Edmund J. James and the Making of the Modern University of Illinois, 1904–1920

Commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Morrill Act at the Pennsylvania State University “Legacy and Promise” conference, Winton Solberg delivered a paper foretelling the importance of Edmund James to the emergence of the University of Illinois as a modern institution. Entitled “President Edmund James and the University of Illinois: Transforming the Land-Grant College into a Genuine University,” this paper was transformed into the article “President Edmund J. James and the University of Illinois, 1904–1920: Redeeming the Promise of the Morrill Land-Grant Act” which appeared in The Land-Grant Colleges and the Reshaping of American Higher Education (2013). Both the conference paper and subsequent article provide the structural origins of the work under consideration.Solberg is well known for his histories of Illinois, including his renowned The University of Illinois, 1867–1894: An Intellectual and Cultural History (1968) and The University of Illinois, 1894–1904: The Shaping of the University (2000). The present work under consideration would have completed his institutional trilogy. Reforming Medical Education: The University of Illinois College of Medicine, 1880–1920 (2009) and Creating the Big Ten: Courage, Corruption, and Commercialization (2018) offer additional institutional insights into the history and influence of Illinois. Sadly, Solberg's passing in 2019 left his work on James unfinished.Wishing to complete the manuscript, the family approached J. David Hoeveler. A tremendous historian in his own right, Hoeveler studied under Solberg and published an important parallel work, John Bascom and the Origins of the Wisconsin Ideal (2016)—mirroring the tenure of James at Illinois during the progressive period. Hoeveler masterfully combines his own understanding of the progressive era with a clarity of Solberg's vision of James as an educator. Hoeveler completed the vision utilizing university archival materials, and Solberg's extensive manuscript collection.Following introductory comments and manuscript explanations, the book is organized into four sections. Part I focuses on the “The Larger University” and lays out biographical information on James and the history and status of the university at his arrival. Careful attention is given to avoid redundant information provided in previous histories. Chapter 5, “The Intellectual World of Edmund J. James,” is particularly noteworthy. The authors develop the place of German higher education in shaping James's weltanschauung. Solberg and Hoeveler understand the importance of Bildung, Kritik, and especially Wissenschaft (pp. 62–63) to James's philosophy of what a modern university could be. It is appropriate that in the last paragraph of the book, the authors invoke the German concept of Bildung.Part II focuses on “Academics” by considering changes in curricular categories. Here the authors treat the emergence of wissenschaft at Illinois by general academic disciplines. While demonstrating curricular changes during James's tenure, the authors include case studies of selected faculty to evidence Illinois's emergence in the research tradition. Solberg's interest in these individuals is apparent in collected archival sources (Winton U. Solberg Papers, RS 15/13/45, University of Illinois Archives).Part III, “Educating for the Professions,” examines emerging professional education at Illinois under James by exploring four schools: education, engineering, law, and agriculture. Agriculture and engineering are of particular importance to the land-grant tradition at Illinois. The modernization of education and law as professions demonstrate James's desire to expand the university's mission. Following the reforms in Germany, graduate and professional education reforms were advanced in American higher education. Illinois, under James, kept pace with change.Part IV, “Students,” articulates James's implementation of Bildung in university life. Here, the authors look at two foci—first, the changes in previous collegiate populations at Illinois and, second, the changing and emerging role of women in university life. Of notable importance is the groundbreaking work of Thomas Arkle Clark as dean of men. Clark is who developed the Bildung idea particularly in fraternity and sorority life. The work concludes with the new ways women contributed to both curricular and extracurricular life at Illinois.The authors end with an afterword entitled “The Illinois Promise.” Orienting the reader to the importance of James's reforms for today, they reflect on the vision of Jonathan Baldwin Turner, an early advocate of higher education reform who foreshadowed future possibilities. Ahead of his time, Turner advocated new kinds of institutions that would meet democratic needs. James's vision of Illinois propelled the university as it hybridized elements of the German research university with the mandate of the Land-Grant movement.Edmund J. James and the Making of the Modern University of Illinois, 1904–1920 is an important contribution for several reasons. It is a case study in university modernization. James understood the potential of German higher education as a catalyst for change in American higher education. The authors explain well the transformation and modernization that occurred at Illinois. This work provides explanatory power to the emergence of Illinois as a world-class institution. In conversations with Solberg, this reviewer often heard him advocate James's role in moving Illinois from a parochial state institution to a true research university in the full meaning of the phrase. James's tireless efforts propelled Illinois into the university it has become. The work demonstrates James's vision of integrating the Morrill Act mandate with the emerging German research university model, thereby creating a truly world-class public university for which the state of Illinois could be proud.The Solberg family, J. David Hoeveler, and the University of Illinois Press are to be commended for completing “Wint's” trilogy given its place in his thinking. Edmund J. James and the Making of the Modern University of Illinois, 1904–1920 is the crescendo of his previous histories and does honor to his memory and vision. It is a work that preserves for future generations of Illini both the personality and impetuous that tells the story of “The Making of the Modern University of Illinois.”