Willbur Fisk papers

Willbur Fisk, Wesleyan’s first president, was born on 31 August 1792 and grew up in Brattleboro, Vermont. Although his mother feared that "godlessness and sin" in schools and colleges would make Fisk too worldly and "strangle the spiritual life," Fisk graduated from Brown University in 1815, after also attending Peacham Academy and the University of Vermont. Surprisingly, given his future role at Wesleyan, Fisk was not initially drawn to the Methodist ministry following school. In fact, he struggled with his spiritual purpose at that time, working in law and as a tutor. However, a revelation during a bout of illness brought him to the ministry in 1818, and he devoted the rest of his life to his work as a Methodist. In 1825, Fisk was appointed principal of Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, a preparatory school from which many Wesleyan University students were to be drawn.

Fisk was active within the Methodist Church on a number of issues, including the importance of education, temperance, missionary work, and his opposition to abolitionist movements.

When the decision to found a university in Middletown, Connecticut was made, Fisk was tapped for the role of first president. In his inaugural speech in 1831, he outlined his vision for the university, encapsulated by the statement that "Education should be directed in reference to two objects—the good of the individual educated and the good of the world." Fisk was deeply involved in the administrative and curricular decisions of Wesleyan, and raised funds for the new college. He traveled to Europe to study educational institutions and collect scientific equipment in 1835-1836, and also took that time as a break from the stresses of the presidency. Suffering from ill-health his entire life, Fisk finally succumbed on 22 February 1839 while still serving as president.

Willbur Fisk married Ruth Peck on 9 June 1823, and they had one adopted daughter, Martha.