The Life of a Student: 1871

There is a good amount of documentation about student life in 1871 at the university – then called The University of the State of Missouri – the year geology became its own department. Most accounts are cited in old newspaper articles, yearbooks, course catalogues, and other documentation, where info is rich, but sometimes difficult to find specific information without digging day and night through layers of searches.

Several sources gave some great insight into the academic and social aspects of life on campus. Two great finds include a letter written by Luella Hoffman about her mother’s experiences at the university in the 1870s, available through University Archives (University of Missouri-Columbia). The second is a report with written accounts on the history of the university through 1871, titled “The University of The State of Missouri,” put out by the Curator of the Governor.

Student life was much different than today.

For example, students in 1871, had a list of requirements to fulfill in addition to their academic progress, to include attending Sunday church and attend daily prayers at University Chapel, observing “study” hours (not to be in streets or shops or out at night), be good and virtuous of character.

They were not allowed “wicked and immoral practices:” to enter a billiard or drinking saloon, carry concealed weapons, use profanity, or indulge in any kind of intoxicating beverage. They could not be noisy – not whistle, shout from windows, or assemble in hallways. They couldn’t smoke on campus, deface property, or leave town without the president’s permission, stated “The University of The State of Missouri” report.

Tuition was $40 per session and students were to board with private families for $3 to $5 a week, or in off-campus cottages that could be formed into a “club” of students for just more than $2 a week. Those working at the College Farm or gardens made 10-15 cents an hour.

There was also housing at The Hudson House, a university mansion, located about a half mile from the college. Cost for that was just greater than $2 a week.  All students were to keep rooms clean and proper and avoid “boisterous and improper conduct,” the University report stated.

The social life of students was also much different than today.

Men and women could not use the library at the same time, and women sat in the rear gallery at church or chapel, forbidden to sing songs, Hoffman’s article stated. The female students had to wear uniforms in public places, consisting of “black Basques and full skirts to the ground and tiny black hats,” Hoffman’s article reported.

She added some professors didn’t approve of women students, but most of the professors as well as “all” the men students “received their fair co-eds with ‘open arms.’” “Open Arms” was a figure of speech used frequently in that era. It was then considered a formal term, as was much of their language, Hoffman wrote.

After classes, men participated in debating societies, and women literary societies. Both could belong to a Shakespearean society. There were also “parties, horseback riding, buggy riding, croquet, tableaux (participants use their bodies to make still images to represent a scene), oyster suppers, concerts, picnics, serenades, exhibitions, skating and baseball,” Hoffman wrote. The ratio of men to women was 10 to one.

Some students wrote for The Missourian newspaper, which was also founded in 1871. Diplomas were written in Latin, and framed in heavy walnut, Hoffman wrote.