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Office of the President (Calvin Pease) Records

 Series
Identifier: RG-002-005

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains a small amount of correspondence concerning university subscriptions and other university business, as well as UVM receipts and his resignation to the Corporation, Dec. 2, 1861. It also contains a number of addresses, sermons, and essays written by Pease, 1863, including addresses to the graduating class at UVM and to the medical graduates, 1856-1859.

The bulk of the collection, however, is personal and family correspondence, family documents, and personal journals and notes.

Dates

  • 1829-1866

Creator

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist.

Biographical Note

The first alumnus of the university to be elected president, Pease was born in Canaan, Connecticut, in 1813. He moved to Charlotte, Vermont in 1826, and graduated as valedictorian from UVM in 1838. He became professor of classics in 1842. His commitment to public education was evident in his involvement in the development of Vermont education: in 1856 he was elected to the Vermont Teachers' Association and appointed to the first State Board of Education.

As president of UVM, he was plagued by the same financial problems of his predecessors, and the panic of 1857 affected the university so much that the Board of Trustees was forced to lower the salaries of its faculty in 1861. The outbreak of the Civil War also reduced the size of the student body as a military company was formed at the university. Poor health forced Pease's resignation in 1861, and he died in 1863 at the age of fifty.

Sources consulted in the preparation of this note and others in Record Group 2 include:

Daniels, Robert V. editor. The University of Vermont : The First Two Hundred Years Hanover, NH : University of Vermont : Distributed by University Press of New England, 1991.

Lindsay, Julian Ira. Tradition Looks Forward; the University of Vermont: a history, 1791-1904. Burlington [University of Vermont and State Agricultural College] 1954.

Marshall, Jeffrey. Universitas Viridis Montis, 1791-1991: An Exhibition of documents and artifacts telling the story of the University of Vermont. Burlington, Vt.: University of Vermont, 1991.

Smallwood, Frank. The University of Vermont Presidents: Two Centuries of Leadership. Burlington, Vt.: University of Vermont, 1997.

Extent

1 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The first alumnus of the university to be elected president, Pease served as president from 1855 to 1861. The collection contains a small amount of correspondence, as well as UVM receipts and his resignation to the Corporation, Dec. 2, 1861. It also contains a number of addresses, sermons, and essays written by Pease. The bulk of the collection, however, is personal and family correspondence, family documents, and personal journals and notes.

Location

Library Research Annex; contact uvmsc@uvm.edu for access.

Title
Guide to the Office of the President (Calvin Pease) Records
Status
Completed
Author
Sylvia Bugbee
Date
2013-01-03
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Vermont Archives Repository

Contact:
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
802-656-2138
802-656-4038 (Fax)