YEARBOOK / CLASS ALBUM / PHOTO BOOK. Class of '72. University of Michigan.
[Ann Arbor, Michigan]: 1872. Each individual illustrated with a cabinet-card sized albumen photograph [5-3/4" x 4-1/8"]. Small Folio: 12" x 9-3/4". Original half-brown leather binding, with brown cloth boards; titling in gilt lettering to the spine “Class of ‘72 [2nd compartment] / University of Michigan” [4th compartment]. Front board with Tschirgi's name gilt stamped. Red edgestain. Marbled paper eps. Edgewear & scuffing to binding, board showing at tips. Some guard sheets with tears. Occasional smudges & soiling to mount leaves. Some pencil annotations regarding individuals in lower margin of some mounts. A VG copy. Item #51999
"The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of the earliest American research universities and is a founding member of the Association of American Universities.
James Burrill Angell [5th image] became president in 1871 and would remain in the post for nearly four decades. His tenure would be remembered as the most successful in the university's history. Tappan's reforms in the 1850s set the university on a path to becoming an elite institution, but it was Angell who completed that transformation. Shortly after Angell's arrival, University Hall [1st image] was completed at vast expense; it would remain the university's major academic building right up until the 1950s. During his presidency, Angell restored campus discipline, raised entrance and graduation requirements, and persuaded the legislature to increase state aid.
Angell's tenure saw the addition of many extracurricular activities, including the intercollegiate football team. Though a reformer, Angell was not authoritarian; he encouraged open debate and aimed for near-unanimous agreement before implementing changes, rather than pushing through with only a narrow majority. This approach enabled him to address knotty issues on campus, including the long-standing homeopathy problem. Angell transformed the curriculum to focus on electives, expanding course offerings. That led to a faculty of great minds in many fields, from John Dewey in philosophy to Frederick George Novy in bacteriology. In 1875, the university founded the College of Dental Surgery, followed by the establishment of the College of Pharmacy by Albert B. Prescott in 1876. That year, the university awarded its first Doctor of Philosophy degrees: to Victor C. Vaughan in chemistry and William E. Smith in zoology. They were among the first doctoral degrees to be conferred in the nation. The university remained the only institution in the state to grant PhD degrees until the late 1940s." [Wiki]
This class album from Angell's tenure contains 45 thick card stock leaves each with a single albumen photograph mounted to the recto, most with plain paper guards preceding. Beginning with a photographic image of a lithograph of the Michigan University “University Hall”, there follows 9 portrait photos of faculty members (including 2 past presidents of the University). Next comes a group photo of the “Engineers” Society depicting ten members of the group with their surveying equipment. Concluding the albume are 33 photographs of those individuals in the UM Class of 1872 [surprisingly enough, Tschirgi was absent], as well as a group class photograph. While the preponderance of the Portraits and other Images are identified, twelve of the students have actually signed their own Photographs or have clipped signatures applied to the mount - the remaining portraits and views are identified in manuscript, which we presume to be in the hand of Tschirgi.
Tschirgi, from Dubuque IA, who, after graduating in 1872 as a civil engineer, "established a permanent office in Dubuque at Fifth and Main. He was instrumental in surveying the railroad between Dubuque and Burlington and published a map of Dubuque. In 1875 he was elected city engineer and held the position until 1891 with the exception of 1888-1889. He was elected the County Surveyor in 1876.
Tschirgi's practice included civil and sanitary engineering, plans for waterworks and sewer systems, and bridge construction. He designed the stone arch bridge at Elkader, Iowa and was the engineer of the DUBUQUE WAGON BRIDGE. Beginning in 1893, Tschirgi served as president and manager of the DUBUQUE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY.
In 1920 census records found him living with his family in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was one of the founders and first president of the Iowa Engineering Society and was a member of the Cedar Rapids Planning Commission." [Encyclopedia Dubuque website].
Given the small class size of the day, we surmise that only a modest number of copies of this UM yearbook were gathered & bound, and that even fewer have survived this last 150 some-odd years.
Price: $1,250.00