Adventist Education, Origins of

This article focuses on the early history of Adventist education, spanning a period of approximately 30 years, from 1844 to 1875.

Background

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, formally established in 1863, arose from the Millerite movement of the 1830s and 1840s that ultimately focused on the expected return of Christ on October 22, 1844. In anticipation of this event, many families withdrew their children from school. Mary Cummings, for example, recalls that “R. F. Cottrell’s family of four children, his brother Harvey Cottrell with four children, brother Solomon’s family with four or five [children], one or two others and myself [were] taken out of the schools and did not go to school again until five years later, at least most did not go, some never.”¹

When the return of Christ did not take place as anticipated, some families sent their children back to school. There, however, the children were bullied and taunted for their faith. M. E. Olsen, in the first comprehensive history of Seventh-day Adventists, notes: “At the time of the disappointment in 1844 and after, the children of Adventists were subjected to not a little petty persecution on the part of their schoolmates, who would call them ‘Millerites,’ ask them when they were ‘going up,’ and otherwise taunt them.”² As a result, some were again taken out of school.

Other believers maintained that Christ’s coming was still imminent and, consequently, did not believe that education was important or necessary. In the lead article of the first issue of The Youth’s Instructor in 1852, for example, James White wrote: “It is a fact that many who profess to be looking for Christ and the judgment, have greatly neglected their duty to their children. Some have thought that because Christ was so soon coming, they need not bestow much labor on their children. This is a grievous error.”³

Ten years later, W. H. Ball wrote to the Review asking if it is “right and consistent for us who believe with all our hearts in the immediate coming of the Lord, to seek to give our children an education? If so, should we send them to a district or town school, where they learn twice as much evil as good?” James White replied that “the fact that Christ is very soon coming is no reason why the mind should not be improved. A well-disciplined and informed mind can best receive and cherish the sublime truths of the Second Advent.” While White recognized deleterious influences at public schools, he declared, “To take children from school, where they would receive some sort of discipline, and let them run in the streets, as some have done, to get a corrupt street education, is but little less than insanity.” He added, however, that “no general rule can apply to all children. We must take into the account a variety of circumstances; viz., the character of the schools, embracing both teachers and students, the dispositions of our children, the instructions and government they receive at home, etc., etc. Mothers, if they are what they should be, are the best teachers of small children.”⁴

As late as 1872, G. I. Butler, General Conference president, observed that there were Adventists who felt “much distressed at the prospect [of establishing a denominational school], thinking it is a denial of our faith in the soon coming of Christ, and that it will all end in formality and spiritual death.”⁵

Nevertheless, not many years passed after 1844 before at least certain Sabbath-keeping Adventists began to recognize the need for some form of education for their children. In line with a practice common at the time, especially in rural areas, one or more families would hire a teacher to teach their children. What was noteworthy in this case, however, is that the education in these homeschool cooperatives was provided by someone who shared their religious beliefs.

Washington Morse, an early Adventist minister, recalled: “During the years 1853-54, the sentiment prevailed quite largely among S. D. Adventists that their children should be educated more directly under the supervision of those of the same faith than was possible in the public schools. In conformity with this idea, there were many instances of home schools among our people, where the children of one or more families were gathered together, and a teacher procured who was firm in the faith, and competent to instruct in matters of religion, as well as in the common branches of school education.”⁶

Early Sabbatarian Adventist Schools

One of the earliest Sabbatarian Adventist schools began operating on December 16, 1853, in Bucks Bridge, New York, under the leadership of a Sabbath-keeping farmer-preacher, John Byington, who would later become the first president of the General Conference, serving from 1863 to 1865. The school met in the home of John’s nephew, Aaron Hilliard, who, along with John, had become a Sabbath-keeping Adventist the prior year. John Byington’s daughter, Martha Dorner Byington, age 19, was the teacher. There were 17 students enrolled. The school register included the names: “Cynthia, Seymour, Sydney, Eddie (Aaron Hilliard’s children); Clark, Cyrus, Parmelia (Henry Hilliard’s children); John, Orange, Ellen, Lucy (Penoyer children); Sam Crosby children; and the Peck boy.”⁷

The following year, the school moved to the parlor of Henry Hilliard’s home and Lucinda C. Payne, age 26, became the teacher. Lucinda would subsequently marry Henry Hilliard, after the death in 1855 of his first wife, Pheba. Meanwhile, Martha Byington was attending the Potsdam Academy,⁸ some ten miles away, for further study, and would subsequently marry George Washington Amadon in 1860. In 1855, Martha’s brother, John Fletcher Byington, at the age of 23, became the teacher at the Bucks Bridge home school. John Byington Buck notes that some children belonging to non-Adventist families passed by the public-school building to attend the Adventist school, which was now conducted in the church building. John Fletcher Byington’s tenure as teacher may have lasted for more than one year.⁹

Meanwhile, in 1854, an Adventist home school was conducted in Jackson, Michigan, taught by a member of the congregation. Alonzo Kellogg and his brother Lucius were among the students. In 1854, another Adventist home school operated in Northfield, Vermont under the leadership of Josiah Hart, an Adventist pastor, with Mary Baker as teacher of Hart’s four children.¹⁰ Also, during the early 1850s, Marion Concordia Stowell, who along with her brother Lewis Oswald Stowell were among the first Sabbath-keeping Adventists in Maine, taught school at the home of a Sabbatarian preacher, George W. Holt, in Oswego, New York. At the time Marion Stowell was in her early 20s and would subsequently serve as a district schoolteacher in Warren, Illinois. She and her husband, Delos Lagrange Truesdail, would raise at least two orphans, one of whom, M. Bessie DeGraw Sutherland, would become a well-known Adventist educator.

Some of the early home school attempts may have been influenced by an 1851 article by Joseph Bates in the Review, “Duty to Our Children,” in which he urged parents to provide religious instruction to their children,¹¹ as well as the 1852 article by James White in the first issue of The Youth’s Instructor along similar lines.¹² Ellen White’s 1854 Review article “Duty of Parents to Their Children” may also have had a role, in which she advocated, “Parents, if you wish to save your children, separate them from the world, keep them from the company of wicked children.”¹³

In October 1855, James and Ellen White moved the Adventist printing press from Rochester, New York to Battle Creek, Michigan. Their son, Edson, would later recall that he enrolled in “the first Adventist school in Battle Creek [that] was conducted by Mrs. M. M. Osgood…. It ran about one year.”¹⁴ In 1856, Robert Holland, in his early twenties and having served as a public-school teacher, opened a private school in Battle Creek for the children of Sabbath-keeping Adventists. The duration of the school was brief, however, due to parents’ dissatisfaction with lax discipline at the school and not paying the tuition.¹⁵ In 1857, Mary Louise Morton taught a school in the second church building. Tuition was 25 cents a week per pupil. Again, the school lasted only a year, as Morton moved away. Significantly, the Morton school, while not officially sponsored by the church, was among the first to be held in an Adventist church building.¹⁶

By late 1857, Martha Byington was teaching James and Ellen White’s sons in Battle Creek, as evidenced by an entry in Martha’s diary, her father, John Byington, having moved to Battle Creek earlier in the year. James White may have hired Martha as a private tutor for his own children, as described by W. C. White. Around this time, James White would write a three-part series of articles in the Review titled “Sabbath-Keepers’ Children” where he would advocate that it would be better for children to be educated at home by parents or by a Sabbath-keeping tutor, than to be exposed to immorality in the public schools.¹⁷ He stated, for example:

In many locations Sabbath keepers can employ pious and devoted teachers, who, with the united efforts of parents at home, can do much in leading their children in the path of virtue and holiness…. We would plead for the children, that they, at least, be taught to read and write the English language, and other common branches as far as possible, provided it can be done without exposing them to the corrupting influences of our [public] schools…. Shall we come out of Babylon, and leave our children behind? 

Nonetheless, he acknowledged that it was preferable for children to attend a public school if there was not another alternative: “To take them from the common schools, and let them run at large with the children in the streets, is a still greater evil.”¹⁸

In 1858, with the support of the leaders of the Battle Creek Church, John Fletcher Byington planned to open a school in Battle Creek. James White promoted the school in the Review, “Bro. J. F. Byington designs commencing a School in Battle Creek the First day of February, 1858, for the benefit of the children of Sabbath-keepers in the place, and also those abroad.”¹⁹ He noted that “much anxiety has been expressed by several brethren and sisters in other towns in regard to sending their children to a good School in Battle Creek. This, and the wants of our own children, has induced us to invite Bro. Byington to open a School here.”

James White highlighted that John Byington’s “success in teaching has been good. Teaching is the business of his choice, and we expect he will teach an excellent School.” The announcement concluded by stating that “youth and children sent here to school will have to comply with the rules of the Teacher, and the wishes of the Committee, out of School, as well as in School, who will find them boarding places with brethren on reasonable terms. Those wishing to send scholars, will please write immediately to Eld. James White.”

In October, C. Smith and J. P. Kellogg posted a further announcement in the Review, “An invitation is here given to all who wish to attend School, to come.”²⁰ Accommodations would be available for those students who came from outside Battle Creek and a committee would oversee the functions of the school. Tuition for the new term of twelve weeks would be “two dollars and twenty-five cts. per scholar.”

Sadly, the school closed shortly thereafter, sometime in 1859. W. C. White notes that “the high hopes of Elder White and the officers of the Battle Creek Church regarding this school effort were never realized. The people who criticised Robert Holland for too little discipline, criticised Fletcher Byington for too much discipline, and after a brief and stormy experience, the enterprise was abandoned.”²¹ Nevertheless, it represents perhaps the first church-related school officially endorsed by Sabbath-keeping Adventist leaders.

James White was disheartened by the whole affair. In 1861, in response to William Russell who had written to the Review in reference to establishing a school in Battle Creek, James White, as editor, replied, “We have had a thorough trial of a school at Battle Creek, under most favourable circumstances, and have given it up, as it failed to meet the expectations of those interested. We therefore wish to be excused from acting any part in reference to your enterprise.”²² Nearly a decade would pass without record of a school in Battle Creek for Adventist children.

It probably did not help that in 1862 the city of Battle Creek opened a new school, known as “Number Three,” in the west section of the town where most Adventist families lived. W. C. White recalls that good teachers were hired, who endeavored to conduct the school in harmony with Christian principles. As a result, many Sabbath-keeping Adventist parents sent their children to this public primary school. This apparently included the children of James and Ellen White. James White referenced their own experience: “We have not sent our children to public school till the eldest was fifteen. Considering all the circumstances we fully believe we have acted wisely in keeping them from schools which lacked discipline, and then in sending them when a school was established in our part of the city of the highest order of discipline to be found in common schools.”²³

As students would graduate from Number Three and move to the High School, however, “parents became perplexed and anxious as they observed that the worldly and irreligious influences were moulding the character of their children.”²⁴ Something needed to be done.

Groundwork for the First Denominational School

In May 1863, the Seventh-day Adventist denomination was formally organized, with the name “Seventh-day Adventist” having been selected at a special conference in 1860. By 1866, the Health Institute had been established, the publishing work at the Review and Herald was expanding, and the Battle Creek Church had grown to nearly 400 members.

About this time, a Michigan schoolteacher in his mid-thirties, Goodloe Harper Bell,²⁵ came in poor health to the Western Health Reform Institute, later Battle Creek Sanitarium. Bell was also a recent widower, his wife Catharine having died on Feb 2, 1866, leaving Bell with several young daughters. Although largely self-educated, Bell had studied at Oberlin College in Ohio,²⁶ although he had not graduated due to the death of his father and the need to become the main provider for the family. Oberlin College, however, featured an innovative curriculum that dispensed with the classics and featured health, religious training, combined work with study, and prepared students for mission and service. Through the health program, Bell recovered and became a Seventh-day Adventist.²⁷ While in Battle Creek, Bell began to teach grammar and writing to several Adventist young people, including James White’s son, Edson.²⁸

When the leaders of the Battle Creek Church became aware of Bell’s work, they employed him in 1868 to teach a day school. Students included Edson and Willie White, John Harvey and William Keith Kellogg, Homer Aldrick, E. R. Jones, E. C. Loughborough, and J. Byron Sperry. ²⁹ In the August 18, 1868, issue of the Review James White would report: “Bro. G. H. Bell will commence the second term of his select school in Battle Creek, Sept. 9. This school has thus far proved a success.”³⁰ A “select school” meant that students paid tuition; in this case, the school incorporated post-primary education.

By early 1869, the church organization provided the original Review printing office, a two-story, twenty by thirty-foot frame building, for use by Bell’s select school. The school was conducted in the upper floor, while the Bells lived on the ground floor. After one year, however, the Battle Creek Church abandoned its sponsorship due to the financial burden of the school. Bell, however, continued the school for an additional year or so as a personal endeavor. Bell would serve as editor of The Youth’s Instructor from May 1869 through February 1871. He also served as Sabbath School superintendent at the Battle Creek Church, significantly shaping the focus and format of the Sabbath School.

Meanwhile, young people working at the Review publishing house and at the Health Institute began to clamor for further educational opportunities. Ellen White recommended that “the Review and Herald hands should have the opportunity of school privileges combined with their work.”³¹ In response, early morning classes in penmanship and evening grammar classes were organized, along with instruction in Bible doctrines and the sciences, with Bell contributing.

Eventually, however, Bell succumbed to the heavy pressure of multiple responsibilities and criticism of his work, and left Battle Creek sometime during 1871. On December 10, 1871, Ellen White wrote a stern rebuke to the Battle Creek Church regarding their treatment of Bell, while acknowledging that he had also made mistakes.³²

The School Committee

Meanwhile, James and Ellen White had returned to Battle Creek from Greenville, Michigan, where they had been living for two years, “and entered heartily into planning, and preparation for a school, that should grow into a Training School for Christian Workers, and finally into a denominational college.”³³ Although James and Ellen were leading advocates, they were joined in this endeavor by G. I. Butler, S. N. Haskell, Uriah Smith, J. H. Waggoner, and J. N. Andrews. Together they sought “to secure such conditions… as would safeguard the spiritual interests of the proposed school”.

In early 1872, several meetings were held in Battle Creek regarding the topic of education among Seventh-day Adventists. James and Ellen White convened these meetings and spoke about the importance of founding a denominational school. As a result of the meetings, a committee was established to arrange for the “immediate establishment of a school,” with Uriah Smith serving as chair.

On April 16, 1872, the committee published an article in the Review titled “A School in Battle Creek.”³⁴ The article began with a series of questions:

Shall we take hold, as a people, of the subject of education, and form an educational society? Shall we have a denominational school, the object of which shall be, in the shortest, most thorough and practical way, to qualify young men and women, to act some part, more or less public, in the cause of God? Shall there be someplace provided where are young people can go to learn such branches of the sciences as they can put into immediate and practical use, and at the same time be instructed on the great themes of prophetic and other Bible truth?

For their part, the committee stated that the need for such a school was “very evident”, especially in terms of the calls for gospel workers who have “passed through such a course of training”. The article then asked the readers to participate in funding the enterprise by subscribing to one or more $10 shares for this venture.

Although the development of a formal institution was the overarching goal, the committee opined that “the more immediate need is to start the school in some form. To this end we would like an immediate response from all who would be glad to attend such a school.” The announcement noted that classes could commence by May 13 and that “tuition will be no higher than at other places; and board can be obtained at from $2.50 to $3.00 per week”. It also asked perspective students to respond to perhaps the first market survey in Adventist education, consisting of four questions:

1. What studies have you already taken, and what proficiency have you made in them?

2. What studies in the regular English branches do you wish to take up?

3. Do you wish to learn French, German, Greek, or Latin, one or all?

4. Is it your special object to fit yourself to take some part in the work of God?

In the May 7 issue of the Review, George I. Butler, General Conference President, wrote: “The School must commence at the earliest point practicable. Two brethren are coming from Europe, to be educated in the English language, and become more fully acquainted with our faith.” He noted that the school “is not designed to be a local affair, designed for the children of Sabbath-keepers here in Battle Creek…. This movement is designed for the general benefit of the cause.”³⁵

He then explained the purpose of the school:

There are plenty of places in the land where any of this class could go to obtain an education in other languages, grammar, rhetoric, logic, history, philosophy, and the sciences in general; but they would lack the other advantage which they would need, that is, the society and influence of those of like faith, and lectures and instruction on the different points of Bible truth as they hold them…. On no other consideration, except to secure both these advantages, could we suppose that persons would be to the expense of coming here from a distance, instead of attending good schools nearer their own homes. The need in this direction is so urgent, that it is decided at once to enter upon the experiment. We believe it will be a success.

In a subsequent article, Butler would reiterate this dual purpose by declaring,

We want a school to be controlled by our people where influences of a moral character may be thrown around the pupils which will tend to preserve them from those influences which are so common and injurious in the majority of the schools of the present day; and in this school we want a department in which those who would labor in the ministry, or in other public positions of usefulness, may receive that instruction which will qualify them for the duties of those positions…. We want our children to have a chance for mental culture without moral loss.³⁶

A May 14 update in the Review reported that the school committee had formally requested the General Conference Committee to assume management of the project. The General Conference agreed and the proposed school thus became the first denominational educational endeavor. The article also included the announcement that the first school term would begin on June 3 and would last 12 weeks. Tuition would range from $3-$6, depending on the courses taken. Furthermore, “a place is provided, and teacher engaged.” The update concluded by reiterating that the chief object is “to aid those who contemplate becoming public laborers in the cause of truth”. The article, however, added, “Of course, those who have no such object in view, but who wish merely to acquire an education under the advantages and in the society here offered, are at perfect liberty to attend.”³⁷

The teacher that had been engaged was Goodloe Harper Bell. In March correspondence, Ellen White had urged Bell to return to Battle Creek and teach at the school that would soon open. Bell had replied on April 9 that, while he had lingering misgivings about being accepted or succeeding, he would be willing to return.

In the June 11 Review, Uriah Smith announced that the school had commenced on June 3 as planned, with 12 students and G. H. Bell as teacher.³⁸

The Proper Education Articles

Beginning in 1872, Ellen White would support the school project through her articles. Starting with the September issue of The Health Reformer and for the next year, she would prepare an article on the topic of education for almost every monthly edition, many of these articles bearing the title, “Proper Education”.³⁹ These installments were based on the “Proper Education” manuscript, her first extensive essay on the topic of education and written in January, 1872. The manuscript addressed not only parents but “teachers of schools,” providing guidance for formal learning. A keynote phrase in was the affirmation, “We are reformers.”⁴⁰

She began the series by stating, “It is the nicest work ever assumed by men and women to deal with youthful minds. The greatest care should be taken in the education of youth to vary the manner of instruction so as to call forth the high and noble powers of the mind.”⁴¹ While the final portion of the first article would address health and physical development, as might perhaps be expected in a health journal, its primary emphasis was on “how to direct the developing intellect.” She would explain:

There is a period for training children, and a time for educating youth…. The training which Solomon enjoins [ref. Proverbs 22:6] is to direct, educate, and develop. In order for parents and teachers to do this work, they must themselves understand “the way the child should go.” This embraces more than merely having a knowledge of books. It takes in everything that is good, virtuous, righteous, and holy. It comprehends the practice of temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love to God, and to each other. In order to attain this object, the physical, mental, moral, and religious education of children must have attention.

Ellen White then differentiated the training of animals and the education of children – who have “an intelligent will” and can be taught to reason from principle. The goal was to develop persons who could think, decide, and act for themselves, having “an opinion of their own” and “confidence in themselves.” She warned that those “teachers who are gratified that they have almost complete control of the will of their scholars are not the most successful teachers, although the appearance for the time being may be flattering.” By contrast, “those who make it their object to so educate their pupils that they may see and feel that the power lies in themselves to make men and women of firm principle, qualified for any position in life, are the most useful and permanently successful teachers.”

Subsequent articles in the series would emphasize the importance of manual labor in the educational program, which became a dominant theme throughout the series. Other themes, however, included the role of research and reflection, the need for school breaks, the advantages of a delayed start for young children, teaching through example, the need to develop task commitment, and education for practical life, among other topics.

Ellen White also pointed out the risks of sending young people to high schools “under the present plan of education”:

Parents have their fears as they send them at a distance from home to school, but flatter themselves that as they have had good examples and religious instruction, they will be true to principle in their high-school life. Licentiousness exists in these institutions of learning, and many parents have but a faint idea to what extent…. And after all their efforts, many have the bitter experience of receiving their children from their course of studies, with dissolute habits and ruined constitutions…. [These parents] lament that they sent their children from them, to be exposed to temptations, and come back to them physical, mental, and moral wrecks.

In the full essay, she would conclude by affirming: “We need a school” – a school where students could study the common branches of education and at the same time “learn more perfectly the truths of God’s word for this time.”⁴²

Transition Toward a College

James White and others, however, envisioned, not merely Bell’s “select school” but an institution of higher education. In the March 11, 1873, address to the General Conference in session, James White declared: “We want a school. We want a denominational school… in which the languages, especially the spoken and written languages of the present day can be taught, and learned by young men and women to prepare them to become printers, editors, and teachers; and if we can do no more, where our young men that are about entering the ministry, and women, too, who are to be laborers in this great work, can be instructed thoroughly in the common branches, where their minds can be disciplined to study…. I know of no branch that needs our attention so much at the present time as a denominational school.”⁴³ James White envisioned a school of at least 200 to perhaps 500 students and believed that this was a realistic goal. Spalding notes that in the establishment of the training school, “James White’s voice swayed the people and tipped the balance.”⁴⁴

The General Conference session proceeded to adopt several resolutions on the topic of education. The first was “to take immediate steps for the formation of an Educational Society, and establishment of a denominational school,” while the second required applicants to present a certificate of character to “secure a good moral influence in the community where the school shall be located.” The third resolution delineated the role of the school as a place “where those who give themselves to the work of the Lord may discipline their minds to study, and at least qualify themselves to read, speak, and write the English language correctly; where our people can send their sons and daughters with comparative safety; and where men and women may study those languages especially now spoken by the people of those nations from whom we hope to gather a harvest of souls to the Lord.”⁴⁵ The General Conference Committee would oversee the establishing of the school.

The following month, John Nevins Andrews would write an editorial in the Review stating, “It is very evident that such a place for instruction is greatly needed. It is not enough that those who offer themselves to become laborers in the work of the ministry should be men of piety. This is indeed indispensable, but it is also necessary that those who teach others should have knowledge to impart.” He further argued that “the calls that come from every quarter, from men speaking other languages, must be answered by us. We cannot do this in our present circumstances. But we can do it if the Lord bless our effort in the establishment of our proposed school. We have delayed this effort too long.”⁴⁶

George I. Butler, General Conference President, concurred:

The next great necessity among us is the school…. We cannot accomplish that work unless we have proper buildings in which to teach, lecture, and instruct those who have something to do in the cause, as well as our children whom we wish to have kept from the influences prevailing largely among the secular schools of the present time…. No other great undertaking is so urgent as this.⁴⁷

In July, James White would highlight the matter of funding: “We should have had a denominational school of some magnitude, for the education of young men and young women, preparatory to engaging in the several departments of the great work, when the subject was first agitated in 1869. Who can estimate the loss to the cause sustained during these four years? There should be immediately raised $50,000 for our first school.”⁴⁸

With the many efforts, by the Fall of that year funding exceeding $50,000 had been pledged for the project, with $10,000 already in hand. This from a total membership base of not more than 6,000. James and Ellen White themselves contributed $3,000.⁴⁹

By December 31, a 12-acre plot of ground, the Hussey estate, situated across from the Health Institute, had been purchased for $16,000 as the site of the new school. Of this land, seven acres was reserved for the school, with the remainder sold as residential lots.⁵⁰ This, however, was not the tract of land that James and Ellen White had advocated as a suitable expanse needed to implement the manual labor paradigm described in the “Proper Education” manuscript. They had proposed the purchase of the old Battle Creek fairgrounds consisting of 50 acres for $10,000, “for in it they saw the possibility of developing a school with lands to cultivate and several educational industries, that would train students in mechanical arts, and help them along with their school expenses.” This land, however, was further out of the town, and G. I. Butler and other leaders decided that it would be better to have the college closer to other Adventist institutions in town. The Whites, meanwhile, were no longer in Battle Creek, having recently transitioned to help strengthen the work in California. When Ellen White heard that the decision had been made to purchase the limited land in town, she wept.⁵¹

The purchase of the Hussey estate, nonetheless, brought the urgent need to formally organize an educational association to hold the assets.

Establishing the Educational Society

To organize the legal society needed to establish the school, a meeting was called in Battle Creek on March 11, 1874, at 9:00 a.m. George I. Butler, General Conference President, gave opening remarks explaining the purpose of the meeting. The group assembled then chose George Butler to serve as Chair and Uriah Smith as Secretary. The first order of business was to read the law of the State of Michigan concerning the establishment of institutions of learning.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, a seven-member Board of Trustees was elected, comprised of George I. Butler, Harmon Lindsay, Ira Abbey, Uriah Smith, E. B. Gaskill, Orrin B. Jones, and Horatio Lindsay.⁵² These then signed the Articles of Association, which gave the Adventist Educational Society the right to “hold real estate, to erect suitable buildings, and to establish and manage a college for the instruction of young people of both sexes in the sciences, languages, and the Holy Scriptures”. The document noted that “the amount of Capital Stock subscribed and donated is $54,608.90 of which $14,496.35 is paid in”.

The Bylaws of the Seventh-day Adventist Education Society described the plan for the institution. The institution was envisioned to include “a primary department, a department for instruction in the common English branches, also for teaching other languages, for giving instruction in the truths of the Bible, and for such other studies as are thought by the trustees to be necessary to properly educate those who may attend.”

The Trustees would be elected annually. The Board would “direct and prescribe the course of study and discipline to be observed by those who attend the school”. It would appoint a President of the institution, as well as its teachers. The Board would also determine the amount to be paid to the college president and to the faculty and the cost of tuition. Finally, the Board would render to the State of Michigan “statement of the name of each Trustee, officer, teacher, and student, connected to the Society and College, with a statement of its property, the amount of stock subscribed, donated, and bequeathed, and the amount actually paid in.” The Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society was legally incorporated on March 16, 1874.

At the March 29 meeting of the Board, the Association adopted the “Rules for the Regulation of the Seventh-day Adventist School”.⁵³ These included the following expectations:

• Students were to be on time for classes and if absent were to present a statement of excused absence.

• Students were to render “prompt and cheerful obedience to the requirements of the teachers, quiet and orderly deportment, and faithful study of the lessons assigned”.

• Students were “not to go out evenings, nor go down to the business part of the city” without permission.

• “Everything like a spirit of courtship and flirtation should be frowned down, knowing that if permitted it will seriously interfere with the success of the school”.

• Students should keep the Sabbath and attend public worship, and “shall not be strolling about in the city or country on that day”.

• “The use of tobacco or of alcoholic drinks is strictly prohibited and no applicant who uses either will be admitted into the school.”

• Tuition was to be paid in advance.

• The Trustees expected the teachers to ensure that the rules were properly enforced.

• If a student repeatedly broke the rules, their case was to be reported to the teachers; “and after reasonable admonition, they will be expelled from the school if they do not reform.”

The First Denominational College Launched

The launch of the first Adventist college was an incremental process. In June 1872, the denomination had sponsored its first school, adopting Bell’s select school and agreeing to assume administrative oversight. That month, Uriah Smith would write in the Review, “This may seem to some like a small beginning. But a beginning, however small, is something; and it was expected that this would begin in a small and humble way, and come up to its true position by a steady and healthy growth…. Friends of the cause, you have now another institution to remember in your prayers. Don’t forget the school.”⁵⁴

On July 25, Ademar Vuilleumier, a Swiss, enrolled as the first overseas student. When the fall term began on September 12, enrollment had more than doubled to around forty students, who were joined by another fifteen scholars, principally Review workers who attended an evening grammar class.⁵⁵ The school now moved to the church building and continued there for more than a year.

Two months after the school opened, James White wrote in the Review: "We have long felt the want of a denominational school, for the especial benefit of those who feel it to be their duty to dedicate their lives to the cause of God as teachers of his word. One of the principal objects of such a school would be a thorough course of instruction in the fundamental principles of the faith and hope of Seventh-day Adventists.”⁵⁶ Later that month, an article in the Review by the School Committee stated, “We cannot feel otherwise than that the school has an important place to fill in the work of God, and that it must therefore succeed."⁵⁷

Winter term, which started mid-December 1872, saw two more teachers hired. In the fall of 1873, Sidney Brownsberger, in his late twenties and a fairly recent convert to Adventism, was assigned the management of the school. Brownsberger had graduated from the classical department of the University of Michigan, had ten years of teaching experience, and had been serving as superintendent of schools in Maumee, Ohio.⁵⁸ Bell had been considered for the position of principal of the growing school, but as he did not hold a formal college degree, the board had decided to look elsewhere.

Brownsberger, however, had been trained in a classical approach to education and was not prepared to lead a college that was to exemplify the “we are reformers” motif. When the “Proper Education” testimony was subsequently read to the school board, Brownsberger declared, “I do not know anything about the conducting of such a school, where industries and farming are part of the work.” The board decided that they would operate the school, for the time being, on “ordinary lines,” but “that the matter of industries should be studied with view to their introduction.”⁵⁹

M. E. Olsen describes the opening of the winter term on December 15, 1873: “The school, having an enrollment of 110, was removed to the new third building of the Review and Herald office which had just been completed. Steam-heated and provided with desks, it was a decided improvement over the church, which was very inadequately warmed by two stoves. With the opening of the third term G. H. Bell resumed his connection with the school as head of the English Department.”⁶⁰

School tuition was 3 dollars per term in Bell’s English Department and 6 dollars in the higher education department headed by Brownsberger. The English Department included courses such as reading, spelling, penmanship, grammar, rhetoric, arithmetic, algebra, bookkeeping, and geography. In the higher education department, Brownsberger, assisted by translators from the Review office, taught Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, German, physiology, and philosophy. There were Bible lessons in all departments, with Uriah Smith presenting Biblical lectures for the more advanced.⁶¹

With the purchase of the land and the formation of the Educational Society, 1874 saw the construction of the muti-story college building, with capacity for 400 students.⁶² During this time, James White was elected the institution’s first president and would serve in this capacity until 1880. While Floyd Greenleaf notes that James White “was the de jure president of Battle Creek College, although he never claimed the title,”⁶³ Vande Vere states: “It is erroneous, however, to imagine White as a mere figurehead, for in such matters as debt reduction, the opening of new departments, and the adoption of the student proctor system, his policies molded the administration’s actions.”⁶⁴ White, nevertheless, felt that he needed someone to whom he could delegate the more routine operational responsibilities, especially as he was frequently away from Battle Creek and would spend some time in California. Consequently, Brownsberger was designated as principal and was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the institution. There were seven full-time teachers.

The programs of studies included a five-year Classical Course (the college program), a three-year English Course (which would become a teacher-training program), and a two-year Special Course for preparing gospel workers.⁶⁵ Fall term commenced August 24.

Church leaders actively promoted the institution. In the July 21 issue of the Review, G. I. Butler enthused: "We want hundreds of our people to take three, six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-four months of schooling as soon as they can consistently do so.”⁶⁶ Students, however, were to bring tuition. “As a general rule, the practice of undertaking to attend school before one has earned the money to do so is objectionable. We cannot advise young persons to go to Battle Creek, and throw themselves upon the church, expecting board and tuition, merely giving their promise to pay at some indefinite time in the future. We regard this not the best course."

By December, construction was nearing completion and the school transferred operations to the new building, “with rooms for the science department in the basement, study and recitation rooms on the first and second floors, and a large chapel and assembly room on the third floor.”⁶⁷ In the December 9 issue of the Review, James White gave a resounding endorsement, “We can heartily recommend our school to our people everywhere.” White added that he and his wife had visited the new facility a few days earlier and “were much pleased with the school-room, teachers, and the appearance of the school generally. Things are lighting up very much in Battle Creek.” The school, he advocated, was “a rare opportunity for those who are entering the ministry, or who have the work of the ministry in view, to attend.”⁶⁸

The inauguration of the facility took place on January 4, 1875, at 10:00 a.m., with outside temperatures at 10 degrees below zero (-23 Celsius). In a Review article titled “The Opening of the School,” Uriah Smith described the event: “A large company assembled in the capacious hall of the new school building, to dedicate the building to its sacred uses, and open the present term of school with appropriate exercises…. After singing, reading of one of the good psalms of David, and prayer, the opening address was made by Bro. White…. Bro. Butler also made brief and appropriate remarks.”⁶⁹

The institution, however, did not yet have a name. In the Review, the institution had been consistently and simply referred to as “the school.” Although the Daily Journal of Battle Creek used the term “college” as early as November 1873, the Review did not use that designator until December 1, 1874.⁷⁰ At first it had been proposed that the institution be named “James White College” as White had been instrumental in launching the college, but he did not agree.⁷¹ Finally, the February 11, 1875, issue of the Review announced that the new school was officially designated as Battle Creek College.⁷² Uriah Smith explained, “It has been decided to give our school this name, more at present for the sake of convenience than for any other reason. Our charter makes provision for all grades of instruction from the primary to the highest. We can therefore use this name though we have not yet all the departments and the full course of instruction that pertain to a college proper. But chiefly this name is now adopted to distinguish our school from other schools in this city. There is not another institution of learning here that goes by that name, hence it will conveniently and fully designate ours.”

Battle Creek College, the denomination’s first collegiate institution, would evolve into Emmanuel Missionary College in 1901 with the transfer to Berrien Springs, Michigan, and then to Andrews University in 1960, named after J. N. Andrews, the first official Seventh-day Adventist missionary who had been sent in 1874, and who, at the 1873 General Conference session, had introduced the motion to establish the institution.⁷³

In essence, education was the last cornerstone of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be developed, preceded by the publication ministry (1849), the centralized organization of the denomination (1863), and the health care ministry (1866). By contrast, while there had been earlier attempts by individual Adventists, the first denominational school was established only in 1872 and the first educational facility inaugurated in 1875. Primary-level Adventist education would not become widespread until a later period, around 1900.

Sources

Amadon, G. “The First President of the General Conference: John Byington, Farmer-Preacher,” ARH, June 22, 1944.

Andrews, J. N. “Our Proposed School.” ARH, April 1, 1873.

Bates, Joseph. “Duty to Our Children.” ARH, January 1851.

“Bro. G. H. Bell will commence….” ARH, August 18, 1868.

Butler, G. I. “Our Educational Society and School Building.” ARH, March 31, 1874.

Butler, G. I. “Our New School Grounds.” ARH, January 6, 1874.

Butler, G. I. “Our School at Battle Creek.” ARH, June 4, 1872.

Butler, G. I. “The Proposed School.” ARH, May 7, 1872.

Butler, G. I. “The School.” ARH, April 22, 1873.

Butler, G. I. “The School and the Lectures.” ARH, December 23, 1873.

Butler, G. I. “What Use Shall We Make of Our School?.” ARH, July 21, 1874.

Greenleaf, Floyd. In Passion for the World: A History of Seventh-day Adventist Education. Pacific Press, Nampa, ID, 2005.

“Heroes of Adventist Education.” Adventist Review, August 22, 2007.

John Byington Buck to Flora Williams, September 28 and October 3, 1927. In Flora H. Williams Papers, RG 9, Box 58, General Conference Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Mary P. Cummings to Flora H. Williams, December 9, 1927. In Flora H. Williams Papers, RG 9, Box 58, General Conference Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A.

Morse, Washington. “Items of Advent Experience During the Past Fifty Years – No. 6.” ARH, November 6, 1888.

Myrta Kellogg Lewis to Flora Williams, cited in Flora H. Williams, Forerunners of Our Educational System: Sketches Relating to Our First Schools, n.d. General Conference Archives, Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S.A., RG 9, Box 58.

Olsen, M. Ellsworth. A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists. Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, Washington, D.C., 1932.

“Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the General Conference of S. D. Adventists.” ARH, March 18, 1873.

“Questions and Answers.” ARH, December 23, 1862.

Reynolds, Keld J. “Centennial Day in Adventist Education.” ARH, December 3, 1953.

Schwarz, Richard W. and Floyd Greenleaf. Light Bearers. A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Pacific Press, Nampa, ID, 2000.

Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society. “A School in Battle Creek.” ARH, April 16, 1872.

Smith, C. and J. P. Kellogg. “A School in Battle Creek.” ARH, October 14, 1858.

Smith, Uriah. “Battle Creek College.” ARH, February 11, 1875.

Smith, Uriah. “The Biblical Institute.” ARH, December 1, 1874.

Smith, Uriah. “The S. D. A. School.” ARH, June 11, 1872.

Smith, Uriah. “The Opening of the School.” ARH, January 8, 1875.

Spalding, Arthur Whitefield. Captains of the Host: First Volume of a History of Seventh-day Adventists Covering the Years 1845-1900, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., 1949.

Steward, Mary Alicia. “The Beginnings of Our School Work.” ARH, September 18, 1924.

“The School.” ARH, May 14, 1972.

The School Committee. “The School.” ARH, August 27, 1872.

Vande Vere, Emmett K. The Wisdom Seekers. Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN, 1972.

White, E. G. “Testimony to the Church at Battle Creek.” Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1872, E. G. White Estate, Pamphlet 123.

White, Ellen G. “Duty of Parents to Their Children.” ARH, September 19, 1854.

White, Ellen G. “Proper Education.” The Health Reformer, September 1872.

White, James. “An Address.” The Youth’s Instructor, August 1852.

White, James. “Conference Address Before the General Conference of the S. D. Adventists, March 11, 1873.” ARH, May 20, 1873.

White, James. “Denominational School.” ARH, August 6, 1872.

White, James. “Permanency of the Cause.” ARH, July 8, 1873.

White, James. “Sabbath-Keepers’ Children.” ARH, August 20, 1857; August 27, 1857; September 3, 1857.

White, James. “School at Battle Creek.” ARH, January 14, 1858.

White, James. “The School.” ARH, December 9, 1873.

White, W. C. “Memories and Records” (DF 256). Available at https://ellenwhite.org/media/document/7478.

White, W. C. “Pioneer Pilots in Christian Education,” and J. Edson White, “The Early Schools Among Seventh-day Adventists in Battle Creek.” In Founders’ Golden Anniversary Bulletin, 1874-1924, pp. 26-29 and p. 46 respectively, accessed at General Conference Archives, LF 5706.

Young, Ethel L. “Our Elementary Schools of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” ARH, April 6, 1972.

Notes

1. Mary P. Cummings to Flora H. Williams, December 9, 1927, in Flora H. Williams Papers, RG 9, Box 58, General Conference Archives. See also Arthur Whitefield Spalding, Captains of the Host: First Volume of a History of Seventh-day Adventists Covering the Years 1845-1900, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., 1949, 421, 439-441.↩

2. M. Ellsworth Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, Washington, D.C., 1932, 331.↩

3. James White, “An Address,” The Youth’s Instructor, August 1852, 1.↩

4. “Questions and Answers,” ARH, December 23, 1862, 29.↩

5. G. I. Butler, “Our School at Battle Creek,” ARH, June 4, 1872, 197.↩

6. Washington Morse, “Items of Advent Experience During the Past Fifty Years – No. 6,” ARH, November 6, 1888, 689.↩

7. G. Amadon, “The First President of the General Conference: John Byington, Farmer-Preacher,” ARH, June 22, 1944, 6-7.↩

8. The History of St. Lawrence County, New York notes that “Potsdam academy, a fitting school for Middlebury college, was the only institution in the section [northern New York] which provided satisfactory training preparatory for college.” Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028833015/cu31924028833015_djvu.txt.↩

9. John Byington Buck to Flora Williams, September 28 and October 3, 1927, Flora H. Williams Papers. The Bucks Bridge and other early Adventist schools are further described in: W. C. White, “Pioneer Pilots in Christian Education,” and J. Edson White, “The Early Schools Among Seventh-day Adventists in Battle Creek,” in Founders’ Golden Anniversary Bulletin, 1874-1924, pp. 26-29 and p. 46 respectively, accessed at General Conference Archives, LF 5706. Keld J. Reynolds, “Centennial Day in Adventist Education,” ARH, December 3, 1953, 24. Ethel L. Young, “Our Elementary Schools of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” ARH, April 6, 1972, 7-11.↩

10. Myrta Kellogg Lewis to Flora Williams, cited in Flora H. Williams, Forerunners of Our Educational System: Sketches Relating to Our First Schools, RG 9, Box 58, General Conference Archives, n.d., 4, 5.↩

11. Joseph Bates, “Duty to Our Children,” ARH, January 1851, 9-10.↩

12. James White, “An Address,” The Youth’s Instructor, August 1852.↩

13. Ellen G. White, “Duty of Parents to Their Children,” ARH, September 19, 1854, 46.↩

14. J. Edson White, “The Early Schools Among Seventh-day Adventists,” 46.↩

15. W. C. White, “Memories and Records” (DF 256), p. 1, available at https://ellenwhite.org/media/document/7478.↩

16. Olsen, 1932, p. 331-332. An analysis of the early Battle Creek schools among the Adventists and the sometimes-conflicting dates and order of teachers is provided in Wilbur Arthur Burton, “A History of the Mission of Seventh-day Adventist Education, 1844-1900,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Kansas State University, 1987.↩

17. James White, “Sabbath-Keepers’ Children,” ARH, August 20, 1857, 125-126; August 27, 1857, 133-34; September 3, 1857, 141.↩

18. James White, “Sabbath-Keepers’ Children,” ARH, August 20, 1857, 125.↩

19. James White, “School at Battle Creek,” ARH, January 14, 1858, 80.↩

20. C. Smith and J. P. Kellogg, “A School in Battle Creek,” ARH, October 14, 1858, 168.↩

21. W. C. White, “Memories and Records,” 2.↩

22. ARH, September 24, 1861, 184.↩

23. “Questions and Answers,” ARH, December 23, 1862, 29.↩

24. W. C. White, “Memories and Records,” 3.↩

25. Further information on Bell may be found in Emmett K. Vande Vere, The Wisdom Seekers (Southern Publishing Association, Nashville, TN, 1972), 267-275; and in the essay by Allan G. Lindsay, “Goodloe Harper Bell: Teacher,” in George R. Knight, Editor, Early Adventist Educators, Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs, MI, 50-71.↩

26. Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 332. Floyd Greenleaf, In Passion for the World: A History of Seventh-day Adventist Education, Pacific Press, Nampa, ID, 2005, 23.↩

27. Richard W. Schwarz and Floyd Greenleaf, Light Bearers. A History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Pacific Press, Nampa, ID, 2000, 117-119.↩

28. A description of the initial encounter between Bell and Edson White is recorded in E. M. Cadwallader, A History of Seventh-day Adventist Education, Leaves of Autumn Books, Payson, AZ, 1958, reprint 1975, 22. Also described in Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 333.↩

29. Mary Alicia Steward, “The Beginnings of Our School Work,” ARH, September 18, 1924, 30.↩

30. “Bro. G. H. Bell will commence…,” ARH, August 18, 1868, 144.↩

31. Maud Sisley-Boyd to Mary Kelly-Little, April 16, 1931, quoted in Mary Kelly-Little, “Development of the Elementary Schools of Seventh-day Adventists in the United States,” M.A. thesis, University of Washington, 1932. Cited in M. E. Marroquin, “The Historical Development of the Religion Curriculum at Battle Creek College, 1874-1901,” Ph.D. dissertation, Andrews University, 2001, 36.↩

32. E. G. White, “Testimony to the Church at Battle Creek,” Steam Press of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association, 1872, E. G. White Estate, Pamphlet 123, 1-10. See also Lindsay, “Goodloe Harper Bell: Teacher,” 53-55.↩

33. W. C. White, “Memories and Records,” 4.↩

34. Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society, “A School in Battle Creek,” ARH, April 16, 1872, 144.↩

35. G. I. Butler, “The Proposed School,” ARH, May 7, 1872, 168.↩

36. G. I. Butler, “Our School at Battle Creek,” ARH, June 4, 1872, 196-197.↩

37. “The School,” ARH, May 14, 1972, 176.↩

38. Uriah Smith, “The S. D. A. School,” ARH, June 11, 1872, 204.↩

39. These articles were: September 1872 “Proper Education”; November “Degeneracy – Education”; December “Proper Education”; January 1873 “Education”; April “Proper Education”; May “Proper Education”; June “Proper Education”; July “Proper Education”; September “Proper Education”. Ellen White would not address the topic of education again in The Health Reformer until December 1877 on the topic “Education of our Daughters.”↩

40. The “Proper Education” manuscript itself was published in December 1872 as part of the Testimony for the Church, No. 22, p. 29 (available at https://egwwritings.org/book/b12799). Also available in Testimonies, vol. 3, 131-160, and in Fundamentals of Christian Education, Southern Publishing Assoc., Nashville, TN, 1923, 15-46.↩

41. E. G. White, “Proper Education,” The Health Reformer, September 1872, 284-286.↩

42. E. G. White, “Proper Education,” Testimony for the Church — No. 22, p. 48. The role of Ellen White in Adventist education is further described by George R. Knight in his essay “Ellen G. White: Prophet,” in George R. Knight, editor, Early Adventist Educators, Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs, MI, 26-49.↩

43. James White, “Conference Address Before the General Conference of the S. D. Adventists, March 11, 1873,” ARH, May 20, 1873, 180-181, 184.↩

44. Captains of the Host, p. 247. James White’s influential role is further described in Roy E. Graham, “James White: Initiator,” in George R. Knight, editor, Early Adventist Educators, Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs, MI, 11-25.↩

45. “Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the General Conference of S. D. Adventists,” ARH, March 18, 1873.↩

46. J. N. Andrews, “Our Proposed School,” ARH, April 1, 1873, 124.↩

47. G. I. Butler, “The School,” ARH, April 22, 1873, 148.↩

48. James White, “Permanency of the Cause,” ARH, July 8, 1873, 28-29. This amount in 2022 would represent $1,276,599 using a Consumer Price Index calculation, $9,567,474 in terms of the relative wage of an unskilled laborer, and $18,547,006 calculated on per capita GDP (https://www.measuringworth.com).↩

49. Vande Vere, 20.↩

50. G. I. Butler, “Our New School Grounds,” ARH, January 6, 1874, 29. See also Mary Alicia Steward, “The Beginnings of Our School Work,” ARH, September 18, 1924, 29-31.↩

51. W. C. White, “Pioneer Pilots in Christian Education,” 28. The conflict over the location of the college is further described in Wilbur Arthur Burton, “A History of the Mission of Seventh-day Adventist Education, 1844-1900,” 155-163.↩

52. James White was not present, as he and Ellen White had departed Battle Creek in December 1873 to support the denominational work in California (Arthur L. White, Ellen G. White: Volume 2—The Progressive Years: 1862-1876, Ellen G. White Estate, 1986).↩

53. Included in the “Articles of Association and By-laws.” Also reproduced in Maurice Hodgen, School Bells and Gospel Trumpets: A Documentary History of Seventh-day Adventist Education in North America, Loma Linda University Press, Loma Linda, CA, 1978, 15-16.↩

54. Uriah Smith, “The S. D. A. School,” ARH, June 11, 1872, 204.↩

55. Cadwallader, A History of Seventh-day Adventist Education, 24-30. Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 335. Vande Vere, The Wisdom Seekers.↩

56. James White, “Denominational School,” ARH, August 6, 1872, 60.↩

57. The School Committee, “The School,” ARH, August 27, 1872, 84.↩

58. Further information can be found in Joseph G. Smoot, “Sidney Brownsberger: Traditionalist: Teacher,” in George R. Knight, editor, Early Adventist Educators, Andrews University Press, Berrien Springs, MI, 72-94.↩

59. W. C. White, “Pioneer Pilots in Christian Education,” 29.↩

60. Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 335, 336. See also, Carl William Shafer, “History and Educational Philosophy of Seventh-Day Adventist Secondary Schools,” master’s thesis, University of Richmond, 1945, available at https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2007&context=masters-theses.↩

61. Uriah Smith, ARH, December 23, 1873, 16. G. I. Butler, “The School and the Lectures,” ARH, December 23, 1873, 16. See also Van de Vere, The Wisdom Seekers, 19, 30.↩

62. G. I. Butler, “Our Educational Society and School Building,” ARH, March 31, 1874, 124. Vande Vere, The Wisdom Seekers, 22.↩

63. “Heroes of Adventist Education,” Adventist Review, August 22, 2007.↩

64. Vande Vere, The Wisdom Seekers, 29.↩

65. Maurice Hodgen, School Bells and Gospel Trumpets, 17-20.↩

66. G. I. Butler, “What Use Shall We Make of Our School?” ARH, July 21, 1874, 44-45.↩

67. Olsen, A History of Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 336.↩

68. James White, “The School,” ARH, December 9, 1873, 205.↩

69. Uriah Smith, “The Opening of the School,” ARH, January 8, 1875, 12.↩

70. Vande Vere, The Wisdom Seekers, p. 25-26. Uriah Smith, “The Biblical Institute,” ARH, December 1, 1874, 184.↩

71. Olsen, A History of the Origin and Progress of Seventh-day Adventists, 337.↩

72. Uriah Smith, “Battle Creek College,” ARH, February 11, 1875, 56.↩

73. “Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of the General Conference of S. D. Adventists,” ARH, March 18, 1873.↩