CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Mr Gould Cornell University Library LC2851.T962T96 Tuskegee to date^ 3-1924 008 638 227 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008638227 TUSKEGEE TO DATE Founded July 4. 1881 PRESS OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE PRINTING DIVISION GENERAL INFORMATION The institution was established under the name of The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute by the Legislature, of 1880, appro- priating two thousand dollars to be used to pay the salaries of the teachers. The school was opened for its first session, July 4, 1881, in a rented shanty church, with thirty pupils and but one teacher. No provision was made by the legislature for a building. In 1884 the appropriation was increased to three thousand dollars, and in 1893, the institution was incorporated under the name of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. During the first session, the present location, consisting at that time of one hundred acres, with three small buildings thereon, was purchased by Northern friends. The population of the school community is at present nearly 2,000. This includes 166 teachers, officers and employees with their families, and a small number of others who are connected, but only indirectly, with the work of the school. From its Foundation up to and including 1905, the date of the quarter centennial, about 6,000 men and women had finished a full or partial course, gone out from the school and were doing good work, mainly as teachers and industrial workers. Since that time 550 stu- dents have gone out from all departments. This includes 68 post- TUSKEGEE TO DATE graduates, 23 graduates from the Bible Training School, and 447 from the Academic Department. The Total Enrollment in the regular Normal and Industrial Departments in 1908 was 1,587. In 1907 it was 1,620. This in- cluded representatives from 36 states and seven foreign countries, of whom 1,093 were young men and 527 young women. This did not include the 149 in the Training School or "Children's House," oi the 101 in the night schools of the village of Greenwood and the town of Tuskegee, or the 22 in the night Bible classes, nor the 27 in the afternoon cooking classes in the town of Tuskegee. It did not in- clude either the members of the classes for the further education of teachers, or the 490 students in the "Short Course" in Agriculture. If these latter had been included the total number of those who had the benefit of the teaching of the school during the year would have amounted to 2,372. Of the 1,587 students regularly enrolled all but about 100 board and sleep upon the Institute grounds. The School Gets its Students largely from the South Atlantic States, 498 from Alabama, 199 from Georgia, 173 from Mississippi, 97 from Texas, 762from Florida and 63 from South Carolina. About 75 students from 12 different West India Islands attend the school, the largest number, 23, coming from Porto Rico, 13 from Cuba and 19 from Jamaica. The Educational Plant at the close of the school year of 1907-8 consisted of 2,345 acres of land; 100 buildings, large and small, used TUSKEUEE TO DATE for dwellings, dormitories, class rooms, shops, barns, which together with the equipment, stock-in-trade, live stack and personal property, is valued at $1,017,851.63. This does not include 20,176 acres of public land remaining unsold from the 25,503 acres granted by act of Congress, and valued at $300,000.00, nor the Endowment Fund. The ENDOWMiXT Fuvd amounts at the pres?nttime to$l,S13,440.03. It has been increased by $11°, tlS.39 since last year. One of the gifts that has crntributed to this sum is a bequest of $38,000 from the estate of Mrs. Mary E. Shaw, a colored woman, of New York. This is, perhaps, the lar<;est single gift ever made by a colored person to a colored institution. Graduate, of Tuskegee First Started \ Fund to perpetuate the work of the school, December 1, H90. It was known as Olivia Davidson Fund, in memory of the first "lady principal," as the Dean of the \^'oman's Department was then called. It was not until 1900, ten years later, that the small sums that students and graduates were able to con'ribuf, reached $1,000, the amount required to complete the fund. Meanwhile the endowment had been increased from various sources, the largest donation, $50,000, coming from CoUis P. Hunt- ington. A special effort was made to increase the endowment during the year 1899 and 1900 when it grew from $62,253.39 to $152,232.49. The largest increase was made in 1903 with the Andrew Carnegie TU3KEGEE TO DATE gift of $600,000. The year of the "quarto-centennial," 190S, brought two memorable gifts, the Baldwin Fund, of $150,000 con- tributed by the friends of William H. Baldwin, Jr., until, his death, January, 1905, trustee of the Institute, and by the Alumni Fund, of $1,000. In 1907 the endowment was brought to within one-half of what it is hoped to make it by the addition of $231,072 from the estate of Albert Willcox. The Current Annual Expense of running the school is about $200,000. To meet this the school has been able in the past to count on the following resources: John F. Shter Fund Peabody Fund General Education Board State of Alabami Society for Propagation of the Gospel Frothingham Fund No. 2 in hands of American Unitarian Association Interest on Invested Funds, including the An.lrew Carnegie, the Morris K. Jeeup, the William H. Baldwin and the Albert W'illco.x Funds to the amount of $10,000 00 1,500 00 10,000 00 4,500 00 600 00 600 00 61,155 00 TUSKEGEE TO DATE Entrance Fees paid by students 11,260 00 Total . $100,015 00 This leaves about $100,000 to be secured each year from the con- tributions of the public at large. The Needs of the institution at present are chiefly: Money for current expenses, in the form of $50 scholarships or in any amounts. $1,200 for Permanent Scholarship. Money for current expenses in any amounts however small. The increase of the Endowment Fund to at least $3,000,000. $25,000 for 1 building for religious purposes. $20,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building. $30,000 for a boys' dormitory building. Five cottages for teachers at $1,200 each. THE INDUSTRIAL DEPARTMENTS Including the Agricultural Department, the Industries for Girls and the Nurse Training School, there are no« forty different trades or pro- fessions taught at Tuskegee. The Industries are grouped under three departments: the School of Agriculture, the Department of Mechanical Industries and the In- dustries for Girls. Each one of these departments has a separate TUSKEGEE TO DATE building, or group of buildings, in which the work of the school is done. The Agricultural School has, in addition to its laboratories, the farm and the Experiment Station where practical and experimental work is performed, THE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE The work of the School of Agriculture centers in the Slater-Arm- strong Memorial Agricultural Building which was erected in 1897, at a cost of $10,000, and has, since 1901, been enlarged by a wing which cost $5,000. It contains a laboratory for such elementary work in chemistry as the study of agriculture demands and a museum in which specimens of various products of the soil are preserved for il- lustrating the lectures. In the new agricultural building which is being built at a cost of more than $25,000 still greater facilities will be provided for the teaching of agriculture. The First Industry, Farming, was started on a small scale in 1883, on the land on which Phelps Hall, Huntington Memorial Hall and the Canning Factory now stand. The farm, including 19 acres belonging to the Experiment Station, comprises at the present time 1,936 acres, divided about as follows: 75 acres used as a Truck Garden to supply the school's dining hall and the town market with vegetables; 100 acres devoted to orchard and small fruits; 963 acres devoted to general farming; 795 acres to pastures, woodland and other purposes. TUSKEGEE TO DATE An Extensive Live Stock Indujtxy is canducted on the basis of this farm. The Dairy Herd contains 234 head of cattle, breeders, yearlings and calves, with 106 milch cows "at the pail." The Creamery received last year, 1903, 71,743 gallons of milk and man- ufactured 16,281 pounds of butt;r, and 5,327 pounds of cheese. The Beef Herd contains 159 head of cattle, breeders, yearlings, calves and fattening cattle. The Swine Heni consists of 518 head of hogs. The Poultry Yard contains over 1,0JD fowls. Th? Horse Barn takes care of all the work animals of the school and contains 137 head of horses, mules and colts which have an annual earning capacity of $32,049.19. The Department includes also a Composting Division which collected last year 2,023 tons of compost. The Work of the Farm in 1908 was carried on by 165 students, and about 40 hired men and 13 instructors. In addition to other work of this Department there is a Division of Road Building. The school has already completed about 20 miles of farm roads and'has projected 20 more. The Leading Crops raised upon the General Farm last year were: 852 tons of corn ensilage, 5,281 bushels of sweet potatoes, and'graz- ing crops, consisting of oats, wheat, rye, vetch, alfalfa, etc., to the value of $5,782.50. The leading crops of the Truck Garden; were 90,457 pounds of greens, 340 dozen bunches of lettuce, 2,000 dozen 10 TUSKEGEE TO DATE bunches of onions, 2,577 dozen bunches of beets, 1,4S0 watermelons, 400 bushels of limi and snap beans, l.ODO bushels of tomatoes, 10,000 pounds of rutabagas and turnips, 2,740 dozen ears of green corn, 2,676 melons and canteloupes, 400 bushels of white potatoes, 700 dozen egg plants, 2,577 dozen bunches of beets. Landscape Gardening, Horticulture and Floriculture have recently been added to the industries taught by the school. Horti- culture was started as far back as 1335. Floriculture was added in 1904 when, through the kindness of a friend, the school was given the money with which to build a greenhouse. A second greenhouse was added in 1907 and 40,000 plants and over 400 shade trees planted. There are now 13,000 Peach Trees, 125,000 strawberry plants, 2,924 grape vines and 198 fig trees in the school orchard. In one year, 1905, the students in this department planted 1,010 trees and 7,803 shrubs, and did altogether for the institution, including the value of the trees and shrubs planted, labor to the amount of $7,392. A Swarm of Bees passed over the campus on Commencement Day, 1887, and settled on one of the trees on the school's land. J. H. Washington found a dry-goods box and succeeded in inducing some of these bees to enter it. This was the beginning of Bee Culture at TUSKEGEE TO DATE 11 Tuskegee which has been carried on with success ever since. The Experiment Farm was established in connection with the Agricultural School in 1896, by the State Legislature of that year. The result of eight years' work was published April, 1905, entitled, "How to Build Up Worn Out Soils." A sequel to this Bulletin, entitled "Cotton Growing on Sandy Uplands," shows that, on the poorest soil in Alabama, a bale of cotton, nearly four times the average yield per acre in this state, can be grown with profit. Experiments in Cotton Breeding have been going on since 1905 with success. The purpose of these experiments has been: 1. To create an hybrid species by breeding the Sea Island cotton, which is noted for its long silky fibre, with certain of the upland varieties. 2. To create a type more prolific and better adapted to sandy, upland soils, such as those in the neighborhood of Tuskegee. The Analysis of Soils for Farmers in different parts of the state has recently become an important part of the work of the Agri- cultural Laboratory and several hundred such analyses are made every year. THE MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES The shops where the mechanical industries are taught are in the Slater-Armstrong Memorial Trades Building. This building which 12 TUSKEGEE TO DATE with the saw mill, the boiler house, tool and storage rooms, occupies a floor space of about 37,650 square feet, contains the shops for teaching the following trades: carpentry, woodworking, printing, tailoring, blacksmithing, wheelwrighting, harnessmaking, carriage trimming, plumbing, steamfitting, electric lighting, architectural and mechanical drawing, tinning, painting, steam engineering and shoemaking. The saw mill and the brick yards are located in another part of the grounds. The First Bricks made were used in building Alabama Hall. Brickmaking, the second industry on the grounds, was started in 1883. The first bricks were made by hand in the ravine between Alabama Hall and the Chapel. The first machine for making brick was made of wood and run by horse power. It had a capacity of about 8,000 per day. The two machines now in use have a rated daily capacity of 25,000 each. They have been in operation since 1905. During 1908 about 1,800,000 brick, valued at $12,800, were manufactured. Brick-Laying and Plastering started in 1883. Twenty-eight brick buildings have been erected or are in process of erection on the grounds in which the bricks have been manufactured and the plans drawn and the buildings constructed largely by student labor under the direction of the instructors. Including new and repair work in masonry and plastering, the value of the work of this division amount- ed, in 1907, to $25,993.36. TUSKECEE TO DATE 13 Blacksmithing was started in a little frame building 12 by 16 and with a crude outfit. The Blacksmith Shop which contains ten forges did, in 1908, work to the value of $2,250.00. This included the iron work in the building of twenty-two new vehicles and the shoeing of 621 horses. Carpentry was introduced in 1884. The first industry was a small building known as the John F. Slater Carpenter Shop. Wood Turning, Scroll and Machine Work and Cabinet Making have been added since that^time. This has enabled the school to make a good deal of its own furniture and repairs that would otherwise have been done outside the school. During the year 1903 there were erected the Fourth Emery Dormitory, Tantum Hall, the extension to the Hospital and the buildings connected with the new Poultry Yard. Altogether work to the amount of $20,872.56 was done. Printing was started in 1885. Two papers, published in the interest of the school and its work, The Tuskegee Student and The Southern Letter, and the country Negro newspaper. The Messenger, are printed in this office. Three monthly periodicals, two of them for organi- zations outside of the school, and considerable printing for business firms in the city and for other schools is done here. The value of the work of the printing office in 1908 averaged nearly $1,000 per month. 14 TUSKEGEE TO DATE A NEW Cylinder Press and a Typesetting Machine were added to the equipment of the office during 1907, making four presses, two cylinder and two job presses now in use. The printing office is now in urgent need of an equipment to do binding. The School Saw Mill was started in 1886. At that time the school owned a large track of heavily timbered land. Investigation showed that this timber could be cut and manufactured into lumber at a considerable saving. During 1908, 78,000 feet of lumber was sawed, 153,500 feet of lumber dressed, 105,000 lathes sawed, and 100 cords of stove wood sawed. :if-=«- The First Wagon made on the grounds was the work of Fayette Pugh, an untutored colored man, who was working at that time, 1887, in the saw mill. The school was much in need at that time of a wagon, but did not have money enough to buy it This man said if the school would purchase the hubs and enough iron he would build a wagon. This wagon, excepting the iron work, was built under an oak tree and was the direct cause of the establishment of a Wheel- wright Shop in 188S. As the Wheelwright and Blacksmith Shops began a few years later to build buggies and carriages, it was found necessary to start a Carriage Trimming Division. This was done in 1891. In addition to the repairs of farm machinery and wagons, something TU3XEGEE TO DATE 15 like twenty vehicles, among them buggies, surreys and wagons, besides a large number of wheelbarrows, dump carts, push carts, etc., are made in this division every year. The total value of the work done in 1908 was $2,932.72. The Bill for Tinware had grown so large in 1890 that it became profitable to establish a tin shop on the grounds. Lewis Adams, a colored man who had been instrumental in securing the location of the Institute at Tuskegee, was at that time doing the work. It was found that he could be employed to do the work on the school grounds and give instructions to the students for less than the school \^'as pay- ing him during the year for odd jobs. Mr. Adams was also a harness- maker, and a shoemaker, and did a large amount of repairing for the school. It was decided to employ him and let him teach all of these trades. About 3,000 pieces of tinwaie including basins, wash cans, slop cans, etc., are made every year for the use of the school in the Tin Shop. Nearly all the roofing for the larger buildings on the grounds was made there and put upon the buildings by the students. In 1908 the first attempt was mad? here to use galvanized iron in the construction of buildings. Th; ga'vanized iron cornice of the Tantum Building was constructed by the sludtnfs. The \alue of ihe ^^ork in this division for 1908 was $1,863.73. 16 TUSKEGEE TO DATE In the Shoe Shop about fifty pairs of shaes are made by the stu- dents every year and 1,300 repaired. The Harness Shop in 1908 made 55 sets of harness, trimmed 8 vehicles and did other work for the school to the value of $3,368.02. An Abandoned Cupola, which was presented to J. H. Wash- ington by the authorities of a polytschnic school for whites near Tuskegee, brought about the establishment of a foundry and machine shop at the school. For som; time Mr. Washington had been look- ing forward to setting up a machine shop. To do such work as he desired, however, it was necessary to have a foundry. He had expressed his desire to a teacher in a neighboring school. Shortly after the authorities of the school decided to take out the small cupola they had been using and put in a larger one. They decided, therefore, to give the old one to Tuskegee. The school was then very poor and the Finance Committee did not feel able to pay the freight. Mr. Washington finally sent a three-yoke ox-team after the cupola and fetched it fifteen miles over a dirt road. Since that time the school has made its own castings and been able to do considerable work for the surrounding community. During 1908, 11,000 pounds of boiler grates, 532 cast-iron bed locks, 1,240 sash weights of different sizes, 3,313 pounds of machine and boiler castings and 14,020 pounds of TUSKEGEE TO DATE 17 miscellaneous castings were made. The value of the work done was $980.91. The Machine Shop, exclusive of the foundry, now occupies a floor area in the Trades Building of 2,870 square feet. There are now in- stalled fifteen steam boilers, with a total capacity of 761 horse-power; 7 engines, varying in capacity from a two and one-half horse-power, in the Shoe Shop, to a one-hundred-and-twenty-five horse-power high- speed engine in the dynamo room. As at present organized, the plant is expensive to operate and maintain on account of the great number of units and the consequent waste of isteam. This is due, of course, to the piece-meal way in which it was built up. An urgent need of the department is a well designed steam plant, with direct connected generators to take the place of numerous small engines, the system so arranged as to use the waste steam for heating. The total value of the business of the Machine Shop in 1908 was $10,215.16. Plumbing and Steamfitting, which were at first part of the work of the Machine Shop, have since been organized as separate in- dustries. Under the charge of this division there have been installed 9,545 feet of steam and 30,937 feet of water lines carrying steam and water to all the larger buildings on the grounds. In 1908 this de- 18 TUSKEGEE TO DATE partment extended the steam heating to Phelps Hall and put in the heating and plumbing fixtures in Tantum Hall, and did other work to the value of $6,930.20. Five Thousand Electric Lights or, more exactly, an equivalent of 5,021 sixteen-candle power lamps, are used in lighting the build- ings and the grounds of the school. The dynamo was first purchased in 1898 and the first electric lights were those put in the new Chapel in that year. Light is supplied to a considerable number of houses in the village of Greenwood and in all 2-1 miles of wiring have been in- stalled and maintained by the students in this division. PAiNTiNG^was first taught as a separate industry in 1891. Previous to that time there were special students in the Carpenter and Wheel- wright Shops who did this work. During 1908 work was done on thirty buildings, more than 1,400 pieces of furniture, such as beds, bookcases, tables, and, in addition, on 30 vehicles, old and new. The value of the work of the shop was $3,823.63. Students' Uniforms are Made in the Tailor Shop. During 1908, 659 garments, with a value of $2,468.48, were made. This is in addition to the repairing for 1,500 students. Architectural and Mechanical Drawing were first taught in connection with the separate industries. An important advance in the TUSKEGEE TO DATE 19 methods of teaching was achieved when a separate department was established for this work, where the plans and specifications not only for the buildings but all other work in the school, are made. These drawings and specifications have enabled the students to think their problems, as well as do the work assigned them. Plans for nearly all the buildings on the grounds were drawn by this department. The value of the work done in 1908 amounted to $966.05. THE INDUSTRIES FOR WOMEN. What are known on the grounds as "the Girls' Trades'' are centered in a building erected in 1901 and known as Dorothy Hall. This building contains a laundry, cooking school and dressmaking and millinery shops. In this building baskets, mattresses, brooms and soap are made. Additions which have doubled the capacity of the building, have made room for a larger kitchen and a more system- atic and extended training in cooking. The Cooking School is located with the girls' other industries in Dorothy Hall. In the early days of the school, students received train- ing in cooking in the preparation of the meals of the school. At the present time the meals are served by the students but cooking and domestic science are now taught in a separate building. This 20 TUSKEGEE TO DATE separation took place in 1896 when a Cooking School was started in what is now the Sales Building. All the Girls in the School have been expected since 1903, to study Cooking and Domestic Science. After they have had this train- ing they serve for a month in the students' and teachers' dining- rooms. Lunches are Served at Dorothy Hall at a small price to students and visitors. In addition the school maintains a Practice Cottage where the girls of the Senior Class keep house and do their own cooking on a small fixed allowance given them by the school. Dressmaking and Millinery have been added to the Department of Plain Sewing, with the idea of giving a certain number of students a trade. The plain sewing had been started to furnish underwear and working shirts for the young men. The dressmakers and milliners make the dresses and trim the hats for most of the students and teach- ers. During 1908, there were 2,535 articles made in the Plain Sewing Department. In the Millinery Division 420 hats were made, 179 trimmed, and 503 wire shapes were made, also 250 pieces of fancy work. The Mattress Factory was the happy thought of a newspaper TUSKEGEE TO DATE 21 man who came to visit the school. In 1887 the school was in need of mattresses. There was none to be had in the town and the mattress- maker who had formerly done the work had died. One of the teach- ers and a student decided they would try the experiment of making them on the grounds. To do this they began tearing up an old mat- tress to see how it was put together. While they were engaged at this work a newspaper man discovered them. In his account of the indus- tries he mentioned mattressmaking. It has been one of the trades since that time. One Hundred and Seventy Brooms, 82 mattresses, 69 mats, 234 curtains, 57 baskets, 106 bedticks, 163 table-cloths, 1,858 pillow cases, 1,218 sheets, 95 screens; in all, 5,105 articles to the value of $1,425.00 were made in 1908 in the Mattress, Broom and Basketry Division. All the Laundry for the School is done by the girls in the Laundry Department. Considering that there are on an average something like 1,600 persons, including students and teachers, in the school, the weekly washing is large. According to the record, 289,- 740 pieces were laundered in the school laundry during the year 1908. The total value of work done by all divisions was $443,264.21. 22 TUSKEGEE TO DATE THE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT The Academic Department is located in the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building. The building, which is the largest on the school grounds, is the gift of Mrs. Collis P. Huntington, and was erected in memory of her husband. In the General Scheme of studies of the school, the Academic De- partment stands at the center and the industries at the circumference, and there is a systematic effort to correlate the academic studies with the industrial training and practical interests of the pupils. By this means the work of the students in the Industrial Department is lifted above the level of mere drudgery, since it is invested with the character of a demonstration. On the other hand the principles acquired in the academic studies gain in definiteness, precision and interest by application to actual situations and to real objects. The Total Number of students actually in attendance in the Aca- demic Department, is about 1,400. Of this number 890 are boys and 510 are girls. They are divided between the Night and Day Schools as follows: Night School, 495; Day School, 906. The Night School pupils attend academic exercises four evenings each week from 6:45 to 8:30 and one evening from 6:45 to 8:00. The Day School pupils attend academic exercises three days each week from 9:30 to 12:00 and 1:30 to 4:00. A Night School pupil of vigorous health and TUSKEGEE TO DATE 23 good ability ordinarily advances in his academic studies about one-half as rapidly as the average pupil in the Day School. The Night School is designed for those who are too poor to pay the small charges made by the Day School. The Expenses of Day School students over and above the cost of clothing and in addition to what can be earned is about $45 or $50 for a term of nine months. The rate of wages of the student depends upon his efficiency. Whatever a Night School student earns in excess of his board is placed to his credit to be used when he enters the Day School. Teaching in the Academic Department is carried on by a faculty of forty-four teachers: ten in English, eight in mathematics, four in history and geography, two in science, one in education, one in book- keeping, three in vocal and instrumental music, one in the kindergar- ten, one in drawing and writing, one in physical culture, three in the library, five in the Children's House, and four others employed in the office of the Director of the Department. Teachers in the Academic Department are expected to visit every week some one department of work in the shops or of the farm and report upon it, in order to find there illustrative material for the 24 TUSKEGEE TO DATE work in the classes in history, geography, arithmetic, etc. Pupils in their rhetoricals are expected to write papers and give demonstrations of the work they have done in the shops. The Children's House is the public school of the Institute commu- nity. To this school the county contributes about $250, and the Institute about $1,000. In addition it has an income from the tuition of the children which amounts to $350. In 1902 a generous friend gave the Institute money to erect a suitable building in which to carry on this work. Rooms are provided to serve as a kitchen, dining-room and bed-room for training girls and there is likewise a manual train- ing room for boys. Teachers are supplied from the Institute. The school prepares its pupils to enter the Junior Class of the Institute. A Mothers' Conference is Held Every Month at the Children's House. This Mothers' Conference has raised some years as much as $100 to assist in beautifying the grounds of the school and in provid- ing curtains and furnishings for the class rooms. Every two weeks a lunch, prepared by the students under the direction of the teacher of cooking, is served to invited friends of the school and parents of the children. The vegetables served at these meals are grown, for the most part, in the school garden which is cultivated by the children. TUiXEGEE TD D\Tl 25 Everybody is at School at Tuskegee, including the teachers, and to give aid and encouragement tn teachers who desire to go further in their work and their studies, special courses were started in 1904 in mathematics and economics. The first year this \vGrk was taken up there were seven teachers taking courses in higher mathematics and nine in economics. THE PHELPS HALL BIBLE TRAINING SCHOOL The Bible Training School is located in Phelps Hall, directly fa- cing the Academic Building. Phelps Hall is a frame slructure, three stories high, the gift of a generous New York friend. On the first floor are the chapel, library, reading-room, office of the Dean and three recitation rooms. The two upper floors are used as a dormitory for the students of the department. The Aim of the Department is to give its students a comprehen- sive knowledge of the whole English Bible; to give them such know- ledge and training as will fit them to work as preachers and mission- aries under the actual conditions now existing among the colored people. Since the School Was Founded in 1892, SSS men and 26 women have studied in the Bible Training School. Of this number, 76 men and 5 women have graduated. The graduates represent 11 states; 4 26 TUSKEGEE TO DATE are from British West Indies and 1 from Africa. They are distrib- uted among seven denominations. The Practical Work of the Bible Training School consists in mission work. Every Sunday members of the school visit the Sunday schools and churches in the country about Tuskegee, walking some- times five miles. Every year members of the Senior Class make a ten days' visit to neighboring towns and settlements for the study of social conditions among the people. A Night Bible Class gives an opportunity to ministers in the town and surrounding country, who are not able to attend the Day School, to learn something of the Bible and its history. These men come to the school twice a week for two hours' instruction, some of them walking four or five miles. Four Teachers and Five Lecturers, including the Dean of the school, make up the faculty of the Bible Training School. The lec- turers are always men prominent in one or the other of the denomina- tions of the Negro church and their lectures usually bear upon ques- tions of practical church work. The Macon County Ministers' Association, which meets four times a year at the school, brings the students in touch on the one hand, with practical problems of the community, and on the other with the Institute Sunday School, the Y. M. C. A., the Christian En- deavor and the other religious organizations and church work. DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION The Administration of the Institute centers in the Administration Building which contains the offices of the Principal and his Secretary, the rooms of the Executive Council, of the Treasuer, of the Auditor, of the Business Agent, and of the Commandant of the Battalion, who is also head of the police department of the school. This building which was completed in 1904 contains also the Post Office and the students' Savings Bank. A certain number of indus- tries closely connected with the administration of the school are con- ducted from this building. Control of the School is vested in a Board of Trustees composed of eighteen persons, eight of whom live in Alabama and the others in different parts of the North: five in New York, two in Massachusetts, one in Indiana, one in Illinois, and one in Wisconsin. Four mem- bers of the Board of Trustees who live in New York City compose a Committee on the Investment of the Endowment Fund, and the others. TUSKEGEE TO DATE 27 all residents of Tuskegee, make up the commission which has over- sight of the funds which the school has from the state. The Executive Council is the directing body in the school. It is made up of the chi?f executive officers of the school, the Principal, Treasurer, General Superintendent of Industries, Director of Mechani- cal Industries, Secretary to the Principal, the Director of the Agricul- tural Department, the Commandant of the Battalion, the Dean of the Bible Training School, Business Agent, the Director of the Academic Department, the Auditor, the Superintendent of the Farm, the Regis- trar, the Dean of the Woman's Depar'ment, and the Director of In- dustries for Girls. The Business Agent buys the supplies for the school and has charge of the Sales Department. Sales to students and teachers aver- age about $10,000 per year. The total purchases during the same period amounted to about $200,000. The school, including the teachers \vho purchase their supplies through the Commissary, con- sumes, on an average during the school year, about 23 barrels of flour per week; 1,260 pounds of sugar; 350 pounds of coffee; 500 pounds of rice; 500 pounds of grits and 3,000 pounds of meal. The school uses scmelhing over 21, COO pounds of dressed meat per month, that is, over 700 pounds per day; it uses more than 400 gallons of 28 TUSKEGEE TO DATE syrup per week. In 1908 it used 6,000 tons of coal, at a cost of $25,622.20. The Railway which connects the school with the station in the town was built in 1903 and 1904. It cost $4,259.10 and has been a saving of something like $3,000 per year to the school in the cost of hauling. Last year this railway brought over 18,000 tons of freight to the school upon which the school paid charges to the amount of some- thing like $40,000. In addition it brought 6,000 tons of coal upon which the freight charges were over $10,000.00. ^m%^^*^' 1 K j!B*S**»*^?»-»<*>»««i., . The Hospital and Nurse Training School was started in 1892 but not until 1901 were the different departments, the boys' ward, the girls' ward, the operating and drug rooms, centered in one building. During the year 1907, 1,249 cases were treated, of which 95 were operative cases. The Hospital is in charge of a superintendent who is assisted by an interne, head nurse, matron and pharmacist. Fifty-four Trained Nurses have gone out from the school since 1894 and are doing good work in different parts of the country. The course in the Training School covers a period of three years and, as a rule, students are supposed to have completed the work in the Aca- demic Department or an equivalent before entering. The Hospital Aid Society organized in connection with the Hos- TU3KEGEE TO DATE 29 pital helps to make the people of the surrounding community ac- quainted with the benefits of the Hospital and has given aid and assist- ance in caring for the patients. A Savings Department was established at the school in 1901. This was to provide means for the students to deposit their money, to ac- custom them to the habit of using a bank and so encourage them, in- directly, in the habits of saving. The amount of deposits on May 1, 1908 was $17,863.26. The number of depositors is 950. The largest deposit is $3,345.75; the smallest is one cent. A Bakery and Canning Factory are conducted under the direc- tion of the Boarding Department. The Bakery has recently been organ- ized into a trade and 3,716 loaves of white bread and 1,500 pans of corn bread are baked every week. 6,000 gallons of tomatoes, 1,000 gallons of blackberries and 1,503 gallons of peaches were canned during the summer of 1908. There were altogether in 1908, 18,145 gallons of vegetables and 12,048 cans of fruit put up in the Canning Factory. The Accounts of the School are centered in the auditor's office. The separate accounts are kept for SI different departments of the school. This includes the 40 different industries, each of which makes a separate accounting of its work. The amount of trade, back and forth, inside the school, of which the auditor's office is a sort of clearing house, amounted, in 1908, to $637,102.96. This office has over 4,000 ledger accounts of which 1,500 are with students and in ad- dition, keeps the accounts of 36 funds, 17 of which are endowment funds. The Resident Auditor is teacher of bookkeeping in the school and the auditor's office offers a sort of post-graduate course to students who desire to become expert bookkeepers and accountants. THE WORK OF SCHOOL EXTENSION The actual work of Tuskegee has for some years grown beyond the limits of the school grounds. Every year sees the amount of this extension work increased. In its effort to reach and aid the masses outside of and beyond the direct influence of the school room, the In- stitute has aimed: 1. To change public opinion and turn the attention of the people in directions where there was hope for them. This has been the work of the Negro Conference and various agencies that have grown up to help complete its work. 2. To educate the people on the soil, encourage better methods of farming and so induce Negro farmers' children to remain on the soil. This had been the work of the Farmers' Institute, the Demonstration Farming and the Agricul- 30 TJ5KEGEE TO DATE tural Wagon, all of which agencies have gone out from and been di- rected by the Institute. 3. To extend the work and influence of the school by encouraging the esttblishm'?nt of other schools similar to it, and by keeping in touch with its graduates and former students in order to direct, to some extent, their efforts to improve the communi- ties into which they go. The Annual Negro Conference was started eighteen years ago in February, 1891. In that year Principal Booker T. Washington sent out invitations to about seventy-five representative Negroes in Macon County, farmers, mechanics, school teachers and ministers. The majority of the men who came to this conference \'.ere farmers. In- stead of seventy-five, something like four hundred responded to this in- vitation. The success of the first conference has been repeated each year since, and the fame of its annual meetings has extended until Negro farmers come from all over the South to attend them. The Need of First-hand Knowledge of conditions among the Negro farmers and in the more remote regions of the South brought so many visitors, students and teachers to these conferences that it was finally decided to hold the conference two days, giving the first day to the farmers and the second day to the students and teachers. This has resulted in the division of the work of the Annual Conference into TUSKEGEE TO DATE 31 Tlie Farmers' and Workers' Conferences. The Workers* Conference fol- lows the Farmers' Conference, and takes its theme from it. A Conference Agent is employed by the school whose duty is to organize local conferences in different communities in the state and visit those conferences already established in order to encourage them in their work. At the last accounting, 95 local organizations had been established. The National Negro Business League, which was organized in Boston in 1900, has its headquarters in Tuskegee and is closely associated with the work that the Institute is seeking to do for the Negro race. It aims to unite the successful Negroes of the country in an effort to stimulate habits of saving, the establishment of banks, and business enterprises, and in general, to encourage and direct the efforts of the masses of the people in their struggle to attain economic inde- pendence. Since the Business League was founded more than thirty banks have been started and 313 local business leagues have been formed in various parts of the country, including thirty-seven states, the District of Columbia and the West Indies. The Farmers' Inst-:tute was established in 1897 and has held monthly meetings, winter and summer, in the Agricultural Building ever since that time. At these meetings the farmers hear simple lectures and demonstrations covering the principles of agriculture and are invited to give their own experiences in attempting to apply these methods to the soil. Meetings for the Instruction of Farmers, also called institutes, are held every year in different parts of the South by Prof. Carver and other teachers in the Agricultural School. By this means the influence of the school is spread over a wide territory, covering several states. The Short Course in Agriculture, started January, 1904, and intended to give farmers in the surrounding country, at the season when most of them are idle, the advantage of two weeks' study and observation of the work of the school farm, has been increasingly successful. The first year there were but eleven students and most of them were older men. By 1909 this number had increased to 962, and 600 of these were young men and women. An Agricultural School on Wheels: namely, the Jesup Agri- cultural Wagon, designed and built by the students at the Institute in order to take the instruction of the school directly to the farmers, was started out in 1905. The novelty of the enterprise and the practical demonstrations which the teacher was able to make with 32 TUSKEGEE TO DATE improved machinery which the wagon carried, has greatly aided in raising the standard of farming of the county. The Demonstration Farming Experiment, the work carried on by the Agricultural Department at Washington with the aid of the General Education Board, was started in 1907. The plan provided that a certain number of farmers in a selected county should farm a small portion of their land under the direction and with the seed provided by the Agricultural Department. The work throughout the South has been under the direction of Dr. S. A. Knapp, of Washing- ton, who had under him a number of agents whose duty it is to visit the different sections of the country and oversee the work that is going on. These men have under them th; Field Agents who in turn select and direct the farmers in the fields. In Macon County this work has been conducted among the Negro farmers under the direction of T. M. Campbell, a graduate of the Agricultural Department. Demon- stration work is now carried on in Wilcox County and in the neigh- borhood of Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Miss., under the direction of Tuskegee graduates. A Negro County Fair has been held for a number of years in connection with the Farmers' Institute on the grounds near the school. In 1906 a permanent fair ground was erected within the limits of the village of Greenwood. TUSKEOEE TO UAl b 33 A Negro Building at the State Fair grounds was erected in 1906 under the direction of the teachers in the agricultural school at Tuskegee for the purpose of making the public acquainted with the work that is being carried on by Tuskegee and other schools similar to it in other parts of the state. Rural School Extension, a work like that provided for by the Jeanes Fund of $1,000,000 and intended to encourage the Negroes in the country districts to secure better schoolhouses .".nd maintain longer school terms, was taken up by the school in the fall of 1905. In a large number of places throughout the South, especially where the colored people own homes and are permanently settled on the land, it has become the custom for the people to supplement by voluntary con- tributions the funds given by the state. The primary object of this work was to encourage and extend this custom. A similar effort is being made to improve the rural schools in Wilcox County and the region round about Snow Hill; in the neighborhootl of Mt. Meigs, Montgomery County; in the neighborhood of Utica, Miss., and in the neighborhood of Denmark, S. C, where industrial schools of the same general character as that of Tuskegee, have been established by Tuskegee graduates. Since 1906 the Negro farmers in Macon County have contributed something more than $7,000 to the building of schoolhouses and the lengthening of school teims. Thirty-three schoolhouses have been erect d in this w?y and forty school terms have been extended to eight and nine months. A Model Negro Village is in process o' building just beyond the limits of the school grounds. This is the village of Greenwood. About 1890 the little village of North Greenwood was started to the north of the school grounds. The houses built at that time now lie within the limits of the school farm. In 1901 the school purchased 200 acres of land west of the grounds and began to sell lots to the employees of the school. This was the origin of South Greenwood. A Village Impro/emsnt .A.S30ciatio.\' cDnlu;ts the affairs of the village. This Improvement Association cojiects a voluntary poll and property tax which is used in maintaining the streets. This tax amounts at present to about $200 a year. The Association is con- ducted by a Board of Control which is elected by the householders in the community. A Negro County Newspaper, The Messenger, was established in 1905 by C. J. Calloway, formerly Conference Agent of the school, in 34 TUSKEGEE TO DATE the interest of the Negro farmers of Macon County. Mr. Calloway had charge of the funds for assistance of rural schools in Macon and in neighboring counties and he has used his newspaper, in con- junction with the Macun Counly Ne^ro Teachers and the Macon County Ministers' Association to assist in the campaign for better schools, schoolhouses and longer terms. A Local Negro Business League — a branch of the National Negro Business League — was recently formed in the town and county. There are something like 20 stores in small settlements in different parts of the county. For several years past one of the best conducted stores of the town has been that of a graduate of Tuskegee, A. J. Wilborn. A Plantation Settlement was established in the spring of 1898, on what is known as the Russell Plantation eight miles from Tus- kegee. This was an original attempt, made by Mrs. Booker T. Washington, to adapt the methods of the "University Settlement" to the needs of the people who live in the primitive conditions that still obtain on the large plantations in the "Black Belt." The work was begun in an abandoned one-room cabin. Miss Annie Davis, a graduate of the school, who had had some experience as a teacher, moved into this cabin, opened a ^chool and began her life among the TUSKEGEE TO DATE people. The school has been supported from the first by such funds as Mrs. Washington was able to obtain from friends. Prom the first the parents of the children who attended the school have contributed what they could. For three years past they have been trying to pay a small monthly tuition, $15 a month is received from the county toward the support of the teacher. This School is also a Home, in which the household industries, sewing, cooking, etc., are taught along with reading, writing and arithmetic. In 1908 every girl in the school made a shirt-waist suit. On the two ten-acre farms connected with the school, pupils raised thirty bushels of corn, thirty bushels of potatoes and twenty bushels of peas in addition to other garden truck, cabbages, onions, beans, to- matoes, etc. Another teacher takes with her two seniors or two Bible school students to visit the county jail. Every Saturday they give the jail a thorough cleaning. The jail work has been productive of much good. The Mothers' Meetings established in the town of Tuskegee by Mrs. Booker T. Washington have extended their influence to other portions of the country and beyond to small communities in other parts of the state. More than twenty of such communities in this county and elsewhere maintain meetings of this kind. About 2,000 women on the farm are reached through the medium of these meetings. Graduates and Former Students of Tuskegee, though beyond the control of the school, do not soon get beyond its fostering over- sight and influence. An effort is made to keep in personal touch with as many former students as possible. For this purpose the school employs a special agent who spends the larger part of his time in this sort of parochial work, going about the country to encourage, counsel and assist these former students where he can. During the last eight months this agent. Rev. R. C. Bedford, one of the Trustees of the school, has traveled about 12,000 miles. Schools Doing Tuskegee's Work, established by Tuskegee students or under the direct influence of Tuskegee, are the special objects of Mr. Bedford's consideration and care. Large and small, there are now about forty schools which are seeking, in some special way, to carry on this work. The Most Important of These Schools, are: the Snow Hill Normal and Industrial Institute at Snow Hill, Alabama, founded by William J. Edwards; the Mt. Meigs Institute at Waugh, Ala., 36 TUSKEGEE TO DATE founded by Miss Cornelia Bowen; the Robert Hungerford Institute at Eatonville, Fla., founded by R. C. Calhoun; the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute at Utica, Miss., founded by William H. Holtz- claw; the Voorhees Normal and Industrial Institute at Denmark, S. C, founded by the late Elizabeth E. Wright Menafee, and the Topeka Educational and Industrial Institute at Topeka, Kan.; the Branch College for Negro Youth at Pine Bluff, Ark., and the Christianburg Institute at Cambria, Va. Each of these last three was reorganized and put upon its feet by graduates from Tuskegee Institute. An Alumni Association with local branches in Birmingham, Montgomery and Columbus, Ga., was formed in 1905 to keep alive the interest of the graduates and former students in the school, and in its work and progress. These Associations have made every year since they first formed a small contribution to the expenses of the school and have greatly aided in keeping alive the spirit and influence of the school among its members. DISCIPLINE The discipline of the school, the deportment of students, the inspec- tion and care of rooms, and the guarding of the grounds is in charge of the Commandant of the battalion and the Dean of the Woman's Department. Military Discipline of some sort has been enforced since the foundation of the school. The first day the students came together they marched. After J. H. Washington arrived on the grounds, he had, in addition to his other duties, charge of the military training and discipline of the school. He held this position until the present Commandant, Major J. B. Ramsey, came from Hampton to take in hand the discipline of the school. Two Battalions, one of four companies of ninety men each, made up from the Night School students, the other of five companies of ninety men each, made up from the Day School students have been formed among the boys of the school. The officers are chosen from the Senior Class and represent the best men, from all points of view, in the school. An Officers' Court investigates and passes judgment upon all breaches of discipline and other offences not serious enough to be re- ferred to the Principal, or to the Executive Council. At the begin- ning of every year the students are called together and the rules and TUSKEGEE TO DATE 37 discipline of the school are read and submitted to them for discussion. This does not result in any important modification of the discipline of tne school but the discussion enables the student to better understand •he purpose of it. Meetings of the Students, with the Commandant, are held every Saturday for the purpose of talking over the interests of the students and the school. Somewhat the same methods have been adopted in the Woman's Department. Police Duty, the guarding of the buildings at night, the inspection of rooms and fire-protection are performed by the students under the direction of the Commandant. The students are organized for fire protection into four regular squads, the Axe, Bucket, Hose and Ladder squads, with several others, such as the Electricians, in reserve. Places are assigned, in the event of an alarm of fire, to every student in the school. Drill and Inspection take place every day in the week. The day students are divided into two squads, one of which drills every other day. The night students drill once a week. Between 8:00 and 9:30 on week days every student undergoes an inspection. Damage by Fire During the Last Fourteen years has amounted to about $10,000. Serious fires occurred in 1906 in the Cow Barn, and the Boiler House and there have been smaller fires in the Blacksmith Shop, Phelps Hall, Porter Hall, and the Trades Building. The dan- ger of fire has been to a large extent done away with by the introduc- tion of steam and electricity into all the buildings. It costs the school $5,260.40 a year for insurance and fire protection; .of this amount f2,667.72 is for insurance. THE CHAPEL The present Chapel was begun in 1895 and completed in 1898. Up to that time it was the largest and the most imposing building on the grounds. The body of the building was intended to seat 2,400 people. The choir back of the stage is arranged to seat about 150 more. In 1905, to accommodate the crowds that attended the quarto-centennial celebration, its capacity was increased to about 3,000 by the location of galleries in the transcepts. The Young Men's Christian Association is among the largest of the voluntary religious organizations among the young men students. It meets Sunday afternoons in Carnegie Library Assembly Room . Th e Association has an enrollment of 400, and an average attendance 38 TUSKEGEE TO DATE of 250. The ChrLtian Endeavor Association which m33ts at the same place in the evening has an average attendance of 300. The younger students are organized into a club called The Careful Builden. which meets Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons The Chapel Sunday School is composed of the entire student body, with the exception of the Phelps Hall Bible School students, who are excused on Sundays to do missionary work in the surround- ing country. There are forty-one classes. They are taught by mem- bers of the faculty, post-graduates and members of the Senior and A Middle classes. The Young Women's Christian Association is the only religious organization composed exclusively of girls upon the grounds. This society meets every Sunday in Douglass Hall. It does a large part of its work through the medium of committees in association with the members bf the Woman's Club. Music is an essential part in the training of Tuskegee students. ^All the students are given regular training in voice culture at some period of their studies. The choir, which consists of 150 voices, is made up of students selected at the begining of each year. A Band of 36 Pieces and an Orchestra of 20 pieces are maintained at the school. A special effort is made to preserve the old Negro hymns and plantation melodies. THE LIBRARY The Carnegie Library building was completed in 1902. It was erected at a cost of about $20,000.00. It contains in addition to the library proper, an assembly room, which is used as a lecture room for Senior and graduate students; a seminary room, where the stu- dents who are preparing essays may work; and an historical room where relics connected with the history of the school are kept. The Library contains at present about 15,000 volumes. The first library of the school, which was started in Porter Hall in 1883, was made up, almost wholly, of books which were sent down from the North in barrels, together with old clothes for the needy students. A special effort is now being made to furnish this library with books and pamphlets on Africa and the Negro in order to direct attention of stu- dents to the materials which represent the current history of the Negro. The Historical Room contains, in addition to photographs and charts, a number of relics illustrating the growth of the school. Among others, the Corner Stone of Porter Hall, the first building erected on TUSKEGEE TO DATE 39 the school grounds; also the first desk made by a student, used for many years by the Principal; thirty-one essays written by pupils of the first year classes; a pine knot, which is a facsimile of those used by the students in the early days of th; school to study by; the first wagon made by students of the school, and a number_ of medals received by the school for its exhibits at Southern fairs and expositions. The African Exhibit, at present in the historical room, is an ad- dition to a previous gift of African curios presented to the school some years ago by John W. Robinson, a graduate of Tuskegee who has been since 1900 employed by the German government in teaching the natives of Togoland American methods of cotton culture. It includes specimens of fabrics manufactured by Hausa people of the Soudan and by natives of Togo and Dahomey, articles of leather and of iron man- ufactured by the natives together with other articles which illustrate their religious and social customs. The Tuskegee Women's Club, was founded in 1895 by Mrs.. Booker T. Washington. By encouraging the forma.ion of smaller clubs within its own organization, each to act independently in the performance of some specific service to the women in the community, it has extended its work to nearly every interest of women in the school and in the community. The Woman's Club largely supports the work of the Plantation Settlement on the Russell Plantation. For three years it has maintained an "Out-of-Door" Sunday school at "Thompson's Quarters." Other organizations which the Woman's Club has fostered among the students are: The Humane Band and the Young Woman's Temperance Vnior, The Children's Reformatory at Mt. Meigs is supported by the Tuskegee and other colored women's clubs of Alabama. There is also a men's club. Debating Clubs are popular among the young men. The Willing Workers' aim to keep their members infornied on current topics. The Liberty Debating Club seeks to give its members better training in En- glish speaking and to widen their acquaintance with English literature. The English and History Club Seeks to encourage the study of English and history. The Natural History Club makes a specialty of agricultural literature. The Stokes Ministers' Union is made up of the members of the Phelps Hall Bible Training School. In addition to these there are the class organizations and the state clubs. Ten states are represented by different organizations among the boys. 40 TUSKEGEE TO DATE THE MUSEUM The Museum, which occupies the part of the lower floor of the Agri- cultural Building, was started in 1892 by J. H. Washington, Super- intendent of Industries. Mr. Washington had found that sonne of the students knew little or nothing about such simple things as wood, coal, iron, stone, the common animals, plants, etc. The purpose of the museum was to get the students to observing the diflference in the ob- jects in the world about th..m, that being the basis of all scientific knowledge. The Fruit Exhibit, prepared by Prof. Carver, Director of the Ag- ricultural School, shows specimens of thirty di.Terent vegetables and fruits grown on the school ground. This is aiso an exhibit showing how the farmer can prepare and preserve some of the common vege- tables and fruits.