The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Ogden, Robert Curtis

OGDEN, Robert Curtis, American merchant and philanthropist: b. Philadelphia, Pa., 20 June 1836; d. 1913. From 1885 he was a retail merchant, a member of the John Wanamaker firm. He is best known by his work in behalf of the cause of education in the South. He was president of the board of trustees of Hampton Institute, a trustee of Tuskegee Institute and president of the Southern Educational Board and the Conference for Education in the South. His efforts were directed chiefly toward providing education for both negroes and illiterate whites through Southern agencies and in friendly co-operation between Northerners and Southerners. In 1903 Tulane University gave him the degree of LL.D. in recognition of his services, and Union College and Yale University accorded him like recognition. He published ‘Samuel Chapman Armstrong,’ the Founder's Day address at Hampton Institute (1894); ‘Pew Rents and the New Testament’ (1892) ’ ; ‘Sunday School Teaching’ (1894).