[ war of 1812 ] Middlebury College Administration

Middlebury College Administration

Middlebury College had been founded only a handful of years later, and its first graduates were just beginning to make a name for themselves. At the time, it was still very much a local college - the vast majority of its alumni were local boys from upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Most would graduate and become lawyers, ministers, and teachers. Doctors became more common over the course of the nineteenth century.

President Henry Davis

Davis was lured away from a teaching position at Union College to the tune of $1100 a year, a substantial increase in salary over the previous president, Jeremiah Atwater.

[ President Atwater's resignation ]
[ the search for a new president ]
[ confirming President Davis ]

Financial Difficulties

With the financial pressures on the entire nation and on Vermont in particular as part of the Embargo Act, Middlebury College was in dire straits at this period. Funds for the college were provided primarily by "subscription" and the trustees were constantly seeking new donors.

Professor Frederick Hall, a popular instructor, is frequently lauded in the trustees' minutes for his donations of books to the college library. Sometimes he gave dozens of volumes at a time.

On August 17, 1814, a rudimentary system of financial aid was set up. The trustees decided to remit $40 of annual tuition for up to six students they considered "suitable objects of charity."

[ financial affairs ]
[ tuition is raised ]
[ sample account of book donations ]
[ commendation for Professor Hall ]
[ financial aid decree ]

Student Difficulties: Dorm Damage

Every year the trustees appointed one or two men to oversee damages to student housing and to assess according fines and/or tuition hikes. It seems to have been something of a hot issue.

[ sample scans from the trustee minutes ]

Student Difficulties: Outside Instruction

The trustee minutes also contain several references to students offering outside instruction, which the trustees decreed strictly forbidden. Considering the long struggle Middlebury College faced for primacy in the region, their reaction seems to be mostly a business one.

[ sample decrees ]