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Henry Parks Wright
Yale's First College Dean
November
2000
by Judith Ann Schiff
Judith
Ann Schiff is Chief Research Archivist at the Yale University Library.
On November
23, 1912, a few hours before the Yale-Harvard game, a group of alumni
gathered to dedicate Wright Memorial Hallon the Old Campus in honor of Henry Parks Wright, the first dean
of Yale College. In a significant break from tradition, the new
residence and lecture hall (which was renamed Lanman-Wright Hall
in 1993) became the first building at Yale to be named in honor
of a living person. But 25 classes had cherished Wright's counsel
and friendship, and upon his retirement in 1909, they came together
to fund an edifice that would fulfill Wright's dream of unifying
undergraduate life.
Until
1884, Yale functioned without a dean, but as the enrollment approached
1,100, President Noah Porter informally asked Wright to help him
by taking over the records of the junior and senior classes. For
the first two years Wright stoically kept all of the records without
a clerk, even as he continued to teach a full schedule as Dunham
Professor of Latin Language and Literature.
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"To
arbitrate between a large body of impulsive young men and
a College Faculty is no light matter."
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The
dean had been accustomed to work and responsibility from an early
age. A few weeks after his birth in 1839, Wright's father died,
and his mother died when he was 3. Raised by his grandmother, he
became a schoolteacher at 17. Wright earned enough to attend Phillips
Academy, but he left before graduating to join the Union army in
1862. After his regiment was mustered out in 1863, he finished preparing
for college privately. Nearly 25 when he entered Yale in 1864, Wright
graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 1868. While an assistant
professor of Latin, he pursued graduate study and in 1876 received
a doctorate from Yale.
Undergraduate
life changed dramatically during Wright's deanship. From 1884 to
1894, the college enrollment doubled to 1,150, and the few rooms
left for freshmen were mostly uninhabitable, forcing the freshmen
to room off campus. This led to the opening of privately owned residence
halls around the campus, some of which were very luxurious. Over
time, the students became widely separated by income and social
standing. Wright described the situation as "a growing evil." He
felt that if the spirit of true democracy at Yale were to be perpetuated,
it was essential that freshmen should at once be a part of the College
and the University. The alumni committee of "Wright's boys" responded
by raising funds for a dormitory that for the first time would be
a cooperative gift, rather than one person or family, and there
were many contributors, rich and poor. Another unique feature of
the alumni gift was that part of the income from the building was
to provide a life pension for Wright.
At
Wright's retirement, Professor Bernadotte Perrin, Class of 1869,
said: "In theatrical parlance, you have created the role" of dean
and introduced "a new era" in student-faculty relations. " To arbitrate
between a large body of impulsive young men and a College Faculty,
is no light matter. We all know how volcanic is the one, and how
full of horned cattle is the other."
In
the difficult corner site formerly occupied by Alumni Hall, architect
William Adams Delano, Class of 1895, designed an elegant Collegiate
Gothic hall with a raised court. Accommodating 150, it was the largest
dormitory on the Old Campus. The hall was also a memorial to others;
two entries, five classrooms and twenty-five rooms were donated
and named after deceased alumni. One suite was named for Wright's
son Alfred Parks Wright, Class of 1901, who died in May of his senior
year. The new quadrangle begun with Farnam Hall in 1869 was now
complete.
During
the construction of Wright Hall in 1911, a poignant testimonial
by a former student was published in The Heir of Slaves, by William Pickens, Class of 1904: "Dean Henry P. Wright of Yale,
after reading the recommendations of my former teachers, had written
that I could enter the junior class. This great scholar and good
man has been a constant friend since that first acquaintance."  |
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