This blog is created to record the experience of exploring the data via the course “Archive, Data, and Analysis” offered by Bates College in the Fall of 2021. This page aims to provide some basic context of the data utilized in the class.

Maine State Seminary Ledgers

The Maine States Seminary is a school established in 1855 in Maine. In 1864, the school changed its name to Bates College to honor one of its significant donors, Benjamin Bates. The institution persists its title until today and is nowadays holding a class called “Archive, Data, and Analysis” through the Department of Digital and Computational Studies.

Hathorn Hall and Parker Hall were on campus since 1857 when the school was still called the “Maine State Seminary.”
Photograph by Miles Greenwood, 1894, gelatin silver print, the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library.
Link: https://www.bates.edu/150-years/sesquicentennial-slideshow/
Parker Hall in the modern-day. This is the building on the left in the Greenwood’s photograph link: https://www.bates.edu/housing/parker-hall/
Hathorn Hall in May of 2010. This is the building on the right in Greenwood’s photograph. Photography by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College. Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/batescollegephotography/5411463229

According to the record, the first founder and the president of Bates College (or the Maine State Seminary) was Rev. Oren B. Cheney, the Freewill Baptist pastor who was committed to building a school for all gender and race. However, a person cannot establish a whole school by oneself. As one can notice from the history of naming the institution from its greatest benefactor, the institution needed financial support to run the school based on its aims. Therefore, the Maine State Seminary actively seek for donations around New England and made several records of what is in their pocket. One of those documents is the Maine State Seminary ledger that we look closely at in our classes.

(If I can figure out any copyright concerns, I might upload the picture of the ledger for you to have a better idea of the document.)

References:

https://www.bates.edu/150-years/history/values/ https://www.bates.edu/150-years/sesquicentennial-slideshow/

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