Typed Letter Signed

This Baptist educator was a rising star in the world of university presidencies when he became fourth president of the unorthodox "Great Books" institution known as Frances Shimer Junior College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, in 1936, but his leadership was cut short by a brain tumor from which he died at age 50. TLS, 1p, 7¼" X 10½", Mount Carroll, IL, 3 September 1936. Addressed to Mary B. Day. Fine. On "Office of the President" college letterhead, the president, who'd been in office only about one week, writes this meaty letter to the librarian of Chicago's famed Museum of Science and Industry. At this time Shimer College was an all-female school, and he writes in part: "There is a tide in the education of a girl which, if missed, is perhaps permanently lost. At times it may seem to be unfortunate that we cannot halt nature's on-rushing development or retard it to suit our own convenience or the times in which we live. But in this instance nature is probably right. Growth will not wait.... Our ambition is to know each girl so thoroughly that each stage of growth is provided for by every opportunity for self development and by sympathetic guidance..." He goes on and on along these horn-tooting lines for several paragraphs. Boldly signed in full in ink at the close. Unusual and quite interesting.