Millikin University - Millidek Yearbook (Decatur, IL)

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ALBERT REYNOLDS TAYLOR , J- ' The 1,l'E'Si111'l1l ut' 'l'l1v .lzumvs Millikiu l'I1iXn'l'5lIX xx IN Q- .Q ,:. on zu. farm in l'utn:1m wmnly. lllinuis, His m--uh'-1 NX,ux ..f ktuxvvix ujxnk Stock and his fntlwr gn 1'umlwrl:m.l l'n.-xm1.L11.m lu-an R' and God-fearing. lf':u-ming :un-I ilu- -li511'iv1 Mlm.-15 --1 fn. 1.1.1 fum Q 21.1111 the Will' pvriml Wvlw' KIM' v:ll'livH1 Illvl--Is in 111-X -!f M1--3-111.-1 1-f T' future educntimunl ls-aulq-up .M this lu-rin-I -vf his 1111, Xll-- 21 'I' .xl--1 -11--www 1 of future succ-1-sa-:ni llw IllJll'llilliHI-F un..-lv 1151 um. Im M. lu-. . .- 1 INILUFUI zlpliluwlv, :mil fm' scum- tilm- lu- um1i1i---l lux -I--N1 . 1-w 1'. u fl

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IN MEMORIAM If ,.. !,fK2f7Z,., ., fl xfx.-zfl. - ISAAC R. MILLS, PETER LOEB, President First Board of Managers. Chairman Building Committee REV. A. W. HAWKINS, W. T. F'ER.G?USON, D. D., Financial Agent, 1901-1903. Financial Agent 1904-1905. 20

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of tools and became an excellent machinistg he still retains great interes-t in lnachinery of all kinds. Leaving the bench and tools of the machine shop, the future adminis- trator entered a store, where he learned the principles of trade and indus- try and gained a knowledge of men. A In 1864 he enrolled as a student in the Model School of the Illinois State Normal University at Normjal. While there he was a member of the class reciting to P:rofessor L. B. Kellogg at the moment the latter was called to meet the Regents of the Kansas State Normal School, to which institution Professor Kellogg was called as the first president. The stu- dent could no-t then forsee that nearly two decades later he would be called to the same position. Later, he attended Knox College at Galesburg, Illinois, for one- term, entering Lincoln University at Lincoln, Illinois, the following term., from which he graduated with the class of 1872. On the c-ompletion of his course at Lincoln University, he was offered a tutorship which was ac- cepted reluctantly, as he had a desire to study law. The work at Lincoln proved so successful that before the end of the first year, he was offered a full professorship as head of the department of natural sciences, in which he remained until his election to the presidency of the Kansas State Normal School in 1882. The ten years at Lincoln were a period of growth and preparation. Lifelong friendships were made and the home was es- tablished. For nineteen years President Taylor presided over the Kansas State Normal School. I-Ie found it with a small building and an attendance of four hundred students: when he left it in 1901, the attendance was over two thousand and the buildings were large and well suited for their use. Six or more years before he resigned the presidency of the State Normal, it had become the largest teachers' training school under state control in the woarld, and had an international reputation. The graduating classes frequently numbered more than a hundred. To few educators has been given greater opportunity than he had in Kansas, and to few has been given .so fine a fruitage. The demands upon him for lectures were many, and his vacations were largely sp-e-nt in making lecture tours. Yet he found time to write arti- cles for periodicals, religious and professional, to write books, and to do a multitude of things that seemed almost impossible to one so busy. One of his books, The Study of the Child, published by D. Appleton Co., belongs to the International Education Series. Over twenty-five thousand copies of this book have been sold. It has been translated into the Jap- anese and Spanish languages. He has also written the following named books: The Government of the State and Nation, Apple Blossoms, Civil Government in Kansas, The Church at Wo,rk in the Sunday School, Among Ourselves, being a joint author of the first two named. His great energy, ability, and educational success made President Taylor the leading educator in Kansas. To resign an assured life position as president of such an institution after all difficulties had been surnmounted and the future promised more of ease in the enjoyment of a great work accomplished, was the most mo- mentous and difficult decision President Taylor had ever been called upon to make. Kansas people generally protested against his final decision to 22