Liberal Education in an Age of Innovations
After the Civil War, the idea of colleges and universities as a public service providing broad access to higher education spread and gained support. In the words of the first Morrill Act (1862), land-grant universities, subsidized through the sale of public lands, sought “to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life." As at Dartmouth, liberal and professional education might stand together. Liberal arts courses were often at the core of the curriculums taught at land grant universities. In fact, the place of the liberal arts at land-grant universities reflected the profound and enduring influence of an antebellum “nation of colleges” like Dartmouth on conceptions of higher education.
The relationship between practical and liberal education was not always regarded as harmonious. For decades, Dartmouth was the uneasy host and home to the New Hampshire College of Agriculture. Some considered liberal education a spur and ballast to enterprise and innovation; others championed the positive influence of the new scientific management and its focus on efficiency on the conduct, organization, and purposes of Dartmouth College.
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Ticket to Medical Lectures, 1824
A ticket to a medical lecture from 1824, admitting Cornelius T.F. Brachett, suggests the openness of education at Dartmouth to the public.
Dartmouth faculty and President Nathan Lord, 1858
Almost a century after Dartmouth's founding, a modest faculty offered a largely traditional undergraduate curriculum. Nathan Lord’s unpopular defense of slavery, criticized by students, faculty, and the public alike, played a significant role in his ultimate resignation of the presidency.
Gross anatomy class, 1872
At the right and head of the cadaver, Dr. C.P. Frost leads Dartmouth medical students in a dissection class in 1872.
Walker, George. “The Usefulness of a College Education to Business Men.” The Dartmouth, February 1, 1873
George Walker's call for a broad liberal arts education as a predicate to business life and service to the nation is as familiar today as it was 150 years ago.
Scale-model of a railroad truss, 1876
Constructed by Thayer Engineering students in 1876, this model truss was built for display at the Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition, the first World’s Fair held in the United States.
Devices of Calculation and Computation
Computing has been part of Dartmouth’s teaching and research for more than two centuries. Foreground: Thacher slide rule, patented in 1881. Background: Mechanical computation machine. Both objects in the King Collection of Scientific Instruments found in the Krsege Physical Sciences Library.
Fraternity brothers of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture, 1884
Fraternity brothers of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture circa 1884.
The New Hampshire College of Agriculture (NHCA) was founded in 1866. Ultimately, NHCA moved to Durham and became the basis for today’s University of New Hampshire.
Early x-ray experimentation at Dartmouth, 1896
At the Physics Laboratory in Reed Hall, Professor Edwin B. Frost examines a patient’s broken arm in 1896. In one of the first x-ray experiments in America, Frost joined basic science and medical innovation.
Tuck student portrait, ca. 1905
Of course, not everyone can remain always and exclusively devoted to the life of the mind. The dedication by “Daniel Boone” reads: “Me for the woods and fish ponds, to hell with the Halls of Learning.”
“News of Efficiency: Practical Scholarship.” The Independent ... Devoted to the Consideration of Politics, Social and Economic Tendencies, History, Literature, and the Arts, June 26, 1916
With high praise from the papers, the appointment of President Ernest Martin Hopkins at Dartmouth demonstrated the College’s embrace of modern organizational practices in 1916.