NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION
Several school teachers were brought to New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company, but under the English rule popular education was neglected by the Government. In the eighteenth century several private academies were established, and in 1754 King's College was founded, and was reorganized in 1784 as Columbia College. At the latter date the Regents of the University were constituted a supervisory authority over higher education. The first step toward public common schools was taken in 1789, when two lots of land were assigned to each township for gospel and school purposes. But it was not until 1812 that an active movement set in to establish a State system. In 1854 a State Department of Public Instruction was organized, and soon afterwards the plan of free common schools was adopted, and State taxes for schools were very largely increased. The various schools are under the immediate direction of district trustees, and of boards of education in the towns and cities. The State superintendent exercises a general supervision over the common schools. The Regents of the University, a board of nineteen members elected for life, with four State officers ex-officio, continue to supervise secondary education. This board incorporates all higher institutions, distributes the State grants to academies and high schools, and for this purpose conducts a system of secondary school examinations and certificates which embraces this phase of public education throughout the State. School attendance is compulsory between the ages of eight and sixteen years. The illiterate population of the State is 5.5 per cent. of the total population, of ten years of age and over. The proportion of illiterates is 1.2 per cent. for native white, 14 per cent. for foreign white (12.5 in 1880), and 12.8 per cent. for colored. According to the school census of 1901 the school age (five to eighteen) population of the State was 1,620,287, of whom 1,242,416 were enrolled in the public schools in the same year. The average attendance in 1901 was 873,157, as against 642,984 in 1890. There were 35,591 teachers employed in the Public schools of the State in 1901, of whom 5147 were males. The percentage of male teachers has shown a constant decrease since 1880, when it amounted to 26 per cent. The total school revenue was $38,469,277 in 1901, of which $26, 451,363 was derived from local taxes, $3,500,000 from State taxes, $272,477 from the permanent school fund, and $8,245,437 from other sources. The expenditure per pupil of average attendance in 1901 was $41.68--the highest expenditure of any State in the Union. Normal education is provided by 16 public normal schools which had 5426 students in 1901. The State maintained in 1901 383 high schools, with 63,549 students. There were besides 199 private high schools, and academies, with an attendance of about 11,000. The most important as well as the oldest university is Columbia, in New York City. There is no State university, but Cornell University, in Ithaca, awards certain State scholarships on examinations. The other important institutions are Union College, in Schenectady; New York University, New York City; Hamilton College, Clinton; universities at Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo; Colgate University, Hamilton; Hobart College, Geneva; the Catholic colleges of Manhattan , Saint Francis Xavier, and Saint John's, all in New York City; and the college of the City of New York. Vassar College, at Poughkeepsie, and Barnard College, now part of Columbia University, are two of the leading women's colleges in the country. Among the fifteen theological seminaries the most noted is the Union, in New York City. There are seven law schools, twelve medical schools, three dental, and four schools of pharmacy. In each of these professions there are systems of State examinations required of all who wish to practice in New York . The New York Society Library, founded in 1700, claims to be first in the State. In 1838 the Legislature set aside part of the income from the United States deposit fund for the establishment of a district library system, and this State aid is now distributed by the Regents of the University._____________________________________________ NEW YORK CITY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
The number of schools within the jurisdiction of the city, omitting the Nautical School, exceeds 500. Of corporate schools, orphan asylums, and industrial schools there are above 50, with an average attendance of some 18,000. The College of the City of New York (q.v) , at Lexington Avenue and Twenty-third Street, was established in 1847 under the name of the New York Free Academy. It will soon move to handsome buildings, estimated to cost $4,000,000, at 138th and Convent Avenue. The Normal College, at Sixty-ninth Street and Park Avenue, has accomodations for 1600 students. There is also a State Normal School at Jamaica, in the Borough of Queens. An important work of the Department of Education is the lecture system, under which free evening lectures are given in a number of places from October to May. The Board of Education also provides free night schools. The most important of the private educational institutions is Columbia University (q.v.), on Morningside Heights. Barnard College (q.v.) (q.v.), for women, and the Teacher's College, for both sexes, are affiliated with the University. The College of Physicians and Surgeons (the medical department of the university) occupies extensive buildings on Sixtieth Street, near Roosevelt Hospital. Barnard College and Teachers College, with which is incorporated the Horace Mann School, also have suitable buildings of their own on Morningside Heights.New York University (q.v) maintains professional departments in the Borough of Manhattan, and undergraduate and engineering schools at University Heights, in the Borough of the Bronx. Its main site, in the Bronx, on the heights overlooking the Harlem, is one of singular beauty. Here is the Hall of Fame (q.v.). The Union Theological Seminary, which has academic relations with New York and Columbia universities, is at Fourth Avenue and Sixty-ninth Street. It is one of the chief training schools for ministers of the Presbyterian Church. The Protestant Episcopal Church maintains its General Theological Seminary in a group of beautiful buildings, modeled after the Oxford college type, at Ninth Avenue and Twentieth Street.The new building of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in 123d Street, between Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway, was dedicated in 1903. Cooper Union occupies a prominent place among the educational institutions of the city. Its classes, with very few exceptions, are entirely free. The attendance is large. Saint John's College, at Fordham, in the Borough of the Bronx, the College of Saint Francis Xavier, and Manhattan College are important institutions under control of the Catholic Church. Cornell University (q.v.) maintains part of its medical department in New York City. Among independent professional institutions are the New York Law School; the New York Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital, the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women, and the Eclectic Medical College; the New York College of Dentistry and the New York Dental School; and the College of Pharmacy of the City of New York.___________________________________________________ NORMAL COLLEGE
An institution for the training of teachers, in New York City, founded in 1869 and having its inception in the growing demand for professionally trained teachers in the public schools of New York. Previous to its foundation the secondary education of women in New York was supplied by private schools and the supplementary classes of the public grammar schools. The inadequacy of this method was, however, soon felt and as early as 1847 the State Legislature contemplated an institution similar to the City College. (See New York, College of the City of.) In 1856 a Daily Normal School was actually established, but it ceased to exist after a precarious career of about three years. The Saturday Normal School was then organized for the training of teachers. While these make-shifts were being resorted to in New York, the State at large was rapidly increasing its number of normal schools and otherwise multiplying the facilities for the training of teachers. This educational awakening throughout the State had the effect of hastening the establishment of a normal institution in New York City. In 1869 the Board of Education was empowered to establish a female institution similar to the City College, and the same year the Normal and High School was established. The name was changed in the following year to Normal College. The pupils of the various supplementary classes were admitted to advanced standing and a three years' course was organized. The task of arranging the work of the new institution fell to Dr. Thomas Hunter, the president since its inception. Under his vigorous administration the college grew rapidly. A building erected on the block bounded by Lexington and Park Avenues and Sixty-eighth and Sixty-ninth streets, at a cost of over $350,000 was opened in 1873. A model primary school was opened for practice teaching at an additional cost of $80,000, and the first free public kindergarten in the United States was estalished at the Normal College in 1871. The Board of Education and the president of the college have since its organization constituted an ex officio board of trustees. The attendance, which in 1870 numbered 969, with a graduating class of 97, increased by 1902 to 2844. In the same year the staff of instructors, including those in the training department, numbered 101. The total number of graduates since the foundation of the college was in 1902, over 9000. There has been a constant tendency to raise the requirements for graduation; the course was extended to four years in 1879, to five, for students taking a degree, in 1888, and in 1902 a professional course of six and a collegiate course of seven years were organized, the institution thus being raised to the standard required by the University of the State of New York for degree-conferring institutions. The college includes five fully equipped laboratories and the Alumnae library. High school graduates are admitted to advanced standing.____________________________________________ TEACHER'S COLLEGE
An institution in New York City for the training of teachers and school administrators, founded in 1888, and made a part of the educational system of Columbia University (q.v.) in 1898, taking academic rank with the schools of law, medicine, and applied science. The college is represented in the Columbia University Council by its dean and an elected representative of the faculty, but maintains its separate corporate organization, with a board of trustees who assume the entire financial responsibility for its maintenance. The departments of instruction are history and philosophy of education, educational administration, educational psychology, elementary and secondary education, English, French, and German, Greek and Latin, history, biology, geography, physics and chemistry, mathematics, kindergarten, fine arts, domestic art, domestic science, manual training, music and voice training, and physical education . No department undertakes work for which adequate provision is made in other faculties of the university. The college maintains two schools of observation and practice: the Horace Mann School with kindergarten, an elementary school, and special classes in sewing, cooking, and manual training. The large demand for university extension work in 1902-03, when 45 courses were given, led to the establishment of an extension department, beginning in September, 1903. The buildings, five in number, were valued in 1903 at $2,000,000, when the endowment was $190,000, and the gross income $230,000. The total registration was 3018, including 729 collegiate students, 1093 in the Teacher's College schools, and 1196 extension students. The Bryson Library contains 22,000 volumes.________________________________________ COLLEGE OF SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER
A Roman Catholic institution in the city of New York, founded in 1847 and endowed with collegiate powers in 1861. It is conducted by the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, and is intended for day scholars only. The college comprises three departments---the college proper, the graduate school, and the high school department---and confers the degrees of B.A. and M.A. In 1902 it had a library of about 100,000 volumes, 32 instructors, and 650 students in all departments._____________________________________________ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
One of the oldest educational institutions in the United States, situated in New York City. The first step toward its foundation was the authorization in 1746 by the Colonial Assembly of public lotteries for the establishment of a college in the Province of New York. The proceeds, amounting in 1751 to L3443 18s., were vested in a board of ten trustees, of whom seven were members of the Church of England. The preponderating English influence thus represented, and the application of the trustees for a royal charter, excited much opposition in New York, where it was thought that the college should be entirely an American institution. Nevertheless, a charter for "King's College" was obtained from George II. in 1754, and the management of this college was vested in a corporation composed of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Governor of the Province, and other crown officers ex officio, the rector of Trinity Church, the ministers of the Dutch Reformed churches, and twenty-four gentlemen of New York. In the following year Trinity Church conveyed a considerable plot of land to the college on condition that its presidents should always be members of the Church of England, and that the Church Liturgy should be read in the college mornings and evenings. Dr. Samuel Johnson, of Connecticut, was installed as the first president; and in 1756 the erection of a college building was begun near what is now West Broadway and Murray Street. In 1764 Dr. Johnson was succeeded by the Rev. Myles Cooper. Under President Cooper the college prospered, and a medical department was founded in 1767; but President Cooper was a Royalist, and becoming involved in 1774 in a political controversy with Alexander Hamilton, then still an undergraduate, was presently mobbed at his house, and soon after sailed for England. In 1776 the college buildings were seized by the Committee of Safety for hospital purposes, and the college exercises were practically suspended until 1784, when the institution reopened as Columbia College, under a State charter, vesting its control largely in political officers. This, however, proved unsatisfactory; and in 1787 a new charter was granted similar to the original one except as to the denominational clause, and the management of the institution was vested in a self-perpetuating board of twenty-four trustees. About this time the income of the college was L1330, while its faculty numbered six, three giving instruction in medicine and three in the arts. New life was given to the institution in 1792 by a grant from the State of L7900 outright and of L750 for seven years. The faculty was enlarged, and Mr. James Kent, afterwards the famous Chancellor Kent, was elected to a professorship of law. But the State refused further funds in 1799, and the college suffered seriously in consequence. In 1813 the medical school was incorporated with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1814 the Legislature granted the college a strip of land known as the Hosack Botanical Garden, extending from Forty-seventh to Fifty-first Street, and from Fifth Avenue to nearly Sixth Avenue, as a reimbursement for lands in New Hampshire belonging to the college which were ceded by the State on the settlement of the New Hampshire grants. For many years this property yielded no income; but at present it is an important source of revenue. In 1823 Professor Kent was reappointed to the chair of law and delivered his famous lectures, which were, in 1826 published as Kent's Commentaries. In 1830 the contemplated establishment of a rival institution in the city of New York spurred on the board of trustees to new activity. The full course was enlarged, and scientific and literary courses were instituted, designed for special students. In this Columbia would seem to have anticipated its future development as a university. But the time for such a project was not ripe, and the special courses were discontinued in 1843, though their major subjects were continued in its full course. In 1857, owing to the rapid growth of the city, the college was removed to the site bounded by Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Streets and Madison and Fourth Avenues, and a postgraduate course, combining all the features of a university, was projected as part of a general plan of expansion. In 1858 a law school was established. Beginning with 35 students, it had an attendance of 171 in 1864. In 1860 a nominal union was effected with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. To meet the increasing need of mining and other engineers, Columbia College established, in 1864, the School of Mines and Metallurgy. Dr. Frederick A.P. Barnard succeeded President King in 1864 and a new era of progress began. Dr. Barnard was a friend of classical learning, but he held that a system of education not supported by popular sanction can never be made an efficient instrument of culture; and when the attendance at the college fell to 116 in 1872, the fact was attributed by him to the rigidity of the college curriculum. In 1880 the School of Political Science was established, and in 1881 a department of architecture was instituted in the School of Mines. In 1883 a course of study under the general supervision of the college faculty was designed for women, and in 1887 women were authorized to receive the degree of B.A., but this practice was discontinued on the establishment of Barnard College (q.v.) for women in 1889. When President Barnard entered upon his duties as president, Columbia College consisted of the college, an inchoate School of Mines, the Law School, and a nominally associated Medical School. Twenty-five years later, at the close of President Barnard's administration, Columbia College comprised the college, the School of Law, the School of Political Science, and the School of Mines and Metallurgy, including the Schools of Civil and Sanitary Engineering, Applied Chemistry, and Architecture. The university had increased greatly in size, and the elective system had been largely introduced. Upon President Barnard's death, in 1889,the Hon. Seth Low was elected as his successor. He found several flourishing but loosely connected schools, whose work he correlated, reorganized, and consolidated. In 1891 the College of Physicians and Surgeons surrendered its charter and became an integral part of Columbia College. In 1890 the School of Philosophy was established, taking charge of the advanced work in philosophy, psychology, education, ancient and modern languages and literature. In 1892 departments of mathematics, mechanics, physics, mineralogy, chemistry, etc., combined to form the School of Pure Science. The several schools of engineering were in 1896 organized into the School of Applied Sciences. In the same year the name "Columbia University" was adopted to designate the institution as a whole, and the name "Columbia College" was restricted to the undergraduate department. In 1898 Teachers College (q.v.) became affiliated with Columbia, and in 1900 Barnard College became a part of the university. On President Low's resignation in 1901, Professor Nicholas Murray Butler was elected to succeed him. Columbia University at present comprises the following schools and colleges: (1) Columbia College. The college confers the degree of B.A. and offers a wide range of subjects, mostly elective. Its students register under any of the university faculties in their fourth year, thus practically shortening the college course, in the case of students who take up professional courses, to three years. In 1902, the date for all the statistics of attendance quoted, the number of students in the college was 492. The college offers 72 scholarships of the value of $150, and a number of prizes. (2) Barnard College. This is an undergraduate school for women, and its management is vested in a separate board of trustees. It offers courses leading to the B.A. degree. Graduates of Barnard College are admitted to the university as candidates for the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees; but the professional schools of Columbia Un iversity, except Teachers College, are as yet not open to women. Barnard College has an attendance of 339. (3) The School of Law, which offers courses covering a period of three years and leading to the degree of LL.B. On certain specified conditions its students may also earn the LL.M. and A.M. degrees. Twenty scholarships are available for students; its attendance is 400. (4) The College of Physicians and Surgeons. With this are connected Vanderbilt Clinic, one of the finest hospitals in the world, and the Sloane Maternity Hospital. It confers the M.D. degree, and under special conditions its students also may earn the M.A. degree. It has an attendance of 809 students. (5) The Schools of Political Science, Philosophy, and Pure Science. These have charge of the graduate courses in the departments of mathematics, natural sciences, public law, history,. literature, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, and education. Their courses lead to the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees. The student registration is 508. (6) The School of Applied Science, which is composed of the schools of Chemistry, Mines and Engineering, and offers courses covering periods of four years, leading to the degrees of E.M., Met.E., B.S., C.E., E.E., and Mech.E., also graduate courses leading to the A.M. and Ph.D. The total attendance is 626. (7) the courses in fine arts, comprising the course in architecture, leading to the degree of B.S., and the courses in music, were placed in 1902 under the administrative control of the president of the university. (8) Teachers College, one of the leading schools for the training of teachers in the world, offers courses leading to the B.S. degree and to the several Teachers College diplomas. It is open to men and women on equal terms. It constitutes a separate corporation. It has an attendance of 634 students. (9) The Summer School of the university, designed especially for teachers, was organized in 1900 and has become a permanent feature. The attendance in 1902 was 643. The government of the university is divided between a board of 24 trustees, of which the President is a member, having charge of the financial affairs of the institution; the University Council, composed of the President, the Dean, and a delegate ferom each school or college, to whose care are confided the educational interests of the university, subject to the reserved power of control of the trustees and the several faculties in charge of the respective schools. The total valuation of the university property and endowments is about $20,000,000. The receipts of the university in 1901 were $836,108.56. and the expenses $844,329.85. The library numbers about 315,000 volumes, including the Avery Architectural Library and the famous Phoenix collection, but exclusive of unbound pamphlets. A number of societies make it the depository of their rare collections of books. In 1897 Columbia University removed to its new buildings on Morningside Heights. The principal buildings, grouped around the library, the gift of ex-President Low, are the Havemeyer, Fayerweather, and Schermerhorn Halls, and the Engineering Building and Earl Hall. The gymnasium is part of the building of the Alumni Memorial Hall. Barnard College and Teachers College occupy buildings of their own outside of the campus. Earl Hall represents the religious interests of the university. Columbia University is intimately connected with many of the educational institutions of New York. Lectures are delivered by Columbia professors at the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and at Cooper Union. Students of botany are permitted to pursue lines of research at the New York Botanical Garden, where courses in special investigation are conducted by Columbia University professors. The university offers free tuition to students in the several theological seminaries in New York and its vicinity, and these institutions reciprocate the privilege. The university also offers 26 fellowships, ranging from $500 to $1300 a year, and 34 graduate scholarships of the value of $150 each. The total number of students attending the university is 3632. Under the auspices of the Columbia University Press, established in 1893, are published a large number of works, monographs, and serial studies, written by professors and post-graduate students, and exhibiting the results of original research in various of the university departments. There are also published the Political Science Quarterly, and the Columbia University Quarterly, formerly the Columbia Bulletin. The presidents of the University have been: Samuel Johnson, D.D. (1754-63); Myles Cooper, S.T.D., LL.D. (1763-76). William S. Johnson, LL.D. (1787-1800); Charles H. Wharton, S.T.D. (1801-11); William Harris, S.T.D. (1811-29); William A. Duer, LL.D. (1829-42); Nathaniel F. Moore, LL.D. (1842-49); Charles King, LL.D. (1849-64); Frederick A.P. Barnard, S.T.D., LL.D. (1864-89); Seth Low, LL.D. (1890-1902); Nicholas Murray Butler, Ph.D., LL.D. (1902---). CONSULT: George H. Moore, The Origin and Early History of Columbia College (New York, 1890); John B. Pine, Charter, Acts, and Official Documents of Columbia College (New York, 1895); Brander Matthews, American Universities (New york, 1895); N.F. Moore, An Historical Sketch of Columbia College; J. Howard Van Amringe, Universities and their Sons (Boston, 1898); Circular of Information No. 3, 1900, Bureau of Education (Washington, D.C., 1900). This completes the article on Columbia University___________________________________________ MANHATTAN COLLEGE
A Roman Catholic institution in New York City, under the control of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. It was opened in 1849 as an academy for young men under the name of the Academy of the Holy Name, and was incorporated under its present name in 1863. It has an arts and a science department, conferring the degrees of B.A. and B.S. Besides the college proper there are an academic, a commercial, and a preparatory department. A course in civil engineering, leading to the C.E. degree, is also offered. In 1903 the registration was 561 and the faculty numbered 38. The college library contained 12,000 volumes. The income was $46,940.____________________________________________ PRATT INSTITUTE
A coeducational school for manual and industrial training, in Brooklyn, N.Y., established in 1887 by Charles Pratt. Besides the high school, which provides a general education, the nstitute comprises normal, technical, and trade departments, with a total attendance, in 1902 allowing for duplications, of 3183 (2100 being women), distributed as follows: High school, 262 ; fine arts, 927 ; domestic arts, 757 ; domestic science, 250 ; science and technology, 611 ; kindergarten, 166 ; library, 38 ; gymnasium, 524. The department of domestic art is especially known for its excellent courses in cooking and sewing. A banking institution, known as the Thrift, is maintained for saving and investment by the students. The Institute conducts both day and evening classes, and as it has a liberal endowment, amounting in 1902 to $2,383,926, it makes merely nominal charges for tuition. The buildings, which are seven in number, well-equipped with excellent laboratories and museums, were valued in 1902 at $1,179,473, and the income was $144,093. The library contains 76,000 volumes. The management is in the hands of a board of five trustees under the presidency of Charles M. Pratt._____________________________________________ POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
A school of science and liberal arts in Brooklyn, N.Y., established in 1854. It granted its first degrees in arts and sciences in 1871 by special authority of the Regents of the State University, and in 1890 was reorganized and received a broad college charter. It now confers the degrees of bachelor of arts and of science, master of arts and of science, and civil, electrical, and mechanical engineer. During the early years of its history the Polytechnic was known as a successful preparatory school, and it still maintains a preparatory department, as a separate institution, which in 1903 had 525 students, while the Institute had an attendance of 110, with 50 instructors in all departments. The library contained 12,000 volumes._____________________________________________ ADELPHI COLLEGE
An American college, situated at 66 St. James Place, Brooklyn, New York City. It was incorporated 1896, grants the degrees A.B. and B.S., and maintains subordinate normal, art, and musical departments, besides a preparatory academy. It has a library of 8000 volumes: faculty, 1901, 34 ; students, 166 collegiate, 22 normal, 199 art, and 30 music. The college moved to Garden City in 1929._____________________________________________ ECLECTIC SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
American, or New School of Medicine The modern representative of a school of medical thought which existed as early as B.C. 200. Its adherents contended that the wisdom of the various schools was a vain thing, and that the individual could choose for himself between the good and the bad. They, therefore, rejected all knowledge gained by the experience of others. The modern revival took place in America in the early part of the nineteenth century. The modern eclectic professes still to take what is best in medicine, and is still an individualist. In 1826 an eclectic college was founded in New York by Wooster Beach, who was the author of several text-books for the school. Soon afterwards schools were established in Ohio and other States, and at a later period regular colleges in New York, Chicago, and other cities. State societies were formed, and in 1870 the National Eclectic Medical Association was incorporated by the New York Legislature. In 1897 there were 22 eclectic medical colleges, with approximately 750 students. The prominent feature of the school is the theoretical rejection of mercury and most other mineral substances in medicine. Another distinctive point in modern eclectic practice is the use of native medicinal plants, and from the studies of some American eclectic teachers much useful information has been gained respecting these plants. Consult: Beach, The American Practice of Medicine (New York, 1838); Wilder, History of Medicine (New Sharon, Maine, 1901)._________________________________________
The source for all the abovementioned articles is found at: Source: The New International Encyclopaedia Publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company-New York Copyright: 1902-1905 Total of 21 volumes_________________________________________
Transcribed exclusively by Miriam Medina for the Brooklyn Information Pages RETURN to GRADUATE MAIN RETURN to BROOKLYN MAIN