University of Cincinnati - Cincinnatian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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?acls Hbout Us. UUUUUUUUUU QN 1503, there calm: to Cine '- cinnati a youngnmn named Charles McMickt-n He accumulated a large for- tune! and died in 1358. One Of the most cherished aims of his life was to found an institution of higher learning where any one who 1-30 desired, t might treeeive the beneht of :1 sound thur- 011gh. and practical education of the high est grade in the country. After the acceptance of the bequest of Charles McMickem in 1853, the Board of Directors of the 1359. But, unfortunately. the funds which the McMicken MCMiCken University was organized. 111 estate at that time yielded, were not sufficient to sllch :1 school :15 Mr. McMicken con- The idealistic Board; they had visions of :1 real uni- establish templated. new Board was a somewhat varsity, and rather than organize an institution of low collegiate standing. were determined to organize 110116 at all. For many year:- lht: Board was an entirely imaginary Buzml --.1 inunl 01' Directors without anything 10 direct. The Board war; practical enough, however. to see that unless it hegan with small beginnings, it would never begin at all. At length the oppor- Mr. McMicken, had liberally endowed a society known as the and had intmstcd to its keeping :1 valuable collection 0! tunity came, before he died, Ladies' Art Gallery of Cincinnati; statuary and pictures, which he had made during He donated this col- lection tn the Li-ldies' Art Gallery with the under- the latter years; of his life. standing that they should establish as soon as possible :1 practical school of art 111 which archi- tectural and mechanical drawing. as well as the The Ladies' Gallery of Art. being unable to carry out these 111LI1'CFEFI11Ed urts. should be taught. plans. determined to turn over the collection and endowments bequeathed to them by Mr. McMickmL to the Board of Directors of the RICMicken I'nit'ersity. In June, lew this was. done. and the cher- ished plans of Mr. McMicken, under the direc- tion of the L'niwrsity Board. at last hegan to take shape under the title of the McMicken School of Drawing and IkHigtl.H For twenty

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9Q; O$Q$ levointed bv the Superior 150ml of cincinnati BRENT ARNOLD, ELLIOTT H. PENIJLETON. EUGENE F. BLISS. XVIIJJAJI A. PROCTER. JOSEPH C. BI'TLEK TIIAIJ. A. RICAMY. BRIGGS S. CI'NNINGHABL C. A. L. REED, FRANK J. JONES. J. M. ROBINSON. OSCAR XV. KUHN. Chm'rnmm w J. G. SCIIMIDI.APP. 10m: W. LFHN, EDWARD SEXIOR MAX B. MAY. G. S SYKES. w JOHN B. PEASLEE. CHARLES F. WINDISCH. Ex 01?!ka GL'STAV TAFEL. Mayor of CTmimmn' k, ggw

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years. from 1364 to 1834. the McMicken School Of Drawing and Design Honrished under the management of the University Board and devel- oped into a welleregulated. proapcrnns sehoot SO great was its success that similar schools were established in other western cities, while the attention of the wealthiest and most influential Citizens of the city Nicholas Longworth, Joseph Longworth, Charles 't-Vest. David Sinton. and others-were attracted to it. But these were not the days of Henry Hatmat Cunningham, and VanW'ormer, men who are not afraid to give to the University, in spite of the fact that it is a semi-eity institution. Mr. Longworth and other benefactms 0f the MeMicken School of Design expressed their unwillingness to further endow the Art School so long as it remained under the government of the city. The School of Design. ifit was to be continued,nlust be further endowed, and the University Board. striving as; it was to maintain the infant Academic Department! which it had just established, could but ill spare the needed funds to support the Art Department. At last. the several benefactors of the school made a formal demand upon the University Board to turn the School of Design over to them. This the Board of Directors were naturally loath to do. For twenty years it had watched over the McMicken School of Design, and would have liked to have seen the twin departments of the Universityethe Academic and the School of Desigltigmw up side by side. But lack of funds drove the Board to make a choice, and, deeming 311 Art School not so Vital EL part Of :1 I'niversity as the Academic Department, they decided to give up the Art Schnul. The sacrifice WHh made, and 011 February I. 1-434, the MCMiekc-n SChOul 0f Drawing;r and Design. with its four hundred students, was turned over to the Art M 115611111 Board. Certainly every loyal t'tliversity student must feel a touch of regret when he thinks how inspire ing it would have been to see two certain splen- did stone buildings crowning the little hill in Burnet XVonds, alongside 0f Cunningham Hall, instead of crowning the hills in some other parts. Still we must remember that the time of the trans- fer 0f the Art School to the Museum Board was a critical time in the I'niversitygg history. Every university centers around the academic depart- ment, and it would never have done to foster 1111 art departmentea comparative luxury-- at the expense of the Academic Department. 'We should not forget that Charters McMicken was the real founder of the present Art School in Eden Park. efhcient service that the University Board ren- Nor should we forget the faithful and tiered to the Art School in its struggling infancy. Certainly the name Of Charles McMicken deserves to he uttered in the same breath with Longworth, Vt'est, Siliton, and the other henefactors 0f the Art School.