Dartmouth's Undergraduates Numbered 138 in 1820 With a Faculty of Eleven Members--Expenses for Year Were $98.65

A glance through the College Catalogue for October 1820 reveals the enormous growth and expansion that Dartmouth has enjoyed in the intervening century.

At that early date the faculty was composed of a mere 11 members, while the students numbered 204. Of this latter number, 66 were registered in the, at that time, newly erected medical school, so that the four undergraduate classes boasted the munificent total of 138, less than one-fifteenth of the corresponding group today. An overwhelming majority of this number hailed from three states, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont. The other New England states had scattered representation, and New York barely entered into the count.

In these days the school year was much different from the present one. Commencement came the Wednesday preceding the last week in August, and there was a four-week vacation granted after it. Then College resumed until the first week in January, when a seven week rest was allowed. The next stretch lasted until the "Thursday next preceding the last Wednesday in May, when a two and a half week vacation took place. Then there was steady work until Commencement. Exams were held in March and August.

Expenses in those days were considerably less than the current ones. The college then prescribed the following budget for the year: Tuition  $26.00. Ordinary incidentals  2.40 Library fee  2.00 Room rent (per year)  6.00 Board  52.25 Wood, light, etc.  10.00 Estimated expenses,  98.65

The entrance requirements, too, differ entirely from the ones now in use. In 1820 the prospective student had to be: "Well versed in the grammar of the English, Latin and Greek languages; in 'Virgil', Cicero's 'Select Orations', 'Salust', 'The Greek Testament', Dalzel's 'Collectanea Graeca Minora', 'Latin and Greek Prosody', 'Arithmetick', and 'Ancient and Modern Geography.'"

The entrance requirements, too, differ entirely from the ones now in use. In 1820 the prospective student had to be: "Well versed in the grammar of the English, Latin and Greek languages; in 'Virgil', Cicero's 'Select Orations', 'Salust', 'The Greek Testament', Dalzel's 'Collectanea Graeca Minora', 'Latin and Greek Prosody', 'Arithmetick', and 'Ancient and Modern Geography.'"