University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

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The early catalogues of the University show that it was in its first few years practically an academy, and that although a Collegiate Department was established the instruction in that department was about on a par with that given at the present time in the high schools and academies of the State. For the first few years five-sixths or more of the students were enrolled in the Preparatory Department or were pursuing studies of like grades in the Normal. Even in the Collegiate Department the range of instruction and the facilities for work were extremely limited. But since those days the instruction has grown and has become a University in fact as well as in name. The several professional departments have been added, thereby furnishing the youth of the State with ample opportunity for obtaining instruction in law, in medicine, in dentistry, and in pharmacy. These several departments were added to the University as follows: The Law Department in 1868, the Medical Department in 1870, the Homeopathic Medical Department in 1877, the Dental Department in 1882, and the Pharmacy Department in 1885. The government of the University is committed to the charge of a Board of Regents, consisting of the Governor of the State, and the tendent of Public Instruction, ex-officiis, and one member from each gressional District, who are elected by the General Assembly to serve for s ix years. The Collegiate Department embraces six courses of study: Classical, Philosophical, Letters, Scientific; Civil and Electrical Engineering. Four - years are required to graduate in either one of these courses, and on com- pletion the appropriate Bachelor ' s degree is granted. In the Law Department the course of study extends through two years, and on completion thereof the graduate is given the degree LL. B., and admitted to practice before the State and United States Courts. The Medical Depa rtment and the Homeopathic, Medical Department require the student to pursue his studies during three courses of six months each, and on completion of such course the degree of M. D. is granted. The Dental Department requires thiee years to complete the course and obtain the degree D. D. S. The course in Pharmacy extends through two years, and the degree Ph. G. is granted on its completion. During the year 1891-92 there were seventy-five professors, assistant professors, lecturers and instructors, and the total number of students enrolled was 904. The total number of graduates from the several departments since the foundation of the University is 3,540. Within the past few years great improvements have been made in the facilities for instruction, especially in the matter of laboratory work. Laboratories are now open to the students in the several courses in which practical instruction is given in the following subjects: chemistry, macy, physics, zoology and taxidermy, physiology, histology, bacteriology and pathology, botany, geology, and experimental psychology. Practical instruction is given wherever possible in the various laboratories connected with the Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy Departments. 10

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6he pivep,5i.9. BY PRESIDENT CHARLES A. SCHAEFFER, A. M., PII. D. N July, 1840, Congress passed an act-providing for the setting apart of townships within the Territory of Iowa, for the use and support of a University, whenever the Territory should become a State. By the adoption of the Constitution the people of the State accepted this grant of land, and the policy was reaffirmed in the amended Constitution of 1857. At the first session of the General Assembly of the State, February 25, 1847, an act was passed locating and establishing the State University. By this act the public buildings in Iowa City were granted for the- use of said University. The State, however, reserved the right to use such portions of the building as it needed until other quarters .could be provided. Although the seat of government was removed to Des Moines in 1857, the United States District Court still retained the use of a portion of the old Capitol building, and it was not until 1860 that the University came into complete possession. Up to 1860, the existence of the University was More formal than real. Regular meetings of the Board of Trustees were held,. but, owing to the inadequacy of the fund to sustain the institution and the use by the State for other purposes of the premises designed for it, very little of the real work expected of the University was accomplished. -- The first session was opened in the Mechanics ' Academy in Iowa City, in March, 1855. At that time there were established a Preparatory, a Normal and a Collegiate Department, but almost the entire work done was in the first two. After three years, namely, in June, 1858, all departments were closed with the exception of the Normal Department, and remained so until September, 1860, when the two that had been suspended were again put into operation. Since that time the University has continued its regular sessions Without interruption. - - Article IX of the Constitution, concerning education and school lands, provides that the State University shall be established at one place, out branches at any other place, and further, in a subsequent section, its location was fixed at Iowa City. 9

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The Natural History Museum contains a large and rapidly growing collection which is constantly being added to as the result of various expeditions undertaken by the professors and students of the University. At the present time a graduate of the University, Mr. Frank Russell, of the class of ' 92, is in the Northwestern Territory, where he will remain for about two years for the purpose of making collections for the museum, especially of the mammals and birds of that region. Instructor Shimek and Mr. C. L. Smith are now absent on an expedition to the region of the Nicaragua Canal. An expedition of twenty professors and students, headed by Professor Nutting, will spend three or four months next summer, on a schooner chartered for the purpose, exploring and collecting in the borhood of the Bahamas and Cuba. The Library of the University contains about 28,000 volumes, and the reading-room is well supplied with magazines, periodicals, and the current publications both literary and scientific. The work of the University is carried on in eleven different buildings of various sizes, not counting Close Hall, a large and handsome structure, which has been recently opened, and which is devoted to the uses of the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A.