The history of Ferrum College from a mission school to a college

• Main Author: Nolen, Carolyn Pilla
• Other Authors: Educational Administration
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: Virginia Tech 2014
• Subjects: LD5655.V856 1996.N654
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40455; http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12222005-090641/

This study is the history of Ferrum Training School, founded in 1913 in Ferrum, Virginia, as a mission school and its development into Ferrum College, a four year college in 1976. The Woman's Home Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Virginia Annual Conference of the Methodist Church were the founders and benefactors of the school. Although the study spans the period of transition from mission school to college three major periods of growth are apparent: the founding (1913), the expansion (1954), and the program development (1970). Each period was directed by a particularly able president, B. M. Beckham (1913-1933), C. R. Arthur (1954-1970), and J. T. Hart (1970-1976), who made significant contributions to the expansion of the college. Included in this study are brief examinations of mission schools that were founded by the Presbyterian and Episcopal Churches in Franklin at the turn of the century, the state of public education in the Appalachian Mountains at the time that the mission schools evolved, and religion in Franklin County, Virginia, at the time of the founding of Ferrum Training School. The Methodist Church and its interest in education which led to the development of Ferrum College was also examined. The objective of the study was to record the history of Ferrum College, with insights into the underlying religious, educational, economic, social, and cultural forces that contributed to the development of that institution. It illustrates how education and religion combined to add a vital dimension to human lives. === Ed. D.