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LETTER.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., October 25, 1888.

The Honorable the SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR,

Washington, D. C.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript of the history of Higher Education in Wisconsin. The preface will explain the nature of this work, which was prepared under the supervision of the most accomplished historian of the West, Prof. William F. Allen, of the University of Wisconsin, aided by Mr. David E. Spencer, one of the instructors in that institution.

This is the first of a series of monographs relating to higher education in the group of north-western States composed of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and was undertaken with the ap proval and by the direction of the Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar, late Secretary of the Interior. It will prove a very valuable addition to the educational history of the country.

I respectfully recommend that the same be printed as a circular of information of this Office.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

N. H. R. Dawson,

Commissioner.

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JAN 21 1900 188505

PREFACE.

The following sketches of the colleges of Wisconsin do not aim to give more than a very general outline of the career of each. For details of their statistics, organization, history, and tendencies, reference must be had to the sources of information, lists of which are appended to the several sketches.

In the sketch of the State University, only such matters are dwelt upon as have had a direct bearing upon the fortunes of the institution, and those which concern its relations to the educational movements that have taken place during its history, to the school system of the State, and to the practical progress of the people. While the graduates of the University are filling positions in many cases of greatest trust and usefulness, it is yet too early to estimate the precise drift and measure of the influence of the school upon the educational, political, and social life of the community. The older graduates are but now in the prime of life, in the midst of the years of greatest activity and influence. The University has not a sufficiently distant past to make its inner life of special interest as matter of history; nor does it fall within the scope of this sketch to trace, in any special manner, the influence of the graduates of the institution beyond its walls.

There is considerable variety in the character of the chapters devoted to the five private colleges, since the sketches for the greater part are adapted from articles previously published; but the leading features in the character of each college, and the scope and tendency of its work, are indicated.

Many other colleges have from time to time, especially in the first twenty-five or thirty years of our history, been established in Wisconsin. Of two of these which still exist, brief notices are given at the end of this work.

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