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Albion College Archives Research Guide to MSS-0008 PROVENANCE
The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the
person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within
the collection, or with their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full
legal responsibility for acquisition to publish from any part of said
collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Albion College Special
Collections Unit may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its
own discretion.
This material in Series
I was
obtained through a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Brockway Dickie, date unknown. The first mark
Samuel Dickie made on Albion was as a student.
While a student at Albion, he showed much interest in mathematics
and was known for solving difficult mathematical equations, spending hours
working through the intricacies of a problem.
He graduated in 1872. Six months after
graduating from Albion, Dr. Dickie was married to Mary Brockway, the
daughter of one of Michigan Methodism’s most widely known clergymen,
Rev. William H. Brockway. The
Dickies had 4 children who all attended Albion as well: Clarissa Dickie
Stewart, Class of 1894; Ada Dickie Hamblen, 1898; Mary Dickie Gillett,
1904; and Brockway Dickie, 1913. The
children of Mr. and Mrs. Brockway Dickie, Josephine E. Dickie and Samuel
Dickie II were also graduates of Albion, 1937 and 1940 respectively. For 5 years after
graduating from Albion, Samuel Dickie taught in the Dansville Union School
and became superintendent of the Hastings public schools. In 1877 he was granted an M.S. degree from Albion and became
its professor of mathematics. As
a side note, Dickie also received his doctor of laws degree from Albion in
1900. In 1879, he was
ordained to the office of deacon by the Michigan Annual Conference.
The same year the Conference requested his appointment to a
professorship in Albion College. His first contribution to the face of the campus, as a young
professor of mathematics, was made 1882 when he influenced the Board of
Trustees to go ahead with the building of a college observatory.
As a result, Dickie became the College’s first professor of
astronomy in addition to his role as professor of mathematics. In 1886, Dickie ran
for the governorship of Michigan on the Prohibition ticket. He lost but remained active in politics for many years. In
1887, as a sworn enemy of alcohol, he resigned his position on the Albion
faculty to take over chairmanship of the Prohibition Party national
committee, at which point his public speaking began in earnest.
He left his position as chairman of the Prohibition Party to become
editor for The Citizen and The New Voice, two Prohibition
Party publications. Alongside his
political interests, Dickie retained a strong concern for Methodist
matters. In years to come, he
would conduct hundreds of chapel services, preach countless sermons, and
serve as lay delegate to the General Conference seven times. From 1896-97, Dickie
served as mayor of Albion, on the “dry ticket,” but did not run again
due to a sudden need for his attention in college matters.
In July of 1897, Dickie was the Chairman of the Committee on the
Presidency, who were expected to come up with nominations for a new
college president upon the resignation of Rev. Lewis R. Fiske.
It wasn’t until the close of the fall term at Albion that the
Board finally met to consider a presidential candidate.
The Committee’s nominee was Rev. John P. Ashley, Ph.D., then
Principal of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, NY. In 1901, after
considerable contention over backward social regulations instituted on
campus by the Ashley administration, Albion was again searching for a new
president. After Ashley’s
resignation, Dr. Dickie was requested to act as president until a
successor could be elected. However,
it was the consensus of the Board that Dickie should be Ashley’s
successor. By 1901, Dr.
Dickie had served on virtually every committee and functioned in every
possible capacity on campus, including serving for several years without
compensation as the college’s secretary and treasurer, and seemed the
logical man for the job. As President of
Albion, Dr. Dickie inherited a huge debt.
In order to “save” the college, he mortgaged personal property,
apparently using the funds to sustain faculty salaries.
Through shrewd financial campaigning with church officials and
affluent subscribers, Dickie was able to wipe out the deficit within 2
years. His victory was
announced January 2, 1903 in the Albion Recorder, and there was a
great Jubilee Day for both College and community on January 16th
to celebrate with a four-course turkey dinner, a speech by Governor Bliss,
and music. After conquering the
college debt, Dr. Dickie was able to focus more on his personal interests.
He was a staunch proponent of the literary societies on campus, in
addition to forensics and debate. He
was not enthusiastic about intercollegiate athletics, but could be seen
from time to time at a game in a dress suit with high collar.
Dickie was an appreciator of music, serving for years as president
of the Albion Musical Festival Association and chairman of a working
committee for the annual May Festival.
He was also active in local business enterprises in Albion, serving
as president of the Albion Buggy Company, co-founder and director of the
Albion Commercial and Savings Bank, and an early advocate for building the
Parker Inn. Dickie’s most
notorious aversion was the use of tobacco in any form, and he did not
allow anyone who used tobacco to compete on a college athletic team or
represent the college in debate or forensics. He was also not a fan of fraternal organizations, believing
them to provide a foundation for cliques and mayhem, that their members
had unfounded notions of “personal superiority” (Fennimore, 414), and
that they promoted fun over academic scholarship. Three buildings were
added to campus during the Dickie administration.
In 1903, the Lottie L. Gassette Library was built through a gift
from Mrs. Charlotte T. Gassette of Albion in honor of her deceased
daughter, a one-time student of Albion College.
In 1906, the Central Building was so renovated that a new building
was nearly constructed; the newly renovated facility was dedicated as
Robinson Hall. The final
building to go up during Dickie’s administration was the Epworth
Physical Laboratory, dedicated in 1916. It was also during
Dr. Dickie’s administration that the College’s summer school agreement
with the School of Liberal Arts at Bay View was made.
Students were allowed to attend summer classes at Bay View and
transfer the credits back to Albion, on the condition that the dean and
nearly half of the members of the Albion faculty were hired at Bay View
during the summer to make sure that the policies of the College were
enforced. At age 69, 70 being
fixed as the age for retirement at Albion College, and in his 20th
year as Albion College president, Dickie instructed the Board of Trustees
to begin a search for a new college president.
Rev. John W. Laird of the Mount Vernon Place Church in Baltimore,
MD was chosen as his successor, and in 1921 Samuel Dickie stepped down as
president of Albion College. President Laird
supported two motions by the trustees following Dr. Dickie’s
resignation, one making Dickie President Emeritus of Albion College and an
active member of the Board, and the other that Dickie be reelected to the
position of chairman and treasurer of the Endowment Fund Committee.
In 1922, Dickie relinquished this position as well.
In 1924, two days after the controversial expulsion of President
Laird, Dr. Dickie resigned from the Board of Trustees.
He was beginning to feel his years, his hearing failing, having
spent 55 years at Albion College as student, instructor and president, and
he was ready to sever all formal ties. The Papers of Dr. Samuel Dickie cover the years 1857 to 1921, with the bulk of the collection from 1870-1919. The collection provides a glimpse into Dr. Dickie's outside interests, organizational memberships and leadership positions throughout his life, including education, politics, and business. The collection also contains examples of the many Chapel Talks and speeches that Dickie gave while a math and astronomy professor at Albion, 1879-1887. Finally, the collection includes publications that document College events and activities during Dr. Dickie's time as President of Albion from 1901-1921. The collection is
divided into 5 series:
Series II: Samuel Dickie, Albion College President Series III: Samuel Dickie, the Businessman Series IV: Samuel Dickie, the Educator Series V: Samuel Dickie, the Politician SERIES DESCRIPTION Subseries I, Correspondence, contains a letter from Dickie to the
Jackson Reform Club, June 9, 1878. Subseries II, Lectures
& Speeches, is arranged chronologically, and
then alphabetically by title or first word of the lecture of speech for
those documents that are not dated. These
lectures and speeches were mostly given at his “Chapel Talks” at
Albion College. There are a
few that were geared towards missionary and other organizational meetings.
Topics of these talks revolve for a large part around religion and
science. Subseries III, Publications, includes a folder of published letters by M. Babcock on teaching the Bible. Series II, Samuel Dickie, Albion College President, 1857-1921, n.d., contains 4 subseries: Albion College Publications, Correspondence, Lectures & Speeches, and 1914 European Trip.
Subseries II, Correspondence, is arranged chronologically, with undated material at the end. This subseries includes letters to alumni and former students from Dr. Dickie and the Alumni Assocation, as well as a postcard addressed to Samuel Dickie from Stella Peterson Born. Subseries III, Lectures & Speeches, includes part of a speech assumed to be by Samuel Dickie, undated. Subseries IV, 1914 European Trip, is organized according to how Dr. Dickie would have utilized or created the documents during his trip. For example, all the information on the S.S. Imperator, the ship on which he traveled to Europe, is at the beginning of the subseries. This subseries includes bills, menus and pamphlets from hotels; boat tickets; brochures and menus from cruise ships and cruise lines. Series III, Samuel Dickie, the Businessman, 1910-1920, n.d., includes publications relating to smart business investing. It is chronologically arranged with undated materials at the end. Series IV, Samuel Dickie, the Educator, 1909-1921, n.d., is organized chronologically, with undated materials at the end. This series includes publications on education, from national and regional organizations and Methodist Episcopal Church groups. Series V, Samuel Dickie, the Politician, 1876-1919, n.d., is organized into 2 subseries: Prohibition and International Politics. Subseries I, Prohibition, is organized chronologically with undated materials at the end. This subseries includes materials relating to the regulation of alcohol and distilled spirits by the United States Internal Revenue, specifically the tracking of its use for scientific purposes, the registry of stills, and its withdrawal and destruction. The subseries contains federal documents and blank federal forms used for the aforementioned purposes, correspondence between the Albion College curator, Charles Barr, and distiller companies of alcohol, and completed federal forms for alcohol withdrawal and use on campus. Subseries II, International Politics, is organized chronologically, with undated materials at the end. This subseries contains publications relating to labor issues, World War I, the League of Nations, and United States foreign relations.
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