Philanthropy in Education - a Historical Essay (Part I)

HISTORICAL METALLURGY CIM Bulletin April 2004
Philanthropy in education —
A historical essay: Part 1
Fathi Habashi
Laval University, Quebec City
Introduction
Philanthropy embraces not only the
charitable institutions created for the relief
of suffering, but also schools, colleges,
universities, libraries, institutions for
research work, parks, gifts of art works
and other treasures, and prizes in various
fields of endeavour. There is nothing more
noble in life than promoting the social elevation
of mankind by donating funds for
educating people or by rewarding those
who made great discoveries in science,
medicine, and technology.
While universities in Europe were
created by the Church or the ruler, many
universities in the United States and
Canada were created or supported by generous
donations from successful alumni,
enlightened industrialists, generous
donors, and others. Sources of information
on this topic are vast and can be
found in:
• general works on philanthropy;
• published history of colleges or universities;
• biographies or autobiographies of educators
and educational administrators;
• biographies, personal memoirs, and
manuscript collections of those who
have given to higher education; and
• directories published by philanthropic
organizations.
This essay is a short account of
selected important names in the history of
donations given to create or sustain educational
institutions, to create or sustain
particular libraries, to offer scholarships
for students, or to reward great achievements,
and how this transformed our society.
It is not possible to separate one
category from another because they are
usually overlapping. Thus, this essay does
not follow a rigid classification.
Founding and Sustaining of Colleges
In 1862, philanthropy in the United
States was supplemented by the federal
government with the Morrill Act which
created the land-grant colleges. This was a
donation of public lands to the states and
territories which may provide colleges for
the benefit of agriculture and the
“mechanic arts.”
John Harvard (1607-1638), whose
name is given to Harvard University in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a theology
graduate of the University of Cambridge
in England who emigrated to
America in 1637. When he was dying of
tuberculosis, he bequeathed half of his
estate and his library to the college, which
was named for him. It was the first college
in New England. His family in England
continued the financial support of the
university.
Elihu Yale (1649-1721), an English
merchant born in Boston, built a fortune
through private trade in the East. Yale
University in New Haven, Connecticut,
chartered in 1701, was named in his honour
in 1718; he was its main benefactor.
James McGill (1744-1813) was born
in Glasgow, Scotland, immigrated to
Canada and settled in Montreal as a fur
merchant. He became a member of the
Lower Canadian Assembly and, among
many other philanthropic enterprises, he
bequeathed a large estate to the “Royal
Institution for the Advancement of Learning”
to erect a university for the purpose
of education and the advancement of
learning in Montreal, which later became
known as McGill University.
Stephen van Rensselaer (1764-
1839), statesman and soldier of Dutch
descent, inherited a vast estate in Rensselaer
and Albany counties. In 1824, he
founded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York, the first major scientifically
oriented college in the United
States.
Nicholas Brown, Jr. (1769-1841),
whose name is given to Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island, graduated
from Rhode Island College (founded
1764). In 1791 at age twenty-two, he was
already a trustee. He just as quickly
assumed a leading role in Providence’s
(and Rhode Island’s) economic life by
establishing the firm of Brown and Ives,
which became one of New England’s
largest mercantile houses. He served continuously
as a trustee and then a fellow of
the university until his death. He donated
generously to his alma mater which took
his name in 1804.
Abiel Chandler (1777-1851) graduated
in 1806 from Harvard University and
was engaged for many years in business in
Boston from which he made a large fortune.
In 1845, he bequeathed a large sum
to establish a scientific agricultural school
in connection with Dartmouth College in
Hanover, New Hampshire, which was
incorporated in 1769 by a charter granted
by George III, and named after the Earl of
Dartmouth, president of the trustees of
the funds raised in Great Britain.
Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872),
whose name is given to Thayer School of
Engineering at Dartmouth College in
John Harvard
Yale University
James McGill
Stephen van
Rensselaer
Nicholas Brown, Jr.
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April 2004 CIM Bulletin HISTORICAL METALLURGY
Sylvanus Thayer
Peter Cooper
Chauncey Rose
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Edwin A. Stevens
James Lick
Hanover, New Hampshire (now University
of New Hampshire), was born in
Braintree, Massachusetts. He graduated
from Dartmouth in 1807, then attended
the United States Military Academy at
West Point in New York. In 1815, he was
sent to Europe to examine military works
and schools. On his return in 1817, he
was appointed superintendent of the Military
Academy where he stayed sixteen
years. On leaving West Point, he was
made president of the Board of Engineers.
He received honorary degrees from Dartmouth,
Harvard, and others. He donated
generously to the School of Engineering at
Dartmouth College and other establishments.
Peter Cooper (1791-1883) was a
workingman’s son who had less than a
year of formal schooling, yet he went on
to become an industrialist and an inventor.
He made his fortune with a glue factory
and an iron foundry. Later, he turned
his entrepreneurial skills to successful
ventures in real estate, insurance, railroads,
and telegraphy. Cooper never forgot
his humble origin. He thought children of
immigrants and the working class
deserved access to education. Believing
that education should be “as free as water
and air,” and inspired by a polytechnic
school in Paris, he spent the last 30 years
of his life creating and nurturing a school
for the “boys and girls of this city, who had
no better opportunity than I.” As one of
the first colleges to offer a free education
to working-class children and to women,
Cooper Union, in New York City, was a
pioneer school long before access to education
became public policy.
Cooper Union also provided a public
library and a meeting place for artists and
inventors. In the Great Hall, the public
heard social and political reformers as well
as free lectures on science and government.
Before they were elected, Presidents
Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, Taft, and
Theodore Roosevelt spoke in the celebrated
auditorium. As presidents,
Woodrow Wilson and Bill Clinton also
gave speeches there. Today, the Great Hall
continues as a home for public forums,
cultural events, and community activities.
Cooper Union is also the place where
inventor Thomas Edison and Supreme
Court Judge Felix Frankfurter were students,
and where the Red Cross and the
National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People were organized.
Chauncey Rose (1794-1877) was
born in Connecticut. At the age of 23, he
moved westward finally settling in Terre
Haute, Indiana, which had been laid out
only a year earlier. He engaged in trade
and became a successful merchant. He
arranged for the construction of the Terre
Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, and was
a major contributor to Wabash College
and State Normal School, now Indiana
State University.
Cornelius Vanderbilt (1794-1877)
founded Vanderbilt University in
Nashville, Tennessee, in 1875. During the
Civil War, he became interested in the railroads,
and by 1867 controlled New York
Central Railroad. He expanded his railroad
empire and amassed a large fortune.
His son, William H. Vanderbilt (1821-
1885), succeeded his father as president of
New York Central Railroad. One of his
sons, Cornelius Vanderbilt (1843-1899),
helped found the Cathedral of Saint John
the Divine in New York City. The other
son, Georges Washington Vanderbilt
(1862-1914), donated land for the Teachers
College of Columbia University.
Edwin A. Stevens (1795-1868) was a
pioneer builder of iron-clad warships. In
1870, his widow founded the Stevens
Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New
Jersey, in his memory.
James Lick (1796-1876), a Dutchman,
was born in Fredericksburg, Pennsylvania.
A piano and organ maker by
trade, at age twenty-five he sailed for
South America, where his business flourished.
Early in 1848, he came to San Francisco
during the gold rush and made a
fortune through real estate investments.
He owned valuable property in the heart
of San Francisco, and built the most elegant
hotel of its day. In 1873, he contacted
the president of the California Academy of
Sciences and bequeathed his entire fortune
for the construction, in California, of
the largest astronomical observatory at
that time, which became known as the
Lick Astronomical Department of the
Johns Hopkins
John Purdue Ezra Cornell William McMaster Amos G. Throop
William M. Rice
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HISTORICAL METALLURGY CIM Bulletin April 2004
Lydia Moss Bradley
Philip D. Armour Leonard Case, Jr.
George Hearst
Leland Stanford A.J. Drexel
newly founded University of California.
The observatory was opened in 1888,
twelve years after Lick’s death.
Johns Hopkins (1795-1873), founder
of the university and hospital known by
his name in Baltimore, Maryland, was born
at Whitehall, his family’s tobacco plantation
in Maryland. Having amassed a great
fortune after a long and highly successful
career in trade and banking, Johns Hopkins
felt an obligation to share his wealth.
Guided by the strong social consciousness
of his Quaker faith, he chose to use his fortune
to create a university which opened
in 1876, three years after his death. In
1889, the Hospital and Training School of
Medicine was launched. Later additions to
the health divisions of the university
include the School of Hygiene and Public
Health in 1918.
John Purdue (1802-1876), a wealthy
bachelor from Lafayette, Indiana, made a
fortune during the Civil War in cattle
farming, silver and gold mining, and other
businesses. In 1869, he donated a large
sum of money for the financing of a landgrant
university in his hometown that was
named after him.
Asa Packer (1805-1879) was born in
Connecticut, but settled in the Lehigh Valley,
where he became the owner of a canalboat
that carried coal to Philadelphia. He
built railways and established a large fortune.
He donated generously for a technical
college, which later became Lehigh
University, chartered in 1866.
Ezra Cornell (1807-1874), founder
of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York,
in 1865 (opened in 1868), was an American
capitalist who was founder and director
of the Western Union Telegraph
Company in 1855. His son, Alonzo B.
Cornell (1832-1904), was governor of
New York from 1880 to 1883.
William McMaster (1811-1887),
whose name is given to McMaster University
in Hamilton, Ontario, immigrated to
Canada from Ireland in 1833 and became
a successful merchant. He was one of the
founders of the Canadian Bank of Commerce
in 1867. Funds from his estate were
used to establish McMaster University in
1890.
Amos G. Throop (1811-1894), a
businessman and philanthropist, was
mayor of Pasadena, California. In 1891, he
founded a School of Arts and Crafts, initially
named Throop University. In 1907,
the school became the College of Science
and Technology that conferred Bachelor of
Science degrees in electrical, mechanical,
and civil engineering. It was renamed
Throop Polytechnic Institute, and since
1920, the California Institute of Technology.
The physicist and later Nobel Prize
winner, Robert A. Millikan, was head of
the school from 1921 until his retirement.
William M. Rice (1816-1900), whose
name is given to Rice University in Houston,
Texas, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.
His father was instrumental in
the construction of the first high school in
town. The young boy dropped out of
school at the age of 15 to work in a grocery
store. After a few years, he opened his
own business, then left in 1837 to the
newly annexed state of Texas, shipping his
merchandise by sea. Unfortunately, his
merchandise was lost and he became penniless.
He was given a land grant and, in
1844, he entered into the cotton business,
which was very successful. In 1852, he
invested in the first railroad in Texas and
then started buying forest land. His accumulated
fortune was doubled when he
married the widow of a wealthy
landowner. At the age of 60, childless, he
decided to fund an institute of higher
learning in Houston. The charter of the
William M. Rice Institute for the Advancement
of Literature, Science, and Art was
signed in 1891. After the death of his wife,
he left the bulk of his estate to the Institute.
“Texas received me when I was penniless,
without friends or even
acquaintances,” he wrote. “And now in
the evening of my life, I recognize my
obligation to her and her children. I wish
now to leave to the boys and girls struggling
for a place in the sun the fortune I
have been able to accumulate.”
Lydia Moss Bradley (1816-1907),
founder of the Bradley Polytechnic Institute
(now called Bradley University) in
Peoria, Illinois, was the first female member
of an American national bank board in
the United States when she joined the
Board of Directors of Peoria’s First National
Charles Pratt
John Williams Mackay
Andrew Carnegie
James Douglas
John D. Rockefeller
Georges Westinghouse
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April 2004 CIM Bulletin HISTORICAL METALLURGY
Julius Wernher
Andrew Mellon James B. Duke William Volker Henry Ford
Charles Martin Hall
Bank in 1875. She gave land to the Society
of St. Francis to build a hospital, now
known as the St. Francis Medical Center. In
1884, she built the Bradley Home for Aged
Women to care for widowed and childless
women and helped to establish the first
park system in Illinois. But the project
dearest to her was the school, which she
established to honour her husband, Tobias,
and her six children, all of whom died at an
early age. Tobias Bradley was a successful
merchant and businessman in banking,
railroads, steamboats, distilleries, and real
estate. Bradley University became a fouryear
college in 1920 and has continued to
grow ever since.
Philip D. Armour (1832-1901) was
born in Stockbridge, New York, worked as
a miner in California from 1852 to 1856,
and later became a pioneer in the meat
packing industry in Chicago which was
very successful. He became interested in a
mission Sunday school to which he contributed
liberally for its support. This mission,
started in 1874, three years after the
Chicago Fire, was called Plymouth Mission
because it was an extension of the
activities of Plymouth Church, of which
he was a member. The “Armour Mission”
was to be broad and wholly non-sectarian,
free and open to all without restrictions as
to race, creed, or class. In 1887, the mission
librarian started a class in clay modelling,
woodcarving, and other hobbies
which were very popular. This was the
beginning of the Armour Institute of Technology
in 1892, a technical college with
departments of mining, mechanical and
electrical engineering, architecture, library
science, domestic arts, commerce, music,
and others. The World Exposition held in
Chicago in the same year had been one of
the principal sources for supplying equipment
to the college. Mining engineering
was discontinued and replaced by civil
engineering in 1899, chemical engineering
in 1901, and fire protection engineering,
the only course of its kind in the
country, in 1903. In 1940, it consolidated
with the Lewis Institute to form the Illinois
Institute of Technology in Chicago.
Leonard Case, Jr. (1820-1880), a
Yale College law graduate, inherited a
large estate in Cleveland, Ohio, from his
father in 1842. Rather than practicing law,
he spent his time working out mathematical
problems, collecting stuffed birds,
rock specimens and other items considered
to be a forebear of the Cleveland
Museum of Natural History. In 1870, he
gave the Cleveland Library Association an
endowment and, in 1877, he began laying
the groundwork for the Case School of
Applied Science by donating real estate to
a trust that would provide an endowment
for a new engineering school. The School
was opened in downtown Cleveland four
months after his death. The school moved
to its current site, adjacent to Western
Reserve, in 1883. The name Case Institute
of Technology was adopted in 1947 to
reflect the institution’s growing stature.
In 1967, Case Institute of Technology
joined Western Reserve University to
become Case Western. The two institutions
had shared adjacent campuses since
the late nineteenth century, and were
involved in cooperative efforts for many
years. Western Reserve College was
founded in 1826 in Hudson, Ohio, a town
about 40 km southeast of Cleveland. The
college took its name from that of the
region, which at the time of the American
Revolution was known as the Western
Reserve of Connecticut. In 1882, renamed
Western Reserve University, the institution
moved to the Cleveland site that later
became known as University Circle.
The tradition of contributing to education
and culture in Cleveland can be
traced back to Leonard’s father, who had
begun life as a farmer, but turned to the
study of mathematics, surveying, and law.
He became a banker and railroad promoter,
and over time, amassed the largest
fortune in Cleveland. He was also devoted
to the city and served as President of
Cleveland Village, as it was known at the
time.
George Hearst (1820-1891) was an
American mining magnate and senator
from California. His widow donated freely
to the University of California. His son,
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951),
journalist and publisher, who founded a
news empire, also donated to the same
university.
Leland Stanford (1824-1893), an
American railroad builder, senator from
California, and philanthropist, founded
Leland Stanford, Jr. University, later
renamed Stanford University, in Palo Alto,
California, in 1885 after the death of his
only son. His widow continued to aid the
university.
Joseph Wharton (1826-1908) was
born in Philadelphia. He was among the
first to establish the manufacture of spelter,
nickel, and cobalt in this country, and
was the first to make magnetic needles. He
owned the deposits of nickel ore in Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania, and established
his works in Camden, New Jersey.
Between 1853 and 1863, he was the manager
and principal stockholder of the
Pennsylvania and Lehigh Zinc Company,
with mines and smelters in Friedensville,
Pennsylvania. Under his guidance, this
company became the first successful producer
of zinc in the United States. Wharton
also invested in the Bethlehem Iron
Works, which became Bethlehem Steel
Co. The Wharton School of Finance and
Economics was founded by him.
A.J. Drexel (1826-1893), whose
name is given to the Drexel Institute of
Technology which opened in 1892 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a native
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HISTORICAL METALLURGY CIM Bulletin April 2004
of Philadelphia who
developed the family’s
banking interest
into one of the premier
investment
banking firms in the
country. The company
was involved
in financing railroads,
mining enter-
Henry Krumb
prises, and real estate ventures. Drexel was
co-owner of the Public Ledger, Philadelphia’s
major daily, in the nineteenth century.
He left a large fortune for the
Institute.
Charles Pratt (1830-1891) was born
in Watertown, Massachusetts but moved
to New York in 1851 where he worked
with a paint and oil firm. In 1867, he
formed his own company and made a fortune
in the oil business. In 1874, his company
merged with Standard Oil Company.
He contributed generously to education,
founding the Pratt Institute in 1886,
which opened in 1887 in Brooklyn, New
York.
John Williams Mackay (1831-1902),
an Irish immigrant who came to the
United States in 1840, became the most
powerful figure on Nevada’s Comstock
Lode and in other ventures that made him
very wealthy. His widow donated his
estate to build Mackay School of Mines in
Reno, Nevada.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) was
born in Scotland, immigrated to the
United States, where he concentrated on
steel production. In 1900, he produced
one quarter of all U.S. steel. He accumulated
enormous wealth, which he donated
for the establishment of libraries, the
Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and many other
establishments. Carnegie supported the
Food Research Institute at Stanford University
and Robert A. Millikan’s atomic
research at the California Institute of
Technology among others.
James Douglas (1837-1918), a Canadian
graduate of Queen’s University in
Kingston, Ontario, made a fortune from
mining in Arizona, and donated generously
to the Arizona School of Mines as
well as to his alma mater.
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937)
dominated the U.S. oil refining industry
George E. Merrick
Harvey Seeley Mudd
through his Standard Oil Company by
strict economy, mergers with competitors,
and ruthless crushing of opponents. He
founded the University of Chicago in
1892, and established the Rockefeller
Institute for Medical Research in 1901 in
New York City. In 1913, he created the
Rockefeller Foundation to promote public
health and to further science. His only
son, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960)
graduated from Brown University in Providence,
Rhode Island, in 1897, donated
funds for massive public health campaigns
to eradicate disease, to the restoration of
Colonial Williamsburg, the dedication of
new national parks, to providing a home
site for the United Nations, and funnelled
millions of dollars into colleges and universities.
The Rockefeller Center in Central
Manhattan, New York City was built
from 1931-1939, and comprises 14 buildings
including a 70-story skyscraper and a
radio and entertainment section (Radio
City). Rockefeller supported the cyclotron
at the University of California, and Mount
Wilson Observatory at the California
Institute of Technology, the Russian Institute
at Columbia University, work by
chemist Linus Pauling and zoologist
Thomas Hunt Morgan, the science of
enzymology, and James Breasted’s Oriental
Institute at the University Chicago, among
others.
Georges Westinghouse (1846-1914),
an American inventor and manufacturer,
was influential in introducing alternating
current in the United States. He created
the Westinghouse Educational Foundation.
Julius Wernher (1850-1912) was
born in Darmstadt, Germany, but went to
London in 1871 shortly after the Franco-
Prussian war. He was offered a job by a
diamond dealer in London to go to South
Africa and act as his agent in the mining
town of Kimberley. Wernher soon formed
his own company
and amassed a large
fortune in the diamond
business. He
was instrumental in
the founding of the
Imperial College in
London, and the
Wilhelm Kroll building of the
Royal School of
Mines in South Kensington. He was an
avid art collector and philanthropist. He
donated his art collection to the City of
London.
Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) was a
financier, industrialist, and public official
who made a fortune in the aluminum
industry. He created the Mellon Educational
and Charitable Trust. The Mellon
Institute of Science was named in his honour,
and later merged with the Carnegie
Institute of Technology in 1967 to become
Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania. The National Gallery of
Arts also resulted from his benefactions.
He was U.S. Secretary of Treasury in 1921-
1931.
James B. Duke (1856-1925), whose
name was given to Duke University in
Durham, North Carolina (formerly
known as Trinity College), founded in
1838, was born near Durham. He organized
the American Tobacco Company of
which he was president until 1912. Thereafter,
he largely devoted his time to the
British American Tobacco Company and
to vast water-power developments. In
1924, he created a large trust to aid charities
and to support the university, which
consisted of more than 50 buildings
located on two campuses, constructed
from 1925-1930.
William Volker (1859-1947) was
born into a prosperous household in
Hanover, Germany. At age 12, the family
immigrated to the United States. After a
few years in Chicago, the young boy
established commerce in Kansas City in
1882, and by 1902, was a millionaire.
Besides his numerous anonymous gifts to
charitable organizations, he donated generously
to the newly founded University
of Kansas City.
Henry Ford (1863-1947), pioneer
automobile manufacturer, and his son
Edsel (1893-1943) founded the Ford
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April 2004 CIM Bulletin HISTORICAL METALLURGY
Foundation in 1936. After the death of the
benefactors, the foundation acquired 90%
of the Ford Motor Company stock. In
1951, it created the Fund for the Advancement
of Education.
Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914)
was educated at Oberlin College in Ohio.
While there, he discovered, in 1886, the
modern method of extracting aluminum
by the electrolysis of Al 2 O 3 in fused cryolite.
He became vice-president of the Aluminum
Company of America, and later
donated his fortune to his alma mater.
Henry Krumb (1875-1958), a successful
mining engineer, graduated from
the Columbia School of Mines and
donated generously to his alma mater. In
1958, the school was named after him.
George E. Merrick (1886-1942) was
born in Springdale, Pennsylvania. In
1898, he moved with his family to Miami,
Florida, and later inherited large citrus
groves from his father. Beginning in 1912,
he developed Coral Gables, near Miami,
into a famous resort. From the fortune he
accumulated, he established the University
of Miami in 1925.
Harvey Seeley Mudd (1888-1955)
was born in Leadville, Colorado, and
studied at Stanford and Columbia universities.
With his father, Seeley W. Mudd, he
founded and later became president of
Cyprus Mines Corporation, whose Los
Angeles-based headquarters started with
the development of the copper mines on
the island of Cyprus. He served as president
of the American Institute of Mining
and Metallurgical Engineers in New York,
and founded a college in Claremont, California,
which was named after him and
opened shortly after his death.
Wilhelm Kroll (1889-1973) was born
in Luxembourg, the son of a metallurgist.
He had his private research laboratory but
had to flee to the United States in 1940
when Nazi troops were advancing in
Europe. He joined the US Bureau of Mines
in Albany, Oregon, where he further
developed his research on the production
of zirconium and titanium. In the 1950s,
he produced titanium on a commercial
scale. On his retirement in 1960 to his
hometown in Europe, he donated generously
to the Colorado School of Mines,
where the Kroll Institute for Extractive
Metallurgy was founded in 1973.
Suggested Readings
ALEXANDER, E.P., 1989. Museums in
Motion: An Introduction to the History
and Functions of Museums. American
Association for State and Local History,
Nashville, Tennessee. Seventh printing
(first published in 1907), 308 p.
ANONYMOUS, 1992. Opportunities for a
Career in Mining and Metallurgy. The
Mining and Metallurgical Institute of
America, Larkspur, California, 309 p.
ANONYMOUS, 2003. Canadian Directory to
Foundations and Grants. Canadian Centre
for Philanthropy, Toronto.
BALTON, S.K., 1896. Famous Givers and
their Gifts. New York.
CURTI, M. and NASH, R., 1965. Philanthropy
in the Shaping of American Higher Education.
Rutgers University Press, New
Brunswick, New Jersey, 340 p.
MYERS, G., 1907. History of the Great American
Fortunes. The Modern Library, New
York, 732 p.
READ, T.T., 1941. The Development of Mineral
Industry Education in the United
States. American Institute of Mining and
Metallurgical Engineers, New York, 298 p.