1 of 3 Parts: On the Trail of Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869)

On the Trail of Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869)
By Franklin Parker and Betty June Parker
bfparker@frontiernet.net

We met as students at Berea College near Lexington, Ky. (Sept. 1946), Betty entering from Decatur, Ala.; Franklin from Asheville, N.C. Berea College brought us together, led to our marriage (June 12, 1950), and its Alumni Office got us our first teaching jobs at Ferrum Jr. College near Roanoke, Va., 1950-52.

To improve our professional preparation we attended George Peabody College for Teachers (GPCFT), adjacent to Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, Tenn., the summers of 1951 and 1952. Because Berea College was and remains a work-study tuition-free college, Franklin extended his GI Bill entitlement (he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces, 1942-46) to help cover graduate study costs at the Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, 1949-50 (MS in LS), and GPCFT, 1952-56 (Ed.D.); plus cover travel, housing, and other costs to U.S. and British libraries to read GP-related papers.

With a part-time job and small GPCFT scholarship for Franklin, together with Betty’s job teaching English in a Nashville business college, we became graduate students at GPCFT during 1952-56. Franklin took courses from and became a doctoral candidate under GPCFT’s Canadian-born Prof. Clifton Landon Hall (1898-1987), a graduate of Bishop Univ. (Quebec), McGill Univ. (Montreal), and the Univ. of N.C., Chapel Hill, with a Ph.D. in the history of education. He was a widely respected professor on the Peabody and Vanderbilt campuses.

Finding an area in the history of Tenn. higher education as a possible dissertation topic, Franklin went for approval (mid-1953) to GPCFT Dean (and later president) Felix Compton Robb (1914-97). Dean Robb told Franklin of his (Robb’s) earlier experience in a history course he had at Harvard Graduate School of Education under Harvard historian Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. (1888-1965). Knowing that Robb was a Peabody College administrator looking for a dissertation topic, Schlesinger described the importance of GP’s educational philanthropy, told Robb how the Peabody Education Fund (1867-1914) to aid public education in the defeated South had influenced all subsequent U.S. funds and foundations, that GP as founder of modern educational philanthropy had not been fully explored nor adequately documented.

Determined on a career in higher education administration, Robb chose instead to write a dissertation in education administration (Robb became GPCFT president and was Director, Southern Assn. of Colleges and Schools). Perhaps regretting a good topic not pursued, Robb urged Franklin to explore GP’s role in U.S. educational philanthropy as a dissertation topic.

Increasingly intrigued by what we found in libraries and encouraged by two small Jesse Jones scholarships, we read GP’s original letters and papers intensively in scattered U.S. and British depositories during 1953-55.

(GP in Brief: Sources in the GP Publications Listed Below)

GP was born Feb. 18, 1795, into a poor branch of the Peabodys, third of eight children in Danvers, Mass., 19 miles northeast of Boston. He lived long enough to see his birthplace (renamed South Danvers in 1855 when Danvers was divided into North Danvers and South Danvers) renamed Peabody, Mass., in his honor on April 13, 1868.

He attended a district school 4 years, ages 8-12 (1803-07), which was all his parents could afford; was apprenticed in a general store 4 years, ages 12-15 (1807-10); and worked for a year in his oldest brother’s dry goods store in Newburyport, Mass. (1810-11). His father’s death on May 13, 1811, leaving the family in debt and the Danvers home mortgaged, forced GP’s mother and the five younger children to live with nearby relatives. Eighteen days later, May 31, 1811, the Great Fire of Newburyport, where GP was clerking in older brother’s drapery shop, ruined business prospects and led to an exodus of many from that town.

Paternal uncle John Peabody (1768-1827), whose Newburyport store and stock were also ruined, urged his 17-year old nephew GP to join him in opening a dry goods store in Georgetown, D.C. Because his uncle could not obtain credit, GP asked a Newburyport merchant to stand surety for him for a consignment of goods on credit from a Boston merchant. With $2,000 in goods thus secured, uncle John and nephew George sailed from Newburyport (May 5, 1812) and opened a dry goods store in Georgetown, D.C., May 15, 1812.

Uncle John soon entered other enterprises. Alone GP tended the store and was also a pack peddler selling goods to nearby homes and stores. With nearby Washington, D.C., under threat of British attack, he volunteered in the War of 1812. There he met and impressed 35-year-old fellow soldier and experienced Md. merchant Elisha Riggs, Sr. (1779-1853). Riggs took the 19-year-old GP as junior partner in Riggs, Peabody & Co. (1814-29), which imported European fabric, clothing, and other goods for sale to U.S. wholesalers. The firm moved to Baltimore in 1815 and had warehouses in Philadelphia and NYC by 1822.

(GP: Young Merchant in the South, 1812-37)

Taking early responsibility as family breadwinner, GP sent his mother and siblings flour, sugar, clothes, other necessities, and money. By 1816, at age 21, he had paid the family debts and restored his mother and siblings to their home. Newburyport lawyer Ebon Mosely wrote GP on Dec. 16, 1816: “I cannot but be pleased with the filial affection which seems to evince you to preserve the estate for a Parent.”

GP paid for the education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass., of five younger relatives: brother Jeremiah, from 1819; sister Judith Dodge during 1821-27, sister Mary Gaines during 1822-27, cousin Adolphus W. Peabody (paternal uncle John’s son) during 1827, and a nephew named for him (oldest brother David’s son George), also during 1827. He bought a house in West Bradford, Mass., for his relatives who were enrolled in the academy where his mother also lived for several years.

He later paid for the education of other relatives: nephew Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-99), at Yale Univ., later the first U.S. paleontologist; nephew George Peabody Russell (1835-1909), Harvard-trained lawyer; niece Julia Adelaide Peabody (b. April 25, 1835), Philadelphia finishing school; and others.

GP traveled in the U.S. and abroad for Riggs, Peabody & Co. He made five European buying trips during 1827-37. When Elisha Riggs, Sr., withdrew to become a NYC banker, the firm became Peabody, Riggs & Co. (1829-48), with GP as senior partner and Riggs’s nephew, Samuel Riggs (d.1853), as junior partner.

(Appointed Fiscal Agent to Sell Abroad Md.’s State Bonds for Internal Improvements: Canal and RR)

In 1836, as part of large scale internal improvements in many states (building roads, canals, and railroads), the Md. legislature voted to finance the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the B&O RR with interest-bearing state bonds sold abroad. Md. appointed three agents to sell its $8 million bond issue abroad. When one agent withdrew, GP sought and secured his place. He left for London Feb. 1837, just before the Panic of 1837.

The depression that following the financial Panic of 1837 led the two other agents to return to the U.S. without success. GP remained in London the rest of his life (1837-69), 32 years, except for three U.S. visits: 1-Sept. 15, 1856 to Aug. 19, 1857; 2-May 1, 1866 to May 1, 1867; and 3-June 8 to Sept. 29, 1869.

Depressed conditions after 1837 led nine states, including Md., to stop interest payments on their bonds sold abroad. GP had to sell the bonds in this depressed market and amid British and other European investors anger at the stoppage of interest payments. He publicly assured investors that repudiation was temporary, that payments would be retroactive; and by letters, printed in newspapers, he urged officials in Md. and other defaulting states to retroactively resume interest payments.

GP finally sold his part of the Md. bonds cheaply for exclusive resale by London’s Baring Brothers banking firm. In 1847-48 Md. officials acknowledged publicly that GP had upheld Md.’s credit abroad in the aftermath of the financial panic and that, rather than burden the Md. state treasury, had declined the $60,000 commission due him. Md. Gov. Philip Francis Thomas (1810-90) transmitted the Md. legislature’s resolutions of praise to him and wrote, “To you, sir…the thanks of the State were eminently due.”
(Transition from Dry-Goods Importer to London-based Broker-Banker Selling U.S. State Bonds to Promote Internal U.S. State Improvements)

Gradually curtailing business activities for Peabody, Riggs & Co., he withdrew his capital in 1843 and severed his connection in 1845 (the firm’s business ended in 1848). He founded George Peabody & Co., London (Dec. 1, 1838-Oct. 1, 1864) and increasingly sold abroad U.S. state bonds to finance roads, canals, and railroads. He succeeded in transition from merchant to investment banker.

With others he helped finance the U.S. government’s second Mexican War loan; bought, sold, and shipped European iron and later steel rails for U.S. western railroads; and was a director, investor, and financier of the Atlantic Telegraph & Cable Co. He had learned to marshal capital to finance and expand U.S. business and industrial growth. In the 1850s he became the most eminent U.S. banker in London dealing in U.S. trade and U.S. state and federal bonds.

George Peabody & Co. prospered. Asked in an interview on Aug. 22, 1869, how and when he made his money, GP said, “I made pretty much of it in 20 years from 1844 to 1864. Everything I touched within that time seemed to turn to gold. I bought largely of U.S. state securities when their value was low and they advanced greatly.”

Often ill and urged by business friends to take a partner, GP on Oct. 1, 1854, at age 59 took as partner Boston merchant Junius Spencer Morgan (1813-90). J.S. Morgan’s son John Pierpont Morgan (later Sr., 1837-1913), at age 19, began his banking career as NYC agent for George Peabody & Co. Increasing illness hastened GP’s retirement on Oct. 1, 1864. Unmarried, without a son, and knowing he would no longer control the firm, he asked that his name be withdrawn.

George Peabody & Co. (Dec. 1838-Oct. 1, 1864) continued in London as J.S. Morgan & Co. (Oct. 1, 1864-Dec. 31, 1909), Morgan Grenfell & Co. (Jan. 1, 1910-Nov. 1918), Morgan Grenfell & Co., Ltd. (Nov. 1918-90), and Deutsche Morgan Grenfell (since June 29, 1990), a German-owned international banking firm.

GP’s was thus the root of the international banking house of J.P. Morgan, a fact amply recorded yet largely forgotten and not generally known. Relieved of business burdens GP spent the last five years of his life (1864-69) looking after his philanthropic institutions, first begun in 1852.

(GP as Educational Philanthropist)

More intriguing than how GP made his money was why and how he gave it away. In 1820 he was worth between $40,000 and $50,000. His 1827 will left $4,000 for charity. His 1832 will left $27,000 (out of a $135,000 estate) for educational philanthropy. He early told intimates and said publicly in 1850 that he would found an educational or other useful institution in every town and city where he had lived and worked. During his lifetime he earned about $20 million. Before his death (Nov. 4, 1869) he gave half his fortune to philanthropy and half to his relatives. (Note: $20 million in 1869 is estimated to equal $258.3 million In 2001 purchasing power).

He gave to his 27 philanthropic institutes, numbered below, a total of about $10 million. His seven U.S. Peabody institute libraries, with lecture halls and lecture funds, like the Lyceums (from 1826) and later Chautauquas (from 1872), were part of the adult education centers of the time.

Four of his seven Peabody Institute libraries are in the Mass. towns of: (1)-Peabody, (2)-Danvers, (3)-Newburyport, and (4)-Georgetown. The four-part (5)-Peabody Institute of Baltimore (PIB) contained a reference library, initially so extensive that the Library of Congress early borrowed from it, plus an art gallery, a lecture hall a lecture fund, and a conservatory of music.

The PIB, to which he gave a total of $1.4 million, presaged (and may have set a model for) such later cultural centers as the Lincoln Center, NYC; and the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C. (the PIB reference library and the PIB conservatory of music became part of the Johns Hopkins Univ., from 1982). Other Peabody libraries are in (6)-Thetford, Vt. and in (7)-Georgetown, D.C. (now the Peabody Room of the Washington, D.C., public library.

Influenced by his nephew O.C. Marsh’s scientific interests and attainments, GP founded three Peabody museums of science: (8)-the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard Univ. (anthropology); (9)-the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale Univ. (paleontology), $150,000 each; and what is now the (10)-Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass. (maritime history plus Essex County historical documents), $140,000.

GP earlier gave the (11)-Md. Institute for the Promotion of Mechanic Arts $1,000 for a chemistry laboratory and school, Oct. 31, 1851; (12)-Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Oct. 30, 1866; (13)-Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, $25,000 for a professorship of mathematics and civil engineering, Nov. 6, 1866; and to former Gen. Robert E. Lee’s (1807-70) (14)-Washington College (renamed Washington and Lee Univ., 1871), Lexington, Va., $60,000 for a professorship of mathematics, Sept. 1869.

He gave $20,000 publication funds each to the (15)-Md. Historical Society, Baltimore, Nov. 5, 1866; and the (16)-Mass. Historical Society, Boston, Jan. 1, 1867. He gave the (17)-U.S. Sanitary Commission to aid Civil War orphans, widows, and disabled veterans $10,000, 1864; and the (18)-Vatican charitable San Spirito Hospital, Rome, Italy, $19,300, April 5, 1867.

He had a (19)-Memorial Congregational Church built in his mother’s memory in her hometown, Georgetown, Mass., $70,000, 1866. For patriotic causes he donated to the (20)-Lexington Monument, in what is now Peabody, Mass., $300, 1835; the (21)-Bunker Hill Memorial, Boston, Mass., $500, June 3, 1845; and the (22)-Washington Monument, Washington, D.C., $1,000, July 4, 1854.

Continued in Part 2 of 3 Parts.

bfparker@frontiernet.net

Part 2 of 3 Parts: On the Trail of Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869).

Continued:

(Peabody Homes of London)

His largest gift, $2.5 million total, was for model low rent apartments for London’s working poor. Begun on March 12, 1862, what is now (23)-the Peabody Trust Group, London, in 2002 owned or managed over 19,000 affordable properties across 30 London boroughs housing nearly 50,000 low income Londoners (about 59% white, 32% black, and 9% others). These include, besides Peabody Trust Group-built estates, other London public housing units whose authorities deliberately chose to come under the Peabody Trust Group because of its efficient management, facilities, playgrounds for the young, recreation for the elderly, computer centers, job training, and job placement for its working adults.

For London, GP first considered in 1859 and discarded the idea of building a network of drinking fountains. He then considered a large gift to enlarge the Ragged Schools Union, a charitable trust managing schools for poor children in England, administered by social reformer Lord Shaftesbury (1801-85), before the establishment of tax supported schools. GP asked his friend, Ohio’s Episcopal Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), to consult with Shaftesbury whom he knew well. McIlvaine reported to GP Shaftesbury’s advice that housing was the London poor’s greatest need. This advice determined GP’s gift of low cost model apartments. The Peabody Homes of London inspired imitators elsewhere in England and in the U.S. and brought GP many honors in England.

(Peabody Education Fund, First Multi-Million Dollar Foundation)

GP’s most influential U.S. gift was the $2 million (24)-Peabody Education Fund (PEF, 1867-1914) to promote public education in the eleven former Confederate states with W.Va., added because of its poverty. He actually gave the PEF $3,484,000, but $1.1 million in Miss. state bonds and $384,000 in Fla. bonds were never honored by those states.

For 47 years the PEF helped promote public schools for white and black children in the devastated post Civil War South, focusing first on aiding existing public elementary and secondary schools in larger towns to serve as models, then aiding teacher training institutes and normal colleges, and finally aiding rural public school growth.

The PEF was without precedent, the first multimillion dollar educational foundation in the U.S., cited by historians as the model forerunner of all subsequent significant U.S. educational funds and foundations.

(High Offices Held by Over 50 PEF Trustees)

The over 50 PEF trustees during 1867-1914 included: thirteen state legislators, two U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justices, six U.S. ambassadors, eight U.S. Senators, seven in the U.S. House of Representatives, two Civil War generals, one U.S. naval admiral, one U.S. Army Surgeon-Gen., three Confederate generals, three who served in the Confederate Congress, two bishops, and six U.S. cabinet officers.

Other high offices held by PEF trustees: three were U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Grover Cleveland; or eight U.S. presidents if Peabody Normal College and its predecessor institutions are included), six were U.S. state governors, and three were financiers: J.P. Morgan; Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93), inspired by GP’s example to found Drexel Univ., Phila., and Paul Tulane (1801-87), inspired to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans, La.

(Peabody Normal College, Nashville, Model Teachers College in the South)

PEF first administrator Barnas Sears (1802-80) wanted a model teachers college for the South in Nashville. When the Tenn. legislature declined to pass funding legislation for several proposals for a state normal school, Sears through the PEF helped establish the PEF-supported (25)-Peabody Normal College (1875-1911) on the Univ. of Nashville campus in place of its moribund Literary Dept. In its 36 years of existence, Peabody Normal College achieved regional and national leadership in the professional preparation of teachers.

GP’s PEF founding letter (Feb. 7, 1867) permitted ending the fund when its work in promoting public schools in the South was done. In 1914 the trustees distributed the fund’s total assets ($2,324,000) as follows: $474,000 went to the education departments of 14 southern universities ($40,000 each to the universities of Va., N.C., Ga., Ala., Fla., Miss., Ark., Ky., and La. [State]; $6,000 each to Johns Hopkins Univ. and to the universities of S.C., Mo., and Texas.; $90,000 to Winthrop Normal College, S.C. (now Winthrop College), founded by PEF trustees Pres. Robert Charles Winthrop (1809-94); and $350,000 to the John F. Slater Fund for Negro Education (a sum given later to the Southern Education Fund, Atlanta, where it still serves African-American education).

(George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, GPCFT)

Most of the PEF principal, $1.5 million plus required matching funds, went to endow (26)-GPCFT (1914-79), with a new campus built next to Vanderbilt Univ. for academic strength. For 65 years independent GPCFT cooperated with neighboring Vanderbilt Univ. in courses, programs, and library facilities. GPCFT was in fact a unique mini-university, focused on teacher education in a variety of fields, with departments of library science, physical education, science education, and music education. It retained and enhanced its predecessor’s reputation as a leading private teacher education institution in the South, with national recognition and an international student body.

GPCFT’s best graduates became state university presidents, deans, leading professors, researchers, and textbook writers. Its success thereby strengthened competing lower cost state university colleges of education and ironically contributed to its own demise. National recession in the 1970s combined with higher energy and other costs adversely affected higher education and particularly private colleges of education.

(Peabody College of Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, PCofVU)

Wise Peabodians knew that the time was past for the survival of a private single purpose teachers college like GPCFT, despite its proud history, high regional reputation, and national and international influence. Merger took place on July 1, 1979, when GPCFT became (27)-PCofVU, Vanderbilt Univ.’s. ninth school.

PCofVU soon surpassed its predecessor institutions as a leading private southern university’s (VU’s) college of education. It initially led the nation in preparing teachers to apply computers to student learning. Since the 1990s it has consistently ranked among the top U.S. graduate schools of education, highly esteemed in preparing special education teachers, guidance counselors, and educational administrators and researchers.

PCofVU’s history thus goes back to Davidson Academy (1785-1806), chartered by N.C. eleven years before Tenn. statehood; rechartered as Cumberland College (1806-26); rechartered as the Univ. of Nashville (1826-75); whose moribund literary dept. was rechartered as Peabody Normal College (1875-1911; rechartered as GPCFT (1914-79); renamed PCofVU (since July 1, 1979). PCofVU’s lineage of 220 years makes it the 15th U.S. collegiate institution after the founding of Harvard College in 1636.

Faced with greater class and race divisions and with greater financial difficulties than counterpart colleges in other sections of the U.S., it rose phoenix-like again and again to produce educational leaders for the South, the nation, and the world. As part of Vanderbilt Univ., PCofVU carried into the 21st century GP’s motto accompanying his check for his first hometown Peabody Institute Library (1852): “Education, a debt due from present to future generations.”

(Philanthropic Influence)

GP’s philanthropic example, mainly through the PIB and the PEF, directly and personally influenced Enoch Pratt (1808-96) to found the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore’s public library; influenced Johns Hopkins (1795-1873) to found the Johns Hopkins Univ., hospital, and medical school in Baltimore; influenced Anthony Joseph Drexel (1826-93) to found Drexel Univ., Philadelphia; influenced Paul Tulane (1801-87) to found Tulane Univ., New Orleans; and influenced others who gave to institutions, funds, and foundations.

At his death, Nov. 4, 1869, age 74, GP was the best known philanthropist in the U.S. and Britain, a founder of U.S. educational philanthropy. But changing times, larger fortunes, wealthier funds and foundations have dimmed his memory, except at his institutes and among interested scholars.

6 U.S. state governors, (GP as Founder of Modern Philanthropy)

Franklin Parker’s dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” documented these PEF firsts: The PEF was the first U.S. foundation to require the stimulating effect of matching local grants for schools it aided or founded; the first to require state legislation to perpetuate state financial support of its aided schools; the first multimillion dollar foundation recognized as national rather than local; and the first to provide operational flexibility as conditions changed.

The PEF was the first U.S. foundation to elect trustees from professional and financial circles; the first deliberately to use public relations to foster public acceptance and good will; the first whose executives were former university officials (Barnas Sears of Brown Univ; J.L.M. Curry of Howard College, Ala.); the first to allow its trustees to disband after its job was done and distribute its assets
as they saw fit (when dissolved in 1914, PEF assets endowed GPCFT, Nashville, next to Vanderbilt Univ.; funded education departments of 14 southern universities and colleges; and gave its residue to the Slater Fund for Negro colleges).

(Historians on the PEF’s influence):

(1)-Charles William Dabney: [The Aug. 1869 GP-Lee meeting] inspired the Four Conferences on Education in the South from which emerged the Southern Education Board and [John D. Rockefeller’s] General Education Board.

(2)-Abraham Flexner: There was the closest cooperation among, and interlocking officers and trustees of, the PEF, the Southern Education Board, the General Education Board, the Samuel F. Slater Fund, the Anna T. Jeanes Foundation, and the Rosenwald Fund.

(3)-Paul H. Buck: [the PEF was]: a fruitful experiment in harmony and understanding between the sections.

(4)-Thomas D. Clark: [the PEF] worked as an education leaven.

(5)-Harvey Wish: no kindness touched the hearts of the Southerners quite so much as Peabody’s educational bequest.

(6)-Jesse Brundage Sears: [the PEF was] the first successful precedent-setting educational foundation.

(7)-Daniel Coit Gilman: all subsequent foundations adopted the principles Peabody formulated.

Besides these firsts, in their 47-years existence, PEF executives and trustees pioneered the heartbeat of American educational philanthropy-using private wealth as a lever to tackle key educational and socio-economic problems, the results if good serving as models for other agencies and governments to emulate.

GP’s intent and money made this influence possible. In appreciation and to attest to his influence, southern communities have given his name to a score of streets, avenues, elementary and secondary schools, university education buildings, hotels, and one ecological park. GP built better than he knew.

With Franklin’s speech given and nicely illustrated in a 1956 pamphlet (below), with the GP dissertation accepted (first item below), graduation followed in Aug. 1956. We went to teaching posts at the Univ. of Texas, Austin (1957-64); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman (1964-68); W.Va. Univ. (1968-86), and (after retirement), Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff (1986-89), and Western Carolina Univ., Cullowhee (1989-94).

(George Peabody, a Biography, 1971, rev. 1995)

In May 1970, GPCFT Public Relations Director John E. Windrow (1899-1984) brought together prominent New England Peabodys for a Nashville dinner conference at which Franklin spoke. The new Vanderbilt Univ. Press director, in attendance, asked to see a revised GP manuscript. This welcome request threw us into a frenzy of revision. Welcome help came from London Athenaeum Club librarian Eileen Stiff’s friend, Margaret Leland Goldsmith, a professional writer. She and Eileen had befriended us through the years. Margaret’s editorial suggestions helped turn the dissertation into a readable 233 page book.

Fourteen years after completing the GP dissertation, Franklin Parker’s George Peabody, a Biography (Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 1971), was published. Twenty-four years later, for GP’s 200th birthday, Feb. 18, 1795-1995, a George Peabody, a Biography, 1995 revision with 12 illustrations was published. In 1994, also for GP’s 200th birthday, our 22 previously published GP articles were reprinted in a special bicentennial issue, “The Legacy of George Peabody,” Peabody Journal of Education, Fall 1994, 210 pp.

(What was His Philanthropic Motive?)

GP’s philanthropic motive may have been expressed in his motto, “Education, a debt due from present to future generations” (May 26, 1852), which accompanied his first gift founding his first Peabody Institute Library in hometown Danvers, later renamed Peabody, Mass.

His motive may also have been to compensate for his own lack of formal education. In 1831 he replied as follows to a nephew who asked his financial help to attend Yale College:

“Deprived, as I was, of the opportunity of obtaining anything more than the most common education, I am well qualified to estimate its value by the disadvantages I labour under in the society [in] which my business and situation in life frequently throws me, and willingly would I now give twenty times the expense attending a good education could I now possess it, but it is now too late for me to learn and I can only do to those who come under my care, as I could have wished circumstances had permitted others to have done by me.”

His motive may have been simply to succeed. In an 1856 speech he said: “Heaven has been pleased to reward my efforts with success, and has permitted me to establish a house in the great metropolis of England. I have endeavored to make it an American house, to give it an American atmosphere, to furnish it with American journals; to make it a center for American news, and an agreeable place for my friends visiting London.”

His motive may have been to gain honors, so abundant in his last years. After death he was elected to the New York Univ. Hall of Fame in 1900, where a bust of him was unveiled in 1926. His likeness was put on a large bronze door intended for the U.S. Capitol Building. Bicentennial programs were held on the 200th anniversary of his birth (1795-1995) at Harvard, Yale, in Nashville; in Danvers and in Peabody, Mass.; at the PIB; and at Westminster Abbey, England, where the marker at his temporary grave was refurbished.

His motive may have come from disappointment in love. Late in life a business friend congratulated him on being the greatest philanthropist of his time. GP reportedly replied, “After my disappointment long ago, I determined to devote myself to my fellow-beings, and am carrying out that decision to my best ability.”

This “disappointment” may have been an early failed romance with Elizabeth Knox (1799-1880) of Baltimore to whom he is said to have proposed twice.

There is also a documented broken engagement to Esther Elizabeth Hoppin (1819-1905) of Providence, R.I. She visited London for young Queen Victoria’s coronation (June 28, 1838). As a school girl she had earlier been infatuated with Alexander Lardner in Philadelphia. GP met her in London, fell in love, and proposed marriage. Returning to the U.S. she again met Lardner, realized her engagement to GP was a mistake, broke their engagement, married Lardner, had two children, and outlived GP by 35 years. Her portrait painted in Philadelphia by artist Thomas Sully shows her in all her beauty.

(His Strengths)

On GP’s strengths his first partner Elisha Riggs, Sr. wrote in his last letter to GP (April 17, 1852): “You always had the faculty of an extraordinary memory and strong mind which enabled you to carry out your plans better than almost any other man I ever knew…. [To] these happy faculties I attribute much of your prosperity. [Unusual] perseverance enabled you to rise to an extraordinary position…”

Economic historian Muriel E. Hidy’s wrote thus of GP’s strengths: “He [GP] had a vigorous personality, and, in spite of a humble origin, apparently found little difficulty in moving in prominent circles. An ability to attract firm friends among his business contemporaries gave him many useful connections….He benefited by the confidence which as a young man he had awakened in Elisha Riggs [Sr.]. Later his amiability brought him close association with “[leading U.S. business men: William Shepard Wetmore, John Cryder, Sherman and Curtis Miranda Lampson, and William Wilson Corcoran….].”

John Bright, British statesman, wrote in his diary (June 4, 1867): “Mr. Peabody is a remarkable man. He is 74 years old, large and has been powerful of frame. He has made an enormous fortune, which he is giving for good objects–chiefly for education in America and for useful purposes in London. He has had almost no schooling and has not read books, but has had much experience, and is deeply versed in questions of commerce and banking. He is a man of strong will, and can decide questions for himself.”

(Old Age Irritations)

Gout, rheumatism, and other ailments in old age sometimes made him irritable, crotchety, and abrupt. On July 14, 1869, four months before his death, he complained irritably to the trustees of his first Peabody Institute, Peabody, Mass.: “You spend too much. You spend too much.” Soon brightening he said smilingly, “Well, well, I must give you $50,000 more to get you out of trouble. And I must say that none of my foundations have given me so much satisfaction as this one at my native place.”

In his last decade he was incredible busy looking after his philanthropies and seeing friends and relatives. He was also set in his ways. The daughter of a business friend wrote of his autocracy in old age during his 1866-67 U.S. visit.: ‘The precision of business habits and a long old bachelor hood, combined with constitutional shyness, caused Mr. Peabody, at times, to appear to disadvantage…. He had himself accomplished so much that he felt [his] wishes…should become instantaneous facts–his small due from those around him….. [T]he ruthless serenity with which [he] countermanded luncheon and advanced the dinner hour to meet business exigencies…dismay[ed]…the hearts of the most devoted hostesses. I do not suppose Mr. Peabody ever thought of giving trouble, and certainly no one ever thought of remonstrating.”

Continued in Part 2 of 3 Parts.

bfparker@frontiernet.net

3 of 3 Parts: On the Trail of Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869).

Continued:

(Why His Fleeting Fame?)

Why has GP, so lauded in his last years, been so largely forgotten. This may be due to the fleeting nature of fame. Each generation chooses its heroes who rise, flourish, are replaced, and often forgotten. This view is suggested by historian John Steele Gordon whose article, “Most Underrated Philanthropist,” American Heritage, Vol. 50, No. 3 (May-June 1999), pp. 68-69 reads in part: “Peabody is unjustly forgotten today, but his unprecedented generosity was greatly appreciated in his time.”

(Rediscovering GP Our Grand Adventure)

Looking back, we marvel at the good fortune, helpful people, and unusual turning points that enabled us to find and pursue a neglected American hero. Newly married, seeking challenges–when the GP research opportunity fell our way, we saw he was worth pursuing. As uncertain innocents we took risks, made mistakes, and were often rescued by friends and fate.

In retrospect “Rediscovering Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869)” intermittently over the last 50 years has been a grand adventure.

(Authors’ Publications on GP: Dissertation)

Franklin Parker, Ed. D. Dissertation, “George Peabody, Founder of Modern Philanthropy” (Nashville: George Peabody College for Teachers, 1956), 3 vols., 1219 pp. Sold as Doctoral Dissertation No. 19,758, microfilm or hard copy, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 (Phone 1-800-521-0600 or 313-761-4700, FAX 313-973-1540). See Dissertation Abstracts, XVII, No. 8 (Aug. 1957), pp. 1701-1702.

(Books)

1-Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971, 233 pp. Although out of print 1-there is a microform reprint in CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), IX, 3 (Nov. 1985), Fiche 7 D10 (CORE is a British miroform journal) and 2-microfilm & print versions were also sold by Books on Demand, University Microfilms, 300 N. Zeeb Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 [ask for LC79-15,7741, O-8357-3261-4,2039482]).

Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971, was recorded on 2 audio cassettes, read by narrator Bruce Bortz at the Maryland State Library, held by the Maryland State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Book Number Md-PH (MDC334), less Chap. 25 “GP’s Legacy;” “An Essay on Sources;” “Sources of Extant Portraits, Photographs, and Illustrations;” and less the Index.

2-Franklin Parker, George Peabody, A Biography. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, Feb. 1995, 278 pp., revised, 12 photos, out of print, but can be read freely by typing– George Peabody, a Biography, by Franklin Parker–in: http://books.google.com/

(Encyclopedias)

1-(With Betty J. Parker), “Peabody Education Fund in Tennessee (1867-1914).” Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture (Nashville: Tennessee Historical Society, 1998), pp. 725-726.

2-Franklin Parker, “George Peabody (1795-1869), Merchant, Banker, Creator of the Peabody Education Fund, and a Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” Encyclopedia of Notable American Philanthropists, ed. by Robert T. Grimm, Jr. (Greenwood Press & Oryx Press for Indiana Univ. Center for Philanthropy in the U.S., 2003), pp. 242-246.

3-Franklin Parker, “George Peabody (1795-1869),” Encyclopedia of Philanthropy in the United States. Edited by Dwight Burlingame (Greenwood Press and Oryx Press, for Indiana Univ. Center on Philanthropy, 2003).

(Peabody Journal of Education Issue)

Franklin Parker, “Legacy of George Peabody: Special Bicentenary Issue” [reprint of 21 articles], Peabody Journal of Education, LXX, No. l (Fall 1994), 210 pp., ISBN: 0805898956, by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, sold by Peabody Journal of Education, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, 113 Payne Hall, Post Office Box 41, Nashville, Tenn. 37203, Phone: (615) 322-8963. Also sold at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ paperback , 216 pages (1996).

(Pamphlet)

Franklin Parker, George Peabody (1795-1869), Founder of Modern Philanthropy. Nashville, Tenn.: George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, 1956.

(Chapter in Book)

Franklin Parker, “George Peabody (1795-1869), Founder of Modern Educational Philanthropy: His Contributions to Higher Education,” pp. 71-99 in Academic Profiles in Higher Education. Edited by James J. Van Patten. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992.

(GP Articles in Journals by Franklin and Betty J. Parker, Since 1955)

1-”Founder Paid Debt to Education,” Peabody Post, VIII, No. 8 (Feb. 10, 1955), p. 1.

2-”The Girl George Peabody Almost Married,” Peabody Reflector, XXVII, No. 8 (Oct. 1955), pp. 215, 224-225.

3-”George Peabody and the Spirit of America,” Peabody Reflector, XXIX, No. 2 (Feb. 1956), pp. 26-27.

4-”On the Trail of George Peabody,” Berea Alumnus, XXVI, No. 8 (May 1956), p. 4.

5-(With Walter Merrill), “William Lloyd Garrison and George Peabody,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, XCV, No. 1 (Jan. 1959), pp. 1-20.

6-”George Peabody and Maryland,” Peabody of Journal of Education, XXXVII, No. 3 (Nov. 1959), pp. 150-157.

7-”An Approach to Peabody’s Gifts and Legacies,” Essex Institute Historical Collections, XCVI, No. 4 (Oct. 1960), pp. 291-296.

8-”Robert E. Lee, George Peabody, and Sectional Reunion,” Peabody Journal of Education, XXXVII, No. 4 (Jan. 1960), pp. 195-202.

9-”George Peabody and the Search for Sir John Franklin, 1852-1854,” American Neptune, XX, No. 2 (April 1960), pp. 104-111.

10-”Influences on the Founder of the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins Hospital,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, XXXIV, No. 2 (March-April 1960), pp. 148-153.

11-”George Peabody’s Influence on Southern Educational Philanthropy,” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, XX, No. 2 (March 1961), pp. 65-74.

12-”Maryland’s Yankee Friend–George Peabody, Esq.,” Maryland Teacher, XX, No. 5 (Jan. 1963), pp. 6-7, 24. Reprinted in Peabody Notes (Spring 1963), pp. 4-7, 10.

13-”The Funeral of George Peabody,” Essex Institute Historical Collection, XCIX, No. 2 (April 1963), pp. 67-87. Reprinted: Peabody Journal of Education, XLIV, No. 1 (July 1966), pp. 21-36.

14-”The Girl George Peabody Almost Married,” Peabody Notes, XVII, No. 3 (Spring 1964), pp. 10-14.

15-”George Peabody, 1795-1869, Founder of Modern Philanthropy,” Peabody Reflector, XXXVIII, No. I (Jan.-Feb. 1965), pp. 9-16.

16-”George Peabody and the Peabody Museum of Salem,” Curator, X, No. 2 (June 1967), pp. 137-153.

17-”To Live Fulfilled: George Peabody, 1795-1869, Founder of George Peabody College for Teachers,” Peabody Reflector, XLIII, No. 2 (Spring 1970), pp. 50-53.

18-”On the Trail of George Peabody,” Peabody Reflector, XLIV, No. 4 (Fall 1971), pp. 100-103.

19-”George Peabody, 1795-1869: His Influence on Educational Philanthropy,” Peabody Journal of Education, XLIX, No. 2 (Jan. 1972), pp. 138-145.

20-”Pantheon of Philanthropy: George Peabody,” National Society of Fund Raisers Journal, I, No. 1 (Dec. 1976), pp. 16-20.

21-”In Praise of George Peabody, 1795-1869,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XV, No. 2 (June 1991), Fiche 5 AO2.

22-”George Peabody (1795-1869), Founder of Modern Educational Philanthropy: His Contributions to Higher Education,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVI, No. 1 (March 1992), Fiche 11 D06.

23-”Education Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869), Founder of George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, and the Peabody Library and Conservatory of Music, Baltimore (Brief History).” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVIII, No. 1 (March 1994), Fiche ? Abstract in Resources in Education.

24-(With Betty J. Parker), “George Peabody’s (1795-1869) Educational Legacy,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVIII, No. 1 (March 1994), Fiche 1 C05. Abstract in Resources in Education, XXIX, No. 9 (Sept. 1994), p. 147 (ERIC ED 369 720). (Note: Resources in Education abstracts documents published in ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) since 1966 by the U.S. Department of Education, sold in microform and in hard copy).

25-(With Betty J. Parker), “Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869), George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, and the Peabody Library and Conservatory of Music, Baltimore (Brief History),” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVIII, No. 1 (March 1994), Fiche 3 A10. Abstract in Resources in Education, XXX, No. 5 (May 1995), pp. 133-134 (ERIC ED 378 070). Same in Journal of Educational Philosophy & History, XLIV (1994), pp. 69-93.

26-”Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869): Photos and Related Illustrations in Printed Sources and Depositories,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVIII, No. 2 (June 1994), Fiche 1 D1Z; abstract in Resources in Education, XXX, No. 6 (June 1995), p. 149 (ERIC ED 397 179).

27-”The Legacy of George Peabody: Special Bicentenary Issue” [reprints 22 article on George Peabody], Peabody Journal of Education, LXX, No. 1 (Fall 1994), 210 pp.

28-”Educational Philanthropist George Peabody and Peabody College of Vanderbilt
University: Dialogue with Bibliography,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XVIII, No. 3 (Dec. 1994), Fiche 2 E06.

29-(With Betty J. Parker). “A Forgotten Hero’s Birthday [George Peabody]: Lion a nd the Lamb,” Crossville Chronicle(Tenn.), Feb. 22, 1995, p. 4A.

30-(With Betty J. Parker). “America’s Forgotten Educational Philanthropist: A Bicentennial View,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XIX, No. 1 (March 1995), Fiche 7 A11. Abstract in Resources in Education, XXXI, No. 12 (Dec. 1996), p. 161 (ERIC ED 398 126).

31-(With Betty J. Parker). “Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) and the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts: Dialogue and Chronology,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XIX, No. 1 (March 1995), Fiche 7 B01.

32-(With Betty J. Parker). “George Peabody (1795-1869); Merchant, Banker, Philanthropist,” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XX, No. 1 (March 1996), Fiche 9 B01. Abstract in Resources in Education, XXXI, No. 3 (March 1996), p. 169 (ERIC ED 388 571).

33-(With Betty J. Parker). “On the Trail of Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869): A Dialogue.” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XX, No. 3 (Oct. 1996), Fiche 13 B07.

34-(With Betty J. Parker). “Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) and First U.S. Paleontology Prof. Othniel Charles Marsh (1831-1899) at Yale University.” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XXII, No. 1 (March 1998), Fiche 7 A04.

35-(With Betty J. Parker). “Educational Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) and U.S.-British Relations, 1850s-60s.” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), XXII, No. 1 (March 1999), Fiche 1 A05. Also abstract in Resources in Education, XXXV, No. 6 (May 2000), p. ?. (ERIC ED 436 444).

36-(With Betty J. Parker). “Educational Philanthropist George Peabody’s (1795-1869) Death and Funeral.” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education) and Abstract in Resources in Education (ERIC ED).

37-(With Betty J. Parker). “George Peabody A-Z: People, Places, Events, and Institutions Connected with the Massachusetts-born Merchant, London Banker, and Educational Philanthropist.” CORE (Collected Original Resources in Education), Vol. 23, No. 3 (Oct. 1999), Fiche 11 C10.

38-(With Betty J. Parker). “U.S. Medical Education Reformers Abraham Flexner (1866-1959) and Simon Flexner (1863-1946).” Abstract in Resources in Education, XXXVI, No. 1 (Jan. 2001), p. 160 (ERIC ED 443 765).

39-(With Betty J. Parker). “General Robert E. Lee (1807-70) and Philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, July 23-Aug. 30, 1869.” Abstract in Resources in Education, XXXVI, No. 2 (Feb. 2001), p. 184 (ERIC ED 449 17). Version without references: http://users.multipro.com/bfparker/LeeRE_GP.html

40-(With Betty J. Parker). “Forgotten George Peabody (1795-1869); Massachusetts-born Merchant, London-based Banker, Philanthropist. His Life, Influence, and Related People, Places, Events: A Handbook”, 1,243 pp. Abstract in Resources in Education, Vol. XXXVI, No. 3 (March 2001), p. 122 (ERIC ED 445 998).

41-(With Betty J. Parker). “Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee: Past and Future; From Frontier Academy (1785) to Frontiers of Teaching and Learning.” Review Journal of Philosophy and Social Science (Anu Books, Meerut, India), Special Issue (2003), pp.

END. Addendum: For full access to–

George Peabody (1795-1869): A-Z Handbook of the Massachusetts-Born Merchant in the South, London-Based Banker, and Philanthropist’s Life, Influence, and Related People, Places, Events, and Institutions. ©2007, By Franklin Parker & Betty J. Parker, bfparker@frontiernet.net

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END of Part 3 of 3. END of Manuscript. bfparker@frontiernet.net