The Earliest Collegiate Schools of Business in the United States by Edd Applegate January 18, 2022 1 Abstract This paper discusses the earliest collegiate academic programs in the United States that offered courses in business. These academic programs differed (1) in size based on the disciplines and the number of courses offered and (2) in name. Regarding the latter, a few academic programs were departments, some were schools, and some were colleges. Several institutions of higher education offered various courses in business, but they did not necessarily establish a department, school, or college of business or commerce until many years later. 2 Introduction American colonists established “Latin Grammar Schools” to prepare boys for college. For boys not interested in attending colleges or universities, teachers who taught reading, writing, and arithmetic journeyed from one colony to another to teach. However, according to Benjamin R. Haynes and Harry P. Jackson, if a young man living in the 1700s or 1800s desired to learn the practical methods of business, he became an apprentice in an office or store.1 Indeed, as Joseph F. Johnson wrote, Boys who looked forward to business careers left school early and entered stores or offices, where they served apprenticeships of greater or less duration. Here they learned such bookkeeping and business methods as were then in vogue.2 But the apprenticeship system could not keep up with the number of young men who desired to learn about business. Consequently, “English Grammar Schools” were established in the 1700s and offered arithmetic, handwriting, and bookkeeping.3 In addition to English Grammar Schools, “Evening Schools” were founded in the 1700s. Unlike English Grammar Schools, which offered classes during the day, Evening Schools offered classes at night. Often, apprentices attended these schools because 3 arithmetic, handwriting, and bookkeeping were offered, which would help them in their jobs.4 Unfortunately, the schools mentioned above offered a limited and basic curriculum. As more businesses were established, the demand for more education increased. Consequently, the first “Academies” came into existence in the mid-1700s. In fact, by 1850 there were more than 6,000 in the United States.5 The Academies offered a practical education consisting of arithmetic, languages for merchants, bookkeeping, and other subjects related to commerce to those who were not interested in attending colleges or universities. In the latter half of the 1800s, Academies had an active competitor: the “Public High School.” As a result, Academies became preparatory schools for students interested in attending colleges or universities.6 The English Classical High School, which opened in Boston in 1821, was the first high school in America. Students were required to study arithmetic and bookkeeping. In 1827, the legislature of Massachusetts passed a law that required “bookkeeping be taught in the high schools of all towns containing over 500 families.”7 High schools opened in other states and required students to enroll in similar subjects as well. Unfortunately, commercial subjects offered in high schools could not keep up with how businesses actually functioned. As more businesses were founded, many were more complex than their predecessors; consequently, trained clerical workers were needed. To fill this need, “Commercial Colleges” or “Private Business Schools” were established in the 1800s. Indeed, by 1880 there were more than 160 in the United States.8 4 According to Edmund J. James, the Private Business School or the Commercial College “is peculiarly American; nothing exactly like it is known in other countries. It embodies the defects and excellencies of the American character and typifies in itself a certain stage of the national development.”9 Unfortunately, most Private Business Schools or Commercial Colleges offered basic or rudimentary courses such as arithmetic, handwriting or penmanship, and bookkeeping. As a result, most students were not necessarily prepared well for clerical work. Numerous individuals founded Private Business Schools in the United States. Several wrote textbooks that were used in one or more courses. James A. Bennett, for instance, taught bookkeeping and wrote the American System of Practical Bookkeeping adapted to the Commerce of the United States and Exemplified in one set of Books, kept by Double Entry; designed for Schools, which had numerous editions over the years. Bennett opened the Arlington Academy on Long Island, New York, which provided instruction in various subjects, including bookkeeping, commercial law, finance, and commerce.10 Benjamin Franklin Foster, a native of England, arrived in North America in the 1820s. After operating a Commercial College in Boston for 10 years, he moved to New York City and opened Foster’s Commercial Academy in 1837. Foster wrote numerous textbooks over the years.11 R. Montgomery Bartlett was born in the state of New York and reared on a farm in Kentucky. He left home when he was a young man and worked in a woolen mill. In 1834, he opened a business school in Philadelphia. A year later he opened a school in 5 Pittsburgh. In 1838, he moved to Cincinnati, where he founded Bartlett’s Commercial College, which continued to operate for decades, even after Bartlett’s death in 1891.12 Of course, there were numerous others who opened Private Business Schools. Indeed, several founded so-called “Chain Schools,” which offered the same curriculum and used the same textbooks at each school. For instance, H. B. Bryant and H. D. Stratton opened more than 50 schools between 1853 and 1863. Each school operated under a manager who earned a share of the school’s profits. These managers sold “scholarships” to students. Unfortunately, these scholarships allowed students to attend any school the company owned, which caused other students to complain to the company. As if this was not bad enough, another chain—the National Union of Business Colleges—was organized in 1866 in opposition. Although schools bearing the Bryant and Stratton name existed after H. D. Stratton’s death, these schools were owned by other individuals or smaller chains.13 In the latter half of the 1800s, there were numerous major Independent Business Schools. These included those founded by George W. Eastman and his nephew, H. G. Eastman. George opened a school in Rochester, New York, while H. G. opened schools in Oswego, New York, St. Louis, Missouri, and Poughkeepsie, New York. Silas S. Packard opened the Packard’s Business College in New York City. His school was one of the first to offer typewriting.14 Packard also wrote textbooks. Of course, there were others who founded Independent Business Schools. For instance, Platt Rogers Spencer founded the Spencerian Commercial College in 1852. Several of his sons founded business schools, too. 6 By the end of the 1800s, there were many schools training students for clerical positions in businesses. Unfortunately, some of these schools were merely in the business of earning money, not necessarily interested in determining whether students had enough skills or knowledge to find jobs.15 Independent private business schools had competition, especially in the latter half of the 1800s. As mentioned, many high schools offered one or more courses in business. As more high schools offered such courses, private business schools had to offer courses that were not offered in high schools or offer courses that contained more information. The First Collegiate Schools of Business Owners and operators of businesses in the 1800s were not necessarily concerned about hiring individuals who had attended colleges and universities. However, fundamental changes in the American economy accelerated rapidly after 1865, transforming business attitudes about education. As Joseph S. Johnston, Jr. and colleagues wrote, Because of these changes, business study would soon outgrow the constraints of the cultural imagination and blend easily with the pragmatic, entrepreneurial, and individualistic character of American society.16 Private Business Schools, which offered courses in bookkeeping and eventually typing and shorthand, monopolized business education prior to 1890.17 Although these schools served a basic purpose, the curricula suffered because it focused on a few clerical 7 skills, not business in general. Consequently, these schools failed to prepare individuals for positions of responsibility.18 According to Rakesh Khurana, The first university business schools represented . . . an attempt to shift the traditional system of apprenticeship, with its interest in character formation as well as in the transmission of knowledge and skills, into an organizational context more amenable to the modern age.19 If students desired to learn more about business, private and state colleges and universities provided the solution. Indeed, courses in accounting, economics, and finance, among other subjects, were developed at a few colleges and universities before 1900. Table 1 lists several institutions that founded a program in business or commerce before 1900. Table 1 Institutions with Academic Units in Business or Commerce Before 1900 Institution Unit Year University of Louisiana (Tulane University) School of Commerce 1851a University of Illinois School of Commerce 1870b University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Finance and Economy 1881 Agricultural College of Utah (Utah State Univ.) Department of Commerce 1889 AddRan Christian Univ. (Texas Christian Univ.) School of Business 1896 University of California (Berkeley) College of Commerce 1898 University of Chicago College of Commerce and Politics 1898 8 University of Wyoming School of Commerce 1899 a. Abandoned in 1857, reestablished in 1914; b. Abandoned in 1880, reestablished in 1902. A letter dated January 28, 1848, was published in the March, 1848, issue of The Commercial Review of the South and West, which was edited by James D. B. De Bow and published in New Orleans. The letter was addressed “To the Board of Administrators of the University of Louisiana” (now Tulane University) from Maunsel White, a successful businessman of New Orleans. White stated that he had been collecting funds for an endowment for a “Chair of Commerce, Public Economy and Statistics.” According to the letter, De Bow had developed a plan for the professorship.20 De Bow was appointed chair in 1849 and taught courses in commerce. Purportedly, he was instrumental in establishing a School of Commerce at the university two years later. However, primarily because the curriculum had very little appeal among students, the school was abandoned in 1857.21 Courses in commerce were reintroduced in 1893. A Department of Economics and Sociology was founded 10 years later. Eventually, the College of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1914. Morton A. Aldrich, a professor of economics, served as the first dean. General Robert E. Lee was in charge of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. After the war ended, he became president of Washington College (now Washington and Lee University). In 1869, he proposed a School of Commerce to the Board. Lee wrote: 9 In recommending a Commercial School, it is proposed not merely to give instruction in bookkeeping and the forms and details of business, but to teach the principles of commerce, economy, trade and mercantile law. Such a school may with great advantage be added to the schools of the college, as many students may, by its means, prepare themselves for business pursuits while obtaining such scientific and literary culture in the other schools as time and opportunity may allow.22 Unfortunately, Lee died a year later. The School of Commerce and Administration was not established until 1906. The University of Illinois established a School of Commerce in 1870 from its Department of Commercial Science and Art, which was one of the original departments when the university was chartered as the Illinois Industrial University in 1867. The curriculum was similar to the curriculum found in the typical private business school, which, of course, lacked rigor, particularly for a university. In 1880, the Board of Trustees voted to close the school.23 In 1902, the university reestablished its School of Commerce, which eventually became the College of Commerce and Business Administration in 1915. In 1881 the Wharton School of Finance and Economy (later Wharton School of Finance and Commerce) was established at the University of Pennsylvania, as a result of a financial gift of $100,000 from Joseph Wharton, a successful manufacturer and merchant in Philadelphia. In his proposal to the trustees, Joseph Wharton presented his educational philosophy and provided specifics for the school, including the curriculum 10