and Seminary faculty was only $1,300 to $2,200 and, for teachers in the Academy, $800 to $2000. President Dodge and one or two others had independent means but most faculty members managed by rigid economies to subsist on their salaries. Several had vegetable gardens and kept chickens and a cow or two; Professor Osborn had a farm a few miles north of the village.
Faculty social life seems to have been quite limited when compared with that of the 1840’s. The Dodges seldom entertained at their large yellow, pillared President’s House except at commencement but Professor and Mrs. Lewis and Dr. Walter R. Brooks, who joined the faculty in 1874, and his wife occasionally had guests. All faculty members and their families were members of the village Baptist Church which served as a social outlet and brought them into contact with the local community. Several were very active as church officers and from time to time preached from its pulpit.
The tone and coloration of the University’s purpose for the next two decades were quite well established at President Dodge’s inauguration in 1868. On this occasion James B. Colgate recalled that the University had its origin in the need for educating young men for the Baptist ministry and maintained “It were better that it should cease to exist than that its future should prove false to its origin.”
In his response, the President stressed the necessity for the best possible faculty who should be able not only to impart knowledge but also to inspire students to the highest ideals in an atmosphere of faith and freedom. For him, the University as representing the Baptist viewpoint was an amalgam of culture and religion.
Within the denomination a new interest in higher education had been developing in the late 1860’s which stressed the need for an educated laity as well as a trained clergy. Unless opportunities for laymen were available in Baptist institutions it was feared they would be lost to other denominations which held education in greater esteem and were in step with the times. The faculty and trustees could not help but endorse these views. As early as 1866, the Catalogue had stated “The College aims to impart the largest discipline and power to the mental faculties, and thus in the best manner to prepare the student for professional studies, or for other pursuits of life.”
From 1871 to 1874, the Catalogue read “By personal contact and influence, discipline of heart is sought, as well as discipline of the mind. A
