Daniel Coit Gilman | |
|---|---|
 Gilman inc. 1890 | |
| President ofJohns Hopkins University | |
| In office 1875–1901 | |
| Succeeded by | Ira Remsen |
| President of theUniversity of California, Berkeley | |
| In office 1872–1875 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Durant |
| Succeeded by | W.T. Reid |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1831-07-06)July 6, 1831 Norwich,Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | October 13, 1908(1908-10-13) (aged 77) Norwich, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Van Winker Ketcham;Elizabeth Dwight Woolsey |
| Children | Alice;Elisabeth |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Profession | Academic administrator, educator, librarian, author |
| Institutions | Yale College University of California Johns Hopkins University Sheffield Scientific School Carnegie Institution |
| Signature |  |
Daniel Coit Gilman (/ˈɡɪlmən/; July 6, 1831 – October 13, 1908) was an American educator and academic.[1] Gilman was instrumental in founding theSheffield Scientific School atYale College,[2] and subsequently served as the second president of theUniversity of California, Berkeley, as the first president ofJohns Hopkins University, and as founding president of theCarnegie Institution.
Eponymous halls at both Berkeley and Hopkins pay tribute to his service. He was also co-founder of theRussell Trust Association, which administers the business affairs of Yale'sSkull and Bones society. Gilman served for twenty five years as president of Johns Hopkins; his inauguration in 1876 has been said to mark "the starting point ofpostgraduate education in the U.S."[3]
He was born inNorwich, Connecticut,[4] the son of Eliza (Coit) and mill owner William Charles Gilman, a descendant of Edward Gilman, one of the first settlers ofExeter, New Hampshire; ofThomas Dudley, governor of theMassachusetts Bay Colony and one of the founders ofHarvard College; and of Thomas Adgate, one of the founders ofNorwich in 1659.[5] Daniel Coit Gilman graduated fromYale College in 1852 with a degree in geography.[6]
At Yale, he was a classmate ofAndrew Dickson White, who would later serve as first president ofCornell University. The two were members of theSkull and Bones secret society, and traveled to Europe together after graduation and remained lifelong friends. Gilman was also a member of theAlpha Delta Phi fraternity. Gilman would later co-found theRussell Trust Association, the foundation behindSkull and Bones. After serving asattaché of the United Stateslegation atSt. Petersburg, Russia from 1853 to 1855, he returned to Yale and was active in planning and raising funds for the founding ofSheffield Scientific School. Gilman contemplated going into the ministry, and even obtained a license to preach, but later settled on a career in education.[7]
From 1856 to 1865, Gilman served as librarian ofYale College, and was also concerned with improving theNew Haven public school system. When theCivil War broke out, Gilman became the recruiting sergeant for the Norton Cadets, a group of Yale graduates and faculty who drilled on theNew Haven Green under the oversight of Yale professorWilliam Augustus Norton.
In 1863, he was appointed professor of geography at theSheffield Scientific School, and became secretary and librarian as well in 1866. Having been passed over for the presidency of Yale, for which post Gilman was said to have been the favorite of the younger faculty, he resigned these posts in 1872 to become the third president of the newly organizedUniversity of California, Berkeley.[7] His work there was hampered by thestate legislature, and in 1875 Gilman accepted the offer to establish and become first president ofJohns Hopkins University.
Before being formally installed as president in 1876, he spent a year studying university organization and selecting an outstanding staff of teachers and scholars. His formal inauguration, on 22 February 1876, has become Hopkins' Commemoration Day, the day on which many university presidents have chosen to be installed in office. Among the legendary educators he assembled to teach at Johns Hopkins were classicistBasil Lanneau Gildersleeve, mathematicianJames Joseph Sylvester, historianHerbert Baxter Adams and chemistIra Remsen.
In 1876, Gilman was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society.[8]
Gilman's primary interest was in fostering advanced instruction and research, and as president he developed the first American graduate university in theGerman tradition. The aim of the modern research university, said Gilman, was to "extend, even by minute accretions, the realm of knowledge"[9] At his inaugural address at Hopkins, Gilman asked: "What are we aiming at?" The answer, he said, was "the encouragement of research and the advancement of individual scholars, who by their excellence will advance the sciences they pursue, and the society where they dwell."[citation needed]
In 1884, Gilman was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society.[10]
Gilman was also active in foundingJohns Hopkins Hospital in 1889 andJohns Hopkins Medical School in 1893. He founded and was for many years president of the Charity Organization ofBaltimore, and in 1897 he served on the commission to draft a new charter forBaltimore.[11] From 1896 to 1897, he was a member of the commission to settle the boundary line betweenVenezuela andBritish Guiana.[11]
Gilman served as a trustee of theJohn F. Slater[12] andPeabody education funds and as a member of John D. Rockefeller'sGeneral Education Board. In this capacity, he became active in the promotion of education in thesouthern United States. He was president of theNational Civil Service Reform League (1901–1907) and theAmerican Oriental Society (1893–1906), vice president of theArchaeological Institute of America, and executive officer of the Maryland Geological Survey.[13] He retired from Johns Hopkins in 1901, but accepted the presidency (1902–1904) of the newly foundedCarnegie Institution of Washington.[14]
His books include biographies ofJames Monroe (1883) andJames Dwight Dana, a collection of addresses entitledUniversity Problems (1898), andThe Launching of a University (1906).[citation needed]
Gilman married twice. His first wife was Mary Van Winker Ketcham, daughter of Tredwell Ketcham ofNew York City. They married on December 4, 1861, and had two daughters: Alice, who married Everett Wheeler; andElisabeth Gilman, who became a social activist and was a candidate for mayor of Baltimore, and for governor and senator of Maryland, on theSocialist Party of America ticket. Mary Ketcham Gilman died in 1869, and Daniel Coit Gilman married his second wife, Elizabeth Dwight Woolsey, daughter of John M. Woolsey ofCleveland, and niece of Yale presidentTheodore Dwight Woolsey, in 1877. Daniel Gilman's brother Edward Whiting Gilman was married to Julia Silliman, daughter ofYale University professor and chemistBenjamin Silliman. Daniel Coit Gilman died in Norwich, Connecticut.[7]
The original academic building on theHomewood campus of the Johns Hopkins University, Gilman Hall, is named in his honor. In 1897, he helped found a preparatory school called 'The Country School for Boys' on the Johns Hopkins campus. Upon relocation in 1910, it was renamed in his honor and today, theGilman School continues to be regarded among the nation's elite private boys' schools.[citation needed]
On theUniversity of California, Berkeley campus,Gilman Hall, also named in his honor, is the oldest building of theCollege of Chemistry and a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Named for Gilman as well is Gilman Street in Berkeley. Gilman Drive, which passes through theUniversity of California, San Diego campus in La Jolla, CA is also named for Gilman. TheDaniel Coit Gilman Summer House, in Maine, was declared a U.S.National Historic Landmark in 1965.[15] Gilman High School inNortheast Harbor, Maine, was named for Daniel Coit Gilman, who was active in local educational affairs, but it was later rebuilt and christenedMount Desert High School.
He was awardedAmerican Library Association Honorary Membership in 1895.[16]
ThePapers of Daniel Coit Gilman were donated to Johns Hopkins University by Gilman's daughter Elisabeth, and are open on an unrestricted basis to the public at theMilton S. Eisenhower Library at Hopkins. Aside from many photographs of Gilman and his contemporaries, the papers include Gilman's correspondence with leading figures of the day, includingCharles W. Eliot,Sidney Lanier,Ralph Waldo Emerson,Henry James,James Russell Lowell,Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,William McKinley,Basil Gildersleeve,Theodore Roosevelt,Woodrow Wilson,George Bancroft,Alexander Graham Bell,Thomas Huxley,Andrew Carnegie,Horace Greeley,Helen Keller,Louis Pasteur,Henry Ward Beecher,William Osler,W.E.B. Du Bois,Booker T Washington and others.[19]
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| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of theUniversity of California 1872–1875 | Succeeded by |
