Private, voluntary support of public research universities in the United States: 1785--1958

Recent trends in voluntary support of higher education indicate public institutions are in greater competition for limited philanthropic resources with private institutions, at times blurring the distinction between public and private institutions in the area of fund raising and institutional advancement. This dissertation explores the history of private, voluntary support of public research universities in the United States from the time of the chartering of the first state university in 1785 through the development of the concept of institutional advancement in 1958. Four periods of development of a structure for raising private support at public institutions emerge through these years. The first period extends from 1785 through the passage of the Morrill Act in 1862; these early state institutions followed patterns of raising support established by the colonial colleges and relied on a combination of public and private support. The second period paralleled the emergence of the American university in the late nineteenth century and the rise of the land-grant universities. The third period of development from the turn of the century through World War I witnessed the rise of fund raising and public relations at the public universities. After World War I a final period emerged during which the rise of athletics, the use of organized campaigns, the mobilization of alumni, and greater administrative involvement in fund raising led to an increasing reliance on private support and a reliable pattern for institutional advancement. In what has been considered the domain of the private college and university, this history indicates that the public research university in the United States has relied significantly on private, voluntary support throughout its history and has developed a structure for raising such support in response to forces which have shaped higher education over these years.