Townsend Harris High School - Crimson Gold Yearbook (Flushing, NY)

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MR. 'IOWNSEND HARRI S

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PROFESSOR HOLLAND THOMPSON SSISTANT PROFESSOR HOLLAND THOMPSON, Director of the Townsend Harris Hall Annex, was born in North Carolina and was graduated from the State University in l895. For the next four years he was principal of the Academy at Concord, N. C. In 1899 f-S4944 he resigned on receiving an appointment as University Fellow in Columbia University, New York City, from which institution he later received the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. He was appointed Tutor in History in the College of the City of New York in l90l, Instructor in 1902, and Assistant Professor in 1906. XVhen the number of students applying for admission to the Preparatory De- partment, as it was then called, grew beyond the accomodations provided for them, Mr. Thompson was placed in charge of the Afternoon Session in the old Cass Building in Twenty-third Street in 1904. The next year he was assigned to the charge of Townsend Harris Hall, which was not yet completed, but was finished around the classes. In l906-O7 the Main Building was rendered habitable though far from completed and Professor Thompson was placed in charge of the A and B classes which recited there. The College proper removed to the new site in the fall of l907 and Professor Thompson was then placed in charge of the old building in Twenty-third Street, where he remained five years. When the building was closed preparatory to the construction of the new School of Commerce on that site, the classes attending were transferred to 138th Street. Professor Thompson has found time to do much literary and scholarly work. He is author of From Cotton Field to Cotton Mill, f'The Prisoners of the Civil lfVar, History of Our Land, and the New South, Economic and Social, besides many magazine articles. He contributed to the New International and Nelson's Encyclopaedias and to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and is joint editor of the Book of Knowledge. He has served on the editorial staff of Current Litera- ture and Review of Reviews and is now engaged on a work on Southern Economic history. Professor Thompson is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, of the Academy of Political Science, of the American Historical Association and of the American Economic Association. In this article it is extremely difficult to give to Professor Thompson the credit which he so rightfully deserves. In his years of service at the college it has been his wish and desire to perfect the education of the student. Professor Thompson has succeeded wonderfully and is continuing the good work which he has so earnestly chosen as his life's mission. Professor Thompson is held in such high esteem by his colleagues and the students who come under his care that it is doubt- ful whether any other man could so gain the love and confidence of his associates, both young and old. To conclude we may say with assurance that it would be a wise and prudent act on the part of the young student who is just beginning life, to set the career of Professor Thompson before him, and to follow it faithfully and absolutely.

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TOWNSEND HARRIS , the earliest American relations with apan may be prop ,wi erly regarded as the founder of the City College This was OXYNSEND HARRIS, whose name historically suggests C . . C . . J C 7 g bb - publicly acknowledged when the first new college building to be erected received the name of Townsend Harris Hall. The third day of October, 1804, brought forward a man destined to be a potent factor in the advancement of public education and an eminent statesman in the diplomatic field. This man was Townsend Harris. Reared in a simple family at Sandy Hill in Vilash- ington County, N. I., Townsend Harris was imbued with all the decent, honest and home-like qualities of a country youth. Until he reached the age of thirteen years he was influenced and guided by the prudent and sagacious teachings of his dearly beloved mother, whose word was his Gospel. An ordinary public school training was the only formal education Townsend Harris ever received. Although he never entered a uni- versity, he fully acquainted himself with the Romance Languages and gained a substantial knowledge of wholesome, instructive literature. This learning he acquired, unaided, by determined effort during spare hours in his commercial life. In 1817, Townsend Harris, just in his teens, but with all the ambi- tion and grit of a lighter, settled in New York City to carve out his career. Little did he realize then how important a personage he would be to two of the great powers of the world to-day. For several years after he reached New York, Townsend worked conscientiously in the employ of a friend of his father's and gained a thorough knowl- edge of the dry goods trade. Thus he acquired the necessary experi- ence and the fundamental training in business to enable him to enter into partnership a few years later with his own father and brother. The new business in which Harris engaged was of a somewhat different nature from his former commercial experience. The Harris family had invested its fortune in an importing concern. Its principal products, china and earthenware, were imported from the East, a commerce which later resulted in Mr. Harris' voyage to Japan. VVhile he was thus engaged in business, he gained prominence through election to the Board of Education. The following year, 1847, he was elected president of that body. In all the years of his