Catalogue of the Officers and Alumni of Rutgers College/Scott, Austin

Austin Scott, Ph.D., LL.D. Inaugurated as President, February 4, 1891; resigned, January 1, 1906. Dr. Scott was born at Maumee, near Toledo, Ohio, August 10, 1848. He graduated from Yale College with the degree of A.B. in 1869. After a year of post-graduate study at the University of Michigan he received the degree of A.M. He then studied three years at the University of Berlin and Leipzig, receiving his Ph.D. from the latter University in 1873. During the same years he was engaged with Mr. George Bancroft in the preparation of the tenth volume of his "History of the United States." He also carried dispatches to Washington which contained the decision of Emperor William as arbitrator between Great Britain and the United States in regard to the Northwestern boundary. Dr. Scott was Instructor in German at the University of Michigan (1873-5). He collected and arranged materials for Bancroft's "History of the Constitution of the United States" (1875-82), at the same time acting as associate in History at Johns Hopkins University. He there organized a seminar of American History and conducted it from 1876 until 1882. In 1883 Dr. Scott was made Professor of History, Political Economy and Constitutional Law at Rutgers. On November 25, 1890, he was elected President of the College and was inaugurated February 4, 1891. He conducted its affairs with great ability and devotion for fifteen years until January 1, 1906, when his desire to devote a larger part of his time and abilities to the work of teaching and writing led him to relinquish the duties of the executive. During his administration the College Extension Department was organized and successfully carried on, the teaching of the English Bible was introduced into the curriculum, and in other respects the educational side of the College was enlarged. On the property side the improvement during these years was very marked. Two of the handsomest college buildings were erected. Mr. Robert F. Ballantine of Newark, for many years a Trustee of the College, was the generous donor of a well-equipped gymnasium, and Mr. Ralph Voorhees gave the College a new library. The ground for both of these buildings was the gift of Mr. James Neilson. Van Nest Hall was improved, chiefly by the liberality of Mrs. Ann Bussing of New York. The house adjoining the preparatory school was purchased and put into use for the younger scholars. The campus was also greatly improved and beautified. By the generosity of Mr. James Neilson, the students have the use of the Neilson Athletic Field. It was from Dr. Scott's initiative that the Alumni Endowment Fund was begun in the first year of his administration, a fund which not only promises ever increasing advantage to the college treasury but which binds a large number of loyal alumni to their Alma Mater. Large additions were also made in this period to the general endowments of the institution by the liberality of Mr. Robert Schell, Miss Helen M. Gould, Mr. Peter Donald and others. By no means the least of Dr. Scott's accomplishments were the adjustment of the long-standing account with the State and the passage of a new law governing the State appropriations to the College. Since his resignation as President, in 1906, Dr. Scott has continued to perform the duties of the Voorhees professorship of History and Political Science with eminent success.