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, May 22, 1893
Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, May 22, 1893
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    • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
    • Date Created: 1893-05-22
    • Description: Morrill writes about the state of agricultural colleges in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, as well as the idea of having him make an address in support of keeping the Agricultural College at the University of Vermont.
    • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
    Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 3, 1893
    Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 3, 1893
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      • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
      • Date Created: 1893-07-03
      • Description: Morrill writes about asking the Governor of Vermont to establish a Military Hall in Burlington and the idea of giving the manuscript of his recent address to the University Library.
      • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
      Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, May 25, 1893
      Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, May 25, 1893
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        • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
        • Date Created: 1893-05-25
        • Description: Morrill writes about what he might say in an address in support of keeping the Agricultural College at the University of Vermont as well as his thoughts about the efforts to establish a school of agriculture in each state across the nation.
        • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
        Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 10, 1893
        Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 10, 1893
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          • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
          • Date Created: 1893-07-10
          • Description: Morrill writes about asking Governor Fuller of Vermont to establish a Military Hall at the University, the idea of giving the manuscript of his recent address to the University Library, and a neighbor boy of his who he thinks will make a good student at the University.
          • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
          Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 12, 1893
          Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, July 12, 1893
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            • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
            • Date Created: 1893-07-12
            • Description: Morrill writes promising to send the manuscript of his recent address to the University Library.
            • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham
            Miniature of Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, March 13, 1893
            Justin Smith Morrill to Matthew H. Buckham, March 13, 1893
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              • Creator: Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898.
              • Date Created: 1893-03-13
              • Description: Morrill replies to a request from Buckham that make some remarks on an unamed topic, possibly the relationship of the Agricultural College to the University.
              • Parent Collections: Justin Morrill Letters to UVM President Buckham