Background
Robert Burwell Fulton was born on April 8, 1849, on a farm in Sumter County, Alabama. His parents, William and Elizabeth K. (Frierson) Fulton, devoted their resources principally to the education of their children.
(Excerpt from Opportunity: An Address Delivered at the Ded...)
Excerpt from Opportunity: An Address Delivered at the Dedication of the New Library, University of Mississippi, Tuesday Evening, May 30th, 1911 It is good to look again into the faces of my Mississippi friends, and to grasp again the hands of those whose friendship has stood the test of time. It is good to trust that the younger generation growing up in this great State is following worthily in the footsteps of worthy predecessors. State pride is one of the chief bulwarks of our Amer ican Republic, and we do well to place its cultivation next to the conservation of state honor. In the old plantation days of my childhood in Alabama I heard among the folk-songs that were common one that had in it a peculiar strain of patriotism and of pathos. The refrain of this song was. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Robert Burwell Fulton was born on April 8, 1849, on a farm in Sumter County, Alabama. His parents, William and Elizabeth K. (Frierson) Fulton, devoted their resources principally to the education of their children.
In his seventeenth year, Fulton entered the sophomore class in the University of Mississippi, from which institution he graduated in 1869 with first honors in a class of twenty-one.
After teaching a short time in Alabama and in New Orleans, he returned to his alma mater in March 1871 as an assistant in the department of physics and astronomy.
He continued his studies until he received the degree of M. A. in 1873, and maintained the connection with the institution for thirty-three years thereafter, becoming a professor in 1875 and chancellor in 1892.
During his first year as the executive head of the University, Fulton abolished the preparatory department and in 1893, he introduced a summer session. Through his efforts, the endowment was substantially increased by a congressional grant of 23, 040 acres of land in 1894.
He was chiefly responsible for the development of a system of affiliated high schools which soon resulted in doubling the number of students and instructors in the University, for the enlargement of the physical equipment, the extension of the curriculum, and the addition of three professional schools.
Owing to his initiative, the National Association of State Universities was organized in 1896, and in recognition of this service, he was annually elected president of the association until 1903. He was president of the Southern Educational Association (1899), three times head of its department of higher education, and once head of the same department in the National Education Association.
Elected to the first board of trustees of this newly created department in 1902, he served upon it until his removal from Mississippi four years later. At the same time, he was an active member of a commission in charge of the geological survey of the state.
Forced from the chancellorship in 1906 by Gov. Vardanian, after the dismissal of a student with powerful political influence, he became superintendent of the Miller School in Albemarle County, Virginia, where he remained until his final retirement on a Carnegie pension twelve years later.
Fulton achieved full professor status in 1875 and was the first director of the Mississippi Weather Service. His leadership was largely responsible for the organization of the National Association of State Universities; he served as its president for five consecutive years. During Fulton's tenure, football was introduced to the university (1893), and the university's first printed annual was published (1897). Its name, The Ole Miss, soon became synonymous with The University of Mississippi.
(Excerpt from Opportunity: An Address Delivered at the Ded...)
When the Mississippi Historical Society was organized (1890), Fulton became a charter member and served as archivist and member of the executive committee until the Society turned over its archives to the state in order to induce the legislature to establish a state department of archives and history.
Fulton was a man of striking personality. He had a keen sense of humor and his conversation abounded in choice epigrams and apt anecdotes. He made his home in New York City during the last months of his life and was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C.
In 1871, Fulton had married Annie Rose, daughter of Landon C. Garland, an educator of distinction. Before her death in 1893 she bore him four sons and a daughter.
On April 2, 1903, he married Florence Thompson, a member of a prominent family in New Orleans.
25 August 1805 - 3 October 1886
14 September 1808 - 26 September 1842
September 1850 - 1850
23 June 1831 - 1 August 1869
30 January 1839 - 30 September 1904
29 December 1834 - 10 April 1915
7 February 1843 - 15 August 1893
11 September 1872 - 29 July 1874
3 December 1878 - 12 February 1955
15 May 1875 - 10 May 1877
