JAMES MONROE TAYLOR
1848 - 1916
The death of James Monroe Taylor, President of
Vassar College for twenty-seven years, offers a
fitting opportunity for an appreciation of the
important services rendered by him to this col-
lege. The Faculty therefore desires to record on
its minutes this expression of the high opinion
which it holds of Dr. Taylor, as an administrator,
as an educator, as a man.
As an administrator Dr. Taylor was preeminently
prudent and sincere in his management of the
material and educational interests of the college.
Few at the present time are able to realize how
desperate was the condition of the college when he
became president and how difficult was the task of
planning a safe and honorable policy of administra-
tion. the material growth of the college is def-
inately measured by the fact that when he came to
Vassar there were but four buildings on the college
campus and comparison with the present reveals a
long line of material problems constantly faced and
successfully solved. With splendid confidence in
the future Dr. Taylor in his first year of office
abolished the preparatory department, although the
number of students was thereby reduced to less than
three hundred; later in his administration when ever-
increasing numbers were threatening the educational
efficiency of the college, he resolved the opposing
claims of caution and progress by limiting the num-
ber of students.
As an educator Dr. Taylor sympathized with a liberal
culture rather than with specialization; he inclined
to the humanities rather than to science. Neverthe-
less his administration witnessed a rapid development
of science in the college - the dual department of
Physics and Chemistry was divided, the departments
of Biology and Psychology were established. With like
breadth of purpose he organized on an academic basis
the separately existing Schools of Art and Music and
admitted courses in these subjects to the collegiate
curriculum.
JAMES MONROE TAYLOR (continued)
Few men have been blessed with a personality so
peculiarly suited to the position of a college pre-
sident - a rare combination of wisdom and simplicity,
prudence and honesty, strong convictions and modesty.
His cordial, frank, sincere manner made a direct ap-
peal to the goodwill and confidence of all who met
him and the nobility of his ideals and principles
held fast the loyalty of his friends and colleagues.
J. Leverett Moore
Margaret Floy Washburn
Elizabeth B. Thelberg
VI-147