Prior to the Civil War, most American institutions of higher education favored a classical curriculum, and the University of North Carolina was no
exception. The plan of education adopted by the Board of Trustees in December 1818 included the study of the Latin and Greek languages; the prominent
works of Horace, Sallust, Virgil and Homer; English grammar and composition; the mathematics, including arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry;
geography; the sciences, including chemistry, mineralogy, astronomy, and geology; and philosophy, logic and metaphysics. Students learned by
memorizing texts and reciting them for the faculty, who typically presided over six to ten recitations per week. UNC student Iveson Brookes,
in an 1818 address to the Dialectic Society, summed it up: "Hence in our collegiate course the study of the dead languages, Geography, & Arithmetic
conducts us to the study of the Mathematics and that introduces us to the Study of Philosophy and Rhetoric which completes the course by including
English Grammar." The documents presented in this section illustrate not only the students' opinions about the curriculum and method of instruction,
but the opinions of some of the faculty as well.
The common practice of using tutors to teach the underclassmen came under particularly strong criticism from William Hooper in the early 1830s.
Not only were these tutors inexperienced as teachers (most were recent graduates of the institution), they had very little control over the students.
But the "precarious state of the funds of the Institution" (Board of Trustees minutes, 18 July 1834), combined with the difficulty of obtaining
experienced faculty members at salaries the board could afford to pay, made it expedient to employ tutors.
Limited funds also affected the resources available to the faculty for books and scientific apparatus for their courses. Included in this section
are documents regarding the gift and purchase of these materials for the university, including items related to President Caldwell's book-buying trip
to Europe in 1824-25. The scientific apparatus purchased by Caldwell on that trip eventually found a home in the university's observatory. Erected in
1832, it was the first observatory on a U.S. college campus.
In December 1852 the Board of Trustees adopted a resolution providing for instruction in Civil Engineering and Agricultural Chemistry. Charles Phillips
was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering and Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. This "School for the Application of
Science to the Arts" was the university's attempt to incorporate more practical instruction into the curriculum, and the letters from Phillips and Hedrick
to President Swain in this section provide a fascinating glimpse into how they attempted to develop this new curriculum.
The documents in this section are arranged chronologically within the subtopics.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees
Board of Trustees Minutes, December 7, 1795
5 pages, 5 page images
- Davis, Mary
Letter from the ladies of New Bern to Joseph Caldwell, November 26, 1803
2 pages, 2 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to Col. William Polk, April 1, 1818
3 pages, 4 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to the Board of Trustees, February 19, 1824
6 pages, 6 page images
- Harrison, Frederick William
Letter from F. W. Harrison to Thomas Jones, April 10, 1824
3 pages, 4 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to Denison Olmsted, August 31, 1824
3 pages, 4 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Letter from Elisha Mitchell to Duncan Cameron, December 28, 1835
4 pages, 5 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Report of Elisha Mitchell to the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, September 1836
4 pages, 4 page images
- Owen, William Hayes, ca. 1807-ca. 1877
Report on the State of the Library, December 15, 1836
2 pages, 2 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Report of the Bursar (Elisha Mitchell), May 27, 1840
4 pages, 4 page images
- Owen, William Hayes, ca. 1807-ca. 1877
Report of the Librarian, June 4, 1840
1 page, 1 page image
- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889
Accounts for Apparatus procured for Natural Philosophy Department, February 17, 1852
1 page, 1 page image
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Excerpt from the Letter from Elisha Mitchell to John Ravenscroft, February 8, 1825
4 pages, 4 page images
- Hooper, William, 1792-1876
William Hooper's Critique of Instruction at the University of North Carolina, December 19, 1833
4 pages, 4 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to Rev. William McPheeters, January 1, 1834
9 pages, 10 page images
- Hooper, William, 1792-1876
Letter from William Hooper to the Committee of Appointment, January 27, 1834
4 pages, 4 page images
- Phillips, James, 1792-1867
Letter from James Phillips to Charles Manly, June 28, 1834
3 pages, 4 page images
- Mitchell, Elisha, 1793-1857
Letter from Elisha Mitchell to Charles Manly, July 5, 1834
2 pages, 3 page images
- Anderson, Walker, 1801-1857
Letter from Walker Anderson to the President of the Board of Trustees, November 1834
10 pages, 12 page images
- Caldwell, Joseph, 1773-1835
Letter from Joseph Caldwell to the Board of Trustees, December 24, 1834
3 pages, 4 page images
- Garrett, Thomas Miles, 1830-1864
Excerpts from the Diary of Thomas M. Garrett, July 4 and August 31, 1849
4 pages, 4 page images
- Mason, Thomas Williams, 1839-1921
Class Composition of Thomas W. Mason, [1856]: "The Journal of a Day"
9 pages, 9 page images
- Neal, Nathan P.
Letter from Nathan P. Neal to Aaron and Elizabeth Neal, September 2, 1857
4 pages, 4 page images
The School for the Application of Science to the Arts |
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- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889
Letter from Charles Phillips to David L. Swain, January 15, 1853
4 pages, 4 page images
- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889
Letter from Charles Phillips to David L. Swain, August 28, 1853
2 pages, 4 page images
- Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood, 1827-1886
Letter from Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick to David L. Swain, September 15, 1853
3 pages, 3 page images
- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889, and Hedrick, Benjamin Sherwood, 1827-1886
Letter from Charles Phillips and Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick to David L. Swain, October 13, 1853
4 pages, 4 page images
- Phillips, Charles, 1822-1889
Program for the School of Science as Applied to the Arts, November 25, 1853
9 pages, 9 page images
- Brookes, Iveson Lewis
Address of Iveson L. Brookes to the Dialectic Society, September 1818
9 pages, 9 page images
- Polk, Lucius Junius, 1808-1869
"College Rules," Poem by Lucius J. Polk, [1821]
2 pages, 2 page images
- Shaw, William Andrew, 1804-1884
Inaugural Address of William A. Shaw for the Dialectic Society, April 4, 1821
9 pages, 10 page images
- Smith, Franklin Lafayette, d. 1835
Letter from F. L. Smith to Gustavus Miller, February 1, 1828
4 pages, 4 page images
- Roseborough, Rufus Milton
Address of Rufus M. Rosebrough for the Dialectic Society, February 1832
6 pages, 7 page images
- Barnes, David Alexander, 1819-1892
Excerpts from the Diary of David A. Barnes, February 10 and 15, 1840
2 pages, 2 page images
- Lacy, James Horace, 1834-1852
Class Composition of J. Horace Lacy, [January 1851]: "Prejudice Against Composition Writing"
4 pages, 4 page images
- Foster, Wilbur Fiske
Junior Debate Speech of Wilbur F. Foster for the Dialectic Society, 1858: "Are the Ancient Languages Worthy the Place Which They Now Hold in the Course of Education?"
9 pages, 10 page images