University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

Page 7 text:

Twas A Long While Ago THE PIONEER CLASS OF 1871 had twenty-eight members. Shown above are twenty-four of that first group to leave Massachusetts Agricultural College. Some Were In Broadcloth . . , Some In Homespun . . , THE INFANT COLLEGE opened its doors in the fall of 1867 for the thirty odd entering freshmen. They were a motley lot. Some were in broadcloth, and some in homespun. Their be- longings were ill-assorted: trunks, bags, boxes; here a bedstick; yon- der a basket of apples. The first examination was elementary: the three R ' s, a little geog- raphy and the like. One of the questions in arithmetic was this: Seven men laid a piece of wall sixty-five feet long in twelve days. Again eleven men laid a wall of the same kind in ten days. How long was it? HENRY F. FRENCH, THE FIRST PRESI- DENT of the new college, served from 1 863 to 1867. No students were in attendance during his period in office, principally because of the many problems which had to be solved. A location had to be decided on and buildings had to be constructed.

Page 6 text:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REP- RESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THAT THERE BE GRANTED TO THE SEVERAL STATES ... AN AMOUNT OF PUBLIC LAND . . . With these words, taken from the 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act, Massachusetts Agricultural CoUege became a reality. Many years have passed and the original Mass. Aggie has evolved into a great University which, on the eve of its 100th anni- versary, can look in retrospect at nearly a century of progress. Although the doors for the new college were opened in 1863, the first class did not arrive until 1867, mainly due to the fact that many administrative and organizational problems had to be solved. Beginning in 1867 with a class of thirty three, four borrowed in- structors, and four wooden buildings, the College underwent a proc- ess of development and expansion sufficient to warrant the official changing of its name in 1947 to the University of Massachusetts. This act alone seems to have provided further impetus to progress. To all of you who share the common heritage of the University of Massachusetts, may 1963 be a year in which you will try to re- call what the past may have been Uke. Try also to bring to mind all the things the University means to you today, small or great, and you will then realize why the motto for the 1963 Centennial year is Toward Higher Learning More Widely Disseminated.

Page 8 text:

AN EARLY ENGRAVING depicting Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1867. The original copy of this engraving was sent by President Clark to Justin Morill, the senator responsible for the introduction of the Land Grant Act, in a letter inviting him to the 1871 commencement exercises. A Certain Closeness Could Be Felt . . . A GUITAR ... a few friends ... a song. Have times really changed? IT WAS IN 1887 that Cadet Amadeo de Almeida, a Brazilian student at the college, gave this picture to his friend and classmate, Edgar Barrett.