Cornell University
a nonsectarian, coeducational institution, at Ithaca, N. Y., owing its origin to the Land Grant Act of Congress of 1862.
It is named in honor of the late Ezra Cornell, who promised the State $500,000 with which to erect buildings for the new university, the terms of the land grant forbidding the use of its proceeds for that particular purpose, on condition that it should be located at Ithaca. His gifts amounted in all, however, to about $750,000. The University received besides Mr. Cornell's endowment, 990,000 acres of public domain, and large gifts from Henry W. Sage for a women's dormitory, a chapel, a library, a school of philosophy, a museum of archæology, etc., all generously endowed, John Mc- Graw for a building devoted to museums and scientific laboratories, Hiram Sibley for a college of mechanical engineering and mechanic arts, Andrew D. White a priceless historical library, etc., Hiram W. Sibley for extending and enlarging the S Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering, Dean Sage a fund for supplying the college pulpit, etc., A. S. Barnes a Christian Association building, William H. Sage for the chapel organ, the purchase of the great Zarncke library, a stone bridge, and in conjunction with Dean Sage, an endowed infirmary for sick students, Oliver H. Payne for the Cornell Medical College, and others. The total invested funds in 1920 were $17,- 875,436 and the total income for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, was $4,031,923. On the occasion of the University's semi-centennial celebration in June, 1919, the trustees began a campaign for new endowment and up to Jan. 1, 1921, had obtained cash and pledges amounting to about $6,000,000.
The library comprised 610,000 volumes.
The instructing staff numbered about 700. The total attendance at the end of 1920 was 5,176. There were about 25,- 000 graduates. The University annually grants free tuition to 600 students of New York State, also to students in Agriculture, and to New York State students in Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. There are numerous university undergraduate and graduate scholarships. The president in 1920 was Jacob Gould Schurman, who, after having served since 1892, resigned in June, 1920.