Alonzo Church memoir, 1865, 1976

Summary

Creator:
Coulter, E. Merton (Ellis Merton), 1890-1981 and Mitchell, William L. (William Letcher), 1805-1882
Date:
1865, 1976
Extent:
1 folder(s)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Alonzo Church memoir, ms1051, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists of a memoir of Alonzo Church, D. D. (1793-1862) minister and former president of the University of Georgia, was written by William L. Mitchell for Reverend John S. Wilson and the Presbyterian Synod of Georgia on 20 September 1865, as part of the Synod's project "to prepare a memorial record of each one of the ministerial members who have departed this life since the erection of the Synod." Included in this collection is a Xerox of an early typescript of the original, a recent typescript, copy of a cover letter to Dr. E. M. Coulter, and note from Dr. Coulter pertaining to the memoir. This memoir, although somewhat fragmentary, is an important record of the life of Alonzo Church, his university policies and administration, and, by inference, Athens during the antebellum period.

Biographical / historical:

Alonzo S. Church was born April 9, 1793 and died May 18, 1862. Alonzo Church joined the faculty at the University of Georgia as a professor of Mathematics while a Presbyterian minister. He later became president of the University of Georgia from 1829-1859. A stern disciplinarian, Church's puritanical ethos clashed with the student body, resulting in periods of campus unrest in each decade of his tenure. Additionally, he clashed with Joseph and John LeConte who refused to serve as disciplinarians of the student body. This series of confrontations led to an erosion of attendance. As a result of the crisis, a commission was formed which produced the Mitchell Report of November 1855. They advocated the creation of a school of science, law, teacher education, and agriculture, as well as the addition of a professor of modern languages to the faculty.

William Letcher Mitchell was a professor of law at the University of Georgia School of Law.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

Alonzo Church memoir, ms1051, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.