Universities and colleges

Theodore Roosevelt advises Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt to sell the horse, Diablo, as they can get through their desert trip without him. Theodore informs Archibald that he had contact with H. D. Evans, and he will discuss the Harvard matter with Archibald. Theodore suggests that Archibald not attend Harvard until next year. His brothers, Kermit Roosevelt and Nicolas Roosevelt agree.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-02-02

This postcard shows two large buildings on Melbourne University’s campus, as well as the surrounding grounds.

Comments and Context

In Charles C. Myers’s own words, “The Melbourne University and grounds.”

Collection

Charles C. Myers Collection

The Houston Chronicle comments on a pair of Texas-related items. The first of these, the involvement of Senator Joseph W. Bailey in keeping Senator William Lorimer in the Senate, notes Lorimer’s political alliance with Bailey in opposition to Canadian reciprocity, and mentions the political corruption and bribery Lorimer has been accused of which led to his election. The second looks at the creation of the Rice Institute, which was created using funds provided for in the will of William Marsh Rice. While construction of the institution is taking a long time, it is being built for the future, and will be a great place of learning.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-02

This page from the Springfield Daily Republican presents Charles J. Bonaparte’s letter to the newspaper about Panama, as well as the newspaper’s editorial in reply.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-26

Souvenir copy of the Harvard House Gazette, detailing the festivities surrounding the grand opening of the Harvard House in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The Harvard House originally belonged to the parents of John Harvard, the founder of Harvard University. The effort to purchase it for the university and restore it was led by Marie Corelli and funded by Edward Morris. A number of dignitaries and academics spoke at the ceremonies.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1909-10

Edgar Huidekoper Wells of Harvard writes to Arthur Woods of Groton School to discuss the suggestion of Kermit Roosevelt taking six half-courses before leaving on President Roosevelt’s African Safari. Wells says that he thinks that, while few of these courses are available to freshmen, Kermit could likely get at least five half-courses together. Wells thinks it would be better if Kermit would take full courses, but acknowledges that there are difficulties in trying to do that. In certain meritorious cases, Wells says, students are allowed to split full courses, but this most often happens in the context of disease, and he is not sure how the administrative board would view Kermit’s case. Wells believes President Roosevelt should write to Dean Byron Satterlee Hurlbut to make sure he has the full facts. The first page of this letter is missing.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte to look into a question about a proposed university, and asks what he thinks the proper course to take would be.

Collection

Denver Public Library

Creation Date

1906-08-06

President Roosevelt addresses a crowd at the laying of the cornerstone of the McKinley Memorial on the American University campus. Roosevelt believes it is appropriate that the university should be founded by Methodists who “furnished the pioneers in carving out of the west what is now the heart of the great American Republic,” and that they should build a college to teach the science of government in McKinley’s name.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-05-14

President Roosevelt greets a crowd at the chapel of the University of Minnesota. He speaks about good and evil, higher education institutions, and physical development.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-04-04

Uncle Sam sits in a hammock, holding a fan, beset by swarms of locust-like pests streaming from a “Law School,” “Medical College,” and a “Theological Institute,” each carrying a diploma. Caption: The mills are starting up again for next year’s visitation.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-09-22

President Roosevelt briefly addresses the crowd gathered in Athens, Tennessee, saying he is glad to see East Tennessee improving with growing cities, manufacturing, railroads, and universities like the nearby Grant University (now Tennessee Wesleyan University). However, he is even more pleased to see men and women of character and honesty.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-09-08

At the center, a group of working class individuals complain about the selfish accumulation of wealth by a small percentage of society. The surrounding vignettes illustrate the philanthropic deeds of the rich, such as a “Museum of Art” open to all, “Low-Rent Tenements,” “Free Milk for the Poor,” “Free Ice for the Poor,” “Fresh Air Excursion for Poor Mothers and Children,” “Free Kindergarten for Poor Children,” colleges endowed by wealthy citizens, health care centers, and “Free” libraries. Caption: Chorus of the Poor Man, the Socialist, the Dissatisfied Laborer, the Populist Farmer, the Demagogue, the Chronic Idler, and the Struggling Professional Man–“Down with Selfish, Grasping Capital!”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-07-07

In this article excerpt, Thomas Nelson Page discusses the role Thomas Jefferson played in establishing the University of Virginia. Jefferson’s quest to discover more knowledge compelled him to purchase the Louisiana Territory as well as build a university.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905

The sun, wearing a football helmet, beams rays onto a football-shaped planet that shows a stadium with fans in the grandstands and a football game in progress. In the background is the outline of a young woman’s head looking on.

Comments and Context

As college life resumed in the fall of 1906, so did the football season. At the time the sport was mostly confined to universities, colleges, and preparatory or secondary schools. Research has revealed President Roosevelt’s initiative and role in rescuing football from criticism and possibly banishment from schoolfields at this very time. There were few helmets (despite the sun’s gear) or other equipment, few rules or even field markers, and few palliatives for what was largely conducted, and enjoyed, as a violent sport frequently reveling in serious injury and death.

When Harvard threatened to outlaw the game, Roosevelt convened interested parties who established rules and standards, leading in a few years to the creation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. An annual prize in Roosevelt’s name is awarded to an outstanding and upright player.

On Theodore Roosevelt’s behalf, Treasurer of The Outlook Frank C. Hoyt, acknowledges Ambassador Page’s letter about the American Universities Club. Since Roosevelt is in the interior of South America and cannot be reached, Page’s letter will not be forwarded.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1913-11-25

Freshmen college students are being tested for “Beer Capacity,” on the “Cigarette Tester,” and the “Rah Rah Recorder” at “Sis Boom University.” Caption: The freshmen are taking their entrance exams.

Comments and Context

Puck does take note of the autumn ritual that is the opening of the college year. Cartoonist L. M. Glackens employs reasonable cynicism by choosing to address entrance tests and ignore academic potential, specialized aptitude, and chosen fields of study. Instead he depicts the popular cliches about some students at some colleges — beer, cigarettes, and sports.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

A young man with a “B.A.” diploma in his pocket leaves various sports equipment on the ground behind him as he strides forward into a bright future. The world, in the shape of a globe, appears at his fingertips. Caption: Commencement Day, 1904.

Comments and Context

Keppler’s cartoon is a seasonal cliche that is more an editorial cartoon than a political cartoon — portraying the optimistic college graduate, feeling that the world is at his finger-tips. 

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

In an urban setting, many men wearing the cap and gown of college graduates are performing a variety of manual labor occupations. Caption: Sixty-eight million dollars were give for colleges last year; – if the mania for college education continues we may soon expect the above state of affairs.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1902-01-22

Theodore Roosevelt would like Harvard University to be in closer contact with Western universities and asks Harvard Dean Le Baron Russell Briggs if this can be done.

Theodore Roosevelt confesses his regret that Arthur H. Samuels is no longer in journalism, but acknowledges it is for the best. He invites Samuels to visit the next time he is in New York to discuss politics, journalism, and the social systems in colleges, namely Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-26