Background

Jewett was born on April 27, 1808, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the son of Calvin and Sally (Parker) Jewett and a descendant of Joseph Jewett who emigrated to America in 1638.

Education

His father, a physician, sent Jewett to the Academy at Bradford, Vermont, and to Dartmouth College (B. A. , 1828). He then entered Andover Theological Seminary, spending his vacations in lecturing on the value of a common school system, believed to have been the first popular lectures of the sort. Jewett also graduated from Andover in 1833.

Career

In 1829, the year following his graduation, Jewett was principal of Holmes Academy at Plymouth, New Hampshire, and read law at the same time in the office of Josiah Quincy at Rumney. His increased interest in education led him to accept a professorship at Marietta Collegiate Institute (later Marietta College) in Ohio.

His early leaning toward promotion of educational ideas is shown in his campaign for funds for colleges among the Congregational Churches of New England at this time. Shortly after his appointment to Marietta, Jewett served upon a committee of three professors to urge upon the state legislature the establishment of a common school system for Ohio. They were successful and an appropriation was made to send Professor Calvin E. Stowe to Europe to investigate the Prussian school system. Stowe's report then led to Horace Mann's mission.

Jewett soon became a Baptist and, in 1838, resigned from Marietta College and established Judson Female Institute at Marion, Alabama, which was one of the most successful schools in the South. In 1855 he returned to the North. In 1856 he purchased the Cottage Hill Seminary at Poughkeepsie, New York, which Matthew Vassar sold to him upon the death of his niece, Miss Lydia Booth, the former head. Vassar's interest in this school for girls and his ambition to emulate his supposed relative, Thomas Guy of London, in making some famous benefaction, was skillfully used by Jewett to realize his dream of a standard college for women. In his emphasis upon adequate apparatus and equipment, his proposals for Vassar were original. The curriculum which he devised and which never went into effect at Vassar seems to have been borrowed from the Southern practice dating back to Thomas Jefferson of a series of schools or study groups on a broad elective basis without texts or examinations. At Jewett's plea Vassar revoked his previous will in favor of a hospital and decided to equip and endow the Vassar Female College in his lifetime.

For five years Jewett sustained Vassar's interest in the idea and in January 1861 the charter of Vassar College was granted and Jewett became the first president. His claim for Vassar that "there is not an endowed college for women in the world" is somewhat disingenuous, for he was fully aware of the Southern colleges, and Elmira College had been successfully running for several years and Jewett had investigated its curriculum. It is true that Vassar's venture was on a scale hitherto unknown.

In 1862, Jewett at the request of the Vassar College trustees visited Europe and spent eight months studying university organization. His report on return added little of value to the study of the higher education of women, for there was none in Europe at the time. The erection of the Main Building at Vassar College proceeded slowly through the years of the Civil War and Jewett's patience and Vassar's health wore out during the long strain. The contractor's bankruptcy and other worries incident to the slow completion of the design tempted Jewett to write an indiscreet letter referring to his benefactor as childish and, on the disclosure of the letter, he resigned. His behavior then and later was in every other way exemplary.

In 1867 he removed to Milwaukee and speedily became one of the most valued citizens of the state in educational service. Jewett died on 9 June 1882 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Achievements

• Jewett was not a scholar, and his writings are highly rhetorical, but he undoubtedly deserves a place among early promoters of educational ideas in America. The Milo Jewett House at Vassar is named after him in honor of both his promotion of female education and his service to the college.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Relation of Boards of Health to Intemperance: A Paper Read Before the National Convention of Health Boards Assembled in Washington City, January 21-23, 1874

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Modes And Subjects Of Baptism (1839)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

  • The President's Visit To Europe: Vassar Female College (1863)

    (This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)

Politics

He was at first a Whig, later a Republican.

Membership

Jewett was commissioner of public schools, chairman of the board of visitors of the state university, chairman of the Milwaukee board of health, and trustee of Milwaukee Female College, later Milwaukee-Downer College. He also acted in denominational affairs and was president of the State Temperance Society.

Personality

In temperament, Jewett was the typical American pioneer: energetic, quick, lively, and benevolent.

Connections

On September 17, 1833, Jewett was married to Jane Augusta Russell of Plymouth, New Hampshire.

Father:

Calvin Jewett

Mother:

Sally Parker

Spouse:

Jane Augusta Russell

References

• Vassar
• Before Vassar Opened; A Contribution to the History of the Higher Education of Women in America