HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 67 



sided, and to whose enlargement he has contributed 

 by wise counsel and generous assistance, is that on 

 whose behalf I am called to respond : the Massa- 

 chusetts Institute of Technology. 



Colonel Wilder was one of the earliest and most 

 earnest advocates of the views and measures which 

 finally led to the establishment of this school of 

 industrial science. As early as 1857, before the 

 Back-Bay lands had been filled up, he became the 

 chairman of a committee of citizens called together 

 for the purpose of establishing a Conservatory of Arts 

 and Sciences on those lands ; and when, later, that 

 idea had taken more definite shape, he acted as 

 chairman of the committee which drew up a me- 

 morial to the Legislature, urging the adoption of 

 that scheme by the State of Massachusetts. In the 

 following year, the same committee, under the same 

 earnest and public-spirited chairman, presented an- 

 other memorial to the Legislature. This effort was 

 crowned with success, resulting in the charter of the 

 Institute of Technology. 



In the act of incorporation, which passed April 10, 

 1 86 1, Colonel Wilder was named as a member of the 

 Board of Trust. He became one of the vice-presi- 

 dents of the new organization, and continued to act 

 in that capacity until the office was abolished in the 

 reorganization which took place some years ago under 

 an amended charter. 



