The University of Delaware: A History – Bibliographical Essay

Bibliographical Essay

UNPUBLISHED SOURCE MATERIALS

The most important depository for materials relating to the history of the University of Delaware is, of course, the University Archives. Colonial records here include the minutes of the board of trustees of the Academy of Newark (from 1783), copies of Presbyterian records relevant to the origins of this institution, an early receipt book, and miscellaneous academy papers. College records include the minutes of the board of trustees (from 1833) and of the faculty (from 1834), matriculation books (from 1834), ledgers and accounts, including some special collections such as the boxed papers relating to the Foreign Study Plan.

One heterogeneous collection of all sorts of materials–clippings, programs, letters, deeds, and so on–was arranged by William D. Lewis chronologically in forty-eight volumes with the title of Delaware University Archives. Except for some papers in this collection and elsewhere, very little presidential correspondence survives until the time of Albert N. Raub and George A. Harter. Some letters and other documents from the Harter, Mitchell, and early Hullihen administrations–materials that were apparently unwisely disposed of–have recently been donated to the archives, where they are known as the Raymond Dill Collection.

Papers, largely copies, exist of the first two headmasters, Alison and McDowell, and there are also collections of papers of some of the relatively recent university faculty, including Kirkbride and Amy Rextrew. The most valuable collections of records kept by trustees are the H. Rodney Sharp Papers and the scrapbooks, in four volumes, of Emalea Pusey Warner. Among these scrapbooks an anonymous "Book of Memories" was useful, as were the reminiscences of Manlove Hayes.

Student records include the minutes, directories (published), and other papers of the three literary societies, the Athenaean, the Delta Phi, and the Pestalozzi. The papers and diary of David L. Mustard, like the diary of Joseph Cleaver, Jr., which has been published, illumine student life in the 1850s.

Along with copies of many documents from other depositories, the University Archives includes a small collection of oral interviews, of which one with John Perkins has been used extensively in Chapter 11, and it has copies of all of the student papers, theses, and dissertations cited in this book. Here also are a number of manuscript indexes and other finding aids and lists, some prepared by William Lewis and some by the present archivist, John M. Clayton, Jr.

The Morris Library of the university contains the Evans Papers, a large collection of documents of two secretary-treasurers of the board of trustees, Charles B. Evans and his father George G. Evans. This library also holds a collection of oral interviews, mostly transcribed, with former students and members of the faculty and three volumes of typed papers that William D. Lewis called Delaware Miscellany. This latter collection includes William Gray’s long reminiscence regarding Delaware College in 1883. Individual items in the Delaware Miscellany are indexed in the main card catalogue of the Morris Library, while references to items in the Evans Papers may be found in William Lewis’s bound Delaware University Archives. The Rathmell Wilson Papers and the manuscript Kerr and Whiteley genealogies in the Morris Library are of modest interest to the university historian.

The Eleutherian Mills Historical Library, on the Brandywine River near Wilmington, contains pertinent materials in the papers of Charles I., Francis G., and, especially, Pierre S. du Pont, which last contain over 3,000 items pertaining to the university. Other materials relating to Pierre du Pont’s beneficial interest in the institution are in the papers of the Delaware School Auxiliary Association and the Delaware School Foundation. John B. Riggs’s Guide to the Manuscripts in the Eleutherian Mills Historical Library (Greenville, Del., 1970) and its Supplement… 1966 through 1975 (Greenville, Del., 1978) will lead the scholar to these items and others of relevance in this library.

Various items regarding the university and its predecessors are to be found at the Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington, but for the purposes of this book the chief value of this depository lay in its unparalleled collection of early Delaware newspapers.

The Delaware State Archives, in Dover, has the Ridgely Family Papers and also, of course, such valuable official records as the Legislative Papers, which contain many interesting petitions relating to the early college.

The only collection still in private hands that was used in this book was the papers of William H. Purnell, including a scrapbook, used through the courtesy of a descendant, Mrs. Clyde Cox, of Newark.

In Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania has many items relating to the early college and academy, including papers of Matthew Wilson located through the card catalogue in several different collections, and a manuscript "Account of Expenses on Voyage to Jamaica made to solicit Benefactions for the Academy of New Ark, 1772-1773," by Hugh Williamson (in the Society Collection). The Thomas Penn Papers, used in microfilm, contain valuable comments on the struggle for the first academy charter.

The library of the American Philosophical Society, also in Philadelphia, contains letters of Daniel Kirkwood in its John F. Frazer Papers and John Warner Papers, as well as a 1777 diary of James Hutchinson that chronicles Hugh Williamson’s return to America from his fund-raising mission in Great Britain (called to my attention by Mrs. Marie Barrett).

The chief source of information on this mission is found in the letters of Williamson’s colleague, John Ewing, whose papers are at the University of Pennsylvania. That university’s archivist, James Dallett, turned up several other items of interest.

The manuscript Presbytery of New Castle Minute Book 1759-1773, at the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, was helpful in establishing Alexander McDowell’s assignments in this period. Other valuable records of this society have been printed.

Miscellaneous data from the Princeton University Archives were kindly supplied by its archivist, Earl Coleman, and a copy of the Robert Johnson account book in the Rutgers University Library was supplied by Richard P. McCormick.

The Bagby Family Papers, at the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, provided the earliest known manuscript journal of one of the literary societies.

The Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, furnished microfilm of a Josiah Smith, Jr., letterbook, as well as the surviving papers of Samuel Chiles Mitchell for the period of his presidency.

The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, provided some original papers regarding Walter Hullihen, as did the University of Vermont, Burlington, for George Allen. Among other colleges and universities supplying helpful data were Minnesota, Michigan, Vassar, Harvard, and Union College. The Carnegie Corporation, in New York, located and provided copies of several documents in the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Archives.

PUBLISHED WORK, STUDENT THESES, AND DUPLICATED MATERIALS

Bibliographies

William D. Lewis compiled a series of bibliographies for the history of the university: "The University of Delaware and Its Predecessors: A Bibliography," Delaware Notes 17 (1944): 111-25; "A Finding List on the History of Newark…and the University," Delaware Notes 32 (1959): 33-69; and "Supplement," Delaware Notes 34 (1961): 243. Also of value are H. Clay Reed and Marion Bjornson Reed, A Bibliography of Delaware through 1960 (Newark, 1966), and its supplement, Bibliography of Delaware, 1960-1974, compiled by the reference Department of the Hugh M. Morris Library (Newark, 1976).

Comprehensive Histories of the University

The most inclusive previous history of the university is William D. Lewis, University of Delaware: Ancestors, Friends and Neighbors, in Delaware Notes 34 (1961): 1-242. A fairly comprehensive coverage is also provided by Henry Schwaneger, "History of Higher Education in Delaware" (Ed.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1969). Lyman P. Powell, The History of Education in Delaware (Washington, 1893), is excellent for the period covered. It can be supplemented with Edward N. Vallandigham, Fifty Years of Delaware College, 1870-1920 (Newark). A short account by Christopher Ward, The University of Delaware: A Historical Sketch (Newark, 1934), was reissued anonymously, with additions, as A Brief History of the University of Delaware (Newark, 1940). David F. Allmendinger, Jr., has collected and duplicated much valuable primary material for his students under the title, "The University of Delaware in the Nineteenth Century" (Newark, 1976).

The library has attracted particular interest from students. Stephanie Bauersfeld, "The Growth and Development of the University of Delaware Library…1833-1965" (M.S.L.S. thesis, Catholic University, 1967), is valuable, but the most comprehensive study is Carol E. Hoffecker and John A. Munroe, Books, Bricks, and Bibliophiles: The University of Delaware Library (Newark, 1984). There are two good earlier short accounts: William D. Lewis, "The Library: 1834-1934," Alumni News, May 1934, 29-32, and Augustus H. Able, III, and William D. Lewis, "The Library Story (1833-1953)," Delaware Notes 26 (1953): 77-91.

Material regarding the university can be found in two local histories: Egbert G. Handy and James L. Vallandigham, Jr., Newark, Delaware: Past and Present (Newark, 1882), and Francis A. Cooch, Little Known History of Newark, Delaware, and Its Environs (Newark, 1936). Some information is to be found in J. Thomas Scharf, History of Delaware, 1609-1888, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1888).

The Colonial Academy

The best work on the founder is Elizabeth Ingersoll [Nybakken], "Francis Alison: American Philosophe, 1705-1779" (Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1974), which is supplemented by two articles from the same author: "New Light on the Old Side: Irish Influences in Colonial Presbyterianism," Journal of American History 68 (1982): 813-32, and "The Enlightenment and Calvinism: Mutual Support Systems for the Eighteenth-Century American Wilderness," Transactions of the Fifth International Congress on the Enlightenment 3 (Oxford, 1980), 1126-135.

Thomas C. Pears, Jr., wrote many valuable articles on the early academy, such as "Francis Alison, Colonial Educator," Delaware Notes 17 (1944): 9-22; "Francis Alison," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 29 (1951): 213-25; "Colonial Education Among Presbyterians," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 30 (1952): 115-26; "Presbyterians and American Freedom," Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society 29 (1951): 77-95; "Ten Little Irish Lads," University News 8 (June 1943): 5, 9; and "This American Wilderness: A Study of Some of the Main Currents in Colonial American Presbyterianism," duplicated lectures on the L. P. Stone Foundation, Princeton Theological Seminary (1942).

Probably the best essays on the colonial academy are by George H. Ryden: "The Newark Academy of Delaware in Colonial Days," Pennsylvania History 2 (1935): 205-24; and "The Relation of the Newark Academy of Delaware to the Presbyterian Church and to Higher Education in the American Colonies," Delaware Notes 9 (1935): 7-42. On the same subject is George Morgan, "The Colonial Origin of Newark Academy and of Other Classical Schools…," Delaware Notes 8 (1934): 7-30. A very valuable contemporary account is [Matthew Wilson], "The Character of the Rev. Francis Alison, D.D., Vice-Provost of the College of Philadelphia…," Pennsylvania Journal (April 19, 1780). Guy Klett, ed., Minutes of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1706-1788 (Philadelphia, 1976), is an indispensable primary source.

Leonard J. Trinterud, The Forming of an American Tradition: A Reexamination of Colonial Presbyterianism (Philadelphia, 1972), is a splendid study of the Presbyterian background of the academy, even though biased toward the New Side. Other books with information on the institution’s early Presbyterian connections include Douglas Sloan, The Scottish Enlightenment and the American College Ideal (New York, 1971); Richard Webster, A History of the Presbyterian Church in America…with Biographical Sketches of the Early Ministers (Philadelphia, 1857); Alfred Nevin, ed., Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States… (Philadelphia, 1884); William B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, vol. 3 (New York, 1858). Alexander Mackie, Facile Princeps: The Story of the Beginning of Life Insurance in America (Philadelphia, 1956), deals with another facet of Francis Alison’s career, one that is also discussed in John Baird, Horn of Plenty: The Story of the Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund (Wheaton, Ill., 1982).

Beverly McAnear wrote a series of excellent articles on colonial colleges, among which he included the Newark Academy: "The Charter of the Academy of Newark," Delaware History 4 (1950): 149-60; "College Founding in the American Colonies, 1745-1775," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 42 (1955): 24-44; "The Raising of Funds by the Colonial Colleges," Mississippi Valley Historical Review 38 (1952): 591-612; and "The Selection of an Alma Mater by Pre-Revolutionary Students," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 73 (1949): 429-40. Some information on the academy’s early years may be found in Saul Sack, History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania, vol. 1 (Harrisburg, Pa., 1963), 40-43, as well as in James Mulhern, A History of Secondary Education in Pennsylvania (reprint, New York, 1969).

Contemporary references may be found in George Whitefield’s Journals (1737-1741)…(reprint, Gainesville, Fla., 1969); Benjamin Rush, Letters, ed. L. H. Butterfield, 2 vols. (Princeton, N.J., 1951), and Autobiography, ed. George W. Corner (Princeton, 1948); Ezra Stiles, Extracts from the Itineraries and Other Miscellanies (New Haven, Conn., 1961); and Literary Diary, 3 vols. (New York, 1901), both works edited by Franklin B. Dexter; Benjamin Franklin, Papers, ed. Leonard W. Labaree et al. (New Haven, Conn., 1961-); and L. H. Butterfield, John Witherspoon Comes to America: A Documentary Account…(Princeton, N.J., 1953).

These can be supplemented by studies of nearby colleges and of prominent educators with some connection with the Academy of Newark, such as Thomas R. McKibbens, Jr., and Kenneth L. Smith, The Life and Works of Morgan Edwards (New York, 1980); Ann D. Gordon, "The College of Philadelphia, 1749-1759: Impact of an Institution" (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1976); William L. Turner, "The College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia: The Development of a Colonial Institution of Learning, 1740-1779" (Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1952); Thomas H. Montgomery, A History of the University of Pennsylvania from Its Foundation to A.D. 1770 (Philadelphia, 1970); John Maclean, History of the College of New Jersey (Philadelphia, 1877); Varnum L. Collins, President Witherspoon, a Biography, 2 vols. (Princeton, N.J., 1925); and Ashbel Green, The Life of the Revd. John Witherspoon…, ed. Henry L. Savage (Princeton, N.J., 1973).

Many biographical studies exist for pupils of Alison and McDowell, such as John M. Coleman, Thomas McKean, Forgotten Leader of the Revolution (Rockaway, N.J., 1975); William T. Read, Life and Correspondence of George Read…(Philadelphia, 1870); Bernard C. Steiner, The Life and Correspondence of James McHenry…(Cleveland, Ohio, 1907); Edward D. Neill, "Matthew Wilson–D.D., of Lewes, Delaware," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1884): 45-55; Elbert Chance, "Matthew Wilson Professor, Preacher, Patriot, Physician," Delaware History 10 (1963): 271-84; Harold Hancock, "Matthew Wilson and Delaware College," University News 31 (Fall 1964): 6-8; J. Edwin Hendricks, Charles Thomson and the Making of a New Nation (Rutherford, N.J., 1979). For the participants in the fund-raising trip to Britain, see Lacy E. Lee Ewing, Dr. John Ewing and Some of His Noted Connections (Philadelphia, 1930), and David Hosack, "A Biographical Memoir of Hugh Williamson," Collections of the New-York Historical Society 3 (1821): 125-79. A student paper in the University Archives, Thomas Burrs, "Rev. Thomas Read and the Newark Academy," is also of interest, as is John M. Clayton, Jr., "Thomas Read: An Early Delaware Educator," University of Delaware News 39 (1972): 9-10.

Among the pamphlets on churches closely connected to Alison and McDowell are Robert P. Dubois, A Discourse on the Origin and History of the Presbyterian Church and Congregation of New London (Philadelphia, 1845); J. H. Johns, A History of the Rock Presbyterian Church in Cecil County, Maryland (Oxford, Pa., 1872); James L. Vallandigham, Historical Discourse, Head of Christiana Church (1876); Henry G. Welbon, A History of Christiana Church (Newark, 1933); and William D. Mackey, White Clay Creek Presbyterian Church, Presbytery of New Castle (Wilmington, 1876.)

From the Revolution to the Civil War

Two articles by George H. Ryden study the perimeters of the life of the early college: "The Founding of the University of Delaware and Its First President, Dr. E. W. Gilbert," Delaware Notes 8 (1934): 31-39, and "The Suspension of Delaware College in 1859 and Early but Unsuccessful Attempts at Its Reorganization," Delaware Notes 8 (1934): 75-83. A recent publication by John A. Munroe surveys the entire period: Church us. State: The Early Struggle for Control of Delaware College (Newark, 1983).

Among the most useful studies dealing with aspects of college history in this period are Jane N. Garrett, "The Delaware College Lotteries, 1818-1845," Delaware History 7 (1957): 299-318; John H. Renshaw, "Lotteries in Delaware History Prior to 1826" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1966); Willa G. Cramton and Norman W. Moore, Jr., "A Forerunner to Delaware College and Its Popular Rejection," Delaware History 12 (1966): 121-46; H. Clay Reed, "Student Life at Delaware, 1834-1859," Delaware Notes 8 (1934): 40-74; Richard C. Quick, "Murder at Delaware College: The Death of John Edward Roach, March 30, 1858," Delaware Notes 31 (1958): 1-31; Jacqueline C. Meisel, "Old College: The First Building of the University of Delaware, Its Origins and Development" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1971); and Ernest J. Moyne, "Did Edgar Allan Poe Lecture at Newark Academy?" Delaware Notes 26 (1953):1-20.

Among contemporary reminiscences of the early, college that are in print, the most useful is Joseph Cleaver, Jr., "The Diary of a Student of Delaware College, August, 1853, to November, 1854," ed. William D. Lewis, Delaware Notes 24 (1951): 1-87. Others are Isaiah D. Clauson, Memoranda of My Life (Woodstown, N.J., 1877); William D. Hoyt, Jr., ed., "A Student’s Impressions of Newark College 105 Years Ago," Delaware History 2 (1947): 134-37; and Epher Whitaker, "From the Oldest Alumnus," Alumni News, January 1915, 7-8. Other contemporaneous comments can be found in A Calendar of Ridgely Family Letters, 1742- 1899, in the Delaware State Archives, ed. Leon De Valinger, Jr., and Virginia E. Shaw, 3 vols. (Dover, Del., 1948-61); and The Diaries of Phoebe George Bradford, 1832-1839, ed. W. Emerson Wilson (Wilmington, 1976).

Information concerning early faculty is to be found in [Benjamin Wallace], "Dr. Gilbert," Presbyterian Quarterly Review 9 (1853): 353-83, as well as in a brief note by the same author, "Death of Dr. Gilbert," Presbyterian Quarterly Review 6 (also 1853): 351; and in Susan P. Lee, Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, D.D. (Philadelphia, 1893); William D. Mackey, "William S. Graham," Delaware College Review 1 (Sept. 1882): 3; George Allen, Remains of William S. Graham, with a Memoir (Philadelphia, 1849); Ernest J. Moyne, "August Fredrik Soldan: A Finnish Scholar at Delaware College in 1849-1850," Delaware Notes 23 (1950): 83-89; William D. Lewis, "Henry W. Lister," Delaware Notes 18 (1945): 11-21; Walter R. Bowie, The Master of the Hill: A Biography of John Meigs (for Matthew Meigs) (New York, 1917); Charles Henry Hart, Memoir of Samuel Stehman Haldeman, LL.D….(Philadelphia, 1881, reprinted from The Penn Monthly, August 1881).

Ruthanna Hindes, George Alfred Townsend (Wilmington, 1946), is a biography of a noted academy student of this period who had neighborly and familial connections with the college W. David Baird, Peter Pitchlynn: Chief of the Choctaws (Norman, Okla., 1972), and Angle Debo, The Rise and Fall of the Choctaw Republic. 2nd ed. (Norman, Okla., 1961), explain the background of the Indian students.

The history of competing institutions in Delaware may be found in E. Miriam Lewis, ed., "The Minutes of the Wilmington Academy, 1777-1802," Delaware History 3 (1949): 181-226; Thomas J. Peterman, "A History of Saint Mary’s College, Wilmington, Delaware" (M.A. thesis, Villanova University, 1961); Louise M. Porter, "The Wesleyan Female College, Wilmington, Delaware, 1837-1855" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1958); B. Franklin Cooling III, "Delaware Military Academy, 1859-1862," Delaware History 12 (1966): 121-46; and C. A. Weslager, Brandywine Springs: The Rise and Fall of a Delaware Resort (Wilmington, 1949).

Pertinent speeches that have been published include the inaugural addresses by John Holmes Agnew (Philadelphia, 1834) and Richard S. Mason (Philadelphia, 1836), a commencement address to the literary societies by Willard Hall (Philadelphia, 1845), a valedictory address by Samuel M. Harrington, Jr. (Philadelphia, 1858), and the Speech of David Paul Brown, Delivered May 19, 1858, in the Case of the State of Delaware against Isaac N. Weaver, a Student in Delaware College…(Philadelphia, 1858), also published in Forensic Speeches of David Paul Brown (Philadelphia, 1873). See also George J. Porter, Historical Discourse Delivered in the First Presbyterian Church, Newark, Delaware, July 22, 1876 (Philadelphia, 1876).

On student societies in general a helpful article is James McLachlan, "The Choice of Hercules: American Student Societies in the Early 19th Century," in The University in Society, ed. Lawrence Stone, vol. 2: Europe, Scotland, and the United States from the 16th to the 20th Century (Princeton, N.J., 1974). Other useful works that have pertinence to the history of Delaware College in this period are George M. Marsden, The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience: A Case Study of Thought and Theology in Nineteenth-Century America (New Haven, Conn., 1970), and David F. Allmendinger, Jr., Paupers and Scholars: The Transformation of Student Life in Nineteenth Century New England (New York, 1975). Among many alumni directories that were consulted, two were especially valuable: George L. Reed, ed., Alumni Record. Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pa., 1905), and University of Pennsylvania, Biographical Catalogue of Matriculates (Philadelphia, 1894).

The Land Grant College to 1914

For background on the land-grant colleges, see Benjamin F. Andrews, The Land Grant of 1862 and the Land-Grant Colleges (Washington, D.C., 1918), and Earl D. Ross, Democracy’s College: The Land-Grant Movement in the Formative Stage (Ames, Iowa, 1942). Thomas Le Duc, "State Disposal of the Agricultural College Land Scrip," Agricultural History 28 (1954): 99-107, is a very valuable article for its explanation of the way in which Delaware utilized the land scrip it received; this article is reprinted in Vernon Carstensen, ed., The Public Lands: Studies in the History of the Public Domain (Madison, Wisc., 1963). Edward N. Vallandigham, Fifty Years of Delaware College, 1870-1920, already cited, deals exclusively with the early land-grant college period.

A thesis by Gloria M. D. Bockrath, "Student Recruitment at Delaware College During the Purnell Era, 1870-1885" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1977), is more comprehensive than its title implies, being practically a history of the college for fifteen years. The notable experiment of these years is also treated in another, briefer student paper by Stephanie Lashmet, "Coeducation at Delaware College, 1872-1885," published in the Blue Hen Messenger 1 (January 1978).

More information on the same period is to be found in George Morgan, "Sunny Days at Dear Old Delaware: What I Remember of My Experiences There in 1871-1875," Delaware Notes 8 (1934): 84-106; Edward N. Vallandigham, "Delaware in the Seventies," Alumni News, December 1916, 3-6, and "Some Reminiscences," Alumni News, October 1915, 5-11, as well as in John A. Munroe, "The Class of ’77," University News 9 (June 1944): 4-5, 20. Mrs. Ernest Helfenstein, "The Frederick Female Seminary under the Management of Dr. William H. Purnell," is an undated typed paper provided by the kindness of Arthur H. Martin of the Hood College Library.

Purnell’s successor, John H. Caldwell, published an account of his earlier career in Reminiscences of the Reconstruction of Church and State in Georgia (Wilmington, 1895), which can be supplemented by such Georgia studies as, particularly, Elizabeth S. Nathans, Losing the Peace: Georgia Republicans and Reconstruction, 1865-1871 (Baton Rouge, La., 1968). John F. Stover, "Colonel Henry S. McComb, Mississippi Railroad Adventurer," Journal of Mississippi History 17 (1955): 177-190, deals with an interesting portion of the career of a patron and board president of Delaware College. More information on McComb may be found in William C. Harris, The Day of the Carpetbagger: Republican Reconstruction in Mississippi (Baton Rouge, La., 1979).

For a slightly later period of Delaware College history, see John A. Munroe, "Albert Newton Raub and the Administration of Delaware College, 1888-1896," Delaware Notes 21 (1948): 1-18; Francis A. Cooch, "College Life, 1889-1893 " Alumni News, May 1934, 11-13, 16; Elisha Conover, "Delaware Then and Now," University News 3 (February 1938): 2-5; F.H. Robinson, Reminiscences of Delaware College (Newark, 1916); and a group of articles by George A. Harter, including "Early Commencements at Delaware College," Newark Post Commencement Supplement, June 13, 1923; "Fifty Years Is But a Short Time," University News 3 (January 1938): 1-3; and "Memories of Delaware," Delaware Notes 8(1934): 107-12.

Louise S. (Mrs. Everett) Johnson has left an interesting memoir that illumines the history of the town and the college at the turn of the century, "A Narrative of Many Memories, Several Detours and a Few Thoughts" (copy in University Archives). Two interesting student papers are Susan D. Bacon, "Perceptions of Main Street, Newark, Delaware, 1900-1920" (senior thesis, Vassar College, 1980), and Sally Pancoast, "Recitation Hall" (term paper, University of Delaware, 1959). They may be supplemented by Views of Delaware College (Newark, 1914) and [W. O. Sypherd] "Delaware College: The Highest Institution of Learning in the State," Wilmington Morning News, March 5, 1910.

Charles E. Rosenberg, "The Adams Act: Politics and the Cause of Scientific Research," Agricultural History 38 (1964): 3-12, is an excellent study of some federal legislation, while Alfred C. True, A History of Agricultural Education in the United States, 1785-1925 (reprint, New York, 1969) and A History of Agricultural Experimentation and Research in the United States, 1607-1925 (Washington, D.C., 1937) give a general background for the development of the College of Agricultural Sciences and the experiment station. The Delaware picture is supplied through two books by Joanne Passmore and collaborators, History of the Delaware State Grange and the State’s Agriculture, 1875-1975 (1975) and Three Centuries of Delaware Agriculture (1978). The relations between Delaware farmers and the college may be seen in Proceedings of the Delaware State Grange, especially the volumes for 1901, 1903, 1906, and 1919. (The 1917 Proceedings contain a sketch of Dr. Arthur T. Neale by John C. Higgins .) The only known surviving issues of The Delaware Farmer, the first student agricultural periodical, beginning in January 1914, are in the Wilmington Public Library.

Victoria C. Worden, A History of the Delaware State Board of Health, 1879-1958 (Dover, Del., 1958), is pertinent because the State Board of Health once maintained its laboratory on the college campus. Mrs. William H. Beacom, "The Delaware State Federation of Women’s Clubs," in Delaware: A History of the First State, ed. H. Clay Reed (New York, 1947), 2:729-36, and Alice L. B. Tanberg, History and Background of the Wilmington Branch, American Association of University Women, vol. 1 (Wilmington, 1944), aid in studying the history of the Women’s College.

The University Since 1914

Winifred J. Robinson left two accounts of the Women’s College: "History of the Women’s College of the University of Delaware, 1914-38," Delaware Notes 20 (1947): 5-69, and "History of Women’s College, University of Delaware," in Delaware: A History of the First State, ed. H. Clay Reed (New York, 1947), 2:723-28. A personal reminiscence of Anna J. DeArmond, "The Women’s College: A Backward Glance," was published in the Blue Hen Messenger 6 (July 1982): 4-5. See also "Thirty Years of Teacher Education at the Women’s College," by William A. Wilkinson, University News 10 (November 1944): 3, 19. Another view, by a former foreign student, Anne-Marie Max, was published anonymously as "Universities americaines, bals, tests, sports, flirt: le journal de Betty-Jane," in Realites, September 1946, 374ff.

Yearbooks, literary magazines, and some other Women’s College student publications are discussed in the text. Gladys Ford Pratt compiled a volume of clippings, "News of the Women’s College, University of Delaware" (now in University Archives) from Wilmington, Newark, and Dover newspapers in 1920. Two useful student papers are Joann Moscariello, "`The Pioneers’: A Study of the Activities of the First Class of the Women’s College of Delaware, 1914-1918," and Christine M. Smith, "The Women’s College of Delaware: 1919-1931" (term papers, University of Delaware, 1981).

President Samuel Chiles Mitchell wrote an interesting unpublished autobiography, "An Aftermath of Appomattox: A Memoir" (duplicated, Richmond, Va., 1942). Other views of Delaware College in his time may be found in Edward N. Vallandigham, "New Departares for Old Delaware," Philadelphia Record Magazine, April 19, 1914, and George Morgan, "Uncle Sam and the University of Delaware," Newark Post Commencement Supplement (1923), as well as in William G. Bixby, "A Year at Delaware College, 1919-1920" (term paper, University of Delaware, 1982).

Several brief essays on the college were published during the Hullihen administration, including Walter Hullihen, "Delaware College," Equitable Trust Company Monthly 1 (January 1921); George E. Dutton, "The Arts and Science School: 1900-1934," Alumni News, May 1934; C. A. McCue, "The School of Agriculture," Alumni News, May 1934; Robert L. Spencer, "The Engineering School," Delaware Notes 6 (1930): 111-18; and Dorothy L. Hawkins, "The New University Library–Delaware’s War Memorial," Equitable Trust Company Monthly 5 (June 1925).

Two appreciative essays on Rodney Sharp have appeared–[Daniel W. Wood], H. Rodney Sharp, Sr.: An Appreciation (Newark, 1980), and Robert L. Raley, H. Rodney Sharp: Biographical Notes Marking the 100th Anniversary of His Birth (Winterthur, Del., 1980)–and one on Fletcher Brown–John A. Perkins and Robeson Bailey, Harry Fletcher Brown: An Essay in Appreciation (Newark, 1960). Robert J. Taggart, author of "Student Loans That Paid Big Dividends: Pierre S. du Pont, Benefactor with a Vision," University of Delaware News 46 (June 1980): 7-13, is working on a much larger study of du Pont’s support of education. A valuable study is M. M. Daugherty, "Financing Higher Education in Delaware," which is chapter 4, pp. 91-98, in his Studies in Taxation: Financing Education in Delaware, Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin No. 182 (Newark, 1932).

Charles Z. Klauder and Herbert C. Wise, College Architecture in America and Its Part in the Development of the Campus (New York, 1929), has references to buildings on the Delaware campus. W. Gary Smith, "The Landscape Development of the University of Delaware Mall Prior to 1962" (honors thesis, University of Delaware, 1978), is of obvious interest. Debbie Jansen, "The Destruction of Change" (term paper, University of Delaware, 1981) discusses the remodeling of Recitation Hall.

On accreditation, see F. Taylor Jones, "Accreditation in the Middle States Region," in Accreditation in Higher Education, ed. Lloyd W. Blanch (Washington, D.C., 1959), and William K. Selden, Accreditation: A Struggle over Standards in Higher Education (New York, 1960).

The most important survey of the university in the Hullihen era is by Jacob Lipman, Fred J. Kelly, and C. C. Williams, Report of the Commission Appointed by the Board of Trustees to Make a Survey of the University (Newark, 1938), with which should be read the brief, published Comments of President Hullihen on University Survey Report at Meeting of Board of Trustees, December 10, 1938. Later surveys include the "General Report Prepared for Consideration by the Committee on Qualifications…of Phi Beta Kappa" (mimeographed, Newark, 1953), and The University of Delaware Self-Study Report (prepared for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities, December 15, 1980) (Newark). A number of forecasts have been published, such as George W. Foster, Nelson H. Tate, and R. L. Nourse, A 15 Year Forecast of Students, Staff and Facilities for the University of Delaware (Newark, 1958), and The Decade Ahead (Newark, 1971), the report of the Community Design Planning Commission. Alliance for Greatness (New York, 1969), prepared by consultants for the Academy for Educational Development, was commissioned by the Higher Educational Aid Advisory Commission for Delaware. Related studies are G. Gorham Lane, "A University Takes a Look at Itself," University News 28 (Summer 1962): 5-7, and G. Gorham Lane and Carol Pemberton, "The Senior-1970," University News 33 (Summer 1967): 2-5.

On athletics, Elbert Chance, sometimes alone and sometimes with a collaborator, has written a series of accounts–of golf, lacrosse, football (updated several times with collaborators), cross country (with Glenn Dill), swimming (with Thomas Waters)–while there are similar brief histories of gymnastics and wrestling by Glenn Dill and of soccer by Alden Burnham; duplicated typescripts of all of these essays are in the University Archives. A very interesting article by Mary Ann Hitchens Campbell, "Women’s Athletics–A Decade in Review," appeared in the University of Delaware News 46 (June 1980): 14-20.

Several accounts of dramatics at Delaware are available, such as Judith Kase, "The History of Theatre at the University of Delaware" (student paper, University of Delaware, 1954), Sylvia Leeds, "The History of Theatre at the University of Delaware, 1953-1967" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1968); and articles by C. Robert Kase, including "The E52 University Theatre," University of Delaware News 39 (February 1973): 11-18, and "Round Half the World in 58 Days," University News 25 (October 1958):8-9, 20-21. One of the few articles on music is J. Robert King, "Ladies and Gentleman…The University of Delaware Marching Band!" Blue Hen Messenger 6 (September 1982): 4-5 and (November 1982): 4-5. "A Note on Campus Journalism" appeared in the Alumni News, May 1934, 27-28. On campus radio broadcasting, see Robert Blake, "WHEN Oh WHEN," University of Delaware News 35 (Summer 1969): 16, and Mary Ryan, "A History of WXDR" (term paper, University of Delaware, 1981).

Louis L. Redding, "Desegregation in Higher Education in Delaware," Journal of Negro Education 27 (1958): 253-59, is an article of major importance. Frank R. Scarpitti et al., "The Black Student and the University of Delaware," was the report of an advisory committee on policies, programs, and services affecting blacks and other minority group students (mimeographed). Two student papers pertinent to this subject are Sidney Jacobs, "A Survey of the Black American Studies Program of the University of Delaware," and Bonito Norris, "Perceptions of Black Students of the University of Delaware" (both from 1981).

R. L. Sawicki "Unionization of Professors at the University of Delaware," Liberal Education 60 (1974): 449-60, is an interesting essay. On student unrest at the time of the Vietnam War there are student papers by Mark Mercer (1979), Annette Atwell (1981), and Brenda Nussle (1981).

The Nader Report on Delaware is entitled The Company State and is written by James Phelan and Robert Pozen (New York, 1973). Philip M. Boffey, "Du Pont and Delaware: Academic Life Behind the Nylon Curtain," Science 160 (May 10, 1968): 628-33, and Ben H. Bagdikian, "Case History of Wilmington’s Independent Newspapers," Columbia Journalism Review 3 (1964): 13-17, are critical.

Some student publications, like the Review, the yearbooks, and the literary magazines, have been mentioned in the text. Many helpful articles have appeared in the alumni magazine, published sporadically from 1915 to 1934 and regularly after 1935. It was first called the Alumni News but underwent several changes of name, among them University News, as it was entitled from 1935 to 1968, and thereafter University of Delaware News. It was gradually phased out in favor of a bimonthly, the Blue Hen Messenger, founded in 1977. Elbert Chance’s article, "Something New–Or Is It?" University of Delaware News 43 (September 1977): 1-2, tells of these changes in name, as well as in format.

The annual reports of the president to the board of trustees, published almost every year for the last six decades (and occasionally earlier), are valuable because they usually offer some summary of campus activities in the past year. Recently these reports have been published in the University of Delaware News. Update, with its supplement called Focus, is an employee newsletter. Another publication describing new policies, programs, and budgetary matters is University Report, a monthly founded in 1974. Enquiry, a quarterly issued by the Office of Patents and Research, features accounts of research conducted by faculty and staff. Many other publications are issued by various units, including departments and colleges.

Among numerous accounts of departments and other units or activities of the university are L. A. Stearns, "Entomology at the University of Delaware," Delaware Notes 30 (1957): 1-34; A. E. Tomhave, "The Poultry Industry in Delaware During the Last 50 Years (1900-1950)," Delaware Notes 24 (1951): 129-43; J. Frank Gordy, The First 25 Years of the University Substation (Cooperative Bulletin No. 4) (Newark, 1966); Anne B. Ritchey, "The College of Marine Studies: Dedicated to Preserving Delaware’s Marine Environment," Delaware Conservationist 18 (Summer 1974): 16-19; "Down to the Sea in Research Ships," University News 34 (Fall 1967): 2-6; Frederick B. Parker, "Outline of the History of Sociology at the University of Delaware, 1913-1966" (mimeographed, Newark, 1973); Thomas W. Brockenbrough, "University of Delaware," in The History of Civil Engineering and Construction in the Delaware Valley (Philadelphia, 1976); Willard McAllister, William Henderson, and J. Frank Gordy, "Some Significant Contributions of the University of Delaware to Agricultural Industry" (typescript in University Archives, 1983); John A. Murray, comp., "References to Continuing Education in University of Delaware Board of Trustees Dockets on File in University Archives" (mimeographed, no date); Richard Gregg, "The Development of Secondary Education at the University of Delaware" (term paper, University of Delaware, 1981).

Other similar studies are Carl J. Rees, "The Graduate School," University News 29 (Winter 1962-63): 8-11; Virginia P. Burt, "The History of Graduate Studies at the University of Delaware" (mimeographed, Newark, 1978); Jack Sturgell, "The Student Center: A Retrospective," University of Delaware News 43 (Fall 1976); 2-7; James H. Sills, Jr., "The Public Service Function at the University of Delaware: A Case Study" (Ph.D. dissertation, Bryn Mawr, 1981); W. A. Pemberton, "A History of Student Consulting Services at the University of Delaware from 1946 to 1972" (mimeographed, Newark, 1972); Arnold Clark, "Retirement Party Talk, May 21, 1981" (mimeographed, 1981).

Under university auspices many reports have been prepared similar to Angela Zawacki "A History of Nonresident Undergraduate Enrollment" (Institutional Research Study 81-25, March 16, 1982), and Carol Pemberton, "Academic Growth in Social Sciences, Humanities and Natural Science in Various Curriculum Groups," (Office of Academic Planning and Evaluation, September 14, 1972). Barbara Y. McEwing, Fiftieth Anniversary, Delaware Academy of Medicine…Wilmington, Delaware (Wilmington, 1980) includes the text of the significant Penrod Report on needs for medical education in Delaware.