Daniel Coil Gilman, 1831-1908. American educator
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Finding-Aid for the Gilman Papers [00207]Collection Description
Note, 1898
1 item
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The first president of Johns Hopkins University, Gilman was born in Norwich, Connecticut and graduated Yale in 1852. From 1856 to 1865 he was librarian of Yale College and was also concerned with improving the New Haven public school system. Appointed (1863) professor of geography at Sheffield Scientific School, he became secretary and librarian as well in 1866. He resigned these posts in 1872 to become president of the newly organized University of California. His work there was hampered by the state legislature, and in 1875 Gilman accepted the offer to establish and become first president of Johns Hopkins Univ. at Baltimore. Gilman’s primary interest was in fostering advanced instruction and research, and as president he developed the first great American graduate university in the German tradition. Gilman was also active in founding Johns Hopkins Hospital (1889) and Johns Hopkins Medical School (1893. He retired from Johns Hopkins in 1901, but accepted the presidency (1902–4) of the newly founded Carnegie Institution of Washington. He was also an author whose books include biographies of James Monroe and James Dwight Dana, a collection of addresses entitled University Problems (1898), and The Launching of a University (1906).
This note (November 23, 1898) to H.O. Bowdoin was tipped into University Problems in the United States, by Daniel Coit Gilman (NY: The Century Co., 1898). Apparently Gilman presented this copy of the book to Bowdoin, with the note accompanying it.
Selected Names
Gilman, Daniel Coil, 1831-1908. American educator