Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/220

 190 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO to be expended in advertising it was refused. As a matter of fact the first students gathered themselves. For some reason the project of a new institution of learning in Chicago had made a remarkable impression on the imagination of the public. This impression was as widespread as it was pronounced. Ordinarily the students of institutions come, for the most part, from their imme- diate vicinity. But the first year's students of the University of Chicago, like those of every succeeding year, came from every part of the United States and from many foreign countries. When the enrol- ment for the first year was made up it was found that thirty-three states were represented and fifteen foreign states and provinces. It is worthy of record that the first mention of inquiries from students occurs in a letter written in September, 1890, less than four months after the first subscription had been completed, and more than two years before the University opened its doors. A president had not been elected and there had been no thought as yet of professors. On October 5 the Secretary wrote, "We get the name of a new candidate for admission every day." And this was no temporary outbreak of student correspondence. It not only continued, but began gradually to increase. In December, 1890, Dr. Harper submitted his Plan of Organiza- tion, and the Board of Trustees authorized the issuing of Official Bulletin No. i, which covered the Work of the University and General Regulations. A hundred or more students had sent in urgent demands for information. These requests were increasing in number, and the secretary was hard put to it for answers to the inquiries. Early in January, 1891, the bulletin was issued. A copy was at once sent to every prospective student and to large numbers of educators and others. The sending out of this first bulletin doubled the daily number of inquiries. The letter of January 16 says, "We have received the names of two or three students every day this week." This list of prospective students was attended to with great care. By this time, with considerably more than one hundred and fifty prospective students on the list and the number increasing every day, it became evident that a college teacher, a member of the University faculty, must be appointed to look after these increasing numbers. Accordingly