Joseph Cummings papers

Joseph Cummings was the fifth president of Wesleyan University and its first alumnus to serve as president. He was born on March 3, 1817 in Falmouth County, Maine. Cummings attended Wesleyan University, graduating with highest honors in 1840. He taught mathematics and natural science at Amenia Seminary in New York for three years, serving as its principal for three more years before resigning to become a Methodist minister. In 1851, after seven years of preaching, Cummings was chosen president of Genesee College in Lima, New York (later to become Syracuse University). He was elected president of his alma mater, Wesleyan, in 1857, but only commenced his term in 1858, as he was unwilling to so abruptly leave Genesee. Cummings' Wesleyan presidency spanned the Civil War, during which 133 students left Wesleyan to join the Union Army, and several others left to join the Confederate Army. Despite this disruption, Cummings supervised the construction of several buildings, including Rich Library (now the Patricelli '92 Theatre), Memorial Chapel, and Orange Judd Hall. He also enlarged the school's curriculum - particularly in the natural sciences - and oversaw the admission of women, a policy maintained until 1909. However, the 1873 depression inhibited some of Cummings' attempts at expansion, provoking tension between Cummings and the trustees, which led to his 1875 resignation. He stayed on campus as head of the department of philosophy for two years before leaving to preach once more. In 1881, he was elected president of Northwestern University. He died May 7, 1890.