutledge Hall, our College reaches a 
 high point of realization, a sense of fulfillment. We can say with pride: 
 "This is our school; we stand for certain things, and we intend to keep 
 on standing for them. We are grown up now; the work and plans of 
 our fore-runners have given us a feeling of maturity and self-confidence. 
 This, ungrammatically, but realistically, is us." 
 
 And since we as a school have formed a distinctive character, it is 
 our business to keep that character as strongly defined as we have received 
 it. . . . This college is not what any one says about it; it is not the 
 buildings, however lovely they may be; it is not a picture in a view- 
 book or a statement in a catalogue. This College is what we make it — 
 we ourselves, not the people who graduated ten years ago or the prospec- 
 tive students who look us over, but the young women who sat in 
 their classes this morning taking notes. . . . They aren't just girls, little 
 isolated personalities in a huge jumble. They are a part of a greater 
 pattern. They are MacMurray College. 40 
 
 Although Ann Rutledge is the senior residence, it is also 
 a campus social center through certain attractions found 
 in the basement — the post office, moved there from Main, 
 
History of MacMurray College 471 
 
 and the Hub. The Hub, brightened by murals done by the 
 senior art students, is the informal social center of the cam- 
 pus for food, popular music on the nickelodeon, and endless 
 talk, "a most democratic place except for the one row known 
 as Senior Corner." Professors, as well as students, find it a 
 convenient place for a quick "pick-up" or a breakfast or 
 lunch out of hours. The Hub was opened in 1939 and is 
 operated mainly by student help. In the same year wings 
 were added to Jane Hall, which increased its capacity to 
 150. Mr. MacMurray paid one-half the cost of something 
 over $60,000. 
 
 If the new residence halls and the dining hall lend grace 
 and charm to social life on the campus and give "Sally Mac" 
 a new pride in her college, the Pfeiffer Library, completed 
 in 1941, gives intellectual dignity to and invitation to learn- 
 ing in this middle western college for women. This build- 
 ing and an increase of books were due, if not long overdue. 
 In 1902, the library had graduated from the single room 
 in East Main, where books were stored, to the new west wing 
 of Main where they might be used if they could be found. 
 In 1916, the Strawn addition enlarged the space; then in 
 1928, the president's office and business offices were added 
 to the library; but neither physical nor intellectual equip- 
 ment were in line with the recent growth of the College. 
 These facts President McClelland had kept before the Board 
 of Trustees as other plans were being realized. 
 
 In 1935, President McClelland had asked Mrs. Henry 
 Pfeiffer, well-known philanthropist of New York City and 
 formerly of St. Louis, for a gift for a library building. She 
 and Mr. Pfeiffer had made liberal donations to various re- 
 ligious and educational enterprises, but neither of them had 
 ever visited Jacksonville or the College. At first, Doctor 
 McClelland got a promise of $25,000; then in 1937, Mrs. 
 Pfeiffer agreed to give $100,000 if the College would raise 
 an equal amount. The College launched a campaign for 
 funds for the library as the first objective in a Pre-Cen- 
 tennial Forward Movement to complete the twenty-year de- 
 
472 History of MacMurray College 
 
 velopment plan. At a citizens' dinner in the McClelland 
 Dining Hall on February 22, 1938, the program was in- 
 troduced. The meeting underlined the growing importance 
 of MacMurray to the city, both economically and cultural- 
 ly. Since 1925, it was pointed out, its assets had grown 
 from $1,135,000 to $2,211,304 and its enrollment from 259 
 to 548. 41 In a spring campaign the students raised more 
 than the $6,000 set as their goal and received the promised 
 half -holiday, and the faculty pledged away future earn- 
 ings. 42 By commencement 1940 the fund had grown to 
 $280,000, including the Pfeiffer gift. President McClelland 
 declared that an effort would be made to keep the cost of 
 the building to $150,000 (it reached $163,000 for construc- 
 tion and equipment). 43 Mrs. Pfeiffer later added $40,000 
 to her gift. 
 
 The selection of a site for the library emphasized the 
 fact that, in spite of the expansion of the campus, the Col- 
 lege was still severely limited in space. The southeast corner 
 of Clay and Beecher was finally chosen. On Founders' Day, 
 1940, the cornerstone was laid. Dean Emeritus Charles 
 R. Brown, of the Yale Divinity School, made the chief ad- 
 dress in the chapel service. At the building site, President 
 McClelland presided over the ceremonies; Mr. MacMurray 
 laid the stone, and Miss Ellen Creek, the librarian, gave 
 a history of the library. During the year the students watched 
 the growth of this new "Temple of Learning." On May 
 17, 1941, there arrived perhaps the most unique of the many 
 moving days the College had experienced: the faculty and 
 students set out to move the books from Main to the new 
 building. The project, considered quite a lark, was, never- 
 theless, admirably organized. Traffic officers kept streets 
 closed to cars, girls marched with arms full of books sing- 
 ing "Fve Been Working on the Railroad" and "Tramp, 
 Tramp, Tramp, the Boys Are Marching." Sedate professors 
 and deans carried books, some in knapsacks and shopping 
 bags, one in a dogcart. Statisticians counted 1,300 steps 
 
History of MacMurray College 473 
 
 in a round trip, and if one made fifteen trips — anyway, the 
 library was moved. 44 
 
 On May 24, 1941, the building, the Henry Pfeiffer Me- 
 morial Library, was dedicated. For the event, Mrs. Pfeiffer 
 made her first visit to the College and formally presented 
 the gift in memory of her husband. President McClelland 
 accepted it in a fine statement of appreciation of wealth 
 devoted to such constructive ends. His friend and Mrs. 
 Pfeiffer's former pastor, Doctor Raymond Forman, spoke 
 on "Praise to the Temple of Learning," and Doctor Charles 
 Harvey Brown, librarian of Iowa State College and presi- 
 dent of the American Library Association, gave the main 
 address on "Future Goals of the College Library," in which 
 he contrasted the present ideal of a library for use with 
 the old conception of a library as a museum or warehouse 
 for storing books. At the close of the program the Senior 
 Class president presented the gift of the Classes of '41 and 
 '42 — the chimes and the tower clock. The Chicago Society 
 of the alumnae gave a wall clock for the main reading room. 
 The Class of 1945 contributed floodlights for the clock 
 tower, which emphasize this lovely building by night. 
 
 Many would agree perhaps that the Pfeiffer Library is 
 the most beautiful of the MacMurray College buildings. 
 With commodious reading rooms on two floors, it seats 
 3 56. There are carrels in the stacks for research work and 
 conference and seminar rooms on two floors. Stack space 
 will be ample for some years to come. On the ground floor 
 there are a number of classrooms for the overflow from Sci- 
 ence Hall and Main. The walls of the third and first floors 
 are used for art exhibitions, and there are display cases for 
 rare books and manuscripts. The removal of the library 
 from Main made possible the centralization of the admin- 
 istrative offices in the western end of the first floor to the 
 great convenience of officers and members of the staffs. 
 
 Doctor Adams and other early presidents kept a horse 
 (pastured where Ann Rutledge stands) to use for plowing 
 the college garden and for riding over the State in search 
 
474 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of students, money, and food. Today girls demand horses 
 for training in horsemanship and for recreational riding. 
 In 1937, the College built stables down near the Brook and 
 a ring for practice purposes. The Recreation Association 
 cabin on Lake Mauvaisterre, acquired in the same year, has 
 become a popular resort for weekend parties. Boat riding 
 on the lake is a favorite pastime. In 1943, the infirmary 
 was moved from Main to more spacious quarters in the old 
 Claus store on the corner of Beecher and Clay, which the 
 College had purchased and remodelled. Instead of infirmary, 
 this institution has been more happily named the Health 
 Center. In it the director of physical education has her 
 office. Next door is the Home Management House, which 
 has supplanted the apartment in Science Hall, formerly used 
 for those classes. In 1940, the College bought the old Liberty 
 Hall north of the campus and transformed it into a beauti- 
 ful and well-equipped Little Theatre. Recently a radio 
 broadcasting system has been introduced into it. On May 
 23, 1943, the McClelland Bowling Green was presented to 
 the College by Judge McClelland. As a feature of the dedi- 
 cation ceremonies, a game was played and explained by two 
 nationally known experts. Both faculty and students have 
 enjoyed this addition to the playing fields of MacMurray. 
 
 As the enrollment of freshmen has overflowed Old Main, 
 small residences purchased by the College with properties 
 adjoining the campus have been opened for freshmen. These 
 have been named for the presidents — Jaquess, McCoy, and 
 Adams. One residence, Graduate House, is the home of 
 the candidates for the Master of Arts degree. The old Cor- 
 ner Cupboard has become Town House, a campus social 
 center for the Jacksonville girls. Brick House next door 
 to it is still a faculty residence. The need for faculty apart- 
 ments has encouraged the acquisition of other properties. 
 The Schoedsack and Grierson houses on East State were 
 purchased in 1939. These old homes set in the midst of 
 expansive lawns were "show places" in the days when East 
 State contained some of the first families. The Grierson 
 
History of MacMurray College 475 
 
 house had been distinguished as the residence of General 
 Benjamin Grierson, a hero of the Civil War. Both houses 
 have been made into faculty apartments. For some years 
 the lower floor of the Schoedsack house was used by the 
 kindergarten classes, but today it is entirely a faculty house. 
 In 1945, the College purchased the Crabtree residence on 
 West State Street, and it will be opened as a faculty apart- 
 ment house in the fall of 1946. As the former home of 
 the beloved E. E. Crabtree, it possesses sentimental values 
 as well as practical. 
 
 Through the assistance of Mrs. E. L. Kendall and Mrs. 
 Courtney Wright the appearance of the campus has been 
 improved with shrubs and flowers. Mr. Edward J. Winters 
 contributed much to the "decoration" of the older campus 
 as Mr. MacMurray did to the newer additions. The "lift- 
 ing of Old Main's face" by the erection of a new porch in 
 1944, gift of Mrs. Ann Marshall Orr, has made this historic 
 building more pleasing to the eye. Other buildings are 
 planned as a part of the program of the new century of 
 MacMurray, and a chapel as the culmination of its first 
 century. As a tentative step toward the solution of the need 
 for a chapel, the College acquired the ultimate control of the 
 Centenary Church property in 1940, and thus extended its 
 western limits one block beyond Clay. The contract between 
 the College and Centenary Church, providing for the ulti- 
 mate control of the church property by the College, was 
 abrogated in 1945. 
 
 It may seem that physical expansion had received empha- 
 sis out of proportion to endowment and other needs. The 
 president had insisted, however, that until certain material 
 accommodations were supplied, a satisfactory patronage 
 could not be secured and the educational program would 
 suffer. The need for endowment was not forgotten, but 
 the time had not been auspicious for campaigns, especially 
 campaigns for endowments. The campaigns undertaken 
 had buildings as objectives (Science Hall and the Library) , 
 and it was somewhat easier to secure gifts for such tangible 
 
476 History of MacMurray College 
 
 objects. Some gifts to the endowment had been secured, 
 especially in the form of endowed scholarship. Among the 
 larger donations of this sort, in addition to those mentioned 
 above, was $12,000 from Mrs. Gertrude Funk. The need 
 for more endowment was kept constantly before the Board 
 of Trustees. In 1938, President McClelland was able to 
 announce to the College a gift of $1,000,000 from Mr. 
 MacMurray to the endowment, and in 1941 an additional 
 gift brought this to $3,000,000. 45 Who's Who in America 
 cited him for having made the largest contribution of that 
 year measured in terms of the previous assets of the bene- 
 ficiary. This gift brought the total of his gifts to $4,121,980. 46 
 But Mr. MacMurray was not only the greatest benefactor of 
 the College in a material way; he was a genial friend. His 
 gift had completed the twenty-year development plan ahead 
 of schedule. It brought the total assets of the College to 
 $5,940,000; by June 1946, the figure was $6,677,714. In the 
 meantime, the administration was planning a development 
 program for the next twenty years, which is outlined below 
 in connection with the Centennial. 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION AND THE FACULTY 
 
 The enlargement of the services of the College in re- 
 cent years, as well as the growth in enrollment, has brought 
 an expansion and reorganization of the administration. In 
 1925, the administrative officers were: the president, the 
 dean, and the registrar. Listed with them was a treasurer, 
 who was really an officer of the Board of Trustees. Certain 
 other officers, grouped together as an administrative staff, 
 included the head of the college home, the resident nurse 
 as head of the infirmary, and the librarian. The entire ad- 
 ministration, including all secretaries, consisted of thirteen. 
 Although there was some growth in the staff, no essential 
 change was made in the administrative organization until 
 193 5. In his annual report to the Board in 1929, President 
 McClelland insisted that Miss Austin and Mr. Metcalf were 
 performing duties other than those which strictly belonged 
 to their positions and that there should be division of 
 
History of MacMurray College 477 
 
 functions. Miss Austin served as both academic and social 
 dean; Mr. Metcalf as registrar, business manager, and direc- 
 tor of admissions. But the depression prevented immediate 
 expansion. In 1931, the new dean, Mrs. Roma Hawkins, 
 was given an assistant for a year, a member of the faculty 
 who helped with the academic duties of the office. In the 
 same year an official college physician was first listed with 
 the administrative officers. Three physicians are thus named 
 today. 
 
 The following tables present an interesting parallel between the de- 
 velopment plan as presented by President McClelland in 1926 and the 
 physical and financial expansion up to September 1, 1946: 
 
 LAND AND BUILDING NEEDS AS 
 OUTLINED IN 1926 
 
 LAND, BUILDINGS, AND ENDOWMENT 
 ACQUIRED BETWEEN 1926 AND 1946 
 
 Science Hall 
 Recitation Hall 
 
 $ 200,000 
 200,000 
 
 Science and Recitation Halls 
 combined in MacMurray Hall 
 
 $ 234,300 
 
 Library 
 
 125,000 
 
 Henry Pfeiffer Library 
 
 163,307 
 
 
 
 Jane Residence Hall 
 
 273,285 
 
 Dormitories for 300 Additional 
 Students 
 
 300,000 
 
 Ann Rutledge Hall 
 
 226,735 
 
 Dining and Social Hall for 600 
 Students 
 
 175,000 
 
 Dining Hall 
 
 136,568 
 
 Chapel 
 
 175,000 
 
 
 
 Power and Heating Plant 
 
 100,000 
 
 Rebuilt Heating and Power Plant 
 
 37,504 
 
 Land 
 
 200,000 
 
 Property Purchased for Present and 
 Future Enlargement of Campus 
 
 257,77* 
 
 
 
 Alterations Main and Harker Halls 
 (Not Including Repairs) 
 
 120,766 
 
 President's Home 
 
 25,000 
 
 Senior House now used for 
 President's Home 
 
 37,483 
 
 
 
 New Athletic Field 
 
 16,425 
 
 
 
 Little Theatre 
 
 27,000 
 
 
 
 Stables 
 
 3,552 
 
 
 
 Hardtner Gymnasium Swimming 
 Pool Extension 
 
 10,179 
 
 
 
 Health Center 
 
 Total Expended for Buildings and Land 
 
 18,000 
 
 Total Land and Building Needs 
 
 $1,500,000 
 
 $1,562,879 
 
 Endowment Needs 
 
 3,000,000 
 
 Added to Endowment Funds 
 
 3,335,000 
 
 
 
 Unallocated Funds 
 
 503,61* 
 
 Total Needs Estimated in 1926 
 
 $4,500,000 $5,401,495 
 
 During this same period the gross annual income of the College has 
 increased from $196,159.00 in 1924-25 to $923,807.00 in 1945-46. 
 
478 History of MacMurray College 
 
 In 1935, the dean was given a special assistant as counselor 
 to freshmen. Her functions as social dean had been light- 
 ened to some extent by the employment of hostesses in the 
 new residences, although she served as hostess for Main 
 and Harker until 1936. In 1937, Miss Mary Baird came 
 as dean of freshmen, and in 1941, Doctor W. S. Dysinger 
 as academic dean. In the meantime, Mr. Metcalf's duties 
 had been lightened. In 1935, an office, director of admis- 
 sions, was created (first held by Doctor H. J. Lennox, the 
 head of the Bible and Philosophy Department). In 1938, 
 Mr. Harold E. Gibson was employed as director of public 
 relations, a function Mr. Metcalf had also performed in 
 co-operation with the president of the College. Upon the 
 death of Mr. Metcalf in 1942, the functions of registrar 
 and business manager were separated, and Mr. Gibson served 
 for a time as business manager as well as director of public 
 relations, and Miss Baird was registrar. In 1943, Mr. Clar- 
 endon Smith came as business manager. Today the func- 
 tions of director of admissions and public relations are com- 
 bined under Mr. Gibson. The enlarged health service of 
 the College has been organized under directors of health 
 education and health service. The office of head of the 
 college home, held by Mrs. McClelland, is today entitled 
 co-ordinator of college activities, which includes not only 
 the co-ordination of the social program and calendar but 
 also general supervision over furnishing of the residences 
 and the administration of the dining room. The admin- 
 istrative staff has been increased to more than half a hun- 
 dred. In it are many loyal friends and faithful servants 
 of the College too numerous to include here. Some — Miss 
 Lula Short, Miss Lelia Reese, Miss Annabel Crum, Miss Gene- 
 vieve Mount — antedate this administration in service and 
 have filled various positions; and Miss Margaret Fraser has 
 been an invaluable aid to the president during his entire 
 administration. The "housemothers," or hostesses, have 
 been friends and counselors to hundreds of girls through 
 their many "nameless (but not unremembered) deeds of 
 
History of MacMurray College 479 
 
 kindness and of love." Each year in June the College gives 
 a special dinner and party for officers of the administration 
 and the staff at the president's home or on the college cam- 
 pus. This evening of entertainment was initiated some years 
 ago in celebration of the birthdays of Doctor Harker and 
 Mrs. McClelland. 
 
 A word more should be said about the enlarged counsel- 
 ing and guidance program which has brought the increase 
 in the principal officers of administration. Such a service 
 to students had always been rendered so far as the time 
 and abilities and training of the faculty made it possible; 
 but a larger enrollment has made it impossible for this old- 
 time informal counseling to fulfill the function adequately. 
 The guidance program begins today with the pre-college 
 candidates for admission through contacts of the director 
 of admissions and his assistants with the parents and high 
 school teachers, by means of which they seek to learn as 
 much as possible of the background and interests of the 
 candidates. In the College, Dean Dysinger's office is the 
 center of the educational and vocational guidance work, 
 and the results of tests given to freshmen at orientation 
 and to second semester sophomores, along with the infor- 
 mation obtained in personal conference, are used as bases 
 for the planning of the students' courses, the correction of 
 handicaps through remedial studies, and for vocational guid- 
 ance. Counseling on personal problems or adjustment to 
 college life or any family or other social problems is given 
 by Mrs. Hawkins and Miss Baird. 
 
 Organization and program weigh less than personalities. 
 In the early years of this administration, Miss Austin and 
 Mr. Metcalf won the devotion and gratitude of the new 
 president for their loyal and efficient service. At his death 
 in 1942, Mr. Metcalf had given thirty-two years to the 
 College and to hundreds of individual students. Miss Aus- 
 tin retired in 1931, but her interest in the College brought 
 her back for several visits before her death in 1943. Her 
 life is an integral part of the human pattern that is Mac- 
 
480 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Murray College. Since the fall of 1931, Mrs. Roma Hawk- 
 ins has been dean. Mrs. Hawkins, a native of Massachusetts, 
 is a graduate of Wellesley and has done graduate study at 
 Columbia. For some years before her marriage, she was 
 personnel director among the women employees of Dupont 
 de Nemours and Company in Arlington, New Jersey, and 
 after the death of her husband she was executive secretary 
 for the Massachusetts branch of the National Woman's 
 Party. As a graduate of Wellesley, she continues the tra- 
 dition of Miss Gilchrist and Miss Mothershead at MacMur- 
 ray. Today Mrs. Hawkins has general responsibility for 
 the social life of the campus, although student government 
 has relieved the dean's office of routine matters of discipline. 
 She is general adviser for student organizations and director 
 of the student Placement Bureau, and shares with Miss Baird 
 the duties of counseling. Mrs. Hawkins is tireless and al- 
 ways available for service to students and faculty. She 
 seeks to maintain a friendly, gracious social life on the cam- 
 pus. Dean's talks are still an institution, even though not 
 so frequent. Some years ago Mrs. Hawkins compiled a 
 useful little guide for students, Social Observances at Mac- 
 Murray College, Her delightful table parties, embellished 
 by clever individualized decorations, favors, and "guessing 
 games," are enjoyed by all the students; and a high point of 
 the senior year is her (and Miss Baird's) party for the class. 
 "Heart Sister Week," which helps lighten the post-Christ- 
 mas depression, was instituted by Mrs. Hawkins and has 
 become an established tradition. Names are drawn, anony- 
 mous gifts and kindnesses follow, and at a party which 
 closes the week "heart sisters" are revealed. Teachers as 
 well as students frequently participate in this campus 
 "mixer." 
 
 Miss Mary Baird, who has shared the duties of dean with 
 Mrs. Hawkins since 1937, is a Master of Arts graduate of 
 Columbia and had been principal of the American Girls' 
 School in Egypt for seven years. As dean of girls in the large 
 Roosevelt High School, of Des Moines, for fifteen years, Miss 
 
JANE RESIDENCE HALL 
 
History of MacMurray College 481 
 
 Baird had had excellent background for understanding the 
 college freshmen. Early in this administration freshman week 
 was instituted as a means of acquainting the new students 
 with college before classes began. Today the deans are as- 
 sisted by the SOS (Student Orientation Service) composed 
 of sophomore counselors for freshmen. A class in orientation, 
 taught by Miss Baird and other members of the faculty or 
 staff, continues the initiation of the freshmen into college 
 life, customs, and traditions during the first semester. 
 
 The office of academic dean and director of personnel 
 has been held since its creation by Doctor Wendell S. Dy- 
 singer, who holds the Doctor of Philosophy degree from the 
 University of Iowa. He had had experience as a college per- 
 sonnel director and has published in books and articles the 
 results of studies in psychological testing. In addition to 
 his work as dean and personnel director, he teaches advanced 
 courses in aptitude testing and industrial psychology and 
 classes in remedial reading. Members of the faculty serve 
 as freshmen counselors for small groups and help in other 
 ways in the personnel and guidance program. Functions 
 are not rigidly separated; and the co-ordination of the 
 work of all the deans and the president is facilitated by the 
 recent centralization of offices in Main. The personnel serv- 
 ice of MacMurray College has been highly commended by 
 experts from the North Central Association of Colleges. 47 
 
 In his first annual address to the Board, President McClel- 
 land insisted that more professors, especially department 
 heads, should have the Doctor of Philosophy degree, and that 
 a better system of classification as to rank and salary should 
 be adopted with an advancement in salaries. The depres- 
 sion delayed progress along these lines, although some im- 
 provement had been made before 1935 and a great deal has 
 been made since that date. The faculty has increased from 
 thirty-eight to sixty-three; the number of men on it from 
 five to twenty-one. With one exception, members of the 
 faculty were classified as either professors or instructors in 
 1925. Today there are nineteen professors, twelve associate 
 
482 History of MacMurray College 
 
 professors, ten assistant professors, and twenty instructors. 
 Although salaries had to be reduced during the depression, 
 the scale has been advanced recently and salaries today are 
 more than twice what they were in 1920. A plan for retire- 
 ment pensions in which the College pays one-half the an- 
 nual premium has recently been adopted. Sixty-eight is 
 the age of retirement. 
 
 The geographical distribution of the faculty has been 
 broadened. Although there are still many from the Middle 
 West, the East has had a higher representation during this 
 administration, and there have been a number from the 
 South, the Far West, and from foreign countries. There 
 are natives of England, Canada, Germany, and Switzerland 
 on the present faculty. Fewer alumnae are found in the 
 faculty. Although a number of teachers hold degrees from 
 the state universities of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, there 
 is a broad range of training as well as of origin: Harvard, 
 Boston, (Connecticut) Wesleyan, Williams, Clark, Syracuse, 
 Wellesley, Vassar, Mount Holyoke, Columbia, Johns Hop- 
 kins, Duke, Southern California, Kentucky, the Sorbonne, 
 Zurich, Grenoble, and Berlin suggest the geographic range 
 and type. 
 
 MacMurray professors have full teaching schedules that 
 do not include special time granted for research and writing. 
 Many study or teach during the summer. Nevertheless, 
 books and articles in scholarly journals in a wide range of 
 fields — Latin and English literature, education, history, va- 
 rious fields of science, and fine arts — could be listed to the 
 credit of MacMurray teachers, past and present. Just be- 
 fore the entrance of the United States into World War II 
 there was a movement to found a journal or bulletin for 
 the publication of works of the faculty, but the project 
 was dropped for the time. Members of the faculty have 
 been active as citizens of Jacksonville and Illinois, as lead- 
 ers in education, civic improvement, political and social re- 
 form. Some contributions of both faculty and students 
 in these fields will appear below. The ivory-tower concep- 
 
History of MacMurray College 483 
 
 tion of knowledge or culture for its own sake or for one- 
 self alone has never been encouraged by the College. As 
 President McClelland has declared, the objective always is 
 that education should be "life-centered." 
 
 The faculty minutes record the consideration of prob- 
 lems that confront all faculties and suggest, if they do not 
 always fully record, the natural and healthy disagreements 
 with respect to the proper solution of these academic prob- 
 lems. The faculty under the leadership of the president, 
 the dean, and a curriculum committee has undertaken a 
 critical study of objectives, curriculum content, and meth- 
 ods of teaching. Many meetings have been held beside the 
 regular monthly meetings for this study, and outside ex- 
 perts have been brought in occasionally to contribute to 
 the study. To the discussion of college problems during 
 depression days, one feature of which was the multiplica- 
 tion of local junior colleges in the United States, Miss Mary 
 Johnston was able to add that this competition was noth- 
 ing new — Pliny the Younger had suggested such a plan to 
 his friend Tacitus and defended it on grounds of economy. 
 The Classical Weekly of December 10, 1928, published her 
 comments on this point. It is gratifying to discover an 
 occasional relaxation from serious matters even at a regu- 
 lar faculty meeting. In the days before sugar rationing, 
 Miss Tickle used to serve Christmas candies made in the 
 home economics kitchen. And the professors have spent 
 precious minutes discussing their annual party at the Dun- 
 lap or the Country Club or the party for students. In 
 addition to the annual dinner, the faculty today has a 
 luncheon at the College once a month. 
 
 The faculty party for students deserves a special para- 
 graph. This party is an inheritance from the former Wash- 
 ington's Birthday costume "ball," which has not been held 
 since the fire of 1929 (although the day is observed by a 
 special dinner in McClelland Hall). In recent years the 
 party has taken the form of a faculty program in Music 
 Hall. Faculties may disagree and object; on one occasion 
 
484 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the minutes record that an inquiry about the party threw 
 the group "into such turmoil it was necessary to adjourn 
 the meeting at once." 48 But students practically demand 
 their circus (although the more recent parties have omitted 
 the "bread") . They love to see the professors stoop to 
 folly. Some take their supper and go two hours early to 
 be sure of a seat. These parties have included a variety of 
 themes and features: May Day festivals; Ali Baba and the 
 Forty Thieves, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Blue- 
 beard, Carmen, Anthony and Cleopatra, the Martins and 
 the Coys. Mr. Blair in female roles is always a hit, or in 
 his solo, "Oh, Johnny," and Mrs. Hawkins as "pistol-packing 
 mama." President McClelland has starred in various roles, 
 especially as "Yankee Doodle Dandy." 
 
 Teachers are people. Statistics as to sex, training, de- 
 grees, salaries, probably tell little about them as educators 
 who interpret in their daily lives and classroom instruction 
 the story of human struggle and achievement. From obser- 
 vations, student opinions, and from the lives of the stu- 
 dents in and after college, one would judge that MacMurray 
 professors of recent decades, as of the farther past, have 
 won a fine report, and some of them a distinguished record. 
 Many have remained long enough to identify themselves 
 closely with the College. To hundreds of students the Col- 
 lege is the sum of these personalities. Continuity of service, 
 especially in the higher ranks, has been notable. Several 
 remain who entered during Doctor Harker's presidency; 
 others who came then have only recently retired, and there 
 are several who came early in the present administration. 
 Miss Nellie Knopf and Miss Mary Anderson, who retired 
 in 1943, had arrived when the century was young, the for- 
 mer in 1900. Some years before their retirement, the College 
 recognized their distinctive service with honorary doctors' 
 degrees. Through her own creative work in painting, as well 
 as through the work of her pupils, Miss Knopf has brought 
 much recognition to the College. Doctor Mary Johnston 
 has continued as head of the Department of Classical Lan- 
 
History of MacMurray College 485 
 
 guages. In diplomatic parlance she would be recognized 
 as "dean" of the corps of teachers. The summer of 1927 
 she spent in study in Italy. In 193 5, she received the Doc- 
 tor of Philosophy degree from Columbia University. Aside 
 from her dissertation, Exits and Entrances in Roman Com- 
 edy, she has written articles for classical journals and pub- 
 lished the revised and enlarged edition of her father's 'Private 
 Life of the Romans, for which work the Italian government 
 awarded her a bronze medallion. In the Conservatory of 
 Music, Miss Lula Hay, who retired in 1941, had been teacher 
 of piano since 1906. By her request the services read by 
 President McClelland upon her death in 1943 were held in 
 the Music Hall, where she had labored so long. To the 
 College she left a considerable bequest. In memory of these 
 teachers of long and distinguished service the alumnae have 
 established annual prizes for student achievement in the 
 fields in which they taught. 
 
 Many other teachers of this generation have served almost 
 as long as these. Miss Alida Alexander, head of the Biology 
 Department, came in 1914; Miss Abbott in English about 
 that time, and Miss Myrtle Larimore and Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Blackburn Martin entered the faculty of the Conservatory 
 under Doctor Harker. Miss Grace Tickle, who came to 
 the College in 1924, remained two decades — the first teacher 
 of home economics to stay more than a year or so. She 
 made her department a valuable part of the College and 
 of the community. Since 1923, Miss Beatrice Teague, head 
 of the French Department, has been an outstanding mem- 
 ber of the MacMurray faculty. Miss Hazel Olson and Miss 
 Mahala McGehee entered with President McClelland. Doc- 
 tor Elisabeth Nichols, who retired in 1944, Miss Dorothy 
 Remley, Miss Empo Henry, and Doctors Isabel Stewart, 
 Elizabeth Crigler, Frieda Gamper, and Elizabeth Rearick 
 of the present faculty came soon afterwards, although the 
 service of the latter has not been continuous. Most heads of 
 departments have been members of the faculty ten years or 
 more. 
 
486 History of MacMurray College 
 
 To all of these named and others could be marked up, 
 no doubt, some unique and distinctive service. They repre- 
 sent a wide diversity of national and social background 
 and personal experience that must enrich their teaching. 
 Doctor Gamper, born in Switzerland, with some years of 
 study and teaching in Switzerland, Germany, and Russia; 
 Mr. Rowland, who was born in Japan, educated in New 
 England, and has worked in Russia and taught in Bulgaria; 
 or Doctor Elsa Kimball, teacher in Istanbul, Turkey, or Miss 
 Baird in Egypt, or Mrs. Susanne Robbins in Germany — 
 these are examples of the variety that is extended by people 
 from various sections and national groups in the United 
 States — Tiltons of old New England, Galloways of Ken- 
 tucky, and Olsons of the middle western Scandinavian stock. 
 They are a fair cross-section of America. 
 
 Although the members of the faculty do not live in such 
 close contact with students as they did when the College 
 was smaller and teachers were "hall policemen," they pre- 
 serve many of the old friendly customs and have established 
 some new ones in order to serve the larger group. Through 
 Mrs. McClelland, table parties are arranged in the private 
 dining room in McClelland Hall, where freshmen groups 
 meet their counselors at dinner. Counselors often enter- 
 tain groups in the homes. Within the various departments 
 students and teachers enjoy many dinners, teas, parties — 
 formal and informal. Students of Latin are well acquainted 
 with Miss Johnston's skill in the culinary art as well as with 
 her collection of rare books and her typewriter that types 
 Greek; Miss Teague's teas are famous; or Sunday break- 
 fasts with Doctor Gamper, the kind to dream about in morn- 
 ing classes, they say. Her lively discussions of philosophy, 
 her fine records, and her cats are sources of entertainment. 
 Even the old-time fudge party still survives. It is hinted 
 that Doctor Dysinger is an expert in the art of fudge-mak- 
 ing. The art of entertaining, as well as that of "food-provid- 
 ing," is appreciated. Students of more than a decade will re- 
 member Mrs. Schaeffer's "Little Red Riding Hood," and smile, 
 
History of MacMurray College 487 
 
 perhaps through tears. The newer faculty members, as well 
 as the older ones, have a reputation for generous hospitality. 
 Professors are people, and the College is still a home, even 
 though it spreads out all over Jacksonville. Faculty wed- 
 dings are major events that may eclipse all other events; 
 for example, the wedding of Miss Ruby Neville to Doctor 
 Charles Berlin in 1925 or of Miss Helen Barber to Mr. Gray 
 a few years later or of Miss Gertrude Fay Holmes to Mr. 
 Hugh Beggs. Faculty children, often kept by students when 
 the mothers go out in the evening, are a part of the Col- 
 lege, and are entertained at an annual party and along with 
 their parents on many other occasions. 
 
 THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM 
 
 The impact of the depression of the 1930s and the Second 
 World War upon institutions of higher education has re- 
 sulted in widespread and continuous study and criticism 
 within these schools of their objectives, curricula, and aca- 
 demic organization and procedures. The whole business of 
 education has been overhauled, a plethora of "plans" pub- 
 lished, and the end is not yet. The return of the veteran 
 presents new physical, administrative, and instructional 
 problems. One aspect of this phase may be the bombard- 
 ment of women's colleges by men — a curious turning of the 
 tables. From institutions of higher learning some still hope 
 to find leaders to give form to the "shapelessness of things 
 to come"; and the colleges themselves have apparently been 
 fired with a new sense of responsibility for the preservation 
 of civilized life. Never perhaps have the fundamental bases 
 of education been more widely or critically studied. For 
 the outcome one still waits — and hopes. 
 
 Throughout this administration, President McClelland and 
 the faculties of the College have studied the trends in higher 
 education and in the light (or the dark) of these the process 
 of education at MacMurray. Reference has been made to 
 the continuous work of the curriculum committee under 
 the leadership of Mrs. Gertrude Holmes Beggs, Mr. Paul 
 Rowland, and others. Certain facts have conditioned the 
 
488 History of MacMurray College 
 
 approach of MacMurray College to educational changes. It 
 is a college for women and recognizes certain special inter- 
 ests and duties of women as members of society for which 
 this college should make provision. The majority of its 
 alumnae who enter careers outside the home are teachers, 
 who must be prepared to meet the requirements set by Illi- 
 nois or other states for public school teaching. And, finally, 
 the College has not had sufficient resources to afford much 
 experimentation in new programs of education of the more 
 radical sort, even if the administration had been inclined 
 toward them. 
 
 President McClelland has stated his own views on educa- 
 tional objectives and reform in his annual reports to the 
 Board of Trustees, in numerous addresses and articles, and 
 in his book, Question Marks and Exclamation Points. These 
 statements emphasize: special interests and needs of women 
 in education and hence the value of separate colleges for 
 them; independent study to train the student to think and 
 to use constructively information gained in research; the 
 correlation of studies in related fields instead of rigid depart- 
 mentalization; the introduction of the student to certain 
 great fields of knowledge — the natural sciences, the social 
 sciences, the humanities, and the fine and applied arts; and 
 education for use to society instead of mere personal enjoy- 
 ment. His more recent statements place a greater emphasis 
 than some earlier ones, perhaps, on general education (or lib- 
 eral education) in the broad field of the humanities in con- 
 trast to technical studies. 49 The practical value of the for- 
 mer is generally admitted today. Indeed, in a world where 
 man's ingenuity threatens to work his destruction, the edu- 
 cation of the spirit and will, the development of the moral 
 sense to be derived from such studies would appear to be 
 the preeminently practical education. 
 
 The following paragraphs give a more explicit statement 
 of his views: 
 
 It is our purpose to make our curriculum life-centered. . . . Our 
 students should learn the nature of the physical universe, its laws and 
 
History of MacMurray College 489 
 
 processes, and how natural forces have been harnessed and made to serve 
 the needs of civilization; they should also learn what has been discovered 
 about human nature and human behavior; they should be brought face 
 to face with the major social, economic, and political problems of the 
 present day; they should become familiar with the best literature; they 
 should develop a love for and an appreciation of great music and art; 
 but, in addition, they should be helped to see the meaning, prospect, and 
 implications of such vitally important matters as marriage and earning 
 a living. 
 
 Our students, being citizens of America, should be trained for success- 
 ful living in a democracy. This requires on their part independent 
 thought and critical judgment; it also requires setting certain goals 
 both for themselves and for society which are in harmony with demo- 
 cratic principles and ideals. We believe that these goals, principles, and 
 ideals are best defined and made effective when formed in the light 
 of the religion of Jesus Christ. . . . 
 
 Our students being women, their leading interests and activities in 
 life will be different from those of men. Many of them will become 
 teachers in elementary and secondary schools where the chief require- 
 ment will not be education, but a sympathetic understanding of child 
 nature and the social and economic factors which condition the lives 
 of children. 
 
 Most of our graduates will become mothers. Te be truly successful, 
 they must be intelligent and broadly cultured; but they will be closely 
 related to the problems of food and children, and it is particularly 
 important that they should be familiar with the principles of mental and 
 physical hygiene, as well as with the effect of social and economic 
 influences upon the development of personality. 
 
 A large proportion will become actively engaged in economic pursuits, 
 at least for some years, and they should learn while in college what the 
 economic opportunities for women are. 
 
 Nearly all our graduates will be interested in social welfare and they 
 should be equipped for participation in community enterprises not only 
 by worthy motives, but also by adequate knowledge of the facts, rela- 
 tions, and processes of society. 
 
 Our teachers, as well as our deans, must be more than purveyors of 
 information found in books. They must be vital persons who have a 
 broad knowledge of the realities of the world and of life . . . and are 
 therefore capable of giving wise counsel to their students and of helping 
 them to make proper adjustments to the social and economic situations 
 in which they find themselves. 50 
 
 A survey of the general organization of the curriculum 
 and the requirements for graduation; the evolution within 
 certain departments; the work in the division of fine and 
 applied arts; the foundation of the Illinois Conservatory of 
 Music; the establishment of the kindergarten, the division 
 
490 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of graduate studies, and the summer school; the expansion 
 of the library and laboratories; and the contribution of cer- 
 tain extra-curricular features to the program of education, 
 notably that of the Institutes on Public Affairs: these are 
 aspects of the educational development that should follow 
 his statement of aims. 
 
 The general criticism and reform of the curriculum 
 began in 1931, sooner than in most colleges. In fact, the 
 president's reports from 1926 on contain reflections on the 
 necessity of changes in both curriculum and methods of 
 instruction. A few changes were made in requirements 
 for graduation in 1928. Courses in child psychology, food 
 and nutrition, and art appreciation were added; the require- 
 ments in English, mathematics, and science lowered slightly, 
 leaving the total of required hours about the same (a pos- 
 sible sixty-one, not including six hours of physical educa- 
 tion). Two hours of English restored in 1929 left the re- 
 quired hours 63 out of the 120 necessary for graduation. 
 It might be noted here that changes in the curriculum up 
 to the present have not resulted in any considerable increase 
 in the number of courses. The experts employed by the 
 Board of Education, who inspected the College in 1931, com- 
 mended the administration for its conservative policy on this 
 point. Too many small colleges had tried to imitate the uni- 
 versities in multiplying departments and courses. 51 
 
 In 1932, the "new curriculum" was instituted. It aimed 
 to weaken or remove departmental lines and to replace "ma- 
 jors" and "minors" with a "field of concentration." Re- 
 lated studies were grouped into certain broad divisions, 
 representing the major fields of knowledge — literature and 
 language, social sciences, philosophy and religion, science and 
 mathematics, and fine and applied arts. Students were re- 
 quired to take some work in each division. 52 In the present 
 year (1946), the "divisions" of undergraduate studies have 
 been reorganized into four. Philosophy and religion have 
 been grouped with language and literature into a division 
 of the humanities. Education and psychology, formerly 
 
History of MacMurray College 491 
 
 grouped with philosophy and religion, have been added 
 respectively to the division of social sciences, and that o f 
 science and mathematics. A fifth division today comprises 
 the field of graduate studies. The present catalogue thus 
 describes the plan: 
 
 The chief emphasis in the course of study is placed on the concen- 
 tration. The field of concentration is defined as a program of study 
 leading to advanced work in one department of the division and includ- 
 ing closely related courses in one or more other departments. 
 
 The purpose of this plan of study is to develop sound and consistent 
 methods of work, to develop ability to correlate facts from differ- 
 ent fields of knowledge and use them to a common end, and to 
 provide opportunity and incentive for independent, creative work. 
 The minimum course requirement is twenty- four hours in any department 
 of concentration, and in most cases the student will do two or three 
 additional hours of Study for Concentration, not involving attendance 
 in any class or course, but requiring comprehensive examinations or a 
 paper or both. This Study for Concentration must be of an advanced 
 character; its scope will lie within the department of concentration and 
 closely related aspects of other departments. 53 
 
 Certain exceptions have been made in the application of 
 the plan, especially for students in art and music, and it 
 has worked with varying degrees of success in other depart- 
 ments. It has not broken down departmental lines. The 
 faculty is still organized in departments with heads, and 
 there are no chairmen of divisions. In many cases students 
 concentrate (take a major) in a single department, but in 
 some cases they select studies for their field of concentration 
 from different departments within the division, to that de- 
 gree ignoring departmental lines. The success of the inde- 
 pendent study naturally depends heavily on the ability of 
 the student, and is not required of all students, although all 
 students are required to take comprehensive examinations 
 at the end of the senior year in the major or field of concen- 
 tration. Students who register for independent study pre- 
 pare a plan in conference with the instructor, which usually 
 includes a series of papers or reports on a general theme, 
 all of which may be combined into one study. Some de- 
 partments offer an independent study course open to juniors 
 on the permission of the instructor in addition to a similar 
 course called Study for Concentration for seniors. This 
 
49 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 plan of independent study seems to have worked well, at least 
 in certain departments. Papers are preserved and kept on 
 file in the instructor's office or in the library. Among those 
 examined, which were in fields of French, Latin, English, 
 and history, there is, in the judgment of the writer, work 
 excellent in plan and execution. In the file of Latin papers, 
 for example, there is one by Helen Teele, '33, on "Horace 
 and Our Times." She took a Master's degree at the Uni- 
 versity of Illinois in 1934 and in the summer of 1935 studied 
 in Greece. This paper, based on much study of Horace and 
 his age, was an application of his philosophy to the depres- 
 sion era of the 1930s. Its sprightliness shows that such 
 products of research can be scholarly without being dull, 
 a lesson that some writers of doctoral dissertations have not 
 learned. Other Latin subjects have a contemporary appli- 
 cation — "Vergil's Eclogues and Modern Farming," for ex- 
 ample. Miss Johnston is still looking for someone with a 
 scientific background to do "Lucretius and Modern Sci- 
 ence." Studies such as "Catullus and English Literature" 
 crossed departmental lines. Papers in French on the seven- 
 teenth century theatre with emphasis on Moliere, or on the 
 modern novel, and other subjects suggest an impressive 
 amount of work. An excellent study in American history 
 that won the first prize in the essay contest sponsored by 
 the Morgan County Historical Society was a paper by Emily 
 McCullough, '44, on "Social and Economic Life in Scott 
 County, Illinois, to 1860." In the preparation of it the 
 writer made excellent use of county records and other local 
 source material. In English, the studies in concentration 
 reflect the predominant interest in contemporary literature, 
 including the American. There are studies of the New 
 England poets — Robinson, Lowell and Frost, of contem- 
 porary American drama, and one on the Illinois poets. The 
 new interest in the Brontes has led to a special study. Few 
 choose early English or medieval subjects, although this year 
 there is one on "Chaucer's Women." Independent study 
 and stui y in concentration has also been done in the sciences. 
 
History of MacMurray College 493 
 
 Among the studies in botany one student has done inde- 
 pendent research on local algae. In chemistry, both literary 
 research and experimentation have been the bases or methods 
 of independent study. Recognition has been given by the 
 American Chemical Society to work done by two students 
 in concentration on "Zinc Cobaltinitrite for the Detection 
 of Potassium." 54 The Greetings of April 27, 1946, con- 
 tains a notice that the concentration paper of Mary Edith 
 Bradley, '45, in psychology is to appear in the Journal of 
 Education and 'Psychological Measurement. It dealt with 
 the test of the Armed Forces Institute for returning vet- 
 erans. 
 
 Courses required for the Bachelor of Arts degree have been 
 reduced from sixty-three hours to a possible forty-three and 
 one -half. In addition, the student takes from twenty- four 
 to thirty-six hours in prescribed courses in the field of con- 
 centration. Of the required courses a possible twenty-six 
 hours or a minimum of eighteen (depending on the number 
 of units in foreign language offered for entrance) are in the 
 humanities, six in social sciences, eight in science, and three 
 in fine arts (either music or art appreciation) . 
 
 Without attempting a complete survey of the evolution 
 in the content of the curriculum, one might note some of 
 the changes made during these decades. In the field of 
 English one finds more attention to American literature 
 and to the contemporary fields. Here, as in other depart- 
 ments (and other colleges) , the introduction of courses may 
 depend on the special predilections of teachers. Unless such 
 courses are too specialized or technical there is probable 
 justification for the offering. The zest of the teacher will 
 give it particular value. Miss Annabel Newton had done 
 special work in Wordsworth and had written Wordsworth 
 and Early American Criticism. She taught a course in the 
 Age of Wordsworth. Dante in English literature must 
 have been Miss Newton's course too. Prim-looking Miss 
 Nichols had a course in Russian realism! All these courses 
 have disappeared. There is, however, a two-semester course 
 
494 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in European literature in translation. The outstanding 
 change in this general division of the humanities is a two- 
 semester course entitled Great Literature. It is to be offered 
 as a required course for juniors in 1946-47. The list of 
 "great books" selected for study includes: selections from 
 Greek drama (tragedy) ; Plato's Apology, Crito, and Phaedo; 
 Aristotle's Ethics; Richard II, Hamlet, Othello, The Tem- 
 pest, Paradise Lost, Don Quixote, Faust, Moby Dick, and 
 War and Peace. It is the purpose to expand the study of 
 the great books into other fields, including more selections 
 in religion and philosophy, and to extend such a course 
 through the four years of college work. 
 
 Students have won prizes in a number of writing con- 
 tests — the Illinois State Peace Essay contests, the National 
 Woman's Rights Party ( $200 and a trip to Washington) , and 
 others, and have had poems in college anthologies. 55 Several 
 times the college newspaper has received the highest national 
 rating. Doctor Dorothy Burrows, head of the English De- 
 partment, is sponsor of the Scribblers' Club, which encour- 
 ages creative writing and publishes a literary annual, Ink- 
 spirations. 
 
 Students concentrating in the fields of French, German, 
 or Spanish are encouraged to select courses also in English 
 and in European literature and history. Both the French 
 and German Departments offer courses in the great books 
 in those fields in translation. German, dropped in World 
 War I, was reintroduced in 1928. In the Spanish Depart- 
 ment courses in liispanic culture, including that of Span- 
 ish-America, and in Hispanic -American literature have been 
 introduced by the present head, who has studied especially 
 in that field. Although the Department of Classical Lan- 
 guages is small, there are usually students who choose those 
 studies as a field of concentration. Greek is offered on demand 
 and is sometimes demanded. Departmental clubs in French 
 and Spanish do not exist at present, but these departments 
 (today the French alone) sponsor an annual Mardi Gras fes- 
 tival. The German Club has contributed much to the study 
 
History of MacMurray College 495 
 
 of German life, literature, philosophy, and music. Folk 
 songs and carols are learned, and a special group, the Minne- 
 singers, organized. A few years ago a Berliner was secre- 
 tary of the German Club and a girl from Vienna the musi- 
 cal director. Doctor Gamper's Christmas parties with the 
 tree, ice cream yule logs, the carols, and the impressive mys- 
 tery play done by the German Club have been enjoyed by 
 successive "generations" of students of German. 
 
 In philosophy and religion, six hours are required, four 
 of which must be in religion. During the preceding admin- 
 istration the department was called Bible and Religious Edu- 
 cation, and vocational subjects were offered. These have 
 been dropped, and the number of separate courses reduced. 
 In the early years of his presidency, Doctor McClelland 
 taught the course in Modern Religious Thought. Then, for 
 a time (1938-39), it was made a part of a required upper- 
 class course, Euthenics, which comprised a study of prob- 
 lems of home living, citizenship, music and art apprecia- 
 tion, and religious thought. This course soon disappeared. 
 It represented the effort toward integration of knowledge 
 that still goes on. Incidentally, Doctor Paul Anderson, pro- 
 fessor of philosophy and religion a few years ago, did inter- 
 esting research published in the Illinois State Historical Jour- 
 nal on the Plato Club of Jacksonville and the regional inter- 
 est in Plato and the German philosophers in the late nine- 
 teenth century. 
 
 In the division of social sciences, the most notable devel- 
 opment is the great expansion in courses offered in economics 
 and sociology. In 1925, only one course was given in the 
 former and two in the latter. Now there are sufficient 
 courses for students to concentrate in either field. In soci- 
 ology, there are several courses in the family and, at the 
 graduate level, courses in social case work. One of the 
 objects of the department is to provide preparation for 
 those who want to go into social work as a career, and a 
 number choose this field. In the social sciences, there is 
 some tendency to cut across departmental lines in choos- 
 
496 History of MacMurray College 
 
 ing courses for concentration. Doctor Elsa Kimball, who 
 has studied in the London School of Economics, teaches in 
 both economics and sociology, and Mrs. Beggs has taught 
 in both economics and history. Thus teachers, as well as 
 concentration subjects, cut across departmental lines. In 
 history, the fundamentals of civilization has replaced Eng- 
 lish history (European history after 1930) as the required 
 course. It is a study of the great movements of history from 
 earliest times to the present. In an interesting contribution 
 to the discussion during World War II over whether United 
 States history should be required in colleges, President 
 McClelland made a vigorous statement in an article in 
 School and Society in favor of presenting history from the 
 global rather than the national viewpoint. 56 The history 
 faculty is sufficiently varied, with the Far East and Russia 
 taught by one who has lived in those countries and taught 
 in Bulgaria and who knows Slavic Europe intimately; Eng- 
 land and the British Empire by a native Britisher educated 
 in the United States; and the United States by a midwest - 
 erner, who also is actively interested in research in local and 
 regional history in this section. The personnel of the de- 
 partment has included a number of interesting personalities. 
 Mrs. Florence de Roover, wife of a Belgian Army officer, was 
 a professor for some years. She had done considerable re- 
 search in Europe in medieval history, and was an outstand- 
 ing student of Doctor James Westfall Thompson. She left 
 in 1943 to continue research at Harvard on the life of Fran- 
 cesco di Guiliano di Medici. A graduate of the Oriental 
 Institute of Chicago University gave scholarly instruction on 
 Ancient Civilizations of the Near East. Mrs. Helen Bar- 
 ber Gray, an excellent instructor, worked valiantly to make 
 the History Club a real force and succeeded. This club, 
 reorganized as the International Relations Club and affili- 
 ated with the Carnegie Foundation Clubs, has continued to 
 be one of the stronger departmental organizations. Under 
 Doctor Walter B. Hendrickson, it has been very active dur- 
 ing and since World War II. Its monthly meetings, weekly 
 
u ^ 
 
 s-l 
 
 .s s 
 
 O 
 
Mrs. James E. MacMurray (Left), President of the Board 1944-, and Ann 
 
 Marshall Orr, '13 (Right), standing by Tablet Commemorating Mrs. Orr's 
 
 gift of the New Porch on Old Main 
 
 Louise dates Eddy, '12, President of Alumnae Association L945-, and 
 President McClelland 
 
History of MacMurray College 497 
 
 news round-ups in the dormitories, bulletins, and special 
 library shelf have done much to promote campus interest 
 in world affairs. Delegates of the club attend regional con- 
 ferences. In 1932 and 1943, the midwestern conference 
 met at MacMurray; and MacMurray girls held regional of- 
 fices, including that of president. When World War II 
 travel restrictions caused the suspension of regional meet- 
 ings, the MacMurray Club held local conferences with the 
 Illinois College Club. From time to time the History De- 
 partment has sponsored trips to historic places in Illinois. 57 
 Visits to the City Council, the jail, the "institutions," or the 
 fire department are popular. Young ladies still enjoy the 
 thrill of a ride in the fire wagon. 58 In 1928 and 1929 dele- 
 gates were sent to model League of Nations Assemblies at 
 the University of Chicago. MacMurray girls participated 
 as delegates of Peru, Panama, and Brazil. 59 
 
 Education is now included in the division of the social 
 sciences. Courses in this department meet the require- 
 ments of the North Central Association in the preparation 
 of teachers and student needs for training in various fields. 
 Although there is no concentration in education, students 
 may concentrate in kindergarten-primary work and in the 
 teaching of the deaf. For the former the MacMurray kin- 
 dergarten provides a useful laboratory. It has experienced 
 many moving days and is now located across the Brook in 
 the Franklin School. It is today incorporated with the 
 Jacksonville Public School system. The kindergarten group 
 maintains a local Association of Childhood Education, 
 affiliated as one of the eight Illinois branches with the Na- 
 tional Association. Delegates are regularly sent to confer- 
 ences. In the spring the students of kindergarten education 
 present an operetta in Music Hall with their small folk. 
 Miss Christina Marshall and Miss Patterson would still feel 
 at home on the campus. The Jacksonville School for the 
 Deaf, the largest in the world, co-operates in the training 
 of students in that field. In 1942, the College worked out a 
 special plan for a four-year course leading to the Bachelor 
 
498 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of Arts degree with provision for study and practice teach- 
 ing at the School for the Deaf. Only a limited number of 
 students are admitted in a single year to this course. 
 
 The division of the sciences includes the biological sci- 
 ences (biology, botany, and zoology) , chemistry, physics, 
 mathematics, and psychology. Certain traditional favorites, 
 such as astronomy and geology, are no longer offered. The 
 biological sciences and chemistry are the main fields. A new- 
 course in the sciences, entitled Foundations of Science, was 
 introduced in 1945. The purpose is to give the student a 
 general understanding of the physical and biological sci- 
 ences and their place in human affairs, which is in line with 
 the purpose of the College to furnish a "general education" 
 in the major fields of knowledge. A few courses in the bio- 
 logical sciences are at the graduate level — anatomy and 
 physiology of speech, hearing, and vision — for the service of 
 those doing research in the study of handicapped children. 
 In biology and chemistry, students prepare for work as doc- 
 tors, laboratory technicians, or for professional work in 
 home economics. Alumnae records show a number in these 
 fields. A number have gone on to do graduate study. Mary 
 Hillis, '41, is teacher of chemistry in Vassar. Students in 
 chemistry have had a number of essays in the Chemistry 
 Leaflet issued by the American Chemical Society. 60 Twice 
 freshmen have won essay prizes offered by the American 
 Chemical Society. Rosalia Conlee, '32, one of the graduates 
 for whom the Conlee-Kent Cup is named, won a $300 award 
 from that society for an essay, "The Relation of Chemistry 
 to the Illinois Home." 61 Graduates in botany and zoology 
 have taken the Master's degree at the University of Illinois or 
 Michigan or Wisconsin. Several have held scholarships at 
 the University of Illinois. Some teach in high school or col- 
 lege; and there have been graduates employed in the United 
 States Department of Agriculture as seed analysts or plant 
 pathologists or in the State Laboratory in Springfield. 
 
 In psychology there is provision for much laboratory 
 work. Courses in applied psychology and industrial psy- 
 
History of MacMurray College 499 
 
 chology prepare students for various types of personnel 
 work. Students in abnormal psychology may observe 
 methods at the Jacksonville State Hospital. There is pro- 
 vision for supervised teaching at the School for the Deaf. 
 Much of the work in this department — courses in tests and 
 measurements and in clinical work — are at the graduate 
 level. 
 
 Figures as to the major or field of concentration chosen 
 have not been averaged by the writer over a period of years. 
 The following list for the Class of '46 could be regarded 
 as suggestive only. For the Bachelor of Arts degree there 
 are the following: 7 in business administration; 8, history; 
 7, art; 11, sociology; 7, English; 3, zoology; 1, music; 8, 
 kindergarten-primary; 7, chemistry; 4, education; 1, 
 French; 1, mathematics; 1, physical education; 1, economics; 
 4, home economics; 8, speech; 1, Spanish; 9, psychology; for 
 the Bachelor of Science: 8, physical education; 6, home eco- 
 nomics; and for the Bachelor of Music, 6. Although the 
 list contains none in the classical languages, there were two 
 in that field in 1945. This list indicates that, although a 
 majority of those graduating have their concentration in 
 the divisions of the humanities, the social sciences, or the 
 sciences, a large number chose the division of the fine or 
 applied arts. This division represents an important part of 
 the MacMurray educational program. It includes art, 
 speech, music, business administration, home economics, and 
 health and physical education. The last of these is discussed 
 separately in connection with the recreation program. 
 
 Home economics is a large department with three teach- 
 ers. Related courses in art and science are closely inte- 
 grated with work in home economics. Courses are designed 
 to meet both general homemaking and professional needs. 
 There are courses in homemaking and foods and nutrition 
 open to students who do not select this field for concentra- 
 tion. Students can choose a course in concentration look- 
 ing to positions as dietitians or costume designers or as teach- 
 ers of home economics. Alumnae lists of recent years show 
 
500 History of MacMurray College 
 
 a considerable number in prominent positions: an instruc- 
 tor in home economics in Columbia University, food direc- 
 tor of the YWCA in New York, consultant in dietetics in 
 Washington, dietitian for the United Air Lines, Chicago, 
 New York dress buyer for a large Chicago house, or de- 
 signer for theatrical costumes for a Chicago company. Stu- 
 dents in home economics and art design the beautiful and 
 elaborate costumes for the MacMurray May Festival. There 
 is a spring style show to display the work of the depart- 
 ment. The Home Economics Club is an active group. To 
 raise funds, it caters for campus parties. At its meetings 
 experts have addressed the group on such subjects as "Con- 
 sumers' Co-operatives as Observed in Europe" or "Home 
 Life of the Hungarians," as well as on subjects of local or 
 regional interest. The Home Economics Club has maintained 
 close fellowship in annual parties with the Tironians. 
 
 Business administration has grown from the initial secre- 
 tarial course into a department which offers courses in money 
 and banking, advertising, marketing, business law, economic 
 geography, and other subjects. It has been a popular field 
 for concentration. The Tironian Club, established in 1926 
 under the leadership of Miss Crum, furnishes social and edu- 
 cational opportunities for students in business administra- 
 tion. Its box suppers and spelling bees have been varied 
 with lectures by businessmen and women, and it is closely 
 identified with the local Business and Professional Woman's 
 Club. At the annual banquet of the Tironians in 1946 the 
 national president of that organization made the chief ad- 
 dress. The club has issued a trade journal, Radio. 
 
 Students in art can concentrate in a general art course, 
 emphasizing either painting or commercial design or a 
 teachers' course. Miss Knopf continued to direct the de- 
 partment until 1943. Fellowships to the Harvard Summer 
 School or the Chicago Art Institute were granted by the 
 Carnegie Foundation on several occasions. 62 In 1931, the 
 department received from the same foundation a $5,000 
 collection (the College to pay one-half the cost) of fine 
 
History of MacMurray College 501 
 
 prints and books. 63 In the later years of Miss Knopf's work 
 as director, she gave much attention to courses in art his- 
 tory and appreciation. Her personal demonstrations in the 
 art of painting were a feature of campus life and education 
 that all enjoyed. She had something of the status of resident 
 artist. Today her pictures adorn the halls and parlors of 
 MacMurray and the apartments and homes of her colleagues 
 and pupils — pictures which the art critic of the Chicago 
 Tribune found "as refreshing as a cold shower for petulant 
 nerves." "You and the universe (the critic added) are 
 brought together firmly, sensibly, and the justice of nature, 
 undiluted, is made manifest." 64 And a student of Miss 
 Knopf's declared that "a strengthening of character is one 
 of the most noticeable achievements of this art course." 65 
 The work of her students, as well as the exhibition of her 
 pictures, brought distinction to the College. In 1934, for 
 example, in the Third Biennial Exhibition of the works of 
 art students in colleges, universities, and art institutes, the 
 MacMurray College entries ranked among the five outstand- 
 ing ones, and were commended by the art critic of the 
 New York Times, In 193 5, ten linoleum and wood block 
 prints of MacMurray students were among the fifty se- 
 lected from more than 3,000 to be published. 66 Many gradu- 
 ates have gone into art both as teachers in colleges and pub- 
 lic schools and as professional artists. Two are on the pres- 
 ent MacMurray faculty. The Art Department is a large one, 
 employing four teachers. The director, Miss Ruth Gay, a 
 Canadian and graduate of the School of Fine Arts in Syra- 
 cuse University, has maintained the high standards of the 
 department. The Art Department overflowed the studio in 
 Music Hall. Today a separate building, the Design Studio, 
 supplements that. The Pfeiffer Library provides a gallery 
 for the exhibition of student and faculty work and collec- 
 tions secured from the outside. 
 
 From elocution through expression and public speaking 
 the Department of Drama and Speech has evolved, which 
 today employs four full-time teachers. The objectives of 
 
502 History of MacMurray College 
 
 this department are: to improve speech habits and develop 
 a more effective speech personality, to enrich culture through 
 appreciation of the drama, and to provide training for teach- 
 ers of speech or for professional work in radio, speech, and 
 drama. Courses in group discussion to train the student for 
 participation in or leadership of the symposium and forum 
 for forming and implementing public opinion, and courses 
 in dramatics for those who may become directors of pub- 
 lic school or community playhouses or leaders in recreational 
 centers indicate the practical (but not necessarily voca- 
 tional) orientation of the course. 
 
 Many of the facilities of the department are opened to 
 all students whether enrolled in speech or not. All are en- 
 couraged to take the fundamentals of speech, a freshman 
 course. Those who show interest and some ability in acting 
 may become members of the MacMurray Players, a non- 
 departmental organization which has taken the place of 
 the former Dramatic Club, or those interested in radio may 
 join the Radio Workshop under Mr. Howard Hansen. The 
 Little Theatre has proved an invaluable laboratory for 
 classes in stagecraft, studied as an applied art. In it is lo- 
 cated also the Radio Studio. Training in radio technique 
 and production with practical experience in the studio and 
 over the local station, WLDS, is offered, and in 1945 the 
 College installed its own campus broadcasting system. Sev- 
 eral recent graduates have gone into radio work. The fac- 
 ulty presents varied and complementary special interests and 
 abilities. 
 
 In 1944, the Players' Guild, an honor organization of 
 upper-class speech students, was affiliated as a chapter of 
 the National Collegiate Players, the third chapter organized 
 in colleges for women. Doctor Ray Holcombe, director 
 of the department, was the first president of the parent 
 organization founded in 1917 at the University of Wiscon- 
 sin. 07 It carries much of the leadership and responsibility 
 for campus productions. A pleasant tradition taken over 
 
History of MacMurray College 503 
 
 from the Dramatic Club is the May breakfast in Lilac Court 
 featuring radish sandwiches on rye bread. 
 
 The plays presented by the College Theatre are main 
 events on the calendar. Many will recall productions of 
 recent years: Dover Road, the first play in the Little 
 Theatre, Noah, Stage Door, Lady Precious Stream, Letters 
 to Lucerne, Doodle Dandy, or Our Town; or George Eliot's 
 Spanish Gypsy, or earlier productions: Gammer Gur ton's 
 Needle, Mr. Antonio, The Family Portrait, A Kiss for Cin- 
 derella, or Uncle Tom's Cabin, in which the Negro actor, 
 Robert Dunmore, a former pupil of Mrs. Schaeffer, took the 
 leading role. 68 The religious dramas, The Sin of Ahab and 
 Barabbas, were presented by request in many other towns. 00 
 A play given in the spring of 1946, Josef and Karl Kapek's 
 Insect Comedy, was a brilliant achievement in costuming 
 and lighting and scenic effects as well as in directing. 
 Speech seniors direct plays as a part of their concentration 
 study. The freshman literary societies maintain a contest in 
 play production, sponsored by the Speech Department, and 
 a cup is presented to the winning group. A director of one 
 of these freshman society plays a few years ago, Jetaline 
 Preminger, has recently had a prominent role in Angel 
 Street on Broadway. At MacMurray the play is quite the 
 thing. During these decades the older literary societies have 
 sometimes presented plays, and the Senior Class occasionally 
 a commencement play. The Speech Department sponsors 
 the Wesley Mathers Declamation (reading) Contest. This 
 year the four original essays read in the contest were re- 
 lated to the Centennial and described "The Heritage of the 
 MacMurray Girl." 
 
 Training in public discussion, provided today through 
 courses in group discussion, was given until recently through 
 instruction in debating and participation in interclass, inter- 
 society, and intercollegiate debates. Miss Remley, Mrs. 
 Beggs, and Mr. George Adams aroused enthusiasm for de- 
 bating; and Mr. Gibson was the able coach in the later years, 
 when debating became a major activity. The sophomore- 
 
504 History of Mac Murray College 
 
 junior debate instituted during the preceding administra- 
 tion remained a chief intramural contest for some years. 
 A part of the Wesley Mathers prize was distributed among 
 the members of the winning team. In 1929, intersociety 
 tournaments in debating broadened this activity. The first 
 intercollegiate debate was held with Monmouth College 
 in 1927. 70 In the 1930s MacMurray girls debated in many 
 single and dual engagements with middle western colleges 
 and universities and in tournaments held among the Illinois 
 colleges. In 1939-40, for example, the teams participated in 
 fifty-eight debates. 71 In 1942, the College was host to the 
 Illinois State Debate League, of which Mr. Gibson was 
 president. Fifty-four teams were entertained on the cam- 
 pus and engaged in six rounds of debate on the subject, 
 "Resolved, That the democracies should form a federation 
 to establish and maintain the eight Roosevelt -Churchill prin- 
 ciples." 72 Eastern and southern tours were arranged in 
 the later 1930s, and MacMurray teams debated Wellesley, 
 Swarthmore, Boston University, Ohio Wesleyan, and other 
 colleges on these trips. With a Canadian team they de- 
 bated the question of the sit-down strike and met an Aus- 
 tralian group on the future of the British Empire. In 1937, 
 MacMurray debaters broadcast a debate with the John 
 Marshall Law School of Chicago on consumers' co-operatives. 
 The subjects of these debates are a historical record of many 
 of the leading public issues of the decade: child labor, equal 
 rights for women in industry, installment buying, chain 
 stores, national control of education, presidential power, 
 independence for India, sanctions against Italy, control of 
 armaments, military and economic isolation, permanent 
 union of the Americas, and federation of the democracies. 
 The MacMurray teams made a fine record. In 1940-41, they 
 tied with Lake Forest for first place in the State. 73 Although 
 debating between colleges seems to have gone out of fashion 
 during World War II, it had been a useful part of the Mac- 
 Murray program of education for more than a decade. 
 
History of MacMurray College 505 
 
 Intramural teams among the literary societies made it pos- 
 sible for many to participate. 
 
 From 1848, when Mrs. Rapelje gave piano lessons on the 
 "Academy piano," instruction in music has been a part of 
 the educational program of this college. Traditions of high 
 standards in scholarship and instruction were left by Pro- 
 fessors Strachauer, Wimmerstedt, Day, and others. In 1875, 
 the Academy of Music (later College of Music) was founded. 
 The program of music education has been enlarged, better 
 facilities provided, and today individual and group instruc- 
 tion for both cultural and professional purposes is empha- 
 sized by MacMurray. 
 
 In 1928, the Conservatory of Music of Illinois College was 
 united with the College of Music of the Woman's College. 
 The former had been established in 1871 by W. D. Sanders 
 of the Athenaeum. In 1885, it had come under the admin- 
 istration of E. P. Bullard, head of the Jacksonville Female 
 Academy, which was joined to Illinois College in 1903. 74 
 The following statement issued by the two colleges in 1928 
 explained the merger: 
 
 Experience in the past has shown that it is difficult for two con- 
 servatories of high grade to prosper simultaneously in this community. 
 Furthermore this competitive situation has often interfered with the 
 highest development of good music in our city. The two Boards of 
 Trustees have, therefore, entered into agreement with the firm conviction 
 that the consolidation of the two schools of music will be for the mutual 
 benefit of both colleges and for the best interests of the music-loving 
 public of Jacksonville. The new school of music resulting from this 
 consolidation will be known as the Illinois Conservatory of Music. 75 
 The Conservatory of Music was put under the control and 
 administration of the Woman's College, and its chief center 
 has been the Music Hall of MacMurray. There is a down- 
 town studio on West State Street. An advisory council of 
 three trustees of this college and two of Illinois College with 
 the presidents of both institutions was set up to make recom- 
 mendations with regard to the Conservatory to the Board 
 of Trustees of the Woman's College. At the time of the 
 consolidation the Music School of the Woman's College was 
 more than twice the size of that of Illinois College. 76 
 
506 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Professor Henry Ward Pearson remained head of the 
 Conservatory until 1937, when Professor Joseph C. Clee- 
 land, graduate of the Eastman School of Music with fur- 
 ther study under masters in New York and Germany, be- 
 came the director. The faculty of fourteen contains ar- 
 tists and trained instructors in piano, organ, voice, violin 
 and other stringed instruments, in orchestration, in children's 
 music, band, and public school music. In recitals in Music 
 Hall, in the churches of Jacksonville, and in concerts in 
 other towns and cities the music faculty serves the larger 
 community. The Faculty Trio of violin, violincello, and 
 piano has been especially notable in concert work. The 
 enrollment in the Conservatory in 1944-45 was 261. Al- 
 though there have been periods in the past when the College 
 of Music was much larger than that of liberal arts, it is 
 today less than half the size of the latter. It is a fully ac- 
 credited member of the National Association of Conserva- 
 tories of Music. 
 
 Students may take courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts 
 degree, with concentration in music, or the Bachelor of 
 Music degree, or the Bachelor of Music in Public School 
 Music. The Conservatory also offers work leading to the 
 Master of Music degree. A course in music appreciation 
 is open to all students, and they have the opportunity to 
 join certain musical organizations. Emphasis is placed on 
 courses in theory, the history of music, musical pedagogy, 
 composition, and so forth, as well as on applied music. A 
 course in the opera is offered with lectures on its origin 
 and development and the study of great operas. In co-op- 
 eration with the Department of Speech, operas — Hansel and 
 Gretel, The Pirates of Penzance, The Bartered Bride, The 
 Merry Wives of Windsor, and others — have been presented. 
 Elizabeth Humphrey, '39, who had a leading role in several 
 of these, won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music 
 and is today prominent in concert work in New York. Mrs. 
 Helen Brown Read, who had had an extended career in 
 
History of MacMurray College 507 
 
 opera, introduced the class in opera study in 1937 (she had 
 given a similar course in the early 1930s). 
 
 Musical organizations — the College Choir, the Madrigal 
 Club, and the Band — have offered wide opportunity to stu- 
 dents to participate in musical instruction and perform- 
 ance and have added much to college functions and to cam- 
 pus life. The Choir, which replaced the Glee Club in 1929, 
 is a group of about thirty. It adds impressiveness to the 
 chapel services and in co-operation with the Madrigal Club 
 presents beautiful Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter Ves- 
 pers. It has made frequent trips to other towns and col- 
 leges, and many of its programs have been broadcast. The 
 Madrigal Club, usually a much larger group than the Choir 
 and composed mainly of freshmen, gives an annual concert 
 and sings on Dad's Day and other special occasions and at 
 the Hour of Music on baccalaureate Sunday. Until recently 
 the College had an orchestra, and from the mezzanine in 
 the McClelland Dining Hall there was music with dinner. 
 Today the demand seems larger for band music. The Col- 
 lege Band, organized in 1938, claimed the distinction of be- 
 ing one of two all-girls' college bands in the country and 
 the only girls' marching band. It has full concert instru- 
 mentation. The Band adds considerably to the sprightli- 
 ness of campus functions — the Thanksgiving hockey game, 
 Dad's Day, the Horse Show, and student rallies. It has 
 played in Armistice Day parades and other local celebrations 
 and journeyed to neighboring towns to play. 
 
 In 1942, the division of graduate studies was established. 
 This course, which has emphasized work with handicapped 
 children, and the special teachers' course for the deaf, men- 
 tioned above, are an interesting adjustment to a widespread 
 need and to superb local and regional facilities provided for 
 instruction through the co-operation of the Illinois State De- 
 partment of Public Welfare. There is also unique historical 
 interest in the fact that from founder William Thomas to 
 the present there has been close association between this col- 
 lege and the Jacksonville institutions for the handicapped 
 
508 History of MacMurray College 
 
 through administrative and faculty connections and stu- 
 dent service. In addition to the State Schools for the Deaf 
 and Blind and the State Hospital (all in Jacksonville) , the 
 State School and Colony for the Feeble-Minded in Lincoln 
 and the Institute for Juvenile Research in Chicago co-operate 
 in the program. The Division for Delinquent Prevention 
 provides opportunity for observation and experience in the 
 juvenile courts of the State. A report of Doctor Dysinger 
 in 1943 describes expansion beyond these main institutions: 
 
 The Department has reached a surprising list of institutions and inter- 
 ests in the State. ... It has expanded to include the Quincy Juvenile 
 Court, the Quincy Public School System, the Chicago Juvenile Court, 
 the Missouri State School for the Blind, several divisions of the State 
 Department of Public Welfare, the Mooseheart Laboratory for Child 
 Research, the Jacksonville Public Schools, and the Morgan County Child 
 Welfare Service in Jacksonville. Many individuals have been interested 
 in the work. It would appear that MacMurray College has an opportunity 
 in this field to perform major service, and to develop a most important 
 part of the work of the College. 77 
 
 Students may prepare to be teachers of handicapped chil- 
 dren or clinical workers with children or the psychotic. The 
 College has a well-equipped psychological laboratory and 
 a child clinic. A part of the equipment is a one-way screen 
 for unobserved observation devised by the director, Doctor 
 Halverson, when he was a professor in Yale. Four times a 
 year experts from the Institute of Juvenile Research in Chi- 
 cago hold a clinic at MacMurray, and students observe their 
 examination of children. The director of the graduate work 
 was for sixteen years at Yale in the Clinic of Child Devel- 
 opment. 
 
 Although preparation in psychology for work with handi- 
 capped children has been the major emphasis in the graduate 
 course, students may also major in psychology with a course 
 planned for personnel work in education or industry. In 
 both instances the Master of Arts degree is offered. The 
 Master of Science degree in physical education and the Mas- 
 ter of Music in music education or music literature are also 
 offered. The majority of the seventeen graduates have re- 
 ceived the Master of Arts degree. Students enrolled in the 
 
History of MacMurray College 509 
 
 graduate school have come from a wide geographic area 
 (New York to California) , and hold degrees from a number 
 of colleges and universities. Only about one -half are Mac- 
 Murray graduates. 
 
 The graduate school has had a fine record as to the quality 
 of work done and the professional recognition of those who 
 have received the Master's degree. The first thesis com- 
 pleted in the course, "The Performance of Fifth, Eighth, and 
 Eleventh Graders in the Porteus Qualitative Maze Test," 
 written by Margaret Hollenback Sanderson, was published 
 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. The author is 
 today a psychologist in the State Hospital in Concord, New 
 Hampshire. Another thesis, "Study of Spatial Perception 
 and Motor Development in a Young Blind Child" is to be 
 published soon. Graduates hold positions in Schools for the 
 Deaf and Blind, as psychologists in State Hospitals in Cali- 
 fornia and Illinois, in the Children's Guidance Service 
 (Springfield), as a college director of health and physical 
 education, and a test editor for Science Research Associates 
 in Chicago. 
 
 MacMurray College has also provided opportunity for 
 those pursuing a course in nurse's training at approved 
 schools to follow a five-year course for the Bachelor of Sci- 
 ence degree with a limited amount of credit in nursing. This 
 plan was first worked out in co-operation with Passavant 
 Hospital, Jacksonville, in 1927. The present superintendent 
 in that hospital was one of the early graduates in nursing. 
 
 In 1934, the College held its first summer school (of six 
 weeks) . In 1943, this session was extended to twelve weeks, 
 making it possible for a student to complete her work in 
 three years if she goes three summers. The fact that costs 
 are lower than in the regular year has made this a desirable 
 plan for some. Teachers have found it useful for extra 
 courses. The summer school has been a popular institution. 
 
 For the recognition of high scholastic achievement the 
 Honor Society was organized in 1938. Admission to this 
 society, limited to seniors at the time of graduation, is based 
 
510 History of MacMurray College 
 
 on scholastic record. In the older Cap and Gown Society, 
 limited to five, members are elected from the incoming Senior 
 Class by the unanimous vote of the outgoing society mem- 
 bers. Membership is based on scholarship, achievement, 
 extra-curricular activities, and college spirit and loyalty. 
 Its ceremonial of selection and induction is one of the pretty 
 customs of MacMurray. After the Honors Chapel, seniors 
 gather on the steps of Old Main, the members of Cap and 
 Gown then choose their successors and bestow on them a 
 rose, a kiss, and a mortar board. Among various prizes and 
 honors awarded, one deserves special mention — the memorial 
 cup of the Class of 1932. This award, the Conlee-Kent Cup, 
 was established as a memorial for Rosalia Conlee and Frances 
 Kent, who passed away shortly after their graduation from 
 MacMurray College. It is given to the junior who, during 
 her sophomore year, most nearly represents the college ideal. 
 The award is made at the time of the Junior Class recog- 
 nition. 
 
 The percentage of students who go on to secure higher 
 degrees may be taken as one measure of the scholastic stan- 
 dards and achievements of an institution. Although many 
 MacMurray girls marry soon after graduation and many 
 go into public school teaching immediately, more than one- 
 eighth of all degree graduates have received higher degrees. 
 The facts given here have been compiled by Doctor Mary 
 Johnston and Miss Genevieve Mount, the alumnae secretary, 
 who admit that they may not be quite complete. The 
 Bachelor of Arts degree was first granted in 1909. From 
 that date to June 1945, 1,404 received the Bachelor's degree. 
 Of these 183, or about thirteen per cent, have received the 
 Master's degree; seven, the Doctor of Philosophy degree, 
 and two, the Doctor of Medicine. There are alumnae with 
 the Doctor of Philosophy degree from Chicago (two), the 
 University of Illinois (two), and Johns Hopkins, Wiscon- 
 sin, and Iowa. Master's degrees are held from schools of 
 high grade from Boston University to the University of 
 California. The University of Illinois gave the first gradu- 
 
History of MacMurray College 511 
 
 ate scholarship in 1913 and up to 1945 had granted fifty. 
 Mary Hillis, '41, secured one each year for three years and 
 completed the work for the doctorate in chemistry in 1944. 
 Many students have done special work in art and music 
 without reaching higher degrees. Audrey King, '24, was 
 granted a Franco-American Exchange Fellowship in the 
 University of Paris in 1928. 
 
 The recent expansion of the library is a part of the edu- 
 cational achievement. The Pfeiffer Library provides an 
 adequate and admirable material foundation, and the use 
 of its potentialities are being gradually realized. Since 1925, 
 the library has increased from 13,000 to 42,991 volumes. 78 
 During the year 1945, 3,275 volumes were added. Since 
 1940, the annual appropriation for books has increased more 
 than 50 per cent and for periodicals 100 per cent. The li- 
 brary staff, with the assistance of the faculty, is attempting 
 to fill important lacunae in the collection. Material limita- 
 tions in the past not only restricted the increase of books, 
 but, through inadequate administrative service, it caused in- 
 complete cataloguing and other defects that require time 
 and money to correct. Since 1944, however, a third trained 
 librarian, Miss Helen Brown, graduate of Vassar, has been 
 added, as the head, and a full-time clerical assistant. Through 
 faculty co-operation the education of the students in the 
 use of the library has been promoted. Under student gov- 
 ernment regulations, freshmen are required to spend a speci- 
 fied number of hours in the library. Special shelves make 
 current books more accessible, and the open stock system 
 encourages browsing. Exhibitions of special books are ar- 
 ranged periodically in the cases on the third floor foyer — 
 early printed editions of the classics from Miss Johnston's 
 fine collection, books illustrative of modern book design, 
 American history selections, and, in the current year, books 
 of MacMurray centennial significance. There are plans for 
 a browsing room to encourage recreational reading. 
 
 The president's reports contain much comment on the 
 needs of the library. In the early years of the administration 
 
512 History of MacMurray College 
 
 only limited appropriations were possible. In 1931, a special 
 drive among students and faculty brought over $3,000. 
 Students sponsored movies, sold food, and washed windows. 
 The Student Government Association brought Tony Sarg's 
 marionettes in Rip Van Winkle and Alice in Wonderland. 79 
 There are compensations in poverty. Gifts have continued 
 to be a source of library enlargements. All of these have 
 sentimental value, and some have had great practical value. 
 The Crawfords have been the most constant donors to the 
 book fund and the collections. Several gifts from the libraries 
 of former teachers have considerable value. One thousand 
 volumes from Doctor Wallace Stearns' collection on 
 religion and philosophy are of solid worth. Mrs. John Kearns 
 gave 575 books from her husband's library in literature, 
 especially modern poetry. From Miss Grace Cowgill's Ger- 
 man library came 150 volumes; books on music and on Ger- 
 man literature from Miss Hay's estate; and Doctor Annabel 
 Newton gave 200 valuable books in English literature. Re- 
 cently an interesting lot of books and documents have come 
 from the Northminster Presbyterian Church. The Carnegie 
 addition to the art collection has been mentioned. A special 
 addition to the music library was the collection of Thomas 
 Austin-Ball, professor of voice at Eastman School of Music, 
 who had appeared at the College in the Fine Arts Institute. 
 Mrs. Eloise Pitner has donated books and magazines from 
 Doctor Pitner's library. Recently the college library has 
 received books from the Belles Lettres and Phi Nu Societies, 
 and classes and societies have given money. Mr. MacMur- 
 ray gave a number of books from Mrs. Jane MacMurray's 
 collection, which contain her own bookplate. Stored in the 
 basement, awaiting cataloguing, are a varied collection — per- 
 haps some rare items. A bibliophile could spend some in- 
 teresting hours there. 
 
 In 1931, the College received from the estate of Mrs. Mary 
 F. Kitchell, '60, a collection of pictures, among them an 
 original Corot and an Inness, and of butterflies and shells. 
 The shells and butterflies, collected by Mr. and Mrs. Kitchell 
 
u 
 
 s 
 
 w 
 
History of MacMurray College 513 
 
 from all parts of the world, are numerous and interesting. 
 They constitute a unique addition to the scientific "cabinets." 
 
 THE INSTITUTES ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND THE CONCERT AND 
 
 LECTURE SERIES 
 
 There was a day when the students and faculty of the 
 Illinois Female College enjoyed concerts and lectures at the 
 Opera House that were sponsored always by other organiza- 
 tions. Now MacMurray College is able to provide these at- 
 tractions for the community, as well as for its own students, 
 at a minimum cost. Apart from its regular program of 
 lectures, the College has held, since 1930, ten Institutes on 
 Public Affairs and a Fine Arts Institute, all the former 
 without cost to the students or to the public and the latter 
 largely so. MacMurray was the first midwestern college to 
 found such an Institute. 80 The first three Institutes were 
 sponsored by Chester D. Pugsley, banker of Peekskill, New 
 York, and friend of President McClelland, and the next three 
 by another Peekskill friend, Chester A. Smith. The seventh 
 was given in part by trustee Charles Eichenauer. The others 
 were financed by the College. Aside from their value as a 
 part of the educational program for students, the Institutes 
 were an important contribution to regional adult education. 
 Many people came from surrounding towns. The College 
 urged alumnae to return to take advantage of this offering 
 of their Alma Mater and maintain thus a continuing intel- 
 lectual contact with the school. The Alumnae News and 
 Record gave detailed accounts of the various sessions. 81 To 
 encourage active participation of the audience in the sub- 
 jects discussed, the MacMurray library prepared special 
 shelves of books on them and lists of magazine articles and 
 invited the public to make use of them. 82 Of the first Insti- 
 tute, held in 1930, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch declared: 
 "Such an enterprise at a large university would be com- 
 mendable. At a college the size of MacMurray it is all the 
 
 more so." 83 
 
 The Institutes presented an interesting variety of sub- 
 jects and of viewpoints on controversial issues. The choice 
 
514 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of speakers indicates the willingness of the College to permit 
 expression of all shades of opinion. Discussion was free and 
 often lively. Professors, foreign correspondents, preachers, 
 diplomats, legislators, businessmen, Army officers, engineers, 
 and writers appeared on the programs, among them a num- 
 ber of women. Latin Americans, Russians, Chinese, Japa- 
 nese, English, and Canadian speakers were among the lec- 
 turers, and Jews, Catholics, and Protestants. Statements 
 made, especially on the economic crisis and problems of the 
 Pacific, were later regarded as prophetic. At least they con- 
 tained judgments in advance of the man in the street and of 
 many intellectuals — judgments later fulfilled by history. 
 
 The first three Institutes dealt with Pan-American rela- 
 tions. They preceded the full evolution of the "good neigh- 
 bor" policy, but reflected the critical attitude of students of 
 Hispanic -America toward our relations with those repub- 
 lics, which helped to produce that policy. Economic, po- 
 litical, social, and cultural relations with Hispanic -America 
 were presented by authorities such as J. F. Rippy, I. J. Cox, 
 Chester L. Jones, Dexter Perkins, Max Winkler, Hubert 
 Herring, W. S. Robertson, W. W. Sweet, and Quincy 
 Wright. Miss Agnes MacPhail, member of the Canadian 
 Parliament, spoke on "Some Aspects of Canadian-American 
 Relations," and Manuel C. Tellez, ambassador from Mex- 
 ico, and Ricardo Alfaro, minister from Panama, gave Latin 
 American views on American affairs. Quincy Wright, out- 
 standing authority on international organization and inter- 
 national law, talked on "The Pan-American Union and the 
 League of Nations." 
 
 The fourth Institute (1933) had as a general theme, The 
 Economic Crisis. Opinions on it in media res were naturally 
 more acute than those on Latin America. Harland Allen, 
 economic expert of a Chicago banking house, threw a bomb 
 into the meeting when he predicted that the United States 
 would go off the gold standard within the year and dras- 
 tically reduce the gold content of the dollar. And he ap- 
 proved such a policy as the only practicable course of ac- 
 
History of MacMurray College 515 
 
 tion. It is interesting that here in Jacksonville, where Wil- 
 liam Jennings Bryan had been educated, a Chicago banking 
 expert should have advocated a monetary policy so near to 
 his. Just as Bryan's Jacksonville friends and neighbors had 
 rejected his political and economic philosophy, they now 
 took issue with Allen's statements. But it all turned out as 
 he predicted, bank holiday and all, and when he returned 
 the next year his audience regarded him as something of a 
 soothsayer in the realm of economics. Others who appeared 
 at the fourth Institute were: Paul Taft, Springfield en- 
 gineer, who spoke on "Technocracy"; Stuart Pierson, agri- 
 culturist and banker, of Carrollton, on "The Plight of the 
 Farmer," and Paul Hutchinson, editor of the Christian Cen- 
 tury, on "Danger Zones of the Economic Order." Doctor 
 Mollie Ray Carroll, director of the Chicago University So- 
 cial Settlement, told the story of human suffering in the city 
 of Chicago. The fifth Institute, on The New Deal, was in 
 a sense a continuation of the fourth. Allen returned to 
 speak on "The Outlook for Money and Prices," and Clif- 
 ford Gregory, editor of the Prairie Farmer, discussed agri- 
 cultural economics and politics. Stanley High, Washington 
 correspondent, provoked much questioning (including a 
 query as to who was paying his fee) by his all-out support 
 of the New Deal. 84 Jennie Lee, socialist member of the 
 British Parliament, predicted that if the United States did 
 not make liberal capitalism (as in the New Deal) work it 
 would soon take its place with those states where liberal 
 capitalism had been crushed. And there were others who 
 spoke. The Music Hall and dining room were taxed to 
 capacity. 
 
 The sixth Institute (Peace and War) and the seventh 
 (Problems of the Pacific) shifted the emphasis to foreign 
 affairs. The former became a platform for a controversy 
 between pacifists and those insistent on a stronger military 
 defense. H. C. Engelbrecht (Merchants of Death) discussed 
 munitions makers; Dorothy Detzer, peace lobbyist, attacked 
 militarist propaganda and policy; Captain F. A. Metcalf, 
 
516 History of MacMurray College 
 
 regular Army man, outlined "What are America's Minimum 
 Defense Needs?"; Edward Hayes, former national chairman 
 of the American Legion, advocated preparedness. Mr. Eich- 
 enauer, liberal editor, who described himself as "peace advo- 
 cate, professed Christian, interested Legionnaire, disillusioned 
 realist," declared that he was disillusioned about war and 
 also about the possibility of achieving eternal peace by any 
 Utopian scheme. Sherwood Eddy discussed China and Japan 
 as the "World's Danger Zones." MacMurray girls debated a 
 Northwestern team on the question of government monop- 
 oly of the arms industry. In the seventh Institute (1936), 
 Professor F. L. Schuman of Chicago University ("America 
 and Japan — Neighbors or Enemies?") predicted war with 
 Japan in five years if the United States did not change her 
 policy in the Pacific. No-Yong Park, cultured Chinese 
 scholar, presented the dilemma for China that had resulted 
 from the withdrawal of the western nations from the Far 
 East and the domination of Japan; and Yataka Minakuchi, 
 educated Japanese, defended his country. Maurice Hindus, 
 Russian-born American, declared that Japan should let 
 Russia alone and the rest of the world should permit Rus- 
 sia to work out her own problems. It was a sort of League 
 of Nations debate in miniature. 
 
 At the eighth Conference (1937), on Human Relations, 
 a rabbi, a Presbyterian minister, and a Catholic nun dis- 
 cussed religious relationships, and James M. Yard, mid- 
 western secretary for the National Conference of Jews and 
 Christians, presided over the sessions. Mary Gilson, Chicago 
 University professor, spoke especially to the women on the 
 need for education for democracy. Melville Hershovitz, a 
 leading authority on the Negro, discussed "Race Attitudes 
 in the United States." The next Conference, Economic Op- 
 portunities for Women, was directed especially to students, 
 but attracted much atention from the general public. Mrs. 
 Chase Going Woodhouse, director of the Institute of 
 Women's Professional Relations, was the chief speaker. The 
 director of a secretarial training school, a clinical psycholo- 
 
History of MacMurray College 517 
 
 gist, and a professor of home economics outlined special 
 economic opportunities for and responsibilities of women. 
 The tenth Institute (1940) dealt with the subject, Elements 
 of a Durable Peace. Maynard Krueger, Chicago University 
 professor and vice-presidential candidate on the Socialist 
 ticket, discussed "The Economic Basis of a Durable Peace"; 
 Quincy Wright returned to speak on "Contributions of 
 American Foreign Policy to a Durable Peace"; A. C. Coe, 
 Oak Park minister, discussed the contributions of religion, 
 and Clarence Streit presented his plan of "Union Now." 
 They could speak only for the future, since war was in 
 progress. As a feature of this Institute, MacMurray girls 
 debated with Northwestern on the policy of economic iso- 
 lation from warring nations. 
 
 In 1941, the College sponsored a Fine Arts Institute. In 
 the field of art, an exhibition of water colors of contem- 
 porary American artists was arranged in the Social Room; 
 and Robert Phillip, Carnegie professor and resident artist 
 at the University of Illinois, lectured on art. Professor 
 Thomas Austin-Ball, of the Eastman School of Music, lec- 
 tured and held forums on music. In a special ceremony the 
 College conferred on him the honorary Doctor of Music 
 degree. In her "Styles of Acting," Dorothy Sands en- 
 tranced everyone with her vivid history of the theatre. 
 "Kurt and Grace Graff left a deep impression upon the 
 hearts and minds of all who witnessed the magnificent per- 
 formance of the Graff Ballet." Madame Lydia Hoffmann- 
 Behrendt, famous concert pianist of contemporary music, 
 spent a fortnight on the campus and gave instruction and 
 lectures. She had appeared before as a visiting Carnegie 
 artist -lecturer; indeed, MacMurray was the first college in 
 the country at which she played. 85 As a special feature of 
 the Fine Arts Institute, Madame Hoffmann-Behrendt, Hugh 
 Beggs, Mahala McGehee, and Mildred Waldman, the latter 
 three being professors of piano at MacMurray, gave the 
 Bach Concerto for four pianos with a string quintet of 
 students, conducted by Delwin Shaw, professor of violin. 
 
518 History of MacMurray College 
 
 The College Madrigal Club and Little Symphony presented 
 a concert, directed by Professor Cleeland, that closed the 
 Fine Arts Institute. 
 
 To measure exactly the contributions of these Institutes 
 to adult and undergraduate education would be impossible. 
 Comments in the general and educational press were gratify- 
 ing in their appreciation of this constructive enterprise. The 
 direct and indirect value to students of contact with so many 
 great minds must have been worth many times the money 
 and effort spent on the Institutes. Student opinion was sur- 
 veyed on one occasion "before and after taking" with no 
 revolutionary change of opinion detected, but some inter- 
 esting shifts in percentages appeared. Anyone knows that 
 college students do not all accept eagerly the intellectual 
 food placed before them, especially when it comes in large 
 slices. Sessions were long, some speakers were hard to hear. 
 Students admitted that in obscure corners of the dining 
 hall they made dolls out of their napkins and castles of the 
 salt, pepper, and sugar dishes. Maurice Hindus was dis- 
 turbed by the flash of knitting needles. Nevertheless, stu- 
 dents recognized the value of his "Russian words of wisdom" 
 as they "pondered, chin in hand, the problems of the Pa- 
 cific." 8 There was opportunity for many close-up views. 
 The International Relations Club entertained at tea in honor 
 of Jennie Lee, British socialist, and there were other social 
 contacts. The Institutes should be marked up as a major 
 achievement of MacMurray in education. 
 
 The same could be said for the contemporary program 
 of concerts and lectures. It was a memorable event in the 
 college life of Faithful Shipley to hear Emerson lecture on 
 "Culture." The list of outstanding men and women to 
 whom students of recent decades have been privileged to 
 listen is impressive. The fields of science, politics, literature, 
 art, and music are opened to them by masters from all 
 parts of the world. Some of these — Harold Bauer, Ernest 
 Wolff, Lydia Hoffmann-Behrendt, Alexander Kerensky, and 
 others — have remained on the campus for several days for 
 
History of MacMurray College 519 
 
 lectures and conferences. In addition to the regular Concert 
 and Lecture Series, the College today selects outstanding lec- 
 turers for the weekly chapel hour; such men as Sherwood 
 Eddy, Charles Whitney Gilkey, and Albert Buckner Coe 
 have appeared as chapel speakers. Occasionally a class or 
 organization brings some attraction. The Athletic Associa- 
 tion secured the Ted Shawn Dance Company. The MacMur- 
 rays brought Mrs. Marian Chase Schaeffer, student of acting 
 in Paris and London and popular platform reader, who re- 
 turned later to teach. Of her skill in depicting the child's 
 mind, James Whitcomb Riley declared: "I saw only the 
 child." 87 
 
 In the "busyness" of contemporary college life, students 
 do not always take advantage of these opportunities offered 
 them. Sometimes their judgments as to the merits of a per- 
 formance may be superficial. The striking personality may 
 attract rather than the profundity of thought. "Over my 
 head went a lecture by James W. Thompson [on medieval 
 thought]," one young lady declared, "and I was sitting in 
 the balcony at that." 88 But, on the whole, one finds stu- 
 dent criticism of concerts and lectures intelligent and their 
 appreciation real. They still possess a sense of wonder and 
 are capable of generous enthusiasm. Lotte Lehman's per- 
 formance was set down as "an unforgettable experience"; 
 Artur Rubinstein held them "spellbound for two hours," 
 and declared he wished he could take them to Carnegie Hall, 
 their responsiveness was so gratifying. 89 When Sherwood 
 Eddy appeared "with his brightly colored maps, the salts 
 and peppers remained undisturbed on the table." Harold 
 Bauer's interpretation of Debussy's Sunken Cathedral "left 
 them breathless," and his whole performance and visit on 
 the campus "reduced music majors to incoherence." They 
 were equally enthusiastic over Ernest Wolff's German lieder. 
 Two famed figures in the Irish Renaissance charmed them — 
 George (A. E.) Russell and Padraic Colum, who brought 
 them intimate glimpses of the others — Yeats, Joyce, George 
 Moore, and Lord Dunsany. These two were unforgettable. 
 
520 History of MacMurray College 
 
 The Charles Rann Kennedys in The Chastening won the ap- 
 plause of a complete silence. They liked Cornelia Otis 
 Skinner, but they adored Otis Skinner, the "grand old man 
 of the theatre." His coming was a day to remember. In 
 "Footlights and Spotlights," he gave them recollections of 
 his life as an actor and his associations with Edwin Booth, 
 Modjeska, Joseph Jefferson, and others whom girls of the 
 Illinois Female College had heard. He won additional com- 
 ment in " 'Neath the Elms," and his autograph was a rare 
 treasure. One could go on. The Chekhov players "brought 
 Shakespeare to life"; Erika Mann made more convincing the 
 menace of Fascism. Todd Duncan of "Porgy" fame was 
 rated "tops." The Don Cossacks were favorites and came 
 year after year. When they sang Dixie, "the applause was 
 deafening." 
 
 In addition to these a few of the others might be named. 
 Among the lecturers who brought the world to the College 
 were: Will Durant ("Is Progress a Delusion?") ; Bertrand 
 Russell ("Outlook for Civilization" and "Power and Prop- 
 aganda") ; Mortimer Adler, Leland Stowe, Hugh Gibson, 
 Sir Norman Angell, John Langdon-Davies, Max Lerner, Ed- 
 gar A. Mowrer, Carl J. Hambro, Oswald G. Villard, Louis 
 Fischer, Louis Adamic, Stuart Chase — all on contemporary 
 national or international affairs and especially on European 
 problems. And on the Near East and Asia there were: 
 Francis Yeats-Brown, Upton Close, Gordon B. Enders (for- 
 eign adviser to the Grand Lama of Tibet), Hallet Abend, 
 Harrison Forman, Sherwood Eddy (many times) , James M. 
 Yard, and Vijaya Lakshimi Pandit, sister of Nehru. Lecturers 
 on science have included: Arthur Compton, Robert Millikan, 
 Clyde Fisher, of the Museum of Natural History ("Our 
 Place in the Universe"), W. F. G. Swann, physicist, J. E. 
 Williamson ("Beauty and Tragedy under the Sea"), and 
 Kirtley Mather ("Science and Religion in the Atomic Age") . 
 Captain Donald MacMillan, of the Field Museum, told of 
 explorations in Arctic lands; Sir Wilfred Grenfell, medical 
 missionary to Labrador, came in 1928 to speak. He and 
 
History of MacMurray College 521 
 
 Lady Grenfell were entertained by the McClellands, and 
 the medical fraternity of Jacksonville were invited to meet 
 them. In art and letters and the theatre, the company has 
 been distinguished: Walter Hampden, Carl Van Doren, 
 William Rose Benet, Edward Weeks, Harry Hansen, Louis 
 Untermeyer, Jan Struther, Forbes Watson, Sheldon Cheney, 
 Thomas Hart Benton, and native sons, Vachel Lindsay and 
 Carl Sandburg ("a concert, grand opera, philosophic pabu- 
 lum, and dramatic entertainment all in one") . 90 Of regional 
 interest, too, was Helen Nicolay's (John's daughter) talk on 
 Lincoln, and W. W. Sweet's on "Frontier Religion." 
 
 Among commencement speakers who have not been men- 
 tioned elsewhere were Marshall Field III, whose appearance 
 in 1944 provoked some stir in conservative circles, and Gov- 
 ernor Dwight Green, of Illinois. Several women have been 
 outstanding commencement speakers — Mrs. Harold Ickes; 
 Doctor Georgia Harkness, of Garrett Biblical Institute; Miss 
 Agnes Samuelson, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 Iowa; and Miss Charlotte Carr, head of Hull House. They 
 have pointed college graduates to the larger duties of citizen- 
 ship for educated women and have exemplified their instruc- 
 tions in their lives. 
 
 In music the list is long; some artists appeared several times. 
 Old favorites of an earlier day came back: Joseph Bonnet, or- 
 ganist and teacher of Miss Ruth Melville; Maurice Dumes- 
 nil, pianist; and Ralph Leopold. Then there were: George 
 Liebling, pupil of Liszt; Shapiro's Little Philharmonic Sym- 
 phony, the Stradivarius Quartet, Marion Anderson, Gyorgy 
 Sandor, William Kapell; and more recently, Jennie Tourel, 
 Raya Garbousova, brilliant Russian cellist, and Claudio Ar- 
 rau, Chilean pianist, who entranced his audience with his 
 brilliant technique and great emotional power. There was 
 even opera. The American Opera Company presented 
 Hansel and Gretel to "one of the largest crowds of Jackson- 
 ville's elite ever drawn to a performance at the College." 
 The Greetings reporter observed "many people of note and 
 lots of new formats. " 91 More recently the Nine O'Clock 
 
522 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Opera Company gave The Marriage of Figaro. In dance, 
 Carola Goya, the Ruth Page Ballet Company (several times) , 
 Hanya Holm, Jose Limon, and Dorothy Humphrey and 
 Charles Weidman have been favorite artists. Tony Sarg's 
 marionettes delighted college girls as well as the children 
 and furnished themes for faculty parties for students ("Ali 
 Baba"). 
 
 THE STUDENTS FROM FAR AND NEAR 
 
 The administration has sought to build the enrollment, to 
 make the process increasingly selective of the highest type 
 of student, and to keep the students through the four years 
 of college. Complete success has been attained with respect 
 to the first objective. With the exception of one or two 
 years there has been a continuous increase in enrollment 
 since 1925. In spite of the addition of two large residence 
 halls and a number of smaller residences, enrollment in re- 
 cent years has been up to capacity. From 259 in 1925 the 
 regular college enrollment has reached the figure 706 in 
 1945 -46. 92 The total enrollment (including conservatory, 
 kindergarten, and summer school) is 1,015. In 1926, Presi- 
 dent McClelland brought about the formation of the Press 
 Club, an honorary journalistic society, created to give pub- 
 lic information about the College and the students to the 
 press. This organization, especially in recent years under 
 Mr. Gibson's direction, has done constructive work in pub- 
 lic relations. 
 
 With the depression years past, the College has been able 
 to apply more rigid standards for admission, both as to schol- 
 arship and personality. In 1936, the president reported that 
 of the 251 freshmen from 90 to 100 had been honor students 
 and 71 per cent had graduated in the upper third of their 
 classes. 93 With respect to the third objective some progress 
 has been made. In 1925, the Senior Class contained 26; in 
 1946 the Centennial Class contains 105. The prospects for 
 holding students in the future is very favorable, due to the 
 larger enrollment of men in co-educational institutions. The 
 
History of MacMurray College 523 
 
 enrollment of present freshmen and upperclassmen for the 
 coming year has passed all precedents. 
 
 The geographical distribution of students has been ex- 
 tended. Only about one-half, and sometimes less than that, 
 are residents of Illinois. Indiana still holds second place, as 
 a rule, with eight or ten per cent of the total. In 1943, Mis- 
 souri had second place. Iowa is third in 1946 and Missouri 
 fourth. Twenty-six states are represented in the present 
 student body. Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, Minne- 
 sota, and Nebraska have large delegations. There has been 
 considerable increase in enrollment from the East: from 
 Massachusetts, New York (President McClelland's state), 
 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. From Fayville, Mas- 
 sachusetts, came three Proctors, two of whom were presi- 
 dents of Student Government. The College is still primar- 
 ily middle western in constituency, but has sufficient stu- 
 dents from the East, the Far West, and the South to add 
 variety. Then there are the foreign students. 
 
 Perhaps a more notable change in the distribution than 
 the spread over the states is the increase in the urban enroll- 
 ment as compared to the rural. Although farmers' daugh- 
 ters lead over those of any other occupational group, they 
 are only about ten per cent of the total. More than one- 
 half of the students live in cities of 10,000 or more and one- 
 fifth in cities over 100,000 in population'. City clubs have 
 replaced the state clubs of an earlier day, although the Indi- 
 ana Club raises its head now and then to sing "On the Banks 
 of the Wabash" or to celebrate a "day." Recently the St. 
 Louis, the Springfield, and the Chicago Clubs have appeared 
 with pages in the llliwoco and a program of social activities 
 for holidays and summer months. And the Jacksonville 
 Club is a well-integrated social group with its own club 
 house on the campus. Most of the fathers of students are 
 business executives or professional men. Twelve out of 706 
 today list their fathers as laborers or mechanics. Although 
 most of the students belong to the relatively comfortable 
 class, a large percentage, according to a recent student sur- 
 
524 History of MacMurray College 
 
 vey, pay a part of their college expenses by summer work 
 or work in school. 94 Differences in economic status appear 
 to make no difference in social position. The College is 
 very democratic in spirit, and is noted for its friendliness, 
 its "closeness," the students say. 
 
 Although the larger percentage of the students are from 
 large towns or cities, there are still girls from the "great 
 open spaces." One girl's father, for example, worked as fore- 
 man of a ranch for a man who owned half of Wyoming. 
 Up at the ranch she was fifty miles from a railroad. She 
 liked MacMurray in spite of the fact that they would not 
 let the freshmen and sophomores fight! 95 Her music teacher 
 told her of the school. A New Hampshire girl came through 
 the influence of her minister's wife, a graduate. 96 Like 
 Doctor Adams, she missed the hills of home but liked Mac- 
 Murray and the West. Many relatives — daughters, nieces, 
 granddaughters — of alumnae attend. Several blind girls have 
 been students, one assisted by a "Seeing-Eye" dog. 
 
 During these two decades there have been foreign stu- 
 dents from Mexico, Canada, and Chile; and outside con- 
 tinental United States, girls from Puerto Rico and Hawaii. 
 A German Jew from Berlin and a refugee from Vienna were 
 enrolled in the 1940s. Missionary children from India and 
 China have enlarged the social pattern. One had lived for 
 three years under the Japanese rule in China. One girl born 
 in Rome traced her descent from one of the senators of 
 Caesar's time! 97 The students from Chile and Hawaii rep- 
 resent the most interesting trends in foreign enrollment. 
 Sarita Jones, '24, returned to teach in Santiago. A few years 
 later, Ingrid Bergstrom entered on Sarita's recommen- 
 dation. Of Swedish descent, excellent in physique, she was 
 outstanding in sports and in academic life too, especially 
 in debating. She returned to teach in Santiago and sent 
 Pat Heffer, Chilean of English parentage. Pat majored in 
 physical education and remained for a Master's degree. She 
 planned to try to introduce more organized sports for wo- 
 men in Chile. Other parts of Chile have been represented. 
 
History of MacMurray College 525 
 
 From Chilian came Marta Rondanelli, a senior and an in- 
 structor, who wrote a column, "Chile Sauce," for the Greet- 
 ings and expressed profound appreciation of MacMurray. 98 
 And there was the lovely Ofelia Adrian. From Puerto Rico 
 came the Colon sisters in 1937; and from Mexico, Elissa 
 Roel in 1934, who found MacMurray "like a dream come 
 true." 8 Miss Knopf visited in her Monterey home in 1945 
 when she went to Mexico to paint. These have all brought 
 parts of the world to MacMurray and have taken something 
 of the "MacMurray charm" to the world. 
 
 The first Hawaiian students arrived in 1937. Since 
 that date there have been several enrolled each year. The 
 first two, Oei Maehara and Sylvianne Li, of Japanese and 
 Chinese parentage respectively, were juniors, transfers from 
 the University of Honolulu, both majors in education and 
 roommates. Their friendship and association as roommates 
 caused much comment in the press as an example of inter- 
 national good-fellowship under conditions of war between 
 Japan and China. Although graduated from the same school, 
 they had not been acquainted before they came to Mac- 
 Murray. Hawaiian girls, like the New Hampshire folk, 
 missed the mountains. The most peculiar custom they dis- 
 covered among American girls was their habit of dancing 
 together. 100 Sylvianne Li went on to graduate study at Ober- 
 lin, and both returned to Hawaii to teach. In 1938-39, 
 there were other Hawaiian students of Japanese and Chinese 
 descent who were roommates. The tragedy of Nagasaki was 
 brought closer to MacMurray through the fact that the 
 family of one student lived there. Fortunately, it escaped 
 the atomic disaster. This student, Lillie Mihara, '46, a Nisei 
 girl, came to MacMurray in 1942. Upon her graduation 
 in 1946, she received the Phyllis McLaughlin memorial "serv- 
 ice" award by the unanimous vote of the Senior Class. 
 Students who came during the war found Jacksonville very 
 quiet and peaceful in contrast to Honolulu. Hawaiian girls 
 have sent others, and planned to send their younger sisters. 
 "Perhaps in the future," a Greetings writer predicted, "Mac- 
 
526 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Murray may become as much a tradition in the families of 
 Wong and Otsuka as of Brown, Smith, and Jones." For the 
 world is one and very small. 
 
 Although the percentage of students born abroad has 
 been small, a study of the names in the catalogues would 
 suggest that the national composition of Middle America 
 has changed greatly since 1846. The German element, 
 it is true, has been present in the College from the founda- 
 tion. The Scandinavian, the Portuguese (local) , the Italian, 
 and peoples from Central and Eastern Europe are suggested 
 by the names of many recent students. Some of these are 
 of the first generation born in America, others are further 
 removed from the "old country." There are students who 
 write and telephone their parents in Greek. One girl was 
 allowed to count Chinese as one of her foreign languages 
 to fulfill the requirement for admission. Perhaps courses 
 in Russian and Chinese may yet be introduced. Descend- 
 ants of New Englanders and Southerners still form a large 
 part of the group very likely. Exact statistics on national 
 groupings have not been assembled. They would be inter- 
 esting. 
 
 Cost of instruction for the academic year 1945-46 is 
 $930.60 for room, board, tuition, and incidental fees. If one 
 has a room in Jane or Ann Rutledge, fifty dollars is added. 
 Students have many opportunities for self-help in the offices, 
 library, Music Hall, and dining room. In addition to the 
 Alumnae Memorial Scholarships in honor of the presidents 
 of the College, there are many special memorial scholarships 
 endowed by individuals. The College has established scholar- 
 ships — six in honor of Peter Cartwright and about forty in 
 memory of Mr. MacMurray. A limited number of special 
 scholarships are awarded to outstanding freshmen. 
 
 HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROGRAM OF 
 
 SPORTS FOR RECREATION 
 
 For the care of the sick the College had been handicapped 
 in the past by lack of space, material equipment, and staff. 
 
History of MacMurray College 527 
 
 These defects were corrected in part by the removal of 
 the infirmary to larger quarters on first floor Main in 1932. 
 In 1943, it was moved to a separate building, the Health 
 Center, well equipped as a hospital. In 1925, space was 
 rented in Passavant Hospital for the isolation of contagious 
 cases. Only in cases of epidemics, such as influenza, does 
 the College today find its provisions for hospitalization in- 
 adequate. From a single nurse, the staff of the Health De- 
 partment has increased to nine — two consulting physicians, 
 a medical examiner, the directors of health education and 
 health service, a secretary, and three graduate nurses. 
 
 The positive, constructive approach to health service is 
 emphasized by its co-ordination with physical education. 
 The director of physical education is also director of health 
 education and has her office in the Health Center. The re- 
 sults of the physical examinations, given upon entrance, form 
 the basis for individual and class corrective work for those 
 who need it, or for special diet and medical attention. Doc- 
 tor F. Garm Norbury, the college physician for years, has 
 made some interesting comparative studies of this corrective 
 work and declares: "Results of this sort of therapy com- 
 bined with the general hygiene of the regular life of the 
 school have been most gratifying." 101 Of course, girls do not 
 find it too gratifying when they begin to gain on the excel- 
 lent MacMurray meals. The increase of weight sends them to 
 the playing field or the gymnasium. "Reducing" is reduced 
 to a system. The faculty of the Health and Physical Educa- 
 tion Department consists today of six members and three 
 graduate student assistants. Doctor Elizabeth Rearick, the 
 director, is perhaps one of the few teachers of physical edu- 
 cation in the country who hold the Doctor of Philosophy de- 
 gree. She is a native of Illinois and granddaughter of a 
 former student, Lizzie Kuhl, '59. In the preparation of her 
 doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, The Dances 
 of the Hungarians, she did research in Hungary. The ob- 
 jectives of this department are to give practical work in 
 physical education to all students that will supply needed 
 
528 History of MacMurray College 
 
 exercise and acquaint them with a variety of sports that may 
 furnish enjoyment as recreation, and to prepare teachers 
 for work in the field. 
 
 The work required of all students in physical education 
 has changed considerably in nature and amount since 1925. 
 Three years of practical work in a variety of sports and in 
 gymnastics were required up to 1930. Classes met three 
 hours a week. In 1930, the program was enlarged to include 
 all students. A student commented in the Illiwoco on this 
 strenuous regime: 
 
 To gain the coveted A.B. from MacMurray it is necessary (be you 
 anything from an art addict to a French fiend) to be able to navigate 
 your dead weight across the swimming pool four times in four different 
 ways and fall into the water in a manner which resembles a dive. This 
 little requirement, along with a term of natural dancing (better known 
 as "flitting"), two terms of team sports, and two of individual sports, 
 is one of the many which have been designed by the P.E. department in 
 an effort to create as many young Amazons as possible from the under- 
 developed little wrecks that float into College. The process is often 
 successful, and, if you live through it, always interesting and entertain- 
 ing. In fact, it is entertaining twice each week for four years at baseball, 
 tennis, hockey, and assorted muscle jerkers. If at the end of four years 
 of such experiences you haven't been granted a marble diploma and an 
 R.I.P. by a higher Power, you, as another MacMurray Amazon, will be 
 eligible for that A.B. 102 
 
 In 1937, the last two years of work was made elective, but 
 the swimming test remained until 1939. Then, "after years 
 of hopeless wonder as to just what the ability to swim four 
 lengths of the pool had to do with getting an A.B. ... we 
 learned that the modern graduate no longer swims." 103 The 
 increased emphasis on physical fitness, which resulted from 
 the entrance of the United States into World War II, led 
 to the addition of a physical education requirement in the 
 junior year. If the student desires, these additional credits 
 may be earned by participation in Recreation Association 
 sports. Although the course in hygiene is no longer re- 
 quired except for majors, lectures on health are included 
 in the freshman orientation course and emphasis on the best 
 health practices is given through the physical education 
 classes. The Recreation Association seeks to make the cam- 
 
History of MacMurray College 529 
 
 pus "posture conscious" by posters, talks, and demonstra- 
 tions. 
 
 For those who concentrate in this field, there is an exten- 
 sive offering of courses in the theory and history of health 
 and physical education, in methods of teaching, in tests and 
 measurements, in recreational leadership, in physical educa- 
 tion for the handicapped, and so forth. As mentioned 
 above, graduate work is also offered. In the present Senior 
 Class there are eight candidates for the Bachelor of Science 
 degree in physical education and two for the Master of 
 Science in it. Among recent graduates, two are teaching 
 physical education at MacMurray, one in Indiana University, 
 one in William Woods College, and one in Chile. 
 
 Several departmental clubs have been organized in recent 
 years to encourage special activities in this field. 104 The 
 Macquatic Club appeared in 1942, sponsored by Miss Carrie 
 Spencer, swimming instructor, and open to all who could 
 pass specified tests. One of its chief functions has been to 
 sponsor the Dad's Day Water Show, one of the most beau- 
 tiful pageants of MacMurray. A predecessor of the Mac- 
 quatic Club was the Oasis Club of the 1920s. The Riding 
 Club of the highly skilled horsewomen was founded in 1938 
 by Mrs. Helen Kitner Crabtree, riding instructor at that 
 time. The riding meets with Monticello and Lindenwood, 
 the Spring Horse Show, the Gymkhana, and equestrian feats 
 on May Day are events in which members of this club lead, 
 and they enjoy many early morning and moonlight rides to 
 Nichols Park and other points. Exponents of the modern 
 dance who visited the campus, especially Dorothy Hum- 
 phrey and Charles Weidman, aroused such interest in this 
 art that a club was founded in 1938 under the guidance of 
 Miss Helen Mahany, instructor in dancing. This club had 
 no officers or organization; it met each week to study mod- 
 ern dancing, and, to make the students "dance conscious," 
 it gave voluntary instruction in the dance during recrea- 
 tion hours. It took a major part in the May Day dances 
 until that pageantry was discontinued during the war. 
 
530 History of Mac Murray College 
 
 Since 1943, these three clubs have been affiliated with the 
 Recreation Association. The Physical Education Club, 
 founded in 1937, has had a broader function than any of 
 these. It includes all who concentrate in this field or take 
 a minor. It seeks to encourage interest in recreational sports 
 on the part of all students as well as to serve as a social and 
 professional club for those interested in this field as a career. 
 Delegates are sent to the National Physical Education Asso- 
 ciation meetings. The care and maintenance of the physi- 
 cal education cabin at Lake Mauvaisterre is a special work 
 of this group, for which it has sponsored "Club 13," an 
 all-school entertainment of the variety-show type held in 
 November. Although this club has a sort of special claim 
 on the use of the cabin, it is open to all students. 
 
 One of the oldest organizations on the campus (only 
 Belles Lettres, Phi Nu, and the YWCA are older) is the 
 Athletic Association, organized in 1901. In 1945, the name 
 of this organization was changed by a vote of the students 
 to Recreation Association, a change justified by the fact 
 that it seeks to encourage recreational sports rather than 
 competitive athletics. It includes all students. Its presi- 
 dent is a member of the legislative board of the Student 
 Government Association and of its Advisory Council. The 
 Association is administered by a Board composed of offi- 
 cers elected by the entire student body and of class repre- 
 sentatives and a Council made up of the chairmen of the 
 various sports. By tradition and present status it is a promi- 
 nent social force on the campus. Its general aims, as stated 
 in its report of 1944-45, are "To advance the standard of 
 sportsmanship, to promote individual participation in all 
 sports activities, and to encourage and further physical, 
 mental, and social development by means of the play 
 spirit." It works in close relationship with Student Gov- 
 ernment and the YWCA. In 1928, the Athletic Associa- 
 tion joined the National Athletic Conference of Colleges 
 for Women. 105 
 
 Improved facilities for sports — the new athletic field, 
 
ANNIE MERNER PFEIFFER 
 
History of MacMurray College 531 
 
 the enlarged gymnasium and pool, the bowling green, the 
 stables, the tennis courts, many indoor games — have encour- 
 aged the voluntary participation of all students in sports 
 sought by the Recreation Association. Although this aim 
 is never completely realized, the record is excellent. In 
 1944-45, the report of the Association showed that eighty- 
 three per cent had participated in sports (aside from re- 
 quired work). The Victorian lady had been supplanted 
 by the sports girl rather thoroughly in World War I. If 
 any vestiges had been left, World War II would have ended 
 them. It is true that movies and bridge have replaced cum- 
 bersome clothes and prudish conventions as deterrents to 
 the active life. At MacMurray, nevertheless, interest in 
 sports appears encouragingly large — so large at least that 
 the accommodations are no longer adequate. Reports of 
 the Recreation Association state that more come out for 
 hockey and volleyball than the fields can contain. In his 
 report to the Board of Trustees in 1945, President McClel- 
 land declared that an addition to the gymnasium was one 
 of the most pressing needs of the College. 
 
 Sports fostered by the Recreation Association include 
 hockey, basketball, hiking, swimming, softball, golf, tennis, 
 volleyball, archery, bicycling, bowling (indoor and on the 
 green) , roller and ice skating, badminton, ping-pong, shuf- 
 fleboard, quoit tennis, darts, sidewalk games (jacks, rope 
 jumping), riding, and dancing (modern, folk, square, and 
 social). Hockey, an old favorite, still holds first place. 
 Team sports present difficulties, however, in an all-out pro- 
 gram, since they tend to emphasize those who are skilled. 
 The Recreation Association has attempted to give oppor- 
 tunities to beginners in this and other team sports by a pre- 
 liminary training period for them and by tournaments. 
 Girls get up to play hockey before breakfast; they play in 
 the snow or shovel the snow off the field. The Thanksgiv- 
 ing hockey game between the Army and the Navy is still 
 the big event of the year on the sports calendar, and closes 
 the hockey season. After this game, the varsity team is 
 
53 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 chosen from the two teams on the basis of sportsmanship 
 as well as skill. It has sometimes played in intercollegiate 
 sports days. In 1925, the College played its first inter- 
 collegiate game with the girls' team of Illinois College. 
 "The spirit was that of true sportsmanship," the Greetings 
 reporter declared, "and we decided that intercollegiate 
 sport is something greatly to be desired." 106 For three years 
 the Thanksgiving game was played with Illinois College and 
 a contest in basketball was added. The Woman's College 
 won all the games. But, in 1928, it was decided that inter- 
 collegiate sports was not something "greatly to be desired," 
 and the practice was discontinued. 
 
 Only a few comments can be included on the various 
 sports. Basketball has remained a favorite. There are tour- 
 naments between class teams, an Army and Navy game, 
 after which the varsity team is chosen. Tennis attracts a 
 number, and is played in intercollegiate meets. Although 
 no longer required for graduation, swimming is an all-the- 
 year popular sport. The swimming meet is an exciting 
 intramural contest. Golf at Nichols Park has grown in 
 favor, and instruction in it has been added to the curricu- 
 lum. In 1943, a professional golf instructor was brought 
 to the campus to give lessons and the Old East Wing was 
 brought into use again as the "Gym Annex." Volleyball, 
 softball, bowling, and archery are popular. Many girls 
 bring their bicycles to school. Vacation or weekend trips 
 to interesting places are made by groups of cyclers. On 
 Sunday mornings throughout the year the hikers take walks. 
 Trips to Hannibal or New Salem combine historical inter- 
 est with sports. Ice skating on Lake Mauvaisterre or on 
 flooded tennis courts is sometimes a fine sport. 
 
 In earlier days State Street was the scene of the afternoon 
 parade of the "upper crust" citizenry in carriages drawn 
 by fine horses. From Virginia and Kentucky the settlers 
 brought their love of horses — and of racing. Edmund 
 James admitted that his father, Colin James, a very strict 
 Methodist, who looked askance at novel-reading, could 
 
History of MacMurray College 533 
 
 hardly resist a chance to see horses display their fine points. 
 It is in the tradition, then, that the art of horsemanship 
 should receive emphasis. Riding is one of the most popular 
 of the MacMurray sports. At meets with Monticello and 
 Lindenwood and in the general intercollegiate meets the 
 MacMurray riders, among them Doris Greenwalt, now rid- 
 ing instructor, have won many honors. 
 
 For several decades the Athletic Association held an an- 
 nual field day of track, basketball, and baseball. Although 
 track has disappeared from the program, there are play days 
 in the fall and spring. Occasional faculty-student games 
 in baseball or softball add zest to the sports program. In 
 1933, the Athletic Association for the first time sent teams 
 to participate in an annual intercollegiate play day at Nor- 
 mal. There were events in both team and individual sports. 
 These intercollegiate sports days, in which the emphasis is 
 on play for fun rather than for winning, have been con- 
 tinued. MacMurray has been host to play day groups a 
 number of times. In 1942, a Tri-College Sports Day to be 
 held four times a year was established by MacMurray, Mon- 
 ticello, and Lindenwood. These days promote the spirit of 
 play and good-fellowship. 
 
 Individual and group awards are made by the Recreation 
 Association for achievement and sportsmanship. The bas- 
 ketball shield and the tennis cup were ancient prizes. A seal 
 ring used to be the top prize in individual awards, but war- 
 time economy led to the adoption of simpler prizes of cer- 
 tificates and letters. The Elizabeth Rearick Sportsmanship 
 Trophy established in 1945, to be given to the senior who 
 had exhibited the highest degree of good sportsmanship 
 throughout her years at MacMurray, is the highest recogni- 
 tion of individual worth that is granted. The Recreation 
 Association functions as a social group to encourage a 
 democratic group life. Some of its old customs — the open- 
 ing picnic at Nichols Park and the Hallowe'en Party — have 
 been replaced by others — the Open Houses, dancing in the 
 Hub, and recreation nights in the gymnasium, and the May 
 
534 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Day Dance. Occasionally it plans a party to chase away 
 examination blues. Its cabin, open to all, is one of the most 
 popular retreats. 
 
 Two big days of the year in which the Physical Education 
 Department plays a major part are Dad's Day just before the 
 spring vacation and May Day (Mother's Day) near the first 
 of May. The Water Show, a main feature of Dad's Day is 
 written and produced by the Macquatic Club. Themes have 
 run the gamut from "Mickey Mouse Learns to Swim" to 
 the sophisticated symbolism of "Modern Design" (mili- 
 tary) , or an international theme, a "World's Fair Fantasy." 
 Several hundred fathers come (257 in 1946); sometimes 
 they put on stunts or play games of softball with their 
 daughters. It is an education for fathers. Some have con- 
 fessed they had never seen girls' teams play before. There 
 are stage plays and music, as related above. 
 
 But the climax of the year's play and pageantry is the 
 May Day Festival. Speech, Art, Music, Home Economics, 
 and Physical Education Departments combine in producing 
 this spectacle. Themes have varied: there have been pageants 
 of the Nations, the Seasons, Mother Goose, Spring and the 
 Search for Happiness, the Fine Arts, Modern Sports, So- 
 cial America ("America: What We Are" of 1940). Many 
 of them have emphasized the traditional and the romantic. 
 Commenting on the Modern Sports theme of 1934, a Greet- 
 ings writer suggested that they go entirely modern the fol- 
 lowing year as to music, scenery, and dances, dispense with 
 the traditional Maypole, and concentrate on the modern 
 meaning of May the first. But such a thing, she concluded, 
 "would have the village in fits. We are all such creatures 
 of habit and romantics at heart that there'd be a terrible 
 hue and cry, so perhaps we'd better stick to Hans Christian 
 Andersen and let our great-grandchildren interpret the 
 1930s." 107 The May Day Festival was discontinued during 
 the war and the centennial commencement of 1946. It will 
 probably be revived in 1947. It remains to be seen whether 
 
History of MacMurray College 535 
 
 the traditional English conception or the Russian will domi- 
 nate its future. 
 
 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE MODERN COLLEGE THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 LIFE COMMITTEE AND THE YWCA 
 
 MacMurray College belongs to that distinguished fra- 
 ternity of church schools that have contributed so much to 
 liberal education in the United States for more than a cen- 
 tury. Some of these schools have severed formal connec- 
 tions with the churches which founded them; others have 
 re-defined the relationship. MacMurray is still a church- 
 related college. In this centennial year there is a deepened 
 appreciation of its historic past and the work of its found- 
 ers and of the obligation to perpetuate Christian principles 
 of living in a world where these principles are essential not 
 only for the good life, but for civilized life at all. 
 
 In the course of a century, and particularly in the twen- 
 tieth century, there have been changes here, as in most 
 church-related^ schools, in religious practices and in regula- 
 tions as to formal religious observances. MacMurray no 
 longer requires that a student take sixteen hours of Bible for 
 graduation (but six hours of religion and philosophy, four 
 of which must be religion, are required) . Students are not 
 required to go to church on Sunday, nor are there "com- 
 pulsory" chapels twice a day. But, if there is less emphasis 
 on religious observances, there is no less concern about en- 
 couraging by precept and example Christian principles of 
 living. The methods of helping the student answer her re- 
 ligious questions and solve her personal religious problems 
 are more democratic, more mature, more positive and con- 
 structive as a rule than the procedures and requirements of 
 the past. 
 
 Aside from the classes in the Bible and religion, in which 
 the student has opportunity to secure sympathetic and in- 
 telligent guidance in matters of religion, there have been 
 Sunday afternoon discussion groups led by members of the 
 faculty and administration for the consideration of personal 
 problems. 108 The present guidance program of the College 
 
536 History of MacMurray College 
 
 includes the consideration of such questions by counselors 
 educated in the Christian tradition and also trained as per- 
 sonnel directors. The course in Modern Religious Problems, 
 taught by the president for several years, was an effort "to 
 help the students establish for themselves a rational basis for 
 their faith and also to see clearly the application of the gospel 
 to living social issues." 109 Religious Emphasis Week, spon- 
 sored first by the YWCA and today by the Christian Life 
 Committee, brings to the College for a week each year some 
 outstanding religious leader for lectures and conferences 
 with students on personal religious problems. Last year, 
 Doctor Henry Crane, grandson of the beloved J. L. Crane, 
 was the leader chosen. The response he received was most 
 gratifying. Representatives from the YWCA visit the cam- 
 pus regularly and of the Student Volunteer Movement from 
 time to time. Students take advantage of these various op- 
 portunities for practical guidance in religion just as they 
 desire. The percentage of those who actively seek such aid 
 may be small, but all are influenced by the Christian spirit 
 and atmosphere on the campus. The Day of Prayer may 
 appeal to some as merely a welcome break in the routine of 
 classes, as a student wrote for the Illiwoco calendar in 1933. 
 Even as such it may have spiritual value. And some pray. 
 The weekly chapel hour at eleven o'clock on Tuesday em- 
 phasizes the devotional element in religion, and the robed 
 choir has added impressiveness. Students are expected to at- 
 tend this meeting, although a certain number of cuts are 
 allowed. Many chapel speakers have been outstanding re- 
 ligious leaders. Others have presented great social, political, 
 and economic issues of the day, the understanding of which 
 is necessary to an adequate religious philosophy and practice. 
 Various bishops of the Church have appeared — Hughes, Mc- 
 Dowell, McConnell, Waldorf, Anderson, and others — and 
 other outstanding religious leaders, Protestant, Catholic, and 
 Jewish. The Institute on Human Relations was primarily 
 a great forum for the discussion of religion in the modern 
 world. The complete effectiveness of the chapel service has 
 
History of MacMurray College 537 
 
 suffered from the lack of a satisfactory meeting place. The 
 College outgrew Music Hall and moved to Centenary- 
 Church. It secured an option on this property with the idea 
 of making it into a permanent chapel. This plan was shortly 
 given up as impracticable, and the chapel service was moved 
 to Grace Church, six blocks from the College. Naturally, 
 attendance at this distance and across the main streets of the 
 town is somewhat inconvenient; and the passage of seven 
 hundred schoolgirls may be a bit disturbing, even if enliv- 
 ening. In the centennial year the College hopes to build 
 its own chapel on the campus. It should contribute greatly 
 to a more unified religious program and an elevation of 
 spiritual influence. 
 
 Professors are not selected on a basis of denominational 
 affiliation. They are chosen, however, for integrity of char- 
 acter and Christian principles of living. They may not 
 directly teach religion in their classrooms, but it is doubt- 
 less true that their lives and their teachings contribute to 
 the Christian atmosphere of the College. Geology may still 
 be taught "to reveal the glories of God's creation" without 
 contradicting the facts of science. Members of the admin- 
 istration and faculty and of the student body have con- 
 tributed actively to the church life of Jacksonville and 
 central Illinois by filling pulpits, directing choirs, serving 
 as organists, soloists, Sunday school teachers, or leaders of 
 young people's groups. In religious life, as well as in edu- 
 cation and public welfare, the College is a functioning part 
 of the community. 
 
 The denominational composition of the student body has 
 become more diversified, just as the geographical distribu- 
 tion has broadened and the national strains increased. These 
 facts make the problems of the College more complex but 
 more interesting. The College has never been solidly Meth- 
 odist in constituency, but for many years the majority of 
 students were Methodist, no doubt, and the rest were large- 
 ly from a few Protestant groups. Today twenty-four re- 
 ligious groups are represented in the student body; within 
 
538 History of MacMurray College 
 
 the last five years there have been representatives of thirty- 
 groups. Out of 706 today, 240 are Methodists as actual 
 church members or by preference. Other large groups are: 
 Presbyterian, 121; Episcopal, 48; Lutheran, 48; Christian, 
 44; Baptist, 44; Catholic, 40; Congregational, 35; Christian 
 Science, 18; and Jewish, 13. Eight girls belong to the Greek 
 Orthodox Church. There are few girls who record no religi- 
 ous affiliation or preference. In order to serve better these 
 various groups, the College has recently created a Campus 
 Christian Life Committee. The report of the YWCA for 
 1944-45 described the composition and purpose of this 
 group: 
 
 The Campus Christian Life Committee, composed of one student and 
 one faculty representative from each denomination, the president and 
 vice-president of the YWCA, and Dean Baird, Dean Hawkins, and Presi- 
 dent McClelland, was organized in the spring of 1944 by a group of 
 students who felt the need of making the Christian life more effective 
 on our campus. In addition to the objective of keeping religion alive on 
 the campus, the group desired to strengthen the student's ties with the 
 church of her choice and serve as a contact group through which the 
 local ministers might work with the students. 
 
 The first activity undertaken by this committee was the 
 church welcome program for incoming freshmen. Denomi- 
 national committees worked with the YWCA vice president 
 in writing to freshmen during the summer and with the 
 fellowship service of the local churches in planning recep- 
 tions for them. This committee has helped to establish and 
 strengthen contacts between the students and the local 
 churches. In 1945-46, it sponsored the Sunday vespers serv- 
 ices, and the various denominational groups took turns in 
 holding the service. 
 
 The only statement the Brawn Book of student regula- 
 tions makes on the matter of religion is the following: "Sun- 
 day is observed as a day of quiet and dignity. It is suggested 
 that each student be an affiliated member of the church of 
 her preference." Student surveys published in the Greetings 
 indicate that the majority of the students go to church reg- 
 ularly. In 1945, twenty-six per cent stated that they went 
 every Sunday, forty-three per cent, nearly every Sunday. 110 
 
History of MacMurray College 539 
 
 These surveys do not always include replies from the entire 
 student body. In a survey in 1942, thirty-three per cent 
 replied that they attended every Sunday, fifty per cent fair- 
 ly regularly, the rest seldom. 111 
 
 The MacMurray YWCA, to which all students belong, 
 has had a long and worthy history. Organized in 1899, it 
 is a fully participating member of the national YWCA and 
 contributes to its work. Alumnae of MacMurray have played 
 a large* part in the national organization and in work 
 abroad. Foremost among these is Louise Gates Eddy, '12, 
 who has served as general secretary in Allentown and Toledo, 
 as a representative in Brazil and Russia, and as general secre- 
 tary in Canada. On April 27, 1946, she was married to 
 Sherwood Eddy in Ann Rutledge Lounge. Both of them 
 have been frequent visitors and speakers on the campus in 
 recent years and a constant inspiration to the college group 
 and especially to the YWCA. 
 
 The work of the YWCA includes the campus, the com- 
 munity, and the world. It seeks to "keep each girl on the 
 growing edge of her spiritual life," to encourage a pleasant 
 and democratic social life on the campus, and to contribute 
 in work and money to constructive outside causes. It is close- 
 ly associated with the Student Government Association and 
 the Christian Life Committee in its campus activities. The 
 large group and the many activities on the campus make it 
 difficult to secure the active participation of all girls in the 
 YWCA; but, as its report of 1945-46 states: "Special effort 
 is made to divide our devotional, social service, and good- 
 will work to include the greatest number of girls . . . The 
 general aim is for participants to work side by side with 
 girls of varying heritages in creative cooperation." The 
 YWCA owes much to its general adviser, Mrs. Hawkins, 
 and its other faculty advisers. 
 
 Some of the traditional campus religious functions of the 
 YWCA, such as the Sunday vespers and Religious Emphasis 
 Week, are sponsored now by the Christian Life Committee; 
 but the YWCA still has charge of the special sunrise Easter 
 
540 History of MacMurray College 
 
 morning service, the regular student assembly programs, 
 and the World Day of Prayer. Devotional services in the 
 various residences are held in preparation for the Religious 
 Emphasis Week and the Day of Prayer. Some little tra- 
 ditional customs of the YWCA have great value and are 
 long remembered: provision of red candles for all the tables 
 in the dining hall from Thanksgiving until Christmas and 
 the Christmas caroling to shut-ins of Jacksonville. Its con- 
 tributions to the social life of the campus are old customs 
 of long standing plus a few newer ones. The opening part}^ 
 for freshmen and the May breakfast on Mother's Day are 
 old favorites. "Heart Sister Week" and the Thanksgiving 
 Tea Dance have been added during these decades. Occa- 
 sionally it sponsors a "hard times party" to ease the January 
 depression. Cheer for those in the infirmary is provided in 
 notes and gifts. With the Association of Childhood Educa- 
 tion it sponsors the Christmas Bazaar. 
 
 Certain local causes the YWCA has continued to sup- 
 port — Christmas and Easter parties for underprivileged 
 children, Thanksgiving baskets for the needy, money and 
 service to the children's clinic, collections of old clothes for 
 the needy of Jacksonville (and recently for foreign distri- 
 bution through the American Friends Service) , collection 
 of Christmas cards for the art work in the School for the 
 Deaf, and assistance to girls' clubs in the local schools. It 
 has undertaken a survey for the City Health Department of 
 the pre-natal care of mothers in the city. And it sponsored 
 Red Cross drives for funds and the sale of seals until the 
 campus Red Cross organization was established. In 1937, 
 the YWCA raised $200 for local flood relief 112 
 
 The YWCA has sought to develop campus interest in 
 world affairs and world needs by a program of education 
 through speakers and study groups and to secure contribu- 
 tions for world relief. For many years it made annual gifts 
 to schools in Madras, in Korea, in Japan, and to a secretary 
 in China. It has also helped a school in Santiago, Chile, and 
 one in Olive Hill, Kentucky. More recently its main con- 
 
History of MacMurray College 541 
 
 tributions have gone to the World Student Service Fund. 
 In 1946, it almost doubled its quota ($1,000) to this fund 
 in a campus campaign which brought $1,923. 113 This money, 
 contributed by various campus organizations as well as by 
 individuals, is to be used for a student center in China. Cam- 
 paigns for funds may still furnish campus entertainment. 
 Faculty services were auctioned last fall to students — Miss 
 Baird to cook hamburgers, Mr. Blair to sing "Oh, Johnny," 
 Doctor Stewart to donate "psychological eggs" and a trip 
 to New Salem, etc. The YWCA has also contributed gen- 
 erously to Chinese Relief and to the refugee fund for the 
 support of the Austrian refugee, Johanna Reischer, who at- 
 tended the College from 1939 to 1941. It has done much 
 to develop the social conscience of the campus. Through 
 the YWCA some students have received valuable training 
 through participation in the Geneva summer conference, to 
 which delegates are always sent, and in other regional con- 
 ferences. Twice the local organization has been host to the 
 area conference — the Little Geneva — once on the campus, 
 once at Springfield. 114 
 
 Attention to the little things of daily life in associations 
 between administration, faculty, students, and employees, 
 the little kindnesses and courtesies, an active concern for 
 helping those who need cheer or material aid whether near 
 or far, preparations for lives of usefulness: these are per- 
 haps the best "evidences of Christianity" in MacMurray 
 today. 
 
 STUDENT GOVERNMENT IN THEORY AND PRACTICE 
 
 Student government has continued under the charter 
 granted by the Board of Trustees in 1914 and the constitu- 
 tion adopted in accordance with that charter. The Associa- 
 tion had a representative (an alumna) at the Princeton meet- 
 ing called in 1925 to express student opinion on the World 
 Court issue and at which the National Student Federation of 
 America was founded, and in the years that followed sent 
 delegates to its meetings. 115 Since 1924, at least, it had been a 
 member of the midwestern section of the National Associa- 
 
54 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 tion of Women's Self -Governing Associations, and in the 
 early 1930s became a member of the National Student Fed- 
 eration. 116 It was also affiliated with the National League of 
 Women Voters and sometimes sent delegates to its conven- 
 tions. 117 In the spring of 1940 the MacMurray Association 
 was host to the east and west central sections of the National 
 Student Federation at a meeting attended by more than 
 sixty delegates from a score of colleges. Helen Webb, the 
 chairman of the joint convention and former president of 
 the Student Government Association, had served as a dele- 
 gate-at-large on the executive committee of the Federation 
 and as leader of a discussion group on "The Revitalization 
 of Student Government" at the Minneapolis meeting of 
 1939. 118 Annual reports of the Student Government Asso- 
 ciation (SGA) and comments in the Greetings reflect its 
 constructive interest in the issues raised in the National Fed- 
 eration. Critical of the functioning of their own organiza- 
 tion, delegates, nevertheless, often found grounds for encour- 
 agement after hearing the problems of others. 119 Participation 
 in these conferences has enlarged the campus concern with 
 world student problems. As mentioned above, liberal con- 
 tributions have been made to the World Student Service 
 Fund. The Students Association sponsored the Austrian 
 refugee student at MacMurray, although the College itself 
 granted a scholarship covering tuition. It has also contrib- 
 uted to a graduate scholarship fund for the College. 120 
 
 In addition to these "foreign relations," the SGA has 
 sought to encourage democratic processes in campus gov- 
 ernment; to make and administer the necessary rules and 
 regulations for campus life; and to co-ordinate student activ- 
 ities. It has assumed direct responsibility for many social ac- 
 tivities and for certain material improvements for the 
 comfort and pleasure of students. Since 1925, some major 
 and many minor changes have been made in the machinery 
 of government to take care of new conditions. Rules and 
 regulations have been revised to fit new manners and cus- 
 toms. These are recorded in the annual issues of the Brown 
 
History of MacMurray College 543 
 
 Book. The organization has faced problems common to 
 all attempts at self-government and those peculiar to all 
 student government. These have not all been solved, but 
 the record, on the whole, is apparently a good one. Faculty 
 and administrative supervision and control have been reduced 
 to a minimum except in academic matters, which the charter 
 left to such control. As in most attempts at self-government, 
 the chief problem seems to have been and to be a lack of in- 
 terest and a sense of responsibility on the part of the indi- 
 vidual. Files of the Greetings and the reports of the Asso- 
 ciation reiterate periodically this complaint, with varying 
 degrees of hope of progress or deep despondency. The large 
 percentage of new students to be assimilated each year has 
 made progress difficult. With prospects of less annual turn- 
 over in its membership, the Association should find its tasks 
 lighter. 
 
 The process of nominations and elections is democratic 
 in character. There has sometimes been criticism (as in 
 1932) of political "picketing" by literary societies or other 
 organizations to influence elections. 121 But a Greetings edi- 
 torial of April 10, 1937, declared the student body was to be 
 complimented for its serious consideration of the qualifica- 
 tions! of the candidates and added: "It seems as if politics 
 and electioneering have gone the way of the stove in every 
 room and compulsory breakfast." Such influence does not 
 appear to have prevented the selection generally of capable 
 officers. With respect to evolution in the machinery and 
 operation of the government a few major changes might 
 be noted. The executive department is administered by a 
 Board of eight ex officio members. Its composition has 
 changed through the creation of two new offices, an orienta- 
 tion chairman and a judicial director, discussed below. There 
 is no longer a freshman among its members. Legislative 
 and judicial departments have undergone more radical 
 changes. In 1927, a Legislative Board was created to exer- 
 cise this power, which had been held by the entire Associa- 
 tion. This Board, the composition of which was changed 
 
544 History of MacMurray College 
 
 considerably in 1939, is a large and representative one, con- 
 sisting of more than twenty members and including fresh- 
 man representatives. To its meetings all students are in- 
 vited and are privileged to propose or discuss changes in 
 rules and regulations or the adoption of new policies. It 
 might be said that the Student Government Association has 
 encouraged the more direct participation of the individual 
 student also through forums, question boxes, surveys of stu- 
 dent opinions in the Greetings, through house meetings, and 
 general student assemblies. By a vote of ten per cent of the 
 students a new proposal may be initiated or a question sub- 
 mitted for reconsideration by a referendum. The Advisory 
 Council of faculty and student members may recommend 
 legislation to the Legislative Board. 
 
 Cases involving violation of rules are heard before the en- 
 tire Association as a final court. A Judicial Board functions 
 as a lower court. Until 1939 the Executive Board had func- 
 tioned as the lower court, the president of the Association 
 serving as chairman. In that year the Judicial Board was 
 created and the office of judicial director. Except for this 
 presiding officer and the freshman representatives the com- 
 position of the Board is the same as the executive one. The 
 vice president serves as the special student "counsel" before 
 the Judicial Board. There have been no radical changes in 
 house government except that its organization has been 
 greatly expanded. House presidents with their boards of 
 corridor chairmen supervise the residences with the advice 
 and counsel of housemothers appointed by the administra- 
 tion. Certain standing committees have an important place 
 in the Student Government Association — the social, evalua- 
 tion, dining room, and faculty-student relations committees. 
 Students have asked for and secured representation on the 
 concert and lecture committee. 
 
 In 1938, a student orientation service (SOS) was created 
 under the vice president to assist the dean of freshmen in 
 the orientation program. In 1942, a special orientation 
 chairman was elected to head this service. Sophomore coun- 
 
MEMBERS OF CAP AND GOWN AND INITIATES 1943 
 
 Left to Right — Alice Finney, Ann Laufer, Elizabeth Solem, Nancy Black, 
 
 Doris Arnold, Betty Rae Ragan, Sara Yager, Mary Ellen Smith 
 
 W't: 
 
 ■b£& 
 
 Refreshments in The Hub 
 
Field Hockey 
 
 RIDING TKAM 1944 
 
 Left to Right — Gloria Bate, Ruth ECaufTman, Mary Lemon, Barbara Roper 
 
 Jane Grimes 
 
History of MacMurray College 545 
 
 selors trained in the preceding spring come early in the fall 
 to assist in the orientation of freshmen. This service has 
 helped in the assimilation of a large group each year into 
 the traditions and ideals of the College. It has not entirely 
 solved the problems of the judicial director and the Honor 
 Council in developing a sense of responsibility in the stu- 
 dent to report herself or others for violation of regulations 
 or of the rule of strict honesty in academic work (and, of 
 course, not all violations occur among freshmen). The 
 Honor Council (president, judicial director, vice president, 
 and orientation chairman, and the vice presidents of the four 
 classes) hears cases involving dishonesty in academic work 
 and fixes penalties. It may call in for consultation the fac- 
 ulty committee on student relations. 
 
 Students, some of them at least, have worked earnestly 
 to improve the functioning of student government and an- 
 nual reports indicate encouraging success in most phases of 
 its work. Failure of students to report themselves or others 
 for infringement of rules may at times bring a judicial di- 
 rector to desperation so that she recommends return to fac- 
 ulty enforcement of discipline (under student-made rules, 
 nevertheless!). 122 Violation of regulations, other than those 
 on routine matters appear, however, to be relatively few. 
 There are very few "naughty" girls, such as those who 
 troubled Doctor Adams. Students are realistic enough to 
 sea that a beautiful theory of government will not suffice. 
 The statement of aims for 1946 contains the following ob- 
 jectives: "To simplify the rules and regulation with the 
 general end in mind of rounding out a student attitude 
 and opinion to take the place of rules; to revise the govern- 
 ment itself in order to make it a more functioning pattern 
 for group living rather than having it as a plan in theory 
 and not in application." 123 
 
 The SGA has regarded happy group life rather than "gov- 
 ernment" its primary objective. Much of its funds and of 
 its work is devoted to this end. It sponsors all -school dances, 
 fun nights, freshman mixers. It has bought dishes for stu- 
 
546 History of MacMurray College 
 
 dent parties, equipment for the Hub, Christmas trees for the 
 residences. The college employees are a part of the college 
 family — Christmas presents are purchased for them. The 
 Association now sponsors the two big days: Dad's Day and 
 May Day, and special chairmen for those days are a part of 
 the organization. 
 
 Rules and regulations have changed and lessened with the 
 passing years. The "old graduate" will probably find in 
 them little that is familiar except the "pin and tack" rule 
 and the fine of five dollars for being on the fire escape. Al- 
 though the administration of the regulations is under the 
 student government, permission from a dean must be se- 
 cured if one wishes to be out of town, in town overnight, 
 at the Physical Education Club cabin, at Nichols Park after 
 seven-thirty, or to visit in any home in the city other than 
 that of a faculty member or town student; also, permission 
 to receive a caller whose name is not on the approved list. 
 Riding in cars is still subject to some regulations, and girls 
 do not bring cars to the College. At the beginning of this 
 administration, dancing with men was permitted only to 
 juniors and seniors, but in 1926 the privilege was granted 
 to all. 
 
 Dress has given deans many headaches. Collegiate cus- 
 toms and modern sports have overcome old-fashioned deco- 
 rum. The appearance of the "sweat shirts" and shorts called 
 forth Miss Johnston's comment that girls no longer wore 
 underclothes except on the outside. For some years the 
 Brown Book stated that there would be a formal dinner on 
 one Thursday a month. This rule has been dropped, although 
 there are many formal dinner parties of class or club. Girls 
 were required to wear hose to dinner always; now only to 
 Thursday and Sunday dinner. There are still certain re- 
 strictions as to sports costume. The dining hall committee 
 of the Student Government Association looks to the observ- 
 ance of dress regulations. About 1900 the juniors donned 
 sunshades to mow the lawn; now they bask in the sun to get 
 
History of MacMurray College 547 
 
 a tan. Spring announcements have to be made as to places 
 and minimum clothes for sun-bathing. 
 
 The evolution of the rules on smoking is similar to that 
 which has taken place in other colleges for women. 124 The 
 Brown Book of 1928 reads: "For the best interests of the 
 College students must not smoke while under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the Student Government Association." By 1931, the 
 rule was: "Smoking is not permitted in college buildings, 
 on the college campus, or in public places." Girls did smoke, 
 however, outside the College. President McClelland stated 
 to the faculty in January 1934 that the Student Govern- 
 ment Association was having much difficulty in enforcing 
 the rule. The faculty voted to strike out the words "or in 
 public places" from the rule. "Ham's" and other approved 
 eating places now became the recognized smoking rooms. In 
 the meantime, the Greetings had published discussions pro 
 and con on the matter of a smoking room at the College. 125 
 In 1940, the faculty voted in favor of smoking rooms in the 
 residences, which have been provided. 126 Girls do not smoke 
 in their rooms. 
 
 One faculty rule, adopted upon the recommendation of 
 President McClelland in the first year of his administration, 
 marked a break with the past with respect to compulsory 
 class attendance. 127 He advocated placing the responsibility 
 as to the validity or wisdom of absence on the student. 
 Freshmen are required to attend classes; other students whose 
 grades are low enough to place them on the dean's list are 
 expected to attend until they are removed from the list. 
 Liberalization of rules on this point and in social matters 
 has not resulted in a lowering of standards or corruption of 
 manners and morals. It has encouraged a more mature atti- 
 tude toward college life. 
 
 LITERARY SOCIETIES, CLASSES, STUDENT PUBLICATIONS 
 
 Literary societies occupy a secondary place in the college 
 life today. The larger social functions are sponsored by 
 classes, or by the all-school YWCA, Students Association, and 
 Recreation Association; the intellectual activities by depart- 
 
548 History of MacMurray College 
 
 mental clubs. Society budgets are relatively small, and 
 these organizations cannot contribute in a large way to 
 endowment, library funds, or other causes. Questions are 
 raised from time to time by both the administration and the 
 students as to their value. 128 Some girls are hurt by failure 
 to make a society. Bases of selection are personal not class, 
 however; societies are democratic to the extent that wealth, 
 class, religion, and race do not count in election to mem- 
 bership. Foreigners, including orientals, have been members 
 of the upper-class societies. Societies are not affiliated with 
 national sororities, and members do not live together in 
 club houses. 
 
 In spite of questions as to their value, these upper-class so- 
 cieties have exhibited great survival power. Two of them 
 are near their hundredth year. And one must believe that 
 they are not mere anachronisms, deposits of history, but that 
 they have some authentic values for the present, even though 
 one might not agree that they have "vast importance on the 
 campus," as one of them insisted this year. 129 As historic 
 groups they have promoted alumnae loyalty and the pre- 
 servation of college traditions and customs. Sometimes they 
 have undertaken a definite program of education in ideals 
 and standards. In 1939, for example, the Lambda Alpha 
 Mus undertook to encourage everyday courtesies on the 
 campus, the Theta Sigmas to maintain standards in dress, the 
 Belles Lettres and Phi Nus, proper conduct in chapel and in 
 the city. 130 And they encourage church-going by attending 
 occasionally as a group. They take pride in their past. As the 
 centennial of the College approached, even the two younger 
 ones have been impressed by the "sense of history" and have 
 taken steps to preserve it in manuscript records and scrap- 
 books. Several years ago the Belles Lettres purchased steel 
 filing cases for their documents and created the office, "keeper 
 of the archives." As congenial social groups they have some 
 value, and even their literary activity has not entirely dis- 
 appeared. They had a part in the debating of the 1930s; 
 in open meetings they have displayed their talents for the 
 
History of MacMurray College 549 
 
 education of the freshman societies. They have continued 
 to have a more or less regular series of literary and musical 
 programs, often featuring outside speakers or artists. The 
 following is a sample report of a year: 
 
 Guest speakers have given us some of our most interesting and valuable 
 programs. Mr. Hampton gave an interesting talk on the summer theatre 
 and his impressions of Jane Cowl. Mrs. Davidson's talk on Bali proved 
 very valuable as well as entertaining. Mr. Rowland gave us a fascinating 
 account of the life and experiences of William Lyon Phelps from his 
 new autobiography. Dr. Shields added to our variety of programs by 
 his account of his hobby, the collection of moths, butterflies, and insects. 
 Elizabeth King, a former president of Phi Nu, told us of her experiences 
 as a student of bacteriology at Johns Hopkins University. 131 
 They have criticized themselves, however, for having too 
 many outside speakers and have turned to "home talent" 
 for reviews of books "which must be read if one wishes to 
 be termed modern and cultured," books from Barrie and 
 Galsworthy to Gertrude Stein. Modern music, modern art, 
 great women, the college girl, education in foreign lands 
 have also been studied. 
 
 Societies have continued as service institutions so far as 
 their budgets allow. Fees and rush dues are fairly moderate 
 — about ten dollars a year. They continue to maintain their 
 halls, and have added to their libraries, although Phi Nu 
 and Belles Lettres have begun to donate their collections to 
 the college library. They have contributed to local relief in 
 a small way, to the refugee fund, to British war relief in 
 1940, to the Red Cross, and to war bond drives. 132 One so- 
 ciety (Lambda) has sponsored the Girl Scout group in 
 Jacksonville. 
 
 Social activities occupy the largest place on the society 
 calendars. Members defend the values of this congenial fel- 
 lowship. They insist that societies make it possible for a girl 
 to form friendships with girls in other classes. Classes are the 
 more cohesive groups now; they live together and enjoy to- 
 gether the bigger social events. An intersociety council of 
 the presidents and vice presidents of the four societies estab- 
 lishes rules for rushing and the calendar of intersociety af- 
 fairs and society banquets. Intersociety dances, teas, coffees, 
 
550 History of MacMurray College 
 
 and picnics fill a large place in the program of activities. 
 Membership is still based on scholarship record. "Rushing" 
 survives, followed by "Hell Week," when "harrassed sopho- 
 mores go rushing about kneeling and opening doors, wear- 
 ing fantastic plumes, unmatched shoes, sans makeup and 
 carrying anything from a bottled goldfish to an autographed 
 egg" Societies maintain alumnae and "town and gown" ties 
 by parties in Jacksonville homes — the Belles Lettres with 
 the Fays, the Hemphills, and with "Daddy" and "Mother" 
 Gates, until the death of the former; the Phi Nus with the 
 Applebees, the Samuells, and others; the Lambdas have en- 
 joyed "State Street breakfasts" with the Crabtrees and parties 
 at the Buckthorpes; and the Thetas at the Ostomes and the 
 Griswolds. Some old styles in parties survive — hay-rides, 
 sleigh-rides, and barbecues; and there are new styles in bridge 
 parties and tea dances. Societies, along with classes, partici- 
 pate in the popular practice of serenading the residences 
 (another custom that the Latin Americans and Hawaiians 
 would probably find strange). The crowning social event 
 of the year is still the alumnae banquet at commencement 
 time. 
 
 In 1921, the first freshman society was organized. In 1927, 
 this society was replaced by four freshman societies — Delta 
 Theta Nu, Phi Tau Epsilon, Phi Kappa Delta, and Kappa 
 Sigma Theta. In 1936, a fifth appeared, but was not con- 
 tinued; in 1943, two others were organized — the Alpha 
 Kappa Sigma and the Epsilon Kappa Phi. All freshmen 
 belong to one of these groups. These societies bring fresh- 
 men together in groups of about fifty; intersociety func- 
 tions with the other groups prevent the division of the 
 class. They give the girls experience in managing formal 
 social functions and in conducting public meetings. Through 
 series of "faculty coffees" the freshmen meet their teachers 
 outside the classroom. Programs by professors and students 
 are given. Foreign students have frequently told of their 
 homelands in freshman society meetings. And they have 
 
History of MacMurray College 551 
 
 serenades and banquets. The high point of the year for these 
 societies is the annual play contest. 
 
 As literary societies have receded to a secondary place, 
 classes have come to fill a larger place in campus life. They 
 are important as composite groups in the formation of stu- 
 dent government; class teams compete in sports. Annual 
 class song contests furnish new songs for group singing. 
 The formal recognition of each class in chapel constitutes 
 impressive ceremonials and has provided occasion for many 
 fine addresses by President McClelland. One of the most 
 memorable of these, "Question Marks and Exclamation 
 Points," on the cultivation of the spirit of inquiry and the 
 sense of wonder, gave the title for a book published in 1935. 
 Class gifts have brought books, radios, the chimes, clock 
 tower lights, bonds, and other useful additions to the college 
 equipment. Classes have also given generously to war relief, 
 the Red Cross, the World Student Service Fund, and to other 
 causes. Class dances, teas, and coffees fill the social calendar, 
 and their projects have provided entertainment. The new 
 residences have contributed to the integration of juniors and 
 seniors and provided attractive accommodations for their 
 parties. Sophomores and freshmen overflow their residences, 
 but are more nearly unified than they were before Jane and 
 Ann Rutledge were built. 
 
 Class functions have much in common and certain fea- 
 tures that are distinctive. The Senior Class, recognized early 
 in the fall, appears afterwards in cap and gown for chapel. 
 Breakfast class meetings in Ann Rutledge lounge integrate 
 the group. "Cut day," which has replaced the traditional 
 senior week, is usually spent in St. Louis or Springfield. On 
 memorable "cut days" seniors have enjoyed Lunt and Fon- 
 taine and Helen Hayes in Victoria Regina and Mary of Scot- 
 land, The formal tea for mothers, friends, and faculty in 
 the early fall and the Senior Ball are gala social events of the 
 year. Seniors still sing carols in the residences on Thanks- 
 giving morning, and they serenade the school and especially 
 the sophomores. The "Senior Perch" on the steps of Old 
 
55 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Main was surrendered to the sophomores whose claim was 
 recorded in Brown Books for a year or so. Apparently the 
 "perch" belongs to everyone now. For some years the seniors 
 attended senior recitals as a group and in formal attire. In 
 late spring come the deans' 'puzzling" party and the presi- 
 dent's dinner for seniors with its famous cake with double 
 icing, the senior communion, and then the tears of com- 
 mencement. Since 1943, the juniors have recognized the 
 Senior Class and the queen on May Day by a lovely lantern 
 ceremony, and they serve them as ushers for commence- 
 ment. The president's reception to friends and parents of 
 seniors, to townspeople, to patrons and friends in general 
 is now a century-old custom. 
 
 In 1928, the freshmen were subjected for the first time 
 to the wearing of the green ribbon. For several years the 
 occasion of its removal in November provoked excited con- 
 tests, even "fights," between freshmen and sophomores. 
 Sophomores were burnt in effigy (perhaps some will recall 
 "Cyril"). Freshman initiation today is mild in comparison. 
 There are many pleasant interclass customs, from decorat- 
 ing the church for the sister class on recognition day and 
 preparing table parties for its members to turning down 
 their beds on the night of the class dance. 
 
 Student publications deserve a special record. The College 
 Greetings, renamed the MacMurray College Greetings in 
 1940, has evolved into a first-class college paper. In 1937, 
 it advanced from a bi-weekly to a weekly paper. In that 
 same year it received first-class honor rating from the As- 
 sociated Collegiate Press for the first time. 133 Since that date 
 it has generally received this rating or the higher one, the 
 all- American. 13 ' In the fall semester of 1940-41 the Greet- 
 ings was one of sixteen college papers out of 412 entered in 
 the contest to receive the ail-American award. The director 
 of the Associated Collegiate Press declared that MacMurray 
 editorials indicated maturity and sanity on the part of the 
 writers and showed evidence of a constructive purpose. 13 "" 5 
 Two MacMurray girls, Alice Alexander and Grace Fenne, 
 
History of MacMurray College 553 
 
 were joint winners of a $150 national journalism prize (sec- 
 ond) for an announcement for an essay contest on China 
 in 1940. Colonel Frank Knox and William Allen White 
 were two of the judges. 136 In this same year the Greetings 
 received more first places in the State contest than any other 
 paper, among them a first place for a feature story by Carol 
 McClelland on Professor Shields' celebrated bug, "The Colo- 
 bopterus." Regularly it sends delegates to the collegiate press 
 conventions. The College has been host twice (1939 and 
 1945) to the Illinois Collegiate Press Association. In those 
 years the Greetings editor was president of the Association. 
 The Greetings has had an outstanding place among the col- 
 lege newspapers of Illinois and on two occasions has won 
 first place in the State. 137 Its pictures, features, editorials, as 
 well as its campus news service, have won commendation. 
 Special editions, such as the birthday issue in honor of Presi- 
 dent McClelland, issues on the dedication of Ann Rutledge 
 and the Pf eiffer Library, the MacMurray memorial edition, 
 and the centennial historical pages, have won particular 
 praise. A special objective of the staff to secure academic 
 credit or some monetary return for their work is yet un- 
 solved. It was the Greetings that first brought to the campus 
 the Wabash "Cavemen" Glee Club and Orchestra for pro- 
 gram and dance. For three seasons they were the big social 
 event. At a dinner for representatives of metropolitan jour- 
 nals to the centennial commencement in 1946, the Greetings 
 staff gave awards to Charles Newton Wheeler, political editor 
 of the Chicago Daily News, and to Francis Albert Behymer, 
 of the St. Louis Post -Dispatch, for fifty years' outstanding 
 service to journalism. The Greetings Quarterly, established 
 as a literary organ in 1924, did not last long. For some years 
 the Greetings published an annual literary supplement of the 
 poems and stories that won the prizes it offered. Inkspira- 
 tions, work of the Scribblers' Club, is the literary publication 
 today. 
 
 The college annual, llliwoco, keeps its old name in spite 
 of the change of the college name, but it succeeds admirably 
 
554 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in its aim "to give a picture in prose and photographs of 
 'Life at MacMurray'." The 1935 issue won first-class honor 
 rating from the National Scholastic Press Association. In 
 1939 and 1940 it was one of the three college annuals from 
 schools of 500 or more students to receive the all- American 
 rating. 138 The 1944 Illiwoco won the all- American rating 
 and a medalist certificate from the Columbia University 
 Scholastic Press Association. 139 It has been praised especially 
 for its "personality" and its expression of the "spirit of 
 MacMurray." 
 
 MaCMURRAY COLLEGE IN WORLD WAR II 
 
 World War II did not find the College as unprepared in 
 thought as World War I had found it (and the rest of the 
 United States). Institutes on Public Affairs, lectures on 
 European and Far Eastern problems on the college chapel 
 and lecture series, the president's addresses on European, 
 especially German, politics, the activity of the International 
 Relations Club and the Debating Club on the campus and 
 abroad, and instruction in the regular college courses had 
 informed students of the approach toward war. In 1936, at 
 the Institute on Problems of the Pacific, F. L. Schuman had 
 predicted war between the United States and Japan in five 
 years. Several teachers in the faculty had only recently 
 come from study, teaching, or travel in Europe. One was 
 born in Japan, others in Switzerland and Germany, and one 
 was married to a Belgian Army officer. German and Austrian 
 anti-Nazis were members of the student body, and there 
 were students of Chinese and Japanese blood. 
 
 As the 1930s advanced, student opinion reflected a grow- 
 ing seriousness with respect to public and foreign affairs. 
 Thanksgiving 1938 brought a special editorial comment on 
 the war in China and* the troubles in Europe, which ended 
 with the question: "Count your blessings? That's obsolete. 
 In the modern world there is no room for Victorian senti- 
 mentality." 140 Another editorial commended the action of 
 students in sending a petition to Secretary of State Hull 
 against Japanese aggression in China. 141 In 1937, one voted 
 
History of MacMurray College 555 
 
 "roses to the YWCA for the decision to send aid to evacuated 
 Chinese students." 142 As soon as war came in Europe, work 
 for the relief of the victims of Nazism began. The YWCA 
 instituted a program of knitting, sponsored Chinese movies 
 for foreign relief, planned world-union study groups and 
 a more active relationship with the sister college in Korea; 
 and the town girls contributed $ 1 5 to Bundles for Britain 
 made in a benefit dance. 143 In spite of the fact that the im- 
 pact of the war in Europe was felt, Americans found it 
 difficult to accept the impending crisis for the United States. 
 In March 1941, however, 51 per cent of the students voting 
 in a campus poll favored lend-lease to Britain. 144 Armistice 
 Day 1941 brought the pronouncement: "We should con- 
 cern ourselves with problems of building a better world not 
 bemoaning the failure of 1918." On November 15, the 
 Greetings poll showed only 14 per cent in favor of an im- 
 mediate declaration of war; but the International Relations 
 Club was already holding discussion groups on national 
 defense. 
 
 The war which began for the United States with the at- 
 tack on Pearl Harbor affected the College in its academic 
 program, its annual calendar, its faculty and administrative 
 personnel, its program of health and physical education, and 
 in faculty and student service and social activities. Many 
 alumnae and former students invested their lives in the 
 cause of national defense for the duration, and some have 
 continued in the work of national reconstruction. Before 
 the war came, President McClelland had addressed the Board 
 of Trustees (in May, 1941) on "Education and National 
 Defense," contrasting the American ideal of unity through 
 democratic co-operation with the German system of regi- 
 mentation. He declared: 
 
 Our chief concern is for the preservation, development, and per- 
 petuation of democracy which, fundamentally, is a way of life — the 
 democratic way of life — and education is of first importance in the 
 endeavor to realize this aim. If co-operation is a basic principle of demo- 
 cratic life, the necessity is laid on us at MacMurray College to foster 
 here a spirit of co-operation and see to it that the democratic processes 
 prevail on our campus. . . . To be a good citizen of the United Statet 
 
556 History of MacMurray College 
 
 is not easy. It requires intelligence, tolerance, self-denial, and a willing- 
 ness to work for the common welfare. And these are virtues which our 
 young people must acquire through education. 149 
 He pointed to the fact that such an ideal was endangered 
 by the national emergency. All who think can realize that 
 this danger still exists in a country disturbed by problems of 
 reconversion, rehabilitation, and industrial warfare. 
 
 After the war began, the president announced that, al- 
 though a privately endowed institution, the College would 
 join with other schools in the cause of national defense. 
 "But," he insisted, "this does not mean that we shall abandon 
 the primary function of higher education in order to try 
 to prepare our students technically for participation in the 
 tasks which they may have to perform in carrying out the 
 defense program. We shall continue to help our students 
 seek the truth and to look upon world events with clear and 
 undisturbed vision. . . . This, perhaps, is our first line of 
 defense." 146 Since men of college age had to forego the privi- 
 lege of liberal studies, it was imperative that women should 
 develop a broad understanding of problems, even war prob- 
 lems. "They must develop a global consciousness and a true 
 perspective, seeing things in their right relations. A narrow 
 scientific or vocational training would make it impossible for 
 them to carry on the liberal tradition, which must be main- 
 tained if western civilization is to survive," he insisted. 147 
 Technical instruction related to defense work which the 
 College offered was largely extra-curricular. "War courses" 
 stressed by the administration were courses in the Back- 
 ground and Issues of the War and in Democracy and Con- 
 trasting Forms of Government. These courses, given by the 
 faculty and visiting lecturers, were offered each year and 
 were opened to the public. 
 
 The series of lectures and lecturers in the Backgrounds 
 course for the first year is suggestive of its character: 
 Causes, Events and Results of World War I: Twenty 
 Years of Truce (Professor de Roover) ; American Foreign 
 Policy Since the Beginning of World War II (Charles Eich- 
 enauer) ; Background and Strategy of World War II (Nich- 
 
History of MacMurray College 557 
 
 olas Doman) ; Japan and Her Program of Far Eastern 
 Domination (Professor Rowland) ; The Nazis and Their 
 Program of World Domination (President McClelland) ; 
 The Crisis in the Far East (Sherwood Eddy) ; The Peace 
 Treaties of 1919 and the League of Nations (de Roover) ; 
 The Peace to Come (Vernon Nash) ; Women in Defense of 
 Democracy (Mrs. Marion Kingsley) ; The United States 
 and the League of Nations (Professor Hendrickson) ; Rus- 
 sia in the War (John A. Bekker) ; The Struggle in the Pa- 
 cific (No-Yong Park) ; The Pattern of the World Tomor- 
 row (Eichenauer) ; Recent Relations with Latin America 
 (Professor Brundage) . 148 This course, which could be taken 
 for credit or audited, was well attended by students. The 
 global emphasis is suggested in Eddy's statement that the 
 world was his hobby, his only concern. He declared that 
 MacMurray girls asked the most intelligent questions of any 
 group of students he had addressed. 149 In the second year 
 some new lecturers appeared — Lewis Bernays, former Brit- 
 ish consular officer, who later taught in the MacMurray sum- 
 mer school; the Belgian husband of Professor de Roover, 
 and others. The course in Democracy and Contrasting 
 Forms of Government, which dealt primarily with under- 
 lying philosophies, was taught by Mrs. Beggs and Mr. Eich- 
 enauer. During these years Leland Stowe lectured on Hitler 
 Over Europe; Wallace Deuel, on Germany; Max Lerner, 
 Weapons are Ideas; Louis Fischer, This Crisis is our Oppor- 
 tunity; T. R. Ibarra, Our Friends and Foes in Latin America; 
 Phyllis Bentley, England in Her Fiction; Hallet Abend, Our 
 Destiny in Asia; and Carl J. Hambro, The League of Na- 
 tions (he was its president). Through weekly News Round- 
 ups in each dormitory the International Relations Club con- 
 tributed to education for defense; and in the spring of 
 1943, it was host to a regional conference of clubs in which 
 the Far East and Future Peace in Europe were discussed by 
 students and special authorities, Harold Scott Quigley among 
 them. At a meeting of the Illinois Historical Society at 
 MacMurray, Professor Hendrickson discussed "History in 
 
558 History of MacMurray College 
 
 War Time." The college program of education for defense 
 and for democracy was broad and liberal. The students ap- 
 parently judged it so. In an editorial in May 1942, one de- 
 clared that by lectures and discussions "we feel without too 
 much prejudice that our ideas are quite well-advanced about 
 the world situation of today and the hopes and plans of 
 peace tomorrow." 150 Another admitted, however, that "our 
 views may be too idealistic, too Utopian." 151 
 
 President McClelland attended the meeting of college and 
 university presidents in Baltimore in December following the 
 attack on Pearl Harbor, a meeting held to consider the re- 
 lation of the college to national defense. Among the ques- 
 tions discussed was that of acceleration of the college course. 
 President McClelland extended the summer session to eight 
 weeks in 1942 and in the following year to twelve weeks. 
 He did not encourage acceleration, however; he insisted 
 that there was "a great responsibility upon women today to 
 conserve, maintain, and develop the highest cultural values, 
 and this is best done by remaining in college as long as pos- 
 sible." 152 Girls might contribute to the war effort, he ad- 
 vised, by practical summer work, paid or volunteer, related 
 to their major subject in college. The enrollment in the 
 summer school declined during the war from 209 in 1941 
 to 173 in 1942 and 127 in 1943. After that date it began 
 to increase. Three members of the faculty went into the 
 armed services: Professors James Russell, Volney Hampton, 
 and Donald Horton, all incidentally from the Speech De- 
 partment — and two from the staff, Mr. Clarendon Smith, 
 the business manager, and Mr. Charles Crabtree, in charge 
 of the stables. Doctor Mable Walter, biology, entered the 
 Red Cross work as assistant director of service clubs over- 
 seas. She was sent to England. Professor Burr Brundage, 
 French, went into government research in Washington. It 
 might be noted that German was not removed from the 
 curriculum as in World War I. 
 
 To integrate the various campus activities related to the 
 war effort a War Council of administrative officials, faculty, 
 
History of MacMurray College 559 
 
 and students was created. The student committee func- 
 tioned as a part of the SGA. The activities included: civilian 
 defense training and services, a physical fitness campaign, 
 conservation, bond sales, etc. In the field of civilian de- 
 fense, courses were given in first aid, home nursing, nutri- 
 tion, and one for air raid wardens. A course in occupational 
 therapy was introduced, but it was discontinued before the 
 end of the war. Courses in health by the Physical Education 
 Department and in food and nutrition by the Home Eco- 
 nomics Department were integrated with the defense pro- 
 gram. Non-credit courses in first aid, home nursing, and 
 nutrition were given under Red Cross direction. More than 
 200 girls were enrolled in these courses in 1942. 153 A Red 
 Cross chapter was organized on the campus, and a knitting 
 room was opened in the Pfeiffer Library. Girls knitted, 
 rolled bandages, and packed overseas kits. Campus organi- 
 zations restricted their regular meetings to devote the time 
 to defense work. To supply the shortage of nurses twenty- 
 four girls were serving as nurses' aids in Passavant and Our 
 Saviour's Hospitals in 1944-45. The conservation committee 
 sought to effect savings in electricity, food, paper, travel, 
 and telephone calls. An air raid wardens' organization was 
 perfected, with a chief air raid warden and wardens and 
 helpers in each of the college buildings. This organization 
 was affiliated with the Morgan County and Jacksonville 
 Civilian Defense. A class in air raid service enlisted forty 
 girls in 1 942-43 154 The health committee sought to get fac- 
 ulty and students to patronize the war recreation sports for 
 an hour a day. A new organization, the MacMurray Corps 
 of Drill and Tactics, introduced the military note into the 
 activities. When play days with other schools had to be 
 canceled, the students formed themselves into six "colleges" 
 (Pottawattamee Junior College, Century University, Po- 
 dunk Center, etc.) to compete in sports. 
 
 Campus social activities were reduced in number and sim- 
 plified in character. Warsages of defense stamps took the 
 place of corsages. Most dances and other entertainments 
 
560 History of MacMurray College 
 
 were benefit parties for defense purposes. The town girls 
 gave a "Blackout Ball" for the USO; the sophomores a De- 
 fense Stamp "Stomp"; and there were benefit bridges for 
 the Red Cross, for bombers, etc. The sophomore project 
 of 1943-44, "This is Mine," a program of American history 
 and song, made a hit as a Stage Door Canteen benefit, and 
 was later taken to Springfield to entertain the soldiers. 155 
 The campus chapter of the Red Cross has continued to spon- 
 sor entertainments for soldiers. Several college groups have 
 gone to the Mayo General Hospital at Galesburg. The 1946 
 freshman project, "The Gay Nineties," was taken there. 
 Man shortage cramped the style of social activities to some 
 degree, and the style soon became distinctly military. Navy 
 V-12 men from Wabash, air men from Parks College, 
 soldiers from Camp Ellis, Scott Field, and Springfield were 
 the dates. Students chided each other over the excitement 
 that uniforms caused at first. An editorial injunction de- 
 clared the demonstrations in the dining hall were like a Frank 
 Sinatra broadcast, but uniforms soon became familiar. The 
 Wabash V-12 orchestra furnished the music for the Senior 
 Ball in 1943, which had as its motif the collegians' favorite, 
 "Deep Purple." The faculty party was one of the war cas- 
 ualties of 1942, and the loss "brought gloom to the campus 
 for days." 156 
 
 There were war savings stamps sales in the Hub and bond 
 drives. Sally Mac "gave up cokes and cigarettes to buy 
 stamps." She joined in the Morgan County War Rally Parade 
 in October 1943. 157 World War II exhibited less parades 
 than earlier wars, but Greetings columnists insisted that girls 
 "love a parade," and demanded more and better ones. The 
 College Band led the MacMurray section; helmeted air raid 
 warden girls followed; then came the first aid folk, and a 
 float with the motto, "Knowledge, Faith, and Service." 
 Twenty freshmen in V-formation gave the patriotic touch; 
 and the section was closed by the "horse guard" from the 
 Riding Club. The girls raised $1,165 in 1943 for a jeep and 
 in 1944-45 more than $6,000 for a bomber. 168 They exceeded 
 
H::- 
 
 ■■■'. 
 
 ■ : »iiir 
 
 
 ANNIE MERNER CHAPEL 
 to be completed in 1948 
 
MARY HARDTNER BLACKSTOCK 
 
 at the Unveiling of the Bronze Tablet Commemorating her Gifts 
 to the College 
 
History of MacMurray College 561 
 
 their quota of $900 by raising $1,401 for the Red Cross in 
 1945 and went beyond their goal in contributions to the 
 World Student Service Fund for books for war prisoners. 159 
 
 Among the "spoils" of war on the campus are souvenirs 
 from the various battle areas. These add an exotic touch to 
 the room or the costume of Sally Mac — Nipponese holy 
 books, Japanese geisha girls, canteen helmets, coins, grass 
 skirts, native jewelry, silk blouses from Hungary, and, of 
 course, Parisian perfumes. 
 
 On April 28, 1945, the SS MacMurray Victory was 
 launched in Richmond, California, with Mrs. MacMurray 
 as the chief speaker for the occasion. Martha Byland Landis 
 described the event for the Alumnae News: 
 
 She's been launched! The most beautiful ship you've ever seen! Real 
 thrills were in our hearts as we entered the shipyard yesterday and saw 
 in huge letters on the bow, rt SS MacMurray Victory." 
 
 The programs were being taken off the press as we entered the yards 
 at 2 p.m. Mr. Henry Kaiser, who was here this week, and Secretary of 
 State Stettinius were anxious to link up some foreign diplomat to the 
 launching, and we all thought that to have our College associated in 
 such a way with the Peace Conference was something most desirable. 
 Accordingly Madame Velloso, wife of the Minister of State for Foreign 
 Relations from Brazil, sponsored the ship. Mrs. MacMurray gave a 
 wonderful talk. 160 
 
 A fund of $ 1 5 was raised by the college students as a con- 
 tribution to a library of the SS MacMurray Victory, and a 
 subscription to the Greetings was donated. In January 1946 
 came the news that Dorothy Chaney Ward, '45, had been 
 chosen by the master and officers as ship's pin-up girl. 
 
 More than 100 alumnae were enlisted in all branches of 
 the military service. In the service roll, published in the 
 lllkvoco in 1945, twenty- four were listed in the WACS, 
 forty in the WAVES, twelve in the Marines, nine in the 
 Army and smaller numbers in other divisions. Twenty-three 
 were in Red Cross, nine of them overseas. Among the twenty- 
 five Illinois candidates chosen for the first officers' training 
 school of the WACS was Willia Stephenson, '34, who served 
 as a recruiting officer and attained the rank of major. Many 
 lieutenants appear among those in the WAVES and the Army. 
 MacMurray alumnae served in England, Europe, Iceland, 
 
562 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Africa, New Zealand, the Pacific area, and India. Several 
 in Army and Navy service were nurses. Olena Cole, '31, a 
 physiotherapist, was in charge of a clinic in Europe. There 
 were many in defense service at home or in non-military 
 services abroad. Mrs. Isabel Woodman Bergman, '21, is now 
 with the UNRRA in Germany as assistant welfare director 
 of displaced persons. Before the United States entered the 
 war, Louise Gates Eddy was rendering distinguished service as 
 a general secretary of the YWCA in Canada. Many interest- 
 ing experiences of alumnae in the war have been told, among 
 them the story of Virginia Pierson McKinley, '27, a mission- 
 ary-teacher in Silliman University in the Philippines. She, 
 her husband, and their three children played a game of "hide 
 and seek with the Japanese Army" for more than two years 
 before they finally escaped by submarine to Australia. "They 
 ate swamp vegetables, fern tips, lizards, monkeys, and at one 
 time a wild cat; they lived with pagan animist tribes; shot 
 wild rapids on flimsy bamboo rafts; and when they could 
 stay in one place for any length of time they organized 
 schools and churches and in other ways contributed to the 
 people as best they could." 161 The wartime recollections of 
 alumnae should form an interesting chapter in the annals of 
 MacMurray and in later "grandmothers' tales." 
 
 FROM THE JAZZ AGE TO THE ATOMIC AGE STUDENT 
 
 LIFE AND THOUGHT IN MaCMURRAY 
 
 As one follows the course of an institution's history for a 
 hundred years the thought keeps recurring, or the fear per- 
 haps, that it will grow old, that its practices, its spirit will 
 become set, static, and begin to show signs of age. But in a 
 college, fortunately, a new generation appears each year and 
 an entire change every four years. The spirit is always fresh, 
 always changing (even if ever the same). Professors may 
 linger on, but they cannot but be affected by the over- 
 whelming majority of the students. They continue to put 
 on vaudeville shows and play baseball, in spite of high 
 blood pressure, just to please the "young folks." On the 
 other hand the "young folks" are more devoted to some of 
 
History of MacMurray College 563 
 
 the old traditions and customs than the "old folks" them- 
 selves. Thus the stream of history is renewed without be- 
 ing lost. 
 
 Student activities and their reactions to the world around 
 them and beyond them have been recorded in the preced- 
 ing pages. Hence, these paragraphs are in the nature of 
 addenda. Student thought reflects the currents of philoso- 
 phy and the intellectual fashions of the time, but with par- 
 ticular emphases due to youth and to specialized activity. On 
 the whole, student thought at MacMurray (some say they 
 have no time to think) is probably much the same as that 
 of other college young people. There are perhaps some 
 shades of difference. Although religious, national, sectional, 
 even racial differences occur among MacMurray girls, they 
 are a fairly homogeneous body with respect to economic 
 status. They belong to the comfortable class and have lived 
 relatively sheltered lives. At the outbreak of World War II, 
 President McClelland commented on this fact and its pos- 
 sible dangers. 162 From decades past, however, the service ideal 
 has been emphasized in college teaching in and out of the 
 classroom and exemplified in the lives of alumnae. Regard- 
 less of economic status, girls prepare for useful lives. 
 
 In 1925, the flapper age, or jazz age, was at its height in 
 America. The spiritual disillusionment, the cynicism of the 
 postwar era probably touched MacMurray girls slightly, if 
 at all. The surface characteristics of this age did appear, 
 however, in campus life. They found expression in the short 
 bob, the straight lines of the figure, the absence of femininity 
 in dress. The smooth waltz gave way to the Charleston, the 
 Black Bottom, the Apache dances. "Have pity, have pity, 
 ye Charlestonians, on our beautiful Social Room floor," a 
 Greetings commentator wailed. The theme of parties and 
 dances reflected the current fashions of the postwar boom 
 when bored young sophisticates escaped to the South Sea 
 Islands, or to sundry Bohemias, or rich old men to Florida. 
 Nautical effects prevailed. In 1928, for example, the sopho- 
 mores had a Deck Dance. Each dance began with the steam- 
 
564 History of MacMurray College 
 
 boat whistle and ended with its bell, and the Hyatt twins 
 gave a sailor clog. The Junior Prom was in "Neptune's 
 Tavern," 10,000 leagues under the sea, "with impressionistic 
 and lurid wall hangings and fishing grotesqueries." "For a 
 sub-agua party it was very dry," some one drily observed. 
 The seniors had a modernistic art gallery representing col- 
 lege life for their dance theme, and their sophomore sisters 
 served food in Latin Quarter garb of berets and smocks. 
 French Club Mardi Gras featured Apache dances and bull 
 fights (Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon) . And there 
 were pirate, vagabond, and Florida beach parties. The lit- 
 erature reviewed in the Greetings seems to belong to the long 
 ago — Erskine's Helen of Troy and Adam and Eve, Gals- 
 worthy's Swan Song, books of Julian Green, Charles Merz's 
 Great American Band Wagon, and others. The Illinois The- 
 atre was opened in 1927. The llliwoco annual calendar re- 
 corded the opening as a red-letter day: "Another big event 
 in the school year! The Illinois Theatre opened tonight, and 
 the school was just about deserted. The theatre is really very 
 nice — including the painted and uniformed ushers — and 
 Norma Talmadge did make a lovely Camille!" It is still a 
 favorite resort. Here in the 1920s the girls saw Clara Bow, 
 Bebe Daniels, Lillian Gish, Pola Negri, Lewis Stone, Adolphe 
 Menjou, and the last days of Rudolph Valentino. Many 
 dreamed of and took trips to Europe. One suggested that 
 the College charter a ship just for MacMurray girls for sum- 
 mer travel. 
 
 But the depression sobered students, the Institutes in- 
 formed them, and World War II stirred them to action. 
 During the depression some took refuge in Horace's phil- 
 osophy as a solace from the rebuffs of fortune. Education 
 for enforced leisure was recommended. It would not in- 
 sure a job, but would give one "an inward world all his own 
 and a chance to be an extraordinary person." 163 They were 
 impressed by President McClelland's recognition speeches, in 
 which he encouraged them to cultivate an insatiable desire 
 for knowledge, to hunger after righteousness, and to try to 
 
History of MacMurray College 565 
 
 attain perfection, the Greetings reported; or by his comments 
 on the contemporary interest in Utopias, in programs of 
 social betterment, as a reaction against the mechanistic, ac- 
 quisitive society. 164 They criticized themselves for knowing 
 no more than they did of the economics of the. depression, 
 "exciting times comparable only to the period just pre- 
 ceding the fall of the Roman Empire." And they protested 
 to fellow students: "We can attend the meeting [Institute 
 on the Economic Crisis] and learn something, or we can go 
 to Matthews' instead and grow up into the flock of Mrs. 
 George F. Babbitts the Lord probably intended us to be." 165 
 "The world is changing," they confessed, "while we sit con- 
 fined neatly beneath our stately elms." 
 
 Science Hall and the Pfeiffer Library gave new dignity 
 to academic life, and Jane and Ann Rutledge encouraged 
 upperclassmen to more adult attitudes. A Philosophy Club, 
 which flourished for a season, was taken as a sign of "grow- 
 ing up." They proclaimed the end of the rah-rah collegian, 
 whose demise some attributed to the depression, but others 
 considered it inevitable. "We couldn't have gone on trying 
 to live down to College Humor forever." 166 The participa- 
 tion of the SGA and the YWCA in world youth movements 
 broadened their horizons and deepened their interest, es- 
 pecially in the students of other lands. Their democratic at- 
 titude toward people of other races was frequently voiced, 
 but was best expressed in their association with Japanese and 
 Chinese students in their midst. The question of the admis- 
 sion of the Negro has never become a practical issue, but 
 Negro musicians and actors have been enthusiastically re- 
 ceived. Todd Duncan received 85 per cent of the votes as 
 the favorite guest artist the year he came. An inter- 
 denominational chapel discussion by Protestant, Catholic, 
 and Jew was heartily approved by 95 per cent of the stu- 
 dents voting in a survey; and the Greetings editor requested 
 a similar discussion on race by Mongolian, Caucasian, and 
 Negro. 167 "It is the aim of MacMurray College to encourage 
 independent thought, and from the enthusiasm demon- 
 
566 History of MacMurray College 
 
 strated in a recent chapel and the results of the campus 
 opinion survey, we observe that the students of the College 
 are ready to take that aim as their own," the writer de- 
 clared. Today students express the fear that, the war over, 
 Americans may slip back into absorption in narrow national 
 and personal concerns and try to escape global problems. 168 
 How much students can and will do to discourage such an 
 attitude one is not able to predict, but at least they recog- 
 nize its dangers. 
 
 The writer has heard some people question whether Sally 
 Mac of 1946, accustomed to physical comforts, would ac- 
 cept the risks or could endure the hardships that Sallie 
 Shumway experienced in frontier Nebraska. But there is 
 Virginia Pierson, '27! Sallie Shumway never had to face 
 physical hardships equal to hers. The real problems that 
 Sally Mac faces in the atomic age are not physical or ma- 
 terial ones, however; they are psychological, social, and spir- 
 itual, and far more difficult of solution than any issue in the 
 life of Sallie Shumway. The demands that will be made on 
 the courage, the intelligence, and the good will of Sally Mac 
 of 1946 lie in the present and the future. "Do not try to 
 stay as sweet as you are," Elsie Robinson warned the Class 
 of 1940. "You have grimmer jobs on hand." The war is 
 over, but the jobs remain. One can believe that Sally Mac 
 will prove to be a twentieth century Sallie Shumway. 
 
 In a section where party differences make political con- 
 tests exciting students exhibit more interest in elections than 
 in "solid" sections. Girls are educated in the obligations of 
 voting and instructed in its procedures. New voters are en- 
 tertained by the Jacksonville branch of the League of 
 Women Voters, and the SGA sometimes sends delegates to 
 state and national conventions of the League. National cam- 
 paign issues are outlined in chapel programs. Campus po- 
 litical clubs are formed, and "elections" held with band 
 and torchlight parade accompaniments. The Greetings an- 
 nounced in October 1936: " 'Happy Days are Here Again' 
 will sound in sharp discords with the strains of 'O, Suzanna' 
 
History of MacMurray College 567 
 
 when young Republicans and young Democrats of Mac- 
 Murray swing into action next week." In 1940, the presi- 
 dent of the Willkie Club, Jean Wible, boarded the train 
 to welcome the candidate when he passed through Jackson- 
 ville. Patty Norbury, leader of the Democratic forces, served 
 the Democratic Party in its publicity department in Chicago 
 in the summer of '40 and received a press ticket to the inaug- 
 uration in January '41. Perhaps she created new interest in 
 national defense by her report that the East was taking it 
 more seriously than the Middle West. Ingrid Bergstrom, 
 Democrat from Chile, was an outstanding Roosevelt sup- 
 porter. The Democratic forces were small but very active. 
 Until she resigned in 1937, Miss Miner was an outspoken ally 
 from the administrative staff, and Miss Johnston is still a 
 Democrat. And the president himself was an enthusiastic 
 supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 
 
 In May 1940, MacMurray girls took part in the first Na- 
 tional Student Political Convention, which was held at 
 Westminister College for the education of college youth in 
 political programs and procedures. Five MacMurray girls 
 attended: two each as delegates to the Republican and Demo- 
 cratic conventions and one to the Independent-Liberal. 169 
 In the same spring much publicity was given in the regional 
 and national press to the fact that 79 per cent of the 700 Mac 
 Murray girls had voted against Roosevelt's running. In cam- 
 pus "elections," the Republican vote is always predominant, 
 but variable. In 1928, Hoover received 252 votes, Smith, 
 50 (35 of these were faculty and upper classmen) . 17 ° In 1932, 
 Hoover's vote declined — he received 213; Roosevelt, 91; 
 Thomas, 21. The depression turned some to more radical 
 measures apparently. In 1936, Landon's vote was 291 ; Roose- 
 velt's, 134; Thomas', 9. In 1944, the campus vote was 
 three to one for Dewey. 171 Only one Socialist vote was cast. 
 Minnesota has had two governors' daughters in MacMurray 
 in recent years. Patricia Olson, '42, daughter of former 
 Farm-Labor Governor Olson flew to Minneapolis in the 
 fall of 1938 to introduce Governor Elmer Benson, candidate 
 
568 History of MacMurray College 
 
 for reelection, at a youth rally. 172 Present Governor Thye's 
 daughter, Jean, has been a member of the centennial class. 
 
 The "MacMurray Survey" of facts about students has 
 been a popular feature of the Greetings in recent years. 
 Facts and fancies recorded may appear obvious, if not trivial, 
 to contemporaries. In years to come, perhaps, the curious 
 investigator might find these statistical descriptions of the 
 composite Sally Mac interesting. In 1942, for example, she 
 was five feet five, had blue eyes, and was a brunette as to 
 coloring. She owned from three to ten skirts and from six 
 to ten sweaters. She wore rubber boots, and gabardine rain- 
 coats took the place of "autographed slickers. " She had an 
 allowance of ten to fifteen dollars a month. Her favorites in 
 radio, dance, and screen were Bob Hope, Glenn Miller, Bette 
 Davis, and Spencer Tracy. In reading she chose The Reader's 
 Digest, Life, Mademoiselle, and a weekly journal of news 
 and opinion. And she liked romantic novels and smooth 
 dancing. 173 She loved May Day festivals. In 1943, she had 
 apparently eaten a "wonderland" wafer that shortened her 
 a bit. She was a little under five feet four, and keeping her 
 weight (110-130 pounds) down was a "must." She liked 
 long bobs and permanents (one notes in many aspects the 
 "feminine touch" as compared to 1925). Suits, sweaters, 
 pearls, angora socks, and flats were "uniforms." Stuffed ani- 
 mals were her pets. Walter Pidgeon replaced Spencer Tracy 
 temporarily as favorite. Bette Davis was a constant. When 
 Sally discovered that Mrs. Hawkins had worked with one 
 of her movie favorites of 1944, Joseph Cotten, in the Civic 
 Theatre in Miami, her fame increased! A year or so earlier 
 a student rose to immediate fame when it was found that 
 she was a cousin of Tyrone Power; and the daughter of the 
 coach of the Yankees made the features. Van Johnson was 
 the screen hero of 1945. Symposium chapel programs were 
 preferred, and Sally liked formal dances. She chose school 
 rather than the armed services, opposed the drafting of 
 women, but would prefer the WAVES to any other branch. 
 She talked war in "gab sessions," her ideal man wore a uni- 
 
History of MacMurray College 569 
 
 form, and she had become used to blind dates. Basic English 
 she believed might be useful in the adjustment of inter- 
 national problems. The Greetings issued a special Basic English 
 edition. Sally was the average college girl of the 1940s. 
 
 Servants and employees are subjects of perennial interest 
 to successive generations of MacMurray girls. Those arriving 
 early with the flood of new freshmen declared that the only 
 familiar face was Woodson's. Mrs. Ollie Brown and her 
 cinnamon rolls, her crullers and pies, are a MacMurray tra- 
 dition of several decades, as much a part of the institution 
 as the "stately elms." And for years Lee Dennis, his lawn 
 mower and his dog were a part of the campus scene. Dennis 
 had a philosophy of life which he was always glad to pause 
 to expound. Among his phobias were May Days. He had 
 seen sixteen and pronounced them all alike. Nevertheless, 
 his name occurs in the following item. In May 1938, a 
 Greetings writer appeared on the field at practice time, and 
 "there Dennis, Boots, Buster, and the whole tribe were 
 dancing around the May Pole." 174 George, the nightwatch- 
 man, was nominated to the campus hall of fame as an ardent 
 booster of the MacMurray spirit. He knew girls and liked 
 their democratic ways. He knew boys, too. His views on 
 nocturnal serenades were positive — they must end at eleven 
 o'clock. From time to time the Greetings featured the em- 
 ployees. "No men on the campus?", it was asked. "What 
 about George, Henry, Warren, William, Boots, and Bus?" 175 
 Henry's jangling keys, as he made his rounds, were a part 
 of study hours; Boots and Bus were all over the place fixing 
 everything. The vacuum cleaner seemed a part of Bus. Ann 
 Rutledge and Jane could not run without William and War- 
 ren. Servants, like professors, are people, and these people 
 were pronounced important. 
 
 There are also important places beyond libraries and class- 
 rooms. Like the employees and the faculty, they change 
 slowly as the stream of time flows on. An old institution 
 closes, and a new one appears. The Peacock Inn, Matthews', 
 Batz's, and others have passed, but Merrigan's has come down 
 
57^ History of MacMurray College 
 
 from the nineteenth century. The Greetings (1931) de- 
 clared that freshmen began the year by getting acquainted 
 with persons and places; the upperclassmen said the per- 
 sons were I.C's and the places Merrigan's and Matthews'. 176 
 A few years later "Ham's" had become the popular resort, 
 the place "where East meets West." De Silva, the Ham- 
 burger King and reputed creator of the hamburger, is still 
 on the list of places. Those who like a walk delight in 
 "Wag's." Professors probably regret the time spent by stu- 
 dents in these modern counterparts of the old-fashioned tea 
 and coffee houses, but to the students they are essential 
 features of college life. There are other places too: West 
 State Street, the square on Saturday night, the dime store, 
 "where college girl and millionaire are the same," the Grace 
 Church chapel, "where letters grow and weary souls find 
 rest." 
 
 On the campus Old Main is still the center. In 1928, those 
 frivolous years when fantasy had free play, a Greetings ed- 
 itor described the freshman's introduction to this old land- 
 mark under an editorial entitled "Cheshire Cats are Harm- 
 less:" 
 
 It was a queer enough place. No doubt every freshman entering I.W.C. 
 for the first time felt like a veritable Alice in Wonderland. Perhaps 
 the Main hall did resemble a rabbit hole; and though there were no rabbits 
 with white gloves, or mock turtles shedding moist tears, more than one 
 Queen of Hearts, Dormouse, Frogfootman, March Hare, or Mad Hatter 
 must have grabbed the poor unprepared freshman as she left the train 
 or entered the hall. A new world indeed, but soon each one of these 
 Alices will be speaking in the most familiar way to the Duchess, Cook, 
 or Cheshire Cat. 177 
 
 And soon they become acquainted with Old Main's Social 
 Room and Sun Parlor. Freshmen carry on the traditions 
 nobly, it is said. Third Floor Main is still the noisiest cor- 
 ridor, and poor "Ella" is still abused. 
 
 Seasons and the weather, like persons and places, are a part 
 of the tapestry of college life. They are always changing, 
 ever the same. Eppie and Sallie Shumway may have lived 
 in different buildings, but they loved the same spring. "Re- 
 gardless of how the subtle strands of lives are tangled and 
 
History of MacMurray College 571 
 
 untangled by the puzzling fingers of circumstances, yet 
 spring comes on and on forever." It is a sign of youth and 
 hope. The statistician would find some interesting figures, 
 no doubt, if he should count the numbers of poems on spring 
 and the inches of feature and editorial space devoted to it in 
 the Greetings. A freshman of 1926 wrote: 
 
 In the most sordid of places, spring is heaven; therefore, at I.W.C. 
 it must be seventh heaven. . . There is a force in spring which brings 
 out the best in us. We feel as if we are lifted on mighty wings, holding 
 the world in our grasp. We feel inspired to many things which we would 
 not think of doing in our saner moments. 178 
 
 But, of course, it brings spring fever, too. Girls put on 
 spring dresses when "Maggie" blooms, buy jumping ropes, 
 and roller skates. They listen for the first robins. Term 
 papers and blue books are neglected. Dreams of vacation 
 begin. The recurrence of spring and the rebirth of nature 
 encouraged a student "philosopher" to the following ob- 
 servation during World War II: 
 
 Girls of college age have a remarkable talent for taking interest in 
 the first robin and the first blades of grass that come seeping up from 
 the brown earth. Today when products of nature can be destroyed by 
 the explosion of one bomb we should think of these things even more. 
 Perhaps as a dog may help a blind master, we students may show the 
 world to those blinded by all the present-day hate. . . . There are no 
 barriers to overcome in this respect, and how pleasant to be able to 
 recognize one of the most wonderful beginnings of time. 179 
 Atomic bombs have not destroyed their faith that spring 
 will "come on and on forever." 
 
 THE HUNDREDTH YEAR: PLANS FOR THE SECOND CENTURY 
 OF MaCMURRAY COLLEGE 
 
 And the College plans to "go on and on forever." In 1944, 
 President McClelland presented his second twenty-year pro- 
 gram for the expansion of campus and buildings at an esti- 
 mated cost of $1,730,000 and for an addition of $3,000,000 
 to the endowment. Buildings proposed included a new chapel, 
 a student union, an art building, new residences, and addi- 
 tions to the dining room, gymnasium, and athletic facili- 
 ties. 180 Old Main was to receive her share of attention in a 
 new front (already built) , the "tuck-pointing" of her walls 
 now in the way of completion, and other improvements. 
 
57 2 History of MacMurray College 
 
 President McClelland announced in the spring of 1946 that 
 money had been secured for a new $250,000 residence hall 
 to be erected as soon as building conditions permit. This 
 residence will release much space in Old Main for other uses. 
 Since 1938 the president had looked ahead to the centennial 
 year 1946 with certain goals set. The special objective for 
 this year has been the chapel. In 1944, Mrs. Annie Merner 
 Pfeiffer agreed to give $125,000 to the construction of the 
 chapel if other friends of the College would give $75,000. 
 The Illinois Conference, meeting in Jacksonville in 1945 as 
 guests of MacMurray College, authorized a conference cam- 
 paign for $100,000 for the same objective. 181 The Jackson- 
 ville Citizens' Committee has set $50,000 as its objective. 
 Late in the spring the administration and faculty pledged 
 approximately $10,000 to the fund, and the alumnae have 
 undertaken to provide an organ at a cost of $30,000. 
 
 A word might be included here with regard to the later 
 history of the Alumnae Association. Scattered through these 
 pages are many references to the contributions of the 
 alumnae in money, services, and through their useful lives. 
 More should be written, but it would require another vol- 
 ume. Names of many alumnae have been cited; others with 
 equal justice could be included. President McClelland has 
 sought to integrate the alumnae more closely with the Col- 
 lege in intellectual contacts and responsibility for material 
 support. Alumnae have been encouraged to take advantage 
 of Institutes, concerts, and lectures, and have appeared fre- 
 quently in concerts and as speakers. Upon several alumnae 
 — Louise Gates Eddy, Mary Ferreira Crux, Lillian Hurlburt 
 Gist, Frances Melton, and Eleanor Boston Putnam — the Col- 
 lege has conferred honorary degrees. 
 
 In 1925, the Alumnae Loyalty Fund was founded with 
 the object of securing regular annual contributions from 
 alumnae, a part of which would be used to pay the cost of 
 the News and the office, the rest for such purposes as might 
 best serve the interests of the College. 182 Members were 
 asked to give a minimum of five dollars a year as a sort of 
 
History of MacMurray College 573 
 
 living endowment. In 1936, an alumnae Student Loan Fund 
 was created. 183 The alumnae have also contributed to the 
 science building and the library. Toward the present ob- 
 jective of an organ for the chapel, they have already raised 
 about $15,000. 184 To provide for the integration of the vari- 
 ous local societies and a more effective working organiza- 
 tion of the growing body of the alumnae, an Alumnae Coun- 
 cil was created in 1941. 185 Mrs. Ann Marshall Orr was made 
 chairman. The Alumnae Council is composed of all the of- 
 ficers of the Association, the alumnae trustees, class secre- 
 taries, representatives of each local society, representatives- 
 at-large, the president and dean of the College, and three 
 members of the faculty. Annual Council meetings are held 
 on Founders' Day. Miss Genevieve Mount has been the 
 alumnae secretary throughout this administration and the 
 editor of the excellent Alumnae News and Record, the 
 "carrier-dove" of messages to "old girls" from the Alma 
 Mater and of news of classmates. The alumnae luncheon 
 at commencement; is their reunion, which is symbolized in 
 the candle lighting ceremony. 
 
 MacMurray College has prepared for the celebration of 
 her centennial not only by providing for material expansion, 
 but also by taking stock of her past and examining her pro- 
 gram of education for the present and the future. Revisions 
 of the educational program have been outlined above. In 
 1944, President McClelland prepared the paper referred to 
 previously, "The Education of Females in Early Illinois," 
 which related the story of the foundation of MacMurray. 
 And earlier, in 1931, Doctor Harker had told the story of 
 his administration in his Eventide Memories, In 1944, an 
 historical committee was appointed, along with other cen- 
 tennial committees, to collect and organize materials for 
 the preparation of the history of the College. A committee 
 on exhibitions has kept the college family and visitors "his- 
 tory conscious" by the displays of documents, books, pic- 
 tures, old costumes, and china. And about a score of other 
 committees have been at work on centennial plans. Miss 
 
574 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Janette Powell and her mother have made lovely figurines 
 of the wives of the presidents and other women in Mac- 
 Murray's history, and Miss Powell has given sketches of 
 their lives on Founders' Day (1944) and to alumnae and 
 church groups. 
 
 During the year 1945-46 the history of the College and its 
 centennial have been emphasized in the various activities. 
 On the evening of October 9, President and Mrs. McClelland 
 held a pre-centennial "levee" in Old Main for hundreds of 
 alumnae and friends. Founders' Day addresses, the presi- 
 dent's four recognition speeches, class projects, and other 
 college programs have underlined the past. The Greetings 
 has had a special historical page; the Illiwoco is a history in 
 pictures and story. The Conservatory of Music has con- 
 tributed to the centennial theme. In the spring, Mr. Hugh 
 Beggs gave a concert of Chopin and Schuman selections 
 composed in 1846, and the College Choir, under Mr. Henry 
 Busche, an evening of American choral music. Several tal- 
 ented alumnae have returned to give concerts: Elizabeth 
 Humphrey, Betty Jo Sanner (with the MacMurray Trio), 
 and Verna M. Harder. In recognition of the MacMurray 
 centennial, the Illinois Federation of Colleges held its meet- 
 ing on the campus in April. 
 
 As a feature of the centennial commencement a beauti- 
 ful pageant, "MacMurray Through the Years," was presented 
 under the direction of the Music and Speech Departments. 
 The centennial hymn, with words by President McClelland 
 and music by Mr. Cleeland, was first sung as a part of this 
 drama. The significant baccalaureate sermon, by Doctor 
 Charles Morrison, editor of The Christian Century, entitled 
 "An Affair of Honor," emphasized the individual's obliga- 
 tion to the past and responsibility for the future. Harold 
 E. Stassen continued the same thought in his "Challenge of 
 Today" address to the centennial class, as he faced the setting 
 sun and a crowd of several thousand in front of Ann Rut- 
 ledge. The heroine of the centennial commencement was 
 tiny Mrs. Gist, graduate of 1875, who flew from Florida 
 
History of MacMurray College 575 
 
 to attend the celebration. In June 1946, the Illinois Annual 
 Conference will hold its third successive session in Jackson- 
 ville as guests of MacMurray. The sense of history should 
 impress these heirs of Peter Akers and Peter Cartwright. The 
 final event of the centennial observance will take place on 
 Founders' Day, 1946, when representatives of American col- 
 leges and universities will assemble to participate in the 
 celebration of the hundredth year. 
 
 MacMurray College is the only senior college for women 
 related to the Methodist Church in the North and one of the 
 leading colleges for women in the United States. Today, 
 when the world faces a race between education and catas- 
 trophe, she stands ready to do her part toward the mainten- 
 ance of Christian ideals of living. One might recall Peter 
 Cartwright's words of 1858: "She is a noble craft and has 
 an experienced commander. One can predict for her a 
 great future." 
 
MacMurray College 
 1925 to 1947 
 
 $7,375,899 
 
 The Growth of College Assets 192 5-1947 
 
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APPENDIX 
 
 The following is a copy of the program of the centennial 
 exercises, October 6-10, 1946. 
 
 1846 YlflacWlvu*a>y College 1946 
 
 L^entennlat J^r 
 
 waram 
 
 f 
 
 JACKSONVILLE, ILLINOIS 
 
 October the Sixth to the Tenth 
 
 Nineteen Hundred Forty-Six 
 
 577 
 
578 History of MacMurray College 
 
 roarawi 
 
 SUNDAY, OCTOBER THE SIXTH 
 
 3:00 p.m. Centennial Service of Worship 
 
 Address: Looking Backward; Thinking Forward 
 James C. Baker, Resident Bishop, The Methodist 
 Church, California Area 
 
 Ann Kutledge Terrace 
 
 8:15 p.m. Concert of Centennial Compositions 
 
 Ann Rutledge Theodore Fitch 
 
 The College Choir 
 Director, Henry Busche, Instructor Public School Music 
 
 Sonata in F Herbert Inch 
 
 Ralph Robbins, Professor of Piano and Theory 
 
 Violin Sonata Walter Piston 
 
 Delwin Shaw, Associate Professor of Violin 
 Hugh Beggs, Professor of Piano and Theory 
 
 Abraham Lincoln Estelle Cover, '22 
 
 The College Choir 
 
 Double Quartette 
 
 Music Hall 
 
 MONDAY, OCTOBER THE SEVENTH 
 Jacksonville Day 
 
 8:15 p.m. A Historical Pageant in Music 
 "MacMurray Through the Years" 
 Ann Kutledge Terrace 
 Narrator: Howard C. Hansen 
 
History of MacMurray College 579 
 
 DAYS OF THE FOUNDING 
 
 Scene I 
 One of the First Chapel Services 
 
 FROM ACADEMY TO COLLEGE 
 
 Scene II 
 
 A Meeting of Belles Lettres in 1860-70 
 
 FIRES! AUCTION! and a FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY 
 
 Scene III 
 
 A Campus Sing (1870-80) 
 
 FROM THE TURN OF THE CENTURY TO 
 
 WORLD WAR I 
 
 Scene IV 
 
 A Chapel Service in 1914 
 
 MacMURRAY .... TODAY 
 
 Scene V 
 
 A Campus Sing — 1946 
 
 TUESDAY, OCTOBER THE EIGHTH 
 
 2:00 p.m. Meeting of the Board of Trustees 
 
 Henry Pfeiffer Library 
 
 4:00 p.m. Address Illustrated with Songs 
 
 Joseph C. Cleeland, Director of Music, Presiding 
 The American Art Song — A Survey 
 
 Leon Carson, President, National Association of 
 Teachers of Singing 
 
 Music Hall 
 
 8:15 p.m. Centennial Concert 
 
 Mona Paulee, Mezzo-Soprano, Metropolitan Opera Com- 
 pany 
 
 Auditorium of the Illinois School for the Deaf 
 
 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER THE NINTH 
 
 Alumnae Day 
 
 9:15 a.m. Symposium: The College Exists for Public 
 Service 
 
 Irma L. Gamble, Trustee, MacMurray College, Presiding 
 
580 History of MacMurray College 
 
 The Press — John Evans, Education Editor, Chicago 
 Tribune 
 
 The Radio — Judith Waller, Director of Public Service, 
 Central Division, National Broadcasting Company 
 
 The Church — J. Ralph Magee, Resident Bishop, The 
 Methodist Church, Chicago area 
 
 Ann Rutledge Terrace 
 
 10:30 a.m. A Panel Discussion: Higher Education for 
 Women 
 
 Wendell S. Dysinger, Dean of MacMurray College, 
 Presiding 
 
 Constance Warren, Former President, Sarah Lawrence 
 College 
 
 David D. Jones, President, Bennett College 
 
 Kathryn McHale, General Director, American Associa- 
 tion of University Women 
 
 Roswell G. Ham, President, Mount Holyoke College 
 
 12:00 noon Alumnae Class Reunion Luncheons 
 Hostesses: 
 
 Through 1897— -Mrs. Sara Miller, 1019 West State 
 1898-1909 — Mrs. A. B. Applebee, Applebee Farms 
 1910-1914— Mrs. C. A. Hemphill,, 103 3 West State 
 1915-1918— Mrs. P. J. Davidsmeyer, 296 Sandusky 
 1919-1921— Mrs. Theodore Pierce, 1106 West College 
 1922-1924— Mrs. W. H. Newcomb, 409 Woodland 
 1925-1926 — Mrs. John Agger, 846 Grove 
 1927-1928— Mrs. A. J. Stewart, Mound Road 
 1929-1930 — Mrs. Lawrence Crawford, 512 West 
 
 Beecher 
 1931-1932— Hotel Dunlap (Mrs. J. Pryor Bossarte) 
 1933-1935— Mrs. Max Thompson, 1018 West State 
 1936-1937— Mrs. W. H. Newcomb, 409 Woodland 
 1938- — Mrs. Harry Hofmann, 240 Webster 
 
 1939-1940— Country Club (Mrs. J. R. Newcomb) 
 1941-1946 — Hotel Dunlap (Miss Mary Minna Ab- 
 bott) 
 
History of MacMurray College 581 
 1:45 p.m. Student Forum 
 
 Barbara Anne Taylor, '47, President of the Students 
 Association, Presiding 
 
 Discussion Leaders: 
 
 Constance Warren, Former President, Sarah Law- 
 rence College 
 
 Roswell G. Ham, President, Mount Holyoke College 
 
 2:45 p.m. Alumnae Meeting 
 
 Louise Gates Eddy, '12, President, MacMurray College 
 Alumnae Association, Presiding 
 
 In Review — Styles of Ten Decades 
 
 Address: The Outlook for Higher Education 
 George D. Stoddard, President, University of Illinois 
 
 Address: Education for Survival 
 
 Emily Taft Douglas, Member of Congress-at-Large, 
 The State of Illinois 
 
 4:15-5:15 p.m. Reception by President and Mrs. Clar- 
 ence P. McClelland 
 
 Ann Kutledge Terrace 
 
 6:15 p.m. Alumnae Dinner and Candle Lighting Cere- 
 mony 
 
 Ann Scott Fogler, '32, Trustee, MacMurray College, 
 Presiding 
 
 Remarks President Clarence P. McClelland 
 
 Presentation of Classes Louise Gates Eddy, '12 
 
 Candle Lighting Toast Laila Skinner, '21 
 
 McClelland Hall 
 
 8:15 p.m. Educational Addresses 
 
 Alfred C. Crawford, Trustee, MacMurray College, 
 Presiding 
 
 Our Debt to the "Small College" 
 
 Franklyn B. Snyder, President, Northwestern Uni- 
 versity 
 
582 History of MacMurray College 
 
 A Calvinist Looks at Methodism Through 
 Catholic Spectacles 
 
 Lynn T. White, Jr., President, Mills College 
 
 Ann Rutledge Terrace 
 
 10:00 p.m. Informal Mixer for Alumnae and Friends 
 
 Social Room, Main Hall 
 
 THURSDAY, OCTOBER THE TENTH 
 
 Founders' Day 
 
 8:00 a.m. Breakfast. MacMurray Honor Society 
 
 Hotel Dunlap 
 
 9:30 a.m. Forming of Academic Procession in MacMur- 
 ray Hall 
 
 10:00 a.m. Centennial Exercises 
 
 Kathryn T. MacMurray, President, The Board of Trus- 
 tees, Presiding 
 
 Academic Procession 
 
 Address: The Morning Star of Memory 
 
 Clarence P. McClelland, President, MacMurray College 
 
 Address: The College As a Guide to American 
 Culture 
 
 Arthur H. Compton, Chancellor, Washington 
 University 
 
 Conferring of Honorary Degrees 
 
 Master of Music — Leon Allan Carson 
 
 Doctor of Laws — Helen Dalton Bragdon, Mary Ashby 
 Cheek, Emily Taft Douglas, Roswell Gray Ham, 
 Lynn Townsend White, Jr. 
 
 Doctor of Humane Letters — Fjeril Hess, '15, Kathryn 
 McHalc, Judith Cary Waller 
 
 Doctor of Literature — Clarence Paul McClelland 
 
History of MacMurray College 583 
 12:30 p.m. Centennial Luncheon 
 
 Lester O. Schriver, Chairman, Centennial Executive 
 Committee, Presiding 
 
 THE GREETINGS: 
 
 From the City of Jacksonville 
 Ernest L. Hoagland, Mayor 
 
 From Illinois College 
 
 H. Gary Hudson, President 
 
 From the Board of Education of the Methodist Church 
 Harry W. McPherson, Executive Secretary 
 
 From the Federation of Illinois Colleges 
 Mary Ashby Cheek, President 
 
 From the Alumnae Association 
 Louise Gates Eddy, '12, President 
 
 From the Students Association 
 
 Barbara Anne Taylor, '47, President 
 
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 
 
 The zflfforning Star of oJfytemory 
 
 By 
 
 President Clarence P. McClelland 
 MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois 
 
 Delivered at the Centennial Convocation 
 October 10, 1946 
 
 MacMurray College owes its origin to the passion for 
 education which has always been characteristic of the Meth- 
 odists. John Wesley was a Master of Arts of Oxford Uni- 
 versity. His father, his paternal grandfather and great- 
 grandfather were also graduates of Oxford. It was natural 
 for this ecclesiastical genius to see the importance of schools 
 in the Methodist movement which had as its purpose the 
 salvation of the common people of England who, for the 
 most part, were godless, churchless, ignorant, and degraded. 
 
 The Methodist Church in America was organized in 1784. 
 By 1846, the year of the founding of MacMurray College, 
 there were under Methodist control in this country sixteen 
 colleges and twenty-six secondary schools. In the celebra- 
 tion of our Centennial, we should be ungrateful if we failed 
 to record our debt to the Methodist Church and particularly 
 to the Illinois Annual Conference not only for establishing 
 this college as a unit in its ever-expanding educational pro- 
 gram, but also for seeing so clearly the need of higher edu- 
 cation for women — at that time a new and questionable 
 enterprise. For be it remembered that in 1846 there were 
 no colleges for women in the United States and none which 
 would admit women, with the exception of Oberlin which 
 
 584 
 
History of MacMurray College 585 
 
 was just graduating four to the astonishment and dismay 
 of even its friends. What made Oberlin's departure from 
 sound educational procedure particularly shocking was 
 that of these four women graduates, one married the presi- 
 dent of the college, another married one of the professors, 
 and two married classmates. "Object: Matrimony" seemed 
 the obvious motive of these young ladies. At any rate, the 
 record they made in matrimony is likely to be an all-time 
 high for co-education. 
 
 Even as late as 1846 it was quite generally believed that 
 in intelligence women were inferior to men and that it was 
 unnecessary, even futile, to educate them beyond the three 
 R's. There was no doubt in most people's minds as to^the 
 proper sphere of women; it was the home, and to be a good 
 housekeeper and the mother of a series of children required 
 nothing more than an elementary education. 
 
 But these frontier Methodists of central Illinois, little 
 trammelled by tradition and filled with a sense of their re- 
 sponsibility to the great wave of population then overspread- 
 ing the valley of the Mississippi, cast their lot enthusiastically 
 with the reformers who were insisting that females could 
 grasp to advantage the higher branches of learning and were 
 busy establishing academies for girls in every state of the 
 Union. 
 
 This educational reform, it is true, started in the East, 
 but it moved westward so rapidly that it was in effect a 
 simultaneous movement throughout the entire nation. 
 Mount Holyoke, one of the very first seminaries for girls, 
 began its work in 1837; but in central Illinois the Jackson- 
 ville Female Academy was started in 1833. There were a 
 few earlier academies for girls in New England and the Mid- 
 dle States: the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, 
 in 1821; Catherine Beecher's Female Seminary in Hartford, 
 Connecticut, in 1823, and another which was opened at 
 Derry, New Hampshire by Zilpah Grant in 1824; but, until 
 Mount Holyoke's founding, these were about all there were. 
 
 In 1842 the Methodists had opened an academy for girls 
 
586 History of MacMurray College 
 
 in Cincinnati, which made good progress from the start. 
 When news of this successful venture reached the Meth- 
 odist ministers of Illinois, they concluded that they should 
 no longer postpone the establishment of a similar school 
 within their own territory, and at the session of the Illinois 
 Annual Conference, held in Springfield in September 1845, 
 they voted unanimously to establish what was to be called 
 the Illinois Conference Female Academy. It was to be lo- 
 cated in Jacksonville. A year later, the Board of Trustees 
 held its first meeting in this city. The date was October 10, 
 1846 — just one hundred years ago today. This school was 
 destined to have its name changed four times within its first 
 century. In 1851 it became the Illinois Conference Female 
 College, in 1863 the Illinois Female College, in 1899 the 
 Illinois Woman's College, and in 1930 MacMurray College 
 for Women. 
 
 It is a significant fact that the Illinois Conference Female 
 College was neither planned nor administered by Easterners; 
 rather it was indigenous to the Middle West. These frontier 
 Methodists took matters into their own hands. They had 
 been born here or had lived here for a large part of their 
 lives; furthermore, they were leaders well known and re- 
 spected throughout this whole area — men closely in touch 
 with other leaders in business and political, as well as ecclesi- 
 astical, affairs. 
 
 The first president of the Board of Trustees was Peter 
 Cartwright, the most famous of the pioneer preachers. He 
 was almost entirely lacking in formal education and in what 
 Abraham Lincoln once called the "outward polish of a 
 gentleman." Primarily, he was a rough, vigorous man of 
 action, and yet he made a deep impression upon his genera- 
 tion and an important contribution to the development of 
 the Middle West. 
 
 E. S. Bates, in his article on Cartwright in The Dictionary 
 of American Biography, says: "His personality was almost 
 perfectly adapted to the demands of frontier life. Early 
 inured to physical hardship and to poverty, delighting in 
 
History of MacMurray College 587 
 
 herculean labors, ruggedly honest and shrewdly humorous, 
 indifferent to refinement of thought and manners, he made 
 his Methodism a joyous battlefield against the devil and rival 
 sects; Baptist, Presbyterian, and Shaker he overwhelmed 
 with intolerance, ridicule, and scorn." 
 
 Cartwright was particularly violent in his attacks on Cal- 
 vinists and Baptists, although he almost always spoke with a 
 chuckle. He once remarked that "to hear the Baptists talk 
 about water, you would think heaven was an island and you 
 had to dive or swim to get there." 
 
 Cartwright's political activities are of interest. He repre- 
 sented Sangamon County in the General Assembly in 1828, 
 1829, 1832, and 1833. His political campaigning was filled 
 with incidents as strange and humorous as those connected 
 with his preaching and these have obscured his serious and 
 important work while in the legislature. The House Journal 
 indicates that he was one of the four leading members of 
 that body. 
 
 His last attempt to wade what he called "the muddy 
 waters of a political campaign" was made in 1846 when he 
 was defeated for Congress by Abraham Lincoln. An inci- 
 dent in this campaign, in which Lincoln's wit was more than 
 a match for Cartwright's, deserves to be recorded. It oc- 
 curred during a revival service at which Cartwright ex- 
 horted the congregation after this fashion: "Now, all who 
 expect to go to Heaven, stand up!" Every person in the 
 room stood up, except one, who happened to be Lincoln. 
 Cartwright could not resist the opening thus offered. Look- 
 ing straight at Lincoln, he continued, "Everybody present 
 has signified his expectation of going to Heaven, except one. 
 Would you mind, Mr. Lincoln, telling this congregation 
 where you expect to go?" Lincoln, not a bit abashed, slowly 
 arose in his place and with characteristic drawl, replied: 
 "Well, Brother Cartwright, if you really want to know, I'll 
 tell you. I'm going to Congress." 
 
 Cartwright was a lifelong Democrat, early becoming an 
 ardent follower of Andrew Jackson who was his personal 
 
588 History of MacMurray College 
 
 friend and a man after his own heart. In the spring of 1860, 
 after the Democratic State Convention had enthusiastically 
 endorsed the candidacy of Stephen A. Douglas for President, 
 Cartwright concluded a characteristic speech with these 
 words: "Yes, my friends, for seventy long years, amid ap- 
 palling difficulties and dangers, I have waged an incessant 
 warfare against the world, the flesh, and the Devil and all 
 other enemies of the Democratic Party." 
 
 But for all his roughness and lack of schooling, he was 
 deeply interested in education. When a member of the 
 state legislature, he introduced a bill to establish a state uni- 
 versity. That Cartwright, a preacher and so active in pro- 
 moting church schools, should have conceived such a state 
 institution of learning and actually prepared and introduced 
 a bill providing for it as early as 1832, indicates a breadth 
 of outlook unusual among the ministers of his day. 
 
 Cartwright had a leading part in the founding of Mac- 
 Murray College in 1846. His support was sought at the very 
 beginning of the enterprise because it was felt that unless 
 he was in favor of the College, it could not even be started. 
 He attended the meetings of the Board of Trustees faith- 
 fully and in many ways showed intense interest in the prog- 
 ress of the College. In 1861, when the indebtedness of the 
 College was so great that it looked as though it would have 
 to close, Cartwright contributed one thousand, one hundred 
 and twenty-five dollars to save it, his annual salary at the 
 time being but four hundred dollars. 
 
 But there were two Peters on the first Board of Trustees, 
 and the other Peter should occupy as high a place in our 
 regard as Peter Cartwright. He, of course, was Peter Akers 
 who was much more responsible than Cartwright for the 
 founding of MacMurray College. He was the first to con- 
 ceive the idea and was its chief advocate. Well educated, 
 a lawyer at the time he was converted, no other Methodist 
 minister in the Western Church was his equal in scholarship 
 or eloquence, and in the East "only the renowned Stephen 
 Olin was of his elevation." His son was a Methodist preacher, 
 his grandson a Presbyterian minister, and his great-grandson 
 
History of MacMurray College 589 
 
 is at present the political editor of the Chicago Sun and a 
 member of the Board of Trustees of our college. 
 
 In 1837, Akers preached a sermon near Springfield which 
 was attended by a group of lawyers and politicians from the 
 Capitol. In his sermon, Akers attacked the evils of slavery 
 and predicted a civil war in the decade 1860-1870. Lincoln 
 was present and was deeply affected by the sermon. He de- 
 clared, "It was the most impressive sermon I ever heard. I 
 believe it and wonder that God should have given such power 
 to a man. The most wonderful thing to me was that some- 
 how I became strangely mixed up with it." Later in his life, 
 Peter Akers was presented with a cane to commemorate 
 this occasion by a group of his fellow-ministers. This cane 
 is still in the possession of the Akers family. 
 
 The first president of MacMurray College was James 
 Frazier Jaquess. Unlike Cartwright and Akers who were 
 born in Kentucky, Jaquess was a native of the Middle West, 
 having been born in 1819 in Posey County, Indiana. Like 
 Akers, he had had the privilege of a higher education, an 
 unusual privilege on the frontier, having received his Bach- 
 elor of Arts degree from Indiana Asbury University (now 
 DePauw University) and the Master of Arts degree from 
 McKendree College; and like Akers, he studied law and was 
 admitted to the bar, but, just on the threshold of his legal 
 career, he also felt the call to preach and entered the Meth- 
 odist ministry. At the time he was elected president of the 
 Female Academy, he was only twenty-nine, but he had been 
 the eminently successful pastor of the First Methodist 
 Church in Springfield. Under his presidency, the Seminary 
 prospered rapidly, increasing its enrollment and becoming 
 well housed in a beautiful and substantial new building. 
 
 He was an intimate friend of Governor Richard Yates 
 and President Lincoln. At the outset of the Civil War, 
 Jaquess raised a regiment of soldiers, became its colonel, and 
 saw much active service, particularly in the battles around 
 Chattanooga. In 1864, he was entrusted by President Lin- 
 coln with an important diplomatic mission to Jefferson 
 
590 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Davis, president of the Confederacy. He obtained from 
 President Davis a statement of the war aims of the South. 
 After the war, he was with the Freedmen's Aid Bureau in 
 the South, and, from 1876 until his death in 1898, he was 
 engaged in business, spending much of his time in England. 
 
 There is incontrovertible evidence that Abraham Lincoln 
 was profoundly affected by the preaching of Colonel Jaquess. 
 In an address delivered at the eleventh annual reunion of the 
 survivors of his regiment, the Seventy-Third Illinois Infan- 
 try Volunteers, Colonel Jaquess told the following incident: 
 
 The mention of Mr. Lincoln's name recalls to my mind an occurrence 
 that perhaps I ought to mention. ... I happen to know something on 
 that subject (that is, Mr. Lincoln's religious sentiments) that very few 
 persons know. My wife, who has been dead nearly two years, was the 
 only witness of what I am going to state to you as having occurred . . . 
 I was standing at the parsonage door one Sunday morning, a beautiful 
 morning in May, when a little boy came up to me and said: 'Mr. Lincoln 
 sent me around to see if you was going to preach today.' Now, I had 
 met Mr. Lincoln, but I never thought any more of Abe Lincoln than I 
 did of any one else. I said to the boy: 'You go back and tell Mr. Lin- 
 coln that if he will come to church he will see whether I am going to 
 preach or not.' The little fellow stood working his fingers and finally 
 said: 'Mr. Lincoln told me he would give me a quarter if I would find 
 out whether you are going to preach.' I did not want to rob the little 
 fellow of his income, so I told him to tell Mr. Lincoln that I was going 
 to try to preach . . . 
 
 "The church was filled that morning. It was a good sized church, 
 but on that day all the seats were filled. I had chosen for my text the 
 words: 'Ye must be born again,' and during the course of my sermon I 
 paid particular stress on the word 'must.' Mr. Lincoln came into the 
 church after the service had commenced, and there being no vacant seats, 
 chairs were put in the altar in front of the pulpit, and Mr. Lincoln and 
 Governor French and wife sat in the altar during the entire service, Mr. 
 Lincoln on my left hand and Governor French on my right, and I no- 
 ticed that Mr. Lincoln appeared to be deeply interested in the sermon. 
 A few days after that Sunday Mr. Lincoln called on me and informed 
 me that he had been greatly impressed with my remarks on Sunday and 
 that he had come to talk with me further on the matter. I invited him 
 in, and my wife and I talked and prayed with him for hours. Now, I 
 have seen persons converted; I have seen hundreds brought to Christ, 
 and if ever a person was converted, Abraham Lincoln was converted that 
 night in my house. His wife was a Presbyterian, but from remarks he 
 made to me he could not accept Calvinism. He never joined my church, 
 
History of MacMurray College 591 
 
 But I will always believe that since that night Abraham Lincoln lived 
 and died a Christian gentleman." 1 
 
 Time fails to speak of the other leaders who guided this 
 institution in its early days. It is quite obvious that they 
 regarded their college as a school for character which is in- 
 spired by religious faith and motivated by loyalty to Jesus 
 Christ. However, let it be remembered today with satisfac- 
 tion that those who administered and taught at MacMurray 
 College, even at the beginning, were men of liberal mind. 
 Any one of them might have been tried for heresy if the 
 Methodists had been sticklers for doctrine. To indicate the 
 liberal trend of thought in the College, here is a quotation 
 from a letter written by Minerva Masters Vincent, a mem- 
 ber of the Class of 1855 — and note that this was four years 
 before Darwin published his Origin of Species: 
 
 Many of the students were so bound up by the prejudices of tradi- 
 tional theology that when we learned that Geology taught that the six 
 days of creation might mean ages upon ages, rather than six twenty-four 
 hour days, great was the consternation. One girl sat upon her trunk 
 declaring that she must and would go home if the foundations of belief 
 in the Bible were to be thus shaken, thinking it was better to be ignorant 
 than to lose faith in "the way the world was made." After much talking 
 and several meetings to consider the subject, all was quieted down, and 
 the school life went on. We came through our college life not only with 
 an enlarged horizon, but with a stronger faith in God. 
 
 And it is quite clear that the presidents and teachers in 
 this college were never willing to substitute well-meaning 
 piety for educational excellence. All the evidence assem- 
 bled by Dr. Mary Watters in her painstaking and objective 
 History of the College makes plain that they were consist- 
 ently conscientious in maintaining high academic standards. 
 Thomas Woody, in his authoritative History of Women's 
 Education in the United States, says that MacMurray Col- 
 lege was one of two schools for women in the West of col- 
 legiate rank in the 1850s. 
 
 The course of study, as shown in the catalogue of that 
 period, was a tough one. It must have been true of the girls 
 who attempted it that in the language used to describe the 
 
 Proceedings Eleventh Annual Reunion, Seventy-third Regiment, Illinois Infantry, 
 Page 30. 
 
592 History of MacMurray College 
 
 pioneers who crossed the plains on the Oregon Trail, "The 
 cowardly never started, the weak fell by the way, only the 
 strong survived." Latin, including Cicero, Vergil and Salust, 
 was completed in the sophomore year. The following is the 
 curriculum for the junior and senior years: 
 
 JUNIOR YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 French French 
 
 Natural Philosophy — Olmstead's Natural Philosophy finished 
 
 Unabridged Astronomy — Burritt's 
 
 Analytical Geometry — Davies' Mineralogy and Geology — Hitch- 
 Arithmetic reviewed cock's 
 
 SENIOR YEAR 
 First Term Second Term 
 
 Mental Philosophy — Upham's Moral Science — Way land's 
 
 Natural Theology — Paley's Political Economy — Wayland's 
 
 Evidences of Christianity — Alex- Political Grammar — Mansfield's 
 
 ander's Rhetoric — Newman's 
 
 Ancient and Modern History — Logic — Hedge's 
 
 Whelpley's Compendium Criticism — Karnes' 
 
 There is no time in this address even to outline the his- 
 tory of the College, although it seems particularly remiss 
 not to mention at least some of the achievements of the presi- 
 dents who succeeded James Jaquess, all of whom were com- 
 petent men and left their mark on their generation: Charles 
 Adams (1858-1868), graduate of Wilbraham Academy 
 where he was the pupil of Wilbur Fisk; Bowdoin College, 
 of the Class of 1833, where Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 
 was his teacher, and Andover Theological Seminary; Wil- 
 liam H. DeMotte (1868-1875), graduate of Indiana Asbury 
 University, now DePauw University, a layman, the son of 
 a circuit rider, a brilliant and skilful teacher and a Chris- 
 tian saint; William H. Short (1875-1893), a graduate of 
 Illinois Wesleyan University, one of the leading ministers 
 of the Illinois Conference, a cultured, dignified, classical 
 scholar who sought to develop the College along the lines 
 of the newly established colleges for women in the East; 
 and Joseph R. Harker (1893-1925), the English immigrant 
 coal miner boy who, beginning his secondary education in 
 this country not long before attaining his majority, finally 
 
History of MacMurray College 593 
 
 received his degree from Illinois College and gave Mac- 
 Murray College a brilliant administration for thirty-two 
 years, during which it received full recognition from all the 
 accrediting agencies as a standard college and laid a sure 
 foundation for all that has been achieved later. 
 
 There is much that might be profitably said of the many 
 men and women who labored throughout the past one hun- 
 dred years to make MacMurray a strong institution of lib- 
 eral learning. In common with all middle-western colleges 
 during the nineteenth century, the College suffered from 
 the economic instability which characterized this section. 
 There were periods when MacMurray's financial resources 
 were very small and debts were almost perennial. Some- 
 times the question was seriously raised whether it was worth 
 while to keep the doors of the College open, but somehow 
 it survived. In recent years it has come into its own through 
 a much more extensive patronage and the large gifts of 
 James E. MacMurray, Annie Merner Pfeiffer, Mary Hardt- 
 ner Blackstock, Ann Marshall Orr, '13, Rae Lewis Kendall, 
 '99, and others; although we must never fail to keep in re- 
 membrance the multitude of known and unknown friends 
 throughout the century who have given money to the Col- 
 lege, even to the point of sacrifice. 
 
 Of course, James E. MacMurray is in a class by himself 
 as a benefactor, the total of his gifts amounting to about 
 four and one-half million dollars. The inspiring story of his 
 service to the College I have told elsewhere. A superb man, 
 typically American, intelligent, masterful, genial, and gen- 
 erous, he built himself an enduring monument on this cam- 
 pus. He deserves a high place of honor at this celebration. 
 
 And so we come to October 10, 1946. MacMurray Col- 
 lege — its trustees, its administrative officers, its faculty, its 
 students, its alumnae — faces the future with confidence and 
 hope. It believes that it is well equipped for the task that 
 lies ahead. The College is now thought to be well endowed. 
 Its endowment is relatively large, but should be at least 
 doubled within the next twenty years. The physical plant 
 
594 History of MacMurray College 
 
 seems adequate and it certainly will be more nearly so when 
 the Annie Merner Chapel and the new residence hall, for 
 both of which we have the money in hand, are completed. 
 
 The faculty deserve the highest praise. Their work is the 
 most important of all. And if there is a more conscientious, 
 competent or happier community of scholars anywhere, I 
 cannot imagine it. 
 
 The number of students at MacMurray this fall is 774. It 
 is not the policy of the College to seek a larger enrollment. 
 The enrollment may increase, but it will be slowly. No 
 more will be accepted than can be accommodated or taught 
 satisfactorily. 
 
 With regard to the curriculum — what studies should be 
 included and how they should be organized, what studies 
 should predominate and what should be required for gradu- 
 ation, and what methods of teaching should be used — if 
 Miss Constance Warren 2 is considerably to the left and Miss 
 Kathryn McHale 3 is somewhat to the right, MacMurray 
 College might be considered to be a little left of center. 
 
 That those who administered and taught in the first years 
 of this college were right in emphasizing the importance of 
 morality and religion, we at MacMurray do not doubt. And 
 we cannot think otherwise than that it is our business to 
 teach our students today what has been patiently and pain- 
 fully learned through many centuries concerning man's 
 moral nature and his responsibility to God and particularly 
 how fundamental in our culture are the ethics which spring 
 from the Christian religion. This we try to do in a spirit 
 of objective inquiry, without sectarian bias; but to neglect 
 it, we believe, is to miss our chance to prove the most valid 
 claim that the small college has to an indispensable place in 
 American education. 
 
 One hundred years ago Henry Thoreau said: "The mass 
 of men lead lives of quiet desperation." It is hardly an ex- 
 
 2. Former president of Sarah Lawrence College. 
 
 3. General director of the American Association of University Women. 
 
 Both Miss Warren and Miss McHale participated in a Symposium on Higher Edu- 
 cation for Women, held Wednesday, October 9, 1946, in connection with the Cen- 
 tennial Celebration. 
 
History of MacMurray College 595 
 
 aggeration to say that Thoreau's remark quite correctly 
 describes the temper of many good men and women of our 
 time. They feel bewildered, insecure, anxious, fearful, even 
 desperate, as they face the future. We can be much more 
 sympathetic with this mood than with what George Santa- 
 yana calls "sophistical optimism." But how much better 
 would be a renewed faith in that individualism which is the 
 core of the Hellenic-Christian tradition and culture. 
 
 If men are pessimistic, may it not be because as they look 
 within they fail to see what the gospel says is there: some- 
 thing of inestimable value, a spiritual dignity which is 
 unique and which marks each person as immeasurably 
 higher than the beast of the field. Are they perchance miss- 
 ing what our progenitors seem to have seen quite clearly; 
 namely, that humanity is just the individual writ large and 
 that if they are spiritual beings, then so also are the many 
 millions of other people in this planet. If the men and 
 women who founded this college were correct, then each 
 girl who ever studied here was of infinite value in her own 
 individual right, and it was of the greatest importance to 
 give her an opportunity to develop to the utmost her intel- 
 lectual and spiritual abilities. 
 
 It never occurred to our founders that the human race 
 or any nation of men possessed any high significance lacking 
 in each individual person. This great illusion was reserved 
 for the apostates of the twentieth century who are sure that 
 the state is supreme and even the ultimate source of intel- 
 ligence and morality. Nor did it occur to them, as they 
 looked out upon the mass of men, that because they could 
 hardly distinguish one from the other among the millions 
 of Chinese, Germans, Russians, and other nations and races 
 that therefore no individual person was of much account. 
 That illusion was also reserved for the present generation. 
 
 The men who established this college estimated them- 
 selves highly as individuals. They believed that they were 
 children of God with an immortal destiny. They also be- 
 lieved that others were like them, even beyond the borders 
 
596 History of MacMurray College 
 
 of America, regardless of race or nation or class or creed or 
 color. They wanted everyone to have the opportunity which 
 they had had or a better one. They did what they could to 
 provide it, and so they and their children and their chil- 
 dren's children built churches and colleges here in Illinois 
 and also in the Orient, in Africa, and in the islands of the sea. 
 
 Because there has been an upsurge of savage irrationalism 
 which has threatened to destroy, but, thank God, has not 
 utterly destroyed the highest values of civilization, shall we 
 forget the spiritual and intellectual achievements of the 
 past? Shall we lose heart because we cannot have a perfect 
 world all at once or because there are problems— economic 
 and international — which are difficult to understand and 
 apparently insoluble? 
 
 One of the lessons which we may learn from a hundred 
 years of continuous educational work in this college is that 
 if we are true to the faith which is part of our Christian 
 heritage and believe that man, while a part of nature, is a 
 spiritual being and that he has the capacity to relate himself 
 to the ultimate source of meaning and worth, we may be 
 sure that what we are doing is not only important but really 
 essential to human progress and, moreover, is making a most 
 valuable contribution to the strengthening and enrichment 
 of the world's democratic institutions and culture. Let us 
 cultivate our gardens! 
 
NOTES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 1. Congdon, Harriet Rice, "Early History of Monticello Seminary," 
 Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, (1924), 62. 
 
 2. Simpson, Matthew, Cyclopedia of Methodism, (Philadelphia, 1878), 
 article on "Education." 
 
 3. Ibid. 
 
 4. Cart wright, Peter, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright, edited by 
 W. P. Strickland (Cincinnati, 18 56), 80. 
 
 5 . Facts on early Methodist schools are taken from Simpson, Cyclopedia 
 of Methodism; Stevens, Abel, Centenary of American Methodism 
 (New York, 1865), 163 et seq.; and an article on the subject in 
 The Central Christian Advocate, February 11, 18 59. 
 
 6. Stevens, Centenary of Methodism, 158. 
 
 7. Ibid., 157. 
 
 8. Cartwright, Autobiography, 279. 
 
 9. Stevens,, op. cit., 161. 
 
 10. Sweet, W. W., "Peter Cartwright in Illinois History," Transactions 
 of the Illinois State Historical Society (1902), 55. 
 
 1 1 . Facts on the various schools established can be found in the Minutes 
 of the Illinois Annual Conference; also, a brief historical summary 
 is found in Harker, J. R., "History of Illinois Woman's College,*' 
 in manuscript in the MacMurray College archives. 
 
 12. Harker, J. R., "History of Illinois Woman's College," 102. 
 
 13. Ibid., 107 et seq. 
 
 14. Woody, Thomas, A History of Woman's Education in The United 
 States, 2 vols. (New York, 1929). 
 
 15. McClelland, Clarence P.,"The Education of Females in Early Illinois," 
 MacMurray College Bulletin, Vol. 34, April 1944. 
 
 16. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1939), 25. 
 
 17. Ibid. (1843), 18. 
 
 18. The writer has seen a copy of this letter made by Dr. Joseph R. 
 Harker from the original in the Illinois Conference archives at 
 Bloomington. 
 
 19. Leaton, James, "History of the Illinois Conference," MSS. Vol. II, 152. 
 
 20. Document in the possession of the Akers family. 
 
 21. Illinois Methodist Journal, May 2, 1901. 
 
 22. Minutes of the Illinois Conference, (1845), 14, 23. 
 
 597 
 
598 History of MacMurray College 
 
 23. Ibid. 
 
 24. Letter of Dickens (about 1862), referred to above. 
 
 25. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1846), 17. 
 
 26. Central Christian Advocate, April 7, 1886. 
 
 27. Quoted in J. R. Harker, "A History of Illinois Woman's College," 
 MSS., 127-28. 
 
 28. Letter of Matthew Stacy to Peter Akers and William Rutledge, 
 September 19, 1846, in possession of the Akers family. 
 
 29. Letter of Hepzibah Dumville to her sister, Jemima, October 23, 1860. 
 
 30. Heinl, Frank J., "Jacksonville and Morgan County," Journal of the 
 Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XVIII, (April 1925), 27. 
 
 31. Anderson, Paul Russell, "Hiram K. Jones and Philosophy in Jack- 
 sonville, Journal of Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XXXIII, 
 (December 1940), 478-520. 
 
 32. Jacksonville Daily Journal, June 28, 1925. 
 
 33. Woody, Woman's Education in the United States, Vol. II, 456. 
 
 34. Irwin, Will, "Beautiful Jacksonville," copy in college archives. 
 
 35. A copy of this charter is found in the first catalogue (1849), 13-15. 
 
 36. Chamberlain, M. H., "McKendree College," Transactions of the 
 Illinois State Historical Society, (1904), 328-364; copy of the 
 charter, 349-3 52. On the difficulty of securing a charter see also 
 Rammelkamp, Charles Henry, Illinois College: A Centennial His- 
 tory (New Haven, 1929), 65 et seq. 
 
 37. Heinl, Frank, "Jacksonville and Morgan County: An Historical 
 Review," Journal of I. S. H. S., Vol. XVIII (April 1925), 5-38, 33. 
 
 3 8. Catalogue (1852), 16. 
 
 39. Ibid. (1856), 19. 
 
 40. This question is discussed in Chapter III. 
 
 41. Minutes, Board of Trustees, October 1854. 
 
 42. Ibid., December 5, 18 54. 
 
 43. Catalogue (185 8), 27. 
 
 44. Minutes, Board of Trustees, November 6, 1854. 
 
 45. McElroy, W. N., "Founders of Illinois Methodism: Peter Akers," 
 Central Christian Advocate, July 27, 1910. 
 
 46. Journal and Records, Illinois Annual Conference (1886), 54. 
 
 47. Quoted in Milburn, W. H., "Peter Akers," Methodist Quarterly 
 Review, Vol. X, (April 1891), 9. 
 
 48. Central Christian Advocate, April 9, 1890. 
 
 49. Milburn, "Peter Akers," 4. 
 5 0. Ibid. 
 
 51. Letter of William Rutledge to J. S. Akers, November 2 5, 18 89, 
 in possession of the Akers family. Ida Tarbell related this story 
 in her biography of Lincoln. 
 
History of MacMurray College 599 
 
 52. The biographical facts about Akers have been secured from the 
 several articles mentioned in other footnotes and in F^exford, A. H., 
 History of Methodism in Kentucky, 3 vols. (Nashville, 1870) 
 Vol. Ill; Johnson, T. Walter, "Peter Akers, 1790-1886," Journal 
 of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XXXII (December 
 1939), 417-441; and Walton, W. C, Centennial History of Mc- 
 Kendree College, (Lebanon, 1928). 
 
 5 3. The Methodist Times, Ashland, Kentucky. The monthly issues of 
 July 1877 to August 1878 contain Peter Akers' Autobiography 
 written in 1821. 
 
 54. Document owned by the Akers family, dated July 13, 1825. 
 
 5 5. Milburn, "Peter Akers," 10. 
 
 56. Snow, C, G., "Recollections of Reverend Peter Akers," Illinois 
 Methodist, August 10, 1910; also, Short, W. F., History of Morgan 
 County, published with Bateman, Newton, and Paul Selby, His- 
 torical Encyclopedia of Illinois (Chicago, 1906), 753. 
 
 57. Jacksonville Daily Journal, November 21, 1872. 
 
 58. Cart wright, Peter, Autobiography of Peter Cartwright; Cartwright, 
 Peter, Fifty Years a Presiding Elder, edited by W. S. Hooper (Cin- 
 cinnati, 1871). Other biographical studies are the following: Grant, 
 Helen Hardie, Peter Cartwright, Pioneer (New York, 1931) ; Cham- 
 berlain, M. H., "Rev. Peter Cartwright, D. D." Transactions of 
 the Illinois State Historical Society (1902), 47-56; Sweet, W. W., 
 "Peter Cartwright in Illinois History," Transactions of the Illinois 
 State Historical Society (1921), 116-123; McClelland, C. P., "A 
 Famous Pioneer Preacher," in Question Marks and Exclamation 
 Points (Chicago, 1935) ; and an article in the Dictionary of Ameri- 
 can Biography. 
 
 59. Methodist Quarterly Review, Vol. LIV, 5 56-577; Vol. LV, 69-88. 
 
 60. Autobiography, 474-479. 
 
 61. Central Christian Advocate, October 24, 1860. 
 
 62. Sweet, W. W., "Peter Cartwright in Illinois History/' 116. 
 
 63. College Greetings, March 1898, 6. 
 
 64. Quoted in McClelland, Question Marks and Exclamation Points, 194. 
 
 65. Chamberlain, "Rev. Peter Cartwright," 52. 
 
 66. Ibid., 50. 
 
 67. Journal and Record, Illinois Annual Conference (1880), 67-68. 
 
 68. Walton, History of McKendree, 127. 
 
 69. Sketch of Rutledge by G. R. S. McElfresh in conference archives 
 in Bloomington; also Leaton, "History of the Illinois Conference," 
 Vol. II, 62-63. 
 
 70. Letter of Hepzibah Dumville to her sister, Jemima, September 27, 
 1856. 
 
 71. Jacksonville Daily Journal, December 23, 1873. 
 
 72. Sources of material on William Thomas are: Jacksonville Daily 
 
600 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Journal, September 9, 1876 and August 25, 1889; Historical En- 
 cyclopedia of Illinois; Eames, Historic Morgan and Classic Jack- 
 sonville (Jacksonville, 1885), 323-326; passim. There are also 
 many references to his work in the files of the Journal of the 
 State Historical Society, especially in Heinl, Jacksonville and Mor- 
 gan County, Vol. XVIII, 5-38. 
 
 73. Black, Carl E., "Origin of Our State Charitable Institutions," Jour- 
 nal of the Illinois State Historical Society," Vol. XVIII, 175- 
 194, 194. 
 
 74. Eames, Historic Morgan, 70. 
 
 75. Ibid., 329. 
 
 76. Short, History of Morgan County, 699-700. 
 
 77. Eames, op. cit., 70. 
 
 78. Ibid., 154. 
 
 79. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 80. Jacksonville Daily Journal, July 19, 1925. 
 
 81. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 6, 1854. 
 
 82. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1847), 5, 15. 
 
 83. Ibid., 20. 
 
 84. Simpson, Encyclopedia of Methodism. 
 
 85. Leaton, James, "History of the Illinois Conference of the Metho- 
 dist Church," MSS., Vol. II, 286. 
 
 86. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, no date (meeting between Sep- 
 tember 26, 1848, and November 30, 1848). 
 
 87. Eames, Historic Morgan, 115; also Short, History of Morgan Coun- 
 ty, 704-705. 
 
 88. Leaton, "Illinois Conference," Vol. II, 196. Walton in his Cen- 
 tennial History of McKendree, 156, says Cummings returned to the 
 East after leaving McKendree. 
 
 89. Biographical facts about Jaquess are found in the following sources: 
 Dictionary of American Biography; Eddy, T. M., Patriotism of 
 Illinois, 2 Vols. (Chicago, 1865), Vol. 1, 416-420; Chapman, Ervin, 
 Latest Lights on Abraham Lincoln, 2 Vols. (New York, 1917), 
 Vol. 1, 83-140; Nicolay, J. G. and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln, 
 12 Vols. (New York, 1886 and 1890), Vol. IX, 201-221; and 
 "Our Visit to Richmond," Atlantic Monthly, (September, 1864), 
 272-283. 
 
 90. Reprinted in College Greetings, March 1898. 
 
 91. Leaton, "Illinois Conference," Vol. II, 242. 
 
 92. Minutes of Board of Trustees, June 1, 1847. 
 
 93. Statement of Mrs. Alice McElroy Griffith in "Illinois Female Col- 
 lege in Earlier Days," Illinois Methodist Journal, May 2, 1901. 
 
 94. Chapman, Ervin, Latest Light on Abraham Lincoln, Vol. II, 84. 
 
History of MacMurray College 60 1 
 
 95. Address of Peter Akers on laying the cornerstone of a Female 
 Seminary at Salem (no date) , MSS. in possession of the Akers family. 
 
 96. Letter of Dickens to Leaton, about 1862, referred to above. 
 
 97. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1852), 20. 
 
 98. Ibid. (1854), 19. 
 
 99. Ibid., 22. 
 
 100. Ibid., 25. 
 
 101. Central Christian Advocate, July 16, 1858. 
 
 102. Letter of Jaquess to Faithful Shipley, in college archives. This let- 
 ter is dated September 13. The year must have been 1853. 
 
 103. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 104. Address delivered before the Alumnae Association, June 5, 1873. 
 
 105. "A College Girl in the Fifties," College Greetings, February 1898. 
 
 106. Ibid. 
 
 107. Catalogue (1849), 8. 
 
 108. Ibid. (1858), 27. 
 
 109. Ibid. (1854), 12. 
 
 110. Ibid. 
 
 111. Ibid. (1851), 15-16. 
 
 112. Ibid. (1854), 12 
 
 113. Ibid. (1856), 15-16. 
 
 114. Woody, A History of Woman's Education in the United States. 
 Vol. II, 171. 
 
 115. Ibid., 147. 
 
 116. Ibid., 171. 
 
 117. Ibid., 474-480. 
 
 118. Ibid., 15 5. 
 
 119. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 120. Catalogue (1850), 15. 
 
 121. Ibid. 
 
 122. "A College Girl of the Fifties," College Greetings, February 1898. 
 
 123. Woody, op. cit., Vol. I, 399-400. 
 
 124. Ibid., 310. 
 
 125. Catalogue (1852), 15. 
 
 126. Ibid. (1854), 16. 
 
 127. Address at Rock River Seminary, MS. in Akers family. 
 
 128. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 129. Catalogue (1856), 21. 
 
 130. Ibid. (1853), 16. 
 
 131. Ibid. 
 
 132. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 1852. 
 
602 History of MacMurray College 
 
 133. Cartwright, Autobiography ', 474. 
 
 134. Catalogue (1857), 7-8. 
 
 135. Ibid. (1854), 161. 
 
 136. Grubb, Mrs. Sophronia Naylor, Address to the Alumnae Associa- 
 tion, 1873. 
 
 137. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 3 0, 1848. 
 
 138. Ibid., July 11, 1850. 
 
 139. Ibid., October 12, 1852. 
 
 140. See, for example, Cole, Arthur, A Hundred Years of Mount Hoi- 
 yoke (New Haven, 1940), 122. 
 
 141. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 30, 1848. 
 
 142. Ibid., February 7, 1855. 
 
 143. Letters of President Jaquess to Faithful Shipley are somewhat con- 
 fusing on this point. In a letter of September 13 (1853) inviting 
 her to come, he wrote that bread would be provided; in a letter 
 of August 18, 185 5, with respect to the final settlement he in- 
 quired whether she had bills due for board. But the latter point 
 may have been merely a matter of bookkeeping. 
 
 144. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 9, 1852. 
 
 145. Ibid., 1849 (no month or day). 
 
 146. Letter of President Jaquess to Faithful Shipley, August 18, 185 5. 
 
 147. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, January 11, 18 5 5. 
 
 148. Ibid., Executive Committee, December 31, 1857. 
 
 149. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 150. Rinaker, Clarissa Keplinger, "A Country Girl's First Year in the 
 Illinois Conference Female College," College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 151. Catalogue (1849), 12; (1852), 16. 
 
 152. Atherton, E. E., "Contributions of Methodism to Education in 
 Illinois to 185 5," Master's Thesis, University of Chicago, in manu- 
 script, 98. 
 
 153. Catalogue (1853), 12. 
 
 154. "A Country Girl's Second College Year," College Greetings, Sep- 
 tember 1901. 
 
 155. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 156. Ibid. 
 
 157. Rinaker, in College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 158. Ibid. 
 
 159. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 160. "Diary of Anna R. Morrison," Journal of the Illinois State His- 
 torical Society, Vol. VII, April 1914. 
 
 161. College Greetings, April 1899 and April 1900. 
 
 162. A sketch of his life is found in the Dictionary of American Br 
 ography. 
 
History of MacMurray College 603 
 
 163. Ibid. 
 
 164. Rinaker, in College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 165. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 166. Ibid. 
 
 167. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 26, 1855. 
 
 168. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 169. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 5, 1849; Journal of the 
 Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XXXIV, (March, 1941), 
 130-132. 
 
 170. College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 171. Ibid., April 1899. 
 
 172. Illinois College Alumni Quarterly, April 1923, 6, "When I Was 
 On The Hill," unsigned. 
 
 173. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 108 et seq.; Eames, 
 Historic Morgan, passim. 
 
 174. "Letters of Alumnae," College Greetings, March 1898. 
 
 175. Eames, op. cit., 134. 
 
 176. Memoir in a James Leaton Scrapbook in Methodist Conference 
 Documents in Bloomington. 
 
 177. College Greetings, March 1898 and April 1899. 
 
 178. Ibid., April 1899. 
 
 179. Ibid., April 1900. 
 
 180. Ibid., April 1899. 
 
 181. Ibid. 
 
 182. Letters of William Rutledge to G. R. S. McElfresh (about 1898), 
 copy in the college archives. 
 
 183. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 5, 1847. 
 
 184. Letter of Rutledge to McElfresh, see above. 
 18 5. Ibid. 
 
 186. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, January 29, 1848. 
 
 187. Ibid., February 1848 (no date). 
 
 188. College Greetings, October 1899. 
 
 189. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 148. 
 
 190. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 7, 1846. 
 
 191. Sketches of his life are found in the Dictionary of American Bi- 
 ography and in the Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference 
 (1903), 103-105. 
 
 192. Milburn, W. H., Ten Years of a Preacher-Life, Chapters from An 
 Autobiography (New York, 18 59), 109. 
 
 193. Ibid., 109. 
 
 194. Ibid. 
 
 195. Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference (1849), 22. 
 
604 History of MacMurray College 
 
 196. Ibid. (1847), 20. 
 
 197. Western Christian Advocate, October 31, 185 5. 
 
 198. Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference (1852), 24-25. 
 
 199. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 19, 1852. 
 
 200. Central Christian Advocate, February 17, 1858. 
 
 201. Western Christian Advocate, October 31, 185 5. 
 
 202. J. H. Moore in Central Christian Advocate, December 2, 1857. 
 
 203. Catalogue (1858), 20. 
 
 204. Ibid. (1851), 20. 
 
 205. Ibid. (1860), 11. 
 
 206. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 1, 1850. 
 
 207. Catalogue (1856), 3. 
 
 208. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, January 11, 1855. 
 
 209. Ibid. 
 
 210. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 211. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 21, 1856. 
 
 212. Catalogue (1853), 15. 
 
 213. Ibid. (1856), 21 
 
 214. Denver Clarion, February 15, 1923. 
 
 215. Lists of the students and their home addresses are found in the 
 annual catalogues. 
 
 216. See Catalogues. 
 
 217. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 218. Catalogue (1854), 13. 
 
 219. Ibid. 
 
 220. Catalogue (1856), 20. 
 
 221. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 5, 18 54. 
 
 222. Springfield Daily Journal, August 7, 1850. 
 
 223. Catalogue (1856), 17. 
 
 224. Watters, Mary, The History of Mary Baldwin College, (Staunton, 
 1942), 32. 
 
 22 5. Ibid. 
 
 226. Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference (1851), 21. 
 
 227. Moore, Margaret King, "The Ladies' Association for Educating Fe- 
 males, 1833-1937," Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, 
 Vol. XXXI (June 1938), 184. 
 
 228. Catalogue (1856), 22-25. 
 
 229. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, August 12, 1856 and May 
 12, 1857. 
 
 230. Ibid., August 12, 1856. 
 
 231. Leaton, Vol. II (Manuscript), 18-20. 
 
History of MacMurray College 605 
 
 232. In quotations from these letters the errors in spelling have been 
 corrected. Otherwise the quotations are exact. These letters were 
 loaned to the MacMurray College archives by Mrs. John P. Denby, 
 of Carlinville, a granddaughter of Major Burke. 
 
 233. Letter of Eppie to Jemima, 1853. 
 
 234. February 15, 1860. 
 
 235. November 13 and 15, 1856. 
 
 236. January 7, 1858. 
 
 237. December 16, 1856. 
 
 238. December 23, 1861. 
 
 239. January 4, 1861. 
 
 240. November 25 and 26, 1857. 
 
 241. June 1856. 
 
 242. December 23, 1861. 
 
 243. October 23, 1860. 
 
 244. November 13, 1856. 
 
 245. January 27, 1863. 
 
 246. April 15, 1862. 
 
 247. January 4, 1861. 
 
 248. Jacksonville Daily Journal, December 1, 1925. 
 
 249. College Greetings, April 1899; Journal of the Illinois State Histori- 
 cal Society, Vol. XVI, (April-July, 1923), 227-228. 
 
 250. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 251. Letter to Jemima, November 13, 1856. 
 
 252. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 253. Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. XVI, (April- 
 July 1923), 227-228. 
 
 254. Illinois Methodist Journal, May 2, 1901. 
 25 5. Denver Clarion, February 15, 1923. 
 
 256. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 257. Ibid. 
 
 258. Letter, December 5, 1929, alumnae files. 
 
 259. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 260. College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 261. Ibid., February 1898. 
 
 262. Eppie to Jemima, May 20, 1857. 
 
 263. Springfield Journal, June 11, 1852; June 1, 1854. 
 
 264. Letter of Mr. Jaquess, May 2, 1887, to Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, 
 a copy of which is in the college archives. 
 
 265. College Greetings, May- June 1905; "The 1905 Book," 44. 
 
 266. Grubb, Sophie Naylor, Address to Alumnae, 1873. 
 
606 History of MacMurray College 
 
 267. College Greetings, February 1898. 
 
 268. Ibid., April 1899. 
 
 269. Ibid. 
 
 270. Ibid., October 1897. 
 
 271. Alumnae News and Record, February 1932. 
 
 272. College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 273. Eppie to Jemima, July 11, 1860. 
 
 274. College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 275. Ibid., April 1899. 
 
 276. Ibid. 
 
 277. Ibid. 
 
 278. Ibid., April 1900 and September 1901. 
 
 279. Ibid., April 1899 (Alice McElroy). 
 
 2 80. From a copy of the program in the college archives. 
 
 281. College Greetings, April 1899, (Minerva Masters Vincent). 
 
 282. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 165. 
 
 2 83. "A Country Girl's Second College Year," College Greetings, Sep- 
 tember 1901. 
 
 284. Catalogue (1856), 19-20. 
 
 285. Notebook of Henrietta Keplinger in the college archives. 
 
 286. Ibid. 
 
 287. Menard Weekly Index, July 14, 18 5 5. 
 
 288. "A College Girl of the Fifties," College Greetings, February 1898. 
 
 289. Ibid. 
 
 290. Jacksonville Daily Journal, July 18, 1871. (Quoted from Jackson- 
 ville correspondence to the Quincy Herald.) 
 
 291. Springfield State Journal, July 15, 1854. 
 
 292. Central Christian Advocate, June 3, 1857. 
 
 293. "College Life in the Fifties," College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 294. "A Country Girl's Second College Year," College Greetings, Sep- 
 tember 1901. 
 
 295. Ibid. 
 
 296. Jacksonville papers of the 18 50s have not been preserved, but papers 
 of Springfield and some other Illinois towns have been examined. 
 
 297. Milburn, The Axe, Rifle, and Saddle-Bags, 123. 
 
 298. Central Christian Advocate, July 22, 18 57. 
 
 299. See Rammelkamp, Illinois College: A Centennial History, Chapter 
 V, "Illinois College and the Anti-Slavery Movement." 
 
 300. Ibid., 117. 
 
 301. Springfield State journal, July 15, 1854. 
 
 302. Ibid., July 2 8, 18 54. 
 
History of MacMurray College 607 
 
 303. College Greetings, November 1897. 
 
 304. "A Country Girl's Second Year in College," College Greetings, 
 September 1901. 
 
 305. Letter of Harriet Tomlin Reed, December 5, 1929, in alumnae files. 
 
 306. Rammelkamp, Illinois College, 198-200. 
 
 307. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 26, 1855. 
 
 308. Western Christian Advocate, August 1, 185 5. 
 
 309. Minutes of Illinois Conference (1862), 29-30; Minutes of the Con- 
 ference (18 5 5, 18 56), passim. 
 
 310. Eddy, T. M., The Patriotism of Illinois, 2 Vols. (Chicago, 1865), 
 Vol. I, 416. 
 
 311. Article on Jaquess in Dictionary of American Biography. 
 
 312. Nicolay, John G. and John Hay, Abraham Lincoln (New York, 
 1890), 10 Vols. Vol. IX, 201-202. 
 
 313. Gilmore, J. R., "Our Visit to Richmond," Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 
 XIV, (September 1864), 272-283; 373-374. 
 
 314. Dictionary of American Biography. Mr. S. W. Nichols, of Jackson- 
 ville, called Jaquess the original Grant and the original Garfield 
 man, the former on the grounds that he called Governor Yates* 
 attention to the latent abilities of Grant, the latter because he 
 recommended Garfield to Lincoln, "Sketch of Dr. Jaquess," College 
 Greetings, February, 1898. 
 
 315. Jacksonville Daily Journal, March 4, 1880. 
 
 316. Ibid., June 2, 1887; also letter of Jaquess to Mrs. Belle Short Lam- 
 bert on May 2, 1887. 
 
 317. College Greetings, July 1 897. 
 
 318. Leaton, "History of the Illinois Conference," Vol. II, Chap. XI; 
 Walton, History of McKendree College, 151-152; and Harker, 
 "History of Illinois Woman's College," 193-194. 
 
 319. Leaton, op. cit. 
 
 320. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 27, 185 5. 
 
 321. Ibid., July 31, 1855. 
 
 322. Leaton, op. cit., Chapter XI (no page numbers). 
 
 323. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 14, 1857. 
 
 324. Jacksonville Daily Journal, August 2, 1874; Minutes of the Illinois 
 Conference (1903), 101-102; College Greetings, June 1903; Hark- 
 er, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 200-201. 
 
 325. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 14, 1857. 
 
 326. Morgan Journal, March 11, 185 8. 
 
 327. Catalogue (1858), 8-15. 
 
 328. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, September 17, 185 5. 
 
 329. Catalogue (1858), 15-16. 
 
 330. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 14, 18 57. 
 
608 History of MacMurray College 
 
 331. Ibid., July 31, 1855. 
 
 332. Ibid., July 21, 1856. 
 
 333. /&</., June 29, 1855. 
 
 334. Ibid., September 17, 1855. 
 
 33 5. "Letters from Alumnae," College Greetings, March 1898. 
 
 336. Ibid. 
 
 337. Hogan, Sophie Boogher, letter in alumnae files, October 16, 1927. 
 
 338. Ibid. 
 
 339. Ibid. 
 
 340. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 11, 1857. 
 
 341. Catalogue (1856), 17; (1858), 19. 
 
 342. Ibid. (1856), 18. 
 
 343. Hogan, Sophie, Letter of October 17, 1927. 
 
 344. Alumnae News and Record, November 1927. 
 
 345. Central Christian Advocate, December 2, 1857. 
 
 346. Several copies of these certificates are found in the college archives. 
 
 347. Letter of Harriet Tomlin Reed, December 5, 1929, in alumnae files. 
 
 348. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 19, 1852. 
 
 349. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 189. 
 
 350. Brown, Oriel, "Methodism's Early Colleges," Educational News 
 Sheet, General Board of Education of the Methodist Church, August 
 7, 1931. 
 
 351. Evjen, Harry, "Illinois State University, 1852-1868," Journal of 
 the Illinois State Historical Society, (March, 1938) Vol. XXXI, 
 54-71. 
 
 3 52. Brown, Oriel, op. cit. 
 
 353. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 11, 1852. 
 3 54. Seventh 'Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
 tion of the State of Illinois (1867-1868), 273. 
 
 355. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 177. 
 
 356. Ibid., 185. 
 
 3 57. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 8, 1854. 
 
 3 58. Ibid., July 22, 1854. 
 
 359. Ibid., November 13, 1855. 
 
 360. Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference, 185 5, Report of the 
 Education Committee. 
 
 361. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 11, 1857. 
 
 362. Central Christian Advocate, February 15, 18 57. 
 
 363. Ibid., April 15, 1857. 
 
 364. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 1, 1857. 
 
 365. Minutes of the Illinois Annual Conference (1857), 29. 
 
History of MacMurray College 609 
 
 366. Central Christian Advocate, December 2, 1857. 
 
 367. Ibid., February 17,1858. 
 
 368. The original of this letter is pasted in the copy of Dr. Harker's 
 "History of the Illinois Woman's College," owned by Mr. McKen- 
 dree Blair. 
 
 169. Central Christian Advocate, July 1, 1857. 
 
 370. Circular in the college archives. 
 
 371. Central Christian Advocate, July 16, 1858. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 1. Biographical material on Doctor Adams was found in the follow- 
 ing: Illinois Conference Journal and Record (1890), 55-57; Col- 
 lege Greetings, October 1897; a Leaton Scrapbook in the Confer- 
 ence Collection at Bloomington. 
 
 2. Holdich, Joseph, The Life of Wilbur Fisk (New York, 1842), 180, 
 footnote. 
 
 3. Harker, J. R., "History of Illinois Woman's College," 97. 
 
 4. John W. Hatch to Doctor J. R. Harker, September 5, 1924, in the 
 college archives. 
 
 5. Jacksonville Journal, March 9, 1867. 
 
 6. Illinois Conference Journal and Record (1890), 57. 
 
 7. Jacksonville Journal, July 24, 1866. 
 
 8. Ladies' Repository, July 185 0. 
 
 9. Ibid., September 1850. 
 
 10. Ibid., June 1850. 
 
 11. Ibid., April 1851. 
 
 12. Jacksonville Journal, July 25, 1866. 
 
 13. Ibid., August 6, 1866. 
 
 14. Ibid., July 25, 1866. 
 
 15. College Greetings, October, 1897. 
 
 16. Central Christian Advocate, October 15, 1863. 
 
 17. Ibid., August 29, 1860. 
 
 18. In various issues of the Jacksonville Journal. 
 
 19. Catalogue (18 5 8), 40. 
 
 20. College Greetings, September 1900. 
 
 21. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1857), 29. 
 
 22. Ibid. (1859), 22. 
 
 23. Ibid. (1860), 24. 
 
 24. Ibid. (1860), 33-34. 
 
 25. Ibid. 
 
 26. Central Christian Advocate, August 31, 18 59. 
 
610 History of MacMurray College 
 
 27. Leaton, "History of the Illinois Conference," Vol. II, 18 et seq. 
 
 28. Ibid., 18. 
 
 29. Ibid., 25. 
 
 30. Eppie to Jemima, March 17, 1862 and other letters. 
 
 31. Mrs. Ann Dumville to Jemima, May 2, 1853. 
 
 32. College Greetings, November 1921, 32-35. 
 
 33. Ibid., June 1902. 
 
 34. Ibid., November 1921, 32-35. 
 3 5. Eames, op. cit., 130. 
 
 36. Donnelly, Loyd, and Company (Publishers), History of Morgan 
 County (Jacksonville, 1878), 352-53. 
 
 37. Eppie to Jemima, July 4, (1859?). 
 
 38. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 29, 1852. 
 
 39. Ibid., April 16, 185 5. 
 
 40. Ibid., November 19, 185 5. 
 
 41. Catalogue (1859), 23; (1860), 21. 
 
 42. Jacksonville Journal, November 21, 1861. 
 
 43. Ibid. 
 
 44. Mary R. King to her brother, John, November 17, 1861. A copy 
 of this letter is included with the documents in the copy of Dr. 
 Marker's "History of Illinois Woman's College" owned by Mr. 
 McKendree Blair. 
 
 45. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, November 18, 1861 — original let- 
 ter in the college archives. 
 
 46. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, November 28, 1861. 
 
 47. Mary R. King to her brother, John, November 17, 1861. 
 
 48. Eppie to Jemima, December 23, 1861. 
 
 49. Central Christian Advocate, December 25, 1861. 
 
 50. Ibid. 
 
 51. Minutes of the Phi Nu Society, February 5, 1862. 
 
 52. Central Christian Advocate, December 4, 1861. 
 
 53. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," 220 (Blair copy). 
 
 54. Minutes of Illinois Conference (1861), 17. 
 
 5 5. James, Edmund J., "The Reverend Colin D. James and the Woman's 
 College at Jacksonville," Jacksonville Journal, September 6, 1921. 
 
 56. Ibid. 
 
 57. Facts about the life of her father contributed by Mrs. Julian 
 Wadsworth. 
 
 5 8. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 1, 1861. 
 
 59. "Report of the Treasurer of Illinois Conference Female College," 
 Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1862), 22-23. 
 
 60. Ibid. 
 
History of MacMurray College 611 
 
 61. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 1, 1861. 
 
 62. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1862), 22. 
 
 63. Ibid. 
 
 64. Financial statement following the Minutes of October 1, 1861. 
 
 65. Minutes of Illinois Conference (1862), 23. 
 
 66. Central Christian Advocate, February 12, 1863. 
 
 67. See Minutes of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 68. Prentice, Hiram Buck, Our Homage to the 'Past, (Jacksonville, 
 1910). 
 
 69. Ibid. 
 
 70. Preamble to the Charter of 1863, a copy of which is found in the 
 Catalogue of 1865, 22-23. 
 
 71. Ibid., Section 7 of the Charter. 
 
 72. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 21, 1864. 
 
 73. Ibid., July 1, 1863. At this meeting the trustees had voted that 
 the certificates must be used within four years; at a meeting of 
 July 30, 1863, it was voted that they be used at the option of 
 the holder. 
 
 74. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College, 231, (Blair copy). 
 
 75. Central Christian Advocate, August 20, 1863. 
 
 76. Ibid., September 3, 1863. 
 
 77. Jacksonville Journal, February 5, 1867. 
 
 78. Ibid., March 15, 1867. 
 
 79. Catalogue (1858), 28. 
 
 80. Jacksonville Journal, March 6, 1867. 
 
 81. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 30, 1863. 
 
 82. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1863), 18. 
 
 83. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, September 12, 1863. 
 
 84. Ibid., March 2, 1864. 
 
 85. Catalogue (1864), 21. 
 
 86. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 19, 1863. 
 
 87. Ibid., September 12, 1863; February 20, 1864. 
 
 88. Jacksonville Journal, March 8, 1867. 
 
 89. Charles Adams to the Board of Trustees, June 5, 1871. 
 
 90. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1865), 28. 
 
 91. Ibid., 25. 
 
 92. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," (Blair copy), 239. 
 
 93. Jacksonville Journal, December 14, 1865. 
 
 94. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, February 13, 1867. 
 
 95. Ibid. 
 
 96. Ibid. 
 
612 History of MacMurray College 
 
 97. Seventh Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 of the State of Illinois ( 1 867-1 868 ), 275. 
 
 98. These terms are not specified in the Minutes of the Board of Trus- 
 tees but are stated in President DeMotte's "Autobiography," 172. 
 
 99. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 1868. 
 
 100. Charles Adams to the Board of Trustees, December 1, 1868. 
 
 101. Charles Adams to the Board of Trustees, June 5, 1871. 
 
 102. Ibid. 
 
 103. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 30, 1863. 
 
 104. Ibid., May 29, 1866; September 6, 1867; December 29, 1867. 
 
 105. Ibid., September 7, 1867. 
 
 106. Ibid., May 29, 1866. 
 
 107. Central Christian Advocate, August 29, 1860, and other issues. 
 
 108. Catalogue (185 8), 28-40. 
 
 109. Jacksonville Journal, April 10, 1867. 
 
 110. Catalogue (185 8), 35. 
 
 111. Jacksonville Journal, April 10, 1867. 
 
 112. Catalogue (1864), 20. 
 
 113. Ibid. (1858), 36-37. 
 
 114. Ibid. 
 
 115. Ibid. (1859), 20. 
 
 116. Rammelkamp, op. cit., 244. 
 
 117. Sketch of Doctor Adams — manuscript in the college archives. 
 
 118. Catalogue (1858), 20. 
 
 119. Seventh Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
 tion, 275. 
 
 120. Ibid., passim. 
 
 121. Catalogue (1859), 24; (1860), 23. 
 
 122. Rammelkamp, op. cit., 249. 
 
 123. Henrietta Keplinger notebook in the college archives. 
 
 124. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 1867. 
 
 125. Central Christian Advocate, November 6, 1861. 
 
 126. Seventh Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 275. 
 
 127. Sarah Shumway to David H. Moore, May 19, 1862. 
 
 128. Reminiscences of Rachel Seegar Wyckoff, manuscript in the college 
 archives. 
 
 129. Jacksonville Journal, March 22, 1867. 
 
 130. Sketch of Doctor Adams — manuscript in the college archives. 
 
 131. Jacksonville Journal, March 23, 1867; March 27, 1867; April 
 5, 1867. 
 
 132. Ibid., July 20, 1865. 
 
History of MacMurray College 613 
 
 133. Ibid., June 24, 1866. 
 
 134. Ibid., May 18-23, 1867. 
 
 13 5. Sketch of Doctor Adams by Mary Pegram. 
 
 136. Alumnae News and Record, May 1926. 
 
 137. Mills, Andrew H., "A Hundred Years of Illinois Sunday School 
 History," Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society 
 (1918), 110. 
 
 138. Anderson, Paul Russell, "Hiram K. Jones and Philosophy in Jack- 
 sonville," Journal of the State Historical Society, Vol. 33 (Decem- 
 ber, 1940), 478-520; 491 et seq; 509. 
 
 139. Ibid., 493, 509. 
 
 140. Ibid., 493. 
 
 141. College Greetings, November 1897. 
 
 142. Manuscript by Rachel Seegar Wyckoff in the college archives. 
 
 143. Program in the college archives. 
 
 144. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, April 20 [1862?], September 
 14, 1862. 
 
 145. Watters, Mary, History of Mary Baldwin College, 151. 
 
 146. James, Edmund Janes, "Reverend Colin Dew James," "Journal of 
 the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. IX, January 1917 (re- 
 print), 18-19. 
 
 147. Jacksonville Journal, June 20, 1867. 
 
 148. Central Christian Advocate, July 7, 185 8; August 24, 1859. 
 
 149. Catalogue (1859), 23-24. 
 
 150. Jacksonville Journal, June 24, 1866. 
 
 151. Orr, Ella Yates, "Discovered Women," College Greetings, Janu- 
 ary 1899. 
 
 152. Jacksonville Journal, June 20, 1867. 
 
 153. Essay by Mary Ware in the college archives. 
 
 154. Central Christian Advocate, July 20, 1859; August 24, 1859; Au- 
 gust 31, 1859. 
 
 15 5. Jacksonville Journal, February 2, 1860. 
 
 156. Ibid., April 3, 1862. 
 
 157. Ibid., December 19, 1861; January 2, 1862. 
 
 158. Letter to Joanna Lurton Sarchet in the college archives (no date). 
 
 159. Jacksonville Journal, June 18, 1863; May 26, 1866. 
 
 160. Ibid., October 9, 1862. 
 
 161. Ibid., June 24, 1866. 
 
 162. Woody, op. cit., I, 290, 415; II, 98 et seq. 
 
 163. Jacksonville Journal, July 17, 1861. 
 
 164. Ibid., February 16, 1861. 
 
 165. Seventh Biennial Report, 275 passim. 
 
614 History of MacMurray College 
 
 166. Alumnae News and Record, February 1932. 
 
 167. Sketch of Doctor Adams by Mary Pegram. 
 
 168. Jacksonville Journal, March 20, 1867. 
 
 169. Ibid., March 15, 1867. 
 
 170. Ibid., March 20, 1867. 
 
 171. Ibid., April 17, 1862. The poem is not signed, but the address 
 given was the College, and it is apparently the work of Doctor 
 Adams. 
 
 172. Ibid., May 22, 1867, and other issues. 
 
 173. Ibid., May 29, 1867. 
 
 174. Catalogue (1860), 22. 
 
 175. Rammelkamp, op. tit., 218 et seq. 
 
 176. Jacksonville Journal, August 17, 1865. 
 
 177. Harriet Tomlin Reed to Dr. Harker, December 3, 1929. 
 
 178. Central Christian Advocate, October 22, 1863. 
 
 179. College Greetings, May 1900. 
 
 180. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, September 26, 1861. 
 
 181. Jacksonville Journal, June 27, 1861. 
 
 182. Ibid., June 19, 1862. 
 
 183. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, September 14, 1862. 
 
 184. Alumnae News and Record, August 1922. 
 
 185. Jacksonville Journal, August 20, 1863. 
 
 186. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 19, 1862. 
 
 187. Alumnae News and Record, November 1929 (under report from 
 Winchester) . 
 
 188. Jacksonville Journal, April 23, 1868. 
 
 189. Mary Pegram's Sketch of Doctor Adams. 
 
 190. Letter of Elvira Adams, May 8, 1923, in alumnae files. 
 
 191. Jacksonville Journal, June 24, 1866, and June 20, 1867. 
 
 192. Ibid., June 20, 1867, and June 23, 1868. 
 
 193. Adams, Charles, The National Prospect (Jacksonville, 1865), 3 
 
 194. Ibid., 9. 
 
 195. Ibid., 3. 
 
 196. Ibid., 12-13. 
 
 197. Central Christian Advocate, August 24, 1859. 
 
 198. Jacksonville Journal, March 8, 1867. 
 
 199. Ibid., May 21, 1867. 
 
 200. Ibid., April 28, 1868. 
 
 201. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, September 16, 1861. 
 
 202. Mary Pegram's sketch of Doctor Adams. 
 
 203. Catalogue (1864), 24. 
 
History of MacMurray College 615 
 
 204. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 18, 1867. 
 
 205. Alumnae News and Record, November 1929. 
 
 206. Central Christian Advocate, August 24, 1859. 
 
 207. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, November 10, 1861. 
 
 208. "The Charles Adams Scholarship," Jubilee Greetings, April 1907. 
 
 209. College Greetings, May 1900. 
 
 210. Strange, A. T., "Hiram Rountree," Journal of the Illinois State His- 
 torical Society, Vol. XVI, (April- July, 1923), 63 et seq. 
 
 211. Jacksonville Journal, March 14, 1867. 
 
 212. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, June 8, 1862. 
 
 213. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, December 11, 1862. 
 
 214. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, November 2 8, 1861. 
 
 215. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, December 26, 1861. 
 
 216. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, January 12, 1862. 
 
 217. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, September 14, 1862. 
 
 218. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, April 20, 1862. 
 
 219. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, September 14, 1862. 
 
 220. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, December 26, 1861. 
 
 221. Letter of Rachel Seegar Wyckoff (no date) in college archives. 
 
 222. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 12, 1863. 
 
 223. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 19, 1862. 
 
 224. Letter of Rachel Seegar Wyckoff (no date). 
 
 225. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 19, 1863. 
 
 226. Sallie Shumway to her mother, April 11 (no year). 
 
 227. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, April 18, 1862. 
 
 228. Jacksonville Journal, June 21, 1866. 
 
 229. "No. 19," College Greetings, September 1898. 
 
 230. Alumnae News and Record, November 1929. 
 
 231. Jacksonville Journal, June 19, 1868. 
 
 232. Ibid., June 27, 1860. 
 
 233. Quoted in Jacksonville Journal, August 2, 1866. 
 
 234. Jacksonville Journal, January 24, 1867. 
 
 235. Ibid., February 1, 1866. 
 
 236. Ibid., June 21, 1866. 
 
 237. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 12, 1863. 
 
 238. Sallie Shumway to David Moore, May 23, 1863. 
 
 239. Jacksonville Journal, May 2, 1866, and other issues. 
 
 240. Letter of Charles Adams and others to Peter Akers, August 25,. 
 1866, in papers of the Akers family. 
 
 241. Jacksonville Journal, August 25 and 27, 1866, and other issues. 
 
 242. Jacksonville Sentinel, January 16, 1868. 
 
616 History of MacMurray College 
 
 243. College Greetings, October 1897. 
 
 244. Charles Adams to Mrs. Belle Short Lambert, May 28, 1887. 
 
 245. Jubilee Greetings, April 1907. 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 1. Facts about the life of Dr. DeMotte are found in the manuscript 
 "Autobiography" in the college archives. 
 
 2. Ibid., 73. 
 
 3. Dictionary of American Biography. 
 
 4. "Autobiography," 88. 
 
 5. Ibid., 84-85. 
 
 6. Ibid., 50-52. 
 
 7. Ibid., 105. 
 
 8. Ibid., 119 et seq. 
 
 9. The Indianapolis Journal gave very high praise to his work and 
 lamented the loss to the city by his removal in an editorial quoted 
 in the Jacksonville Journal, June 12, 1868. 
 
 10. College Greetings, July 1897. 
 
 11. "Autobiography," 172. 
 
 12. Ibid., 169. 
 
 13. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 26, 1868. 
 
 14. "Autobiography," 172-173. 
 
 15. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, July 1868, no date. 
 
 16. Ibid., May 7, 1869. 
 
 17. "Autobiography," 170. 
 
 18. Ibid., 173. 
 
 19. Alumnae News and Record (May 1929), 4. 
 
 20. Jacksonville Journal, March 1, 1870. 
 
 21. "Autobiography," 173. 
 
 22. Jacksonville Journal, March 1, 1870. 
 
 23. Alumnae News and Record, May 1925. 
 
 24. Jacksonville Journal, March 15, 1870. 
 
 2 5. Central Christian Advocate, March 22, 1871. 
 
 26. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 2, 1871. The Min- 
 utes of June 13, 1871 gave it as $28,33 3.34. 
 
 27. Ibid., March 2 5, 1870. 
 
 28. Ibid., November 2, 1871. 
 
 29. Ibid., July 5, 1870. 
 
 30. Ibid., April 22, 1872. 
 
 31. Jacksonville Journal, July 29, 1870. 
 
 32. Ibid. 
 
History of MacMurray College 617 
 
 33. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 17, 1871. 
 
 34. Quoted in the Jacksonville Journal, January 11, 1871. 
 3 5. Jacksonville Journal, July 2, 1870. 
 
 36. Central Christian Advocate, March 22, 1871. 
 
 37. Ibid., March 8, 1871. 
 
 38. "Autobiography," 174. 
 
 39. Jacksonville Journal, January 17 and 23, 1871. 
 
 40. Ibid., September 30, 1870. 
 
 41. "Autobiography," 174-175. 
 
 42. Jacksonville Journal, November 19, 1872. 
 
 43. Ibid. 
 
 44. Ibid., November 22, 1872. 
 
 45. Ibid. 
 
 46. Central Christian Advocate, November 27, 1872. 
 
 47. Jacksonville Journal, November 21, 1872. 
 
 48. Ibid., November 25, 1872. 
 
 49. Ibid., November 22, 1872. 
 
 50. College Greetings, November, 1906. 
 
 51. Jacksonville Journal, November 30, 1872. 
 
 52. Ibid., December 3, 1872. 
 
 53. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 1, 1873. 
 
 54. Ibid., March 6, 1874. 
 
 5 5. Ibid., March 6, 1874 and July 1, 1874. 
 
 56. Ibid., July 22, 1873. 
 
 57. Ibid., March 6, 1874; July 1, 1874. 
 
 58. "Autobiography," 169. 
 
 59. Catalogue (1872), 16-17. 
 
 60. Ibid. (1872), 16. 
 
 61. Woody, op. cit., Vol. I, 5 52 et seq. 
 
 62. "Autobiography," 171. 
 
 63. Catalogue (1869), 14. 
 
 64. Ibid. (1875), 16. 
 
 65. Ibid. 
 
 66. Ibid. 
 
 67. Jacksonville Journal, December 4, 1873 and succeeding issues. 
 
 68. Ibid., December 4, 1873. 
 
 69. Ibid., December 6, 1873. 
 
 70. Eighth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 (1869-70), 383 et seq. 
 
 71. Ibid. (1871-72), 322. 
 
 72. Jacksonville Journal, May 16, 1873. 
 
618 History of MacMurray College 
 
 73. College Greetings, July 1897. 
 
 74. Eighth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 (1869-70), 383 et seq. 
 
 75. "Autobiography," 183. 
 
 76. College Greetings, March 1902. 
 
 77. Jacksonville Journal, October 28, 1869. 
 
 78. Mrs. Lillian Hurlburt Gist to President McClelland, July 6, 1943. 
 
 79. Recollections of Mrs. R. A. Gates. 
 
 80. Recollections of Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth; also of Mrs. R. A. 
 Gates. 
 
 81. Walton, History of McKendree College, 198; Central Christian Ad- 
 vocate, June 17, 1894. 
 
 82. Mrs. Gist to Doctor McClelland, July 17, 1943. 
 
 83. Recollections of Mrs. Wadsworth. 
 
 84. Central Christian Advocate, December 29, 1869. 
 
 85. Minutes of Illinois Conference (1885), 46-48. 
 
 86. College Greetings, September 1903. 
 
 87. Recollections of Mrs. R. A. Gates. 
 
 88. Letter of Mrs. Fraley, November, 1930 (?) in alumnae files. 
 
 89. Jacksonville Journal, June 12, 1871; December 29, 1871; and 
 other issues. 
 
 90. Jacksonville Journal, August 19, 1925. 
 
 91. Jacksonville Journal, May 25, 1874. 
 
 92. Jacksonville Journal, December 2, 1874. 
 
 93. Statement of Doctor Carl Black, quoted by Miss Amelia DeMotte. 
 
 94. Lambert, Belle Short, "The Woman's Club Movement in Illinois," 
 Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society (1904) , 314-327. 
 
 95. Jacksonville Journal, June 27, 1869; April 15, 1869; and other 
 issues. 
 
 96. Lambert, op. cit., 317. 
 
 97. Jacksonville Journal, August 3 and 4, 1870, and other issues; also 
 
 "Autobiography," 211; Jacksonville Journal, August 19, 1925. 
 
 98. "Autobiography," 190-191. 
 
 99. College Greetings, July 1897. 
 
 100. Facts about the life of Doctor Short were obtained from Minutes 
 of the Illinois Annual Conference (1909), 137-38, and a sketch 
 by Paul Selby in History of Morgan County, published with Bate- 
 man and Selby 's Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois. 
 
 101. Masters, Edgar Lee, The Sangamon (New York, 1942), 68. 
 
 102. College Greetings, October 1897. 
 
 103. Biographical sketch of Doctor Short in History of Morgan County. 
 
 104. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, September 12, 1874. 
 
History of MacMurray College 619 
 
 105. Ibid., October 8, 1874. 
 
 106. Central Christian Advocate, May 12, 1875. 
 
 107. Ibid., June 9, 1875. 
 
 108. Ibid., December 15, 1875. 
 
 109. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," (Blair copy), 267. 
 
 110. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 6, 1877; October 2, 1877. 
 
 111. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," (Blair copy), 264. 
 
 112. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 4, 1880; Jacksonville Jour- 
 nal, April 9, 1880. 
 
 113. Central Christian Advocate, June 16, 1880. 
 
 114. Ibid., June 7, 1882. 
 
 115. Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (1883-84), 311. 
 
 116. Jacksonville Journal, June 3, 1881. 
 
 117. Ibid., May 31, 1882. 
 
 118. Jacksonville Journal, June 8, 1883; Central Christian Advocate 
 June 23, 1886 and April 25, 1888. 
 
 119. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 3, 1891; January 9, 
 1892; April 10, 1893. 
 
 120. Jacksonville Journal, February 17, 1892; April 28, 1892. 
 
 121. Harker, "History of Illinois Woman's College," (Blair copy), 
 267-268. 
 
 122. These facts are notable in the middle 1880s up to 1888. After 
 that date the addresses were not given in the catalogue, but the 
 same tendency very likely continued. 
 
 123. Catalogue (1877-78), 21. 
 
 124. Alumnae records and notices in the local press. 
 
 125. See various catalogues. If one is skeptical of such catalogue lists, 
 the daily press reports show that such lectures were given. The 
 catalogue revisions may not always have been kept up to date. 
 
 126. Jacksonville Journal, December 18, 1891. 
 
 127. Ibid., June 11, 1874. 
 
 128. Catalogue (1875-76), 23. 
 
 129. Ibid., 21. 
 
 130. College Greetings, February 1907. 
 
 131. Ibid. 
 
 132. Catalogue (1880-81), 15. 
 
 133. Ibid., 21-22. 
 
 134. The files of the Jacksonville Journal of 1878 and succeeding years 
 show this. 
 
 135. Quoted in the Catalogue (1878-79), 22-23. 
 
 136. Jacksonville Journal, October 24, 1872. 
 
 137. Jacksonville Journal, March 24, 1878; November 9, 1879. 
 
620 History of MacMurray College 
 
 138. Illinois Weekly Sentinel, July 23, 1869. 
 
 139. The issues of the Jacksonville Journal record these appearances. 
 
 140. Recollections of Mrs. Gates. 
 
 141. Jacksonville Journal, January 19, 1941. 
 
 142. Peoria National Democrat, quoted in circular of the Academy of 
 Music and Art bound with the Catalogue, 1878-79. 
 
 143. Harker, Joseph R., Eventide Memories (Jacksonville, 1931), 139. 
 
 144. Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (1883-84), 
 300-301. 
 
 145. A group of replies to a questionnaire sent out by the Centennial 
 Historical Committee is the basis for these observations. 
 
 146. Reply of Emma S. Chase, '89, to questionnaire. 
 
 147. Reply to Lora Frances Corbly Wylie, '89, about Miss Dewey. 
 
 148. Reply of Luella Blackburn, '87. 
 
 149. Reply of Anne Woods, '82. 
 
 150. Miss Pegram to her home in Lincoln, for example. 
 
 151. Hulse, Mattie Mayfield, "A Reminiscence," College Greetings, Feb- 
 ruary 1903; also reply of Lora F. Corbly Wylie, '84, to the ques- 
 tionnaire. 
 
 152. Reply of Anne Woods, '82. 
 
 153. Jacksonville Journal, September 10, 1882. 
 
 154. Recollections of Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth and other sources. 
 15 5. Paper of Mrs. Otto Dorr, "Descendants of the Pioneers," in the 
 
 papers of the Morgan County Historical Society on file in the 
 Jacksonville Public Library. 
 
 156. Jacksonville Journal, May 21, 1891, and September 11, 1892. 
 
 157. Facts about these are mainly from the issues of the Jacksonville 
 Journal. 
 
 158. Reply of Sarah Corrington Gibson, *91. 
 
 159. Jacksonville Journal, December 22, 1880. 
 
 160. Ibid., April 29, 1884. 
 
 161. College Greetings, March 1899. 
 
 162. Jacksonville Journal, December 21, 1892. 
 
 163. College Greetings, March 1899. 
 
 164. Reply of Bertha Havinghorst, '89, to a questionnaire. 
 
 165. Jacksonville Journal, June 6, 1876; Catalogue (1871-72), 10. 
 
 166. Caroline F. Rotis to Doctor W. B. Hendrickson, August 4, 1944. 
 
 167. Jacksonville Journal, January 13, 1878. 
 
 168. "Autobiography of Clarissa Emily Gear Hobbs," Illinois State His- 
 torical Society, Vol. XVII, (January 1925), 713. 
 
 169. Harker, Eventide Memories, 147. 
 
 170. Central Christian Advocate, June 20, 1877. 
 
History of MacMurray College 621 
 
 171. Mrs. Lillian Hurlburt Gist to Dr. C. P. McClelland, July 6, 1943, 
 also replies to questionnaire mentioned above. 
 
 172. Hulse, College Greetings, February 1903. 
 
 173. Caroline Rods to Dr. W. B. Hendrickson, July 5, 1944. 
 
 174. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 4, 1880. 
 
 175. Caroline F. Rods to Dr. Hendrickson, August 4, 1944. 
 
 176. Reply of Lota Frances Corbly Wylie to questionnaire. 
 
 177. Reply of Sarah Corrington Gibson to questionnaire. 
 
 178. Caroline Rods to Dr. Hendrickson, August 4, 1944. 
 
 179. Barnes, Hattie Hobbs, "Some of the Experiences of My College 
 Life," College Greetings, November 1906. 
 
 180. Caroline Rods to Dr. Hendrickson, August 4, 1944. 
 
 181. Jacksonville Journal, February 12, 1870. 
 
 182. Ibid., May 31, 1891. 
 
 183. Hulse, College Greetings, February 1903. 
 
 184. Jacksonville Journal, March. 1, 1876. 
 
 185. Barnes, Hattie Hobbs, College Greetings, November 1906. 
 
 186. Jacksonville Journal, October 15, 1889. 
 
 187. Jacksonville Journal, June 5, 1878. 
 
 188. Minutes of Phi Nu Society, March 6, 1875; passim; also in Belles 
 Lettres Minutes. 
 
 189. Minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, December 15, 1876; of the 
 Phi Nu Society, October 15, 1874. 
 
 190. Minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, September 22, 1869. 
 
 191. College Greetings, November 1906. 
 
 192. Jacksonville Journal, June 14, 1871. 
 
 193. Ibid., June 3, 1873. 
 
 194. Ibid., June 3, 1874. 
 
 195. Ibid., June 1, 1876. 
 
 196. Ibid., November 22, 1884. 
 
 197. Ibid., November 20, 1886. 
 
 198. Dorr, Mrs. Otto, "Descendants of the Pioneers," paper in the 
 Morgan County Historical Collection. 
 
 199. Jacksonville Journal, May 8, 1888; May 11, 1888. 
 
 200. Ibid., February 25, 1890; May 6, 1890. 
 
 201. Ibid., June 6, 1888, for example. 
 
 202. Reply of Sarah M. Corrington Gibson, '91, to questionnaire. 
 
 203. Illinois Courier, May 23, 1883. 
 
 204. Central Christian Advocate, June 9, 1875. 
 
 205. Jacksonville Journal, June 2, 1876. 
 
 206. College Greetings, October 1897. 
 
622 History of MacMurray College 
 
 207. Hulse, College Greetings, February 1903. 
 
 208. Jacksonville Journal, December 1, 1878. 
 
 209. Ibid., October 26, 1880. 
 
 210. Ibid., November 22, 1891. 
 
 211. Rammelkamp, op. cit., 277. 
 
 212. Ibid., May 4, 1881. 
 
 213. Recollections of Mrs. Wadsworth. 
 
 214. Jacksonville Journal, March 30, 1882. 
 
 215. Ibid., June 4, 1890. 
 
 216. Article by Paul Selby on Doctor Short in the Historical Encyclo- 
 pedia of Illinois and History of Morgan County. 
 
 217. Recollections of Mrs. Maie Short Wadsworth. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1. Facts about President Harker's life are based largely on his auto- 
 biography, Eventide Memories. 
 
 2. Ibid., 36. 
 
 3. Ibid., 63. 
 
 4. Ibid., 67-6%. 
 
 5. Statement of Miriam Akers to the writer. * 
 
 6. Eventide Memories, 95, 109. 
 
 7. Rammelkamp, op. cit., 247; also 3 87. 
 
 8. Harker, Eventide Memories, 123-124. 
 
 9. Ibid., 138 et seq. 
 
 10. Ibid., 142-143; Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 14, 1910. 
 
 11. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, October 14, 1910. 
 
 12. Ibid., October 14, 1910; December 1, 1910. 
 
 13. Eventide Memories, 203, 208-209. 
 
 14. Report of President Harker, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 
 October 14, 1910. 
 
 15. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, December 1, 1910. 
 
 16. Eventide Memories, 210-211. 
 
 17. In 1892, the Board of Trustees had chosen additional members to 
 suggest to the Illinois Conference in compliance with a state rule 
 of 1891 on corporations, but the Minutes of the Conference con- 
 tain no reference to their nomination. See Minutes of the Board 
 of Trustees, June 4, 1892. 
 
 18. See Minutes of the Investment Committee, November 5, 1927, 
 included with Trustees' Minutes. 
 
 19. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1893), 31. 
 
 20. Biographical facts about a number of these trustees are found in 
 
History of MacMurray College 623 
 
 Short, History of Morgan County, Eames, op. cit., or Donnelley, 
 Loyd, & Co., Publishers, History of Morgan County, 1878. 
 
 21. See list of donations in the President's Report to the Trustees (1926- 
 27), 28. 
 
 22. Central Christian Advocate, April 2 5, 1888, and other issues. 
 
 23. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 4, 1894. 
 
 24. Ibid., June 3, 1895. 
 
 25. Eventide Memories, 153. 
 
 26. Ibid. 
 
 27. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1892), 18. 
 
 28. Eventide Memories, 154. 
 
 29. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1893), 33. 
 
 30. Ibid., 30 
 
 31. Ibid., 31. 
 
 32. President's Annual Statement, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 
 June 5, 1918. 
 
 33. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, September 15, 1893, and No- 
 vember 13, 1893. 
 
 34. Eventide Memories, 148. 
 
 35. The catalogue lists show the decline in enrollment; these figures 
 are discussed later. 
 
 36. Eventide Memories, 208. 
 
 37. Ibid., 209. 
 
 38. Ibid. 
 
 39. Minutes of the Executive Committee, October 12, 1894; passim. 
 
 40. Ibid., September 28, 1897. 
 
 41. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 28, 1907; February 1, 1910. 
 
 42. College Greetings, April 1903. 
 
 43. Minutes of the Alumnae Association, June 3, 1895; Jubilee Greet- 
 in g s > January 1897. 
 
 44. Minutes of the Alumnae Association, June 1, 1897. 
 
 45. Ibid., June 1, 1896. 
 
 46. College Greetings, July 1897. 
 
 47. Minutes of the Alumnae Association, June 1, 1897. 
 
 48. Eventide Memories, 209. 
 
 49. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1899), 85-86. The Minutes, 
 1S99 to 1902, contain the history of this offering in the Illinois 
 Conference. 
 
 50. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, February 16, 1899. 
 
 51. Ibid. 
 
 52. Ibid., March 28, 1899. 
 
 53. College Greetings, April, 1899. 
 
624 History of MacMurray College 
 
 54. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 28, 1899. 
 
 5 5. College Greetings, April 1899. 
 
 56. Ibid. 
 
 57. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, January 30, 1900. 
 
 5 8. Minutes of the Executive Committee, September 14, 1900; Decem- 
 ber 14, 1900; Minutes of Board of Trustees, May 23, 1901. 
 
 59. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1901), 75-76. 
 
 60. Minutes of the Executive Committee, November 18, 1901. 
 
 61. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 29, 1903. 
 
 62. Ibid. 
 
 63. Minutes of the Executive Committee, January 11, 1904; March 
 12, 1904. 
 
 64. Eventide Memories, 177-179; also College Greetings, March 1907. 
 
 65. Eventide Memories, 175 -17 '6. 
 
 66. Minutes of the Executive Committee, September 20, 1904; No- 
 vember 20, 1904. 
 
 67. College Greetings, March 1907. 
 
 68. Minutes of the Executive Committee, December 5, 1905. 
 
 69. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 29, 1905. 
 
 70. College Greetings, December 1904. 
 
 71. Ibid., May- June 1905. 
 
 72. Ibid., November 1905; May 1906, and other issues. 
 
 73. Ibid., May 1906. 
 
 74. Eventide Memories, 181. 
 
 75. College Greetings, April 1906. 
 
 76. Ibid., November 1906. 
 
 77. Ibid., April 1907. 
 
 78. Jubilee Greetings, April 1907. 
 
 79. College Greetings, May 1907. 
 
 80. See the Minutes of the Alumnae Association for these years. 
 
 81. Ibid., May 28, 1907. 
 
 82. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 28, 1906. 
 
 83. Eventide Memories, 188 et seq. 
 
 84. College Greetings, December 1907. 
 
 85. Minutes of Executive Committee, April 27, 1908. 
 
 86. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, January 19, 1909. 
 
 87. Ibid., February 1, 1910. 
 
 88. Eventide Memories, 204. 
 
 89. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1909. 
 
 90. College Greetings, November 1909. 
 
History of MacMurray College 625 
 
 91. See, for example, Conference Visitors* Report, with Minutes of the 
 Board of Trustees, June 13, 1910. 
 
 92. College Greetings, files. 
 
 93. Minutes of the Executive Committee, July 13, 1910. 
 
 94. Eventide Memories, 203. 
 
 95. Report of the General Secretary, June 13, 1910. 
 
 96. Ibid., June 3, 1912. 
 
 97. Ibid., May 1909. 
 
 98. College Greetings, April 1913. 
 
 99. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1914), 80. 
 
 100. Eventide Memories, 216. 
 
 101. Ibid., 215. 
 
 102. President's Report and Financial Statement (1926-27), 25. 
 
 103. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1916), 75. 
 
 104. Report of the Conference Visitors to the Board of Trustees, Min- 
 utes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1913. 
 
 105. Ibid. 
 
 106. Eventide Memories, 217 et seq., gives the main feature of this cam- 
 paign; also the various issues of the Greetings. 
 
 107. Figures given in a local paper of March 1, 1913 (a clipping in 
 Doctor Harker's scrapbook on which the name of the newspaper 
 is not given; perhaps the Jacksonville Journal). 
 
 108. Eventide Memories, 230. 
 
 109. Financial Statement, May 15, 1916, with Minutes of the Board of 
 Trustees and statements of the years following. 
 
 110. Financial Statement, May 15, 1916; this amount is given in other 
 statements as $200,000. 
 
 111. President's Statement, June 7, 1916. 
 
 112. College Greetings, June 1903. 
 
 113. Secretary's Report, June 1, 1916. 
 
 114. Minutes of the Executive Committee, October 18, 1918. 
 
 115. Ibid., April 29, 1921. 
 
 116. Eventide Memories, 246 et seq. 
 
 117. Ibid., 249. 
 
 118. Minutes of the Executive Committee, May 15, 1922, include the 
 text of this report. 
 
 119. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1920; January 31, 1921. 
 
 120. Ibid., May 31, 1920. 
 
 121. Minutes of the Executive Committee, April 18, 1919. 
 
 122. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1920), 94. 
 
 123. Ibid., 89 et seq. 
 
 124. Ibid., 93. 
 
626 History of MacMurray College 
 
 125. Ibid. (1921), 87. 
 
 126. Ibid. (1922), 77 et seq. 
 
 127. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 4, 1923; June 1, 1925. 
 
 128. Eventide Memories, 256. 
 
 129. Executive Committee Minutes, November 5, 1923; statement with 
 the Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1924. 
 
 130. Minutes of the Executive Committee, November 5, 1923. 
 
 131. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1923), 77. 
 111. Ibid., 79. 
 
 13 3. Minutes of the Executive Committee, October 10, 1924. 
 
 134. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1924. 
 
 135. Jacksonville Journal, March 8, 1867. 
 
 136. Jubilee Greetings, May 1897. 
 
 137. College Greetings, April 1900. 
 
 138. Eventide Memories, 169. 
 
 139. Minutes of the Executive Committee, January 11, 1904. 
 
 140. Minutes of the Illinois Conference (1906), 40. 
 
 141. Minutes of the Executive Committee, November 3, 1908; Octo- 
 ber 17, 1913. 
 
 142. Eventide Memories, 147; also Doctor DeMotte's Autobiography. 
 
 143. College Greetings, May 1907. 
 
 144. Ibid., May 1914. 
 
 145. Ibid., May 28, 1924. 
 
 146. Minutes of the Executive Committee, September 7, 1899; Cata- 
 logue (1900), 8. 
 
 147. Minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, December 1897. 
 
 148. Ibid., passim; Minutes of Phi Nu, November 19, 1901. 
 
 149. For example, Phi Nu, December 1, 1903; Belles Lettres, January 
 16, 1900; March 14, 1905. 
 
 150. College Greetings, January 1902. 
 
 151. Minutes of the Executive Committee, January 14, 1903; College 
 Greetings, May 1916. 
 
 152. Eventide Memories, 23 5. 
 
 153. Minutes of the Executive Committee, December 14, 1900. 
 
 154. Phi Nu Minutes, December 1 and 8, 1903. 
 15 5. College Greetings, September 1906. 
 
 156. College Greetings, October 1911. 
 
 157. Belles Lettres Minutes, February 15, 1910; passim. 
 
 158. Minutes of the Executive Committee, September 3, 1909. 
 
 159. College Greetings, May 16, 1917. 
 
 160. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1919. 
 
 161. Minutes of the Executive Committee, May 15, 1922. 
 
History of MacMurray College 627 
 
 162. Eventide Memories , 163. 
 
 163. Catalogue (1895), 29. 
 
 164. Eventide Memories, 151. 
 
 165. Catalogue (1894), 31. 
 
 166. Eventide Memories, 111. 
 
 167. Catalogue (1904), 22. 
 
 168. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, April 18, 1907. 
 
 169. Eventide Memories, 166. 
 
 170. Catalogue (1907), 39. 
 
 171. President's Report, Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1915. 
 
 172. Ibid., June 5, 1918. 
 
 173. Catalogue (1894), 30. 
 
 174. Ibid., (1912), 39. 
 
 175. College Greetings, May 1918. 
 
 176. Minutes of the Executive Committee, May 30, 1896. 
 
 177. College Greetings, February 1909. 
 
 178. Ibid., June 1923. 
 
 179. Creek, Ellen, "A Brief History of the MacMurray College Library," 
 Alumnae News and Record, February 1941. 
 
 180. College Greetings, 1916. 
 
 181. Minutes of the Executive Committee, June 26, 1895; May 30, 1896. 
 
 182. College Greetings, June 1897; November 1897; January 1899; 
 April 1899. 
 
 183. Ibid., May 1904. 
 
 184. Ibid., March 1899. 
 
 185. Eventide Memories, 234. 
 
 186. College Greetings, December 1910; January 1911. 
 
 187. Ibid., April 1911. 
 
 188. Ibid., May 1911. 
 
 189. Ibid., March 1912. 
 
 190. Librarian's Report, May 23, 1914, with Trustees' Minutes. 
 
 191. Conference Visitors' Report, May 31, 1915 (with Trustees' 
 Minutes). 
 
 192. Minutes of local Trustees' Meeting, April 28, 1916. 
 
 193. Eventide Memories, 23 5. 
 
 194. Report of May 17, 1924. 
 
 195. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 28, 1899. 
 
 196. Financial Statements, May 27, 1912 and May 17, 1924. 
 
 197. Catalogues of 1892-93; 1893-94. 
 
 198. The Orchestra did not have a continuous existence after that date. 
 
 199. College Greetings, March 1905; December 1915. 
 
628 History of MacMurray College 
 
 200. Ibid., May 1910. 
 
 201. Most of these facts are taken from the catalogues of the various 
 years. 
 
 202. Catalogue (1895-96), 37. 
 
 203. Financial statements, May 27, 1912 and May 17, 1924. 
 
 204. Catalogue (1898-99), 46. 
 
 205. Ibid., 49. 
 
 206. College Greetings, October 1897. 
 
 207. Ibid., April 1915. 
 
 208. October 13, 1916. Quoted in the Greetings, November 1916. 
 
 209. Illiwoco (1919), 86. 
 
 210. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1919. 
 
 211. Ibid., May 29, 1899. 
 
 212. Ibid., May 23, 1901. 
 
 213. Cole, Mount Holyoke, 252. 
 
 214. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1919. 
 
 215. Ibid., June 1, 1920. 
 
 216. Minutes of Executive Committee, February 1, 1923; April 3, 1925. 
 
 217. Ibid., September 26, 1917. 
 
 218. College Greetings, July 1897. 
 
 219. Ibid., January 1921. 
 
 220. Ibid., December 1897. 
 
 221. Ibid., February 1923. 
 
 222. Ibid., December 1920. 
 
 223. Illiwoco (1919), 25. 
 
 224. College Greetings, December 1913. 
 
 225. Illiwoco (1921), 72. 
 
 226. College Greetings, November 1914. 
 
 227. Ibid., October 1901; December 1907. 
 
 228. Ibid., October 1901. 
 
 229. Ibid., (Greetings Extra) November 17, 1916. 
 
 230. Ibid., January 1901; March 1901. 
 
 231. Ibid., November 1904. 
 
 232. Ibid., February 1898. 
 
 233. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1915. 
 
 234. Cole, Mount Holyoke, 315. 
 
 23 5. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 3, 1912. 
 
 236. Minutes of the Executive Committee, November 27, 1920. 
 
 237. Minutes of Belles Lettres Society, about September 1900. 
 23 8. College Greetings, February 1911. 
 
 239. Ibid., September 1898. 
 
History of MacMurray College 629 
 
 240. Minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, January 12, 1897. 
 
 241. Ibid.; also April 5, 1898. 
 
 242. College Greetings, June 1898. 
 
 243. Minutes of the Belles Lettres Society, March 7, 1905. 
 
 244. Minutes of the Phi Nu Society, February 4, 1902. 
 
 245. College Greetings, January 1915. 
 
 246. Ibid., October 1916. 
 
 247. Ibid., March 1917. 
 
 248. llliwoco (1919), 208. 
 
 249. Eventide Memories, 25 8-259. 
 
 250. llliwoco (1919), 208. 
 
 251. Ibid., 119. 
 
 252. College Greetings, June 1918. 
 
 253. Eventide Memories, 25 8-259. 
 
 254. College Greetings, May 16, 1917. 
 
 255. Ibid., May 1918. 
 
 256. Ibid., April 1918. 
 
 257. Ibid., October 1919; March 1920. 
 
 258. Ibid., June 1918. 
 
 259. llliwoco (1919), 61. 
 
 260. College Greetings, October 1920. 
 
 261. Ibid., November 1903. 
 
 262. Statement of Miss Miner to the writer. 
 
 263. Reports of the Dean to the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1924, and 
 to the President, May 30, 1925. 
 
 264. College Greetings, December 1914; May 1915. 
 
 265. Ibid., November 1902. 
 
 266. Minutes of the literary societies in 1897 and after. 
 
 267. Catalogue (1894-95), 24. 
 
 268. College Greetings, November 1901. 
 
 269. Catalogue (1905-06), 34. 
 
 270. College Greetings, November 1908. 
 
 271. Ibid., May 1913. 
 
 272. Ibid., June 1913. 
 
 273. Ibid., November 1913; December 1914. 
 
 274. Ibid., May 1899. 
 
 275. Ibid., June 1906. 
 
 276. Ibid., June 1908. 
 
 277. Ibid., June 1913. 
 
 278. Ibid., April 1913; Greetings Extra, November 17, 1916 and Feb- 
 ruary 27, 1917. 
 
630 Hilary oj MacMurray College 
 
 279. Catalogue (1885-86), 23. 
 
 280. Ibid,, (1887-88), 28-29. 
 
 281. Ibid., (1893-94), 51. 
 
 282. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1909; see also Ram- 
 melkamp, op. cit., 475-476. 
 
 283. Minutes of Belles Lettres Society in 1896, 1902. 
 
 284. Statement of Miriam Akers to the writer. 
 
 285. Report of the Dean to the President, May 30, 1925. 
 
 286. College Greetings, October 1920. 
 
 287. References to Miss Blackburn's work are found in Greetings of De- 
 cember 1897, January 1899, October 1900, April 1913, February 
 1914, February 1916, and in the Alumnae News, May 1923. 
 
 288. On Mary Melton, see the Greetings of March 1898, October 1898, 
 October 1900, September and October 1901, February 1904, and 
 October 1916. 
 
 289. College Greetings, September 1903. 
 
 290. Ibid., February 1900; October 1901; January 1902. 
 
 291. College Greetings, December 1907; May 1910; March 1921. 
 
 292. The various issues of the catalogue and also the Greetings record 
 these facts. 
 
 293. College Greetings, October 1898. 
 
 294. Ibid., May 1910. 
 
 295. Ibid., January 1918. 
 
 296. Ibid., November 1922. 
 
 297. Alumnae News and Record, May 1924. 
 
 298. Ibid. 
 
 299. College Greetings, May 1915; May 1919; and other issues. 
 
 300. College Greetings, May 1916. 
 
 301. Ibid., January 1897; October 1897. 
 
 302. Ibid., February 1913. 
 
 303. Phi Nu Minutes, October 14, 1902. 
 
 304. Belles Lettres Minutes, February 15, 1910. 
 
 305. Ibid., January 16, 1900. 
 
 306. Ibid., October 13, 1913. 
 
 307. Faculty Minutes, March 22, 1916. 
 
 308. Ibid., October 8, 1918. 
 
 309. Doctor Harker to Katherine Madden, '18, March 5, 1921. Copy in 
 college archives. 
 
 310. Faculty Minutes, February 1, 1921. 
 
 311. Report of the Dean, June 2, 1924. 
 
 312. Ibid., May 30, 1925. 
 
 313. College Greetings, March 1902. 
 
History of MacMurray College 631 
 
 314. Ibid., May 1917. 
 
 315. Ibid., June 1898. 
 
 316. Ibid., November 1903. 
 
 317. Ibid., November 1901. 
 
 318. Ibid., May 1914; March 26, 1925. 
 
 319. Ibid., May 1914. 
 
 320. Ibid., October 2, 1924. 
 
 321. Ibid., Christmas 1913. 
 
 322. Ibid. 
 
 323. Ibid., March 12, 1925. 
 
 324. Eventide Memories, 284 et seq. 
 
 325. The 1905 Book, 56-17. 
 
 326. College Greetings, December 1919. 
 
 327. Minutes of the Student Council, 1913, contain a copy of this 
 document. 
 
 328. Ibid., February 21, 1913. 
 
 329. Ibid. (1913-1914), passim. 
 
 330. College Greetings, April 1914. 
 
 331. Minutes of the Faculty, April 7, 1914. 
 
 332. Ibid., January 23, 1917. 
 
 333. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1919. 
 
 334. College Greetings, April 1921. 
 33 5. Ibid. 
 
 336. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, June 2, 1924; of Executive Com- 
 mittee, October 10, 1924. 
 
 337. Dean's Report, May 30, 1925. 
 
 338. Ibid. 
 
 339. College Greetings, May 1915; April 1916; October 1924. 
 
 340. Ibid., November 1899. 
 
 341. Ibid., May 1922. 
 
 342. Ibid., October 1902. 
 
 343. Ibid., October 1898. 
 
 344. Ibid., December 1901. 
 
 345. Ibid., November 1899. 
 
 346. Ibid., December 1902 and 1903. 
 
 347. Ibid., December 1907. 
 
 348. Ibid., October 1899. 
 
 349. Ibid., March 1899. 
 
 3 50. Ibid., April 7, 1924. 
 
 3 51. Alumnae News and Record, February 1923. 
 
 3 52. Eventide Memories, 290. 
 
 3 53. Alumnae News and Record, July 1938. 
 
632 History of MacMurray College 
 
 chapter v 
 
 1. From an article in the Christian Advocate quoted in the College 
 Greetings, January 14, 1929. 
 
 2. Facts about the life of President McClelland have been taken 
 largely from a special edition of the College Greetings of January 
 18, 1941. 
 
 3. Published by the Lakeside Press, Chicago. 
 
 4. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, November 5, 1927. 
 
 5. Ibid., October 6, 1928. 
 
 6. Ibid., October 10, 1940. 
 
 7. Reports of the Conference Visitors, June 2, 1934 and June 1, 193 5. 
 
 8. Ibid. 
 
 9. Published by the Times-Mirror, Los Angeles, 1943. 
 
 10. McClelland, James Edwin MacMurray — An Appreciation. (Jack- 
 sonville, 1943), 7. 
 
 11. Ibid. 
 
 12. Grose, The Man from Missouri, 84-85. 
 
 13. College Greetings, October 13, 1945. 
 
 14. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1926, President's Report. 
 
 15. Alumnae News and Record, May 1926. 
 
 16. Published in the Bulletin of Illinois Woman's College, July 1926. 
 
 17. President's Report, May 24, 1941; also in a brochure "Woman," 
 published earlier. 
 
 18. Ibid., May 30, 1927. 
 
 19. Alumnae News and Record, May 1927. 
 
 20. President's Report, May 30, 1927. 
 
 21. College Greetings, March 14, 1929. 
 
 22. President's Report, June 8, 1929. 
 
 23. McClelland, James Edwin MacMurray, 8-9. 
 
 24. Ibid. 
 
 2 5. Alumnae News and Record, August 1930. 
 
 26. Minutes of the Board of Trustees, May 31, 1930. 
 
 27. McClelland, James Edwin MacMurray, 10. 
 
 28. College Greetings, December 19, 1933. 
 
 29. Quoted in the President's Report, June 1, 193 5, 10-12. 
 
 30. Ibid., May 31, 1930. 
 
 31. Ibid., June 8, 1929. 
 
 32. Ibid., May 31, 1926. 
 
 33. Ibid., June 2, 1928. 
 
 34. Ibid. 
 
 35. Ibid., June 3, 1933. 
 
History of MacMurray College 633 
 
 36. College Greetings, November 12, 1931. 
 
 37. President's Report, June 1, 193 5. 
 
 3 8. Minutes of the Finance Committee, December 26, 193 5. 
 
 39. Alumnae News and Record, March 1938. 
 
 40. College Greetings, October 30, 1937. 
 
 41. Ibid., February 26, 1938. 
 
 42. Ibid., May 7, 1938. 
 
 43. President's Report, 1939-40, and 1942-43 (Financial Report). 
 
 44. College Greetings, May 26, 1941. 
 
 45. President's Report, 193 8, 1941. Some properties included in his 
 first gift of $1,000,000 were included in a second donation of 
 $2,500,000. 
 
 46. McClelland, James Edwin MacMurray, 12. 
 
 47. Quoted in the President's Report, 1938. 
 
 48. Minutes of the Faculty, January 30, 1934. 
 
 49. President's Report, May 12, 1945. 
 
 50. Ibid., June 3, 1939. 
 
 51. Ibid., May 28, 1932. 
 
 52. Catalogue (1932), 24 et seq. 
 
 53. Ibid. (1946), 37. 
 
 54. Alumnae News and Record, February 1936. 
 
 55. Ibid., August 1933. 
 
 56. McClelland, "Should the Study of American History in Colleges 
 be Made Compulsory," School and Society, January 16, 1943. 
 
 57. College Greetings, October 21, 1926. 
 
 58. Ibid., April 13, 1946. 
 
 59. Alumnae News and Record, May 1928. 
 
 60. Ibid., February 1932. 
 
 61. Ibid., May 1929. 
 
 62. Ibid., November 1927. 
 
 63. President's Report, May 30, 1931. 
 
 64. Quoted from Art Digest in College Greetings, March 29, 1928. 
 
 65. College Greetings, October 24, 1929. 
 
 66. President's Report, June 1, 193 5. 
 
 67. College Greetings, October 28, 1944. 
 
 68. Ibid., February 16, 193 5. 
 
 69. Ibid., April 10, 1930; November 12, 1931; Illiwoco, 1934. 
 
 70. College Greetings, March 18, 1927. 
 
 71. President's Report, 1939-40. 
 
 72. College Greetings, March 7, 1942; Illiwoco, 1942. 
 
 73. President's Report, May 24, 1941. 
 
634 History of MacMurray College 
 
 74. Rammelkamp, op. cit., 491. 
 
 75. Quoted in the President's Report, June 2, 1928. 
 
 76. Alumnae News and Record, May 1928 (Enrollment 32 5 and 157). 
 
 77. Quoted in the President's Report, May 15, 1943. 
 
 78. Report of the Librarian (1945) and statement of 1946. 
 
 79. College Greetings, March 6, 1931. 
 
 80. Alumnae News and Record, February 1936. 
 
 81. Data on the Institutes is taken from the Greetings, the News and 
 Record, and from the local and regional press. 
 
 82. Jacksonville Courier, February 10, 1933. 
 
 83. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 16, 1930. 
 
 84. Jacksonville Journal, March 20, 1934. 
 
 85. Ibid., April 11, 1941. 
 
 86. Illiwoco, 1937. 
 
 87. College Greetings, February 27, 1930. 
 
 88. Illiwoco, 1933. 
 
 89. College Greetings, March 9, 1940. 
 
 90. Ibid., October 21, 1926, quoting William Allen White. 
 
 91. Ibid., January 18, 1936. 
 
 92. This figure is taken from Mrs. Galloway's list. The total en- 
 rollment is from the catalogue figures. 
 
 93. President's Report, May 30, 1936. 
 
 94. College Greetings, January 24, 1942. 
 
 95. Ibid., November 3, 1934. 
 
 96. Ibid., November 17, 1934. 
 
 97. Ibid., December 1, 1934. 
 
 98. Ibid., May 29, 1931. 
 
 99. Ibid., October 6, 1934. 
 
 100. Ibid., October 2, 1937. 
 
 101. Quoted in the President's Report, June 3, 1933. 
 
 102. Illiwoco, 1937. 
 
 103. College Greetings, May 1938. 
 
 104. Some facts about these clubs and other data about the depart- 
 ment are found in an unpublished Master's thesis, "A Study of 
 the Physical Education Programs at MacMurray College from 
 1916 to 1944," by Leone Bruce. 
 
 105. College Greetings, November 8, 1928. 
 
 106. Ibid., December 11, 1925. 
 
 107. Ibid.,Mzy 12, 1934. 
 
 108. Illiwoco, 1929, 1931, 1932. 
 
 109. President's Report, June 2, 1934. 
 
History of MacMurray College 635 
 
 110. College Greetings, May 14, 1945. 
 
 111. Ibid., January 31, 1942. 
 
 112. Ibid., February 6, 1937. 
 
 113. Ibid., January 26, 1946. 
 
 114. Facts about the YWCA since 1925 have been secured from the 
 Greetings and from the MacMurray Student Activity Reports. 
 
 115. College Greetings, November 8, 1928; December 18, 1928. 
 
 116. Brown Book (1924-25), 39; Illiwoco, 1934, 1936. 
 
 117. College Greetings, April 1, 1926; October 6, 1926. 
 
 118. MacMurray Student Activity Reports (1939-40), 2. Material on 
 student government was secured from these reports, the Greetings, 
 the Illiwoco, and the Brown Books. 
 
 119. College Greetings, January 16, 1937; October 8, 193 8; April 20, 
 1940. 
 
 120. MacMurray Student Activity Reports (1944-45), 16. 
 
 121. College Greetings, March 3, 1932. 
 
 122. Activity Report, (1945-46), 3. 
 
 123. Ibid., 1. 
 
 124. See, for example, Cole, Mount Holyoke, 284-288. 
 
 125. College Greetings, January 8, 193 8. 
 
 126. Ibid., October 26, 1940. 
 
 127. President's Report, 1926. 
 
 128. Faculty Minutes, November 8, 1932; College Greetings, March 16, 
 1935, and other issues. 
 
 129. MacMurray Student Activity Report (1945-46), 50. 
 
 130. College Greetings, February 25, 1939. 
 
 131. Activity Report (1939-40), 53. 
 
 132. Facts about the societies are from their Minutes, the Greetings, 
 Illiwoco, and the Activity Reports. 
 
 133. College Greetings, April 24, 1937. 
 
 134. Ibid., May 1, 1938; October 5, 1940; May 26, 1942; May 14, 1945. 
 13 5. Alumnae News and Record, March 1941. 
 
 136. Ibid., February 1941. 
 
 137. College Greetings, February 24, 1944; April 28, 1945. 
 13 8. Ibid., September 30, 1939; October 12, 1940. 
 
 139. Ibid., January 27, 1945. 
 
 140. Ibid., November 19, 1938. 
 
 141. Ibid., February 18, 1939. 
 
 142. Ibid., December 4, 1937. 
 
 143. Activity Report, 1940-41. 
 
 144. College Greetings, March 1, 1944. 
 
 145. President's Report, May 24, 1941. 
 
636 History of MacMurray College 
 
 146. Ibid., May 23, 1942. 
 
 147. Quoted in the Catalogue (1943-44), 19. 
 
 148. President's Report, 1942. 
 
 149. Alumnae News, March 1942. 
 
 150. College Greetings, May 2, 1942. 
 
 151. Ibid. 
 
 152. President's Report, May 23, 1942. 
 
 153. College Greetings, February 28, 1942. 
 
 154. President's Report, May 15, 1943. 
 
 155. Activity Report (1943-44), 53. 
 
 156. Alumnae News, March 1942. 
 
 157. College Greetings, October 30, 1943. 
 
 158. Activity Report, 1943-44; College Greetings, May 14, 1945. 
 
 159. College Greetings, January 29, 1944; December 2, 1944. 
 
 160. Alumnae News, July 1945. 
 
 161. Ibid. 
 
 162. President's Report, May 24, 1941. 
 
 163. College Greetings, September 29, 1932. 
 
 164. Ibid., December 15, 1927; December 1, 1934. 
 
 165. Ibid., March 12, 1934. 
 
 166. Ibid., February 16, 193 5. 
 
 167. Ibid., February 26, 1944. 
 
 168. Ibid., October 6, 1945; April 13, 1946. 
 
 169. Ibid., May 11, 1940. 
 
 170. Ibid., October 11, 1928. 
 
 171. Ibid., November 4, 1944. 
 
 172. Ibid., October 29, 193 8. 
 
 173. Ibid., May 26, 1942. 
 
 174. Ibid., May 14, 193 8. 
 
 175. Ibid., April 7, 1945. 
 
 176. Ibid., May 1, 1931. 
 
 177. Ibid., September 27, 1928. 
 
 178. Ibid., February 20, 1926. 
 
 179. Ibid., March 14, 1942. 
 
 180. Alumnae News, November 1944. 
 
 181. journal and Year Book of the Illinois Annual Conference (1945), 
 34. 
 
 182. Minutes of the Alumnae Association, May 31, 1926. 
 
 183. Ibid., May 30, 1936. 
 
 184. President's Report, May 11, 1946. 
 
 18 5. Minutes of the Alumnae Association, May 23, 1942. 
 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbott, Fidelia, 382, 485. 
 
 Academy of Music, 264, 3 50, 505. See also 
 College of Music and Illinois Conserva- 
 tory of Music. 
 
 "Academy piano," 61, 72, 121, 176, 505. 
 
 Acme Steel Corporation, 470. 
 
 Adams, Charles, 5, 123, 133, 134, 136, 
 146, 224, 342, 343, 524, 545; administra- 
 tion of, 136-216; sketch of life of, 137- 
 42; writings of, 139; reports of on the 
 College, 143, 164; on the name of the 
 College, 161-63, 463; contracts of with 
 the Board of Trustees, 166-68; on dis- 
 cipline, 168-69, 189-93; ideas of, on the 
 education of women, 169-72, 177-78; 
 and his faculty, 174; as a teacher, 179- 
 80; and The Black Crook, 191-92; ad- 
 dress of, to graduates (1865), 199-200; 
 and the improvement of the college 
 grounds, 201-2; last years of, 214-16; 
 endowment of scholarship in memory 
 of, 325; residence hall named for, 474. 
 
 Adams, Mrs. Charles, 142, 203-4. 
 
 Adams, Elvira Hamilton, 123, 131, 180, 
 198. 
 
 Adams, George, 503. 
 
 Adams, Mary, 186. 
 
 Addams, Jane, 294, 459. 
 
 Administrative organization, 79, 374, 377, 
 399, 477-81. 
 
 Adrian, Ofelia, 525. 
 
 Agger, Alice Hand, 456. 
 
 Akers, Joshua Soule, 256, 320. 
 
 Akers, Lida, 249. 
 
 Akers, Milburn, 454-5 5. 
 
 Akers, Miriam, 381. 
 
 Akers, Narcissa Dunn, 321. 
 
 Akers, Peter, 5, 6, 7, 8, 34, 40-41, 65, 75, 
 76, 77, 89, 106, 109, 138, 214, 275, 
 309, 310, 381, 444, 455, 575; as a 
 founder of the College, 13-19; as presi- 
 dent of the Board of Trustees, 28; 
 sketch of life of, 29-33; educational 
 ideas of, 44-45; on the teaching of the 
 Bible, 5 5; as an agent to secure funds, 
 76; after the fire of 1870, 232-33; let- 
 ter of, 256. 
 
 Alcott, Bronson, 249-50. 
 
 Alexander, Alice, 5 52-53. 
 
 Alexander, Alida, 375, 382, 419, 485. 
 
 Alexander's Evidences of Christianity, 51, 
 239. 
 
 Alger, Minnie, 272, 273. 
 
 Allen, Florence, 469. 
 
 Allen, Louise, 272, 273. 
 
 Allyn, Emeline, 233, 245-46, 269. 
 
 Allyn, Robert, 245-46. 
 
 Alpha Pi Delta, 419. 
 
 Altgeld, J. P., 295. 
 
 Alumnae, on the faculty, 69-70, 123, 173, 
 180, 243, 270, 271, 273, 375, 379, 482; 
 first organization of, 130-32; contribu- 
 tions of to the College, 257, 315-16, 
 325, 329, 340, 457', 466, 572, 573; on 
 the Board of Trustees, 307, 455-56; on 
 the change of the college name, 319-20, 
 463; in home and foreign mission work, 
 330-31, 382, 411-12; in World War I, 
 596-97; in YWCA work, 397, 410-11, 
 539; percentage of holding higher de- 
 grees, 510; in World War II, 561-62; 
 honorary degrees conferred on, 572. 
 
 Alumnae Association, foundation of, 130- 
 32, 289; activities of, 316-18, 325, 329- 
 31; 339-40; 572-73; endowment of 
 scholarships by, 325, 329, 340; local 
 clubs of, 330, 340, 473; creation of 
 loyalty fund by, 457, 572; chapel organ 
 fund of, 573. 
 
 Alumnae Council, 573. 
 
 Alumnae Loyalty Fund, 457, 466, 572-73. 
 
 Alumnae News and Record, 339, 379, 396, 
 513, 572, 573. 
 
 Alumnae scholarships and professorships, 
 325, 329, 339-40. 
 
 American Association of University Women 
 (also Women's Collegiate Association), 
 330, 3 50, 373, 389; graduates admitted 
 to membership in, 336. 
 
 American Chemical Society, use of stu- 
 dents' work by, 493, 498. 
 
 Anderson, Jennie, 360, 3 81, 3 88. 
 
 Anderson, Mary, 361, 381, 484. 
 
 Anderson, Paul, 181, 495. 
 
 Anderson, W. F., 323, 3 53. 
 
 Andre, H. M., 309, 454. 
 
 Andrus, Reuben, administration of, 117- 
 13 5; sketch of life of, 117-119; endow- 
 ment of scholarship in memory of, 325. 
 
 Ann Rutledge Hall, donation of, 468; 
 name of, 469; description of, 470-71. 
 
 Applebee, Alice W., 45 5. 
 
 Appleby, Troy, 45 5. 
 
 Armstrong, Christina Marshall, 468. 
 
 Art, instruction in, 53, 121, 172, 241-42, 
 248, 260-61, 264-65, 273-74, 371-73, 
 500-1, 517. 
 
 637 
 
538 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Art Association (of Jacksonville), 241-42, 
 
 248, 264, 371. 
 Asbury, Francis, 4, 5, 12, 310. 
 Ashland lots, 129-3 0, 144, 157. 
 Aspenwall, Annie S., 122-23. 
 Aspenwall, Mary, 123. 
 Association of Childhood Education, 497, 
 
 540. 
 Astronomy, instruction in, 54, 171, 176, 
 
 238-39, 261. 
 Athenaeum, 22, 141, 178, 189, 239-40. 
 Athletic Association, 322-23, 343-44, 403, 
 
 40 5, 410, 519, 53 0. See also Recreation 
 
 Association. 
 Athletic field, 465-66. 
 Austin, Olive, 374-75, 380, 409, 414, 419, 
 
 433, 437, 462, 477, 479-80. 
 Austin-Ball, Thomas, 512, 517. 
 Ayers, M. P., 261. 
 
 Bachelor of Arts degree. See Degrees. 
 
 Background and Issues of the War, course 
 in, 556-57. 
 
 Baird, Mary, 478, 479, 480-81, 538, 541. 
 
 Barger, J. B., 132. 
 
 Barnes, Hattie Hobbs, 233, 245, 265, 276, 
 282, 284 
 
 Barnes, W. H, 182. 
 
 Barnes, Mrs. W. H. (Sarah Adams), 182. 
 
 Barrett, James A., 91, 92. 
 
 Barton, Clara, lecture of, 183. 
 
 Barwick, James S., 70-71, 80. 
 
 Bastion, N. W., 41. 
 
 Beecher, Catherine, 10, 54, 172, 362. 
 
 Beecher, Edward, 22, 110. 
 
 Beggs, Gertrude Holmes, 487, 496, 503, 
 557. 
 
 Beggs, Hugh, 487, 517, 574. 
 
 Behymer, Francis Albert, 5 53. 
 
 Belles Lettres Society, halls of, 78, 104, 
 151, 286, 345, 347-48, 415-16; origin 
 and organization of, 102, 103-4; first 
 public exhibition of, 103; programs of, 
 105-6, 205, 285-86, 345, 391-92, 402, 
 415-16, 548-49; library of, 151-52, 175, 
 242, 286, 549; gifts of, to the College, 
 333, 345, 549; reunions of, 285, 414, 
 5 50; social activities of, 417, 419, 549- 
 50; service program of, 548, 549. See 
 also Literary Societies. 
 
 Berea College, 22. 
 
 Bergman, Isabel Woodman, 562. 
 
 Bergstrom, Ingrid, 524, 567. 
 
 Bertram, James, 323. 
 
 Best, W. D., 258, 310. 
 
 Ikveridgc, J. L., 289. 
 
 Bible, instruction in, 54-55, 351, 359, 495. 
 
 Bi-Confcrence Campaign, 338-341, 457. 
 466. 
 
 Biology, instruction in, 361, 493, 498. 
 
 Black, Carl E., 38, 250, 460. 
 
 Black, Ethel, 3 83. 
 
 Black, G. V., 185, 343. 
 
 Blackburn, Edmund, 309. 
 
 Blackburn, Fletcher J., 309, 454. 
 
 Blackburn, Kate, 28 5, 33 0, 411. 
 
 Black Crook, The, 191-92. 
 
 Blackstock, Mary Hardtner, 308, 320, 
 336, 348, 456, 468. 
 
 Blair, Francis G., 462. 
 
 Blair, McKendree M., 310, 484, 541. 
 
 Blair, Sophia, 180. 
 
 Board of Trustees, creation of, 18-19; 
 powers and functions of, 26, 160, 2 57- 
 5 8, 306, 449-5 0; early activities of, 
 26-28; minutes of, 26, 160, 306; 
 organization and meetings of, 27-28, 
 164, 2 57-5 8, 3 06, 450; composition of, 
 27-40, 143, 163-64, 258, 306-12, 451- 
 56; efforts of to secure a principal, 
 40-41; and the erection of Main Build- 
 ing, 72-81; financial problems and 
 policies of, 75-77, 124-30, 143-44, 155- 
 59, 234-35, 254-57, 314-41, 458; 
 administrative policy of, 79-80, 2 57-5 8, 
 3 06, 449; on college regulations, 8 5-86, 
 168-69, 279; and the slavery question, 
 109-114; and "perpetual Scholarships," 
 126-27, 160-61, 234, 320; under the 
 charter of 1863, 160, 163-64; and 
 rebuilding the west wing, 164-65; and 
 plans for endowment, 165-66, 2 54-5 8, 
 314-41; financial arrangements of with 
 the president, 166-68, 224, 3 04-5; and 
 rebuilding Main, 227-31, 234-3 5; under 
 President Short, 2 54-5 8; under Presi- 
 dent Harker, 304-12; alumnae and other 
 women on, 3 07-8, 45 5-56; under Presi- 
 dent McClelland, 449-56; by-laws of, 
 450. 
 
 Bookkeeping, instruction in, 54, 171, 23 8. 
 See also Secretarial Course and Business 
 Administration. 
 
 Booth, Lucy, 270. 
 
 Botany, instruction in, 54, 171, 176, 239, 
 281, 361, 493, 498. 
 
 Boutons de Rose, 283. 
 
 Bowling Green, 445, 474. 
 
 Breene, Vila, 3 82. 
 
 Bretherick, Professor, 272. 
 
 Broadwell, Alice, 271. 
 
 Broadwell, Minnie, 271. 
 
 Brown, Charles H, 473. 
 
 Brown, Charles R., 472. 
 
 Brown, G. W., 238, 261, 384. 
 
 Brown, Helen, 511. 
 
 Brown, Lloyd, 2 5 8, 308. 
 
 Brown, William, 19, 26, 27, 28, 38-39, 
 40, 126, 127, 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 
 160, 164-66, 258, 293. 
 
History of MacMurray College 639 
 
 Browne, Mrs. E. O., 241, 242, 248. 
 Brown Book, 409, 431, 432, 53 8, 542-43, 
 
 546, 547, 551. 
 Brown's Business College, 173, 238, 384. 
 Brundage, Burr, 5 57, 5 5 8. 
 Bryan, William Jennings, 278, 294, 329, 
 
 389, 515. 
 Bryn Mawr, 424. 
 Buck, Hiram, 143, 156, 159, 160, 163-64, 
 
 257, 258, 316. 
 Buildings and grounds, 71-81, 164, 201-3, 
 
 224, 227-30, 234-35, 341-50, 456-77, 
 
 571-72. See also Main Building, Music 
 
 Hall, MacMurray Science Hall, etc. 
 Buker, C. F., 45 5. 
 Burke, Ellen, 412. 
 Burnett, Charity, 189. 
 Burrows, Dorothy, 494. 
 Busche, Henry, 574. 
 Business Administration, instruction in, 
 
 500. 
 Butler's Analogy, 52, 53, 55, 120, 133, 
 
 171, 239. 
 
 Caldwell, H. L., 45 5. 
 
 Calisthenics, instruction in, 187, 266, 281, 
 400-1. 
 
 Cap and Gown Society, 373, 510. 
 
 Capps, Joseph, 18-19, 27, 216. 
 
 Capps, Rhoda Tomlin, 258, 307. 
 
 Capps, Stephen, 258, 308. 
 
 Capps Woolen Mills, 21, 258, 261, 363. 
 
 Carnegie, Andrew, gift of, 323-24, 327. 
 
 Carpenter, L. B., 228. 
 
 Carriel, Mary Turner, 247. 
 
 Carter, Elizabeth DeMotte, 366. 
 
 Cartwright, Peter, 4-5, 70, 8 8, 89, 109, 
 124, 140, 153, 170, 240, 252, 444, 575; 
 approves plan for a woman's college, 
 13-14; as founder, 18, 27; sketch of 
 life of, 3 3-36; work of for education, 
 3 5; on the teaching of mathematics, 
 47-48; as agent for funds, 76-77; re- 
 port of on the College, 132-35; con- 
 tributions of to the college debt, 156, 
 157, 158; scholarships in memory of, 
 526. 
 
 Carver, Geneva, 469. 
 
 Catholic Church, 46, 87, 89, 408; offers 
 to purchase college property, 145; and 
 the Self property, 343. 
 
 Centenary Church (East Charge) 1, 26, 
 29-30, 49, 71, 7'3, 88, 107, 205, 214, 
 215, 227, 232, 233, 289, 368, 420, 
 475, 537. 
 
 Centennial, observance of by the College, 
 571-75. 
 
 Centennial of Methodism, and efforts to 
 raise college endowment, 165-66. 
 
 Central Christian Advocate, 17, 36, 107, 
 
 129, 131, 132, 141, 151, 157, 161, 169, 
 176, 201, 203, 227, 229, 255, 321. 
 
 Chaddock College (English and German 
 Academy, Chaddock School for Boys), 
 9, 77, 115, 119, 233, 312, 451. 
 
 Chapel services, 98, 192, 249, 409, 536-37. 
 
 Chapel building, plans for, 537, 572. 
 
 Chapin, T. A., 3 09, 454. 
 
 Charter, of 1847, 23-26; of 1863, 160-62. 
 
 Chemistry, instruction in, 54, 66, 17 1, 
 176, 238-39, 261, 281, 361, 493, 498. 
 
 Chesnut, John A., 13 8, 153, 156, 157, 
 158, 160, 163, 258. 
 
 Christian Evidences (Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity) instruction in, 55, 178-79, 225, 
 239, 358-59. 
 
 Christian Life Committee, 536, 53 8, 5 39. 
 
 Christmas, observances of, 206, 291, 439, 
 540. 
 
 Church, affiliations of students in, 72, 
 410, 537-38. 
 
 Civil War, the College in, 193-201. 
 
 Class attendance, rules on, 547. 
 
 Class Day, 287, 420-21. 
 
 Classes, organization and activities of, 
 280-81, 287-90, 419-22, 551-52; recog- 
 nition of, 421-22, 5 51. 
 
 Cleeland, Xoseph C, 506, 518, 574. 
 
 Cloud, Newton, 24, 143, 156, 15 8. 
 
 Cochran, W. G., 310. 
 
 Coke, Thomas, 4, 5. 
 
 Cokesbury College, 4, 232. 
 
 Cole, Katherine, 354, 382-83, 410. 
 
 Cole, Olena, 562. 
 
 Colean, Helen, 406. 
 
 Colean, Mathilda, 3 84. 
 
 College Band, 507. 
 
 College Choir, 507. 
 
 College Crumbs, 339. 
 
 College Greetings, 148, 245, 251, 317, 318, 
 319, 322, 323, 324, 325, 327, 328, 335, 
 339, 342, 347, 348, 354, 356, 357, 358, 
 359, 363, 364, 365, 366, 372, 379, 380, 
 381, 383, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 392, 
 393, 394, 395, 396, 399, 402, 403, 404, 
 406, 411, 414, 419, 420, 421, 422, 423, 
 424, 425, 428, 429, 432, 437, 468, 470, 
 493, 521, 525, 532, 534, 538, 542, 543, 
 544, 547, 552, 553, 555, 560, 561, 563, 
 565, 566, 568, 569, 570, 571, 574; early 
 history of, 422-24, 5 52; national recog- 
 nition of, 5 52-5 3; change of name of, 
 5 52; special editions of, 5 53; awards 
 of, 553. 
 
 College of Music, 315, 366-69, 375-76. 
 See also Academy of Music and Illinois 
 Conservatory of Music. 
 
 College Rambler, 262, 281. 
 
 College Theatre, 474, 503. 
 
 Colleges for women, early history of, 9-11; 
 
640 History of MacMurray College 
 
 after the Civil War, 217-18, 3 50-51; 
 special needs and problems of, 487-90, 
 555-58. 
 
 Colonial Inn, 417, 420. 
 
 Commencement, in the ante bellum col- 
 lege, 106-9; subjects of graduating 
 essays in, 108, 195-96, 198-99, 263, 289, 
 3 57; slavery question in, 109-14; ad- 
 dresses to graduates in, 199-200, 290, 
 313, 458, 521, 566, 574; under Presi- 
 dents DeMotte and Short, 289-90; 
 under President Harker, 313, 420-21; 
 under President McClelland, 457-58, 
 521, 574-75; in the centennial year, 
 574-75. 
 
 Committee on Education (Education Com- 
 mission) 8, 16-17, 44-48, 115, 129, 143, 
 234, 312, 313, 315, 340. 
 
 Composition, instruction in, 64, 171, 174, 
 179, 238, 357-58. 
 
 Concentration, studies in, 490-93. 
 
 Concert and Lecture Series. See Lectures 
 and Concerts. 
 
 Concord Biblical Institute (Boston Uni- 
 versity), 137, 13 8. 
 
 Conlee, Rosalia, 498. 
 
 Conlee-Kent Cup, 498, 510. 
 
 Contributors to college debt, 1861-62, list 
 of, 156. 
 
 Cooper, Miss A. E., 123. 
 
 Copperheadism, 141, 159. 
 
 Corner Cupboard (Town House) 460, 
 474. 
 
 Cost of instruction, 83, 123-24, 188-89, 
 225, 259, 274-75, 276, 390, 526. 
 
 Cotner, Christine, 373. 
 
 Coultas, Lois, 3 82, 397, 411-12, 429-30. 
 
 Cowgill, Grace, 3 57, 3 81, 397, 409, 414, 
 512. 
 
 Crabtree, Charles, 5 5 8. 
 
 Crabtree, E. E., 309, 363, 454, 469, 475. 
 
 Crabtree, Helen Kitner, 529. 
 
 Crane, Charles A., 311. 
 
 Crane, Frank, 311. 
 
 Crane, Henry, 5 36. 
 
 Crane, J. L., 143, 151, 159, 536. 
 
 Crawford, A. C, 454, 466, 512. 
 
 Crawford, Mrs. A. C, 454, 460, 466, 512. 
 
 Crawford, Lucille, 454. 
 
 Creek, Ellen, 472. 
 
 Crigler, Elizabeth, 48 5. 
 
 Crocker, Sarah, 22. 
 
 Crompton, R. C, 261. 
 
 Crum, Annabel, 364, 478, 500. 
 
 Cummings, A. W., 42, 49. 
 
 Curriculum, organization of, 49-5 8; early 
 expansion of, 52; departmentalization of, 
 63-64, 173-74; under President Andrus 
 and President McCoy, 120-21; under 
 President Adams, 170-72; under Presi- 
 
 dent DeMotte, 23 5-42; under President 
 Short, 258-68; need of advancement of, 
 3 50-51; under President Harker, 3 50- 
 73; distribution of elective and re- 
 quired subjects in, 3 5 5, 490, 493; 
 changes in under President McClelland, 
 490-509. See also separate fields — his- 
 tory, Bible, Latin, etc. 
 
 Dad's Day, institution of, 405; observance 
 of, 534. 
 
 Dancing, rules against, 62, 279-80; in- 
 struction in, 400, 529, 531; faculty and 
 administrative action on, 432; permis- 
 sion of, 432-3 3, 546; as a feature of 
 the social program, 432, 433, 545, 551, 
 559-60, 563-64; types of, 432-33, 563- 
 64; in World War II, 5 59-60. 
 
 Darwin, Charles, 362. 
 
 Dating, rules on, 85, 99-100, 211-12, 279, 
 420, 433, 546. 
 
 Davis, Elizabeth, 3 54. 
 
 Davis, Esther, 339. 
 
 Davis, J. H., 272, 273. 
 
 Davis, Sarah, 123. 
 
 Dawson, Woodson, 394, 436. 
 
 Day, Wallace P., 273, 367, 3 82, 505. 
 
 Day of Prayer, 408, 536, 540. 
 
 Day students. See Town girls. 
 
 Dean, Theodora C. B., 370. 
 
 Debating, instruction in, 370, 503-4; 
 intramural and intercollegiate contests 
 in, 419, 503-5, 517. 
 
 Debating Club, 5 54. 
 
 Degrees: Mistress of Liberal Arts, 57, 58, 
 237, 3 52; Mistress of English Literature, 
 57, 5 8, 237, 3 52; Mistress of Belles 
 Lettres, 261; Bachelor of Arts, 3 52, 3 54, 
 493, 506; Bachelor of Science, 3 52, 
 3 54-5 5; Bachelor of Science in Home 
 Economics, 3 5 5, 363; Bachelor of Music, 
 355, 368, 506; Master of Music, 506, 
 508; Master of Arts, 508; Master of 
 Science, 508; required courses for, 3 55, 
 490, 493; candidates for by subjects, 
 499. 
 
 Delsarte, instruction in system of, 266, 
 274, 383, 401. 
 
 DeMotte, William H, 171, 282, 343, 
 3 81, 456; administration of (and of 
 President Short), 217-96; sketch of 
 life of, 219-23; administrative position 
 and financial policies of, 224-2 5; losses 
 of in fires, 227, 232; educational poli- 
 cies of, 23 5-48; civic activities of, 248- 
 49; later years of, 248-51; attends 
 semi-centennial, 317; endowment of 
 scholarship in honor of, 32 5; Founders' 
 Day address of, 329. 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 641 
 
 DeMotte, Amelia, 247, 250, 456. 
 
 DeMotte, Anna Graves, 243, 247-48, 2 50. 
 
 DeMotte, Catherine Hoover, 220, 222, 
 237, 248, 249, 250, 278. 
 
 DeMotte, Frances, 250. 
 
 Dent, Thomas, gift from library of, 366. 
 
 DeRoover, Florence, 496, 5 56, 5 57. 
 
 Design Studio, 501. 
 
 Dever, Hannah, 321-22, 346. 
 
 Dewey, Grace, 271. 
 
 DeWees, S. S., 258, 308. 
 
 DeWitt, Cyrus L., 466. 
 
 DeWolfe, Jennie, 182-83. 
 
 Dickens, James H, 13-16, 45, 113, 382-83. 
 
 Dickson, Mary, 272, 279-80, 325, 3 82. 
 
 Dillon, Susie Brown, 307. 
 
 Dimmitt, Delia, 423. 
 
 Dollear, Albert H., 45 5. 
 
 Domestic Economy, instruction in, 54, 
 172, 23 8. See also Home Economics. 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., 20. 
 
 Dramatic Club, 370. See also MacMurray 
 Players. 
 
 Dress, rules on, 84, 431, 546-47; references 
 to, 90, 210; styles in, 100, 422, 434, 
 568; for commencement, 107-8, 210, 
 421; comments of Peter Cartwright on, 
 134. 
 
 Dresser, Charlotte, 265, 284. 
 
 "Dress Reform Convention," 184. 
 
 Dumville, Ann, 86, 136, 156; speaks 
 before conference in behalf of the Col- 
 lege, 145-48; sketch of life of, 146-47. 
 
 Dumville, Hepzibah (Eppie), letters of, 
 86-90, 95-96, 100, 105, 132, 149, 151, 
 186, 196; referred to, 91, 92, 342, 570. 
 
 Dumville, Jemima, 86, 92, 147. 
 
 Duncan, Joseph, 20, 24. 
 
 Dunlap, Knight, 459. 
 
 Dwight, Mary, 271-72. 
 
 Dysinger, W. S., 478, 479, 481, 486. 
 
 Ebenezer Manual Labor School, 7-8, 16, 
 
 32, 37, 137-38. 
 Ebey, Faithful Shipley. See Faithful 
 
 Shipley. 
 Economics (political economy), instruc- 
 tion in, 55-56, 171, 239, 261, 359-60, 
 
 495-96. 
 Eddy, Louise Gates, 381, 410-11, 455, 456, 
 
 539, 562, 572. 
 Eddy, Sherwood, 447, 516, 519, 520, 
 
 539, 557. 
 Education, instruction in, 263, 351, 352, 
 
 354, 497-98. 
 Education of Females in Early Illinois, 
 
 9-10, 573. 
 Ehnie's, 393. 
 Eichenauer, Charles F., 454, 513, 516, 
 
 556, 557. 
 
 Elizabeth Rearick Sportsmanship Trophy, 
 533. 
 
 Elliott, Charles, 151-52, 153. 
 
 Elocution, instruction in, 265-66, 274, 
 3 83, 401. See also Speech. 
 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, a student's com- 
 ment on lecture of, 97-98; Representa- 
 tive Men of not approved for student 
 use, 98. 
 
 Endowment, efforts to secure, 165-66, 254- 
 58, 314-41; funds of, 334, 335, 340, 
 457, 466, 475-77. 
 
 Endowment Foundation, 328. 
 
 English, Merle N., 3 37-38, 45 5. 
 
 English language and literature, instruc- 
 tion in, 55, 120, 171, 179, 181-82, 238, 
 245-46, 260, 3 57-58, 492, 493-94. 
 
 Enrollment, 5 0; academic distribution of, 
 57-58, 121, 187-88, 259-60, 351, 385, 
 522-23; geographic distribution of, 81- 
 82, 188, 275, 385-87, 523-26; family 
 and class distribution of, 91-92, 194, 
 274-75, 3 89-90, 523-24; nationalities 
 in, 92, 275, 526; drop in, 188, 259-60, 
 462; efforts to build, 3 52-53, 3 8 5, 522; 
 foreign students in, 3 89, 524-2 5; in 
 later 1920's, 457, 460, 462; during the 
 depression of the 193 0's, 467; increase 
 of, 522; selection of, 522. 
 
 Eskridge, Eleanor Belle, 197. 
 
 Esparza, Ruth, 373, 3 89. 
 
 Euthenics, course in, 495. 
 
 Eventide Memories, 298, 300, 301, 303, 
 304, 323, 351, 366, 378, 425, 443, 573. 
 
 Examinations, 82-83, 132-33, 178-79, 189, 
 211, 270, 281, 391, 491. 
 
 Faculty, salaries of, 60-61, 121-22, 243, 
 
 268, 176-77, 482; size of, 62, 121-22, 
 173, 243, 268, 373-74, 481-82; propor- 
 tion of men and women on, 62-63, 173, 
 243, 268, 374, 481; regulations of the 
 Board of Trustees on the conduct of 
 members of, 62; qualifications of, 63, 
 
 269, 374-76, 482; geographical distri- 
 bution of, 63, 173, 269, 375-76, 482; 
 organization and meetings of, 63, 174, 
 243, 378-79, 483; some members of, 
 65-71, 122-23, 179-83, 185-86, 187, 
 243-48, 269-74, 356, 357, 359, 360, 
 361, 371-72, 379-85, 478, 481, 484-87, 
 496, 500-1, 502, 506-7, 527; length of 
 service of, 65, 121, 133, 180, 243, 376, 
 484-85; alumnae on, 69-70, 123, 173, 
 180, 243, 270, 271, 375, 379, 482; 
 recommendation of to the Board of 
 Trustees, 318, 319; service of in 
 counseling students, 481; ranking of, 
 481; retirement plan for, 482; activities 
 of, 482-83, 537; party of for students, 
 
642 History of MacMurray College 
 
 483-84; curriculum studies of, 487-88, 
 
 490. 
 Faculty House (Brick House), 464, 474. 
 Fay, Emily Allan, 307. 
 Fees. See Cost of Instruction. 
 Fenne, Grace, 5 52-53. 
 Ferreira, Marie (Mrs. Crux), 275, 28 5, 
 
 411, 572. 
 Field, Marshall (III), 521. 
 Fine Arts Institute, 517-18. 
 Finley, Esther, 179, 180, 246. 
 Finley, Helen, 123. 
 Finley, J. C, 45, 246. 
 Fire, of 1861, 148-53; of 1870, 225-27; 
 
 of 1872, 231-35; of 1929, 461-62. 
 Fisk, Wilbur, 5, 12, 68, 137. 
 Flint, Mary, 178, 180. 
 Fogler, Ann Scott, 456. 
 Food, 94, 197-98, 203, 206, 209, 210, 
 
 277', 399, 437, 527, 569. 
 Forman, Raymond L., 458, 473. 
 Forward, Ophelia, 244, 247. 
 Forward Educational Movement, 328, 
 
 331-34. 
 Foundations of Science, course in, 498. 
 Founders, 26-40; of 1862 ("Second 
 
 founders"), 153-59. 
 Founders' Day, 1, 26, 328-29, 455, 574. 
 Fraley, Elizabeth Simpson, 246. 
 Fraser, Margaret, 478. 
 French, A. W., 23, 43, 83. 
 French, instruction in, 51, 52, 120, 171, 
 
 237-3 8, 246-47, 260, 3 57, 492, 494. 
 French Club, 394, 395. 
 Freshman Class, 422, 5 51, 5 52. See also 
 
 Classes. 
 Freshman Societies, 5 50-51. 
 Fruit, Irene, 373. 
 Funk, Gertrude, 476. 
 
 Gage, Francis, 49, 97. 
 
 Gamble, Mrs. M. C, 456. 
 
 Gamper, Frieda, 485, 486, 495. 
 
 Gardner, Hulda, 69. 
 
 Gates, Ellen DeMotte, 246, 250, 441, 5 50, 
 
 Gay, Ruth, 501. 
 
 General Conference, of 1820, on educa- 
 tion, 5; of 1892, on the educational 
 fund, 312. 
 
 General Education Board, gift of, 336, 341, 
 466. 
 
 General Education in a Free Society, 2. 
 
 Geology, instruction in, 54, 71, 171, 239, 
 361, 362. 
 
 German, instruction in, 52, 55, 120, 122, 
 171, 237-38, 246-47, 260, 271, 280, 
 351, 356-57, 494-95. 
 
 German Club, 3 57', 494-95. 
 
 Gibbs, Harriet, 186. 
 
 Gibson, Harold E., 478, 503-4, 522. 
 
 Gilchrist, Maude, 3 80, 480. 
 
 Gildersleeve, Eliza, 243, 244. 
 
 Gillett, C. P., 309. 
 
 Gillett, Lucy, 399. 
 
 Gist, Annie Reavis, 307. 
 
 Gist, Lillian Hurlburt, 247, 572, 574-75. 
 
 Glee Club, 368, 3 84. See also College 
 Choir. 
 
 Godard, Alice, 205. 
 
 Goebel, Elizabeth Mathers, 456. 
 
 Goldsmith, Margaret, 397. 
 
 Grace Church, 247-48, 284, 289, 420, 
 537, 570. 
 
 Graduate House, 474. 
 
 Graduate studies, division of, 507-9; de- 
 grees granted in, 508-9; some theses 
 prepared in, 509; positions held by 
 graduates of, 509. 
 
 Gray, Helen Barber, 487, 496. 
 
 Great Books, course in, 494. 
 
 Greek, instruction in, 52, 55, 120, 121, 
 123, 171, 260, 351, 356, 494. 
 
 Green, Dwight, 521. 
 
 Green, Hugh, 45 5. 
 
 Greenwalt, Doris, 53 3. 
 
 Greetings Extra, 424. 
 
 Greetings Quarterly, 424, 553. 
 
 Grierson, Benjamin, 22, 73, 474-75. 
 
 Grierson House, 474-75. 
 
 Griffith, Alice McElroy, 72, 82, 91, 92-93, 
 99, 101, 102, 258, 308, 441. 
 
 Grimmett, C. C, 310. 
 
 Grubb, Sophronia Naylor, 48-49, 58-60, 
 80, 90, 94, 412, 441. 
 
 Guidance and counseling, program of, 
 479-81; commended by North Central 
 Association of Colleges, 481. 
 
 Guthrie, Martha Leaton, 226, 227. 
 
 Gymkhana, 529. 
 
 Gymnasium, 242, 345, 401; plans for, 
 322-23; construction of, 33 5, 336, 348- 
 49; opening of, 405; fire in, 461; 
 restoration of, 462; enlargement of, 
 468; named Hardtner, 468-69. 
 
 Gymnastics, instruction in, 172, 187, 242, 
 265, 266, 400-1, 407, 527-28. 
 
 Hairgrove, J. \V., 309, 448, 460. 
 
 Hall, W. E., 310. 
 
 Halverson, H. M., 508. 
 
 Hamill, E. J., 2 5 5, 2 56. 
 
 Hamill, S. S., 265-66. 
 
 Hampton, Volney, 5 5 8. 
 
 Ham's, 460, 547, 570. 
 
 Hanbac, Amanda Harnsberger, 3 30, 412. 
 
 Handler, J. W., 3 3 3, 3 3 8. 
 
 Hansen, Howard, 502. 
 
 Harder, Vema M., 574. 
 
 Hardin, John J., 20, 22-23, 73. 
 
History of MacMurray College 643 
 
 Hardtner Gymnasium, 468-69. See also 
 Gymnasium. 
 
 Harker, Frances Wackerle, 302, 31 J, 
 437, 442. 
 
 Harker, Joseph R., manuscript history of 
 the College quoted, 8; administration 
 of, 297-443; Eventide Memories of, 298; 
 sketch of life of, 298-304; contract of 
 with the Board of Trustees, 304-5; 
 financial problems and policies of, 314- 
 4 1 ; endowment of professorship in 
 honor of, 325; trips to Europe, 333, 
 442; twenty-fifth anniversary of as 
 president, 336; educational ideas of, 3 51- 
 52; as a teacher, 361, 379-80; chapel 
 services of, 409; and the literary so- 
 cieties, 416, 417-18; and student gov- 
 ernment, 427-34; retires from presi- 
 dency, 442; as president emeritus, 442- 
 43; referred to, 449, 453, 455, 479, 574. 
 
 Harker Hall, construction of, 327; de- 
 scription and name of, 347-48; improve- 
 ments in, 468. 
 
 Harmon, Ella, 180. 
 
 Harris, H. H, 310. 
 
 Hasenstab, Beatrice, 373. 
 
 Haweis, Gertrude W., 466. 
 
 Hawkins, Roma, 469, 477, 479, 480, 484, 
 538, 539, 568. 
 
 Hay, Lula, 384, 485, 512. 
 
 Health, 98, 187, 204; rules on, 398-99; 
 provisions for in I.W.C., 399-400; in- 
 struction in, 400, 403; program of in 
 MacMurray, 526-38. See also Physical 
 Education and Sports. 
 
 Health Center, 474, 527. 
 
 Health Department, 527. 
 
 "Heart Sister Week," 480, 540. 
 
 Hefrer, Pat, 524. 
 
 Heinl, Frank, 344, 363, 440. 
 
 Hemphill, Chester A., 3 54, 45 5. 
 
 Hemphill, Jeannette Taylor, 3 54. 
 
 Hendrickson, Walter B., 496, 5 57. 
 
 Henry, Empo, 485. 
 
 Hess, Fjeril, 397, 404, 405, 410, 429-30. 
 
 Hetherlin, Esther, 395. 
 
 Hewes, Eliza, 187. 
 
 Hillis, Mary, 498, 511. 
 
 Hinrichsen, Annie, 361, 412, 438. 
 
 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois, 251. 
 
 History, instruction in, 55-56, 171, 239, 
 260, 3 59-60, 492, 496-97. 
 
 History Club, 395-96, 496. 
 
 Hobbs, R. C. H, 276. 
 
 Hobbs, R. G., 311, 320. 
 
 Hoffler, Othmar, 470. 
 
 Hogan, John, 124. 
 
 Hogan, Sophia Boogher, 124. 
 
 Holcombe, Ray, 502. 
 
 Holmswood, Eleanor, 322, 403, 404. 
 Home Economics, instruction in, 362-63, 
 499-500. See also Domestic Economy. 
 Home Economics Club, 500. 
 Home Management House, 363, 474. 
 Honor Society, 509-10. 
 Honors Chapel, 510. 
 Hook, Frances, 345, 437. 
 Horsburgh, Beatrice, 3 83. 
 Horton, Donald, 5 5 8. 
 Howard Academy, 9, 70. 
 Hoyt, Alice, 272. 
 Hub, The, 470-71. 
 Hughes, Edwin H, 462, 536. 
 Humphrey, Elizabeth, 506, 574. 
 Hutchinson, J. E., 310. 
 
 Illinois Annual Conference, early educa- 
 tional plans of, 7-8; establishes I.C.F.C., 
 12-19; on woman's education, 44-48; 
 and the financial crisis of the College, 
 128-30, 142-46; reports of visitors from 
 on the College, 132-3 5, 256; and the 
 charter of 1863, 160, 161; and the 
 Centennial of Methodism, 165-66; and 
 the College, 218, 234, 254-56, 297, 312- 
 13, 315, 318, 331-34, 337-41, 450-51, 
 466; authorizes campaign for chapel, 
 572; sessions of at the College, 575. 
 
 Illinois College, 7, 19, 22, 23, 52, 68, 70, 
 72, 75, 91, 96, 99, 102, 104, 105, 106, 
 109, 110, 114, 117, 118, 141, 148-49, 
 150, 152, 173, 175, 178, 193, 196, 202, 
 210-11, 261, 262, 267, 288, 293, 294, 
 303, 356, 369, 381, 391, 393, 402, 421, 
 497, 505, 532, 570. 
 
 Illinois Conference Female Academy (and 
 College), foundation of, 1, 11-19; back- 
 ground of, 3-11; charter of, 23-26; 
 relations of with Conference, 25; 
 founders of, 26-40; under President 
 Jaquess, 40-117; course of study of, 
 49-5 8; change of to College, 50-51; 
 faculty of, 60-71, 122-23; building for, 
 71-81; financial problems and policies 
 of, 75-77, 124-30, 142-45; under Presi- 
 dent Andrus and President McCoy, 117- 
 35; report of Cartwrigljt on, 132-35; 
 under President Adams, 136-63; fire 
 destroys west wing of, 148-53; payment 
 of debts of, 15 3-59; rechartered as 
 I.F.C., 159-63. See also Illinois Female 
 College, etc. 
 
 Illinois Conference Female College, foun- 
 dation of, 50. See also Illinois Con- 
 ference Female Academy and Illinois 
 Female College. 
 
 Illinois Conservatory of Music, foundation 
 of, 505; instruction in, 505-7; degrees 
 
644 History of MacMurray College 
 
 granted by, 506; Centennial programs 
 of, 574. 
 
 Illinois Female College, foundation of, 
 159-63; under President Adams, 159- 
 216; financial problems and policies of, 
 163-69, 223-35, 254-58, 314-20; west 
 wing of rebuilt, 164-65; academic pro- 
 gram of, 169-72, 23 5-48, 258-68; in 
 the Civil War, 193-201; under Presi- 
 dent DeMotte, 217-51; losses of by 
 fire, 225-34; under President Short, 
 251-96; under President Harker, 297- 
 320; semi-centennial of, 316-18; be- 
 comes Illinois Woman's College, 319-20. 
 
 Illinois Federation of Colleges, 447; meet- 
 ings of at MacMurray, 464, 574. 
 
 Illinois Wesley an University, 77, 118, 165, 
 174-75, 217-18, 230-31, 252, 254-55, 
 312, 328, 331, 337, 338. 
 
 Illinois Woman's College, financial history 
 of under Dr. Harker, 314-41; academic 
 recognition of, 327, 336; 75th anniver- 
 sary of, 3 36; physical expansion of, 
 341-50; academic program of, 3 50-73; 
 in World War I, 319-97; religious 
 program of, 407-14; student govern- 
 ment in, 425-34; under President Mc- 
 Clelland, 444-63; name of changed to 
 MacMurray College, 463. See also 
 MacMurray College. 
 
 Illinois Woman's College Guild, 366. 
 
 llliwoco, 3 86, 3 87, 390, 422, 429, 523, 
 528, 536; early history of, 424-25; 
 character of, 5 53-54; national recog- 
 nition of, 5 54; centennial issue of, 574. 
 
 Indiana Asbury University (DePauw), 42, 
 71, 119, 126, 220. 
 
 Indiana Club, 33 3, 3 86-87, 523. 
 
 Infirmary, 398, 399-400, 468. See also 
 Health Center. 
 
 Inkspirations, 494, 5 53. 
 
 Institutes on Public Affairs, 447, 454, 513- 
 18, 536, 554. 
 
 International Relations Club, 496-97, 518, 
 5 54, 5 57. 
 
 Iowa Club, 3 86. 
 
 Irwin, Mac, 455. 
 
 Irwin, Will, description of Jacksonville 
 by, 23. 
 
 Jackson, Mercy, 28 5. 
 
 Jacksonville, choice of as site for College, 
 17-19; early history of, 19-23; social 
 distinctions in, 18, 20, 73; and the 
 Conferences of 1860, 20, 145; com- 
 ments on, 23, 86-87, 213, 214-15, 468; 
 and the College, 72, 96, 211-12, 219, 
 241-42, 248-49, 261, 273, 280-82, 346, 
 352, 360, 363, 368-69, 371, 387-88, 
 
 413, 437, 438, 439, 440, 447', 500, 507- 
 8, 509, 513, 521, 523, 537, 540, 550, 
 5 59, 560, 569-70; students from, 81-82, 
 188, 259, 387-88, 523; and the com- 
 mencement "season," 106-7, 212-13, 
 289-90; and the slavery question, 109- 
 10; and the financial crisis of the Col- 
 lege in 1857, 129; fire companies of, 
 149, 226, 231; contributions of citizens 
 of to College, 332-34, 339, 458, 572. 
 
 Jacksonville Club, 523, 560. See also 
 Town girls. 
 
 Jacksonville Female Academy, offers to 
 sell property to I.F.C.A., 17-18, 73-74; 
 referred to, 22, 38, 39, 65-66, 69, 91, 
 141, 174-75, 189, 240, 346, 367, 505. 
 
 Jacksonville Journal, 139, 150, 161-63, 
 165, 169, 176, 179, 182, 183, 184, 186, 
 187, 190, 191, 197, 198, 201, 210, 211, 
 212, 213, 215, 225, 226, 228, 229, 230, 
 231, 232, 233, 234, 241, 242, 249, 262, 
 266, 280, 284, 285, 288, 289, 291, 293. 
 
 Jacksonville Public Library, 366, 426-27. 
 
 James, Colin D., 143, 153-54, 156, 158, 
 160, 164, 182, 308, 366, 532-33. 
 
 James, Edmund J., 154, 182, 308, 366, 
 453, 532. 
 
 Jane Hall, dedication of, 462; description 
 of, 463-64; comment of educational 
 experts on, 465; additions to, 471. 
 
 Janes, Bishop, 74. 
 
 Jaquess, James F., administration of, 1- 
 117; Cartwright on, 3 5; sketch of life 
 of, 42-44; educational policy of, 48; 
 trip of to East, 57, 64; relations of with 
 faculty and Board, 63; as teacher, 66; 
 introduces plan of perpetual scholar- 
 ships, 77, 127; farewell sermon of, 107; 
 and the slavery question, 109-14; resig- 
 nation of, 114; contributions of, 114-15; 
 in the Civil War, 115-16; later years 
 of, 116-17; attends semi-centennial, 317; 
 endowment of scholarship in memory 
 of, 325; residence hall named for, 474. 
 
 Jaquess, Sarah Steele, 43, 61, 66-67, 95. 
 
 Johnston, Erma Elliott, 45 5. 
 
 Johnston, H. W., 261, 3 56. 
 
 Johnston, Mary, 356, 381, 386, 388, 460, 
 483, 484-85, 486, 492, 510, 511, 546, 
 567. 
 
 Jones, Hiram K., 21, 91, 261. 
 
 Jones, Sarita, 373, 3 89, 524. 
 
 Jubilee Greetings, 316-17, 32 5, 422. 
 
 Junior Class, 281, 287, 288, 419-22, 551- 
 52. See also Classes. 
 
 Kearns, John, 3 36, 512. 
 Kendall, Rae Lewis, 456, 466, 475. 
 Keplinger, Henrietta, 104-5, 199. 
 Kculcnthal, Louisa, 122. 
 
 
History of MacMurray College 645 
 
 Kidder, Amanda, 3 82. 
 
 Kimball, Elsa, 486, 496. 
 
 Kindergarten, 263, 497. 
 
 King, Audrey, 511. 
 
 King, Emma, 181. 
 
 King, Lillian Woods (Osborne), 307, 329, 
 
 349. 
 King, Mary, 150, 151, 181. 
 Kirkpatrick, Myra, 412. 
 Kitchell, Mary F., 512-13. 
 Knapp, Florence E. S., 457-58. 
 Knight, Eva, 466. 
 Knopf, Nellie, 347, 371-72, 378, 381, 394, 
 
 484, 500-1, 525. 
 Kolp, Lucy Dimmett, 3 84. 
 Koscialowski, N., 78. 
 Koscialowski, Sophia, 78, 92. 
 Kreider, Phoebe, 3 82. 
 Kroeger, E. R., 375, 3 84. 
 Kuhl, Lizzie, 206, 527. 
 Kumler, J. A., 311. 
 
 Laboratories, beginnings of, 64, 152, 176; 
 under President DeMotte and Presi- 
 dent Short, 242, 261, 281; under Presi- 
 dent Harker, 361-62, 363, 3 81-82; 
 under President McClelland, 459, 465, 
 474, 508, 512-13. 
 
 Ladies Association for Educating Females 
 (Education Society of Jacksonville), 22, 
 83, 248, 275. 
 
 Ladies' Repository, 6, 88, 139, 253. 
 
 Lake Matanzas, 427, 436. 
 
 Lake Mauvaisterre, 530, 532. 
 
 Lambda Alpha Mu, 416-17, 459, 548, 
 549, 5 50. See also Literary Societies. 
 
 Lambert, Belle Short, 147, 248-49, 253-54, 
 264, 277, 307, 329-30, 331, 391, 439, 
 441, 455. 
 
 Landis, Martha Byland, 456, 561. 
 
 Larimore, Delia Mae, 411. 
 
 Larimore, Lydia, 258. 
 
 Larimore, Myrtle, 485. 
 
 Larimore, T. J., 156, 157, 15 8. 
 
 Latard, Mile. F., 247, 2-83. 
 
 Lathrop, Carrie, 272. 
 
 Latin, instruction in, 51, 52, 120, 171, 
 179, 239, 260, 261, 280, 356, 492, 494. 
 
 Lazelle, Rena, 3 84. 
 
 League of Women Voters, 542, 566. 
 
 Leaton, James, 13, 14, 113, 118-19, 146. 
 
 Lectures and concerts, at the Opera House, 
 183-84, 267-68, 281, 282, 369; college 
 series of, 369, 370-71, 372, 518-22. 
 
 Lennox, H. J., 478. 
 
 Leonard, Belle, 233, 246. 
 
 Lewis, Dio, 98, 187, 400. 
 
 Li, Sylvianne, 52 5. 
 
 Library, beginnings of, 64-65; the trustees 
 solicit donations for, 123; under Presi- 
 
 dent Adams, 174-75; under President 
 DeMotte and President Short, 242; 
 Strawn gift to, 346; under President 
 Harker, 364-66; Pfeiffer gift to, 471; 
 expansion of under President McClelland, 
 471, 511-12. See also Pfeiffer Library. 
 
 Liebling, Emil, 375, 402. 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, 24, 30, 43, 91, 92, 
 93, 116, 126, 200, 222, 469, 521. 
 
 Linden wood College, 529, 533. 
 
 Line, Carrie Elizabeth, 3 81-82, 406. 
 
 Literary Societies, halls of, 78, 104, 105-6, 
 151, 286, 345, 347-48, 415, 459; origin 
 and organization of, 102-6; first public 
 exhibition of, 103; programs of, 103, 
 105-6, 205, 345, 391-92, 402, 415-16, 
 548-49; subjects of essays and debates 
 in, 106, 286, 390, 391, 392, 402, 409, 
 416; interest of alumnae in, 131, 285-86, 
 414; Cartwright on programs of, 133; 
 and the fire of 1861, 151; libraries of, 
 151-52, 242, 286; from 1868 to 1893, 
 28 5-87; problems of the administration 
 on, 414-19; contributions of to college 
 life, 414-16, 548-49; social activities of, 
 417, 419, 549-51; recent history of, 
 547-51. See also Belles Lettres, Phi 
 Nu, etc. 
 
 Literary Union, 39, 249, 282. 
 
 Lollis, D. H., 310. 
 
 Luce, Mrs. F. H., 316. 
 
 Ludwig, Ella, 3 57. 
 
 Lurton, James, 37, 128-29, 153, 156, 157, 
 158, 186, 342. 
 
 Lurton, Joanna, 37, 185-86, 187', 342-43. 
 
 Lurton lots, the, 318, 342-43, 345. 
 
 Lyon, Mary, 10, 142. 
 
 MacDonald, Mrs. M. A., 272, 285, 292. 
 
 MacMurray, Donald, 453, 464, 470. 
 
 MacMurray, James E., as president of the 
 Board, 306, 308, 452-53; gifts of to 
 the College, 349, 433, 452, 458, 460, 
 462, 465, 468, 471, 476; sketch of life 
 of, 451-52; interest of in the College, 
 452-5 3; contributes to Science Hall, 
 45 8; gives Jane Hall and McClelland 
 Hall, 462; name of given to College, 
 463; gives improved heating plant, 465; 
 gives Ann Rutledge, 468-69; portrait 
 of presented to the College, 470; gives 
 addition to Jane Hall, 471; lays corner- 
 stone of Pfeiffer Library, 472; gift of 
 to endowment, 476; scholarships in 
 memory of, 526. 
 
 MacMurray, Jane, 349, 453, 459-60, 512. 
 
 MacMurray, Kathryn, 453, 456, 561. 
 
 MacMurray College for Women, change 
 of name to, 463; physical expansion of, 
 463-77; expansion and improvement of 
 
646 History of MacMurray College 
 
 campus of, 465-66, 468, 475; financial 
 history of, 466-68, 472, 475-77; Pre- 
 Centennial Forward Movement for, 471- 
 72; Twenty-Year Development Plan for 
 completed, 47' 6-77; administrative or- 
 ganization of, 477-81; faculty of, 481- 
 87; educational program of, 487-513; 
 introduces graduate studies, 507-9; holds 
 Institutes on Public Affairs, 513-18; 
 health and physical education in, 526- 
 3 5; religious life in, 5 3 5-41; evolution 
 of student government in, 541-47; and 
 World War II, 5 54-62; second Twenty- 
 Year Plan of, 571-72; celebrates Cen- 
 tennial, 571-75. 
 
 MacMurray Players, 502. 
 
 MacMurray Science Hall, erection of, 458; 
 description of, 459; comment of edu- 
 cational experts on, 465. 
 
 "MacMurray Survey," 568-69. 
 
 "MacMurray Through The Years," 574. 
 
 Macquatic Club, 529, 534. 
 
 Madrigal Club, 368, 507, 518. 
 
 Mahany, Helen, 529. 
 
 Maehara, Oei, 52 5. 
 
 Maids' Cottage, 436. 
 
 Main Building, erection of, 71-81; west 
 wing added to, 77-78; description of, 
 77-78, 229-30, 234; student recollec- 
 tions of, 80, 202-3; west wing of 
 burned, 148-53; west wing of rebuilt, 
 164-65; improvement of grounds of, 
 201-2, 224, 276-77, 343-44, 475; re- 
 pairs and refurnishings of, 224-25, 
 277-78, 344-45, 468; fires in (1870, 
 1872), 22 5-34j rebuilding of, 227-30, 
 234-35; additions to, 318, 321, 344-66; 
 new porch for, 475; as college center, 
 570; tuck-pointing of walls of, 571. 
 
 Mandolin Club, 283. 
 
 Mann, Horace, 54. 
 
 Mardi Gras Festival, 494, 564. 
 
 Martin, Elizabeth Blackburn, 309-10, 485. 
 
 Martin, Esther Ludwig, 382, 397, 411-12. 
 
 Martin, J. L., 111. 
 
 Martin, Miriam MacMurray, 453, 456. 
 
 Masters, Edgar Lee, 180, 2 52. 
 
 Mathematics, instruction in, 54, 120, 133, 
 171, 207, 238-39, 245, 361, 498. 
 
 Matheny, N. W., 40, 126. 
 
 Mathers, John, 26, 39-40, 73, 109, 111- 
 12, 126, 128, 129, 130, 132, 143-44, 
 153, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 163, 
 165, 234, 258, 293. 
 
 Mathers, Mrs. John, 275. 
 
 Mathers, Wesley, 40. See also The Wes- 
 ley Mathers Prize. 
 
 Matthews', 569-70. 
 
 May Day Festival, 39 5, 404; institution 
 of, 405-7; themes of, 406-7, 534-35; 
 
 Student Council on, 428-29; student 
 comments on, 534-3 5. 
 
 McCarthy, F. C, 311. 
 
 McClelland, Carol, 553. 
 
 McClelland, Charles P., granted Doctor 
 of Laws degree, 445; donates Bowling 
 Green, 445, 474. 
 
 McClelland, Clarence P., convocation 
 address of, 584; monograph of, The Edu- 
 cation of Females in Early Illinois, 9-10; 
 choice of as president, 442; on Dr. 
 Harker, 443; administration of, 444- 
 575; sketch of life of, 445-49; trips of 
 to Europe, 447; addresses of, 447, 452, 
 5 51, 564-65; writings of, 447-48, 452, 
 496, 574; and the Board of Trustees, 
 449-50; and Mr. MacMurray, 453; 
 physical expansion of the College under, 
 456-477; inauguration of, 457-58; in- 
 troduces Twenty-Year Plan, 458; and 
 the fire of 1929, 461-62; recommends 
 change of name of the College, 463 ; 
 and the depression of the 1930s, 467-68, 
 564-65; completes the Twenty- Year 
 Plan, 476-77; expansion of administra- 
 tive organization under, 477-81; aca- 
 demic evolution under, 487-513; educa- 
 tional ideas and policies of, 488-89, 
 490-91; teaches course in Modern 
 Religious Problems, 49 5; and building 
 the enrollment, 522; on the education 
 of women in wartime, 5 5 5-56, 557; 
 second Twenty- Year Plan of, 571-72; 
 and the Centennial of MacMurray, 
 574-75. 
 
 McClelland, George W., 446. 
 
 McClelland, Mary E., 446, 447', 448, 461, 
 462, 478, 479, 574. 
 
 McClelland Hall, erection of, 462; de- 
 scription and uses of, 464-65. 
 
 McClintock, Marian, F. J., 459, 536. 
 
 McCoy, Asa S., 95, 156, 158; administra- 
 tion of, 117-13 5; sketch of life of, 119- 
 20; endowment of scholarship in 
 memory of, 32 5; residence hall named 
 for, 474. 
 
 McCullough, Emily, 492. 
 
 McDowell, W. F., 329, 334. 
 
 McElfrcsh, G. R. S., 8, 15-16, 29, 74, 
 148, 258, 310. 
 
 McElfresh, John, 15, 16, 310. 
 
 McElfresh, William McK., 17, 310, 318- 
 19, 320. 
 
 McFarland, J. T., 365. 
 
 McKendrce College, 7, 8, 13, 14, 23, 32, 
 38, 42, 45, 99, 106, 118, 126, 139, 152, 
 154, 174-75, 217-18, 252, 323, 380. 
 
 McGchce, Mahala, 48 5, 517. 
 
 McKinley, Virginia Pierson, 562, 566. 
 
 McLaughlin, Laura, 382. 
 
History of Mac Murray College 647 
 
 McOmber, Miriam, 3 39. 
 
 Mead, Elizabeth, 69. 
 
 Meadows, Flora (Mrs. Theodore Laning), 
 
 270-71. 
 Melton, Frances, 572. 
 Melton, Mary, 285, 411. 
 Melville, Ruth, 521. 
 Memory books, 101, 460. 
 Mental Philosophy, instruction in, 51, 56, 
 179, 239, 270, 361. See also Psychology. 
 Mercer, Mary Callahan, 307. 
 Merrigan's, 403, 438, 569-70. 
 Metcalf, A. C, 306, 310, 377, 380, 385, 
 
 395, 454, 477, 478, 479. 
 Meteorology, instruction in, 54, 171. 
 Methodist Board of Education, 323, 3 36, 
 
 353, 465. 
 Methodist Book Concern, 6, 365. 
 Methodist Church, and education, 3-9. 
 Methodist University Senate, approves aca- 
 demic work of the College, 3 53. 
 Methodist Quarterly Review, 6, 33, 139, 
 
 140. 
 Mexican War, and the College, 193-94. 
 Michaels, Rena, 290. 
 Mihara, Lillie, 52 5. 
 Miller, Louise, 3 84. 
 
 Milburn, Nicholas, 18-19, 26-27, 37, 39, 
 72, 75, 96, 111, 126, 156, 158, 216, 
 293. 
 Milburn, W. H., 30, 39, 75-76, 88, 89, 
 
 108, 261, 265, 407, 409, 439. 
 Milligan, H. W., 261. 
 Miner, Helen, 399, 567. 
 Mineralogy, instruction in, 54, 64, 152, 
 
 171. 
 Minnesota Club, 3 3 3, 386. 
 Missionary Society, 28 5, 410. 
 Missouri Club, 3 86. 
 Mitchell, Emma, 411. 
 Modern Religious Problems, course in, 495, 
 
 536. 
 Montgomery, James, 161. 
 Monticello Seminary (College), 3, 174-75, 
 
 188-89, 529, 533. 
 Moody, D wight L., 2 50. 
 Moore, Clara, 3 84. 
 Moore, Hazel, 373. 
 Moore, J. H., 124, 129-30, 203-4. 
 Moore, Lottie, 28 5. 
 Moral Philosophy, instruction in, 56, 178- 
 
 79, 239, 270, 358. 
 Morgan, Bessie, 397. 
 Morgan County, 19, 38, 70, 251, 559. 
 Morgan County Historical Society, 447, 
 492. 
 ' Morgan Journal, 70, 111. 
 Morgan Lake, 281, 362. 
 Morrison, Charles, 574. 
 Mothershead, Amy, 380-81, 417, 431, 480. 
 
 Mount, Genevieve, 478, 510, 573. 
 
 Mount Holyoke Seminary (College), 83, 
 375, 376. 
 
 Music Hall, plans for, 264, 323, 326; erec- 
 tion of, 326, 343, 346-47; uses of, 346- 
 47, 348, 420, 501, 505, 506; dedication 
 of, 347. 
 
 Music, instruction in, 5 3, 61, 121, 172, 
 176, 184-87, 239-41, 260, 263-64, 272- 
 73, 281, 366-69, 505-7, 517. 
 
 Nate, J. C, 3 31. 
 
 Natural Philosophy, instruction in, 51, 53, 
 54, 68, 171, 239, 261, 280, 361. See 
 also Physics. 
 
 Natural Sciences, instruction in, 51, 52, 
 54, 176, 239, 361. See also Botany, etc. 
 
 Neville, Ruby (Mrs. Charles Berlin), 3 59, 
 381, 392, 409, 414, 487. 
 
 Newman, Benjamin, 76, 111. 
 
 Nichols, Elisabeth, 48 5, 493. 
 
 Nichols, S. W., 42, 409, 439. 
 
 Nichols Park, 378, 386-7, 405, 532. 
 
 Nixon, Lizzie Dunlap, 3 07. 
 
 Norbury, F. Garm, 527. 
 
 Norbury, Patty, 567. 
 
 Normal course, 263, 3 52-53, 3 54. 
 
 North Central Association of Colleges, ac- 
 credits work of the College, 3 53; com- 
 mends the guidance program, 481. 
 
 Northern Cross Railroad, 92-93. 
 
 Northminster Presbyterian Church, gives 
 books to the library, 512. 
 
 Northwestern University, 126, 217-18, 
 308, 326, 375. 
 
 Oakes, Mary Turley, 307. 
 
 Ohio Wesley an University, 126, 374-75, 
 
 386. 
 Old Saints' Day, 30. 
 Olin, Clarissa, 67, 61-69, 101, 196. 
 Olin, Stephen, 5, 12, 29, 68. 
 Oliver, Martha Capps, 422. 
 Olmstead's Natural Philosophy, 51, 53, 
 
 68. 
 Olson, Hazel, 48 5. 
 Olson, Patricia, 567. 
 Orear, T. B., 309. 
 Orear, William, 2 5 8, 3 09. 
 Orr, Ann Marshall, 3 89, 45 5, 456, 475, 
 
 573. 
 Orr, Ella Yates, 178, 183, 184, 307, 423. 
 Orr, Martha, 91. 
 Osborne, J. H., 25 8, 308. 
 
 Paley's Natural Theology, 53, 5 5, 120. 
 Palmer, Julia. See Julia Palmer Stevens. 
 Palmer, J. M., 271. 
 Palmer, Mary, 249, 283, 286. 
 
648 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Passavant Hospital, use of, 527; students 
 as nurses' aides in, 5 59. 
 
 Patterson, Miss, 3 54, 439-40. 
 
 Patterson, William, 292, 436. 
 
 Paxson, Anna, 181. 
 
 Paxson, Belle (Mrs. Charles Drury), 178, 
 180-81, 423. 
 
 Peacock Inn, 387, 388, 417, 569. 
 
 Pearson, Henry Ward, 3 84, 506. 
 
 Pegram, Mary, 174, 177, 178, 180, 192, 
 198, 203, 243, 245, 257, 266, 270, 281, 
 285, 307. 
 
 Pegram Guards, 280, 281, 283, 284-85. 
 
 Penmanship, instruction in, 53, 70, 23 8. 
 
 Perkins, Emma Graves, 412. 
 
 Perpetual Scholarships, plan of introduced, 
 77; outline of plan of, 12 5-28; returns 
 from sale of, 144; subsequent action of 
 the Board of Trustees on, 160-61, 234; 
 Dr. Harker proposes return to, 320, 32 5. 
 
 Pfeiffer, Annie Merner, gifts of to the Li- 
 brary, 471-72; presents gift at dedica- 
 tion, 473; gifts of to the Chapel, 572. 
 
 Pfeiffer Library, campaign for, 471-73; 
 erection and dedication of, 472-73. See 
 also Library. 
 
 Philharmonic Society, 18 5, 197, 273. 
 
 Philippi, Rachel Harris, 3 07, 322, 3 89, 
 423. 
 
 Phillips, W. R., 484. 
 
 Philosophy, instruction in, 361, 495. See 
 also Moral Philosophy. 
 
 Phi Nu Society, halls of, 78, 104, 105-6, 
 151, 345, 347-48, 415-16; origin and 
 organization of, 103; programs of, 
 105-6, 196, 392, 402, 415-16, 548, 549; 
 library of, 151-52, 175, 242, 286, 415, 
 549; gifts of to the College, 33 3, 345, 
 549; social activities of, 417, 419, 549- 
 50; reunions of,* 414; service activities 
 of, 548, 549. See also Literary Societies. 
 
 Phyllis McLaughlin Service Award, 52 5. 
 
 Physical Education, early neglect of, 56; 
 effort to encourage, 172, 187, 242; in- 
 struction in, 266, 400-3, 527-29. 
 
 Physical Education Club, 5 30. 
 
 Physical Education Club cabin, 530, 546. 
 
 Physical examinations, 400, 527. 
 
 Physical Geography, instruction in, 54, 
 171, 238, 239. 
 
 Physics, instruction in, 361, 498. See also 
 Natural Philosophy. 
 
 Physiology, instruction in, 51, 54, 56, 171, 
 238-39, 400. 
 
 Picrsol, Julia, 404. 
 
 I'itncr, Mrs. Eloise, 307-8, 512. 
 
 Pitner, T. J., 258, 261, 293, 308, 438, 512. 
 
 Pitner Picnic, 43 8. 
 
 Plato Club, 21, 181, 242, 495. 
 
 Piatt, Alexander, 309, 365. 
 
 Players' Guild, 502-3. 
 
 Pletcher, E. L., 311. 
 
 Political Science, instruction in, 51, 5 5-56, 
 
 171, 239, 261, 262, 359-60. 
 Politics, student attitudes on, 89, 90, 92, 
 
 105, 106, 109-14, 293, 387, 388-89, 
 
 566-68. 
 Porter, Helen Stanley, 274. 
 Powell, Janette, 3 54, 382, 414, 573-74. 
 Power House, construction of, 346; im- 
 provements in, 465. 
 Pre-Centennial Forward Movement, 471-72. 
 Prentice, Hiram Buck, 157, 15 8, 159, 309, 
 
 329. 
 Prentice, W. S., 129, 130, 143, 156, 157, 
 
 158-59, 160, 164, 205, 258, 309. 
 Preparatory Department, 50-51, 170-71, 
 
 237, 259, 335-36, 353, 354. 
 Press Club, 522. 
 Prince, Arthur, 261. 
 Prince, David, 261. 
 Proctor, Mary A., 183. 
 Psychology, instruction in, 361, 498-99, 
 
 507-9. See also Mental Philosophy. 
 Pugsley, Chester D., 447, 45 5, 513. 
 Putnam, Eleanor Boston, 572. 
 
 Question Marks and Exclamation Points, 
 
 447, 488, 551. 
 "Radiator Club," 42 5. 
 Radio Workshop, 502. 
 
 Rammelkamp, C. H, 110, 173, 193, 293. 
 Rankin, W. A., 333. 
 Ranson, Lillian, 373. 
 Rapelje, Anna (Mrs. Isaac Morrison), 66, 
 
 67-6%, 72, 505. 
 Rayhill, J. H, 266, 274. 
 Read, Helen Brown, 3 84, 506-7. 
 Rearick, Elizabeth, 206, 48 5, 527. 
 Rebham, Susan, 410. 
 Recreation Association, 528-29, 530-3 5. 
 Reed, Horace, 310. 
 Reese, Lelia, 478. 
 Reeves, Floyd, 46 5. 
 Reischer, Johanna, 541. 
 Religion, regulations on, 24-25, 84, 192-93, 
 
 409-10, 535, 538; instruction in, 54-55; 
 
 178-79, 225, 239, 351, 358, 359, 495, 
 
 5 3 5-36; guidance in, 5 3 5-36. See also 
 
 YWCA, chapel services, Christian Life 
 
 Committee, etc. 
 Remley, Dorothy, 48 5, 5 03. 
 Riddell, Elizabeth Harker, 372, 373. 
 Riding Club, 5 29. 
 Rinaker, Clarissa Keplingcr, 67, 68, 72, 
 
 9 5, 100, 101, 104. 
 Robbins, Susanne, 486. 
 Robeson, Hortensc Bartholow, 307. 
 Robinson, Louise, 405. 
 
History of MacMurray College 649 
 
 Rockford Female Seminary (Rockford 
 
 College), 52, 174-75, 189. 
 Roel, Elissa, 52 5. 
 Rohrer, Ella Grain, 307. 
 Rondanelli, Marta, 525. 
 Rooms, of students, 80-81, 202-3, 224-25, 
 
 227, 277-78, 280, 43 5-36, 464. 
 Rotis, Caroline, 282. 
 Rowe, Marietta Mathers, 307, 329, 45 5, 
 
 456. 
 Rowe, Richard Yates, 309, 450, 454. 
 Rowland, Paul, 486, 549, 557'. 
 Rucker, William, 75. 
 Rules and regulations, 83-86, 94-96, 168- 
 
 69, 189-93, 278-80, 425-34, 546-47. See 
 
 also student government. 
 Rush, Benjamin, 10. 
 Rush, Bertha, 285, 411. 
 Russell, James, 5 58. 
 Russell, John Dale, 465. 
 Russell, Sol Smith, 267, 345. 
 Ruter, Martin, 137. 
 Rutledge, Eva, 131. 
 Rutledge, George, 36, 73, 129, 138, 156, 
 
 158, 160, 163-64, 258, 342. 
 Rutledge, William J., 8, 20, 36-37, 40, 
 
 73, 76, 79, 123, 129, 156, 158, 159, 
 
 225, 341, 444. 
 
 Samuel, J. B., 40. 
 
 Samuell, Millicent Rowe, 3 54, 45 5. 
 
 Sanders, W. D., 114, 141, 178, 193, 228, 
 
 233, 240, 278, 505. 
 Sanner, Betty Jo, 574. 
 Sapio, Olga, 383. 
 
 Schaeffer, Marian Chase, 486, 519. 
 Schoedsack House, 474, 475. 
 Scholarships, 325, 340, 466, 526. 
 School for the Blind, 22, 38, 185, 247, 
 
 251, 273, 285, 295, 413, 507-8. 
 School for the Deaf, 22, 38, 250, 251, 285, 
 
 309, 497-98, 499, 507-8. 
 Schriver, Lester O., 455. 
 Sconce, Emma, 322. 
 Sconce, Harvey, 310. 
 Scott, Lyman, 40. 
 Scott, Mary Frances, 309-10. 
 Scott, Minerva Dunlap, 307, 317. 
 Scribblers' Club, 424, 494, 5 53. 
 Sears, C. W., 118, 132. 
 Seegar, Rachel, 176, 181, 207-8. 
 Secretarial course, 364. See also Business 
 
 Administration. 
 Sectionalism, 92, 106, 109-14, 194, 3 87. 
 Selby, Mary, 181, 241-42, 249, 307. 
 Selby, Paul, 70, 109, 111. 
 Self property, 342, 343. 
 Seminaries for women, early history of in 
 
 the United States, 9-10. 
 
 Senior Class, 280, 281, 287, 288-89, 419- 
 22, 5 51-52. See also Classes. 
 
 Senior Houses, 460, 464. See also Ann 
 Rutledge Hall. 
 
 Serenades, 99, 210, 294, 431, 5 51, 569. 
 
 Servants, 80, 94, 203, 292, 394, 436, 569. 
 
 Sessions, 82, 170, 189, 291, 390-91. 
 
 Seyes, Annie, 90. 
 
 Shakespeare Club, 271, 281, 283-84. 
 
 Shannon, J. W., 187. 
 
 Shaw, Delwin, 517. 
 
 Shaw, Laura, 382, 397, 411-12. 
 
 Sheldon, Isabella, 42, 63, 69, 101. 
 
 Sherman, L. Y., 308, 329. 
 
 Sherman, Nina Wagner, 455. 
 
 Shipley, Faithful (Mrs. Ebey), 48, 61-62, 
 69-70, 97, 131, 238, 518. 
 
 Shirley, Eveline, 180. 
 
 Shonle, Letta Irwin, 307. 
 
 Short, Lula, 478. 
 
 Short, Sarah Laning, 100, 252, 253, 268. 
 
 Short, William F., early visits of to the 
 College, 99-100; contributions of to the 
 college debt, 154; referred to, 205, 218, 
 219, 314, 330, 343; administration of 
 (and Dr. DeMotte's), 217-96; and the 
 fire of 1872, 23 3; sketch of life of, 
 2 51-54; efforts of to secure an endow- 
 ment for the College, 256-57; and the 
 Board of Trustees, 257-59; academic 
 achievements and enrollment problems 
 of, 25 8-68; as a teacher, 270; last years 
 of, 295-96; on the Board of Trustees, 
 311; attends semi-centennial, 317; en- 
 dowment of a scholarship and a pro- 
 fessorship in memory of, 325; religious 
 policy of, 407-8. 
 
 Shumway, Sallie, 150, 181-82, 183, 192, 
 195, 196, 566, 570; letters of, 201-14; 
 sketch of life of, 204-5, 214. 
 
 Simpson, Matthew, 220, 246. 
 
 Skinner, Laila, 373. 
 
 Slavery issue, controversy over in the Col- 
 lege, 109-14. 
 
 Smith, Chester A., 447, 513. 
 
 Smith, Clarendon, 478. 
 
 Smith, H. Lester, 469. 
 
 Smith, J. B., 266, 272, 281. 
 
 Smith, Kate Murdock, 272. 
 
 Smith College, 217, 375, 3 82. 
 
 Smoking, rules on, 431, 547. 
 
 Snow, Hannah, 69. 
 
 Social Room, 347, 433, 459, 570. 
 
 Sociology, instruction in, 360-61, 495-96. 
 
 Soldan, Otto, 3 83. 
 
 Sophomore Class, 422, 5 51, 5 52. See also 
 Classes. 
 
 Spanish, instruction in, 3 57, 395, 494. 
 
 Spanish-American War, and the College, 
 391. 
 
650 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Spaulding, Horace, 5, 9, 17-18, 61, 67, 
 70, 109. 
 
 Spaulding, Maria, 122. 
 
 Speech, instruction in, 369-71, 501-5. 
 
 Spencer, Carrie, 529. 
 
 Sports, lack of program of, 98; some be- 
 ginnings of, 266, 2 80; effect of World 
 War I on, 394-9 5; in Dr. Harker's ad- 
 ministration, 400-7; present program of, 
 531-3 5; intercollegiate events in, 532, 
 53 3; in World War II, 5 59. 
 
 Stables, the, 474. 
 
 Stacy, Matthew, 18, 19, 27, 28, 37, 39, 
 40, 111, 126, 128, 155, 156, 157, 158, 
 160, 164, 258. 
 
 Starr, J. S., 310. 
 
 Stassen, Harold E., 574. 
 
 State Clubs, 3 86-87. See also Indiana Club, 
 etc. 
 
 Stead, Frank, 3 84. 
 
 Stead, Mabel Riggs, 3 84. 
 
 Stearns, Henry V., 3 84, 395. 
 
 Stearns, Wallace, 374, 512. 
 
 Steele, Mary, 374. 
 
 Stephenson, Willia, 561. 
 
 Stevens, Julia Palmer, 181, 271, 283, 412, 
 415, 423. 
 
 Stewart, Isabel, 485, 541. 
 
 Stiles, Gertrude, 273, 274, 3 82. 
 
 Stone, Emma, 272. 
 
 Strachauer, Herman, 18 5, 186, 239, 273, 
 342-43, 505. 
 
 Strawn, David, 346, 364, 366. 
 
 Strawn, Jacob, 21. 
 
 Strawn, Julius, 2 50, 33 3. 
 
 Strawn, Phoebe, 242. 
 
 Strawn Opera House, 21, 107, 183, 186, 
 267-68, 369. 
 
 Stribling, W. C, 18-19, 37, 86, 87, 89. 
 
 Stuart, John T., 91, 93, 126. 
 
 Students, contributions of to college build- 
 ings and endowments, 324, 333, 339, 
 457, 458, 466, 472, 473, 512. 
 
 Students, geographical distribution of. See 
 Enrollment. 
 
 Students Association. See Student Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Student government, origins and early his- 
 tory of, 425-34; installation of, 430; 
 early organization and operation of, 
 430-34; rules under, 431-34, 546-47; 
 honor system of, 43 3-34, 545; evolu- 
 tion of since 1925, 541-47; participation 
 of in national organizations, 541-42; 
 contributions of to campus life, 542, 
 545-46; problems of, 543, 545; recent 
 changes in, 543-45. 
 Student life: in ante bcllum days, 90-101; 
 in the Civil War, 201-14; in the Vic- 
 torian age, 280-95; from the Gay Nine- 
 
 ties to 1925, 434-42; in recent times, 
 
 562-71. 
 Student loan fund, 467, 526. 
 Student organizations, 282-89, 3 86-87, 
 
 403-6, 410-25, 539-41, 541-54. See also 
 
 departmental clubs under Music, Speech, 
 
 etc. 
 Student Orientation Service, 481, 544-45. 
 Student Volunteer Band, 413. 
 Student Volunteer Movement, 536. 
 Sturtevant, Julian M., 22, 110, 114, 118. 
 Summer School, 5 09, 5 5 8. 
 Sunday, William (Billy), 404, 408-9, 
 
 435. 
 Swarthout, Don, 3 84. 
 Swarthout, Max, 3 84. 
 Sweet, W. W., 34, 521. 
 Swift, Mrs. G. F., 322. 
 Swimming Pool, construction of, 348-49; 
 
 enlargement of 468-69. 
 
 Tanner, Laura, 378, 381, 388. 
 
 Taylor, J. W., 310. 
 
 Taylor, Nelle Yates, 3 07. 
 
 Teague, Beatrice, 382, 485, 486. 
 
 Teele, Helen, 492. 
 
 Textbooks, 51, 52-53, 68, 120, 171, 239. 
 
 Thanksgiving, observance of, 205-6, 292, 
 
 438-39, 531, 540. 
 The 1905 Book, 424, 426. 
 Theta Sigma, organization of, 416-17; 
 
 room of, 459; actitivies of, 548, 5 50. 
 
 See also Literary Societies. 
 "The Torch Bearer," 33 6. 
 Thomas, Emma, 180, 181. 
 Thomas, William, 18-19, 20, 24, 26-27, 
 
 37-38, 39, 40, 70, 73, 111, 126, 130, 
 
 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 164, 165, 
 
 227, 234, 254, 255, 258, 264, 309, 507. 
 Thompson, Eleanor, 363, 364, 366, 461. 
 Thompson, Mary, 412. 
 Thompson, Mary C. A., 244. 
 Thompson, Owen P., 309. 
 Thrall, C. H, 45 5. 
 Thye, Jean, 568. 
 Tickle, Grace, 483, 485. 
 Tironian Club, 5 00. 
 Tri-College Sports Day, 5 3 3. 
 Tomlin, Harriet, 94, 194. 
 Tomlin, Lydia, 180, 196. 
 Town Girls, 207-8, 279, 387-88, 560. 
 Town Girls' Club. See Jacksonville Club. 
 Town Girls' Room, 242, 3 8 8. 
 Town House, 460, 474. 
 Tree Day, 276, 287-88, 343-44. 
 Trotter, Eugenia, 180. 
 Trotter, Hester, 180. 
 Trotter, W. D. R., 7, 14, 18-19, 36, 40, 
 
 46-47, 61, 70, 76, 79, 111, 113, 128, 
 
 390. 
 
History of MacMurray College 651 
 
 Trout, Ella, 272, 374, 3 80. 
 
 Tunison, H. C, 258, 308. 
 
 Turley, Margaret Morrison, 274, 317. 
 
 Turner, Jonathan Baldwin, 22, 96, 109, 
 
 114, 202, 262. 
 Twentieth Century Thank Offering, 318, 
 
 320. 
 Twenty- Year Development Plan, 456-77; 
 
 summary of, 476-77. 
 
 Uncle Tom's Cabin, 63, 88, 267-68. 
 University of Illinois, 308-9, 375; graduate 
 scholarships granted by, 373, 510-11. 
 
 Vacation and holidays, 82, 189, 205, 288, 
 
 291, 390, 429. 
 Vance, Louisa, 196-97, 396. 
 Vassar College, 217, 257, 260-1, 295, 375, 
 
 395. 
 Veitch, W. E., 310. 
 Vickery's, 403, 419, 421, 438. 
 Vigus, Mary, 241, 242, 248, 264, 265, 273. 
 Vincent, Minerva Masters, 68, 71, 98, 99, 
 
 103-4, 180, 350. 
 Vogel, Alice Don Carlos, 307, 329, 423. 
 
 Wackerle, Winifred, 461. 
 
 Wadsworth, A. C, 164, 2 58, 308, 324. 
 
 Wadsworth, Julian, 273-74, 294, 411, 442, 
 
 460. 
 Wadsworth, Maie Short, 239, 246, 260, 
 
 269-70, 271, 273-74, 284, 294, 396-97, 
 
 442. 
 Wadsworth, Mary, 397. 
 "Wag's," 570. 
 Wakely, Frances, 3 82. 
 Waldman, Mildred, 517'. 
 Waldorf, Ernest L., 469, 536. 
 Waldorf, Mrs. Ernest L., 456. 
 Walking, 98, 208-9, 291, 402. 
 Waller, Mary, 254. 
 Walter, Mable, 5 58. 
 Walton, J. W., 309, 450. 
 Ward, Jennie Kinman, 178, 307, 329. 
 Wardner, Vera, 397, 442. 
 Ware, Mary, 184. 
 Warren, W. B., 91, 101. 
 Washington's Birthday, observance of, 292, 
 
 438, 461, 483. 
 Water Show, 529, 5 34. 
 Watt's On the Mind, 51. 
 Wayland's Moral Philosophy, 51, 53. 
 Wayland's Political Economy, 51, 53. 
 Weaver, Martha, 377, 378, 380, 406, 410, 
 
 416-17, 426, 429. 
 Webb, Helen, 542. 
 Weber, Edith, 412. 
 Webster, W. H., 2 56, 2 58, 310. 
 Weir, Clara Ibbetson, 81, 93. 
 
 Welch, C. E., 309, 326, 333, 347, 453. 
 
 Welch, Edgar T., 466. 
 
 Welch-Harker lectures, 453. 
 
 Wellesley College, 217, 257, 269-70, 271, 
 295, 375, 395, 424, 480. 
 
 Wesley, John, 5, 12, 39-40. 
 
 Wesleyan, Female College, 5. 
 
 Wesleyan University (Connecticut), 5, 
 68, 245, 446, 448. 
 
 Wesley Mathers Prize, 370, 393, 395, 504. 
 
 Wheeler, Charles Newton, 5 53. 
 
 Whipple Academy, 302, 38 5. 
 
 Whitlock, H. G., 293, 309, 365, 369, 437, 
 438. 
 
 Whitmer, Harriet, 3 82, 397, 411-12. 
 
 Wible, Jean, 567. 
 
 Wilbraham Academy, 5, 70, 137, 13 8, 
 245. 
 
 Wiley, Neva, 3 54. 
 
 Willard, Emma, 10, 54. 
 
 Willard, J. P., 243, 258, 448, 460. 
 
 Willard, Winifred, 75. 
 
 Willard, Vassie, 2 5 8. 
 
 Wilmans, Helen R., 111-13. 
 
 Wilson, Caroline, 390. 
 
 Wimmerstedt, A. E., 247', 263-64, 268, 
 269, 272, 281, 505. 
 
 Winn, Emma, 180. 
 
 Winters, Edward J., 453, 475. 
 
 Wiswell, Henry, 166. 
 
 Woman's rights question, 184, 262, 388. 
 
 Woodcock, Annie Hobbs, 276, 287, 32 5, 
 389-90. 
 
 Woody, Thomas, work of, A History of 
 Woman's Education in the United 
 States, referred to, 9, 52, 53, 239. 
 
 World War I, attitude toward, 391-94; 
 effect of on higher education, 392; 
 contributions of faculty and students 
 to relief in, 394; effect of on the col- 
 lege program, 394-96; activities of 
 alumnae in, 596-97. 
 
 World War II, effect of on the physical 
 education program, 528, 531; and the 
 College, 5 54-62; student comments on 
 the background of, 5 54-5 5; college 
 courses on, 5 56-58; members of the 
 faculty in service in, 5 58; campus 
 program on, 5 5 8-59; effects of on social 
 life, 5 59-60; student contributions to, 
 560-61; service of alumnae in, 561-62. 
 Wright, Elizabeth, 181. 
 Wright, Mrs. Courtney, 475. 
 
 Xenia Female Seminary (College), 13 8, 
 251. 
 
 Yates, Richard, I, 20, 26, 40, 43, 115, 153. 
 Yates, Richard, II, 20, 250, 308, 329, 389. 
 Young, Cornelia, 397. 
 
652 History of MacMurray College 
 
 Young, Hazel, 461. 
 
 YWCA, gift of to college endowment, 
 333; contributes to relief in World War 
 I, 394; organization and early history 
 of, 410-11; program of activities of, 
 
 412-14, 539-41; in World War II, 
 554-55. 
 
 Zeta Gamma, 283, 284. 
 
 Zoology, instruction in, 120, 171, 498.