The University of Michigan

by Wilfred Byron Shaw

The Interior of Hill Auditorium

Interior of the Main Reading Room in the New Library

With the Law Department it was somewhat different. The old-fashioned conception of the law as a formal body of doctrine, fixed and unchangeable, tended in itself to limit original effort, though Judge Cooley's great work, with its high scholarship and profound learning, added greatly to the reputation of the University. Of recent years, however, there has been a change in the attitude towards the teaching of law. It has come to be recognized that our law is a changing and developing force, and that the adaptation of fundamental legal principles to the advancing demands of modern society, both through legislation and through judicial decision, furnishes a field for research and investigation which demands the highest type of scholarship and training. The modern law student seeks the principles of his science through a careful study of the cases themselves, and no longer accepts a dogmatic statement of the law as laid down in textbook and lecture. This change in the legal curriculum, which is little less than revolutionary, is really based upon scholarship and research on the part of every student, and is reflected in the preoccupation of every law student in his work. Gone are the days when the Law Department was the resort of those who could not succeed in the other departments.

In more practical and especially industrial fields the College of Engineering has also contributed its share, though it was considered a part of the Literary Department throughout all its early years. While its aim is to train men in technical branches, the field of investigation has been by no means neglected, even if the questions studied have largely borne specifically upon such problems as railway and steel construction, the functioning of various types of engines, marine design, the various forms of the utilization of electrical energy, and the many applications of science to industry undertaken by the Department of Chemical Engineering. That this work has been appreciated is evidenced by the increasing number of fellowships for original research maintained by many private corporations, and by the suggestion and tentative establishment in 1920 of a general Department of Industrial Research maintained through co-operation by the manufacturers of the State with the Faculty of the Engineering College. It is specially stipulated that the results of whatever investigations are made under these auspices are to be made public for the benefit of the people of the State, irrespective of the source of income.

This developing spirit led to the formation of a Research Club which has had a profound though quiet influence in the growth of scholarship in the University. The Club meets at stated periods in the Histological Laboratory in the Medical Building, a fact in itself significant of the strong support the organization has always had from the Medical Faculty, and ordinarily listens to two papers, contributed by members. The aim is to present the problem under consideration clearly and with as little emphasis as possible on its technical aspects, a purpose often more successfully realized, according to some of the members, by the men who have been especially successful in their particular fields. The distinguishing mark of this organization is its general and inclusive character; similar clubs elsewhere are more apt to emphasize certain particular and related subjects, and to that extent fail to represent effectively the united scholarly effort of the institution. Many of the papers first read in the Research Club have formed the basis of reports published subsequently in the proceedings of scientific bodies which have attracted wide attention. Particularly noteworthy have been the celebrations of the anniversaries of distinguished scholars and authors, the significance of whose life and works has been emphasized in the papers presented before the members. Similar in aim is the Junior Research Club, whose membership is composed of the younger men of the Faculties of the University.

With the reorganization of the Graduate School in 1912, there came a new emphasis on the publication of works of scholarship by the University. Within a short time several series of "University of Michigan Studies" were established; and to these new volumes are continually being added, which have contributed greatly to the University's place in the world of learning. Though certain other universities, notably Harvard, Cornell, and Chicago, had previously established similar series, Michigan has been well to the fore among American universities in thus systematically giving to the world in adequate form the results of certain aspects of the work carried on within her walls. Particularly in certain cases she has been peculiarly fortunate in the extraordinary value and significance of the original material thus published.

The first series established was known as the "Humanistic Series," issued under the general editorial supervision of Professor Francis W. Kelsey of the Department of Latin, who has been indefatigable in securing material and funds for this work. The publications in the present list of sixteen volumes include three on Roman history and philology made up for the most part of monographs by various members of the Faculty, or graduates of the University, two edited by Professor Henry A. Sanders, and one by Professor C.L. Meader. Another volume deals with "Word Formation in Provençal" and is by Professor Edward L. Adams. Somewhat different in scope are two volumes on Greek vases, or "Lekythoi," by Arthur Fairbanks, at one time Professor of Greek in the University, and now Director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.