The New International Encyclopædia/Barnard College

BARNARD COL'LEGE. A collegiate institution for women, situated in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University (q.v.). Barnard College proper was organized in 1889, as an indirect result of efforts conducted for some years by Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard and others interested in the higher education of women to induce the trustees of Columbia to admit women to its courses upon equal terms with men. Upon the reiterated refusal of the trustees to go further in this direction than to grant the degrees of Columbia to women able to pass the requisite examinations, a movement was started in 1888 to establish a separate woman's college, which, however, should be affiliated with Columbia. In 1889 the charter for such a college was granted. The arrangements then made with Columbia, providing for a varying amount of exchange instruction between the two institutions, proved unsatisfactory, as Barnard was enlarged, and on January 19, 1900, the connection between Columbia and Barnard was formally fixed as follows: The President of the University to be ex officio President of Barnard and a trustee of Barnard; the internal administration of Barnard to be conducted by its Dean, who is entitled also to a vote in the University Council; Barnard to retain its separate corporate existence and Board of Trustees, to provide for its own financial support, and to maintain complete separate undergraduate instruction; all Barnard degrees to be granted by, and in the name of, Columbia; the University Library to be free to Barnard students, and a number of post-graduate courses in Columbia to be open to Barnard graduates.

Although as originally organized Barnard had no further financial resources than the promise of a number of persons to pay a small sum annually for four years, it has been able, through subsequent subscriptions, to meet all the expenses of a rapidly growing college. In 1889 there were 30 students; in the academic year 1891-92 there were 62, and in 1901-02 there were 431, representing an increase during the decade of over 700 per cent. The buildings include Milbank Hall, the gift of Mrs. A. A. Anderson; Fiske Hall, given by Mrs. Josiah M. Fiske, and Brinkerhoff Hall, built mainly by the gifts of Mrs. Van Wyck Brinkerhoff. In March, 1902, the endowment of the college was increased by $500,000, $250,000 being given by Mr. John D. Rockefeller and $250,000 being obtained through numerous other gifts. The present endowment of the college is $750,000, the value of the buildings and grounds is estimated at $700,000, while the total value of the property under the control of the college is $1,500,000. Gross income, $100,000. Miss Laura Drake Gill, A.M., was made dean in 1901.