New York Central College was a short-lived college founded in McGraw, New York, in 1848 by abolitionist Baptists led by Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor. The first college in the United States founded on the principle that all qualified students were welcome, it was sponsored by the American Baptist Free Mission Society, of which Grosvenor was a vice-president.
It was chartered by New York State in April 1848, laid the cornerstone of its main building on July 4, and opened in September 1849. The school was further distinguished by both being radically anti-slavery and committed to the equality of the sexes. It has been called a predecessor of Cornell University.
The college was primarily a large preparatory school, and lasted about 10 years. Students at the college level were never more than a small minority of the student body. At the first commencement in 1855, there were five graduates among a student body of well over 100, including some enrolled at the primary level. Nonetheless, it was not an academy, whose studies ended at the high school level, but offered education beyond.
The American Baptist Free Mission Society Abolitionism The American Baptist Free Mission Society broke away from its parent, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, over the issue of slavery, more specifically whether slaveowners could be members, missionaries, or donors to the society. From the beginning, the College was to be open to all, whatever the "race" or gender. At the presentation to the citizens of McGrawville, its description begins by stating it will differ from the Hamilton Literary & Theological Institution (now Colgate University) in only one feature: "it lays down as a broad platform, the rights and privileges of all classes of citizens as of paramount importance. It will be an Institution of Learning from which no individual will be rejected." Hamilton had a reputation for not opposing slavery; Gerrit Smith resigned from their Board of Trustees "on the grounds that the school was insufficiently anti-slavery". When Hamilton students sent a petition to the New York Legislature "in behalf of the oppressed free colored citizens of the state", this made them "guilty of the awful crime of abolitionism", and the Legislature almost immediately withdrew the College's $5,000 appropriation. The President and five professors, with the support of "citizens of Oneida County", informed the legislature than an outsider (a legislator) had misled the students, who "disclaim all sympathy with abolition societies". The anti-slavery petition was unauthorized by the faculty, and "at variance with the principles of the college government, and with the judgment and feeling of every officer of the institution". The appropriation was immediately restored.
Founding of its college
The College was founded in McGrawville, "a quiet and healthy place" according to the college's advertisement in the abolitionist National Era, because of a pledge by the village of $12,000 () towards construction costs; Perry, New York, had offered $10,000. The initial community meeting in McGrawville to discuss the proposed college was held on November 22, 1847. It already had a board of trustees, with Reverend Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor of Utica, who spoke at the meeting, as President. Its location not yet determined, it was referred to as the "Baptist Free Mission Institution".. Construction commenced on June 26, 1848, and the cornerstone was laid on July 4. In the cornerstone was a box with 20 items, many of them abolitionist newspapers or pamphlets.. By then it was referred to as the Free Central College.
While Oberlin and Oneida had accepted African-American students, and Oberlin female students, New York Central College was the first institution in the country founded to accept all students.
Speaking at the laying of the cornerstone, Grosvenor "vindicated the character of Women, repelled the idea of her inferiority to man, and maintained the necessity of giving to our daughters an education equal to that given to our sons."
The Bible was "to be introduced as a text-book and test-book from beginning to end of the course of instruction." Manual labor, including farmwork, was to be part of students' daily activities. This was not just for finances, although it brought in a little money, nor to prepare students for careers, to which the labor was usually unrelated, but was seen as psychologically and spiritually beneficial. At the time, this was an innovative view.
Some opposition from those with means of the labor requirement was met with a stinging reply:
New York Central College was the name decided on, and the College was chartered by the New York State Legislature on April 12, 1848. The Board of Trustees had 24 members.
The College began activities on September 4, 1849. Black professor Charles L. Reason delivered an inaugural address, on the topic "Harmony of the Principles of the College with Man's True Destiny and the Tendencies of the Present Age." It was described in the press as "full of clear comprehensive, philosophical thought, clothed in a neat and classical dress." President Grosvenor spoke on "Education: Physical, Mental, and Moral." The abolitionist philanthropist Gerrit Smith also spoke. There was a "congregation" of more than 2,000 at the induction of the faculty, the following day.
Overviews of the Central College experience As part of an unsuccessful attempt to have a medical school open to all students established in McGrawville, William G. Allen wrote to Gerrit Smith that "[n]o where is the state of things more favorable to the colored man's progress than in McGrawville, and no where would he receive a warmer welcome." At the time—1852—Allen was the only Black college professor in the country.
A description of the people at a college dinner, 1850
Two Onondaga Native Americans enrolled in the Preparatory Division.
Summary by a graduate This is how the college was described by an alumna and instructor, Angeline Stickney:
Faculty, students, curriculum The affairs of the college were conducted with a high degree of informality and lack of rules relative to today's standards. There was no "mission statement", no academic ranks, no specific degree requirements (that would have been difficult to maintain with an ever-changing, variably qualified faculty). Only board of trustees minutes and financial records were kept, supplemented by correspondence and many newspaper articles.
Most of the faculty's time was spent in contact with students, teaching formally or informally. McGrawville was a small town, most attended the same church, and all interested heard the same visiting lecturers.
Alcohol was prohibited even to faculty, and tobacco also forbidden in the college.
College finances There were no financial plans or budgets at the college, and little fundraising. As a result, the school's financial affairs were disorganized and difficult. In contrast with its predecessor the Oneida Institute, no one went calling on possible donors, and the college did not publicize itself, either to raise its esteem or attract applicants.
Inadequately funded from beginning to end, the college ended in bankruptcy. Except for Gerrit Smith, it had no wealthy donors, and over its short history and few college-level graduates no meaningful alumni pool to draw upon. The American Baptist Free Mission Society gave what support it could, especially at the beginning, but it was a small group with limited resources.
There are contradictory reports about subvention(s) from the New York State Legislature, such as Union College, Columbia College, and others routinely received. If there was legislative support, it was not ongoing.
The student body was relatively poor, required to pay its own tuition, room and board, and transportation. With a student body composed half of African-Americans, and most of whom were at the high school level, and 30% female, could neither make the school financially prosperous nor even self-sufficient. The 30% of the students who were female were also anything but prosperous. Some money was brought in through the manual labor department, but not enough.
Tuition was set low to accommodate the students it attracted, inadequate to cover expenses. In the college division it was first $24, then $30 per year (), and in the preparatory (high school) division, $15. The vast majority of students were in the preparatory program. An estimated 100 preparatory students per year, at $15 each, is $1,500. An estimated 20 college students at $30 each would bring in $600, for a total of $2,100 (). By comparison, 15 years previously the Canterbury Female Boarding School charged $75 for tuition, meaning the tuition paid by its 24 students totalled $1,800.
Funds available to pay faculty, therefore, were very limited, and doubtless contributed to the high faculty turnover. Except for Grosvenor, whose children were grown, faculty were unmarried and did not have families, as their salaries would not permit it.
Previously schools with "racially" integrated bodies (the Noyes Academy and the Canterbury Female Boarding School) were quickly destroyed by white mob violence. New York Central College avoided such difficulty during its brief tenure.
Faculty
There were no written criteria for selecting faculty; some came with a college degree, but many did not. Apparently the President, Grosvenor and then Calkins, decided himself whom to hire and what they would teach. There was no public announcement of vacancies, neither was there an application process nor documents required. Personal contacts and correspondence played a big role. The difference between the courses and teachers for the large preparatory or high school division, and the smaller college division, was not rigid. Two faculty (Caldwell, Smith) began as students and joined the faculty upon their graduation; one (Stickney) was teaching in advance of her graduation.
The subjects taught varied depending on available personnel. There was, therefore, not a faculty in the sense of a body of full-time employees, and turnover was frequent.
Central was the first college to hire African-American faculty. There were three very well qualified African-American professors, who successively occupied the same position: Charles L. Reason (1849-1852), William G. Allen (1852–1853), and George Boyer Vashon (1853–1859).
There are two known lists of the faculty (in newspaper announcements). The original faculty, in 1849, were: C. P. Grosvenor, President, and Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy (epistemology and ethics). He resigned at the end of 1851. He was replaced by Leonard G. Calkins, "a finished scholar, an accomplished orator, and a true gentleman, a deep thinker, of active temperament". L. H. Waters and Charles L. Reason, Professors of Greek, Latin and French Languages, and Mathematics and Natural Philosophy (science). Reason was the first African-American faculty member in an American college. Victor M. Kingsley (1821–1897), Tutor Mrs. Eliza M. Haven, "Matron, and Prof. French Language, Music, Drawing, &c." Miss Sophia M. Lathrop [Bishop] (1828–1913), "Prof. English Literature, &c." Nothing is known about her education. She first taught in Friendship, New York. She only taught at Central for one year; afterwards she was Preceptress at the Hamilton Female Seminary in Hamilton, New York. Her sister Maria E. Lathrop [Bean] (1833–1908) studied at Central and also taught painting there.
By 1852, three years later, the faculty were completely different (100% turnover): Wm. Tillinghast, A.M., professor of mathematics William G. Allen, African-American professor of Greek and German Languages, rhetoric, and belles lettres (literature). After the departure of Grosvenor, who taught Hebrew, Allen was listed as teaching it. After Allen's departure in 1853, his position was filled by George Boyer Vashon. E. R. Akin, A. M., D. M., professor of natural sciences