XI. 



ORGANIZATION AND INFORMING IDEAS. 



Under the new charter a Board of Trustees was ap- 

 pointed, and Mr. White was asked to draw up a plan of 

 organization. On the twenty-first of October, 1866, he 

 presented his plan to the Board. As a result, on the 

 twenty-fourth of October, 1866, Mr. White was unani- 

 mously chosen President of Cornell University, a posi- 

 tion which he continued to hold for twenty years. He 

 was unwilling at first to accept the position, as he had 

 important business interests in Syracuse, and had more- 

 over, just been elected Director of the Art School, and 

 Lecturer on the History of Art, at Yale College. 



He yielded, however, to his desire to see the new in- 

 stitution successfully started, and to the earnest persua- 

 sions of Mr. Cornell, and accepted the position, his in- 

 tention being to hold it for a brief time only, in order to 

 aid in the organization of the institution and in the se- 

 lection of his successor. Complying with the request 

 of Mr. Cornell and the Trustees, he shortly after went 

 to Europe, and spent some time in investigating the 

 school systems of England, France and Germany, 

 having reference more especially to technical and agri- 

 cultural education. He had the good fortune while 

 abroad to secure Professor Gold win Smith, of the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford, for the chair of English History, and 

 Dr. James L,aw, of London College, for the chair of 

 Veterinary 7 Science. 



