Middlebury College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Middlebury, VT)

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' avis 317 4 Joshua Botes 7-1839 r e fa c e Benjamin Laba like other country colleges which are conceived by men for the purpose of pure education; and which advanced through the years usually without suf- ficient funds to cover the needs of an expanding institution. Now under the guiding hand of Paul Dwight Mcody, the college has experienced the rule of nine previous presidents. There is an essential need of mentioning the fine work which they have dene in devoting many years of their lives in the furtherance of the principles, ideals and tradi- tions of the college. The story of the founding and the subsequent century of struggle for ex- istence is really the story of these presidents ' terms in office. To them the college owes much. And so this book is dedicated to them. It is an attempt to achieve something of the reality of of the life at Middlebury as it is and has been lived, with the hope that it presents, to even a small degree, some feeling of the spirit and ideals that life imparts. In everyday reality this life is not too unlike that life found on a good many college campuses throughout the country. But in spirit and ideals Middlebury means much to its alumni and undergraduates in the way of dem- ocratic amicability, and the solidification of hopes and aspirations. Middlebury offers the inspira- tion of good fellowship and human understanding of which its physical self is the living and domi- nant symbol. We who have tasted of this spirit; we who have felt its daily presence in mind and in body, go forth, we hope, the wiser for our experience here. For some of us this experience may have seemed directed toward a microscopic hodge-podge of as JA 3 ID

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PREFACE... CONCEIVED in 1798 by Timothy Dwight, Samuel Miller, Darius Matthews and Gamaliel Painter, Middlebury College enrolled its first student on November 5, 1800. Dedicated to the single pur- pose of affording a broad, liberal background to its students, the college has adhered to this prin- ciple throughout its one hundred and forty years of existence. No attempt is to be made in this Preface to list the names of illustrious graduates or to trace a factual history of the growth of the college. A wilderness college, its history is probably much Jeremiah Atwater 1 800- 1 809 D ® SF

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r e fa c e scattered fact and fancy; soon, however, must we realize that it was a kaleidoscopic introduc- tion to fields of which we have yet to realize the greater potentialities. This Preface is also directed to Youth, not our- selves, but to the inspirations and the imagina- tion of Youth. These ten presidents of whom we write were devoted to an opportunity, the op- portunity that Youth has in a college such as Middlebury to develop sound ideas in a sound environment; the opportunity Youth has, in the accumulation of knowledge and experience, to develop integrity of character and intelligence through investigation of the arts and sciences. First lodged in a building originally constructed for the Addison County Grammar School, and under the administration of Jeremiah Atwater, the college offered Greek, Latin and Mathematics together with a disciplinary system noted for its effectiveness. Based on the Yale method and the law of Moses, it left little for conjecture. After the first student graduated in 1802, the need was felt for a permanent college campus, in order that the start of a building program could be made. After extensive campaign and debate, the question was finally settled by the towns- people whose contributions were in great part the means by which Painter Hall was constructed and completed in 1815, followed by Old Chapel in 1836. Thus the college moved forward, advancing in stature until in the late 1 830 ' s it rivaled Harvard in reputation and size. But this normal progress was soon to be shattered. The peace which it had known was rent by strife and struggle. The Harvey D. Kitchel 1866-1873 Calvin B. Hulbert 1875-1880 Cyrus Hamlin 1880-1885 D c-i D