William Rainey Harper

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William Rainey Harper

William Rainey Harper (born July 26, 1856 in Concord , Ohio , † January 10, 1906 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American professor of Semitic languages ​​and religion. He was the first president of the University of Chicago from 1891 to 1906 .

Youth and education

William Rainey Harper was born on July 26, 1856, the eldest of four brothers and a sister in New Concord, Ohio, then about 700 residents. His parents, Samuel and Elizabeth Rainey Harper, were of Irish-Scottish descent and belonged to the Covenanter (Presbyter) parish, who valued education and training. William, called "Willie" was a very gifted child, so that he was accepted into Muskingum College in New Concord at the age of ten. In addition to Latin and Greek, he also learned Hebrew in a small group. For three years he took private Hebrew lessons from a teacher in Zaneville, about 30 km away, and worked in his father's shop. At the age of 14 he got his Bachelor of Art (BA). He also had a musical side: played the piano with the President's daughter (his future wife) and led the New Concord Silver Cornet Band. In 1871 his health was so bad that the family feared that he would die. From 1972 to 1973 he was allowed to teach Hebrew at Muskingum College and now he knew that he wanted to become a teacher.

On September 10, 1873, his parents sent him to Yale, the first university in America to award a doctorate since 1861, for further studies. Thanks to the financial support of his father, he lived in a small pension and was able to concentrate fully on his studies. Though he lacked the background of his older classmates, he took them on and did his PhD at age 18, a month before his 19th birthday, when Dr. phil. The title of his doctoral thesis was "A Comparative Study of the Prepositions in Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and Gothic." His father had noted in his journal that his two years at Yale had cost him $ 1,141.73.

On November 18, 1875, he married Ella Paul, daughter of Rev. David Paul, president of Muskingum College, New Concord. They had three sons and a daughter.

Academic career

Morgan Hall. The Baptist Union Theological Seminary 1886
1879–1886 Harper was Professor of Hebrew at the Baptist Union Theological Seminary (BUTS)

Through the intercession of a fellow Yale student, Harper received a position in Greek and Latin at Masonic College in Macon , Tennessee , in 1875 , where he was followed by his wife. The college was small and only had 75 students so he only stayed there for a year.

On September 1, 1876, he took up a new position as tutor for the classical languages ​​at Denison University in Granville , Ohio, of which Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews gave him every assistance. Although he was reluctant to lose him, he made President GW Northrup of BUTS aware of Harper and his excellent knowledge of Hebrew, for which Harper was grateful for a lifetime.

On January 1, 1879, he got the position as a teacher of Hebrew at the Baptist Union Theological Seminary (BUTS) in Chicago with an annual salary of $ 1,000, which was raised in 1883 to $ 1,800, the salary of a professor. The Baptist Union Theological Seminary had built a new building in Morgan Park, about 20 km south of the university, in 1877, and took its students and the library with them. At 22, Harper was younger than many of the college students. In his first year he not only taught, but also studied alongside his hours for a Bachelor of Divinity (BD). In 1880 he received his first professorship here, where John D. Rockefeller was Vice President of the Board of Directors.

Harper was able to transfer his enthusiasm for Hebrew to his students and he convinced them to study Sanskrit and the Chaldean language and also to use the summer holidays for further study. Following the example of John H. Vincent , who set up a camp on the shores of Chautauqua Lake since 1872 during the summer holidays to teach teachers for the children's church service there, Harper also offered a " summer school " in Morgan Park . In the first year 23 students came and in the second already 65 and in the third 85. In 1883 Harper set up a second summer camp in Chautauqua , New York, and in 1889 he had 5 schools in different cities with courses in Arabic, Assyrian , NT Greek, the old ones Versions, as well as the Old and New Testament in English. They had almost become seminars. Between 1881 and 1890, 30 summer schools were held across the country. Teachers and students alike requested his attendance at Worcester, Mass., Philadelphia, New Haven, Newton Center, Cambridge, Mass., The universities of Virginia and Evanston. At the same time he set up a "distance learning course" for those students who could not attend. He opened a print shop for his lessons and manuals and won the collaboration of 70 professors in America and Canada for the American Institute of Hebrew.

Yale

As Harper became more popular, he was also attracting attention at Yale. Samuel H. Lee at Yale obtained Harper's writings from the Correspondence School and also attended the summer school in Worcester, Mass. attended so he suggested that those responsible call Harper to Yale. These commissioned Lee to raise the sum of $ 60,000 to set up a chair for Harper. The trustees of the BUTS feared they would not be able to keep him and offered him the presidency of the university, which was in financial difficulties. But in 1886 Harper accepted the chair offered to him as professor of Semitic languages ​​and teacher in religion. He also took his "schools" and printing workshop with him to New Haven.

Here he offered eight weekly lessons in Hebrew, four in Assyrian and Arabic, and one each in Aramaic and Syriac. Of his approximately 50 students, seven graduated after the first year. From 1888–89 he went to Vassar College for Girls in Poughkeepsie NY every other Sunday and gave a lecture there. He brought out the magazine "Hebraica" and soon got his brother, Robert F. Harper, to work for it. In 1884 Harper published his book " Elements of Hebrew " followed by " Hebrew Manual Method " and " Elements of Hebrew Syntax ".

He was now assisted by George S. Goodspeed, one of his former Morgan Park students and now pastor in Springfield Mass., For his Hebrew Student magazine. Frank K. Sanders, one of his students, helped him with the Correspondence School, to whom he soon transferred the responsibility for this and took him to Chautauqua as a teacher in 1888. In 1890 he needed a cashier, accountant and manager, whom he found in George E. Robertson, for the "American Institute of Sacred Literature", the "American Publication Society of Hebrew", his work in Chautauqua, the printing, shipping and mail processing. He made Sanders and CE Crandall his assistants in the lectures.

In late 1887, he heard from Augustus H. Strong, president of the Rochester Theological Seminary, that there was a plan to establish a great Baptist university in New York with the generosity of John D. Rockefeller. In the fall of 1888 Harper met him by chance after a service at Vassar College, and Rockefeller took the time to discuss his plans for a university with him. Harper insisted on recommending Chicago as a location for this. He immediately wrote to the Morgan Park Board of Trustees to contact the American Baptist Society , and he himself made contact with Frederick T. Gates , the secretary of that society, which Rockefeller had founded. Gates was in favor of pursuing the establishment of a college in Chicago. Although Harper had a university in mind, he fully supported Gates and the others in their endeavors.

President of the University of Chicago

Meanwhile plans for a new university in Chicago had taken shape. Frederick T. Gates and Thomas W. Goodspeed had raised both a property and the amount John D. Rockefeller asked for $ 400,000 in donations throughout the Midwest by June 1, 1890, so Rockefeller provided the $ 600,000 promised. The first trustees were both Baptists and non-believers. When the university's charter was adopted in May 1890, the university did not yet have a president.

William Rainey Harper at Yale was Rockefeller's favorite. Harper had just been made a generous 6-year offer to keep him. He himself was in two minds whether he should give up his beloved Semitic languages ​​and the lively interaction with the students in favor of a presidency in Chicago. Rockefeller wanted college and Harper wanted university. When Rockefeller agreed to Harper's demand for an additional million to move the Theological Seminary (BUTS) from Morgan Park to the new university campus, Harper, 34, surrendered and accepted the presidency in February 1891. As president he received $ 6,000 and as head of the Semitic Languages ​​department another $ 4,000 a year.

In December 1890 he presented his ideas to the Board of Trustees in five departments:

  • The actual university
  • The extensions assigned to the university
  • The university press
  • The university library
  • The courses affiliated with the university

They were accepted and published in Official Bulletin No. 1 and hit the other universities like a bomb.

The basic idea or motto of the University of Chicago should be: Service. Not only used by students in the classroom. The institution should be open to both men and women. The academic year was divided into four quarters - autumn, winter, spring and summer. The summer semester was an innovation. It should both enable students to complete their college courses in three years and give graduate students, teachers, and professors the opportunity to complete advanced courses in those three months. This divided the college year into junior and senior college. The students could take their vacation in autumn, winter or spring and still keep their place in their subjects. That wasn't the only innovation. Sports should also be assigned to a faculty with a head coach. Instead of the hitherto prevalent method of having half a dozen subjects occupying the student's attention, they should focus on three or even two subjects. In his summer schools he had seen for himself what results were possible if only one topic was dealt with for three to six weeks. This remained the fundamental law of the university, even if it underwent changes in execution over the years.

In Harper's plan, the university should also include an undergraduate college (courses leading to an undergraduate degree). The colleges should be based on the English model, the university on the German model (Humboldt). Professors should be allowed sufficient time to advance research. In addition, he had developed a program for adult education as an appendix, which stood on an equal footing with the curricula. In addition to the planned construction work, he also had a university print shop in mind as a key element of the university.

"I have a plan which is unique and comprehensive at the same time, which I am persuaded will revolutionize university study in this country. ... It is very simple, but thoroughgoing."

- William Rainey Harper : Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: William Rainey Harper. Published by University of Chicago Press 1928

Translation: “ I have a plan that is both unique and all-encompassing, and that I believe will revolutionize university education in this country. It is very simple, but radical . "

The Ogden Graduate School of Science

Even before he officially took office, Harper received unexpected help from the executor in January 1891 from William B. Ogden, the former mayor of Chicago. They hired Haper to come up with a proposal for what a graduate school with an emphasis on scientific research could look like. They agreed that such a facility should include at least the faculties of physics, chemistry, biology, geology and mineralogy, and astronomy, and in June the papers were signed that pledged $ 600.00 for the Ogden Graduate School of Science. In 1899, Rollin D. Salisbury was appointed dean of the institution, an office he held until his death in 1922. At the same time he structured the geology department and headed it until 1918.

Vacation and purchase of the Calvary library

In August 1891, Harper took a vacation and drove to Europe with his family on the MS "Normannia". With him drove his former best student at Yale, James H. Breasted , who, on Harper's advice in Berlin, was to receive the best scientific training in Berlin and for whom he had planned a professorship in Egyptology in Chicago. In Berlin, Haper found out about the "Calvary Library" that was for sale. The owner, Heinrich Simon (1833–1892), wanted to sell this collection from a former publisher for reasons of age. It contained, among other things, auxiliary books for studying philology, annual series with: BG Niebuhr, FA Wolf, KO Müller, W. von Humboldt and many others; a series of publications by the Kgl. Academy of Sciences in Berlin; annotated editions of old classics: Caesar, Cicero, Horace, Plautus, Sallust, Tacitus; H. Düntzer's Fragments of Epic Poetry from the Greeks to Alexander the Elder. Size Since 1874 the publisher has published the Bibliotheca philologica classica, comprehensive lists of all published books, etc. of classical studies. Harper secured the services of two Königl employees to determine the number and value of books, manuscripts and pamphlets. Prussian Library and the right of first refusal, because it required the approval of the Board of Trustees in Chicago for a purchase price of $ 45,000. He had also visited some scientists, such as B. Caspar René Gregory , who later was a visiting professor of Greek in Chicago and attended a church conference in England. In October 1891 he was back in Chicago. Harper described the library to the board of trustees and its members personally signed for the purchase price. In May 1892, Harper received the news that 242 boxes with 57,630 volumes and 39,020 dissertations and an insurance value of 500,000 marks had left Hamburg by ship. Heinrich Simon had died in 1892 and Harper was still in some trouble because the scope of the delivery did not match the agreement made with him. In January 1893 the books were first placed in a makeshift library and in the gym.

Buildings - professors - students

In his hunt for professors, Harper would not stop at President Roosevelt either.

Harper saw that the financial means were insufficient to build a university based on his secret ideas that he would not trust anyone. The first thing to do was start the campaign for the $ 1 million. From Frederick Gates he learned that there was nothing to be got from Rockefeller at the moment. The breakthrough came in the spring of 1892: Sidney A. Kent stated that a chemical laboratory wanted to donate and at the end of February, Rockefeller donated another million. This large contribution moved Chicago and Marshall Field , the mayor, said the city should also raise 1 million for buildings. He himself immediately donated $ 100,000 on condition that the million must be reached by July 10, 1892. Mr. Kent increased his contribution to $ 235,000. Martin a. Ryerson, the president of the consistory, gave $ 150,000; Silas B. Cobb, Hamill, Byron L. Smith, Edwin G. Foreman, William T. Baker, TJ Lefens, John J. Mitchell, AA Sprague, OSA Sprague, AC Bartlett, John R. Walsh and Henry A. Rust brought within the necessary funds for the million in three months.

Now the students had to be found. Since September 1890, nearly 3,000 inquiries for university places had been received from all over America. At first, Harper answered many himself, but in July 1891 he had Frank F. Abbott from Yale at his side as an examiner, who did the correspondence for him. They had their offices in the Chamber of Commerce building.

Around 1,000 applications were also received for the positions of teachers and scientists. Although only some of them were what he wanted, they had to be answered politely. Harper had high ideals of how a university professor should be: he should be a teacher, but first and foremost a scientist, with a love for learning, with a passion for research, an investigator who could show something at the same time and then publish his results . Harper intuitively recognized a scientist, a finding that helped him in his quest, as well as his charm and infectious enthusiasm that often won over even the most hesitant. On June 1, 1892, Dr. Harry Pratt Judson , who was to become the university's second president, of the University of Minnesota as director of history and dean for the colleges. He assisted Harper in preparing for the opening in October.

The salary for a professor had been set at $ 6,000 a year, but after six months of trying, Harper had to announce that he could not win any of the men he thought fit for that annual salary for Chicago. He was in negotiations with William Gardner Hale and James Laurence Laughlen of Cornell University, who headed the Latin and Political Economy departments there. On December 29, 1891, the consortium increased the annual salary to the then unimaginable sum of $ 7,000, so that he moved the two to Chicago, with the advantage that the two knew and would support each other. Both men had already made a name for themselves through publications and they threw themselves wholeheartedly into their new task. They also helped get other men to come.

In the spring of 1892, Harper heard of a meeting of professors at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts who were dissatisfied with their work there and wanted to look elsewhere. The temptation was irresistible for Harper to put the science faculties on an equal footing with the leading institutions in the country, although funding for an expansion was not yet in sight. 15 men were appointed, making the science and humanities faculties equally strong. Among them were professors who later became famous

The President of the University of Wisconsin, Dr. Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin , had enough of administration and wanted to go back to teaching. He became head of geology, and a month later Rollin D. Salisbury , professor of geology, who then worked in the same faculty, joined.

On June 1, 1892, the secretary announced that 60 professors and teachers had been appointed in all departments and that the number would only increase by ten to twelve until teaching began. However, there were another 60 appointments that followed, so that in the first year 120 appointments were made. Among them were nine women. Alice Freeman Palmer , formerly President of Wellesley, became dean for women. Harper did not hesitate to approach the presidents of other universities and he had eight of them in his faculties in the first year.

The opening

On Saturday October 1, 1892, the university opened with 520 selected students, more than half of whom were graduate students. They were from 27 states and twelve countries. The Cobb Hall was the first building to be completed and had a large lecture hall. The opening ceremony should be as simple as possible. At 8.30 a.m. all professors and students were still in their classes.

At 12:30 pm, the faculties, board of trustees, and students gathered with some foreign friends for a prayer held by President Harper. He said: " The question before us is how to become one in spirit, not necessarily in opinion ." (The question before us is how do we become one in spirit, not necessarily in mind.)

With the completion of further buildings and living quarters ("Divinity" Graduate 46, South 46, Middle 92 and Snell 60) and for female students (Foster 68, Beecher 42, Kelly 42), the number of students doubled in 1893. In the third year there were already 1,750 and in the fourth (1895-96) over 2,000.

The Yerkes Observatory on Lake Geneva

In 1893 Harper won George Ellery Hale as professor of astronomy, who had worked in his parents' home in Chicago at the Kenwood Astrophysical Observatory, which was built especially for him. Harper and Hale succeeded in persuading Chicago businessman Charles Tyson Yerkes to finance the construction of an observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, because the sky over Chicago was not suitable for observing space. The site for this was designed by Mr. John Jonston Jr. made available. Located on the shores of Lake Geneva, Henry Ives Cobb created the plans according to the specifications of Hale, who used the observatory in Potsdam as a template, which he had visited. John Olmsted designed the outside area. The 40-inch mirror telescope - at that time the largest in the world - was shown for the first time at the World Exhibition in 1893 , and in 1897 the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay was opened. Hale stayed there doing his research. He never gave a lecture in Chicago and only invited the best students to Williams Bay.

University operations

The heads of the 22 departments of the University of Chicago appointed by Harper in 1903

The term "school" was used for all departments that lead to graduation, e.g. B. Graduate Schools for Art, Literature, Science and Education and Professional Schools for Law, Medicine and Theology. The latter two were in town: Rush Medical College and Chicago Theological Seminary, and worked closely with the university. Then the higher studies could begin in the so-called “post graduate course”. According to the constitution, graduate students from other universities were also admitted to Chicago. A respected Semitist and a member of the Baptist Church, Harper believed that a research university should also be engaged in the academic study of religion in order to prepare students for professions as teachers, priests, and scientists. These ties led him to move the Baptist Theological Union seminary from Morgan Park to campus. He made the "Divinity School", which was located in the "Swift Hall" built in 1892, into the university's first "Professional School". Together with the humanities and social sciences, Harper pursued the idea of ​​an interdisciplinary course.

The colleges were divided into newcomers (freshmen) or first-year students (first year students), sophomores in the second year of study, juniors in the third and seniors in the fourth. They could study arts, literature, science, commerce, administration, and education. At the end of the sophomore year, the University of Chicago was the only one to award an Associate degree. There was a college for teachers in the business district that gave evenings and Saturday lectures. The Morgan Park Boys' Academy and High School were also part of the university.

The ten affiliated schools had voluntarily placed themselves under the university's advisory role with regard to faculties, curricula and teaching methods. This included some - mostly small - colleges that Harper wanted to save from extinction. Other academies and high schools, which the university considered suitable for their good work in preparation for a college and which were financed by public funds, were called "co-operating schools". In 1896, for example, Harper advised the 80-year-old philanthropist Lydia Moss Bradley on setting up a school in Peoria, Illinois, and convinced her to build it while she was still alive. The inauguration took place in late 1897. President was Oliver J. Bailey. William R. Harper and Albion Small of the University of Chicago served on the Board of Trustees. The Bradley Polytechnic Institute was one of the “affiliates” of the university. The graduates of the two-year college course were the future students in Chicago.

Harper consistently pursued his ideas: technical colleges in the fields of law in 1904, medicine, education were set up as well as institutes. The Chicago Manual Training School (CMTS), a vocational school founded by Henry Holmes Belfield in 1883 , moved to campus in 1904. Together with the South Side Academy, which was founded in 1892 and now directed by William Bishop Owen , they formed the secondary school or the prep school. The first group of students from Dewey's Experimental School, now of high school age, were accepted here. Everyone found a new home in the “Bellfield Hall”. The schools of Francis Wayland Parker and John Dewey were also merged in 1903 in the newly built “Blaine Hall” as the “School of Education”. They were experimental models, the so-called "Laboratory Schools".

After Harper had his office in the "Cobb Hall" for five years, he moved into his office here when the Haskell Oriental Museum was completed in 1896. In addition to a secretary, he had an "Assistant to the President" and in 1897 the position of "Secretary to the President" was created.

Harper's problems

When the university first opened, academic work was paramount, while teaching and working with undergraduate students was considered secondary. Over time, that view changed, and in 1896, Harper named the University of Chicago a teaching institution, noting that the young professors were neglecting their teaching duties. He could understand that they would prefer to devote all of their time to research, but the university could not support this as full-time employment, so that teaching must be expected of all teachers. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of June 15, 1901, Harper pointed out that the work of a faculty consists of teaching, research and administration and that all three functions are equivalent. He praised the versatile academic who split his time between these three activities.

The numbers of enrollments from 1905 suggest that Chicago had not yet developed into the scientific university that Harper initially presented. The university had 1,140 graduate students and 2307 students in the various colleges, so that a large part of the work in the faculties was carried out by the undergraduate students.

Finances

List of buildings with construction costs and donors up to 1904

The financial troubles began as early as 1892 when the budget had allocated $ 185,000 to salaries and $ 250,000 was spent. The foundation's president, Martin Ryerson, donated $ 100,000 in February 1893 on condition that an additional $ 400,000 would be raised to secure expenses for organization and necessary improvements and equipment. After "Industrial Black Friday" (May 5, 1893) on the New York Stock Exchange, the silver crash followed in July 1893 and financial panic broke out, so that the goal was not achieved. Again, Mr. Rockefeller bridged the financial crisis with $ 150,000. In October 1893, Rockefeller committed $ 500,000 on the assumption that Martin Ryerson's desired half million is raised by July 1, 1894. After much effort, it reached half a million, and in connection with this fundraising, Harper received $ 100,000 from Mrs. Caroline Haskell for the construction of the Haskell Orient Museum.

In addition to Rockefeller's $ 11 million donation up to 1904, there were 5 million from Chicago residents and 1 million from 3,000 individuals. Much of Rockefeller's money was tied to the condition that the university had to raise the same amount again within a certain period of time. Here, Harper was asked to raise funds and the members of the women's clubs in particular were extremely generous.

Despite careful housekeeping, there was an annual deficit of $ 150,000 to $ 250,000. So z. B. 1901-02 the income from tuition fees and room rent etc. $ 295,648.21 and in interest $ 371,536.12 = $ 667,184.33 while the expenses amounted to 994,348.26, i.e. H. had a deficit of 277,763.93. This deficit - and that of the following years - has also been made up by Mr. Rockefeller, so that his additional donations, if capitalized, add up to another $ 4-6 million.

10 year celebration

Harper and John D. Rockefeller at the university's 10th anniversary, 1901

In 1901, Harper planned the university's 10th anniversary celebration with a week of conferences, services, and talks. An extensive 10-year report by the President and Deans on every facet of the university's activities and programs was prepared, as well as a series of Faculty publications reaching 26 volumes. After coming to Chicago for the first time for the university’s fifth anniversary, John D. Rockefeller also attended the university’s celebration. The foundation stones were laid for six other buildings including Hitchcock Hall, Mandel Hall. An extension to the dormitories for girls was also inaugurated. Summing up those first ten years, Harper remarked, "Nowadays ten years count as much as hundred years before". He is looking forward to the next 10 years, which will hopefully bring the development of the aesthetic side of life and thoughts.

When asked by Rockefeller how Harper envisaged the future development of the university, at the end of 1901 he presented these 38 positions, which Thomas W. Goodspeed summarized as follows:

  • 1. Capitalization of deficit $ 6 million
  • 2. New land $ 2,310,000
  • 3. New buildings $ 7.6 million
  • 4. Libraries and equipment $ 1,275,000
  • 5. Endowment (Foundation) $ 7,450,000
  • 6. University Press and extension $ 1 million
  • 7. Pension and endowment Fund $ 1 million
  • = total of $ 26,635,000

In 1903 Rockefeller also bought all of the south side and south of Midway Plaisance for which he paid $ 3,220.775 and then donated it to the university. The beautiful green strip was part of the site and new building land was available.

The funeral service

In 1904 Harper had an operation on the appendix, and when he did not recover properly and complained of abdominal pain, another operation was performed in February 1905 by Dr. Burgess from New York, assisted by two colleagues from Chicago. Cancer was found in the colon, which was considered inoperable. Harper knew now that he would die soon. However, he continued to confer with his colleagues, gave lectures and wrote until his strength rapidly ran out. He was given morphine two weeks before he died, his mind was clear, but his family and friends knew the end was near. He died on January 10, 1906.

For his funeral, Harper had left clear instructions in his will:

  • University operations should only be interrupted during the funeral service
  • the body stays with the family until Saturday and is then carried over to the Haskell Assembly Hall, escorted by the University Senate and Council, who also provide the pallbearers. The band from the university accompanies the train.
  • The body will be laid out in Haskell Hall until noon on Sunday, guarded by an honor guard of university students
  • The funeral will be held on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Mandell Hall. President Faunce of Brown University , Chancellor Andrews of the University of Nebraska and Dean Judson of the University of Chicago will speak.

John D. Rockefeller had always refused to let the University of Chicago bear his name. In 1910 he made a final donation of $ 10 million to the university, of which $ 1.5 million was to be used to build a chapel. This chapel was finally inaugurated in 1914 and was named "Rockefeller Memorial Chapel".

In 1912, a magnificent library building, the "William Rainey Harper Memorial Library", was built in memory of William Rainey Harper.

  • University of Chicago Henry Ives Cobb Architect Draft 1883

  • The Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisc. 1887

  • View from the ferris wheel to the university on the occasion of the world exhibition of 1893

  • President Harper's house on the edge of campus ready for occupancy in 1895

  • Harper at the laying of the foundation stone for Stuart Hall in 1903, in the presence of President Theodore Roosevelt

  • The University of Chicago one year after President Harper died in 1907

  • “Harper Memorial Library” with Midway Plaisance 1912

Publications

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: William Rainey Harper. Published by University of Chicago Press 1928, p. 27.
  2. ↑ Heb. Language and writing
  3. ^ Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: William Rainey Harper. Publisher: University of Chicago Press 1928, pp. 43 + 56
  4. ↑ Sanskrit
  5. ↑ Chaldean language and script
  6. ↑ What Was Chautauqua?
  7. ^ Lessons of the intermediate course: the Hebrew Correspondence School, Morgan Park. Publisher: American Publication Society of Hebrew, Morgan Park 1884.
  8. ^ William Rainey Harper, brochure for American Institute of Hebrew, Progressive Course, Lesson 6, 1882.
  9. ^ Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: William Rainey Harper. Published by University of Chicago Press 1928, p. 75.
  10. ↑ The American Journal of Semitic Languages ​​and Literatures, Vol. 31, No. Jan. 2, 1915
  11. ^ Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: William Rainey Harper. Published by University of Chicago Press 1928, pp. 110-111.
  12. ^ Frederick Starr: Science at the University of Chicago. In: Popular Science monthly, Vol LI, May-Oct. 1897, publisher: D. Appleton & Co., New York 1897, p. 784 ff.
  13. ↑ THE BERLIN COLLECTION. A HISTORY.
  14. ^ Bradley Polytechnic Institute. The first decade, 1897-1907 . Editor: Charles Truman Wyckoff. Bradley University, Peoria 1908.
  15. ↑ Guide to the South Side Academy Records 1897-1903
  16. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The American College in the Nineteenth Century. Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8265-1364-6 , p. 259.
  17. ^ Haskell Hall Oriental Museum
  18. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The American College in the Nineteenth Century. Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8265-1364-6 , p. 257.
  19. ↑ Speech by John D. Rockefeller, sr. On the occasion of the university's 5th anniversary. In: Thomas W. Goodspeed: A History of the University of Chicago, pp. 397-398.
  20. ^ Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed: A History of the University of Chicago. The first quarter century. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1916, p. 295.
personal data
SURNAME Harper, William Rainey
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American college professor, first president of the University of Chicago
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH New Concord , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH January 10, 1906
Place of death Chicago , Illinois