The New International Encyclopædia/Drexel Institute of Art, Science, and Industry

DREXEL INSTITUTE OF ART, SCIENCE, AND INDUSTRY. An educational institution founded in 1891 at Philadelphia, Pa., by Anthony J. Drexel. The objects of the Institute are to train young men and women in the increasing number of industries dependent upon applied art and science, and to afford opportunity, through academic and lecture departments, for a broad intellectual culture. The courses of study are open equally to men and women; no degrees are conferred; the requirements for admission are graded in accordance with the course taken, and the tuition fees are very moderate, owing to the endowment fund established by Mr. Drexel. This endowment amounts to $2,000,000, while the total value of the Institute's property, including buildings and equipment, approximates $4,000,000. The main building, given by Mr. Drexel, is an imposing structure in the style of the classic Renaissance; East Hall, a finely appointed building, in the modern French Renaissance style, contains the notable collection of paintings bequeathed by John D. Lankenau. The museum embraces specimens in every department of industrial art. In it are many examples of the decorative arts of Egypt, India, China, and Japan, and there is also an important collection of European and Oriental textiles. The courses offered in the Institute include those in fine and applied arts; mechanic arts; elective engineering; commerce and finance; mechanical drawing and machine construction; domestic science; mathematics, physics, chemistry, and English. In addition to the regular academic instruction, the Institute provides evening classes in all departments. These courses are graded, some of them extending over three years. The Institute carries on, furthermore, an important educational work through the means of free public lectures and concerts. The number of students in attendance in the several departments in 1902 was 1200; in the evening courses, 2000. The library, containing 30,000 volumes, is especially strong in works on art, science, and technology. The president of the Institute from its foundation, and to whom its organization and the development of its courses must be largely ascribed, is James MacAlister.