OF George Peabody College for Teachers 1875-1925 The Proceedings of the Semicentennial Celebration February 18, 19, and 20, 1925 COMMITTEE IN CHARGE OF THE CELEBRATION CHARLES EDGAR LITTLE, L.I. '87, A.B. '91, Ph.D., CHAIRMAN SAMUEL LEONARD SMITH, A.B., A.M. '16, PREsident of the ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (Dates are given only with Peabody Degrees) STANFORD BRAD PUBLISHED BY George Peabody College for Teachers NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 1925 ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM Please say for me to the students, faculty, and friends who participated so generously and earnestly in the successful conduct of our Semicentennial that the College is very grateful indeed for the magnificent services which they rendered. The several hundred students on the various committees attended to their duties so well that I was never prouder of the teaching profession in my life. Everything went off with such great precision, and yet displaying such simple beauty, that all who witnessed it from various parts of the United States were greatly impressed. Of course, I knew that it was the hard work of the various committees of students and faculty for some time previous and during the exercises which caused our distinguished friends from a distance to wonder and admire as they did. Peabody Semicentennial Celebration EDITORIAL NOTE The Semicentennial Celebration of George Peabody College for Teachers was a genuine Golden Jubilee. The very atmosphere was charged with thanksgiving and aspiration. The addresses were all of a high order, some of them notable. The first day chosen for beginning the Golden Jubilee was the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the birth of George Peabody. As was fitting, the keynote of that day's proceedings was to render tribute to our Founder as the pioneer and inspirer of modern philanthropy. The second day was devoted to the historic mission and achievements of George Peabody College for Teachers, while the third day emphasized the Alumni as products of George Peabody College for Teachers and as the instrumentalities through which all Peabody achievements and ideals are to be realized. The following pages set forth the proceedings in the order of the program carried out on those three memorable days. This volume is primarily intended as a record of the Golden Jubilee, but it is also in a larger sense a portrayal of the Peabody spirit as embodied in the institution and its Alumni and as represented by a half century of service to the teachers of the South and the Nation. CHARLES E. LITTLE. George Peabody College for Teachers, May 8, 1925. INTRODUCTION George Peabody College for Teachers was founded in 1875 by the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund, with the coöperation of the University of Nashville and later of the State of Tennessee. It opened its doors to students on December 1, 1875. The choice of date for the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary was fixed by the birthday of George Peabody-February 18. The Golden Jubilee marked fifty years of checkered career and single-mindedness of purpose. Peabody was fostered and controlled from 1875 to 1909 by three boards-the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund, the trustees of the University of Nashville, and the State Board of Education of Tennessee. This arrangement made many difficulties inevitable, but surprisingly few disasters and many advantages resulted. The triple alliance was, on the whole, harmonious and effective. It produced many stanch friends and supporters, genuinely interested in the development of Peabody and in public education. That George Peabody College for Teachers could wage a successful campaign for permanent endowment during the six years, 1903 to 1909, speaks well for the curious and hazardous management by three boards which continued for thirty-four years. At the end of this period, Peabody, in 1909, secured its independent charter and board of trustees as a corporation under the laws of Tennessee and came into possession of $1,750,000, endowment and building fund, for starting upon a new phase of its historic mission. That date and that event mark the realization of a long and persistent struggle. The obstacles met in this checkered career had been overcome, one after the other, by that single-mindedness of purpose in the training of teachers and the promotion of public education. The connection of this celebration with a larger span of time is easy to discover. The University of Nashville, which loaned and finally donated all her grounds, buildings, and library to Peabody, reaches back to 1826. Before the Civil War, the University of Nashville, under Chancellor Philip Lindsley and his son, Chancellor John Berrien Lindsley, became an honorable and dignified institution of higher learning, whose graduates exerted a commanding influence over the development of the South and Southwest, and, indeed, the |