Editing Boston University (section)

===19th century===
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2019}}
[[File:Bell receives honorary LL.D from University of Edinburgh.jpg|thumb|[[Alexander Graham Bell]], who invented the telephone at Boston University]]
[[File:688 Boylston St.jpg|thumb|688 [[Boylston Street]] in [[Boston]], the early home of the College of Liberal Arts, the precursor to [[Boston University College of Arts and Sciences]]]]
[[File:Helen magill.jpg|thumb|[[Helen Magill White]], who, in 1877, was the first woman to receive a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from an American university]]
Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the '''Newbury Biblical Institute''' in [[Newbury (town), Vermont|Newbury, Vermont]], in 1839,<ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |title=Boston University {{!}} university, Boston, Massachusetts, United States |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Boston-University |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417054346/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Boston-University |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |access-date=April 19, 2021 |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> and was chartered with the name "Boston University" by the [[Massachusetts Legislature]] in 1869. The university organized formal centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969.<ref>[http://www.bu.edu/info/about/ Boston University |Visitor Center |About the University |History] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060216154448/http://www.bu.edu/info/about/ |date=February 16, 2006}}, retrieved May 6, 2006</ref> One or the other, or both dates may appear on various official seals used by different schools of the university.

On April 24–25, 1839, a group of [[Methodist]] ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in Newbury, [[Vermont]], the school was named the "Newbury Biblical Institute".

In 1847, the Congregational Society in [[Concord, New Hampshire]], invited the institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational church]] building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the "'''Methodist General Biblical Institute'''", but it was commonly called the "Concord Biblical Institute".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Methodist General Biblical Institute (Concord, NH) {{!}} A People's History of the School of Theology |url=https://www.bu.edu/sth-history/graduates/concord-students/ |access-date=June 28, 2023 |website=bu.edu}}</ref>

With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased {{cvt|30|acre|m2}} on Aspinwall Hill in [[Brookline, Massachusetts]], as a possible relocation site. The institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkney Street in the [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] neighborhood of Boston, and received a Massachusetts Charter as the "'''Boston Theological Seminary'''".

In 1869, three trustees of the '''Boston Theological Institute''' obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by the name of "Boston University".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buckley |first=James Monroe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5TVKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA203 |title=A History of Methodism in the United States |date=1898 |publisher=Harper & Brothers Company |page=203 |language=en}}</ref> These trustees were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises, and they became the founders of Boston University. They were [[Isaac Rich]] (1801–1872), Lee Claflin (1791–1871), and [[Jacob Sleeper]] (1802–1889), for whom Boston University's three [[Boston University West Campus|West Campus]] dormitories were later named. Lee Claflin's son, [[William Claflin|William]], was then Governor of Massachusetts and signed the University Charter on May 26, 1869, after it was passed by the Legislature.

As reported by Kathleen Kilgore in her book ''Transformations, A History of Boston University'' (see [[#Further reading|Further reading]]), the founders directed the inclusion in the Charter of the following provision, unusual for its time:

:No instructor in said University shall ever be required by the Trustees to profess any particular religious opinions as a test of office, and no student shall be refused admission ... on account of the religious opinions he may entertain; provided, nonetheless, that this section shall not apply to the theological department of said University.<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Massachusetts General Court]] |title=Acts and Resolves |publisher=[[Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth]] |year=1869 |location=[[Boston]] |pages=631–633 |chapter=Chapter 322: An Act to Incorporate the Trustees of Boston University |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/actsresolvespass1869mass/page/630/mode/2up}}</ref>

Every department of the new university was also open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex, race, or (with the exception of the School of Theology) religion.

Boston Theological Institute was absorbed into Boston University in 1871 as the [[Boston University School of Theology|BU School of Theology]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=history » School of Theology |url=https://www.bu.edu/sth/welcome/about-sth/history/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016230033/https://www.bu.edu/sth/welcome/about-sth/history/ |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |access-date=October 16, 2017 |publisher=Boston University |language=en}}</ref>

On January 13, 1872, [[Isaac Rich]] died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the university was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston, which was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university as of that time. By December, however, the [[Great Boston Fire of 1872]] had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the university, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were [[bankrupt]]. The value of his estate, when turned over to the university in 1882, was half what it had been in 1872.{{citation needed|date=May 2017}}

As a result, the university was unable to build its contemplated campus on Aspinwall Hill, and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Claflin Road, Claflin Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of university ownership in this area. Following the fire, Boston University established its new facilities in buildings scattered throughout [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]], and later expanded into the [[Boylston Street]] and [[Copley Square]] area, before building its Charles River Campus in the 1930s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=B.U. Bridge: Boston University community's weekly newspaper |url=https://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2000/12-08/1930s.html |access-date=January 21, 2024 |website=bu.edu}}</ref>

After receiving a year's salary advance to allow him to pursue his research in 1875, [[Alexander Graham Bell]], then a professor at the school, invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory.<ref name="Kilgore 1991">{{Cite book |last=Kilgore |first=Kathleen |title=Transformations: A History of Boston University |date=1991 |publisher=Boston University Press |location=Boston}}</ref> In 1876, [[Borden Parker Bowne]] was appointed professor of philosophy. Bowne, an important figure in the history of American religious thought, was an American Christian philosopher and theologian in the [[Methodist]] tradition. He is known for his contributions to [[personalism]], a philosophical branch of [[Liberal Christianity|liberal theology]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Buford |first=Tom |year=2006 |title=Persons in the Tradition of Boston Personalism |journal=The Journal of Speculative Philosophy |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=214–218 |doi=10.1353/jsp.2007.0000 |s2cid=170564853}}</ref> The movement he led is often referred to as [[Personalism#Boston personalism|Boston Personalism]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Personalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/personalism/ |access-date=May 5, 2013 |date=November 12, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423084853/http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/personalism/ |archive-date=April 23, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The university continued its tradition of openness in this period. In 1877, Boston University became the first American university to award a PhD to a woman, when classics scholar [[Helen Magill White]] earned hers with a thesis on "The Greek Drama".<ref name="Kilgore 1991" /><ref name="Britannica" /> Then in 1878 Anna Oliver became the first woman to receive a degree in theology in the United States, but the [[Methodist Church]] would not ordain her.<ref name="Kilgore 1991" /> [[Lelia J. Robinson]], who graduated from the university's law school in 1881, became the first woman admitted to the bar in Massachusetts.<ref name="Kilgore 1991" /> [[Solomon Carter Fuller]], who graduated from the university's School of Medicine in 1897, became the first black psychiatrist in the United States and would make significant contributions to the study of [[Alzheimer's disease]].<ref name="Kilgore 1991" />