Universities galore
 

This may be a silly post, but I recall in grad school, an education
history class, where they tried to define or compare the names of
colleges (post secondary institutions) as universities, normal
schools, agricultural and scientific and mechanical, city, college,
institutes, gosh...what else? Most of the grad school students in
this class had never thought much about it, and few had been in
greek chapters...in fact, they were kinda dumb, most are likely a
dean or president today...and me the triviologist, easiest A I ever
got.
At any rate, my PhD dissertation entitled "A History of Kansas'
Closed Colleges," dealt with any place who either opened or
incorporated or proposed a post secondary school or who offered
courses leading to a teaching certificate. It had over 160 schools
plus one cemetery association. It was difficult to categorize or to
ascertain what level they were or what the degrees meant. A
PhB was a bachelor's in philosophy, for example. Often the president and his wife constituted the faculty and their book collection the library. Later the literary societies sometimes had a larger library than the college. As church support waned and the larger schools emerged due to the Morrill Act and football,
private ones dwindled. Some were in name only, incorporated
along with starting up towns on purchased railroad-owned land.
An interesting topic for any of you who might be looking for a topic
for a PhD...if so, I will help you if you wish. It was a fun chore and
mine is being used even today as a reserve of higher education. Genealogy and education are both personal ventures into history.
Something interesting...private normal schools often became the
largest post-secondary schools in the state, but not for long.
The literary societies offered some comfort and diversion when the winter came, and the darkness set in. Gradually these literary outfits became fraternities and even furnished housing. So here we are today...with a concept far from elite, a wonderful
kaleidoscopic offering to nearly everyone who wants to wear a
badge...but the swords, debates, funny hats and other types of
identifiable wear...have been discarded.
The study of higher education, from "Mark Hopkins on one end of
the log..." to today's glorified trade schools, is a noble pursuit.
And...Fraternity is for life!

Feel that this Post should be placed in a different Thread such as Chit Chat and taken out of This Thread.