LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNI VERSITY. A co-educational institution of higher learning at Palo Alto. Cal., founded by Leland Stanford (q.v.) and his wife, Jane Lath rop Stanford, in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford, .1r., 'who died in 1884. The grant of endowment was made in 1885, the cor nerstone of the first building was laid in 1887, and the university was opened to students in 1891. The original endowment consisted of about 90,000 acres of land in various parts of Califor nia. including, the Palo Alto estate of some 9000 acres, constituting the site of the university; the Villa estate of 59,000 acres in Tehama County; and the Gridley estate of 22.000 acres in Butte County. By the will of Mr. Stanford the Imi versity received 82,500,000, and after his death Mrs. Stanford deeded to it almost the whole of the residue of the estate, including the Stanford residence in San Francisco, making the total en dowment about $30,000,000. The main part of the endowment included in the gifts of Sirs. Stan ford consists of interest-bearing securities. Dur ing several years a suit by the United States Government involving such securities seriously crippled the institution and threatened its ex istence, hut was finally decided in favor of the university. It was for the most part relieved from the taxation of its property, through an amendment to the State Constitution ratified in 1900. The university lies 33 miles southeast of San Francisco in the Santa Clara Valley, its site covering about 9000 acres, affording views of the Ray of San Francisco, the ocean, and the Monte Diablo and Santa Cruz ranges. The architecture is a modification of the style of the old Spanish missions. The central build ings, of huff sandstone, with roofs of red tile, constitute two quadrangles, one surrounding the other, of which the inner was completed in 1891, and contains twelve one-story buildings and an imposing court 586 feet long by 246' feet wide. The outer quadrangle, consisting in the main of two-story buildings, connected by an arcade, was begun in 189S with the Assembly Hall, Library, and _Memorial Arch, and the buildings necessary to complete the quadrangle were either completed or in course of construction in 1903. The mu seum, chemistry building, dormitories, gymna shun. and University Inn, a university commons leased and managed by the students, occupy detached structures. The grounds about the university are reserved for experimental and ornamental purposes and for residences of the faculty.
The university maintains departments of Greek, Latin. Germanic languages, Romance lan guages. English, philosophy, psychology, educa tion, history, economics and social science, law, drawing, mathematics, physics, chemistry. bot any, physiology and hygiene, zo0lop-, geology and mining, and civil, mechanical, and elec trical engineering. The Hopkins Laboratory
of Natural History at Pacific Grove, on the Bay of 'Monterey, is a branch of the biologi cal work of the university. The degrees con ferred are Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws, Master of Arts, Engineer, and Doctor of Philos ophy. No honorary degrees are given. The ordi nary class divisions are not recognized by the uni versity, and degrees are conferred without regard to the time spent, whenever the requirements are met. Each student selects as his major subject the work of sonic one department, to which, to gether with the necessary minor subjects. he is required to devote about a third of his under graduate course. All the rest of the undergrad uate work is elective, but the professor in charge of the major subject acts as the student's educa tional adviser. In the matter of entrance require ments the attempt has been made from the outset to insist upon an adequate preparatory training without prescribing particular subjects, and to recognize everything of disciplinary value in the schools. The only prescribed requirement for admission is English composition, counting two credits of the 15 necessary for full standing. For the remaining 13 credits the student may offer the requisite number selected from 29 different subjects, to which values are assigned.
These subjects include, besides those usually re quired for entrance examinations, Spanish, the natural sciences, physiograpny, mechanical and free-hand drawing, wood-working, forge work, foundry work. and machine-shop work. The at tendance in 1903 was 14S3,of whom about 500 were women. There were 119 graduate students. The faculty numbered 130. The library in 1903 num bered 75,000 volumes, including the Hopkins rail way library, a valuable Australasian library, and the Hildebrand collection of works on Germanic philology and literature. In connection with the library, a course is given in general bibliography. The Leland Stanford Junior Museum is the out growth of collections begun by the son of the founders. The university has a philological and a science association, and offers frequent. public lectures on subjects of general interest. The con trol of the institution is vested, after the death of the surviving founder, in a board of fifteen trustees appointed for ten years, but the charter provides that the founders. during their lives, shall "perform all the duties and exercise all the powers and privilege-3 enjoined upon and vested in the trustees." By an act of the Legis lature, passed in March, 1903. Mrs. Stanford, the surviving founder, is authorized to turn over to the trustees, during her lifetime, the full manage ment and control of the institution. The build ing up and development of the university is due largely to the work of David Starr Jordan, who has been its only president.