High-resolution, full color images available online
Search, browse, read, and print yearbook pages
View college, high school, and military yearbooks
Browse our digital annual library spanning centuries
Support the schools in our program by subscribing
Privacy, as we do not track users or sell information
Page 17 text:
“
seventy-five years THOSE WHO complain of having to attend Saturday classes may not know that Lehigh started on a Saturday. It was on Saturday, September i, 1866, that six professors, two instructors, forty students, and one janitor gathered in Christmas Hall to open Lehigh Uni- versity, for which Asa Packer, also present, had obtained a charter the previous February. The type of school which the Lehigh Valley canal and railroad baron had just founded was a new idea in higher education. College learning based on scientific approaches and practical applications was just beginning to come into existence as a result of the rapid nation-wide expansion of industry and the increasing development of new and improved technological processes. A pioneer in such education, for instance, was Norwich University, which, under the auspices of Asa Packer, the Connecticut Yankee who came to the Lehigh Valley and built a canal, a rail- road, and a University. 13
”
Page 18 text:
“
the Association for the Promotion of Useful Education, had established an engi- neering curriculum in 1834. The Useful Education association had conceived of a type of college which would reduce the cost of education and would allow students to specialize in any of the arts or sciences. It also advocated the instruc- tion in the applications of science to the practical purposes of life. Land-grant colleges for education in the mechanical sciences and in agriculture were also being established by the middle of the nineteenth century. The public-spirited native of Connecticut who had come down to Pennsyl- vania to become the leading industrialist of the beautiful Lehigh Valley, having decided to found such a scientific and technical school and having at last resolved to locate his new polytechnic college on his land holdings on the north slope of South Mountain in South Bethlehem (then beginning to emerge as a small technical center), fortunately turned to William Bacon Stevens, bishop of the Pennsylvania Episcopal diocese, for advice on the establishment of a curriculum. Bishop Stevens, a much-traveled, scholarly man of broad outlook, humanized the plan of purely technical studies proposed by Packer. The establishment of a School of General Literature in addition to the technological schools was the result of Stevens ' concept of Lehigh as a University rather than as a mere poly- technic college. The School of General Literature has developed into the College of Arts and Science; the technical schools (soon organized into a School of Technology ) have become the College of Engineering; and the early studies in political science might be regarded as the beginnings of the present College of Business Administration. All students pursued the same general studies for the first two years; then the student selected a special school (equivalent to our modern curriculum ) for the last two years. The Special Schools were these: General Literature, Mechanical Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, and Ana- lytical Chemistry. The same system of orientation and foundation work followed by specialization is followed to this day at Lehigh. Lehigh ' s non-academic student life began almost as early as its academic life. It was as early as 1868 that the Junto, a literary society, was established. In 1875, the members of the Junto established the Epitome as a publication of the sophomore class. The paper-covered, somewhat naively written Epitome im- proved in quality as the years went by; in 1884 the junior class took it over; and in 1 93 1 it became a senior book. Except for a short-lived monthly Lehigh Journal, the next publication to appear on the campus was the Lehigh Burr, a college life magazine founded in 1881. With one seven-year suspension, the Burr con- tinued until 1935, when, because the faculty felt that it was getting a bit too risque, it was abolished. It is in one of the 1 884 issues of the Burr that one may find an account of the first touchdown ever made by Lehigh — Richard Harding Davis carried the ball l a across the line in a game against Lafayette, the second football game that Lehigh
Are you trying to find old school friends, old classmates, fellow servicemen or shipmates? Do you want to see past girlfriends or boyfriends? Relive homecoming, prom, graduation, and other moments on campus captured in yearbook pictures. Revisit your fraternity or sorority and see familiar places. See members of old school clubs and relive old times. Start your search today!
Looking for old family members and relatives? Do you want to find pictures of parents or grandparents when they were in school? Want to find out what hairstyle was popular in the 1920s? E-Yearbook.com has a wealth of genealogy information spanning over a century for many schools with full text search. Use our online Genealogy Resource to uncover history quickly!
Are you planning a reunion and need assistance? E-Yearbook.com can help you with scanning and providing access to yearbook images for promotional materials and activities. We can provide you with an electronic version of your yearbook that can assist you with reunion planning. E-Yearbook.com will also publish the yearbook images online for people to share and enjoy.
