Collection ID: C207
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Indiana University. President
Abstract:
Andrew Wylie assumed the position as the first president of Indiana College in 1829. He died on 11 November 1851 of pneumonia, which he developed after accidentally cutting his leg while chopping wood. The collection is comprised of correspondence files, speeches, and administrative files from Wylie's presidential tenure.
Extent:
1 cubic foot (1 box; 3 oversize folders)
Language:
Materials are in English .
Preferred citation:

[Item], Indiana University President's Office records, Collection C207, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

Andrew Wylie, the first president of Indiana University, was born on 12 April 1789, on a farm in western Pennsylvania. The son of an Irish immigrant, Wylie was brought up in a Scots-Irish Presbyterian household where education, religion, and discipline were instilled deeply into the young man's psyche. Before entering Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, at the age of fifteen, Wylie helped his father farm the land and took classes at the public schools in the area as the seasons permitted. Wylie's mother also supplemented his education.

Wylie graduated with honors from Jefferson College in 1810 at the top of his class. Promptly after graduation Wylie began tutoring at the college, and in a relatively short amount of time Wylie made a reputation for himself as one of the most gifted scholars in the east. This led to Wylie being unanimously elected president of Jefferson College by the Board of Trustees a mere two years after graduating from the school. Sometime during this period Wylie was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.

In 1817, Wylie resigned his position at Jefferson College and became the president of Washington College in Washington, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to unify the two Presbyterian schools which were only located about seven miles away from one another. The attempt to unite the two colleges failed when the board members of Washington College and Wylie clashed on the terms of the unification. Wylie resigned as president of Washington College in December of 1828 when he realized he no longer had the full support of the college's Board of Trustees. During his presidency at Washington College, Wylie received his D.D. (Doctor of Divinity) from Union College in 1825.

In 1828, Indiana Seminary was undergoing the transformation to Indiana College and Wylie was contacted about becoming president of the fledgling institution. After being continuously courted by the faculty and other officials of the college, the Indiana College Board of Trustees elected Wylie president in 1829. Wylie, his wife Margaret, and his growing family moved to Bloomington to assume his new duties as the first president of Indiana College on 29 October 1829.

When Wylie arrived he not only served as president but was also an instructor. One of the first things he did was change the curriculum and the student body structure. The institution adopted the "One-Study Plan," adding both a junior and senior class. It outlined that the freshman and half of the sophomore year be dedicated to the study of Greek and Latin. In the second half of the sophomore year and the entire junior year, mathematics and some "natural sciences" were to be the main course of study. In the senior year, all students studied philosophy, Christianity, constitutional law, political economy, and literary criticism under the watchful eye of Wylie himself. When classes at the college opened December 1829, Baynard Hall and John Harney had the responsibility of teaching the other three classes with a total enrollment of forty students. During the remaining years of Wylie's presidency the curriculum changed very little.

During the first years of Wylie's administration the biggest scandal of Wylie's presidency was born. The events of 1832 were so tumultuous that they almost resulted in the death of the college. The scandal, christened the "Faculty War of 1832," began in the spring of that year when a representative of the student temperance society, Samuel Givens, asked Wylie if he could speak either first or last at the student oration presentations. Wylie agreed, but was later preoccupied by a troublemaking carpenter at the site of the orations and forgot his promise to the young man. He called upon Givens to speak second and Givens, outraged by Wylie recanting his word, refused to speak. That following Saturday morning in the chapel Wylie called upon Givens to explain his behavior to the assembled faculty and student body. He explained that Wylie had reneged on a promise and that he did not want his speech mixed up with the others. Wylie apologized and explained that he had to deal with an unruly carpenter at the Presbyterian Church where the orations were held. He asked the boy if faced with the same situation again would he behave in the same manner. The young man responded with a "yes," and Wylie denounced him as a "very mean man." Upon this declaration the present faculty, Harney and Hall, entered into the fray causing Wylie to lecture them in front of the student body. Hall and Harney in turn denounced the president as a liar and spy.

The events surrounding the oration were in essence the final event which brought about the complete degeneration of an already failing relationship between the faculty members and the president. Harney and Hall were at odds with Wylie over the new curriculum and the methods used to teach it almost from the beginning of Wylie's presidency. Complicating the situation was the fact that Wylie was a rigid, uncompromising man. The power struggle ended with Wylie retaining his position and with Hall resigning and Harney being dismissed.

Adding to the difficulties faced by the college was an outbreak of Asiatic cholera in August 1833. The disease struck very quickly forcing people to flee from Bloomington by whatever means they could manage. Classes were cancelled and the students sent home after one of the students died of the disease. Classes did not resume until September after the epidemic had run its course and the new faculty thought it safe for the students to return.

Not long after the fires of the first scandal burned themselves out another scandal erupted. In 1838 the college became a university , and Wylie was re-elected president at that time. However, in 1839, William C. Foster, an officer of the board of trustees, brought charges against Wylie, accusing him of abuse of trust. After being investigated by the members of the board of trustees, Wylie was exonerated of the charges. In the end the scandal cost the university three more professors and a drop in enrollment. During his twenty-two year administration Wylie had to defend himself four times against charges brought against him. He was cleared of any wrong doing each time.

Many of the problems of the fledgling university were grounded in the sectarianism that pervaded the Bloomington community and the state government in general. Simply put, it was the Presbyterians vs. the Methodists as was best exemplified by the Faculty War of 1832. With the exception of enrollment, no real growth occurred in the first 30 years of the university's existence until all of the perceived sectarians were either removed or died. As a result of the political strife surrounding the university, talk swirled between 1840 and 1850 of moving the university up to Indianapolis to a "more receptive audience." In 1841 the University Board of Trustees was disbanded, and the restriction stating each county in Indiana could have no more than two members of their community represented on the board at any one time was introduced. This restriction helped to end the sectarianism or the "Bloomington Divide" which adversely affected the university.

Andrew Wylie died on 11 November 1851 of pneumonia, a complication that he developed after accidentally cutting his leg while chopping wood.

Scope and Content:

The Presidential records of Indiana University's first President, Andrew Wylie, have been organized into three separate series. All of the material has been processed down to the item level and is arranged chronologically and then alphabetically, when appropriate.

The Correspondence series spans the period from 1828-1848 with the bulk of the correspondence dating from the years 1828 to 1830 and 1838 to 1841. Prominent subjects documented in the correspondence series are the process of recruiting Andrew Wylie for the presidency of Indiana College and the investigation of charges brought against Wylie by William Foster and others in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Prominent correspondents in this series include David Maxwell, Baynard Hall, and William Foster. For correspondence pertaining to Wylie's personal life please refer to Collection C1.

The Speeches and addresses series span the period from 1829 to 1851. The series is mainly comprised of the Baccalaureate addresses Wylie delivered during graduation exercises from 1833 to 1851. The series also includes Wylie's Inaugural address. For Wylie's religious sermons and classroom lectures, please see Collection C1.

The Administrative files is the largest series and spans the years from 1820 to 1851. Prominent subjects or types of documents in this series include: reports from the Board of Trustees and various other IU committees; accounts of the so-called "Faculty War" of the 1830s, registers or lists of land in Monroe County sold to Indiana College, documents relating to the investigation of Andrew Wylie in the late 1830s and early 1840s, and receipts and vouchers for payments to IU faculty or other claimants.

Acquisition information:
Accessions 0748, 97/066, 0286, and 1053.
Processing information:

Processed by Kristen R. Walker

Completed in 2003.

Arrangement:

This collection is organized into three series: Correspondence, Speeches and addresses, and Administrative files.

Online content

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

Advance notice is required.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Copyrights for records originating with Indiana University administrative units, departments, and other offices are held by the Trustees of Indiana University. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.

The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials. Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.

Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], Indiana University President's Office records, Collection C207, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-7000, United States
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
812-855-1127
archives@indiana.edu