During the first half of the century the great majority of the alumni entered the ministry and the other two "learned professions" of that period, law and medicine. With the admission of women and the elevation of teaching to rank with the professions, a large percentage have adopted that vocation. Of the 1,335 graduates receiving the baccalaureate degrees, twenty-six per cent. have engaged in the ministry and missions. This number does not include ordained men in college faculties. More than twenty-eight per cent. have engaged in educational work as their activity. Sixteen have been presidents of colleges, universities and normal schools, and seven others have occupied coordinate rank as superintendents of institutions for the care and rehabilitation of detective classes. Eighty-four others are college professors, and sixty-three are superintendents and principals of public [Page 261] schools. Fifty-four and one-half per cent. have been employed in educational and religious work; seventeen and one-half per cent. in other professions; the same percentage in various forms of industrial life; and almost eleven per cent. are housekeepers. Many of these taught before they married, and the majority of them married ministers and educators.
The distribution of the alumni by vocations, and their number by classes, are shown in the following tables. They constitute approximately twenty-five per cent. of the total number of registrants in the College department. It should be noted in passing that many of the non-graduates have achieved places of distinction in various fields of activity in state and nation, particularly in journalism, law, politics, and business, thus making the contribution of the College considerably larger than appears from an examination of the activity of alumni only.
A complete catalogue of all registrants in Hanover, with biographical sketches of all graduates and of the more prominent non-graduates, is published in the "Alumni Record" which is issued as a companion of the present volume.
CLASS OF / MEN / WOMEN / TOTAL
1834 / 7 / .. / 7
1835 / 6 / .. / 6
1836 / 14 / .. / 14
1837 / 15 / .. / 15
1838 / 15 / .. / 15
1839 / 6 / .. / 6
1840 / 5 / .. / 5
1841 / 4 / .. / 4
1842 / 7 / .. / 7
1843 / 8 / .. / 8
1844 / 3 / .. / 3
1845 / 2 / .. / 2
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1846 / 3 / .. / 3
1847 / 2 / .. / 2
1848 / 8 / .. / 8
1849 / 7 / .. / 7
1850 / 15 / .. / 15
1851 / 18 / .. / 18
1852 / 12 / .. / 12
1853 / 17 / .. / 17
1854 / 11 / .. / 11
1855 / 13 / .. / 13
1856 / 12 / .. / 12
1857 / 8 / .. / 8
1858 / 12 / .. / 12
1859 / 10 / .. / 10
1860 / 10 / .. / 10
1861 / 10 / .. / 10
1862 / 9 / .. / 9
1863 / 14 / .. / 14
1864 / 16 / .. / 16
1865 / 14 / .. / 14
1866 / 4 / .. / 4
1867 / 10 / .. / 10
1868 / 6 / .. / 6
1869 / 5 / .. / 5
1870 / 11 / .. / 11
1871 / 10 / .. / 10
1872 / 18 / .. / 18
1873 / 10 / .. / 10
1874 / 21 / .. / 21
1875 / 13 / .. / 13
1876 / 10 / .. / 10
1877 / 10 / .. / 10
1878 / 10 / .. / 10
1879 / 7 / .. / 7
1880 / 12 / .. / 12
1881 / 14 / .. / 14
1882 / 5 / .. / 5
1883 / 6 / 1 / 7
1884 / 8 / 2 / 10
1885 / 17 / 1 / 18
1886 / 17 / 2 / 19
1887 / 13 / 1 / 14
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1888 / 10 / 4 / 14
1889 / 8 / 9 / 17
1890 / 14 / 2 / 16
1891 / 6 / .. / 6
1892 / 13 / 5 / 18
1893 / 17 / 5 / 22
1894 / 14 / 5 / 19
1895 / 16 / 4 / 20
1896 / 14 / 11 / 25
1897 / 9 / 1 / 10
1898 / 8 / 6 / 14
1899 / 12 / 1 / 13
1900 / 11 / 1 / 12
1901 / 11 / 4 / 15
1902 / 10 / 5 / 15
1903 / 5 / 3 / 8
1904 / 15 / 3 / 18
1905 / 12 / 1 / 13
1906 / 13 / 3 / 16
1907 / 12 / 4 / 16
1908 / 8 / 9 / 17
1909 / 9 / 6 / 15
1910 / 7 / 8 / 15
1911 / 9 / 8 / 17
1912 / 9 / 8 / 17
1913 / 12 / 10 / 22
1914 / 21 / 8 / 29
1915 / 14 / 8 / 22
1916 / 15 / 8 / 23
1917 / 15 / 2 / 17
1918 / 14 / 16 / 30
1919 / 8 / 11 / 19
1920 / 13 / 13 / 26
1921 / 21 / 12 / 33
1922 / 11 / 14 / 25
1923 / 16 / 16 / 32
1924 / 19 / 15 / 34
1925 / 19 / 15 / 34
1926 / 22 / 22 / 44
Totals / 1042 / 293 / 1335
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CLASS OF / MEN / WOMEN / TOTAL
1834-1879 / 457 / .. / 457
1880-1907 / 322 / 84 / 406
1908-1926 / 262 / 209 / 471
VOCATIONS / NUMBER ENGAGED / PER CENT. OF WHOLE NUMBER
Ministers and Ordained Missionaries / 342 / 25.62
Lay Missionaries / 7 / .53
Lawyers / 142 / 10.65
Physicians, Surgeons and Dentists / 82 / 6.14
Journalists / 10 / .75
Farmers / 31 / 2.32
Business Men / 140 / 10.49
College and Normal School Presidents / 16 / 1.20
Superintendents Benevolent Institutions / 7 / .53
College Professors / 84 / 6.26
School Superintendents and Principals / 63 / 4.69
High School Teachers / 208 / 15.59
Government Employees / 11 / .83
Housekeepers / 145 / 10.88
Miscellaneous Workers / 47 / 3.52
Totals / 1335 / 100.00
Total Religious Workers / 349 / 26.15
Total Educational Workers / 378 / 28.27
Engagd in Religious and Educational Work / 727 / 54.42
Engaged in Medicine, Law and Journalism / 234 / 17.54
Engaged in Housekeeping / 145 / 10.88
Engaged in all other pursuits / 229 / 17.16
It is impossible to foresee the measures of men through the perspective of the future, and the selection of galleries of notables is of necessity a matter of personal judgment. However, there can be little question of the place of Moffett and Baird in the history of foreign missions nor of Covert in the councils of American Protestantism. James K. Patterson will be [Page 265] remembered as one of the ripest scholars and most efficient administrators of his generation. The contributions of Harvey W. Wiley to the health of the common people of all countries and to physiological chemistry, can not be estimated. John M. Coulter's place among the greatest scientists of our country is fully assured. Walter L. Fisher has already become one of the great lawyers, and Thomas A. Hendricks is without doubt the ablest lawyer and statesman produced in Indiana. Middleton Goldsmith has an honorable place in the history of American Surgery, as have the Dawsons in statecraft and journalism. The formative influence upon Indiana exerted by John H. Holliday, through the Indianapolis News, and of Dr. Matthews, through the Sentinel, is well known. Among the older scholars were Noble Butler, Senour and Edward J. Hamilton. Among the scholars of the younger generation, J. H. Hamilton, the Oldfathers, Deibler, Sherwin, Holeroft, Butcher, Brown, Morris, Miller, and Allison, must have mention.
The growth of the scholarly spirit is shown in the percentage of recent graduates who have pursued graduate study leading to higher degrees. Of the twenty-four classes, beginning with 1900, twenty-nine per cent. have received the degree of Master of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dentistry, Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Theology upon completion of standard courses in, first-class graduate and technical schools. A large number of others have done more or less graduate study, but have not yet completed their courses. Twenty-two per cent. of the classes of 1919-1924 have completed graduate and professional courses, or are at present enrolled in standard graduate and professional schools.