The Liberal Arts College

The Liberal Arts College: Based upon Surveys of Thirty-Five Colleges Related to the Methodist Episcopal Church is available through Questia or can be purchased. Contributors included L.E. Blauch, A.M. Brumbaugh, H.C. Gregg, Floyd W. Reeves, and John Dale Russell. The book was published by The University of Chicago in 1932. The 718 page volume offers a detailed review of the institutions that was based on campus visits and interviews between 1929-1931. The authors provide a picture of the institutions that included enrollment trends, governance, administrative organization, physical plant, library, curricular offerings, faculty, student personnel, institutional finance, and religious influences. The narrative along with an extensive array of charts combine to make this a very valuable resource for anyone interested in liberal arts colleges during this import period of U.S. history.

While most of the institutions still operate, several have closed. A list of the institutions included in the study and dates of the campus visits follows:

• Albion College, Albion, Michigan, October, 1930
• Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania, April, 1930
• Baker University, Baldwin City, Kansas, January, 1931
• Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, October, 1930
• Brothers College of Drew University, Madison, New Jersey, March, 1931
• Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Missouri, May, 1930 [closed in 1941]
• University of Chattanooga, Chattanooga, Tennessee, November, 1929
• Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa, December, 1929
• Dakota Wesleyan University, Mitchell, South Dakota, July, 1930
• DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, November, 1930
• Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, April, 1930
• Evansville College, Evansville, Indiana, March, 1930
• Gooding College, Gooding, Idaho, February, 1931 [closed in 1938]
• Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota, October, 1929
• Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, January, 1931
• Intermountain Union College, Helena, Montana, February, 1931 [merged with Billings Polytechnic Institute in 1947 to form Rocky Mountain College]
• Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, December, 1929
• Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, Kansas, December, 1930
• Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin, May, 1930
• McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, December, 1930
• MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois, January, 1931
• Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, December, 1929
• Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio, October, 1930
• Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska, December, 1930
• Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio, October, 1930
• Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, October, 1930
• Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, May, 1930
• Ozark Wesleyan College, Carthage, Missouri, May, 1930 [closed in 1932]
• College of the Pacific, Stockton, California, February, 1931