WISCONSIN BLUE BOOK


    publications of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research) ;
    University of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature;
    University of Wisconsin Studies (quarterly, scientific); Agri-
    cultural Experiment Station Reports (annual); Agricultural
    Experiment Station Bulletins (popular research); Retail Bul-
    letin (monthly, $1.00 per year); Wisconsin Law Review (quar-
    terly magazine, $2.50 per year); books by the University of
    Wisconsin Press.

  Our State Constitution provides for the University of Wisconsin
in Section 6 of Article X as follows: "Provision shall be made by
law for the establishment of a state university at or near the seat
of government and for connecting with the same, from time to time,
such colleges in different parts of the state as the interests of
education may require."
  Accordingly, a University was established in 1848 in the first year
of statehood. Classes began the next year and in 1851 the first
building (North Hall) was erected. No appropriation from state
funds was made to the University until 1869. In the meantime the
institution was financed entirely from the proceeds of the sale of
lands donated to the state for the establishment of a university. The
Constitution meant these lands to be a permanent endowment but
when they had to be sold to meet current expenses practically the
entire endowment from the United States was lost. Even though the
University has received some sizable gifts in recent years, its total
endowment is only slightly over $1,500,000.
  In its present-day work of serving the citizens of Wisconsin, the
University operates in three fields-education, science research, and
public service. We here review briefly the work of the University in
each of these three fields.

                           EDUCATION

  There were only 20 students in that first class which met on Feb-
ruary 5, 1849 in a little red brick building known as the Madison
"Female Academy".
  In its early years the University was really a small classical col-
lege of the New England type with a large part of the students
enrolled in preparatory courses. After the close of the Civil War the
state extended financial support and in a few years the number of
students increased from 200 to more than 400. A College of Agri-
culture was established in 1866, under the stimulus of the Morrill
Land Grant Act of Congress. The College of Law was founded in
1868, the College of Engineering in 1889, the Extension Division and
the Medical School in 1907, and the School of Education in 1930. In
the school year 1891-92 the University enrollment was 1,000; ten
years later it had grown to 3,000. Thereafter the University in-
creased steadily in enrollment and very rapidly after the World War,
as shown in the following table:


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