Sharing Student Scholarship: Curriculum at Baylor, 1921-1930

For the next five weeks, we’re putting up teasers about the fascinating Baylor history, 1921-1930, that Higher Education and Student Affairs students analyzed and shared on the Foundations and History of Higher Education class blog. This week we’re looking at Curriculum at Baylor, with papers examining the 1920s evolution controversy, the founding of the business school, and the developing Spanish department. Did you know that…

• President Samuel Palmer Brooks was concerned that the student body, incensed by J. Frank Norris’ accusations against the university on the teaching of evolution might be incited to mob action by Norris himself as a publicity stunt in his favor. Read more…
• One of the motivations for beginning the business school in 1923 was that Baylor’s male enrollment was dropping, as men were going to UT (where they could pursue business studies) instead of Baylor. Discover more…
• Spanish faculty members in the 1920s sometimes were called on to teach other subjects, such as German and chemistry. (Fortunately, the professors in question did have background in those disciplines!) Learn more…

We hope you’ll explore these blog posts and enjoy the benefits of the HESA students’ research and scholarship. If you’re inspired to dig deeper, most of their sources can be found in the University Archives within The Texas Collection and in our digitized materials available online in the Baylor University Libraries Digital Collections.

Background on this project: Students in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) masters program have taken on the challenge of creating original scholarship that adds to what is known about Baylor’s history. As part of Dr. Nathan Alleman’s Foundations and History of Higher Education course, students were grouped under the five class themes: curriculum, finance, students/student groups, access, and religion. In collaboration with Texas Collection archivists and librarians, students mined bulletins, newspapers, correspondence, and other primary resources as they researched their topics. Final papers have been posted on blogs.baylor.edu/hesabaylorhistoryproject and grouped by their particular sub-topic so that patrons, researchers, and other interested persons could benefit from these students’ work. This is the second installment of an annual accumulating project–see last year’s teasers here. Please visit again for future installments!