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, July 21, 1876
Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 21, 1876
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    • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
    • Date Created: 1876-07-21
    • Description: Morrill writes with praise from Senator Theodore Randolph about President Buckham's work on the examining board at West Point.
    • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
    Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, March 27, 1876
    Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, March 27, 1876
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      • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
      • Date Created: 1876-03-27
      • Description: Morrill writes about the need to acquire forty to fifty acres of farm land for the University as a means of appeasing those opposed to the University as the home for the state's agricultural college, such as the Grangers and competing institutions like Middlebury .
      • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
      Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 15, 1875
      Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 15, 1875
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        • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
        • Date Created: 1876-10-15
        • Description: Morrill writes about discussions with Norwich University and the need to find a donor to fund the purchase of fifty acres of agricultural land for the University.
        • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
        Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 30, 1876
        Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, October 30, 1876
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          • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
          • Date Created: 1876-10-30
          • Description: Morrill writes about possible upcoming University business in the Vermont state legislture.
          • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
          Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 14, 1876
          Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, January 14, 1876
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            • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
            • Date Created: 1876-01-14
            • Description: Morrill writes about an article in the Burlington Clipper by Mr. Jameson, with comments from Mr. Hoskins, about the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College.
            • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham