Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Matthew Buckham

Justin Morrill (1810-1898) served as a US Representative (1855-1867) and Senator (1867-1898) from Vermont, following a successful business career. His signature legislative accomplishments were the Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890, which used the proceeds from the sale of federal lands expropriated from tribal nations, to create land-grant colleges. The purpose of these land-grant colleges was to teach agriculture, military instruction, and mechanical arts such as engineering in addition to the traditional science and classical education that was generally taught in colleges at that time. The second Land Grant Act, passed in 1890, funded colleges in the former Confederate states and required each state to offer race blind admissions or set up a separate land-grant college for persons of color, which led to the creation of several of the historically Black colleges and universities. An additional act passed by Congress in 1887 funded agricultural experiment stations under the direction of the land grant colleges. In 1865, the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College was incorporated, after a great deal of debate about whether a land-grant college in Vermont should be a separate institution, or attached to the University of Vermont, Norwich University, Middlebury College or even possibly a merger of those three institutions. Despite the 1865 incorporation, these debates would continue in Vermont for many years to come. With the establishment of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Morrill became a trustee of the University, a position he continued to hold until his death in 1898. Matthew Buckham (1832-1910) became President of the University in 1871 and continued in this role until his death in 1910. He had previously graduated from the University in 1851 and served as a faculty member from 1856-1871. His time as president saw the admission of women to the University, the addition of several notable buildings to campus such as Williams Hall and the Billings Library, and the development of the State Agricultural College which had admitted no students to the agricultural course in the six years before he became President. Morrill and Buckham were frequent correspondents and eighty-two of Morrill’s letters to Buckham, along with three to George Benedict and one to Albert Cummins, are preserved in Buckham’s papers at the University of Vermont and are digitized and transcribed in this collection. The letters included here discuss a wide variety of topics, mostly related to the agricultural college and include: federal support for the University, possible donors, military instruction, Morrill’s views on the development of agricultural colleges around the country, competition with Middlebury and Norwich, Vermont legislation such as the 1890 “divorce bill” which would have separated the State Agricultural College from the University, the experimental farm, the academic progress of Morrill’s son James at the University, and the construction of Billings Library along with the potential acquisition of the library of George Perkins Marsh.

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Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, November 30, 1898
Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, November 30, 1898
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    • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
    • Date Created: 1898-11-30
    • Description: Morrill writes about unlikely prospects for securing additional federal dollars for the University. Buckham appends a note to the letter detailing a meeting he had with Morrill in Washington about the same topic.
    • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
    Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, June 21, 1873
    Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, June 21, 1873
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      • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
      • Date Created: 1873-06-21
      • Description: Morrill writes to President Buckham about the poet Milton and his views on Euripedes, the Greek playwright.
      • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
      Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, February 12, 1874
      Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, February 12, 1874
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        • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
        • Date Created: 1874-02-12
        • Description: Morrill writes about his recent correspondence with J.B. Mead, the future of Middlebury College, and agricultural scholarships.
        • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
        Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 21, 1879
        Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 21, 1879
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          • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
          • Date Created: 1879-01-21
          • Description: Topics include Morrill's son James education at the University of Vermont and the idea of adding a law school to the University.
          • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
          Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, December 5, 1879
          Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, December 5, 1879
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            • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
            • Date Created: 1879-12-05
            • Description: Topics include a discussion of an unnamed UVM alumni and Dartmouth College.
            • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
            Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, August 20, 1883
            Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, August 20, 1883
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              • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
              • Date Created: 1883-08-20
              • Description: Topics include whether President Buckham might have a scholarship for a worthy student.
              • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
              Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, November 21, 1885
              Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, November 21, 1885
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                • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
                • Date Created: 1885-11-21
                • Description: Topics include a possible appointment of a military officer for instruction at UVM and a possible donor for a drill-hall.
                • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
                Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, September 18, 1877
                Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, September 18, 1877
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                  • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
                  • Date Created: 1877-09-18
                  • Description: Morrill writes about the termination of Professor Collier's employment and shares his views on hazing and rushing.
                  • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
                  Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 7, 1873
                  Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 7, 1873
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                    • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
                    • Date Created: 1873-10-07
                    • Description: Morrill writes about a former supporter of the University named Harry and Senator George Boutwell's changed opinion on agricultural colleges.
                    • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
                    Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 30, 1874
                    Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 30, 1874
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                      • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
                      • Date Created: 1874-01-30
                      • Description: Morrill writes about his surprise at the actions of Henry Clark, the postponement of a bill from Senator George Hoar, and an address from President Andrew White of Cornell in support of aid to colleges and against sentiments previously expressed by President Charles Eliot of Harvard and President James McCosh of Princeton.
                      • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham