Charles Burt Sumner (August 17, 1837 – July 11, 1927) was a minister in the Congregational church and a founding trustee of Pomona College who served as its de facto first president.[3][4][5]
Charles Burt Sumner | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Financial Agent with Supervisory Authority of Pomona College | |
| In office 1888–1890 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Cyrus G. Baldwin (as president of Pomona College) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 17, 1837 Southbridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | July 11, 1927 (aged 89) Claremont, California, United States |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Profession | Academic |
Life and career
editSumner was born on August 17, 1837, in Southbridge, Massachusetts, to George and Julia Sumner.[6] He went to Southbridge Academy and Williston Seminary, and then attended Yale University, graduating in 1862.[6]
During the Civil War, he fought for the Union for nine months as a sergeant in the 45th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.[7][2]
He later graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary, and held pastorates in Monson, Massachusetts (at Monson Academy), West Somerville, Massachusetts, Tucson, Arizona, Pomona, California, and Claremont, California.[8]
In 1888, he left the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona to become Pomona College's "financial agent with supervisory authority", a position in which he assumed the duties of a college president.[3] During his tenure, the college began teaching its first classes in Ayer Cottage and acquired 120 acres (49 ha) of land in Piedmont Mesa north of Pomona for a planned permanent campus.[3] In October 1888, the college acquired an unfinished hotel in Claremont (today's Sumner Hall) and moved there in the following months.[3] In 1890, he helped recruit Pomona's first official president, Cyrus G. Baldwin.[3]
Sumner remained a Pomona College trustee until his retirement in 1924. He also taught biblical literature at the college between 1888 and 1899.[2] In 1892, he opposed the college's decision to make Claremont its permanent home, but he later relocated his house to Claremont in 1901, living in it during the six-week move.[9] In 1910, Pomona gave him the college's first honorary doctorate, a Legum Doctor degree.[10][2] In 1914, he published a comprehensive history of the college.[10]
Sumner was also involved in the development of citrus fruit marketing cooperatives,[7] and served as the president of the Indian Hill Citrus Association and San Dimas Orange Association, and the director of the San Dimas Lemon Association.[2]
Legacy
editSumner's daughter, Helen, and son, George, both graduated from Pomona's first class of students in 1894.[8] George later taught economics at Pomona and became its controller in 1923.[9] His grandson, George Charles Sumner Benson, became the founding president of Claremont McKenna College.[11]
Sumner's house was occupied by his son and grandson, and later rented to faculty and used as a dormitory for vegetarian students. It has served as the college's guest house since 1992.[9][12]
Pomona's first building, Sumner Hall, was named for his wife, Mary Louisa Stedman Sumner, in 1893.[13] It serves as the college's office of admissions today.
Publications
edit- The Story of Pomona College. Pilgrim Press. 1914.
References
edit- ^ Blaisdell, James S. "In Memoriam: Charles Burt Sumner". Pomona College Quarterly Magazine. 16 (October 1927–January 1928): 7. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f "Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1927–1928". Bulletin of Yale University. September 15, 1928. pp. 16–18. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "1888". Pomona College Timeline. November 7, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
- ^ Brackett, Frank P.; Miller, Evylena Nunn (1944). Granite and sagebrush; reminiscences of the first fifty years of Pomona College. Los Angeles, California: Ward Ritchie Press. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
- ^ Lyon, E. Wilson (1977). The History of Pomona College, 1887-1969. The Castle Press.
- ^ a b Blaisdell, James S. "In Memoriam: Charles Burt Sumner". Pomona College Quarterly Magazine. 16 (October 1927–January 1928): 6. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
- ^ a b "Death Takes Claremont Educator". Pomona Progress-Bulletin. July 12, 1927. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Pomona College Founder is Dead". Chino Champion. July 15, 1927. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ a b c "1901". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Churchill, M. E. (1927). "Charles Burt Sumner". Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ Honan, William H. (March 25, 1999). "George Benson, 91, A College Founder And Nixon Official". The New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ Allen, David (January 19, 2019). "Host was part of the charm at Claremont's 1887 Sumner House". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ "1893". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2020.