Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/492

 432 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI set of the American Encyclopedia. A little later we tiud the sum of $300 was set aside to be used iu the purchase of books and labor- atory' apparatus. The collection of books con- tinued to grow until in 1876 there were 1,200 volumes belonging to the school. The cata- logue of 1892 sets out that the school has two libraries, one a general collection of 1,100 volumes of literature and the other a reference library' containing 700 volumes. Under the old organization of the school the library was far from being as useful as it might have been made. The reference library was usually open for the use of students, but the general collection was usually closed. It was kept in a locked room and was really a circulating library which was opened for issuing books only once a week. By the time of the fire in 1902, there had been gathered about 3,000 volumes. With very few exceptions these volumes were all destroyed; the only ones being preserved were those which happened to be out of the building on the night of the fire. The school proceeded to buy about 1,000 volumes of a general character and these formed the library imtil the school moved into the new Academic building in 1906. The general assembly made some liberal appro- priations for the purchase of books and the library has grown to now about 9,000 vol- umes and 7,000 unbound pamphlets. Not only has the library grown in the actual number of books but has become thor- oughly' organized and catalogued so that it is accessible to the students at all times. Enrollment The enrollment of the school, as we have seen, has grown steadily from fifty-seven in its first year to 1,001 in the year 1911-12. This large enrollment and the large number of students who have been sent out as grad- uates from the various courses indicates the place which the school occupies in the educa- tional system of Southeast Missouri. The greater number of its more than six himdred full graduates have taught in the public schools of Southeast Missouri for longer or shorter periods. There is scarcely a school in this section of the state that has not em- I-'loj'ed at some time a former student of the Normal, and many of the best teaching posi- tions are now filled, and have been for years, by students of this school. Its educational ideals and standards have been communicated to most of the communities in this district. It is not too much to say that its work more than any other influence has contributed to the improvement of the educational situation in this part of the state. The present f aeultj' : Washington Strother Dearmont, A. M., Litt. D., president and pro- fessor of education. Winifred Johnson, A. B., professor of his- tory. Benjamin Franklin Johnson, A. M., pro- fessor of mathematics. Henry Stephen Moore, A. B., professor of American hi.stoi'y and economics. Benjamin Glime Shackelford, A. M., pro- fessor of physics and chemistry. Edwin Andrew Hayden, B. S., Ph. D., pro- fessor of philosophy and education. Robert Sidney Douglass, A. B., LL. B., professor of European history. Homer Lawson Roberts, professor of biology. Joseph Anthonj' Vaeth, A. B., professor of modern languages. Arthur Winn Vaughan, B. S., professor of public speaking. Edgar Augustus Cockefair, M. S., profes- sor of agriculture.