| In an 1882 address to the Kentucky General Assembly, Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical College President James Kennedy Patterson claimed that the Commonwealth had failed to place the College "on a proper living basis." Kentucky A & M opened in 1866 as a college of the sectarian Kentucky University and separated from its parent organization in 1878. It became the University of Kentucky in 1916. Patterson remained the institution's President until 1910, and continued his call for increased public support throughout his long presidential tenure.; This dissertation is a cliometric study, and its purpose is to describe the economic situation of the University of Kentucky from its founding through 1920; to show how general economic factors of the period influenced the University; and to show how factors other than economic affected the University's economics. The historical economic analysis of post-secondary educational institutions is an understudied area. This economic history of a successful land-grant university fills a gap in the higher education historical record.; The study compares the University of Kentucky's late-nineteenth and early twentieth century financial statement data to financial data of land-grant institutions in two benchmark states, South Carolina and Wisconsin. South Carolina represents the economically disadvantaged post-Civil War South. Wisconsin is the "best case" state, the ideal model of a land-grant institution to many Southern land-grant institution presidents.; A discussion of each state's unique organization of its 1862 Morrill land-grant institution precedes an analysis of the reliability and accuracy of the available financial records and data. Separate chapters cover each institution's receipts, expenditures, and balance sheet accounts. The final chapter summarizes the findings, draws conclusions about the University of Kentucky's public support during the study period, and lists some historical lessons learned that might have practical application to the administration of twenty-first century colleges and universities. |
