TO THE HONORABLE JOHN EATON,

U. S. Commissioner of Education :

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your request that I would furnish, for transmission to the International Exposition at Vienna, in connection with other documents relating to our American systems of popular and higher education, a statement of the aims and resources, the plan of organization and methods of instruction, of the institution with which I am officially connected. I comply the more cheerfully with your request from a conviction that, as an experiment of liberal education for that sex to which liberal education has in general been hitherto denied, Vassar College is the object of a deeper interest among the enlightened friends of human culture, on both sides of the Atlantic, than would be due to any intrinsic merits either of its plan or its administration. The same consideration will perhaps justify a greater minuteness of detail, especially as regards the development and present condition of its system of instruction, than would otherwise be called for. What is familiar to experience, and might be regarded as almost a matter of course, in a college for young men, may be novel and unique in a school for young women, and may need to be told in order to mark with precision the progress already made in this interesting enterprise.

Much has already been written and published in relation to Vassar College. But it has related almost exclusively to its exterior equipments, and to those aspects of its inner life which would be most likely to strike the eye and engage the interest

of the transient visitor.*

But little has yet been made public which would aid the practical educator to form an intelligent estimate of the value of its educational work, or to assign it its exact place among the educational institutions of our country and the world. It is hoped that the present exhibit may in a measure supply that deficiency. A sufficient reason for silence hitherto may be found in the fact, which will come out clearly in the course of the following statement, that the past has been a period of experiment and growth, the permanent results of which could not safely be predicted even by those most conversant with its progress.

I had reckoned upon, and should have preferred, a decade of this busy silence. But the specialty of the present call for information could not be overlooked. And perhaps now, after a full seven years' trial, though we trust the college has not yet passed the period even of its infant growth, it may reasonably be expected that some definite report should be made as to what we are attempting to accomplish, and what amount of success we have thus far attained.

I have the honor to be

Very truly and respectfully yours,

JOHN H. RAYMOND,
President Vassar College.

* All necessary information of this kind may be found in an authentic form, and accompanied by diagrams and numerous pictorial illustrations, in the volume entitled "Vassar College and its Founder, by Benson J. Lossing," a copy of which is sent herewith. That volume was prepared by one of the trustees of the college and an intimate personal friend of Mr. Vassar. As, however, it was written soon after the opening of the college and when its educational work had only just begun to take shape, a supplementary statement has become

necessary.

VASSAR COLLEGE.

THIS institution is situated on a farm of about two hundred acres, lying two miles east of the city of Poughkeepsie, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, in the State of New York.

FOUNDATION AND RESOURCES.

FOUNDATION.

The foundation of the institution was laid in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, of Poughkeepsie. The act for its incorporation passed the legislature of the State in January of that year. On the 26th day of February, Mr. Vassar formally transferred to the Board of Trustees securities to the amount of $408,000, which he had set apart for the carrying out of his design.

In 1864, he purchased and presented to the college, for its Art Gallery, a collection of pictures and books on art, at a cost of $20,000. The college was opened in September, 1865.

Before his death, in June, 1868, he had loaned to the college moneys needed for additional constructions, to the amount of $75,000; which indebtedness he canceled by his last will.

He also, by that instrument, made the college the residuary legatee of his estate, directing that the property should be invested and held in trust, the annual income only to be expended for certain specified uses, to wit:

(1.) $50,000 as a "Lecture Fund," for employing distinguished persons, not officers of the college, to de liver lectures from time to time on literature, science, and art;

(2.) $50,000 as an "Auxiliary Fund," for aiding stu dents who are of superior promise, but unable to defray the full expense of their education, to an extent not exceeding in any case one half the regular charge for board and tuition;

(3.) $50,000 as a "Library, Art, and Cabinet Fund," for the preservation and enlargement of the library, art gallery, and cabinets; and

(4.) The balance of the residue (which amounts to about $125,000) as a "Repair Fund," to meet the expense of necessary repairs and additions to the buildings and other college property.

The gifts of the founder amounted therefore, in the aggregate, to about $778,000.

The only other important donations have been the following:

(1.) A collection of North-American Birds, presented by Mr. J. P. Giraud, Esq., of Poughkeepsie, which, when completed, will be worth from ten to fifteen thousand dollars; and

(2.) A permanent scholarship, presented by Alanson J. Fox, Esq., of Painted Post, N. Y., secured by an actual investment of $6000

The last annual report of the Regents of the Univer sity of the State of New York, for the year ending September, 1872, showed the following to be, at that time, the

VALUE OF THE COLLEGE PROPERTY.

I. Unproductive Property.

Grounds (200 acres) and farm-house,

Main edifice, observatory, and all other build

$40,000 00

Total personal property,

$149,457 52

Aggregate amount of unproductive property,$594,576 80