{{Short description|American academic (1817–1890)}} {{distinguish|Joseph Cumming}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Joseph Cummings.jpg | name = Joseph Cummings | order = 5th | title = President of [[Wesleyan University]] | term_start = 1857 | term_end = 1875 | predecessor = [[Augustus William Smith|Augustus W. Smith]] | successor = [[Cyrus David Foss|Cyrus D. Foss]] | title2 = 5th [[President of Northwestern University]] | term_start2 = 1881 | term_end2 = 1890 | predecessor2 = [[Charles Henry Fowler]]<br>[[Oliver Marcy]] (acting) | successor2 = [[Henry Wade Rogers]]<br>Oliver Marcy (acting) | birth_date = {{birth date|1817|3|3}} | birth_place = [[Falmouth, Maine]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1890|5|7|1817|3|3}} | death_place = [[Evanston, Illinois]] | resting_place = [[Rosehill Cemetery]] | alma_mater = Wesleyan University | profession = Educator | spouse = {{Marriage|Deborah Haskell Cummings|1843}} | children = Mary Cummings <br /> Alice Cummings | footnotes = <ref name="wesleyan.edu">{{cite web|url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/president/pastpresidents/cummings.html|title= Wesleyan University Biography of Joseph Cummings}}</ref> }} '''Joseph Cummings''' (March 3, 1817 – May 7, 1890) was an American academic who served as the 5th president of [[Wesleyan University]] from 1857 to 1875, the 5th president of [[Northwestern University]] from 1881 to 1890, and the president of [[Genesee College]] (the predecessor of [[Syracuse University]]) from 1854 to 1857.<ref name="Northwestern University Archives">Joseph Cummings Papers, Box 1, Folder 1, "Biographical Materials. [[Northwestern University Archives]], Evanston, Illinois</ref>
==Early life== Joseph Cummings was born on March 3, 1817, in [[Falmouth, Maine]], to Reverend Cyrus Cummings, a [[Methodist]] minister, and his wife Elizabeth. Following in the footsteps of his father, Cummings devoted his early life to education and the promotion of Methodism. He worked to furnish the funds for his attendance at the [[Kents Hill School|Maine Wesleyan Seminary]] in preparation for his matriculation at [[Wesleyan University]] in [[Middletown, Connecticut]] in 1836. At Wesleyan, he was a member of the [[Eclectic Society (fraternity)|Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta]], a fraternity founded at Wesleyan in part by [[Clark T. Hinman|Clark Titus Hinman]], the first President of Northwestern University.<ref name="wesleyan.edu"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-college-matters-wesl/124712268/ |title=College Matters |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |page=3 |date=August 7, 1858 |access-date=2023-05-14 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ohles |first=John |title=Biographical Dictionary of American Educators, Volume 1 |year=1978|pages=337–338}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Herbert |title=Contributions to American Educational History, Volume 14 |year=1893|pages=265–266}}</ref> After graduating from Wesleyan in 1840, Cummings was called to many teaching positions around New England, including the Amenia Seminary in [[Dutchess County, New York]] (1840–1843).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.wesleyan.edu/president/pastpresidents/cummings.html|title= Wesleyan's Fifth President |publisher = Wesleyan University |accessdate= May 9, 2014}}</ref> [[Erastus Otis Haven]], another President of Northwestern University (1869–1872) taught at the Amenia Seminary just three years after Cummings left the seminary. After he finished his time at Amenia, Cummings married Deborah Haskell (1816–1900) in 1843, with whom he adopted two daughters.
==College presidencies== In 1854, Cummings was appointed President of Genesee College in [[Lima, New York]] (now Syracuse University), a position he kept for three years until being called to the presidency of his [[alma mater]], Wesleyan University, in 1857. Cummings taught [[moral philosophy|moral and mental philosophy]] while at Wesleyan, which allowed him to mix his two greatest preoccupations, teaching and preaching. "Cummings' Wesleyan presidency spanned the Civil War, during which 133 students left Wesleyan to join the Union Army, and several others left to join the Confederate Army. Despite this disruption, Cummings supervised the construction of several buildings, including Rich Library (now the Patricelli '92 Theatre), Memorial Chapel, and Orange Judd Hall. He also enlarged the school's curriculum - particularly in the natural sciences - and oversaw the admission of women, a policy maintained until 1909."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/FAs/cu1000-89.html|title=Wesleyan University Special Collections and Archives, Inventory of the Joseph Cummings Papers, 1851 - 1899|access-date=July 18, 2009|archive-date=October 7, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007214840/http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/FAs/cu1000-89.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Although he stayed on at Wesleyan as a teacher until 1878, Cummings relinquished the presidency of the university in 1875 so he could focus more on his preaching. He took up full-time preaching again in 1878 and continued to travel the country giving sermons until he was asked to become the President of Northwestern University in [[Evanston, Illinois]] in 1881.
===Northwestern University=== Cummings' time at Northwestern (1881–1890) was marked by expansion of the campus, construction of many new buildings, and a greater level of financial solvency than Northwestern had previously known.<ref name="Northwestern University Archives" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Pridmore |first=Jay |title=Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years |url=http://www.nu150.northwestern.edu/book/ |year=2000 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |location=Evanston, Illinois |isbn=0-8101-1829-7 |access-date=August 2, 2013 |archive-date=September 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906194313/http://www.nu150.northwestern.edu/book/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Cummings was able to increase faculty salaries, pay off Northwestern's debt, and add new buildings to the Evanston campus (e.g. Fayerweather Hall of Science in 1881, [[Dearborn Observatory]] in 1889, and Hatfield House, a dormitory for men, in 1890). He was a noted teacher. [[Charles Henry Fowler]], another President of Northwestern, had been his student at Genesee College, and a number of Northwestern professors—including Robert Cumnock and Herbert Fisk studied with or under him at Wesleyan.<ref name="Northwestern University Archives" /><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110709102721/http://exhibits.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/presidents/cummings.html Northwestern University Library Exhibit]</ref>
[[File:Grave of Joseph Cummings (1817–1890) at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago 1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Cummings' grave at Rosehill Cemetery]]
During his lifetime, Cummings was widely recognized as a preeminent Methodist scholar and pastor, which is evident from the numerous honorary degrees he received for his good works. He was granted an honorary [[D.D.]] from Wesleyan University in 1854, another from [[Harvard College]] in 1861, and an [[Legum Doctor|L.L.D.]] from Northwestern University in 1866. When Cummings died on May 7, 1890, his funeral was well attended by prominent educators and ministers, and the eulogies given on his behalf were bound.<ref name="Northwestern University Archives" /> He was survived by his wife, Deborah, who remained a trustee of Northwestern University until her death in 1900, and his two adoptive daughters, Mary (born in 1846) and Alice (1856–1932). [[Daniel Bonbright]], Northwestern's [[Latin]] professor from 1856 to 1912 and President from 1900 to 1902, married Alice Cummings in 1890, and it was in their house that Joseph Cummings died.<ref name="Northwestern University Archives" />
Joseph Cummings and his wife Deborah Cummings are buried in [[Rosehill Cemetery]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]].
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Wikiquote}}
{{Northwestern University presidents}} {{Wesleyan University presidents}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cummings, Joseph}} [[Category:1817 births]] [[Category:1890 deaths]] [[Category:People from Falmouth, Maine]] [[Category:People from Evanston, Illinois]] [[Category:Presidents of Northwestern University]] [[Category:Presidents of Wesleyan University]] [[Category:Harvard Divinity School alumni]] [[Category:Wesleyan University alumni]] [[Category:Syracuse University faculty]] [[Category:American sermon writers]] [[Category:19th-century American Methodist ministers]] [[Category:Methodists from Maine]] [[Category:Methodist writers]] [[Category:Genesee Wesleyan Seminary alumni]] [[Category:Burials at Rosehill Cemetery]] [[Category:Kents Hill School alumni]]