Evening journal., 1898-03-23
BIRDSALL HONORED.
He is Elected President of
Swarthmore College.
FORMERLY TAUGHT IN THIS CITY


FORMERLY TAUGHT IN THIS CITY
HE WAS PRINCIPAL OF THE BOYS
HIGH SCHOOL FOR THREE
YEARS, BUT HAS BEEN AWAY
FROM HERE ABOUT TWELVE
YEARS.
At a meeting OF the board Of mama
gers of SwaTthmore College, held at
Race Street Meeting House, Philadel-
phla, the resignation of President
Charles DE Garmo, lately appointed TO
the position of head of the pedagogical
department OF Cornell University, was
duly accepted, and Professor William
W. Bfrdsall now principal of Friends
Central School, of Philadelphia, was
chosen by a unanimous vote to fiji the
vacancy. The president-elect will en-
ter upon the performance of the duties
Of his new position at the time of DR..
De Garmos retirement, the close Of
the present college year.
Professor William w. Birdsall Is
said to he well equipped by natural
capacity and by bread and generous
culture for the performance of the re
spOnsible duties of the presidency OF
SwarthmOre College, an institution
which not only occupies a leading posi-
ton among the colleges of the Society
of Friends, but whose educational
standards and recognized excellence of
its special work have given it a wide
reputation and a high place in educa-
tional circles as one of the best-knOWn
among the smaller colleges of the coun-
try.
The new president was born in Rich
mond, Ind, which has we'll been called
The Philadelphia of the West" and he
traces his ancestry on both sides for
several generations to good Quaker
stock His education began in the
schools of Richmond. After complet-
ing the course in The High School he
entered Earlham College, from which
ne graduated In 1873, the same year in
which the first graduating class OF
Swanuhmore College took their degrees.
After three years of experience in busi-
ness, in newspaper work and in charge
Of a village school, he was appointed
instructor I'm mathematics in the Rich
mOnd High School, where he spent five
years He was then chosen president
of the Boys High School, of Whining
ton, which position he filled with emil
nent success for three years.
In 1885 he was invited to take a
place among the corps of instructors of
| Friends Central School, OF Philadel-
phia. In 1893 he was appointed head
Of the institution, in which position he
has since remained and his success is
well-knOwn. not only throughout the
Society of Friends, but in the commu-
nifty ait large. The classical depart
ments OF the institution have been
| largely built up under his care, as well
as the scientific departments, and as a
result he has sent students, we'll pre-
pared, to Swarthmore, HaverfOrd, Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Yale,
Harvard and Princeton.
a constant student and an enthusias-
| tic believer in higher CducaSicn, he
| has done much to stimulate a new in
| terest therein among the Society Of
| Friends. His labOrs. however. at The
I head of this great institution, and as
/ a constant Student, have not prevented
him from being an active worker in
the varied work Of the religious Society
OF Friends, and for years ne
has been increasingly recognized as a
| leader therein Both by tongue and
pen he has grown to be one Of tine
forces I'M the society. Especially have
his labors borne rich fruit among the
young, and few have done so much 10
promote the work OF Christian En-
deavor" among Friends under the or
ganized name OF Young Friends Asso-
citation.
He is a member Of the Historical So
ciety of Pennsylvania, and the Ameri-
can Academy of Political and Social
Science, and has been for several years
an active member Of the Association oi
Colleges and Preparatory Schools, and
| was last year elected a member OF The
Head Masters Association of The
| United States, a body limited in mem
1bership to one hundred, and including
the heads of the most famous New
England schools.
With a new president in the primi
OF life, and not yet in the maturity o
, his powers, with his religious c0ncerI
, for the welfare and development of th'
young and for higher education amOns
Friends. and with his ambition fOi
high standards in education and fOi
, broad scholarship, it is believed tina
under the leadership of William w
Birdsall SwarthmOre College will ad
vance with constantly increasin,
strides to a still higher plane amoni
the educational institutions OF tn
! | United States.