Founded by Friends : the Quaker heritage of fifteen - Scarecrow Press

Haverford College 5
In 1860, president-elect Lincoln, en route to Washington by train, appeared
on the rear platform and bowed to the students assembled at the
Haverford station. Charles Roberts, class of 1864, who was at the station,
reportedly rushed forward and requested the president’s signature. Not
only did he receive a note from Lincoln, but this conquest also forged him
into a lifelong collector of autograph letters. When Roberts died in 1902,
he left the college 12,000 autograph letters (including the Lincoln note),
encompassing the whole spectrum of human endeavor, from astronomy
to zoology. This open-ended collection has continued to grow and today
is comprised of more than 20,000 documents.
SAMUEL J. GUMMERE (1811–1874),
THE FIRST PRESIDENT, 1862–1874
Samuel J. Gummere, son of Haverford’s second principal, John Gummere,
was hired by Haverford in 1833 to teach mathematics and natural philosophy,
returning again in 1862 to take up the newly titled president’s position,
created as part of Haverford’s transformation into a college. English
literature was added to the curriculum in that year. In 1864, the board of
managers reaffirmed the need to conduct a school for the benefit of members
of the Society of Friends.
In 1861, the Civil War had reduced the total number of students to fifty;
by 1863–1864, it had risen to sixty-one, and there were eleven graduating
students—practically the largest class in the college’s history. The war
proved a particularly difficult time for Quakers, pitting the peace testimony
against the antislavery principle. Some Haverfordians felt compelled
to fight. Among them were Brigadier General Isaac Wistar, Colonel
Norwood Penrose Hallowell, and others, including James Parnell Jones,
class of 1855. Jones was the son of Eli and Sybil Jones and cousin to Rufus
M. Jones, who would later become a professor of philosophy. Haverford’s
Jones Family Papers manuscript collection includes (among others) two
letters from James Parnell Jones, one from “10th mo 31st [18]52,” in which
he told his parents that discussion of slavery was not allowed at Haverford.
In the second, dated September 25, 1861, Jones told his father that he
believed wholeheartedly in the union’s cause and hoped that his parents
would see his viewpoint. Jones rose to the rank of major and was killed
by a stray bullet in 1864.
In 1870, faculty members considered admitting women and agreed
unanimously on the benefits of such a move. The opening of Swarthmore
College in 1864, a “Hicksite” coed institution, may have influenced their
decision. Haverford’s board of managers didn’t agree, and the college remained
single sex.