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This online exhibition was first published in 2006 by Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It accompanied and featured content from a physical exhibition of rare materials displayed in Cornell University’s Carl A. Kroch Library from March 8 to August 31, 2007. Cornell University Library archived the original version of the online exhibition in 2024 to preserve its earlier design. This version maintains access to the original images and text within an updated website.
Ezra Cornell
Carpenter, mechanic, farmer, salesman, inventor, entrepreneur, politician and philanthropist, Ezra Cornell was an extraordinary man. While he referred to himself simply as a farmer and mechanic who had spent some time working in the telegraph industry, through skillful work, uncommon tenacity, and fortuitous circumstances he amassed a fortune. Ezra Cornell envisioned America as a place where technology, wealth, and altruism could come together to benefit all the inhabitants. As soon as it became clear that he had a fortune, he used those riches to found a unique university.
Under the guidance of Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell University was established as a non-sectarian institution, open to all, and dedicated to all forms of intellectual endeavor. In his address at the opening of the university on October 7, 1868, Ezra articulated his hopes for the new university: “I trust we have laid the foundation of an University — ‘an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.’”
Although Ezra Cornell died in 1874, his remarkable ideals gave life to a radical educational experiment which lives on. In the small rural community of Ithaca, New York, he created the first truly American university, now one of the great educational institutions of the world, which bears his name.
“I Would Found an Institution”: The Ezra Cornell Bicentennial Exhibition
Cornell celebrates the 200th birthday of its founder with an exhibition of materials from the Cornell University Archives. Highlights include the original telegraph receiver, the Cornell University Charter, family letters, patent applications, and Ezra Cornell’s letter “to the coming man and woman.”