Queen's University, Vol I: Volume I, 1841-1914: And Not to Yield

In this account of the first seventy-six years of Queen's University at Kingston, Hilda Neatby traces the development of Queen's from its inauspicious beginnings as a struggling Presbyterian "Bible college" to the period when the university had become a permanent national institution. The story is one of early setbacks, resulting from financial crises, divisions within the Presbyterian Church, and internal conflict, followed by periods of recovery in which Queen's College (as it was then known) demonstrated a remarkable vitality and will to survive. Not until the principalship (1877-1902) of George Monro Grant, the passionate advocate of a "national outreach" for Queen's, did the college achieve the position it has since held as one of Canada's major universities.

The figure of Grant inevitably dominates this volume, but full recognition is given to other builders and preservers of Queen's, notably William Snodgrass, the pilot who weathered the storms of the Sixties and Seventies, and Daniel Miner Gordon, who presided over the secularization of the university in the early years of this century. Outstanding scholars, teachers, and administrators such as Watson, Williamson, MacKerras, Macnaughton, Dupuis, Shortt, Cappon, Goodwin, and Chown also figure prominently. The author examines in detail the role of the Board of Trustees, the Senate, and the undergraduate Alma Mater Society in the development of Queen's, and explores the complex relationships with the Presbyterian Church, the sister institutions in Toronto, and the provincial government. She shows how the distinctive character of Queen's was shaped by the Scottish heritage, evident in an emphasis upon flexible curricula, close faculty-student relations, and the virtues of student self-government, as well as in a sturdy independence in the face of repeated pressure for the concentration of higher education in Ontario. Imbued with a warm appreciation of the traditions of Queen's University and a scholar's critical detachement, this book is an important contribution to the history of institutional growth in Canada.