Repository: UIHistories Project: Book - 16 Years (Edmund James) [PAGE 7]

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INTRODUCTION The following pages contain a brief account of the progress of the University of Illinois during the period from 1904 to 1920—the years of the administration of its fourth president, Dr. Edmund Janes James. The general plan of the Report will be clear from an examination of the Table of Contents. In the first six chapters an account is given of the growth of the University in financial resources, land, buildings, equipment, libraries, museums, faculty, and students. The seventh chapter summarizes the increase in student organizations and activities. A chapter is added outlining the plans at present under consideration for the future development of the campus; and a brief statement is presented regarding the changes which have taken place during this period in each of the various colleges and schools which constitute the University. Finally a brief summary is appended, recapitulating the outstanding facts contained in the preceding chapters. In an endeavor to attain some degree of conciseness, facts have been presented through the medium of statistics whenever possible, and comment upon the tables has been reduced to a minimum. It will of course be recognized that the progress which is after all the most vital in the life of an institution, cannot be expressed in mathematical terms. The real life of a university is something too intangible to grasp and portray. It can be felt rather than seen. We see the manifestations of life as we note changes in the material elements which form the flesh and bones of a living being, and we know that life is there. It will be observed that in the majority of chapters the account of the period under consideration has been prefaced with a brief statement of the events pertaining to the earlier years of the University, from 1867 to 1904. Essentially, however, the Report is limited to the sixteen years from 1904 to 1920.