NYU Washington Square College - Album Yearbook (New York, NY)

Page 25 text:

The History of the oundiin of New York University sie HE origin and early development of New York University is the story of the perseverance and the idealism of a small band of men, prominent citizens who had the welfare of this country and the youth of this country at heart. Radically departing from the standardized types of the centers of learning so far established, they centered their hopes on an institution which would prepare men not only for the learned professions, as did the contemporary colleges, but also for other lines of endeavor of a more practical nature. lVlere superficial research will surely fail to show the innumerable benefits which the sons of this University have derived from their foster mother, but we all know that the influence of New York University has been world-wide in scope and has entered every field of action. The first beginnings of the institution now known as New 'York University were made at a time when this city was substantially an American rather than, as it is now, a cosmopolitan city. At this time New York had not as yet dared to aspire to the heights of wealth and importance which it now enjoys, but it was rather an enlarged village than a world metropolis. The various elements which were to form what now has come to be known as American characteristics were just completing the fusion process, and the people as a whole were just beginning to realize the importance of their own nationalism. N such a community, then, and at such a time was inaugurated the movement for a new kind of institution of learning. On January 4, 1830, a call was issued to the gentlemen interested in such a project for a meeting to discuss the possibilities of establishing a university in the city of New York on a liberal and extensive foundation. To this invitation responded nine men to whom we, the students of New York University, are most seriously indebted, for these nine men alone formed the project for the establishment of this institution. These nine men were J. M. Mathews, later the first Chancellor of the College, Valentine hlott, the most eminent surgeon of the country, Myndert Van Schaick, one of the greatest benefactors of New York University in its formative period, J. M. Wainwright, J. Augustine Smith, Joseph and John Delafield, Hugh Maxwell and Isaac Hone. As the movement expanded, the Founders' ideas, aspirations and h01JCS WCYC CXpressed in a pamphlet E251

Page 24 text:

1 . f X ' 'Y ,D+ . fi , .. . '-'N f, ' :. - 'A 1, --' ' 1:1 f 1 x ' f,,J: f 1-,-,,NN, QL . -4 '--wx . ' ,.L' --ff --H .W N , . I , . 5 1 f . . , X --...,WN V , ' V . F ,Qi f Qf sul :- . , , . ..,.g,..,.wf .-,..?,1.- 'x..u'Jl::lfk'.l, .41l1L 1'Li', 2f'e . W 5 '1 ':'0' A .-. I ,--, .. ,.,i,.-,J .qv , . Tv f ' ' A. . v . . ' ll 7- ' V g.. -'gf , ..Y,.V1,li4 ',.,,, 4 L4.. -1-31 I J-gy 1' - :V lun ,1g.11-n,- I 2 sr 2 w ,,,. , 'jj U'g,.'.. 17,-. .223 'wiv'-'1'jQ'.'f'.,'.. 'j,'.1.H:.f5 rj- , -fW'?', 1 fi V, : M ,. ' ' ' ' V ' ' - ' ' .....4.--. ' ,- 1',:: ' .'-.JM -uw' 1-C ' ' ' .,. .yx.f'sf,?,g,a? .: ?444,.f' -7 :flxghf ' 17 ' ' --+f5z'f415-QQfi4'Ql'E45fl-iQg7?..fw+??f1'Twf-QQ? 5'i?'f ' - -- .A ' ' 'ffkif-f ,,,a2'fE, afsfi-12Hff3ff f'2 ,,:f5Q!Q41i ' 1. wfgfriiw f ,. ,xnxx-af' V ' 7f'f,15 ' ' ., ' I- 4 ' f' .f Q i s A i f Ang: hu, ' . K1 .T .v- ' . -1 9. x-'

Page 26 text:

bearing the title: Considerations upon the Expediency and the Means of Establishing a University in the City of New York. It is quite evident that the establishment of a university on a liberal and extensive foundation had occupied the minds of these men for some time. At a meeting of which General Morgan Lewis was chairman held for the purpose of considering the subject, the following resolution was passed by the assembly: That it is highly desirable and expedient to establish in the City of New York a University on a liberal foundation, which shall correspond with the spiritual wants of our country, which shall be commensurate with our great and growing population and which shall enlarge the opportunities of education for such of our youth as shall be found qualified and inclined to improve them. These words express the chief matter uppermost in the consciousness of the Founders. They felt that the colleges which were already in existence were places of education for a privileged class, and such institutions served only the learned professions. Discerning the fact that a college education was a necessary adjunct to the future of the student, these broad-minded men saw that, under the existing conditions of learning, students who wished to follow lines of endeavor other than those offered by the learned professions would not be materially aided by as intense a study of classics as was then necessary. One must remember that the universities of that period required nearly as much Latin for entrance into college as is usually studied in the whole collegiate course of the present day. The ideas of the Founders were closely related to those which opened the way for the present-day technical schools in Germany. VVith these ideas of reform. in mind, the Founders began at once to put their plans into a more complete and concrete expression. To form the financial basis of this educational venture, shares in the new institution were sold, and by October of the same year the shareholders, about three hundred in number, had chosen a council of thirty-eight members. The selling of shares in an educational institution may strike us as rather odd in this present day, but it was a common method of raising fundsat that time, for we know it was patterned after the precedent of earlier institu- tions. Of this Council the Hon. Albert Gallatin was chosen president, but in October of 1831 he resigned because of ill-health and because he was out of sympathy with the later aims of some of the members of the Council who wished to reestablish the classics in the new college. General Nlorgan Lewis, a Revolutionary soldier and the chairman of the first meeting of the nine men, was elected to fill this vacancy. N spite of all this work of preparation it was not until September of 1832 that the work of instruction actually began. The entering Class numbered about two hundred students, the majority being residents of New York City or of villages in the immediate vicinity, but there was also a fair representation of other parts of the E261