There are several excellent institutions for the education of girls, notably the Agnes Scott Institute, the Southern Female College and the Washington Seminary.
The Southern Military College is an excellent institution for boys, and Hunter’s School for boys has a fine reputation.
In the institutions of higher education there are about 5,000 students, nearly equally divided between whites and blacks.
The people of Atlanta have raised $250,000 which has been tendered the Synods of the Southern Presbyterian Church, to secure the location of a $1,000,000 University in the city or its immediate suburbs. Commissioners from the Synods of the Southern States met in Atlanta in December, 1903, and voted to accept the tender.
Of the amount subscribed, $150,000 comes from Presbyterians and $100,000 from the public, including all classes and almost all religious denominations. Of the $100,000 contributed by the public, about $25,000 came from working men and salaried employees of business houses. In some cases even domestic servants contributed. In all there are about 3,000 subscribers for amounts ranging from 10 cents to $25,000. At a great mass meeting held in the Grand Opera House, Monday evening, March 30th, $50,000 was raised.
The Carnegie Library.
The Carnegie Library of Atlanta was organized May 6th, 1899, and received all of the property and books of the Young Men’s Library, which had been a subscription library, and had 15,000 books and property worth $40,000, when the city received a gift of $100,000 from Mr. Andrew Carnegie for a building. Mr. Carnegie subsequently added $25,000 to the original gift for the building, and $20,000 for stock and furniture. Total cost of the Library equipped was $145,000. The lot, which was a gift of the Young Men’s Library Association, cost $35,000. For the year 1904 the City of Atlanta has appropriated $10,100 for the maintenance of the Library.
There are in the Library 26,105 volumes classified and catalogued after the most approved methods. There are 13,420 registered borrowers, and the circulation for 1903 was 111,558 volumes for home use, about 400 volumes daily being issued.
The State Library has a large collection of law books, and a rare collection of colonial history of this and other Southern States.