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Caption: Book - History of the University (Powell)
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© PREFACE For many years the need of a history of the University of Illinois was very apparent. One by one the men who had a part in the founding and organization of the institution were passing away. With each succeeding year it was becoming more difficult to obtain the important facts and interpret them, and still more difficult properly to appreciate the spirit in which the early work of the founders had been accomplished. On being commissioned by the trustees to write the first detailed history of the university it seemed important that I should strive for completeness of detail even at the risk of being tiresome, and for accuracy though it might lead to recounting events of an unpleasant nature. If there are failures in these respects, they are due to lack of evidence or knowledge, or possibly to accident, certainly not to any lack of purpose. It will be a matter of considerable surprise even to those associated with the university, to learn of the sixteen years of struggle previous to the establishment of this institution; first, for the whole system of industrial universities throughout the nation, and, second, for the founding of an industrial university in Illinois. The material for this account has been obtained chiefly from the widely scattered correspondence of Jonathan B. Turner and his associates, from articles in the newspapers and the agricultural press of the times, and from official reports, bills, and laws. Almost nothing has been written upon this industrial educational movement in Illinois. I wish to acknowledge my great indebtedness, however, to the valuable articles of William L. Pillsbury in the Illinois School Reports. For the subjects covered I have found those articles remarkably complete and invariably correct. The little volume, "The Origin of the Land Grant Act," by President James has been specially helpful for it opened up a new field and pointed the way for profitable investigation. 654808
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