1 Dr. Rush Rhees By Abigail Zabrodsky Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester River ...

18 Pages·2013·0.64 MB·English

by  Abigail Zabrodsky

Dr. Rush Rhees
By Abigail Zabrodsky

Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester River Campus

REL 167W: Speaking Stones
12/11/2013
Abstract: The life and legacy of the third president of the University of Rochester,
Rush Rhees as well as his intimate relationship with George Eastman, Kodak
founder. Details about his entire presidency as well as the formation of the Eastman
School of Music, Strong Hospital, The School of Medicine and Dentristry and the
River Campus.

Keywords: University of Rochester, Mount Hope Cemetery, Eastman School of
Music, Strong Hospital, The University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry, the River Campus at the University of Rochester, Rush Rhees, George
Eastman, George Whipple, Howard Hanson, John Rothwell Slater, Kodak, Susan B.
Anthony, Alan Valentine

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Dr. Rush Rhees
“Only what men have worked for and understood and loved is really theirs. In that way
Rush Rhees and his college belonged to each other. Rochester helped to make him what
he was; he helped to make it what it is. They grew up together, changing to what
neither would have dreamed of when they met. In him and in his university the best
was latent from the first. Time brought it out. Time will bring out more.”
–John Rothwell Slater

At the forefront of the University of Rochester plot in Mount Hope Cemetery
sits a polished, pale pink, granite stone bearing the heading Rhees and further Rush
Rhees 1860-1939 President of the University of Rochester 1900-1935 and Harriet
Seelye Rhees 1866-1949, as seen below (Epitaph). This stone is not elaborate or
large, but an unpretentious commemoration of a man who grew and changed the
University of Rochester, embracing the motto
“ever better”.
In 1796, Morgan John Rhees, a young
Welsh preacher, was attempting to found a
colony in the Alleghenies to spread his strict
Welsh beliefs. Rhees met Dr. Benjamin Rush, “a
signer of the Declaration of Independence and
professor in the medical school of the University
of Pennsylvania” while organizing the
Philadelphia Society for the Information and
Assistance of Persons Emigrating from Foreign Countries (Slater, Rhees, 5). Dr. Rush
helped Rhees purchase land to start a new colony, an act that led Rhees to name one
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of his sons after Dr. Rush, beginning the family name Benjamin Rush Rhees. Once
the name had been started, it “descended through five generations, all the Benjamin
Rush Rheeses abbreviated Benjamin to B., and were called Rush” (Slater, Rhees, 5).
Curiously, the name Rhees, common in Wales, means to ardor, to hurry or to rush
(Slater, Rhees, 3). Morgan John Rhees Junior, Morgan John Rhees’ son, “received in
1852 one of the earliest honorary degrees of the new University of Rochester, eight
years before Rush Rhees was born” (Slater, Rhees, 8). Benjamin Rush Rhees was
born February 8, 1860 in Chicago, Illinois and was the son of John Evan Rhees and
Annie Houghton McCutchen Rhees (Slater, Rhees, 9). John Evan Rhees died of
tuberculosis two years after Rush’s birth, leaving Annie with three small children.
She moved the family to live with her father on Grand Street in Williamsburgh,
Pennsylvania where “the three children’s early years were spent under the shelter
of his bounty and the shadow of [her father’s] piety” (Slater, Rhees, 9). At age
nineteen, Rush started his collegiate career at Amherst College, where he was a
student from 1879 to 1883 and then continued his time there by teaching for two
additional years. While at Amherst, Rhees became well versed in Greek, which
developed into his field of teaching and was “elected to Alpha Delta Phi, the oldest
Greek fraternity at Amherst” (Slater, Rhees, 15).
After Amherst, Rhees moved on to Hartford Theological Seminary where he
studied from 1885 to 1888. On March 14, 1889, he became an ordained minister in
the Baptist church and served as the pastor of Middle Street Baptist Church in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire for three years before he accepted a position as the
chair of New Testament interpretation at the Newton Theological Institution in
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Newton Centre, Massachusetts. He remained in Newton from 1892 to 1900 (Slater,
Rhees, 19). Strict religious beliefs had been instilled in Rhees starting at a young age
while living with his grandfather; his faith continued throughout the remainder of
his life as a prominent fixture and guiding force.
In 1897, Rhees met the daughter of the President of Smith College, Harriet
Chapin Seelye at a mutual friend’s home in Massachusetts. The two “had much in
common: their intellectual interests, their love of music and art, their European
travels, their Puritan inheritance, mellowed by tolerance and humor” and in March
1899, Rhees proposed to Harriet (Slater, Rhees, 41). In June of the same year, the
University of Rochester began inquiring about Rhees and his willingness to fill a
four-year void as the third President of the University. Rhees was an interesting
choice as a candidate for the next president as he was a Greek teacher and Baptist
minister, with no formal administrative skills, who would later inherit a “college still
holding its own because it had strong teachers and a good reputation… struggling
along on inadequate resources… and still not growing” (Slater, Rhees, 45).
The discovery of Rhees as a prospective next president was due to the wife of
a trustee, who met Rhees at a dinner party in Newton Centre, thought he was a very
interesting man and would be a good fit for the job. She told her husband that the
trustees should consider him for the President’s position. In June of 1899, president
of the Board of Trustees, Rufus Sibley, was sent to interview Rhees “and, satisfied
with the candidate who was warmly recommended by his prospective father-in-law,
Mr. Sibley sent to Rochester a favorable report” (Slater, Rhees, 41). The position of
President was offered to Rhees and the soon-to-be-married couple discussed the
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position and the possible move to Rochester. One month after the interview with
Sibley, Rhees responded to the Board of Trustees with his answer: “If I accept the
presidency of Rochester, I shall not try to shirk any duty belonging to that office. But
I shall be unwilling to accept it unless I can see that those already interested and
responsible are ready to move energetically for the increase of the resources of the
University” (Slater, Rhees, 49). Rhees already had large plans for the college but
knew that he needed to make key changes. He further stated “I am not accustomed
to the arrangement by which your President has no vote in the Board of Trustees. So
far as I am aware it is customary in our eastern colleges for a president not only to
be a member but a presiding officer of the Board” (Slater, Rhees, 49). After receiving
Rhees’ letter, the Board of Trustees “unanimously elected him to the presidency and
to their membership” (Slater, Rhees, 50). July 6, 1899 proved to be a momentous day
for Rhees as he married Harriet Seeyle and was elected the third president of the
University of Rochester. Rhees had already changed a major policy within the
structure of the University and had yet to step foot on the campus in Rochester.
After taking a year between accepting the position at
Rochester and taking office, Rhees and Harriet moved to
Rochester and his term began on July 1, 1900. Upon arrival,
three major issues immediately faced Rhees: “deficits, women
students, and faculty appointments” (Slater, Rhees, 55). Over the
next few years, Rhees worked tirelessly to solve these issues and
to prove that he was the right person for the changing times.
The first issue he attempted to solve was the increasingly
Rush Rhees
SOURCE: Office of the
President, University of
Rochester 5
large budget crisis where “the annual net income was slightly below the necessary
annual budget” which did not allow for expansion of the school or the hiring of new
professors for those who were ready to retire (Slater, Rhees, 50). With pressure
from local activists like Susan B. Anthony, Rhees also knew that women needed to
be admitted to the College soon, but knew this would not be possible if the budget
issues were not fixed. In the week before the fall term began in 1900, Rhees
obtained enough money to fix the budget crisis which “[forced] the immediate
admission of thirty-three women” because there were enough funds to sustain the
college for the year (Slater, Rhees, 55). The third issue of faculty appointments
“arose from the increase in the number of students by admission of women and
from the approaching retirement of several senior professors” (Slater, Rhees, 55).
Because the budget was lacking significant funds, adequate salaries for new
professors were difficult to gather and pensions for older professors were
insufficient, leaving Rhees searching for alternative sources of money. Alumni
donors had just funded a new gymnasium on the Prince Street campus, and the
endowment fund was dismal at best. It soon became very clear to Rhees that he
would need to find alternative funding that had not been tapped before. He was also
informed that a new physics and biology laboratory was also essential; money was
needed in many sectors of the college and a source did not exist when Rhees took on
the job. When Rhees began, the annual budget was $48,000 per year, productive
assets totaled $738,000, and there were seventeen full-time teachers, no dorms, no
librarians, 243 students and three buildings on the Prince Street Campus. By the
time he left the office of the President in 1935, the operating expenses of the arts
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college were over 1 million dollars and the endowment was over 54 million dollars.
There were 113 staff and faculty and the Prince Street campus had five buildings.
The River Campus had been completed with an extensive library, academic
quadrangle and auditorium. One of the best medical schools in the country had been
constructed as well as a highly ranked music school, both schools having new
buildings, and an art gallery had been built, was gaining status and nearing world
class (Perkins). In his thirty-five year period in office, Rhees took a small, struggling
college and transformed the University of Rochester into a famous institution. The
massive amount of progress is attributed to Rhees but could not have been possible
without the strong friendship that developed between Rhees and Kodak founder,
George Eastman.
Prior to meeting Rush Rhees, George Eastman was known to have
philanthropic interests outside of education and did not want to contribute to the
University of Rochester or any collegiate education system. It did not take long for
Eastman’s mindset to change drastically and within twenty years of Rhees and
Eastman initially meeting, the pair had grown the University in significant ways.
Eastman, the founder of Kodak, had more money than most people of the time; he
was a businessman, entrepreneur, visionary, lover of music and art and literature,
philanthropist and eventually, a dear friend of Rhees and the University of
Rochester. It was evident by the amount Eastman willingly gave away that Rhees
needed to make connections with the Kodak founder and change his mind about
education. Furthermore, Rhees “had learned that the scientific rather than the
philanthropic appeal was more likely to succeed with Mr. Eastman”; Rhees
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recognized that Eastman was a businessman and would be looking for future
chemists and scientists to employ to continue growing his company (Slater, Rhees,
161). In 1903, the Prince Street Campus was in great need of a new laboratory
building for biology and physics and without a primary patron for the construction
costs of the building, Rhees went to Eastman to ask for help. As Harriet Rhees tells
“Rush Rhees had gone to George Eastman… to try to interest him in a
building for biology and physics at the University. Mr. Eastman was not
interested but reluctantly gave him five thousand dollars. Then, as Rush
Rhees moved towards the door, Mr. Eastman looked at him and said, ‘You’re
disappointed, aren’t you? What did you want me to do?’ ‘I hoped,’ replied
Rush Rhees in his disarming way, ‘that you might feel like giving us the whole
building.’ ‘Well’ said Mr. Eastman, ‘I’ll think it over.’ His thoughts resulted in a
promise of $60,000 before long, and in the end he increased it to $77,000 to
cover the cost of the completed building. ‘But this is the last I shall do for the
University’ [Eastman] declared. ‘I am not interested in education.’” (Rhees)

In 1904, the laboratory construction began and was finished in 1906 and resulted in
the first gift to the University. This was the beginning of a very long and generous
friendship between Rochester and Eastman.
After the laboratory was finished, Eastman had retreated to his previous
statements and claimed that he would not contribute again to Rochester. Six years
later, Amherst College had approached Rhees to be the next president of the college
and Eastman did not like “the possibility that the city might lose President Rhees’
services” (Slater, Rhees, 164). Eastman worked quickly to try and keep the President
in Rochester and promised “to duplicate any amount up to a total of $500,000 which
the Trustees of the University can raise during the present calendar year, for the
purpose of increasing the endowment fund of the University” to which Rhees also
noted “Your friendship awakens in me also the profoundest determination to do
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everything in our power to make it certain that the passing years will convince you
that your generous investment in our work here at the University has been
worthwhile” showing how appreciative Rhees was of the generous gift and
confirming Rhees’ decision to stay in Rochester and grow the university (Slater,
Rhees, 165). Rhees also recognized a great shift in the attitude of Eastman, as
Eastman was no longer resistant to funding education but greatly embracing the
new philanthropic endeavor.
In 1918, Eastman posed the question to Rhees: “’Why don’t you have a school
of music?’” and the notion of the Eastman School of Music was born (Slater, Rhees,
188). Soon after this conversation, Eastman “purchased the property and charter
rights to the Institute of Musical Art and presented them to the university” (Slater,
Rhees, 188). In 1919, Eastman announced his plan to establish a “high-grade
university school of music” and to build a theatre for the Rochester community, an
act that would turn Rochester into a musical center moving forward (Slater, Rhees,
188). In founding a music school, Rhees and Eastman sought to achieve professional
musical education of high quality, early-age immersion for children with musical
talents and passion, the ability to work with local public schools to provide excellent
musical education and the use of instruments, a theatre complete with a pipe organ
and space available for any type of performance that could be used by professionals
and students, and a smaller concert hall that would be used for smaller groups and
solo performances. Previously, Eastman had refused his name on any buildings that
he had financed, but when Rhees announced the newest addition to the University,
he stated, “I have asked that this new school shall bear [Eastman’s] name, and he has
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agreed that this new department of our work shall be known as the Eastman School
of Music.” (Slater, Rhees, 190). Within the next few years, the school was built as well
as the Eastman Theatre, one of the best concert halls in the country.
Upon completion, it was evident that someone strong was needed to lead this
new and great school; Howard Hanson was and experienced conductor as well as
administrator and had a vision for the Eastman School: “If Rochester is to take an
important place in American music, it will not be an easy task… The director of your
school will have to breathe fire into a great machine, and endow it with his own
enthusiasm for a great cause.” (Slater, Rhees, 194). In 1924, Howard Hanson was
hired as the director of the School and brought the Eastman School to “be more
widely known than any other [music school]” (Slater, Rhees, 193). Under Hanson
and Rhees, Rochester became “one of the few universities where a college student of
sufficient musical ability can major in music for a Bachelor of Arts degree. This
arrangement, made possible by a special curriculum worked out co-operatively by
the Eastman School of Music and the College of Arts and Sciences, meets the needs
and desires of those musically gifted students who wish a larger proportion of
academic studies than is possible in the Bachelor of Music program” and still
remains in effect today, allowing Eastman students and Rochester students alike to
pursue degrees from both institutions simultaneously (Slater, Rhees, 198). Due to
the hard work of Rhees, Eastman and Hanson, the Eastman School of Music quickly
became a sought after venue to complete professional musical education and took
the University of Rochester to a new national level of excellence.
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