LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., July 1, 1891. SIR: I have the honor to forward for publication a monograph upon e history of the colleges and universities of Ohio. This is one of e series of Contributions to American Educational History edited by of. Herbert B. Adams, PH. D., of Johns Hopkins University, the eparation of which was approved by your predecessor, on the recmendation of Hon. N. H. R. Dawson, then Commissioner of Educa This monograph was undertaken by Prof. George W. Knight, of e Ohio S'ate University at Columbus, Ohio. Professor Knight, after ving completed the histories of a number of the Ohio institutions, is compelled on account of sickness to discontinue his work, and its mpletion and elaboration were assigned to Mr. John R. Commons, a aduate of Oberlin College, some time a student in the Johns Hopns University, and now professor at Oberlin. Owing to difficulties found in the way of visiting all of the instituons in Ohio, it has been found necessary to depend in several cases on cal authorities connected with the institutions, and in such cases the urces of the history are indicated. No State in proportion to its population has seen a larger number of lleges organized within its boundaries. They have sprung up in all rts of the State under a great variety of circumstances. Many have und the struggle for existence too severé and have succumbed, while e great number that have survived and the increasingly encouraging ospects which they now enjoy indicate that they have met a real need. ne prominence which Ohio has attained among the States of our Union ascribed by many of her citizens largely to the great number of her lleges. The reader of the following pages will meet names of many en of prominence in the highest offices of our nation who found their rliest stimulus on the upward path of service to their country in the all colleges of their immediate neighborhood. In the days before railads penetrated their State, when it was impossible for the hard-workge farmers' sons to meet the expensive demands of the higher eastern stitutions, these local colleges served a good purpose. But whatever ay be the theories of different persons with regard to the multiplicaɔn of smaller colleges to the detriment of large centralized universi LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. ties, it is interesting to note the processes of natural and artific selection that have been going on among the Ohio colleges. The buil ing of railroads and the growth of wealth have given a new phase their work. Those which have been unable to keep along with th increasing demands have gradually disappeared or have been conte with a lower position. In this connection there will be found an inte esting paper in the appendix to this monograph on the history of th "Association of Ohio Colleges," prepared by Prof. John M. Ellis, pres dent of the association, which shows the peculiar problems of the Oh colleges, and the manner in which the leading institutions have con bined to meet them. One feature which will strike the reader of the following histories i the many new experiments and reform ventures that characterize mos of the Ohio colleges. It seems that whenever a body of educationa reformers with similar ideals became moved with a strong impulse t put their principles into practice, they chose Ohio as the scene for thei experiment. Here were to be found intelligent people from the Eas without the conventional limitations of the older communities which they had left, and at the same time with a warm appreciation of education In this way Ohio has led the nation in several important educational movements, which, springing up on her fresh soil from her peculia conditions, have spread to other places where similar conditions prevailed. Especially in the West and Northwest is her influence traced. She was the first State formed out of the great Northwest Territory, and many of her problems had to be solved outright, without precedents from older States. Their solution was accepted by her younger sisters as they entered the family of States, and in turn many of them have reacted upon the older East. The experience of Ohio with regard to her State universities is not one on which that State can look with unmingled satisfaction. Recently, however, she has endeavored to atone for the past, and the outlook for these institutions is more promising. Besides the three universities recognized as State institutions, State aid has recently been given to Wilberforce University, the institution established for the education of colored youths. This aid, however, is confined to the manual and industrial departments. Two facts have prevented Ohio from developing a State university that should acquire a national and even international fame like that of other State institutions, namely, the dissipation of her energies in the attempt to carry three independent institutions and the number and influence of her private institutions, which have as a rule prevented any extensive or systematic aid to the State institutions. These private institutions are not wholly denominational, although nearly every religious denomination has its representative. There are six private institutions wholly nonsectarian in character. At the same time it would be incorrect to say of some of the so-called denominational institutions that they are sectarian, since their faculties |