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FOREWORD

I - GHILDHOOD AND EARLY YOUTH
I ~- Diamond Greve
II - Neosho
III - Fort Scott and Minneapolis
IV - Highland, Beeler, and Winterset

V - College Years - Simpson and Ames

II - TUSKEGEE

VII - The First Ten Years at Tuskegee - 1896-1906

VIII - Disceveries - 1906 - 1916

1916 - 1924

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X - Lecturer Extraerdinary, cont. - 1924 - 1953

2

XII - Up in the Seventies -

 
POR

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Lucy Cherry Crisp

FOR RBWORD

This book about Georpge Washington Carver had its beginning on

 

a morning in May, 1953,

ef the University of North Carelina (Greensboro, N.C.

 

epeivedl-or- trie chapel speakers As counselor

for student religi

voenl—see—tr-eIT OT rice at The Woman's College

) waiting the

ous ac~

C

tivities at chat college then, I was at times respensible for securing

speakers for chapel convecations, and fer that particular day I had sched-

eA

uled a speaker of whom I Seucanally knew very little -- a comsiderable

risk to take on a college campus, as anyone acquainted with sbhudent opin-

ien en the whole

K

sae i

On several eccasions J.T. Hardwic then

eof the Southern Student YMC A Ceuncil,

a member

had skid tome,

matter of chapel lecturers can well testify.

ef the field

mh are =) is

aman I want you to meet soneday-- George Washington Carver. You may have
heard of him as ' the man who has made so many things from peannts’.

He has done a lot of lecturing en college campuses, and still makes a
tour now and then. I hope yeu get him at Woman's College someday. He's

great 3} " 90, in the winter ef 19 when Mr. Hardwi

ck had

written us

that another Jecture trip was being arranged for Dr. Carver, we had
scheduled him for a chapel talk. qpapat sgiiiice-.

Now, today, he wag to come, and lwas conscious of a /feeling of
definite uneasiness“as I sat await ing his arvival, for a“much-heralded
speaker who tums out to bef in student Yanguage, a“flep", is a hard
matter to Lite down pn Any, school er college >) 2 as from too

  

many expat t O@NCSSeececs now Mr Hardwick was

ee fete

Ke : kn a Ww

6ffice door,

 
Grisp

saying ee he's here | Come out

auditorium,’

As wey walked down the

1

erable-looking car of very ancient

¢

for transportation en this parti

“chariet", as they

called it,

1-piled seeming confusion of

stenes and branc

customary travyj@ equipment when the

"This is De. Carver",

eplied with a gentle

‘ ? ae
very pleased to mest you.
aA ae OC te
I shall never forget him as he

eur conversation of

abeut it.
the

even in

ef quietn

ted

descriptive language than the words

and confidence shall be

quietness

driveway I had

cular

hes ) which

3 Hard

sert

thy strength."

Carver-Foreword 2

he

and meet him. We parked down at

no lee
6118

7m)

my first glpmpse of the

ven-~

oy

e

lineage" which they had purchased

4

t

tour. And there, en the front seat

was our speaker -- enthroned

among

packing cases, bags, slabs of earth,

3

formed-~ as I later learned-- his

1
ae

journey was made by Care

fa)

Sd

and voic

pz
ow

peculiarly high

rence and dignity, "I am so

istening 60

making eccasional

of quietness about

midst ef the gay banter and repartee

ess for have never found more

4-

ef the ancient Biblical phrase “In

ee # 8

Outwardly, he looked quite feeble, his broad shoulders slipped
his words soft-spoken, his hair white abeve his brown-tinged black face

when he had removed his

when Heedwick jokingly asked "Is

We
Hit «

ioe)

here?"

eut of I theught perhaps he s
hew leng does it take to get him out

plaid traveling cap. Se feeble that

KD

it about time start him

W 8

Fon a $3
22 ¥

seriously, and answered “Well,

y Se es onsen lp Be mf ee ce a 4 a nA
A spontaneous shout of laughter fran both of them greeted my
silly remark, leaving me considerably abashed at having been so taken ine
Crisp Carver=- Foreword = 3

A few moments later, however, my erbarrassment turned into something of

alarm,-for when our speaker-to-be had descended quite agilely from the
chariot’, a tall, strongly-built figure, and started walking toward the
auditorium in long, vigerous strides, he continued to laugh in cascade

high=pitched
after cascade of delis shted Alaugh hter . This manwas our chapel speaker--
would he recover himself and return to his dignity in time ? And what
kind of speech wwald this strange man be likely to make 7?
IL might have spared myself any such concern, for new we were at
the back-stage door, the presiding professor was coming to greet us, and
> $ ate 2 FR <> i> $

4.

turning te make the intreductions, I found our speaker dignity personi-
fied. A moment later Mr. Hardwick said "He likes to have prayer before he
speaks, sf we can”. I closed my eyes and heard my name,spoken in the
quiet,high-pitched voice Iwas to come to know so well: :"Miss Crisp". Teo
surprised actually te pray, I said a sentence or two, and then the quiet
veice spoke again:"Mr. Hardwick". A brief prayer by Mr. Hardwick, Dr.
Garver'ts own simply-spoken petition, and the presddtng professor was re-
turning. Geing down the corridob, then, to find my place oeut in the au
ditorium ameng the 1800 students gathered there for chapel, I found my
mind at complete ease concerning the speaker for the day.
I saw them several times during the next few days, when Dr. Carver

was speaking in end around Greensboro. They took me with them when he
went to speak in Salisbury, 5O miles away, a young man from another college
also accompanying wse On the way to Salisbory the “chariot” broke down,
and while Mr. Hardwick and the student attended to the essential repairs,
Iwalked with Dr. Carver along the edgesg of the field.

"“Thia”, he would say, bending down to pick a spray from a weed or

Fs

some kind of little grass or flowring shrub, “is a most remarkable little

plant. You will note the brilliant purple‘ef its flower. Now, that is
Grisnv Garver-Foreword~ 4

whatbthey are using in the manufacture of so-and-so.... Ax a most
useful little plant".He was completely at home here, on intimate,appre-
ciative terms with all these tiny weeds ans flowers and plants among
which I, who had seenthem thousands of times, yet walked an utter stran-
ger. As we turned to go back to the repaired chariet, he stopped a
moment, arranged into a quaint little bouquet the sprays he had bem
gathering,looked at it for a long moment, then handed it to me,saying
"I'd like te paint that someday,.... perhaps | shall." It was an un-

forgettable hour for me.

On the way home from Salisbury, someone started a song and the
feur ef us sang, then -- old felk sengs, spirituals, eld hymns ef the

church, fragments of tunes only half-recalled-- the high tener voice

nm od,

ef our speaker sounding clear and true with the others. Now and then
with a little chuckle he would say "That song always reminds me", and

ge on to tell us of some experience linked in his memory with that

cr

re)
@
a
i

»

ticular piece ef music; some incident ef his life stery.

we

Later, beginning e@¢

je

piece tegether these bits ef incidents, a nc
. ethers I had gathered in conversation with him, I found mysel

. : * a 3 ae uh ne. 1 8 B Me 2 GaN TES Wee
greatly interested in the extraordinary story of this man's life; in the

remarkable pattern of the sixty-odd years that had brought him from the

re
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LPs)
169)
Oo
=)
8
&
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si os al 2 it i oo ae oR tl ees ti Al a Een
Missouri slave cabin into which he to the distinguished
the living scientists of the world. Discussing
e % » Ty sce ® ae Py BAB Wig, anon fe ane Wa ele ey PE “er m7 P e ana » ie c 4 Pe Bae (e
4t with Mr. Hardwick, I inquired whetipr there were any biographies ef

ae

him already written or being prepared, and learned that as yet there wese

$ PR ‘ 1 4 Mee 4 . sh gs nee aa ae ath wth a ae HR 88 a ‘
none. A brief book about his life, amd numerous newspaper and magazine

articles and stories, but as yet, no adequate biography.

ae

a,
Cr Carver-Foreword = 5

jel
fA
and
i?

Agreeing that this was an imoortant matter, and one that should
have immediate attention, we came to the conclusion that we would begin
webk on one ourselves, ill-equipped though we knew ourselves to be for
any such undertaking -- a decision undoubtedly another excellent illus-~
tration ef “foels rushing in where angels fear to tread ", Dr. Carver's
own warm ehthusiasm and endorsement of the idea served to vitalisse our
cenclusioen, however, and initial plans for earrying out the idea were
made, the first step being that I sheuld go te luskegee Institute as soon
as possible to begin work with Dr. Carver en the story.

Bs)
if

wie! a au, a
rer Th

=
ta

Se it was that the idea boek was born, and se it was
en a Sunday afternoon in Jume, 1934, I feund myself on a train out of At-
lanta with a ticket that read "Chehaw, Alabama", As I left the train at
the diminutive Chehaw depot, a student in the blue uniform of the Tuskegee
Institute cadets appreached, touched his cap, and said "Yeu are Dr.

Carver's guest?The car/is waiting

ee

rere", ‘The drive was brief, and we

ws

fe)
89
=

were soon passing through the ef the Institute campus and drawing up

rn
u

o

before Derothy Hall, in whtch is the Guest House,
9, $3

i)

Graciously received

and assigned a room by Mrs, Martin, the hostess, I was told that I had
arrived just in time for Tea,. and invited to come directly into the dinin
room. Here, wheres we were served by Home Economics students, I found sew -
eral other guests already as sembled,_ this Guest House, as I was soon te
discever, being a place where one may count on meeting interesting people
frem all parts ef the werld.

Dr. Carver-- or Professor Garver, as many on the campus still call
him -- lived in Reckefeller “all, they told me, and had bem bus¥ re~
ceiving visitors all day long. Greeting him by <M tele sphone, I made
an appeintment to ceme and see his laboratorya nd office the next day,

then walked for a while in the Jyne twilight en the bread rolling campus
Crisp Garver~ Foreword - 6

Faced by the immediate reality of actually beginning this venture we hac.
smallness
planned, I was suddenly overwhelmed by my own xascaguxex and inadequacy

for the task. Whowas I to write of the life of George Washington Garver §
Gradually, however, sanething of the peace of this memory-laden campus,

woon which the man ef whose life Iw as to write had walked among his stu-

dents for 35 years, must have flowed into my troubled spirit, aM I was

J.

1

asleep early, eager for the morning to come,

Nine etclék the following morning found me at Milbank Agricultural

» 2

Hall, inquiring of a student whom I mt inthe corridor where 1 might find

>

Dr. Carver, and being shown into his office. And if I had been concered

vevwhis less of dignity just before his chapel talk in Greensbore, I was

my pope

: o- ( ms
terrifed now by the awful preponderngce of it | ‘this gmave-faced, solemn
pr sx :

k to greet me with such

A?

elderly man whe rose fram behind his littered de

®

distant formality and chilling reserve ceuld net possibly be the same Dr.

arver who had walked with me so recently in the edgesof the fields, call-

C2

ing the weeds by name; who had lifted his voice with ours in song above

the rumblings of the old chariet ! For brief byt long-seeming moments
I was panic-stricken, until happily some casual remark brought quick laugh-
ter to the rescue(As it has done on many occasions since) and the awful

ice of shyness and self-consciousness on the part of beth of us was com-
pletely gone, melted in the sim of laughter. Back again now was the

sense of mutual understanding and confidence, the fundamental assurance

ef mutual inner surmises-- and we were ready to begin our work.

Jsune morn

ct
q #3)
ta
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2
Ky
me
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2

I have spent many hours at Tuskegee Institut
ing, for I have returned for visits ef a week or lenger whenever respon-

siti lities elsewhere would permit it. Thers, talking with Dr. Carver in

2 Cf 5 P| + 4 pan e ok ah 4 peal as ey ae 4 ey 7 8 se
his effice, his laboratory, his museum, or out en the campus er at Derothy
Ha The a > q 2 2 aes ' Ta eR ar

all, I have heard from his own lips much of the story that appears in
Crisv Carver-Foreword- 7

*

this beek, particularly that part ef it comprising the earlier chap-

\

ters. for to ne ether source save his own memory could we gofi for the
bf

ry
a
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ae
wa
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‘ldheed.. Durin

Lwte

whee i Sa xs sy aye as ‘
story ef his early ch

& my sar

frequently of his boyhoed and youth, some of his memories, dim at

first, becoming clearer as we discussed. There remained much vagueness

at some points, however, particularly as to dates and exact lengths of

time spent at one place or another. He has never known the exact date
ef his birthg:for instance -- only its appromimate time,

As for the later chapters-- now and then he would gave me the
name and address of some person who had known him at some time of his
life, saying “New, yeu go ad talk to him. He can tell you a lot more
about me than I can abeut myself." J have found many such people here
and there, though none woo could ever quite measure up to that prophecy.
Some of them have been frends of his early manhood-- from Colorado,
Towa, California, and Tennesee their letters have come in response to

1.

my request for help,letters describing the young Carver as they knew

him. At Tyskegee Institute I have talked with staff and faculty mem-

bers who have most generously told me of his life among them there.
Fal 1 249 A ay ry aie) £1 7° & a9 YH) ary y ou io iy ol a ha Sy + 4 h 4 Q a, ey a 8 an + an
An GQ Here ana Nere in Many Pla Ces nave 189 und his ie) O*F S and @ocners
x7} In « @ tran var $m 14 $ 4 le aD as eee c Sa H MS “OG a REL PEE 5 Na ee slap ae
whe have known him, some intimately and some only through his public

    

Ai
&

ae} $

OES, ey pat uo t Se a 5 ah ee a Dee Apel i Sa OR TAS RS ame eR aa ae
lectures gwime have added their ewn particular contributions to this

al

stery of hia life, Ameng the excellently ordered files inthe Institute

Research library I have spent many hours, reading the hundreds of news-

eles ave aa he es EER IY na EOE Ee Ue ann Rg a PRS MR aoe ae aE Saat ay, BRS sie cain Re ua a ae ager aa eye
paper andmagazine articles and items written of the man himself and of

his work during the past half century.It is from sources such as these,

rs Pan in Sa ae ie PNR a apie ee oD Pa Vi Ve Sa ss a A s 1 ne sil pe a a
and from his own Letters that have come to me wherever Il have fone these

nine years that I have known him, that 1] have gathered the materials fer
 

ef

Carver- Foreword --8

this stery the life ef Georges Washington Varver.

It is not a complete stery, and makes ne pretense of being. It is
simply an effort to portray authentically she George Washington Carver
whom I myself have come to know during the years that have passed since
that memerable May morning when I first saw him enthroned in the old
"chariot"; the story of his life as 1 have learned it from the sources
available to me,

Teday, in his seventy venth year, Dr. Carver is still busily
at work insofar as his failing strength will alow him to be; still ang
important and influential part ef the onflowing currents ef his country's

life. There will undoubtedly be many books written about him as the
years pass. this one will well fulfil its puwpose if, in the end, it

can add even a minute contributi

ty

understanding of the measure and the
erdinary American, George Washington ‘'

tual

meaning of the life of this extra-

 
 

por

Pant ¥

CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
Carver-1L

I
DIAMOND GROVE

On a morning in early autumn, a little more than a decade after
the close ef the war between the Nerth and the Seuth, a strange little fig-
ure in diminutive jeans and homespun shirt cams trudging dewn a hilly coun-

try road near Diamond Grove, Missouri, The bundle he carried slung ever his

should” er gave a certain air of purpose te his trudging, but ether than thet

there was nothing in the outward appearance of the incident to indicate the
far-reaching culmination it was eventually to attain. Pe@ple in the neigh-
berhoed, seeing him pass by, probably dismissed t he little figure with a
casual "There goes little George Carver. They say he is leaving home te go
to schoel, and he is not much more than ten years old! Small for his age,
tee."

It was true. Little George VYarver was leaving home and goinga way
te scheel. Not very far away, te be sure, as miles are usually measured,for
he meant to ge no farther than Neeshe, a small tow eight miles distant from
the cross-roads settlement known as Diamond Grove. But fer him it was a
leng journey,especially leng on that particular day when he was leaving home
for the first time alone, and --he felt certain --to stay.

The first ten years of his life he had spent there en the planta-

UV Peep 2
tion at Diamond Greve with Mr. and Mrs. Meses Carver, the ease emsumive to
whom his mother had belonged in the days before the War had come and given
the slaves their freedom. It was commonly said of the Carvers,honest,in-
dustrieus ,thrifty people ef Dutch descent,-that their purpose in pur-
chasing a few slaves in the first place had been not so much to acquire

them as preperty as to provide them a home and assurance of kind treatment.

 
Carver-I - 2

Of his parents Little George had no recollection at all, fer his fathsr,
Meses Grant, whe had been a slave on af adjoining plantation, had
died before George was born, trampled te death by an ox team. And his
mother, Mary Carver, had been stelen by a band of the scalawag night
raiders whe pape ared in many sections of the south during the clesing
months of the war, stealing and pillaging under cever of night. Geerge
himself had been stolen with her, but had been recdévered by his mas-
ter.H@ had heard the story of that dreadful happening many times from
the Carvers.

When the news came that raiders were in the vicimity -- so the
stery was told to him -- the Garvers set about hastily hiding away
any property that might be seized by the manrguders. But there was
only time to conceal what money there was in the house,and James, the
elder brother of George, before the raiding party appeared. Mary
Garver, a household servant, was seized and carried away,desperately
clutching her three-months-old baby close in her arms. And always,la-
ter, when the the story was told, semeone would point out the tree te
which Meses Garver was tied and tortured in a futile attempt to make
him disclese the whereabouts of the hidden mon@y and the boy, James.

Mr. Carver immediately sent eut a man te search fer, and if possi-

ble te re-purchase, the lest Mary and her child. CGenflicting reports

later surreunded the actual incidents of this rescuer's journey, but

his own report-- and the one commonly accepted as true -- was that
Mary Carver had mysteriously disappeared, leaving no trace whatsoe-
ever of her whereabouts. L,ng afterward it was rumoured that this
man had actually feund Mary Carver, bought her, and re-sold her with a

margin of prefit fer himself, returning with a false report to the

 
Crisp Garver- I- 3

Carvers. Another fragment of rumour held that semeone had seen the
lest Mary in the midst of a greup of seldiers traveling northward.
Whatever may actually have happened to her, it is certain that on that
terrible night Mary Carver disappeared forever from her master's home
at Diamond Grove.

The baby was left with a family in Arkansas, and here the Carver
emisary found him, And the fact ef the child's survival is almest as
strange a mystery as that of his mother's disappearance, fer in his
three short menths in the world this baby had been suddenly snatched
away from his home, and then had lest his mother, and now was ill with
a bad case ef whoeping coughe Actually, there was only a small spark
ef life left flickering in the tiny black bedy te be seld back te Meses
Carver, and the deal was soon cempleted, The Arkansas family let the

LO ow

baby ge in exchange fer a horse brought along by the rescuer, a horse
then valued at $ 300. Back at Diamond Grove, wnder the care of lirs.
Garver, the feeble spark of life was fanned into flame again, and the
baby came safely through the drastic disasters that had attended his
first three months. The two orphaned boys, Geerge and his brother Jame@S,
lived on then with the Qi childless Carver couple, and were cared
fer more as real children of the heuseheld than as sons ef a former slave.
Fer some reasen George, or Little George, as everyone called
him, failed to grew and develep in a normal way physically. ‘The shock
ef his early experience witht he raiders may have had something to de
with it, or it may have been the effect of the whooping cough. Whatever
the reason, it seemed that nothing ceuld induce him te grow. A dreal,

stunted, dwarfed-loeking little creature, he gave promise for a while

ef beceming an actual hunch-back. But as time went on, by dint of
Carver-[I~ 4

persistently carrying acress his back a strongg straight stick, braced

in the crooks of his elbows, he was able in time to smoeth eut the un-
sightly hump.

Unfertunately, ne such simple remedy was feund for the treuble
in his throat. He spoke and laughed and sang in a shrill sort of
falsette, and was addicted to stammering under the strees of the slight-
est excitement or amusement. The stammer he was able to evercome, but
it was years before his voice toek.on a quality even slightly resem-
bling the normal.

the fragments ef his recollections of these early years he spent
with the Carvers and his brother James present him as a paradozical
child, but one who was ebvicusly the ebject of affectionate care and
training and concern en the part of Moses Carver and his wife. At
times he appears asf a gay little elf, capering about the place in
high glee; stealing forbidden rides on the sheep when Mr. Carver was
net around; er slipping eut of deors en snowy nights when he was being
kept in on account of his creup, to run off with James for feasts of
luscious persimmons; er singing in his queer falsetto veice the gay
sengs that bubbled up within him. Surrounded by the atmosphere of un-
questioned security existent in the Carver home, he was blessedly free
te laugh his elfin laughter, sing his gay sengs, untroubled by any
sense ef eppression er insecurity.

Yet it is not in this gay elfish role that he most frequently ap-~
pears during these childheed years, for a minor strain of wistful lene-
liness seunds again and again througheut the music of his early mem-~
eries. Theugh he had never known either his mother or his father, and

x owe
altheugh the Carvers made a lreevfor him in a way that prebably has few

 
Carver-I- 5

paralels in @@f American history, he yet continually lenged for his

ewn parents, particularly his mother. There must have been a quality
sn his childish sadness resembling the nostalgia so poignantly ex-
pressed in the old spiritual “Semetimes I feel like a motherless child,

far, far from heme,"

As seon as he was old eneugh te understand the
story of his father's death and his mother's disappearance, he would
ask again and again about his mother: how she looked;what she said and
did; and whether she would ever return. Vaguely he gathered that Mary
had been an extraordinary woman, in the epinion of all who knew her.

He was certain that Mrs, Carver must have leved her, for whenever she
began toe speak of the lost Mary, she invariably began te weep. Heese
s6Gibep “Evo relies of his mother Wii were given him by the Carvers,
her Bill ef Sale and her spinning wheel-- relics which he has treasured
throughout the years , visible evidences of an inner devotion effered

centinually at a shrine created in his childish heart for a mother he

never aepaagiiy kmewe

Dewn in the barn lot one winter day a tragedy occured which the

bey was never to forget. He was amusing himself by throwing rocks and.
pebbles at snow birds feeding on the gfain strewn about on the greund,
his shrill laughter rising high abowe the whirr ef wings as the startad
birds rese in flight. H#ventually a pebble actually hit a bird, and
this,teo, at first was a metter of great glee to Little George. He

ran to find the wounded bird where it had fallen on the ground, but

the sight of bleed en its head sebered him instantly. Taking the 1lit-
tle body gently up in his hands, he felt a feeble fltitter in its
preast, and then the bird was still. In that mement, he has said, it
geemed te him as if all the misery in all the werld must somehow be

gathered tegether in him, se overwhelming was his remorse, for--with

 
ne excuse whatever -- he had taken

and could neverpive it back again.

There was ne

Carver I= 6

away life from something he leved,

conselation for grief

like this, md for days he went abeut the place a forlorn little crea-

ture, weeping bitterly at the thoug
less hands had killed .....
stery ef this childheed tragedy,
getten that poor little dead bird."

Being se little and frail, and

Geerge spent much time abeut the house with Mrs. Carver,

eventually came te be ef much value
and te sew; te scrub and to clean;
te the b

less order, Teo spetless
: 3

the house; no beuquets must clutter
no roon for his recks, and this was
fer as soon as he was eld enough te
ever going out to the nearby fidlds
er recks er plants ef some kind.

Leng, quiet hours he spent out

the birds and imitating their calls

leaf or a flower -- finding all manner

abeut them. What made one rock whit

was this flower small while another

leaf ~- how was it made in the beginn

os

was grewn, make anything that would

teek form in his mind during these

*

roamines the surreunding countryside

t ef the dead bird his own thought-

h

In later years he has often repeated the

invariably ending, "I have never for-

thus unfit for much out-deor work,

a habit which

te him, fer she taught him te ceek

=

to kéep a heuse and yard in spot-~

B gh

ey's way of thinking at that time,

for it meant that he was not allewed te bring flowers or plants inte

up the place. Mereever, there was
a matter for much concern indeed,
go around by himself, he was for-
and woods and bringing back flowers
in the weeds and fields, watch ing
; er gazing fer a leng while at a

ef curious things and wondering
e and ancther one brewn ? And why
peside it was se large ? And this

ming, and ceuld he ever, when he
be like it ? Question af
leng quiet hours he spent alene,

finding and gathering his plants

ter question
Crisp Carver I - 7

and recks to take home,

The day finally came when Mrs, Garver told him he weuld have to get
rid of his rocks-- they were all over the house te be stumbled over, and
she simply ceuld net have it so any lenger. Censiderably treubled, he
went outside te try to think what he could de. Just ag few days befere
he had found a wonderful rainbew- celered reck, breken into two pisces
se that the marvelous colors showed all through. He had brought both
pieces home, and now to give them up seemed utterly impossible, Finally
he took one piece in each hand, went far out from the house,clesed his
eyes, and threNone piece as far as he could fling it, then ran in the

1, 2rA
e Sey Sy Anan
i

4 * PS ne a ate in acy ek ek us ue a ee ine ya
rection to find a place somewhere to hide the p#@Mhe had

Lada

epoesite d

,

the chimney corner under the house, he eventually found

ay
i
He]

kevt. back

S

©

a hiding place fer his rock collection, amd teday in tis museum at Tus-
kegese may be seen the treasured rainbow piece he preserved from the
stern decree,

There was difficulty with Mrs. Garver ever his fregs, as well. He
had mads a wonderful collection of frogs in graduated sizes, each one
a little different in size frem all the rest-- an enviable collectien

indeed | But trouble came when he teok to carrying the cellection areund

S of h is je ans ¥ for BS. Car ver 3 wh QO pro D ab ly

er

with him in the pocke
sharedjl ittle ef his enthusiasm fer fregs in the first place, certainl
could not put up with having fregs ef all sizes go hepping about the
house at night. And se it was that the>hard law was laid dewn: Little
George would have to turn all his pockets inside out whenever he en-
tered the house ,

It was after these experiences with his recks and frogs that he

CGR CAG Ne Can Aner rns * ey Mr RU ~ { Os : ae 2 ES SE EE
Made a secregt garden down in the edge ef the weeds, a place te which

he ceuld bring the plants he was constantly finding in his rambles here
Carver I-8

and there -- finding and wanting te keep. Here he brought his beleved
the
nn

planss and cared for them with a wisdom based partly yeae Eten ieee"

QO

to be expected of

ty

a Missouri country boy ef his day, and partly upon
a strange, intuitive understanding but poorly explained by any usual
legie or reasoninge

The Carvers taught him to read amd to write, and gave him a copy
of Webster's Blueback Speller -- a beok whose pages he searched eager-
ly but vainly for answers to the qusstions that buzzed incessantly back
and ferth in his alert, curious mind. James had been to school at Ne-
esho, the town eight miles away, viding horseback back and forth each
day. But James was not able te tell his liétle brother the bhings he
wanted to know about his rocks and plants; nor was he able to
help in the matter from the Dearvers. oo it woe that t he
than the conviction, grew in his mind that he,toe, must go to schools
that he must go somewhere to find the answers to his questions for hinm-

self.

Talking the mtter over with Mr. and lirs, Carver, he found then

willing, thought reluctant, to let him ge. He was much tee small te

ride the eight miles each day as James had done, and besides, there
was no other horse for him to ride. It would he hecessary for him te
find some place te stay in Neeshe. the Carvers had no moeny fer his
schooling, but if he wished te go and try bo make his ewn way, they

5
a
i

said that they wovld raise no objections. He might ge mia try it fer

Cg

a while, and then, if he wished te, he could come home againe
H, had been to Neosho before, for twice each year the wagon was made
ready for the trip to town, the purpose of the journey being the pure

chase ef a half year's supply of the household necessities i¥ was in-

possible to raise at home. Janes went en one of these trips each year;

 
Carver [-9

Bittle George on the ether, and it was always a great day. Mrs. Carver
never went with them-- in all her life she never went out of the county
in which she was born-- but Little George had been to Neosho and md
seen the schoel there. How he would live er what he would de as a means
ef liveliheed he did not know, but that could be taken care of when the

time came. All that he knew for cettain now was that he was going.

§

Thus hejeat abeut making his plans, and finally the day fer his
departure came, Mrs. Carver helped him tie up his clethes and some feed
in a little bundle. He put in some ef his precieus plants, and the
piece of rainbew.reck. Then he was ready to ge. Taking up his bundle
he said goed-bye, and his diminutife figure was soon lost to the sight
ef the Carvers and James as they watched him go trudging dow the road

and disappear ever the hill...... Drell, stunted, Little George Carver--

the greatly gifted byt greatly handicapped son of twe slaves -- was

leaving his heme to go away te scheel and to make his own way inthe

werlde

 
Crisp Carver=-II

be

NEOSHO

It was an exciting jeurney, the eight-mile walk to Neesho on
that early autumn day-- there were se many new things te see and te
think about. Familiar landmarks George had seen before en his trips

bi mt
with Meses UVarver assumed a new aspect now as he walked along by hinm-
self; there was a new glamour and enchantment about them all,fer he was

4

« He would seon know, now, many of the things that had

Soing te scheel
him for se longs; tha answers to the questions that had buzzed

about: im his mind. Scheel scheel, school .... the werd sang itself

<

Cy

ever and over within him as he walked aleng, stepping now and then to
examine a plant, er te listen te the call of a bird.
He would manage te get aleng somehow; ef this he was quite cenfi-
dent. He Im¢@ w how to de so many kinds of work-- he could cook, clean
house, milk cows, cut firewood -- many, many Vigea The peeple in Ne-~
esho must have someone to de such things for them, he reasened, and they
would pay him for his work. THen he could take the money and buy food
to eat, and beoks te read. Semeday he meant te have a hundred books--
perhaps even more than that | And he woud find some place te live;
someone would let him have a home in Neesho, and he would werk and pay
fer it. And if he sheuld be sick so that he could not work, he could 26
back home te the Carvers agains;he could always be sure of that. It was
awarm, encouraging certainty.

Se he went on his way te Neeshe, confident, happy, excited, the

eagerness in his heart giving wings te his feet so that he felt littl e
Carver-II- 2

2
3
ie
om
ae

tiredness from the walking. Neosho was not a large town, but to Little

Sat

fe

George it seemed large, accustomed as he was to the comparative isola-

tien of life at Diamond G,eve. Yet he was not afraid. He had heem to

some of the stores with Wir, Carver,and knew his way/around the town a
Little; why should he be afraid ? The first matter ef impertance was to
find a place to spend this first night. It was teo late to loek fer
any work today;that must be left until temorrew. But what should he de
tenicnt ?

It turned out te be very simple. O7 the edge of town he found an old

barn that looked as if ne one used it anymore; he could stay there. Cer-

tainly no one would mind, and it would be a good shelter in case a rain

ct

ia ; Sner uss PEN AIRE sai + baa Cg " a
sheuld fall. He had spent teo many happy hours in the woods alone to be

» J c i i ov siya (a Sem a oy — .
even in so strange a place, and whatever tugs

cs)
ma)
FS
RY)
B
ae
ct
o
ta
cr
$9
ed
oO
a
—
ta
es)
be
hy
“Ne
¢)

ef homesickness he may have felt were soon overcome by the natural ex-
haustion of the eight-hile walk and all the excitemnet of the day, se

that it was not long before he lay fast asleep tm the old abandoned barn,
his head pillowed on the precious little bundle that held all his earthly

pessessionse

de te Lng
® tne

Fer several days he wes busy looking for work, coming back te
barn to sleep at night. Seme of the store-keepers recognised him as the
M 952.5
queer-Looking little boy they had seen with Simiiie, Carver on his rare
visits to town, but Geerge had little netion ef needing ,ner of asking
forvhelp from anyone. What he wanted was work to do by which he might
}

he went-- an eager, confident,

earn his own living. Frem heuse to heuse
though at times tired little bey, inquiring if there were any odd jobs

he might de. And finally he did find people who hag such jobs and who

were willing for him to try them. He leoked far too small te be able te
Carver-I[-35

de the things he said he could de, but when given the chance, he made
good his premises in a remarkably efficient manner-- thanks te Mrs.
Garver's therough training. Actually, these little house-and-yard jobs

were quite he had been deing such things at the Carvers

at
almost ever since he could remember, rt was harder having to leek for
them, but people would pay him for them now, in money or chethes or food,
If he could fini some place te stay... thatwas the main preblem. The
old barn would serve for a little while, but winter would come, and he
could not live in a barn. And then it was tee lonely to be always by
himself at night, with no one to whom he might talk... He wanted a home
and a family.
Then one day he fourid them. Ip had reunds of job-hunting he
came to a neat,three-reemed frame cottage on the edge ef town where a
Watkins family lived, people of his own race. Mrs. Watkins was a nurse
and was eften ney frem home nursing sick people for days at a time,
Genad

They feund that geerr ceuld ceek, milk cows, keep aff house clean, and
work a garden-- at least he said that he could. And since they had no
children of their own, if this boy cevld actually do the things he said
he could de, he would be just what they needed, a handy boy te have arpuand
for cempany as well as for werk. They felt very drawn te the strange
Little fellew, and the matter was seon settled. H, would cane and live

them, werking about the heuse and yard fer his board and keep, and

sché@l was in session, he could go te school.

As the weeks went by it was more and more evident that the arrange-
ment was wisely made. George did the cooking, when necessary; milked the

cew, and looked after the garden, all with the w ticulous care demanded

by his own faMedm sense of ord@r as well as by the habits instilled in

him Ie in the Carver household. He found beth Mr. and Mrs. Watkins

sympathetic with him in his eagerness te learn, and willing te give

 
Carver-l[I-4

him all the help they could. They cowld both read amd write fairly wel],
but their help came chiefly through their understanding and enceurage-
ment and careé.

kins was touched, as Mbs. Varver had been, by his physical

: :
herfpewer to make him more vigerous and healthy.

his little garden, fer he had begun a new gare

just as seon as possible after he knew where he was te live. it
was not leng befere he was spending all the time he vould agakm in the
woods and fields again, among the flowers and rocks and wild things that
he se leved, News drifted about that the little boy living with the Wat-
kins family knew a lot about plants and could make them grow, and pefere
leng the neighbors were bringing him their sickly plants. He seemed to
knew how to find the treuble , and te start them grewing again. The

"little volant doctor", people, in the né@ighborheed soen began to cali him.

ok 4 La oft
Child hee & "Avo tre Mame ', Sait -

He could carce ly wait'for the pea fer school te epen, but the day
did finally come. A disinterested on-loeker might have found Little ef
beauty in the one-room leg heuse te which George went se eagerly,but te
him, during these first days at scheel, there was a mystic enchantment
about it. mkk Here he was to learn, learn, learn §! What did it matter that
the miracle was te take place in an ugly,v#demfortable leg hut J He
sat, with the 15 er 20 ether pupils, en backless wooden benches, holding
his slate en his knees; and with the other 15 or 20 paid more or less
heed te the widsem wmfelded by the man who was their teacher. They were
studying not only Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, but Geography, Spell-
ing, and Grammar. Intriguing vistas opened up before George as the
days went along, fer his creative ménd was able to take the stray crumbs

ef knowledge received each day and make of them neurishing bread for his

2

 
Carver-II-5

imagination and wender. Still, though grateful for these crumbs, he

grew more and more hungry for the real bread. It was a hunger that deep-
ened and grew ap time went on and he feund so many of his ceaseless ques-
tions still unanswered, by either his boeks er his teacher,

There were times when he was very lenely during this first year
away from home. It was fun te remp and play withthe other beys at re-
BRSRXKAMAX
cess time at scheol; but none of them, he discovered, liked to go with
him te roam the out-ef-deers when he went in search ef plants fer his
garden. Se, again, he went te the fields alone. The birds and little
weeds animals came to seem as much at home with him as he was with then,

actised until he could whistle their notes almost as well

elves ceould.... If he ceuld only understand wnat it was

and then, when Mrs. Watkins could spare him, he weuld ge back

for a week-end visit withthe Carvers and James, and eut of these
visits ene incident in particular stands vividly imprinted in his memory.
One Saturday afternoon as he walked aleng the pead on his way to Diamond
Grove, a man overtook him and effered him a ride. Scaréely was he set-
tled in the rickety buggy, however, befere the man began te beat his beny,
weak old horse with constant crulé blews. To George it seemed that each
blew fell upen his owm sensitive bedy, and finally, unable te stand it
any lomger, he explained to the man that he was almost home, and getting
euf of the buggy, climbed a little cliff beside the read and walked the
remaining distance home, Perhaps, he thought, aumg his friends ef the
woeds, he ceuld ferget that peor old horse. But he never ha

there were epportunities for him te work at extra jobs

tewn,sawing woed, beating carpets, going on errands

here. It was a good means of earning a little momey for his

 
Carver-I1f-6

needs now and then. In his contacts with seme of thw white people for
whem he worked he sometimes sensed what to him was a very strange atti-
tudes;be had never known anything like it in the Carver home, and at first
was greatly puzzled to know why these people felt about him as they
dently did. Seme of them seemed to think that he was very different
them; they spoke to him in tones they never used when talking among
selves, or to other people ef their ew race-- tones that semetimes
brought a big lump vp into his throat and a paffling question inte his
@ mind. Gradually it began to dawn upen him that this manner
vere somehow connected with the fact that his skin was dark,
seemed in some peculiar way ce a ifference te

people who were white. Hys « ad never seemed to make any dif-

ference in the years at 1e@ and James had lived with

oo

the Carvers; atpleast he had never been made aware of it. But it seemed

4

that new, to some of these people with whom he had dealings, it did.
Kealising this was something he probably would always have
ne made up his mind that he would try each day to ferget the im-

od ef as * aye, me 1 EP ts e oD » nee Se ne eat ao SiH
that hurt him, no matter what they were er how they came, remem-

watt
bering enly those that mace nim feel happy {t was a child's decision,
put. one he was fait insefar as it was pessible for
him, all the days
On a day in late spring a covered wagon steppec at the “atkins

a colered man and his wife eame in to ask for ledeing for the

They were strangers, traveling on their way back te their home
in Fort Scott ,Kkansas, and wished to step fer a rest. It turned eut that

they stayed on for several days, finding the hospitality of the Wakkins

home very mush te their liking. They became interested, also, in the

 
Crisp Carver-Ii7Z-

little boy, Geerge Carver, ad were not long in discovering his unusual
eagerness for new lmowledge and wmderstanding. Presently they suggested
that he go to Fort Scott with them. They werey¥ unable to give him a
heme, or help him financially, they said, but they would be glad te give
him the trip with them, and he would find a good school at Fort Scott.

What should he de ? It was a big decision for a boy so small to
make, but from the first George was almost cerkain that he would go. Fort
Scott , a railroad center, was a much larger town than Neeshe, a nd he
would have no family or friends to whom he might go if something terri-
ble should happen to him,some immediate need arise. He might not find
any work te do-- he might even go hungry until he

5

no intention of letting that happen; he had made his ow way

2

and he could do it again in Fort Scett.
schoel there, he imaging, would be wonderful, a1 here would be

many new peopnle to te Lin g many new places to see ‘er seme
time before the school session in Neesho was over, he had fe that there
weuld be little use in his going back te scheel there agai he felt
rather certain that this teacher hdd already told him about all
be able to tell-- of the things George wanted to know, that \¢.

advised

there y something alse to be sensidered: The doctor had PELE Mrs. Wat-

iy}
kins that the boy might be more strong and haalthy geel some other cli-

mate. He had centinued to bs very frail, and still had not begun to

grew to amount te anything at all; she had been very anxious about the
child at times, Perhaps the climate im Fort Scett would be exactly wat
he needed.

All in all, it seemed best for him to go; George himself was sure

at

Infa vague sort of way 4% geemed to him that it must have all

 
Crisp Carver-II- 8

been planned somehow that he was to have this chance te ge on. Just where
he was to go,
tkxwasxknxkxhe or even where he wanted to go, he was not sure at all,
but somewhere farther on. There were so many questions still unanswered
in his ecurieus mind 1

And se the decision was made. His little bundle, a bit larger this
time, was packed and tied up again. And again he said geed-bye to the
comfortable security ef a home and -- obedient to the urging of an inner

Gemmand, of whese import he was as yet too yeung to be aware -- he set

eff with two strangers in a covered wagon, westward inte the Unknewne
Carver -II[Ii-

bm DY

FORT SCOTT AND MINNEAPOLIS

Fert Svett lay to the west and north of Neosho a distance of lit-
tle more whan 75 miles, a mere commuter's journey today. But to the man

and woman and eager little bey making their siew way in tne covered wagen,

 

setting up camp in the epen at night sixtv-edd years ago, it was a trip
= : is By i 3 ba £

ef memorable magnitude comsuming the greater part ef two weeks. The way

 

 

dei Ga

led through relling country, woedlands, isolated areas, a few small sete
slements, and fertile farming sections. Goerge was entranced with it all,
sights and sounds ef the strange new country with all
excitement ef a little bey going on his first leng jeurney , coupled
with the deeper excitemnt of finding Srasxhxfiuakx new foed fer his hungry
yeung mind, fresh fuel fer the fires of his incessant curiosity. Writing
ef this trip leng afverward, he said "My chief reeollections of this jourme
ney are of the beautiful wild flewers, the marveleus recks, and the beau-~
tiful birds we saw."
Arrived at Fert Scett, the county seat of Beurben county and a
town of some importance as a railread center, George bagan again his search

for work amd fer a place to Live. Years later, trying te piece t =

}
gether his fragmentary recollections of the seven years he spent at Fert

Scett, he remarked, quietly--with anp infinite pa thes\in his tenes, a Cen-~
pelling appeal for understand ing in his eyes -- "7 don't remember many
actual incidents ef those days. You see, a lictle ceolered boy living
abeut in first ene place and then another, expecting vo be kicked around
and being semewhat surprised when he isn't, deesn't set down =a data

fer future reference",

 
Crisp Carver ~ III -

By andjLarg® , however, his Hert Scett life followed the pattern he

had set for himself during the year at Neosho. He lived ror part of 7#
this period with a Negrof family by the name ef Payne,deing werk about
the house and yard te pay fer his board and ledging, with additional
work ter ether families in tewn as a means of earning
livelihood.
Te school was good here, a well-erganised graded
a five-room trrame building, with instruction that was much }
and suimulaving than thatexperienced in the log scheel heuse at
n he was studying Keading, Writing, Spelling, Arkth-
egraphy, md Grammar, and enjeying them all except Arithm
a subject upen wnich he expended little affection, and tapout little
werk, im | Fert Scett er anywhere else . He was beginning to drawy now,
hewever, and to give te his drawing -he time and attention that some
ef his teachers might have considered better spent on Arithmetic. He
liked to sing, in his clear high falsette, but in these years he had yet
te see nis first piane or ergane
Many hours during these 7 years, as at Diamend Grove and Neosho,
he spant in the out-of-doors, engrossed in discev:ring and pendering
the mysteries which lay all about him . " I literally almost lived in
fi@kds and woods", he has written of these years. And the country=
side about Fort Scett, rich in mineral deposits, provided @ wealth of
mutettek material for his investigative mind. vhe payne family, lik
Mr. and Mrs. Watkins, were interested in Kkaxx gardens he was always

ere and tending out in whe yard, or in his windows, or in bexes
5 ait] tt f 3 3

€

and varieus containers he kept areund him in the house. His plamts

 
Crisp Carver-iII- 3
were almost like people to him, close and intimate acquaintances te
be theught of constantly and carea for tenderly.

But he had wage human friends, as well, ef -his ewn and ef the white
race, among children oy his own age and among his elders alse. Like
any normal child, he enjoyed the daily pranks and play ef his cempan-
iens eof his ewn age, but he liked at times to spend some time with

older people, as he had dene at Diamond Greve and Neesho--proud whe

he could de some errand for them, interested in their comments

versations. Seme of these friends he feund in the
he went en Sundays.
"I loved te go te church and often went", he has said,

the denominatien made no difference to me" 2 2 tener Wwaich was

te be true of him not only in these days hi hildhoee but through
all his ensuing days.

The climate at Fert Scott, slightly colder than that at Neeshe,
seemed te agree with the boy and he grew much stronger in physical

strength during his seven years there But he still was a small,
dwarf-like creature, showing Little appreciahle growth of bedy as the
development ef his inner perceptions and apprec
rapid pace. it wevld seemthat a physical difference otf this kind
might have set him apart from companions ef his ewn age, making> him
sensitive @ncerning his size, shutting him etf frem interests and oce-
cupations oe: mermal adelescence. Byt his recollections deny the exist~
ence of any such actuality.

“My school-mates never seemed te notice any difference“, he ebserves,
“and + had many friends wne were always enceuraging me toe ge en, [I
cannet remember new the name of any particular persen whe was or greate
est help to me, but there were these, both white and colored, whe toek
an interest in me and did much to make me teel like other children

particular sense of calling er

 
Carver-iII - 4

missien in those days ju , everything, real
er artificial; Hew did this get te be thi , ay can't I make
Semething like it ? I must

One horrible recollection out of the sort scett years was des-
tined to Lie, like a livid scar, acress his liemery @ver alvterward: The
receollecvuion of a lynching. ‘The house in which he was living at the
time was near the jail, near enough that he saw the crewd come, batter
dewn the jail door, and drag away the Negro prisener~-his head scraping
aleng whe rough street until the skull was
the place where he was killed. ‘this was some
held within Itke bonds ot che mirkdct childts
Neoesne-- the decision te terget, as far as possible,
hurt him ,reme pniy une experiences of
getting this lynching, and years later, after he was sought
turer in schools and cities all acrvess America, this recollection re-
turned to haunt him new and then. un one occasion in particular, when
he was scheduled to speak en a cellege eghipus and a controversy arose

suddenly

in the town around the fact of his race, this menory,filled his mind

with a swift and nameless terper, recalling for a moment in the mature

man the agony of fear bern years before in the heart of thes ensitive

years in rert Scott,Geerge finally yielded to his grew
see the Carvers and Sames and Diamond Grove again. He

nome for a Summer vacation. And so smail was he in stature even

yet that he bought a half-fare ticket, only to learn that even that

was unnecessary, for the conducter on the train, when the ticket was

 
Garver=- III = §&

preffered, said in astonishment, “Why, child, you didn't need te buy a
ticket. vou are small enough to ride for nothingt"

It was a happy summer at Diamond urove. “eorge had kept in teuch with
the Garvers and James by occasional correspondence, but there was a
great joy and satisfaction in actually being back with them again, ex-
changing experiences, visiting again the placesne Loved; being oeccasion-
ally to see the watkins family in Neeshe. At the end of the sumer,
fer some reason long since forgotten, he did not return to rert Scett
fas he had intended, but went on farther west and north te iinneapelis,
a small tewn in Ottawa county in nerth central Kansas. Here he spent
the next two years, earning his own living as before, and canpleting
his high scheol work.

cains

“we major happenings stand ouifin sharply etched design a
background of these sinneapolis eels. est, a miajer less. A le
came ene day frem the Carvers bearing the serrewful news that vames was
dead. te wed not recovered :rom an attack of amall-pex. Hor George
chis meant that no living relative, ne persen ef bleed kin, was left
him in the world. two daughters had been born to Mary Carver and her
husband, but these had died in infancy, leaving enly the uwo DOYS,

James and George. And now dames was gone, and Geerge was left

no liv ng kin, no tamily ties whatevere fe the heart of the

poy vhere in Minneapolis, this realisation prought a sense of unspeak~
abike loneliness from which he was mver to be quite free.

whe ether Minneapelis experience was one ef muh joy, .owever,

fis

fer finally, after ail the years ef being a little dwarf, weorge Carver
began to grew t And so rapidly did the long-delayed growkh take place

that, after a little more than twe years, he steed a bit more than

 
Carver-LII-=- 6

six feet tall, somewhat stooped, but--at iong last-- in actual physical
height, aman | A.oeng with this amazing developmen. in size, there came
also a more normal voice, high-pitched and of peculiar quality still
in Speaking, but a clear,high tener in singing.

As he came nesr the end ef his high schoel work, his desire to
ge en te college increased, finally crystallising into definite pur-
“pose and plan. nis cheice ef a cellege fell up@ snighland Universi-—
ty, a School ewned and eperated by the Presbyterian Church and lecated
at che Little town of tiighland, in Deniphan county up in the nerth-
eastern corner of Kansas. nere at Highland, in a scheol under the
direction ef a church, and lecated in a small tewn whese life centered
areund its cellege, its several steres, and its feur churches, he ex-
pected te rind the simple, kindly, religious environment for which his
heart and mind hmegered,.

His application for admission was sent in and tentatively ac-

cepted, with the usual reservations, and vhrougheut the summer his plans
z 3 3 7

made struggle te keep pace with his dreams ashe looked on ahead into

the days to come when he should in reality be in w@liege, He expected
te study Science, as a mavter of course, particularly these sciences
bnhat dealt with seils and plants. But aleng wit his Science he would
study painting and music -- the prespect was almest breath-taking in its
entrancing possibilities, and filled his mind censtantly with eager an-
ticipations as he went abeut his work these summer days, endeavoring te
make the money essential fer tne trip and fer che tirst few weeks! re-
quirements. uosS means ef suppert theresfter was a mavter hw would werk
eut after he had reached nighland, at that time a village ef about 600
inhabitamts, four miles frem the nearest railread. .hus the summer drew

s

en to its clese, and sne day finally dawned wnen Georve Carver found

x

 
it I Grisp
Carver=L[II-7

himself actus i
himself ually arrived im Higt : :
y arrived in sighland, Kansas, nis heart and mind flooded
and mind flooedec

Ane

with high hope J gel.
with high hepe, and confide coura
08 , sonfident, courageous dreams.
Carver - IV -

IV
Highland, Beeler, and Winterset

At the time appointed for registration, George Carver, along
with the 150 other young men and women who made up the student body of
Highland at that time, presented himself on the campus to complete the
matriculation» requirements-- a tall, extremely slender, esger youth
keenly aware of the high significance of the day. And then,suddenly,

the incredible blow fell: He was refused admission to Highland Univer-

sity. His written application had been tentatively accepted, it wastrue,

but that was before his racial heritage was known. This tentative ac-
ceptance was canceled now, for he was a Negro, and no Negro students
were admitted at Highland mkxkhaxxkimey University.

The stark,immediate question for him in those first days after
his carefully-planned purpose of going on to college lay in fragments
about his feet was simply; What shall I do now ? ‘he problem was the
two-fold one of how to earn his daily bread and at the same time work
out some adequate way by which he could,outside college walls, go on to
realise the invincible desire and purpose the years of his youth had
deeply rooted within him.

the habit of independance hard-won during the years at Neosho,
Fort Scott, md Minneapolis stood him in good stead now. With no funds
sufficient to take him elsewhere, he was obliged to stay on in Highland,
in daily proximity to constant reminders of the bitter frustration of
his plans. Turning to fine laundry and house-and-yard work again as a
means of livelihood, heset out to study alone, for embedded in the
spirit of this tall, quiet-seeming youth there was a hwmger for learning

and understanding that was not to be defeated nor denied, even in the

 
Carver-IV= 2

face of such shock and disappointment as had now befallen him. the

story of what had happened to him spread about the little town, and there
were townspeople, particularly several church women, who saw to it that
he had the work by which he could at least earn a living. For a part of
the time during his stay in Hyghland, he lived alone in town. Later he

was employed at the John Beeler homestead, about a mile southeast of

fown, for various typesof work about the house and farm. With Frank

Beeler, a young son of the family, he soon became fast friends. Writing
later, in the "Highland Vidette", Frank Beeler gave this picture of George
during his Highland days;

"He applied for admission to the University but for some reason,
never very clear to me, he was never accpeted. Not discouraged, he went
diligently to work with his studies, meanwhile doing fine laundry work,
knitting, tatting, embroidery, and painting,vocal and instrumental music.
Exceptionally bright, quiet, modest, he/ was a general favorite at many
social functions. Mrs. Wilson Baird, Mrs. Dr. Hammond, my mother, and
others took an interest in the boy.... Next he went to Ness county,Kansas,
and filed on a Embabous ‘kee miles south of the little town of Beeler
(About 525 miles southwest of Highland) built a sod house on his claim,
and put in crops. He also got a job with the Gregg-Steeley Livestock
randh doing house work and cooking, carrying on in the meantime his
music, painting, and studies. Mr, Steeley was a fine violinist, Mr.

Gregg a good guitarist, Soekt eh aend ck. and myself B flat copnet. I look

back with a great deal of satisfaction to the concerts we pulled off
ae

in the sod houses and also in my stores . business hourSeese."
In his story of George and the roasting corn apiidux episode, Mr.

Beeler affords a further glimpse of the daily tenor of life as it went

 
Crisp Carver-IV- 3

on in the sod huts and settlements out on the Kansas prairie in those
days of the late eighties.About half-way between George's house and the
little settlement of Beeler-- so the sbory goes-- lived a settler known
as “Cyclone Munn". Flowing near the Munn house there was a small creek,
making possible a garden, and in this garden--at one time--there were
rows of green corn, a rare sight on those dry Kansas acres in those
kimes days. George and Frank kept careful watch on the growing corn,
gaily laying their plans for that day when the errs should be ripe for
roasting. When the time finally enna: according to their plan, George
waited for a cloudy night, then made his way to the Munn garden,trans-
ferred the jBucy corn ears from the stalks to a gunny sack brought along
for the purpose, and was on his way to the store, exultent, when sudden-
ly there were shots, and bullets came ete by him, Frightened almost
out of his senses, he broke into a run and stopped only when he fell

exhausted in the door of the Beeler store. But he still had his gunny
sack of corn, ad when he had recovered sufficient breath, he began the

businessf/ of cooking the tender ears of corn in an old tin can over a
fire built in a shallow hole in the ground. Inside the store, Frank
Beeler managed to eat the roasted ears almost as fast as George brought
them in, until finally poor George found himself left with only three
ears of the delectable roasted corn to pay for all his pillaging, to
say nothing of his terrible fright }

The painting, music, and laundry work mentioned in the Beeler
sketch might have been expected in any comment concerning George during
those years, but "tatting, knitting, embroidery"...these seem strange
words to connect with him. And yet, they are not so strange,actually,
Lor out fof his early lessons with Mrs. Carver had come the ability not

only to "sew a fine seam", but also to work out intricate designs in
Carver-IV- 4

tatting end crochet. the "fine seam” Knowle@ge had been of practical
value to him all during the years when he had taken care of himself, which
naturally had involved not only providing food for his bodily wants,
but keeping his clothing in wearable condition, as well.

And as for the tatting, knitting, and crocheting--throughout his
life these have been for him a pleasant recreation and hobby. And at times,
it appears, more than this. Writing a young artist once concerning the
need for frequent relaxation from artistic efforts, he said "Sometimes
the very best thing to do is to work out a design in crochet or tatting,
as they require very high concentration along that particular line" He
has found his designs in many places--dew-wet, fresh-spun wpider webs
being a favorite source of inspiration. it ie not so strange, after ail,
to find George Carver, in his early twenties, in a lonely sod hut on the
plains of Kensas, working out intricate and beautiful designs in tatting
and crochet. As far back as he could remember he had looked upon things
about him with two incessant questions in his curious minds: How was this
thing made? And can I ever make anything like it ? Now, as a young man,
with his two-fold artist-schentist nature deepening and developing, These
constant questions apparently were uppermost in his thoughts, even in
his recreation hours-- the scientist seeing, observing, comprehending
the weavimg of a silken cobweb; the artist recreating its design in

tatting and crochet.

It is in this two-fold role of artist-scientist thatwe frequently

find him out on the plains a ue his "Dry Claim" near Beeler, observing
~vocK

the soil, the vegetation, 3 Few of the things of Nature about

him escaped his minute observation. But he brought to his investigations

and conclusions, even in those early years, something more than the keen

observations and interpretations characteristic of the usual so-called

 
Crisp Carver-IV = 5

"scientific mind", He brought also the artist's out-pouring of tender-
ness and love for the beauty he found in thems; the artist's compulsive
desire to reproduce in something of his omm creation this fragile, fleot-
ing beauty. So we find him painting in oil, on smooth pieces of board

or tin, or any useable surface--painting landscapes, at times, but more
often the portraits of flowers and plants he came upon in his tours of
investigation: the tiny yellow blooms of the cactus plant, the tall state-
ly spires of the yucca--flowers that struggled for life and beauty, even
as he himself must struggle, against tremeridous odds.

There can be little doubt, moreover, that in these lonely, somewhat
silent years that followed close upon the terrible shock of being denied
entrance at Highland University, George Carver's intuitive understanding
and grasp of the laws at work in the invisible universe deepened and de-~
veloped, along with his growing understanding of the physical laws gov-
erning his visible environment . It was a background of understanding out
of which was gradually to come his habitual and powerful consciousness
of his om intimate em@@ personal associ&hion with an invisible Creator
in the working out of an eternal purpose vibrant in the heart of the uni-~
verse. It was, again, during those years following the Highland inci-
dent that there began to come to him somes ense of the responsibiltty
he must ultimately assume for helping to secure for his own people the
reality of the emancipation and freedom proclaimed for them at the end of
the Civilf War. |

Coming to the conclusion, after two or three years, that farming was
an almost inevitable failure on his Kansas "Dry Claim"; and probably
longing, moreover, for companionships and opportunities not to be found

in Beeler, George acted on the suggestion of a friend,sold his claim,

and made his way east and north to the little town of Winterset Town
’ ’
Crisp Carver=jIV-6

a little southwest of Des Moines. It was his intention to establish a
greenhouse there, but when had had arrived and looked over the situation,
it did not seem to him that there was much chance for ee at such a
venture in Winterset, so he gave up his original idea and found a job as
cook in the Schultz hotel. Later, purchasing a small hand Aaundry, he
set himself up in business as a laundryman,living alone in a tiny cottage
near the edge of town, and baking special cakes for women of the town as
a side-line indurtry-- again bringing into practical use the lessons in
cooking and cleaning begun with Mrs. Carver at Diamond Grove.

On a memorable Sunday night, following his usual custom, he went
into a church for the evening service. Coming in quietly, he took a seat
in the rear and joined with the congreggation in the singing of the hymns
with that joy and child-like satisfaction he always experienced in sing-
ing. In the choir the leading soprano, Mrs. JeM.sMilholldnd, wife of a
prominent physician of the towm, heard the high,sweet tenor voise, iden-
tified it with the young man singing with such evident pheaasure there in
the rear of the church, and set out after the service to find out who he
was. Learning that his name was George Carver, and that he was employed
at the hotel, Mrs. Milholland the follwwing day sent her husband, the doc-
tor, down to the hotel to inquire about George and to invite him to come
and talk with her,

the outcome was a friendship which lasted to the day of Mrs. Mil-
hollan's death in 1938, and one which proved to be of extraordinary sig
nificance to the boy. Mrs. Milholland knew somethingof singing, and wished
to learn to paint. George, self-taught, knew something of Painting and
wanted to know better how to sing. Thus was the agreement made; They would
exchange lessons. George would give Mrs. Milholland lessons in painting,

and she would teach him to vocalise. She must have been an extraordinari-
Carver=-IV- 7

ly discerning woman, for she evidently saw in this boy possibilities

of which he himself was only vaguely aware; and not only saw them, but

had (he insight snd devotion to provide the constant stimulus of under-
standing interest and confident encouragement that would bring into fuller

growth and fruition these latent capacities. As the acquaintance went

along, she insisted that he come at the close of each day to talkg with
with

her and, the doctor , telling them what he had done during the day; com-
i k

menting on its various occurrences. It is impossible to measure the
value of such a companionship to George Carver at that time;impossible
to estimate its significance for all his coming days.

But there is ample evidence of the fact that thts friendship was
mitual in its values not only while George was in Winterset, but during
many following years. Mrs. Milholland herself has mde this very clear
in a manuscript concerning young Carver,written from her memoirs several
years before her death, but never published. "His experience in our Iowa

" was far from

what might
what his nature craved. For this reason he very soon started ferxkin

town which had no higher school of learning", she wrote,

be called a private school for himself, and the hours for each branch

were as rigidzy enforced as in schools where there are a great many stue
dentse..--During these days there were many who greatly enjoyed being per-
mitted to see his collection of Nature's stores, andwere made to marvel
atothe beautiful specimens which resulted from his method of polishing...
Fais gift for placing on canvas reppoductions of beautiful flowers was

a joy not only to himself but to those who saw in them the perfect like-
ness to the study from which they were taken. This was one of his pastimes
on his Kansas claim, we judged from the large number of nature studies

he wd when he came to Winterset..these were given later to friends in our

 
Crisp Carver-IV= 8

CowNe cee

"While he may have been an enigma to many from his boyhood, he certain-
ly was that to those who appreciated something of his rare character and
and abilities in his first days in our State....Even in those days be-
fore collegiate doors opened to him, one of man's greatest faculties,the
power of observation, had been very well developed in him so that he had
a wonderful fund of knaliledge. Those who questioned him, expecting lit-
tle or nothing, were astonished at the ready answers which came to the
most complicated questions, and found it a pleasure to be in his company.
He was ever alert to lend from his resourceful powers to his friends,
and many were his acts of kindness in the matter of placing plants,some-
thing which only those who have learned the secrets of plant life can
successfully do. And no effort seemed too much for him to obtain for a
friend a coveted fern or bulb....."

Other glimpses of George's life in Winterset have been given By
another woman who mew and was interested in him then. "I first met him",
writes Mrs. J.M.Robbins," in the home of Dr. Milholland, when he was en-
gaged in giving Mrs. Milholland lessons in painting. I had known him by
sight before, for he lived alone in a small cottage at the edge of town
on the street by which I came in from une country. I frequently would
see him seated at the table with the door open. I could not help noticing
how nicely everything was arranged, just as precise as though he were
expecting company. Then,too, I frequently passed him on the streets
carrying very carefully an armful of fine white shirts he had laundered
(This was when shirts had to be polished very ghiny and atarr, }.

"Mes econd time I met him was in Sunday School int he Methodist
church. I was a visitor in the class and I well remember how amused he

was at a remark I made; he made allusion to it afterward when he was
Carver-IV=-9

spending a few days in our home .....I had a son in his late teens at
home then. I think he found Carver rambling in the woods on the hill
above the house and invited him in. Anyway, he had a basket on his arm
and said he was looking for botannical specimens. He was suffering from
a bad case of tonsilitis and Irmsked him to remain until he was better,as
I had a good remedy that I used with good results. Sk he remained until
he was well. Being a very busy housefife, I left his entertainment to
the boy who seemed greatly interested in him. I remember one conversation
they had in particular. He was trying to get my son to go to college with
him and my son said that he fas too old. Carwr said"Look at me"{ The
boy had found a huge petrified tooth of some prehistoric animal, and
Garver told him he would take it and have it classified and find out what
it was. When he sent it back he said it was the tooth of a mastodon;
it seemed big enovgh Bor a whole jaw bone 1}

"How did he look ? Tall, angu&dr, and somewhat stooped. He dressed

plainly, and was neat and clean. His voice was very peculiar, almost fem-

inine. He was interested most bin Botany and painting in oil. I shall never

forget the ezpression of disgust on his face when he saw the plight Mrs.
Milholland had her brushes in. "0, your brushes, your brushes {" he ex»
elaimed.

Mrs. Milholland may not have kept her paint brushos clean, but she
did continue to prod George daily witht he idea of going back to school.
"Ske kept after me about it all the time", he remarks now and then,now,
going on to dramatize the conversations in his inimitable way. "She would
say,'Now, George, you've got to go back to school. You know you ought to
be ing school.' And I would answer 'Yes, but how GAN I ? I've just gotten
a start with my laundry here. I still owe $ 40 on the equipment I bought.

fiow CAN I go back to school ?!

 
/ Orisp i Carver=IV=- 10

?
oe

’

‘the idea kept bothering me, though, until it came to be an almost
continual voice, a@/ng-donging in my mind:'You ought to go back to schools
You know you ovght ,o® be in schoolt. Finally one day in mid-summer, I
suddenly stopped in the midst of the piece I was ironing, left my iron-
ing board and went over to the window and stood looking out for a while.
Then I suddenly heard my own voice speaking, out loud and with sudden
determination:'W611, I'l] GO back to school ,then 3 * "

Thus was the matter settled, and from the decision made on that
summer afternoon there was to be no turning back. From that time on he
began to plan again for college, and to find extra ways for making the
money essential for the plan's beginning. In the adjoining county of
Warren there was a school that would cl@e no doas in his face-=

Simpson Gollege , in the town of Indianola. And so it was to Simpson

that his thoughts and plans now turned, his days of drifting donee
 

 

r
i

}

Garver=@V-=-

Vv
COLLEGE YEARS - SIMPSON AND AMES

Simpson College, to which George Carver came in the autumn of
1890, was a smal] co-educational school endowed and directed by the Des
Moines Gonference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is doubtful if
he covld have found anywhere in America a school better suited to his
needs and desires at that particular time than\w as this small college
in Indianola, a town of about 2,400 inhabitants, easy of access with its
two railroads, we are told by the college catalogue for that year, but
"oresenting to the students as few unworthy attreations and allurenhenbts
to vice as any tow in the ®tate". (t)

There were 17 faculty members, ad around 300 students enrolled,
Three buildings housed the entire plant--College hall, Science hall,
and Ladies hall. @meWhen students found rooms in private homes or in
groups, sometimes boarding themselves vas companies of two to six", Nate
urally ,for young Carver Science hall was the center of interest, for here
were the laboratory, museum, music rooms, and "an elegant Art room in-
mediately under the sky light".

Consulting
Pies the 1890-91 bulletin a little further, we find that "the |

chemical laboratory contained an abundance of apparatus not only for

demonstrations before the class but also for individual work on the part

ooh ie

of the students". In the museum were extensive collections-- geological,

botanical, zooological, and mineralogical-- which were used "not only

ee

for illustrations before the various classes, but in inidivddaa and orig-

inal work by the students. As for the Art rooms, where George was to

spend much of his time, they were “large, airy, and pleasant, furnished

 
Carver=-V= 2

with casts, a large number of colored studies, objects for still life
study, easels, etc. with a system of steam heating and sky lights
making work possible at all times. Other pertinent factors comtribu-
ting to make this campus the realisation of George's highest hopes
were the existence of Young Ments and Young Women's Christian Associa-
tions; daily services of worship in the chapel; four literary societies;
and lectures during the year by "prominent men", Finally, in the gene-
ral statemng@t of the purpose of this college, there was this signifi-
cant declaration: "The faculty regard the true function of teaching to
be to help the student think, observe, and investigate for himself".
This, then, was the college to which Carver came in the autumn of
1890, to enrol as a special Art stwient, an undergraduate in the School

of Music; and a special student in the Preparatory school. It was a

congenial and nurturing environment for a youth who for a numbor of

yeardhad (already been “thinking, observing, and investigating for

himself"; who wished to study Art; who loved music; and who greatly de-
to live in an atmosphere of simple, kindly religious thovght and
feeling.
He had been able, following his mid-sumer decision to return to

5

school , to earn enough money to pay the $ 40 still due on his laundry
equipment and to take care of the essential tuition payments and fees

incident uvon his registration at Simpson. When all the necessary ree
quirements had been met, he found himself left with a balance of exacte
ly ten cents. Half of this went for corm meal, the other half for beef

suet, and on this incredibly meagre supply of food he lived for about

a week.

 
Carver-V- 3

"Tt took about that long", he afterward remarked, “for people to find
out that I wanted and was equipped to do their laundry. After that,
things were much easier",

"Had his Winterset friends known of the very slender purse he car-
ried to Indianola", Mrs. Milholland wrote," his first days there might

have been very different. But because of his constant resourcefulness,

his friends did not dream but that the college laundry work, which had

been promised him, would amply provide for all his needs."

Mrs. W.A.Liston, an Indianola resident who was one of his fellow

a

WAN Tne i
students in the Art classes, has @#as-—saueimddreehee

of his Tivst
days there. "One moming soon after Mr. Carver's arrival", she says, "Miss
Etta Budd, who was the Art teacher, came to me and said,'I have a talent-
ed boy who wants to study Art. He has asked to saw my stove wood for his
tuition, md will you help find him a room ? He is a very promising

young man, and we must help him',

"I found that he had secured permission from the president of the

college to occupy an old abandoned shack, and so I started out to look
for him there. When I rapped on the door, and the young man timidky

opened it for me, so modest was his demeanor that I scarcely knew how to
approach him. Something in his quiet manner made it difficult for me

to state my real errand, but a sudden thought came to me amd I found
myself asking if he could do some sketching for me. I wanted to paint

my flower garden, and needed some help with the sketching. This proved
an entering wedge for our long acquaintance and wm ntinued friendship.
Noticing in one corner of the roam an old black bread pan filled with
corn meal and water, and an old stove on which was a boiler filled

with shirts and collars he was laundering for the students, I finally

came around to stating my real errand, and told him of an available room

 
Crisp Carver-V=-4

he might secure near our kemea home. Later, he moved to this room and
was there throughout the year. I frequently saw him there, since the
people from whom he secured the room were friends of mine whom I often
visited.

. H, was a constant surprise to me and to all whonrknew him. Hg hed a
number of interesting collections of geological and botannical specimens
which he would show and explain to anyone he f€ound to be interested in
such things. He also had many of his ow paintings, mostly in oil and
all done from life. There was one very fine portrait of a yucca; he loved
especially to paint novel flowers, it seemed. One day I found Mr. Carver
working on some crochet patterns he was copying from a magazine, and,see=
ing my interest in his lace work, he brought out a large box of aamples
of designs he had found in many places. I looked at him in amazement and
asked, ¥But what are you going to do with all those patterns ? Why all this
work ?!

"1 Tt am going back south to my people later on', he answered,' and
I expect to use all these things in my teaching in the schools of the
south!,.

"He was a popular boy with the studehts, his excellent tenor voice
making him much sought after as a singer, particularly in the YMCA,
an organization of which he was an interested and active member. I ati
have a picture of four/boys who were leaders of the student Y MO A in
our section at that time: Mr. Carver; a white American; a Chinese; and

a Japanese. They met at our home during a convantion."

Having no actual family of his own to whom he might write the usual

student letters home, George wrote occasionally to the Carvers at Diamond
Grove, and more frequently to his close friends, Dr. and Mrs. Milholland

in Winterset. In the spring of his first year in college we find him

 
Crisp Carver-V~ 5

writing the Milhollands naive school-boy letters telling of his progress
in his studies,especially his beloved painting; of his teacher's comments
on his work; of his future plans; of his plants and their ca comments
interspersed with humourous references to kam. jokes evidently mutually
shared and enjoyed. In March, 1891, he writes;

"Dear friends, Dr. and Mrs. Milholland:

I shall try to write you a few lines in answer to yours of
sometime agoe I was very glad to hear from you, and had tegun to think
you had forgotten where I was. My health is very good except for a
very bad cold I contracted yesterday--working in the studio when there
was a draft blowing through. However, I will take some quinine to-
WasxXaxdRatkxbinwingxke night and hope to feel better in the morning.
IT have trebble the work I had last term and it keeps me very busy,and
I beseech you, Doctor, to wait until I came up and I will tell you
the joke I have on you; it is very good indeed,better than the key.

IT am getting along very well with painting, will begin flowers soon
and then I will send the model for yours. I am painting independently
now and have been for some time. My teacher said today that in all
her contacts she had never met anyone like (#$==8) and that I was go-
ing to excel in flowers. I am doing a great deal of her fancy de-
signing and when the other pupils want toarrange flowers they are
painting, they call on her, and she calls on ( --- )e She farther
told me that she had been watching my arrangements of flowers in my
drawings and she had never seen me get them stiff and ungainly, and
she is not going to let me copy a thing, but make my own designs and
paint from Nature. She paid me two very pleasing compliments today.
She is painting a large panel from one of my original drawings, it
4s cactus and the yucca of the plains. I have done all the cactus--
that is,all that has been done, and she says she firmly believes she
could not do them at all to look as I have them and she wants me to
finish them for her....

“Well,hore it is nearly 11 o'clock Sunday evening of the next
week and your letter not finished. I hope to be able to finish it
this time. I have been trying to write ever since I received your
letter as I was so very glad to hear from you. I have been quite
sick since I wrote you and had to be excused from school one maxx
afternoon but I am better now. I get a scolding nearly every day
from my teacher about working so hard. We will have vacation in a
week for a wekk. I want to go up to Des Moines during that time. I
have been waiting tofpaint or rather get an idea of the transparent
work in flowers befére sending you the copy... I have nearly finished
one very large marine and am painting on an original design of the
cactus and yucca like my teacher's only very much larger, the canvas
is 22 by 48 inches.

"The people are very kind to me here and the students are won-
derfully good. They took into their heads that I was working too
hard and had not home comforts enough and they clubbed together and
bought me three real nice chairs and a very nice table. They left them
Carver=-V= 6

for me while I was at school. I have the nane unjustly of having
one of the broadest minds in school. My teacher told me the other
day that she is sorry she did not find me out sooner so she could
have planred differently for me. Well, this subject is getting
very monotonous and was before I begun 4t but I thought you would
like and be interested in knowing what they thought of me. Please
donés let anyone see this letter but the homefolkse

The Scott Brown and the Bclectic are very highly recommended,
the Eclectic especially. I don', know anything about the formr
but presume it is good for the president recommends atu. if you are
thinking of investing much in orchids I think you will regret it
as they are very hard to raise and you will meet with failure on
every hand almost. I willsend you the namps of two of the cheapest,
they belong to the butterfly family, they come very highly recom=
mended and are said to be of easy culture. One is spotted and the
other is a beautiful purple, very fine, this one is 50 cents and
the other 35, You can get them of Wm. H. Maule, 1711 Filbert St.,
Philadelphia.

Well, Dr., you may expatiate as mucn as you please on the key
question, I hope you will enjoy it and will keep right after your
turkey as you will not when I come up again for my joke on you is
so good that it will monopolise all the time. Nearly 12 o'clock.
Please excuse me and write sooner than you did before. My best re-
spects to all, I remain your humble servant of God. I am learning
to trust and realise the blessed results from trusting in Him every
dey. i am glad te hear of your advancement spiritually and finan-

cially. I regard them also as especial blessings of God.
Sincerely yours,
George W,. Carver

The "key" referred tols everal times here was an Arithmetic "Key"
which George had evidently used or tried to use in his struggles with
a
his Mathematics, and apparently kaa subject for considerable teasing

on the part of the Doctor. Again in April, 1891, George Writes;
Pr. and Mrs. Milholland, dear Friends;

Since you wrote me I have been to Des Moines and back
again. It was very muddy, but I had a nice time. I was tos ee
your sister, Mrs. Maley,and took dinner with her. I intended to
have gone and seen her the next day but could not get my busi-
ness closed soon enough. She was very anxious to have me vell
you what I thought of her sick boy. I really think it is a seu
vere thboat trouble and not his lumgs and with the proper care
of himself I think he will get well. When I was about his age
I was in almost exactly the same condition if not worse with my
throat which resulted in the loss of my voice, partially, for
a number of years. I thank you very much forthe seed. Part of
them are upe I lost all of my foliages during the holiday vaca=

 
Carver=-V=7

tion by putting them in a cellar that was too damp for them.
My roses are just beginning to grow again. I want to try to
root one of each of them for you 1f I can. I am getting along
with my painting quite nicely, have not yet finished that very
large piece on which I was working when I last wrote you. My
teacher sends her best respects to you and also sends repeated
invitations for you to come dow.

I am taking better care of myself than I have. I realise
that God has a great work for me to do and consequently I must
be very careful of my health. You will doubtless be surprised to
kearn that I am taking both vocal and instrumental music(Piano)
this term. I donA't have to pay any direct money for my music,
but pay for it in paintings. They heard me sing several times
and then they gave me no rest until I took it, or rather consent-
ed toe They are very kind and take especial pains with me; I
can sing up to high D andthree octaves below, and I have had only
one lesson. He thld some of his students that he thought he could
develop some wonderful things out of my voice, or words to that
eftect.

I hope your orchids are doing well. Ijsaw some of that vari-
ety in bloom while in Des Moines,they are very pretty indeed.
I wish you would send me a bulb of that Oxalis like we got from
Miss Siders last fall. You can put it in a tiny box andsoend it
by mail. I lost mine. I have two double fringed petunias(slips)
I think they are both growing, if you haven't any I will send
you one. You can't imagine how much good reading your letter
done me, ed tell the Doctor I enjoy his preaching very mucl
end thet 1 wilt Tinish Arithmetic this time, Key.or no key. I

~

like to come up a day or so before I go to Amesd and then
you could see and copy some of the flower work as I would> bring
some with me. Mes. Maley wants to be there too, if she can,
should I come,

I am glad the outlook for the upbuilding of the Kingdom
of God is so good. We are having a great revival here, 40 seek-
ing last night and 25brose for prgyers at the close of the ser-
vice. I did not go tonight. My best regards to all and to your
nephew also as I suppose he is there now. Shall be glad to hear
from you soon.

ry ot
WO? La

Gee. W. Carver

The statement in the April letter, "I realise that God

has a great work for me to do"

» was not an idly made remark, but a
statement of a deepening conviction. George had cone to college with
the desire to make painting his major field of study: he wanted to

be an artist--esvecially did he want to paint the plants and flowers

he had come to know with such intimate and abiding affection. But with

the broadened horizons of knowledge and understanding that were the

 
Crisp Carver-V- 8
Life
natural outcomes of his college Bxpsrkaxngtusy he q@me more and moro to
feol a quickened sense of responsibility to his own race. His own
experience had taught him something of the intangible bonds by which
his people still were enslaved; something of the tremendous difficul-
ties involved in transforming those bonds into not only the rights,but
the accepted responsibilities, of free=born men. His increasing knowl-
edge of History, as well as of human naturey when coupled with his
intelligence and his plain common sense, seemed to indicate clearly
that the most promising way out of bondage into actual freedom for his
race--most of whom lived and would live for years to come inthe agri-

cultural south-- lay in an &micreasing knowledge afid practise of better

methods inthe whole field of agriculture.

By this time he was also somewhat aware of his own peanliar
gifts of discernment in the so-called mysteries of soils and plants--
those mysteries with which agriculture is eternally concerned. And
gradually, the simple but powerful religio s faith which more and more
permeated all his thought and feeling, caught up together the two po-=
knmwkkoa tent elements of his understanding of the needs of his own people
and his intimations concerning himself, fusing them into an inescape-~
able convictione

He wanted to be an artist-- for yoars he had dreamed of it, plan-
ned for it. But if, by becoming a scientist, discovering md teach-
ing more scientific and productiwe ways of making agriculture pay, he
could be of more help to his own race than he could by becoming an ar-
tist, then he must study Science. Having come to this cmecelusion, he
began to shape his college courses to accord with it, and to major in

Sclened,
GrosrSsay.

It was not a decision easily arrived at,vor lightly taken. Dr. Holmes,

 
Carver-V=-9

then president of Simpson College, has said that when George told him

of his determination not to continue in Art as a major field, he

spoke of having put away his paints and brushes, adding, with an in-

describeable pathos, "I @ouldin't do anything else all day Dr. Holmes".

It was impossible for him to keep his paints and brushes locked up

jn disuse, of course. The urge in him to paint was too fundamental

and too strong. But the main conclusion held; the main sail was sot,

and. ote course lay now toward Science rather than toward Art. But it
then, as it has always been for George W. Carver,

- the Setence not only of a scientist but af an artist=-=

val

W 602
of an artist, moreover, who @ first of all a man of very simple

very powerful religious insights, compulsions, and devotionse
In spite of nis difficulties with Arithmetic, jokingly referred
to in his letter to the Milhollands, George was rated by his teachers
at Simpson as “an excellent student, with perseverance, clear insight,
and amazing patience.e” In his cotacts with his fellow students, it
appears that he was equally esteemed. Frank Crawford, one of his
friends among che student group, has told of long walks he used to
take with Carver on Sunday afternoms, and of other extended conversa-=
tions they wovld have in George's room while the laundry work went on.
Mr. Crawford declares that he never mew aman so intimately acquaint-
ed with Nature as this boy, nor one who was a better conversational-
4st on almost any subject in which he was interested-- and these were
meny and variouSse
These days at Indianola were very happy ones for young Carver,
Filled as they were with fun and friendships as well as with hard

and constant work and fascinating study, and with ever unfolding

vistas of thought and imaginings. Yet the time came when he realised

 
Crisp Carver=-V-10

that in some other school he might find courses of study more definite-
ly suited now co his needs in Agricultural Science than were those of
fered at Simpson. Consulting with friends and teachers, he began to
think of going on to/Iowa Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa -- now
Towa State College-- hence his reference to “going to Ames" in his
April letter to the Milhollands. Ames was north of Indianola a distance
of about 50 miles, and the Agricultural Coliege there was a state-

at Simpson
supported school. ‘To Miss Budd, his ‘Art el nald cab na vate’ belongs
much credit for his choice of Ames, for her father was a professor
of Horticulture on the faculty there, and thus she was familiar with
the special facilities and opportunities for scientific study avail-
able for a student of George's abilities and interests.

"I will take him to Ames to my rather", Mrs. Lysvon quotes Miss
Buda as saying. ‘Carver will fit in beautifully there",

This she did, and thus we find George W. Carver registered as a
student as Ames in September/fi 1891, although he was still registered
as a special student in Art at Simpson both in 1891 and 1892. Among
others on the agricultural faculty at Ames at that time were certain
professors who became intensely interested in him and gave evidence
of their interest in most practical and helpful ways. Professor Budd
was one of these, professor L.H.Pammell was another; professors James
Wilson and H.C.Wallace, both of whan were later to serve as Secretaries
of Agriculture for the United States, were yet others.

“Miss Etta Budd interested herself in the boy because of his ar-=
tistic ability", wrote Professor Pammell, commenting on George's
arrival at Ames. "She came to me one morning and asked if I could give
Mr. Carver some employment. I told her the only job I had was a jani-~

f

tor's job, but I wovld be glad to give this to him, which I did. the
Carver-Vell

nezt thing was to find a rooming place for him, for rooms were hard

to get at Ames then. I allowed Mr. Carver to use my office downstairs
on tho First Cicer of clad North Hall, now demolished, and I moved back
to the second floor. Mr. Carver had this room during the entire time
he was connected with the college."

Professor Budd placed him in charge of the green-houses, and in-
structed him to go to the commissary department and arrange for his
admission into the boarding hall. Here the discouraging problem of
racial discrimination arose to confront him again. "No colored boy
comes into this college ", he was told."You cannot eat witht he white
boys". Writing his friend,Mrs. Liston, of the matter, George asked
her advice as to what to do. There seemed to be feeling against him
because of his color, he said, yet he greatly desired to stay on in
school Bere at Ames. What should he do ?

Receiving his letter, Mrs. Liston lost no time in putting on
her best dress and hat and taking a train for Ames. There she found
wiss Budd and told her what had happened.

Sak
"Stand by him“, Miss Budd 7ayiibzedresmigi, “My rather is go-
ing to keep him where he is",

And stand by him Mrs. Liston did. She had dinner with the head

carpenter's wife (a graduate of an eastern college ) in\t{ he basement
{

room where George was having his meals with the “hired help". Afterwards
she walked with him on the campus, staying until evening.

it

"The following day", he wrote her later, everytiing was dif-

The ice was broken, and ftom that time on, things went very much

At Ames, as at Simoson, it was of course necessary for George to

provide his own means of livelihood, and here again he found original

iat

 
Crisp CarvereVe 12

end unique ways of meeting his continuous needs. To the jmitor's
job and the supervision of the green-houses, he added the work of
acting as masseur fort he college athletic teams, gaining experience
thereby which was eventually to be of great value to him when,years
later, he began his experiments in the use of massage for the treat=-
ment of limbs wasted and debilitated by disease. Now and then, when
some special and acute wed for extra funds arose, he somtine s made
and sold lye hominy, a cereal food made from kernels of corn, and con-
sidered by many people a very delicious food.

fne suspicions and antagonisms arising out of prejudice against
his race, which had made his first days at Ames discouraging and dif-
ficult, could not exist for long in the cos@imeess presence of his
kindly, humo ur ous, somewhat child-like spirit; his unassuming endeavors
to d@ his work well; his obvious endowment of distinctive and tmique
abilities. It is no doubt true that for many of his fellow students
he remained an oddity and a curiosity. No other Negro student was en-
rolled at Ames at that time; and for many of the students, coming as
they did from communities with small, if any, percentages of colored
people in their populatims, even the sight of a Negro was a rare @X-=
perience. In spite of this fact, however, George aia find genuine,
warm friends among both students and faculty, and entered into the extra~
curricular affairs of student life on the campus with zest and keen en-=
joymente

In the college cadet corps he att&imed &he rank of second lieu-
tenant, and later of cadet captain; he waa with the battalion accompany-
ing Governor Boise to the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 . (When jok-
by his friends }

ingly brought to task)later about having once been such a military

man, he was accustomed to reply, rather sheepishly, that he liked the

uniforms and the marching music of the band § ) In the YMC A here,
Crisp Carver-V-135

as st Simpson College, he fod congenial companions and interests,
becoming president of a Prayer and Mission group which was one of many
such groups linked together in the Student Volumteer Movement, a vital
force in the religious life of American campuses for le student
generations. A small group of these students was accustomed to meet
regularly as a reading and prayer group inthe office of Professor
Wilsom. Concerning the work of these students, and of George in par-
ticular, Professor Wilson has written:"A greatvwork was accomplished
at Ames during those years, and now that college is famous for the
firm stand taken by its students along Christian lines. Carver and I

would sit down and plan how to get boys who were Christians to go to

the depot to meet new students, some up to the campus with them, help

them get registered and find rooms. This would|s stablish acquaintance

with these new students and enable young men of Christian leanings to
get them into prayer meetings. Along these lines George Carver was my
greatest help." It is not surprising, then, to find that for two
summers Carver was sent as a delegate from Ames to the summer conference
of the student YM C A held annually at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.

In addition to these various activities he/erried on along with
his @tudies and his "self-help" work, George yet found time for his
habitual long excursions of investigation about the countryside, and
for guiet communion with his familiar friends of the woods and fields.
On some of these walks he had with him student friends and acquaintances,
sharing with vuhem his stores of information, whetting their curiosity
emcerning the mysteries at hand, sometimes succseding in sending them
out on discovery jaunts of their own. A smail boy named Henry sometimes
accompanied him, the son of professor Wallace.... a sm il boy who

many years later, as United States Secretary of Agriculture, in speake

 
Crisp Carver=-V=-14

ing to a group of scientists and educators at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
(Feb.23,1939) declared "When I was a boy, George Carver introduced mw

to the mysteries of wmkangy botany and plant fertilisation. Later on I

was to have an intimate acqiainatce with plants myself, because I spant
a BOoe many years breeding corn. Ferhaps this was partly because this

scientist, who belonged to another race, had deepened my appreciation

on
of plants in a way I could never forget. "(Incidentally, it is interesting
—. the scientist's r
to note ere ee) Buxxiurwaxkx comment on these ways, made af

Wallace was is bee president of the United States, ao in odd |
\ fa”
"He was the ndst inquisitive little fellow-- he wahted to Im oft every=_

?

 

thing about avery plant we saw i " )

In the meantime, during his college years there at Ames, Carver
was constantly deepening his own wderstanding and appreciation of plants--
their nature; their diseases; their cultivation; their possibilities,

He had his own gamden, of course-- hh always had a garden, with special
plants set in tin cans, flower pots, containers of various kinds. Im his
Ames garden there were various varieties of Amaryllis, with which he
was carrying on experiments tm cross-breeding in connection with the re-
quirements for his master's degree, the subject of his thess&s being
"The Imppovement of Plants by Man", ‘The Amaryllis expriments, as it
turned out, were to become a life-long piece of personal study and ez-=
periment ; they have been carried on continuously ever since. Symbolie
of his luve for plants, even in his student uays VYeorge began to wear
always a flower or sprig of some kind of plant in his coat lapel--a habit
which came in time to be a beloved symbol to his many friends and ac-
quaintances throughout America,

vacations, especially at Christmas, he went to visit

Wry

friends in Indianola and Winterset. "His abilities were equal to almost

 
Crisp
CGarver-V=-15

any occasion,” writes Mrs. Milholland. “Once when he was with us at
Christmas time, we asked him to be master of ceremonies in the arrang-
ing of presents, and in the morning the grotesque figure in the dining
room, withthe gifts artistically arranged, afforded a time of much
merriment. His power of adaptability was a great factor in his mak-
ing of fried s. Mr. Carver was with us over the Sabbath once when the
president of Simpson College preached at the Methodist church, and
throughkk the happy greeting exchanged by president and student, one

could readily recognise the warm friendship existing between them".

Of his work as a student at Ames, Professor Pammell once commented

"He was the most wonderful collecbbr I swaxxzaw ever have known, and
much interested in collecting fungi, among other things", The most
significant testimony to the estimate plaged by his teachers upon his

work, however, lies in the fact that when he received his Bachelor of

Science degree on November 14, 1894, he thd already been offered a place

on the Agricultural staff at Ames as Station Botanist. In a levter

*

to the Milhollands, dated October 15, 1894, George trites:

" My dear Friends:

I was indea more than pleased to hear from youshad
you not written you would have received a letter from me soon as I
intended writingeee.ee I am glad to know that you are all well and
that the Lord is blessing you so uns@ringly...the Lord is wonder-
fully blessing me and ms for these many years. I cannot begin to tell
you ail. I presume you know that I had some paintings at the Cedar
Hapids Art Exhibit, was there myself, and had some works elected
and sent to the World's Fair, and was alsos ent to Geneva twice &e
the YMC A Summer camf*rence as a representative from our college.

And the many Bood things tne Lord has entrusted to my care
are too numerous to mention here, +he last but not least I have been
elected assistant Station Botanist. I intend to take a post graduate
course here, which will take two years, one year of residence work
and one of non-residence work. I hope to do my non-residence work
next year and in the meantime take a course at the Chicago Academy
of Arts and at the Moody Bible Institute. I am saving all the pennies
Crisp Carver~-V-16

I can for that purpose and am praying a great deal. I believe
more and more in prayer all the time.

I thank you for your kind invitation to visit you; noth-
ing wovld give me greater pleasure and I will do so if I can but
I will have to cancel sane other comtemplated visits. There are
so many that are sodetermined that I shall make them a visit this
winter. But I think I will get to see you as I have much to tell
you and ask your advice about.

I have been to a reception nearly every night last week
end the cards are out for part of this week, one given by? the pz
president ot the Vollege and several downtown that are not con-~
nected with the institution. I don't pretend to go to all of them...
Enclosed please find catalogue and classification of our
Mission library which has been secured and paid for this year.Our
band two years ago was organised as a reading circle with 3 mem-

bers including myself. We now have a membership of about 29 with

2 volunteers .# God bless youe | ;
George W. Carver "

Mrs. Liston went up to Ames from Indianola to see him re»
ee his degree of Bachelor of Science, in November, 1894. She
found a situation very differentpfrom uhe ome she had discovered
eon hor first viait to him there. He came to the toete to meet her
wearing a new fawn-colored suit, with new hat,gioves, and shoes--~
an outfit whd@Gh was a graduation Bift from a number of his stu-
dent friends. Mrs. Liston nad brought a bouquet of red carnations,
the class flower; another bouquet came from his Art Class; and
still another from three girls ae fellow students in che
Art School at Simpsm. “He was very happy", Mrs, Liaton has said,
"and very proud of his new suit"! During the exercises he read
the class poem which he himself had written, Afterwards he took
Mrs. Laston to dinner, not in the basement this time, but in the
student dining room where they sat at a professor's table, with

the new Bachelor of Science pouring tea «

Two years later, on November 10, 1896, he was granted the
Crisp Carver-V-= 17

degree of Master of Science in AGriculture, the firec of ita Kkinc ever
awarded a student at Ames. He had not carried out his idea of spending
one of his graduate years in Chicago, studying at the Art Institute and
nk oede Bible School, but had stayed on at Ames,teaching and carrying
on his independant research work and painting, while fulfilling the
requirements for his master's degree.

Although he had been assured the eamtinuation of his place on the
college faculty, he was soneeinee as to what he should do when he had
completed the work for his hew degree. An offer came to him tof take
a position with a florist. His reply was brief, and couched in the

crisp, emphatic terms which came to be characteristic of his replies

to queriesand comments he considered somewhat ridiculous. "IT told them",

he said,” that I hadn't gotten my education to learn to arrange flowers
for the dead", No, not forthe dead; it was the living for whom he
was concerned. There was now in his heart a great longing tor eturn
to vhe south, to work avong his ow people who had once been slaves
put now wished in reality to become free men. It was for this that he
had prepared himself --- Now would the chance come ?

In the spring of his last year of graduate stwy, it did come.
In 1881, by a legislative Act carrying a small annual appropriation
for maintenance, a Normal School for the training of colored teachers
had come into being in the village of tuskeggoe, Alabama, with Booker
®) Washington as its &texx Founder and first Principal. fhe school
under his inspired leadership had grown incvedibly in its fifteen
years of life, and now Dr. Washington needed a well-equipped man to
become head of the departmentbof Agriculture, one of the most im-
portant divisions of the school's entire programe "In his search for
such a man, his attention was directed to George Carver, a graduate

student at Ames, a young man recammended as highly qualified for the

 
Carver=-V-18

place by his teachers, Professors Wilson, Wallace, and Pammell. So it
was that in April, 1896, correspondence destined to be of lasting sig-

nificance to the south and to America began between Dr. Washington

and young Carver. The replies of the latter ef Washington's letters

give the gist of the storys

Iowa Agricultural College
Department of Botany
Ames, Iowa

office of Botanist
LeHePammel, professor George W. Carver,
Station Assistant
C.B.Weaver Robert Combs,
Emma Sirrine Assistants in Collection in Cuba
Collecting

April 12,1896

Pres. Booker T. “ashington
Tuskeegee Institute, Alabama

My dear Mr. Washington:

Yours of April 1 just received, and after a careful consideration
of its contents, I now venture a reply. I; is certainly very kind of
you to take the interest you have in mee |

Of course it has always been vhe great ideal of my life to be of the
greatest good to the greatest number of "my people" possible, and to
this end I have been preparing myself for thase many years,feeling as
I do that this line of education is the key to unlock the golden door
of freedom to our people.

Please send me catalogues and other data you may have with reference
to your Institution, so I may get some idea of the presaht scope of
your work and its possible and prabiexexpanskonx probable expansion.

Tt should consider it afgreat privilege to have an interview with you,
but camnot say if I will be in the West or noe...

I am so glad you met our dear Brother Marshall. I dearly love him.
Should I not accept the position above mentioned I will be here at the
college all summer except when my occupation calls me away. At the next
writing I hope to give you a more definite an SWCL

May tne Lord bless and prosper your work.

Geog W. Carver

 
Carver-V= 19

April 21,

My dear Mr. Washington:

Yours of the 17th inst. received and the contents carefully
noted. I hasten to reply because I must decide very soon whether I
am to stay here, or go womewherfelse in the south, or come to you.

I am very much pleased with the spirit of your letter, and
assure you if I come money will not be the sole object, only secondary.
eeeee L already have a position here as you will see by the letter
head, and one of the professors told me today they would raise my wages
here if I would stay. But I expect, as I have already stated, to go
to my people and I have been looking for some time at Tuskeeses with
favor. So the financial feature is at present satisfactory. I shall
be pleased to do all I can to cooperate with you in the broadening of
the work and making it far-reaching in extent.

Enclosed please find the four year's course in Agriculture
from which I graduated in 1894. I had special training in the ones
EF have marked, aside from the regular course. I would like to know
if your Course in Agriculture will be sonething of this kind, and what
I will be expected to teache I have been for several years making
large collections along ecnnomic lines and should I come to you I will
bring my collections and cabinets with me for use.

When would it be necessary for me to come ? I will finish my
post graduate work this fall. If the course of study is not something
out of my range, I will accept the offer. I shalljawait an answer with
a considerable degree of anxiety as I must decide ‘soon. May God bless
Fou and your work.

Sincerely yours,
Geo. W. Carver

May 8, 1896
® «sess 1b affords me grost pleasure to be identified as one of. the
faculty of Tuskeegee..... My post graduate work has been arranged to
run bhrough the collegs year which closes in Novenber...However, if
vitaily important, I can arrange to come to you at your opening or
shortly etter sch wus

Geo. W. Carver

June 21,1896
"eee. I have arranged to meet you at Waterloo on July 3rd and will
be there Providence permitting. Two of my professors will endeavor
to meet you at Spirit Lake. Professors Wilson and Wallace hope you-can
see them there .....

September 12,1896
esoee Youre of a Tew daya agoawaited me upon my return and should
nothing prevent, I will leave here about Ocvober 7th, sooner if I can
arrange to do so.

Lt]

d
Vory respectfully yours
Ge orgé é.W. Carver

 
Carver-V=-20

Thus it was that for George Washington Carver the chance he

long had sought had come, and coming, had found him ready -- well-

equipped, eager to begin his new work, and filled with a buoyant

confidence and faith, not only in himself but in the eventual out-
come of the days that lay ahead. He would begin his work at Tuskeg-

gee Institute, Tuskeggee, Alabama, in October, 1896.

 
——
‘Lucy Gherry Crisp Carver- VI

VI

TUSKEZGE INSTITUTE ORIGINS.

Tusice pgee Institute had a very brief background of "ancient

and honorable history and tradition" when George Carver arrived on its
campus in the autumn of 1896. hess than twenty pears before there had
4

= \d 4 sy.
been no such school in existences) even as an idea or a dream. But

things had happened in the fifteen years between 1880 and 1896 -- in-~

teresting and astonishing things that were destined to be prelude to
a far-reaching and ultimately important chapter in the saga of the "Lit-
tle Red Schhol-house" and all that it symbolises in American history.

At the close of the so-called Reconstruction Period fol-
lowing the Civil War, Alabama, along with other southern states, found
stself face to face with the greatly neglected but now acute problem
of wide-spread illiteracy. Some system or method of public education
must be devised, a system providing more adequate schooling than had
ever bsen possible in the little two or three tmamie fanily or pri-
vate community schools prevalent before the ware And the fact that
approximately one-third of Alabama'@é total population was made up of
Negroes but a few years out of slavery, and for the most part tragi-~

(provision was made for public.
cally illiterate, made it imperavive ic eh ola emanate must in-
clude Negro as well as white children.

Gradually the State began to take action on the matter. In 1871
the University at Tuscaloosa re-opened. The following year the State
A and M College at Auburn was established. And in 1873 two Normal schools
were founded: one for white stucents at Florence, and another for Ne-
groes near Huntsville. three years later the legislature made provision

for a State system of public education.

 
Crisp Carver-VI- 2

Against the background of these beginnings, Lewis Adams, a
highly respected ex-slave resident of the little town of Tuskepg ree,in
Macon county, Alabama, began to talk of a school for the training of
Negro teachers, to be located in his home town. He himself had lit-
tle “book-learning", but while a slave he had learned the tinsmith's
trade, and during the war he had become also an expert shoe-maker and
harness-maker. Unable alone to train enough young Negro men to meet
the demands for these trades, even in his own locality, he began to
urge the establishemnt of a school to train Negro youthato teach tleese
and similar trades and industries.

In George W. Campbell, a former slave-owner merchant and banker
of Tuskeggee, Adams found an interested sponsor of his dmady idea,

with the result that two members of the State legislature from Macon

county, W.F.Fox and Arthur L Brooks--whom the Negro vote had helped

D

to elect --intréduced a bill, passed in the 1880-1881 session of the

he

2

legislature, which authorised the establishment of a Nowsmal school
for colored teachers at Tuske¢gee, with an annual maintenance tund of
§ 2,000--an appropriation which was later increased. Included in the

bill also was provisiom for 9 board of direction and control, a board

rhich included Lewis Adams, an ex=slave, and two white men, Thomas.
B. Dryer and M.B.Swanson-- thus instituting at its very beginning the

co-operation between the two races which has characterised the school
throughout its existence.

With the authorisation and initial maintenance fund secured,
the next matter of importance was to find a man equipped to become
director of the proposed school. Up in Virginia there was a school
based on ideas and purposes similar to those now taking rorm in the

minds of the Euskeggee s hool promoteps, Hampton Institute, of which
Carver-VI- 3

General Samuel Chapman Armstrong was Principal. Born of American
parents in the Hawaiin Islands, General Armstrong id long been famil-
sar with the values inherent in the system of industrial training prev-
alent in Hawaii. During the war, as a commander of Negro troops in the
Union army, he had become deeply interested in American -
with the aid of the American Miss ijonary Association had

a echool at Hampton, Virginia, for “the moral and industrial
training"of Negro youth, incoporated in 1870 as The Hampton Normal

fi

and Agricultural Institute, with General Armstrong as president

So it came about that from Alabama in 1881 the promoters of the
proposed school at Tuske¢gee wrote to General Armstrong saying, in

effect, “We need a man who will make a good principal for our schoole

Is there someone whom you can recommend"? And as it happened,
was at Hampton at that time a man whom the General could with confi-
dence suggest-- Booker T. Washington, a man who, like George Carver,
( Ore a 4 i
had been born a glave, mrt had in early youth set out to secure an ed-
5 A | pe
Ave 1 re
ucati ateiad sas he later said, “ to let no obstacle prevent him from
ting ¢ ar the highest effort to fit himself to accomplsih the

good in the world", Older than Carver by ten years or a little

Washington,too, had begun his book-learning in a “ebster's
Blue-back Speller, and had begun early to earn his own living and se=
cure his education. working in salt and coal mines by day and going to
school at night, he had finally entered Hampton, graduated there, haught
school, and studied f a year at Wayland Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Wt the time when the Alabama gentlemen sent their request for aid to

ey

General Armstrong, Booker T. Washington was back at Hampton, in charg

A
i

mn Tndian students and Director oi

the night schoole

 
Carver-VI- 4

Tn the story of his life,"Up from Slavery", Washington

intimate gimme of the circumstances surrounding his choi
: of
keggae Institute's first Principal, enya early experiences at the
school. The Alabama gentlemen, he said, naturally expected General
Armstrong to suggest some white man , but when the General wrote them
that he knew no white man to suggest but ocolld highly recommend young
Washington for the job, an answer came back which in substance said,
"Booker T. Washington will suit us. Send him at once". Fifty years
later, an anniversayy speaker at the Institute, commenting on this
but

decision, declared “Nothing could be done without a lvader, mex in the
providence of God the leader appeared,in the person of Booker Washing-

ton" ®

Arriving at Tuskeggee in June, 1881, the young Principal, chen

25 vears of age, found no buildings, no apparatus, but “hundredsuof

hungry ,earnest souls who wanted to secure knowled@ge". He spent a
month travel

people whom the sc tog Q g the new school, and
making arrangements for its openin: WI C during those months

oo
¢
\.

left him “with a very heavy hear id gerved to strengthen h

viction that something more was needed than an imitavion of "y

land education as it then existed". Mere book education, a few hours
at the time, woud have little meaning or value for

the tumbledowm shanties he had seen-- of this he was quite certain.
And it was ovt of this conviction, coupled with his knowledge of the
theory and practise of industrial education as carried on at Hampton

under General Armstrong's direction, that this leader laid the gturdy

foundations of the Tuskepgee idea of the meaning of education--founda-

 
Uarver-VI-5

thee

were eventually to underlie one of the most significant

and distinctive contributions yet made to American educatia
On July 4, 1881, with thirty students and

the school was opened in an old ciuurch and a tumble-down
side it. After six weeks Miss Olivia Davidson, a graduate of Hamp-
ton and Framingham, came to the school as teacher and cosultant with
the Principal in all matters pertaining to the future aa well as the
immediate needs of the school.

shington descrbbes his

4

his hopes for the futures
"T opened school last week. present have over forty
anxious and earnest young men and women.
September and October. the school is taugl at present in one
colored churches.... this building is t very well suited to school
22 commodious
and conveni-
ently Located DIO \ igh which we have cammtracted to buy
S 500. The state pays for tuitic +i Tarn 1 hope to pay for by
ownexertions and the help of others her as a rule 1€ »lored

+

Fas) 4 Ee ai, i lp ee alle koa Pe EE an pin oi Ce SEI UE MIND
© | Lane 20 UL th ar a nO u a a 1 L no 1] D o ase Sag OP Bae SN a &) hy vi @ rae ik ee , OS oe Ni le a Ufle

: F cae eRe ey ETS ei 1
ehildren in school at ten or twelve

SOON as
i, pan be aad am tie
earnest studen

true dignity
be taug
home. Without this

de 4

aoe Ae Tok * - tas bs Bo. J x oe 5 Be ° 4 4 "8
q Be ; } &- Cafe fen 2 i a 2 i ox a 2 5} c wy ot on ee
"ee Tie a HGS DH 8 oy he BS bay 3 do ana Gilet Lib) Ly) Ce we ana oocales

 
SOOn as

was indeed "not very well

room-- its roof actually being so

Saary for a Student to hold an

i Sy Re ee,

rye

the farm of 100

by contributions

by 2ds from

procee

Taysp 1
DY GHS

sponsored

house on the pDurpned to the

till were standing. These were rep

alge Me Lt os
6S Hew bile

quarters in

*

iiy used as a cabin, a kitchen, 2

se quarters indeed for an "™

Thus housed, however, teachers and

cultivation of their 100 acres, with tv

to secure returns from it.("We atarted

ashington, " bacause we wanted

vide training in agriculture for the students.

4te first "“Livestock"-- en old bling horse,

a gift which Lewis Adams took and went out on

turning th the as

ber wagon, 2 harness, a plow, and a sack of

As the need for new build
he industry of brick-maki on the

each new need, each new necessity for

and trades into

instruction in book knowled

suited
leaky

umbrella

—
LY Of

schools
ground: Long
aired and
four

stable,

students turned
vo main ideas in

with ag

Some one
a purchasing thip,
tonishing array of a good horse,

corn Go
ings became imperative

campus ,
expansion,

the school curriculum,

Carver-VI-6

artment on

dep

q

Lor Bne Irpose

da InA naa 4 ry 4 +
tnatoduring a rain

4.

over the Principal

purchased, and

was
interest
H
estivals
The

plantation

Since, bul Tour. out

the school lost
ramshackle build-
and a hen-house}
higher learning "J

their attention

min

5 i
sricuiture ,

something toneat "Yanda second, to pro-

Someone gave the schgol

else gave $ 100,

ren

a second=jhand lum-=

horse on.

1-
LOE

feed

the Principal in-

determined to use

as a means of intro-

along

26. To have the students

 
Carver=-VI-7

make brick and erect their ow buildings woulc to teach them brick-
making and carpentry, as well as to give them opportunity for actual
service in the building and expansion of thé« school. The school woudd
their labor, said Washington, and at the same time
would be taught to see not only utility in la-

bor, but beauty and dignity; would be taught , how to lift

labor up from mere drudgery and toil and would learn to love work
> bs ‘

Ave AAS ten
7 <<

for its own sekeg" The idea of the Principal was “not to teach them

to work in the old way, but to show them how to make the to
Nature--air, water, steam, electricity, horse

their labor." In thesewords Washington set forth the idea

that from the beginning has been inherent in the purpose of ‘ze
szzhmek Institute.

It was not an easy ideal to pursue. Sever opposition arose from
many memte rs of Washington's own race,who naturally associated manual
labor with thog"degradation of slavery." But this man had seen a
vision and was willing to stake all he had of energy,
indefatigable cendech cane invincible faith on bringing
When the first three brick-burnings, in a kiln cmstructed by
dents, failed completely, Booker T. Washington, with no money for new
brick-making materials, went to vhe town of Montgomery, pawne d his
watch for $ 15, bought new materials, and started his stuients to work
at prick-making g this time, fortunately, to succeed. Travel=
ing into the north and wherever vherwas hope of success, both Wash
ington and Miss Davidson lectured and spoke and interviewed, interes
ing benevolent-minded philanthropists in their school, and thus be-
ginning the endowment fund which was eventually to make possible

the development of the Institute into one of America's most widely-

 
Carvor-VI- 8

known educational institutionSesceeceee SO it was that during the years

of the eighti and the early nineties, when George Varver yout on the
Kansas plains and on college campuses at Indianola and Ames, dreamed
of the day when he should return to the Sotth and worked to prepare

himself to be of service to his people, down in Alabama certain potent

forces were also at work-- in those strange ways often indicative of

1 Pore asa.

an invisible Pale and Design -= bringing into being an environment

which was to be of immeasureable import intthe eventual fulfilment of

youg Carver's hopes and dreamse

Fifteen years passed--fifteen hard but rewarding years for
Tuskeegee Institute and its founder. New buildings stood on the campus;
new industries were a part of its curriculum. Almost a thousand stu-

24 states. A night school was in ses-
sion for siucents who had to work by day for a living. The Farmers!
Conference had been organised and annually brought to Tuskep gee Insti-
tute buomtedcs hundreds of colored farmers who took home with them not
only new knowledge of farming, but something of the Tuskepgee spirit.

A hospital and nurses! training school , as well as a Bible training
school, had been added to the curriculum. The United States Congress
had made a gift to the school of 25,000 acres of mineral lands in
northern Alabama.

And now, in 1896, there was urgent need for the presence on
the faculty of an expert in Agricultural Science-- a man well-equipped

to teach the students the mysteries of the soil, and its mastery. ltven
more was there need for a scientist whose vision would be at one
tne vision ef : cor T,. Washington, and whose abilities could be

on to measure up to the continually increasing opportunities for

 
Carver-VI-9

vice that came knocking at the doors=-the hospitable doors-- of Tus-~
kepgee Institute.
And once again, “in the providenceg of Yod", a man greatly endowed

and excellently equipped to meet the need wis found and brought to

>

We

7 i Ce ° ne ane rt
year Cais this time in the person of George W. Varver.

 
Carver

VII

THE FIRST TEN YEARS AT TUS SKEpG

aici onal in Tusice lore is the

eeges

campus

Professor Carver, on a Sunday afternoon in October,

Him «-80 tho familiar

tation to find the train arrived and gone.

was anywhere to be seen, but a little distance dow t he

an strolled casually along

8s
around

DAULONs te vee 11 exactly the

shis new professor had long been accustomed do wherever

be, whether the surroundings were new and strange ,or long

ee

easual-sseming event,ind this Sunday afternoon arrival,

phetic hint that it was bringing to the south sc

to give chemistry a new meaning, agriculture a new outlook,

a new alliance,”

Arrived at the Institute, mile outside the

a

shed in Porter

a a oa a 4 He
Ys 3 & etting ta Pale:

faculty membe«

2700 Le more than 30

years

as

Lt FS ne Oe
Ll ee @

A Our ins

photograph

Side wotch is one of

broad high

the far-looking, comprehending an artist

An eA
ve ie fEPRI* }
an Wien

apps: race

scernment,aand strength

‘intermingled,

--reached
No anxious-looking
7-3 C | ~~)

tracla

stopping to examine

Cienti

and

Little tow of

Vil

EE ( 1896 - 1906 )

arrival of the

The student
the
newcomer

a tall,

the

tle railroad

st who was

industry

ee |

Tuskeegee,

hall ror

students

and, a seer-- ay dis

are

 
There was no

equipment

tion Professor Carver
the re cessity

Fag J

agricultural

agricultura
was
Tor m

ffice in Cassedy Hall, he

building on the campus

l séiencte, But with thn situa=

well able to cope, having had long experience

f{
4:

aking something out of practically nothing. With

¥@t about working with his students to

ether laboratory equipment adequate for their needs

ment in the mind of a

thah that in his laboratory"
students
new Professor Carver,

cracked

the etude

in OY

was the

their Birst greenhouse. But the

purposes unti

4ntent of this school's

instructions practical

quired by the student shall be of

ture vocations

the department,

Such was

# mm r,
came to Tuskeeges

3

Tork
VOC K y

rmed it almost beyond

TacilLitisoa

as

as farmer

the organization
wor thy or

but soon to exp

Lt es

man,” he told them, is vast

ce

-- a saying typical of the

were to hear from
old bottles, hollow reeds,

pottery, old cups and saucers and the like,

nts from scouting trips instituted by their

b
BE

atory equipment created; of cast-off pieces

results eved their

sex

could be attained, the avowed aim and

department of agriculture being "to make the

well as scientific, that the knowledge ac-

direct material aid in Dis rue

,aalryi and teacner™, In addition to being

man,

Carver was instructor

five assistants who were responsi

sure and Farm Management; Stock

rtheulture -- and for the dairy herd.

of the agricultural department when Carver

note here as the point of departure for

i

oerience an expansion and growth that trans~

recognition e

 
Carver VII

It is doubtful that anywhere else in America at that time could

Carver have found an environment better suited to his needs, por work

more likely to devehop to their full fruition his extraordinary endow-
ments and excellent training , than he found here at Tuskepgee Institute,
In the first place, it was in the south, a fact which 1 uselt % he
fulfilment of one of his dreams. He had long wanted to return to the
south, to live among members of his own race who, though not of his ac-=
tual blood kin, were yet, he felt, closer to him in those intangible
realms of backgrounds and inheritances shamk then his closest friends

B;

of the white race could ever be. Linked with this fundamental desire
simply to be among nh "own people. , was the gradually acquired deter-
mination to be of help to them if possible in their long struggie up-
ward from ignorance anc

In the second place, here at Tuskeggee he found himself surrounded
by stark, tragi f the very needs he had long since envision-
ed and set out to hel’ ry Here, within walking and driving dis-~
tence, were Negro fe 3s ing in the conditions that had left Booker
T, Washington "with a very heavy heart", conditions not unusual but
typical of xwa poverty-stricken farm families throughout the entire
south. Nor was the need for the help which Science cowld bring to Agris
culture confined to Negro families alone -- not by any means, for worn-
out,depleted soils and meagre starvation harvests were common also on
the farms of once-wealthy plantation owners,out-comes not only of the
war but of the debilitating one-crop system prevalent in
was inevitable that the presence of such need all about him should act

as a continual spur to a scientist of Carver's nature-- a man who had

added to his inborn love of the soil and its fruitage xumg careful years
aaictax

 
Garver VII -

of patient study of its nature, its needs, its dissases and their treat-
ments-- its possible harvests and their potential economic values in
terms of humang bondage and freedom.
the fact
Another factor of prime importance for Varver a, here at Tus-#
ke bac ee he found already organised and functioning
his store of knowledge, skill, and undertstiamddmg migh be made available
to farmers in need of it and to farming in general. Through his @lasses
and general direction of the department's wobk he was in direct daily
contact with students from many farm homes, many of whom would go back
into rural communities to teach. ‘the Annual Farmers! Institute, already
stablished by the Principal, gave opportunity for lectures, demonstra-=
tions, exhibits, and personal talks with hundreds of Negro farmers,many
of them influential in their home communities.
Moreover, Tuskefpee Institute was already widely known in Ameri-~
OS, OY PFeason of the clear,far-seeing vision and the earnest,effective

mm

eloquence of Booker T. Washington. From his speech before the National
Education Association in Madison, Wisconsim, and his great "Let-dowm-
lere=myou-are" address at the Atlanta Ex Ltion: In Legs,

giant stature, a leader of his race,
and a Man white and
colored races alik 1. man of whomge Atlanta address newspapers had
said "A Negro Moses stood before a great audience ot white people and de-
livered an oration that marl new epoch in the history of the South",
tably such acclaim for i Pounder and Principal awakened interest

scnool, and sé he stream Of visitors inte:

first-hand, whesbomeskredt 7. mit about a wide-spread

7 Vr ~ ~
WY Or A. 3 a 1G. 4 ie S

TO both race

 
Carver

£m addition to these, during his first year
-vVer saw yet sY channel of communication
in many respects he most portant
of Booker Washington, th«
Hagsed a Bill. * to satabl
the colored race and
connection with the
Control to include the
ent of the A and M Vollec
Auburn and the director of thse Experiment Stati

natic

gee. this Board was to "cause

* esl fi Pg ny 2

Bavance the Incerests of selec
yses as are deemed necessary." $ 1500 out of the
was appropriated for equipment and provement,
to furnish all necesssry lands and
tion and school". Carver was made Director and cons hae aa
Experiment Station -- a position which was to open up Lo him
Wig, oe

Li
a

2 lines of communication through which he was to make fais! major con-=
tributions mot only to Science, but ~ various other fields of human
endeavor and achievment.e

Over and above and around all

ba my iH ~ yy ee oy | “ri oe By py ‘: ee “ hos y wh} Aah
the Tuskeége stitute environment, there was yet another which

by no means go unmantioned here==- an intangibale factor, yet one of
. that indescribeable
much importance to George Varver, nameay, kkaxxkimuitaxitnex reality

sometimes referred to in jest campus atmo er the stimulating

mixturs of care-free gaiety and poignant cmcer iLlures and achieve

£

ments, discouragements and devotions; the cmstant impact and intimate

 
Carver VII -

interplay of ideals and emotions, maturity and youth that are forever
incident upon the activities and relationships involved in the daily
life of a campus. It was a congenial air for this new professor; for
six years at Simpson and Ames he had lived in the midst of it, breathing

the breath of its 13 He felt at home in it now at Tuskepgee.

In the friendsh nd constant @m nfidence afid support of Booker T.

Washington,Carver found at Tuskeegee yet another factor of immense in-
portance to him, not alone in his professional work at the Institute and
a] where, but in his ow personal growth and developmen’ From their

acquaintance to the day of Washington's death there existed botween
these two men a basic sense of spiritual kinship and fundamental under-
standing which made their association a steady source of mutual stinu-
lation and encouragement. Differging greatly in their dominant traits
and native endowments, and widely different in their dual field

and methods of work, they yet were in close accord in

concerns. their basic conceptions of the meaning f d its purposes
3 co 3

as

shee

the practical application# of the teach-
Christian religion. They were in complete accord, more
as concerning the needs of their own race, their convictions
he beauty and dignity of common daily toil, their own habits of
jndustryZ , and their steadfast devotion to the ideal of sere
fellow men, of whatever race or society.
such a congenial environment, a year sped swaftly
Agricubtural building now stood ready Lor
occupancy, and in Negvember, 1897, Professor Carver had the pleasure of
having his former teacher, the Hon. James Wilson, then United States

Secretary of Agriculture, come down to make the address at the formal

dedication of the building. It was undoubtedly an occasion of sratifi-

 
Carver VII «+ 7

cation to the Secretary no lessfthan to his former student. Now the

rh,

Institute departmenthbof Agriculture and the new Research and

Station had an actual house and home on the campus,

obviously, for the following year's bulletin from the Institute desctibes
this department “fering 17 courses, among chem such subjects as
EKeonomic Entomology, Botany Cryptogamic, Principles of Heredity, Agri-
cultural Chemistry, and Vegetable Pathology -- in addition to such im-~

mediately practical courses as Dai irying, Livestock, and Market Gardening.
Indicative of the rapid expansion not only»of th parti
partment , but of the school as a whole, and sugge
recognition of its potential national importance, is
was visited by no less a personage than the Bresident of the
Booker T. ¥ 1ington had early formed a secrets reso=
he would endeavor to "build wp a school that would be of so
service to the country that the President of the United Si
one day come to see it." Thus. learning

+
i
*

to Atlanta for the Peace Jubilee celebra.iin
sh-American War, he invited Mr. McKinley to come and see
Lnvitation was accepted, and "the morning of DBecoembe
fuske¢égee such a crowd as
q

McKinley and all

e

in session
round, both white
all ware thore for the

parades, speeches, music, and toasts galore, and

 
came

ther maemt
Ov: Be Lin Wohi

E)

"Tuskeggee

“
srowi ne
a AE SR € ote te dy ~

woods

4 AA
Lmens

moments

to the

and

perhaps he

was

Some

eV on.

measles

ef lm CYTAT
wh Ped ivy

who

Me j
wnat

strange

ohne he} a
LUA EYL

Conce]

country,

SPURS LH et pee ay
associated in

o de 2
great occe

W

days

Eh" «

2 : oe
demanded hours

-
ma me
ALLN did}

Veal POUS

into whe

1is own and

U

Lmen ;

al, useful, near

labora

There

man was

surround 1

cany

ahijdw
9 U UL *

to at

2 nd

were

co unde

mate

bas He in ad

spec-=

oan=

what

 
hd

out th

Noticing
Garver questions
"How do all these
“well,

along

was going

delighted and asked me

showed

In

4
Aer *

abroad ther

began
>

incident, that se

a plants no one

said that they had

who could name any

did not know, there

a horses and the

it back. Since the

fromg specimens of

An int

dren had of

Mr. Davidson

of the children

ere on the hills, but

the nwstrer o

one day with

© was

enember!

plant

2n Profe

Carver

to avail themselves of the re-

% e t ask Professor

hw
o bu

people who cam o the hool to

er

plants, Booker Washington said to him one day

out that you know so much about plants?"

splat 20."

uG €

Carver replied. "Shortly after I came here

my botany can under my arm, looking for

enemies. A lady saw what she thought was a

a strange-looking box under his and she

1

nat

was a peddler,. I told her w doing;she

¥y

to come and see her were badly

roses,

her what to do for them 1 fact, sat down and wrote

this way, and seWeral other ways, it became noised

WO

tf
ad
a

school wno knew about plants, and ople

8 man ab tne

v

for information and advice

", Washington continues, 4n his narrative of the

veral years ago a dispute arose downtown about the name

knew what it wase Finally one gentlemen spoke up and

€

A

at the Normal school by name of Carver

an

plant, tree, bird, stone, et world, aq if he

was no use to look any further | A maniWw‘as put on

Aa - (x at : 4 a Be
brought to Professor Varver. He named it and sent

4 na a
has never bee free

ver's laboravory

on the habit even the campus chile

i

yeaa ~ as fh oy
their proodlems to Carver

Wan
ap h/ \
ae,

tne Principal, was fond

sin a si
arouna

 
Crisp Carver VII =- 10

and other families in the Institute community , were convinced that
anything,

Professor Carver could do practically mxaxykhimgx that he knew almost
everything, and could remedy almost anything that was wrong. He him-
self once had a pet goose of which he was very fond. One day it was
discovered that this goose was sick.

"Pather told me that I had better take the goose to Professor Carv=
.

er and let him find out what was wong", he said. "I meant to do it, but
kept putting it off and forgetting it. Finally one morning Father
came in and said that it was too late to do anything now; the goose

was dead. 'Well, I'll take him to Professor Garver anyhow,' was my

Es

confident reply. 'I know he can make h come alive again »' And I was
perfectly certain chat he could | .

For a dead pet goose there was probably little that Professor
Garver could do, but there were many problems and questions -- and im-
portant ones -=- about which he could, and constantly did, do something.

:

The problem ot poor land, for instance. Soon after his arrival Dre

Py

de 1a 2

Washington had expressed to him the hope that something could be dame to
peautify their campus. “The land is very poor in places, he had said.
"Wo haven't been able to get grass to grow at all on some of it. Do

you think you could «Oi The beautiful rolling green slopes on the

4

campus today offer their perennially verdent testimony to the fact that
this land wovld bring forth grass when a man wo knew what To do tor it
took it in hend,

The problem of poor soil and worn-out land being a basic one in
agriculture, it was towabd soil building and edncwal that Professor
Carver directed much thought and experiment when he first came south.
Using 10 acres of soil so poor that for years, even when highly ferti-

>

Llised in the method considered most productive in that day, it Rad con-
SLs

mented with crop rota

Ae

Q

oa

leaves and swamp muck and

usuaily left to go to

on

grown a Ss00=pound bale of

his “poor-land“ acres had

a oo ee a dn 5
sweet potat in

S, S 3

Gontinuous ly

be done with soil when

cared for, FProgssor

eff he thepries

ence in che

experin ents 3

eld

who made us

Station, a group which

a
wo

queris

om Negro farmers

values inhsi

Aw Eb
and urgent

/corollary
\

in the

a
ad

ovton fialtia,

something else

tently produced a net loss

waste

gain per

1103 on
carrying
Dis

Carver

ana

tion and practical

various
unused,
acre
cotton on
iathed

harve a

“CO anoth

On. Sucre
nature and

had actual

*

and suggesti<

who came t

j

reques ts

and

worn-out

For

> 37] \ ty

disabtrous

ee es ee
VESLaAes

Gov

annually of
other

At
was

one

ro i iby

practical

Poom

Crop rovat:

agricu

Carver VII -1i

~ 16.25 per acre, he experi-

fertilisers composed largely of

Similar provisions of Nature

ann of tne fi

$ 4, A few years later he had

of those acres, and on

year's yield of Go bushels of

r
CLYODe

demonstrations

n were um erstood

x6ds

at Ton Ain
and annual
Farmers!

ne a4ahe P
Colt WOK wa on

A 1
hm ay of

o the monthly insti ti

circle of southern agriculturists

service

demonstratio

soi ag

diversification-- obviou

em

a oO! ry <>

oS ¥ Ne 8 SE BS oe |

ltural south of

haps, but timely teachings, pre=

attack of the deadly bol weevil

ye I on!

another of

est year's work

re)

a constant

S

 
Carver VII-1Lé2

are eas:
srowing
} “ “
the boll wee

4.

s : 42 Feats 4 Pesta an) a ae moat ran:
is more to farms and farming than these: matters of the

ree
ae ¢ (%* LQ % f ory 4 cy
ha 1 n1 benance 5 DLants
y 1 hs | ey
Se: ae ew ha any spre ans - 8 by ae 4 ms a
LPOG Oe Ne SPOwtn anc 186 en a é f human bodies

to cover and et them. And such questions as th

along with those concerned with the broader-scaled farming

were included in the vy - of the agricultyral department at
especially in the monthly Farmers! Institutes,
Farmers! Institute which has been one of the
year since Booker T, Washiygton planned and inaugurated
In the Carver museum on the campus today there is aco
canned fruics and vegetables used in some of } demonstra-=
tion work at these Institutes early in the eentury still delectable
to look at, and significs S evidence of some of the earliest farm
and home demonstration work actually carried on in America,
Im these Institutes ofessor Carver found opportunity also to make
use of the ts Z and crochet patterns and designs he had shown
Mrs. Liston and other friends of his Kansas and Iowa days. Fa
wives found them interesting, especially as Professor Carver sed
these and other possibilities that might make a great difference in
she appearance of home interiors. Having actual samples and illustra-~
;ion s could show these women how attractive center pieces, table

like could be made from such humble materials

 
Carver VII - 13

as old tow bags, for instmce -- when a few touches of handwork were
added as border or embroidery. Nor were object lessons in clothing and
"fine feathers" omitted § Visitors in the museum on the campus today see
an exhibit of the actual feathers used--feathers from common farmyard
fowls, but dyed or curled or artistically arranged to be used for the
ment of fetching milla@mery; there is one whole hat made of featherse- a
Little brown turban. No wonder these Farmers! Institutes onsistently drew
an average monthly attendance of 75 4%

As follow-up work after the Institutes, and as further extension

y, Professor Carver now and then in his early years at Tuske ége
would put a few of his demonstration materials in a buggy on a Saturday

USv dhe,

afternoon and set off--a student with hin, ate -- to spend the week-=
end in some rural community, visiting people in their homes and speaking
on Sunday morning in one of their churches, where he could always be sure
of an interested audience , discussing with these people int he isolated

*

areaga the things they might do to improve their homes and--incidentally

themselves. Dr. Washington had done such visiting since he first came to
Alabama, and believed firmly in its power for good -- a belief and a prac-
tise which Carver actively shared.

’

Fo reach the wider circles ot farmers and agricultubists who
neither came to the campus stitut r could be reached by such week-=
end visiting, Garver began, even as early as 1898, to send out from the
Experiment Station bulletins and leaflets containing suggestions and ad»

~y

vice to farmers based on tests and experiments made at the Station or in
connection with the agricultural department's work. Obvious in the firs
pulletin was

advice of sound,practical nature, usef the most nk farm family

as well as to Agriculture in general. ‘The 40 Of the first bulletin,

+

 
Crisp

published i: 898, was "Feeding Acorns". arm @ however poor, had

access to the that fell from the
were good food for livestock, Hence,
the second, also published in 1898, was concerned with
Sweet Potatoes", a crop easily grown and valuable
livestock but for the farmer's family.

Since the appearance

4

swritten with

fuskeggee, finding their way to the remotest
various countries abroad. The one on "How
105 Ways of Preparing it ror Human Consump
st popular of all the series
revisionse Written in
have been

intent,
rot only
oT
well.
buLleti

i ee ees yy
Oy aloe $

ground, and acorns

on feeding acornse

tty Exp ar i

nov ony

- on ree
“rye ‘
y ‘it O ly 2

ad

~

 
jor. GO

COW

sideration

aut “

Aya G an

tn

voted to

finestructions for its

family around the dining

prepared in

s palette” --

4m the arco eof sat

OW pea, recipes

Bouillon"

and soups,on through fritt

"Dried Pea Roast (Very fine )

arin + nin Ti oD TT
WOLCn mar

py

such botannictal

Helioth

< te

be LOT)

(Boll Worm),

il | dee Le
OR eS

CUCe

"Insect Enemics Cow Pea, and

4

expressed h

3

the ope that

gach year in tt e valuable crope

Not all of the bulletins follow

not all of them are

+

ee ky Fagen oo
Line V aea

ra

s0il, the

derived from farm

ot.

at
une
then,

and forty

rangi

oC Ae
SOC GL On

reei pe
sfying kae"fast

ing Tron
i

following

idiom :
a) Tina.
GO

jnat do about

icin To planf more

of me

Ook, Varicus

and on throug¥d

paragraph

Lor

Carver VII

2

idious

(Root Knot
eaution conc

S YF

an 3
v) hem 3 A ana

and more

outeline,
that
at, how to bu
s products

or. on

ae
a en a |
these terms

a
a Or gS

~ 15

shere

1, OF
erning
then

acres

Mauve

wi Lc hi

io p

 
Crisp Garver VII - 16

little pamphlets, there will appear af Wes back-stage slimpse of
Professor Carver as he went about the work of eriment and testing
which preceded the writing and publication of the bulletin
ular one on the Peanut, for instance
"Below are given 105 ways of preparing the

witht he hope that every farmer will learn

larga quantities for his own consumption; and also with the
hop@ that the city folk will find the diet not only wholesane, satisfy-~
ing, healthful, and appetizing, but very economical, Fourteen recipes
were selected from this number, and a five-course lumcheon served to
ten food specialists; and each one without exception was enthusiastic

it, and said that it was the most satisfying luncheon he or she

isualise
even eaten.” 3ut little imagination is required to wksnkhian

tting down to their five-course Luncheon
of peanut hes prepared from Carver and exclakming upon the
delisiousness thereof } t must have been an interesting occasiome
ttle,unpretentious bulletins have been in constant demand
ng the more than forty years since the first two made their
public appearance, and it is t strange that
been. For while they are , of course,valuable as reports from esearch

Ta

and Exper nt ot ‘ation » and helpful as sources of tested,useful in-
formation and suggestions concerned with better and a
both rural and urban households, they are something more.
fact, direct personal messages from a hvmanitarian-minded

y acquainted with the habits and resources of Nature on the one
hand, and with the daily needs of men, on the other. Intimations appear

Fg}

now and then of the fact that Professor Carver himself felt im the

prepartion of these bulletins a f personal authorship beyond the
f

 
Crisp , Carver VII <17

mere duty of professional reports and suggestions -- in his dedication
found in a bulletin on the Tomato, for instance, a dedication which

reads ;:
"To my esteemed friend and co-worker, Mrs.
Adella Hunt Logan, who was tireless in her efforts
to help the farmer and his family; and who saw in

the tomato a panacea for many of his ilis; and who

contributed more data of real value along this line
than any one elgse with whom I have come in contact,
I affectionately dedicate this bulletin."

hese were no idle words, for Mrs. Logan was one of Professor

most cherished friends inthe bitute community. As the

Who. Vy (Oso ; st
wife of Mr. Warren Logan, \for many years surer ef the School and

often its acting Brincipal in\the absences of washington, she was among
group of earnest devoted members of the faculty and staff who la-»

bored tirelessly with Booker T., Washington to bring his dreams for the

school into reality. Mrs. Logan ,Professor Carver found a friend of

2 s

kindred artistic discernment and appreciation, a woman to whom he could

bring his paintings for sincere and sensitive appreciation and criti-

th

cism.
"Sometimes she wovld make no spoken comment at ali", he has said,

"when I showed her a painting I had just completed. She would just stand
and look at it tor a long time,and say nothing. And then I woul
that there were tears in her eyes. She didn't need to

Such a friendship meant much to George Carver, for,whi
friendly with many people, his circle of actua intimate frier
closely drawn and small. In the midst of this small and

whee Baw

he was freely himself--gay, entertaining, and witty; or
and thoughtful, sharing his deepest conclusions, according
occasion. But in crowds or among s

with-drawn,seldom of his own accord aggressively

ie

oc *

ing out to make friends or new acquaintances~=-personal

 
1ip

npanions|

iy
5s

% Ct « es
hy os Ua
J
ee
fh.

~

2
See

Garver
have ever
ircle, or tonve
‘s
mitants,
ivities, ¢

in

books
acti

nd

es

1a}
VOU

small e

ot Ot
J

@O
ep
m
rab)

rt
a

\

7
if

/

7
Vv
wv
a

DY
h
oc
Js 3
1s is

2
in
2iJ
F
=
a
pa, |

La

rer
ig
ast
nal
and

yx
-aATrA
Th oo
a
>

ae

4.
U
ot
had
4.

Weel

*
KG |
whee

"He Learned

la
d3-— W

ek

p ers

oY
kn ov

a dp 8

Len
e
Hi

é

3
&
a

AW
“"
ne)
aka
¢
K
Tal

fes
cd

ose ff
unUus?

4

woman,OOViLOUsS.

"Although Pro

oung

ones,

Vv

 
Garver Vill =~ 19

oh

yn then

together, etc.'", he has said to close friends now and

Ss

/
he continues, atter a briefipa use, “what God doesn't join had better be
'

*

Lert wnioined,” And he has never marricede

In the midst of his busy life at Tuskeegee, he found time

in touch with his lowa friends by occasional correspondence.
Milhollands, on October 2, 1901, he wrote:

"Your esteemed favor of July 23rd reached me a few days ago

ang T.was imdee@a gled to hear from you «+... 1 think of you often
and shall never forget what you were in my life, how much help and
real inspiration you gave me. You, of course, will never know how
much you did for a poor colored boy who was drifting here and there
as a ship without a rudder. You helped me to start aright, and wha
the Lord in his kindness and wisdomkax cigs me to accomplish i
due in very great measure to your real genuine Christian spirits.
How I wish the world was full of such people; what a different world
it would be.

Should I ever come so near you again, rest assured I am coming
to see you, and I plan tofcome to lowa during some of ay vacationse
Our school opens on the 10th of this month. We have already admitted
ever a thousand students. I am glad for your words of cheer and
good-will. these from those we love always make life much easier.

Must close now as I have avout 20 other letters to answer aside
from my other duties. May God emtinuse to bless and help you.e..Love
TO @ld. ceee

Yours very grater vlig,
Geo. W. barver

In 1903, when Rockefeller Hall was erected, a residence hall for

*

id

men 1 ch was the gift of John D. Rockefeller, Professor Carver moved
" Cay~ “DAA. ' .

to an apartment on the first floor there, with living room, bedroom,

 

 

md kitchenette--continuing to get his meals in fe School dining
hall, the meals, that is, that he did not prepare itor himself
wn menus and recipes Soon wkex after his removal to Rockefeller Hall,
landscape panels in oil appesred on the walls of the corridor leading
apartment; books lined pol ns * the wa fF his living rooms
stood on

boyhood among them; paint»

 
Crisp Garver VII - 20

ings and pieces of handiwork hung on the walls; his mother's spinning

wheel stood by the fireplace; plants bloomed in the windows. They were

the rooms of an artist, a scientist, a teacher--roans that were

©

atytreasure of memories as the long process

&

§
Ce
O
ct
23
ta
a)
I

A
<q
@
ea]
bey)
g 3

erea

05

the years went bye
Students were free to come to him here, or in his office, or kny=

e, for that matter. "Perhaps one of the fimst things about his

life at Tuskeegee is the constant access the students have for personal

ay ae <7 5 ~ 5 + n i fit * - ey c Sa Ite nT a 1,
contact with him wrote, When advice is sought by the hum-

blest student there is no red tape to encoumter in entering his offi
no hesitancy in appreaching him on the street, once

rou have met him,

Pe ° 1 a ik ae a ‘ aE ean ee ce he en a) cee me ee Naa as x es 2
One of his characteristic pastimes is teaching the stucients how to train

Rh ae SURAT Et eth “ 4 a, a es pre Fe eG AN ps on oe Ena nm sis lon a a as I
the wrinkles in their foreheads; 'tAlways lengthwise,never up and downt",
v7. en pee Paco ae HEIN a aha a pany Ae ee
Upon occasion he could be as gay as the of them, and knowing

 

 

depend on this, his students concocted many pranks to
play on him. A group of them one day, for instance, took the body of one

a) es ry 2 i ue} * «1 ra wo
bug,the legs of another, the wings

 

and,pasting them carefully together on a bit of cardboard, evolved a

a ts yp Ltt tee on matt of lz os 1 ” if
ver TT en iy an co 310 O} ing 6) ley u OOK wu O UNS ne ag WF c lass POoCi-

 

PB ge iar oe MBER BOG Ls PAA ON od He me eel = he ai “e Ee SSH: YEU Ure
bation »« Just berore the most DLOUS=8 Pppearing stvuacent

$40

ees ae i a TR Pine is ant Te ps catego a
tA Be SPOuUD Cams UD Dearing

fi

ULL »@

 

a 4 aires, mx Ly TF -- £ “ is ee
concern, as! ed the Professor tt

 

 

 

iv :
Weey) 10% ryaQ » | 7 (3 pee wh ‘ey : 7 a Cy weer is gaan al  } wie lee) dh ie
| wi ae dL O AAS = Ts a ge a Ur 1IDUS « @®eese & ne Orit mi Pits WL 0). ) eat Lav i) &
3 ari & de is al of Oe. e t t }
a Ca 7 ] a 9 Sie F } “ a8 * mn i. ow £) y + ‘ ua r
sG ct me FN f C i oe pa oF L An BLD 4 bas | I OL wo WY Lo IMO “oe eS Ne) ue bt : .
‘Ty 1. 2 } ! be)
Manan re en tr 2 sa ry s at tee poy pod ae dary Ad er
LLG DS & CAN ) ro { i 2 3 7 2 LOS OLE aU et. U ; Ui Gn BO T* LaTl=
har uv

 
tra-

V1} oF
ae a

nO}

Sa
er

V

Iv WA

whew

°
\ ied Was bes

*

ea

bo
=

c

I

-

OU 6
o

VoCA

JO of mm
ns
observ:

at O}

ly

Aa

DPT AEN.
gis} ul

oy Qa

a

(

G W 1 @

kn

 
there were many to whom he remained an enigma, a very peculiar porson
with a range ,hign=j hed voice, an oddity and a curiosi ty=--even as
had

Any TOCmM OL: GLEE 3, 4 7 decei ) 16 teNv’ aT Nor a mad airs

ev

was likely to draw from hin stinging rebuke delivered in no uncertain
terms. So Ww 16 8 with laziness an ae slivshod habits of work--facts
S srk As h j
coming to him
or from feeling comfortable in h pr vsence Nor was he always
with
ent xmumarc mediocrity .« But any sincere neca, y honest effort,

receive his careful attention, his

And any evidence of creative artistic

or inventive turn of mind found: in him

*

and a generous nurturing. ; Piving evidence

spark f such trend mind ovr effort were ime di

da

1, 8 lac
Var bie

compassi und understan

a rule-<h patien but to the slipsha
A bie vn ee Sie i BP age a
Ls not amazing, tner record

hibit g@ wide variance that there should be

Yo

fully today the many it Hours spent in

with him; many

i

Li a pena ey Nip, MEOH \ ia ae
's yet many, on the other hand, who

more
comments which have their counterparts in the
ending far out beyond the

Vac Oe we isi pus

Wy CAL

by the daily demands

a 7 7 du an) n ‘| AEN, AWE 4 é. pe da and j
tasks, he yet founa time, at npson and Ames, to

various

4n the extra-curricular “airs which figure so largely in the total

 
Garver VII = 22

content of life on any school campus. In coneral  xeamnz,

his days gradually assumed during these earliest years at Tuskeegee was

to gharacterise his habitual daily regime for many years to come. One
, a 2] z

ba?

practise in particular was of such paramount importance to him, and

so essential a part of his day that nothing was allowed to interfere

unless yond his control arose to ne-

rey *

some change. ihis was his | f rising at dawn to spend the

early hours of the day in quiet, thoughtful, prayerful communion with

doe

the Great Creator out among the lovely, interesting extraordins ary things

Can]

of Hi gq on-going res ewhere out of doorse
Herewin the quiet of the woods and fields, the still, small voices

of the trees, rocks, red clay earth, leaves,and fiowers; the wly-dawakened
the a

i (/
birds, shy little woods animals,” multi

tudes of minute forms of life -«

voices rarely heard at all by the rank and file of their human kin -- were

distinctly audible in the dawn to Ge 0 MY Carver, speaking to him of
their Hather and invisible Creator, God. "A Nature mystic" some have

Ae

called him, seeking to explain Professor Carver's unusual

val discernment and power. He him would arcely think of his reli-

as being in anyway "mystic" intimately and naturally is it a
vart of his entire daily experience. Foundational in every area of his
life for years has been the simple but profound basic assumption that
back of all visible creation there is a loving invisib
constantly working it His infinite and benevolent purpo
thr ough human minds and hands. Religion with hin,
S17 v Ke | Son
ray but compulsive habit of trying to understa what the Great Creator
wents done, then doing it with all the knowledge,intelligence, understand-

ing , and skill one may possibly command. But the human partners in

eternal entervrise must keev in close touch with the Creator if they
d By

 
Grisv Carver VII-e- 23

»

to understand His pw poses and be the means by which they are fulfilled

in the world.

There are many ways in which men may come to know the Creator's pur-=

poses for them, may come to have a sense of working in partnership with
ae ’ 5 2 i" .
iS
PY
—
leading most directly into a stimulating and sustaining certainty of the

 

4

ofessor Carver has often gm. But as for himself, the pathway

presence of God is habitual daily contemplation, investigation, and study

»

of His visible creations in the fascinating world of Nature. "you will
on : ‘ ae ce 4 i
come to kmow more and more about God", he has said again and again, ‘as

+hus

©
-
eg

you study and learn to wmderstand the things that He has mad
4t was that when Tuskeegee residents saw Professor Carver returning from
his morning walks, his hands filled with twigs, his botany can under

1en a scientist and teacher with spec»

cr
ree
q

SG
m~
10)
=a
pf
S
wy
tes
=

S
ba a
ee.
F ay Y
Cc)
ke 4

p}
¢

his arn,
smens for laboratory and class-room experiment and study. ‘they saw also
aman equipped for the day with a sustaining assurance that the Great

ie “ sae i ST SA PO i A i PU OSU Si Se Maas ee pa i eas
Creator, his invisible Partner would work through him that day-to carry

 

 

oe on Nay +. " ee, Si "i _ v W ae eee a Ca gee eo
which w through all the ages runs’. LU Was : powerful equipment
i 4 eee ® L. aN aes ae Oma Lae Srp ala Wee Seg man Age
for a teacher and scientist to bring back to a class-room and laborator

CaO, ae Bt ea a \ baer ae A a a ny + is eek
or anywhere else, for that matter -- as vhe years were abund lantly to

a ee cn te NAP Pah, Gh "one : Aa, te L 4 lar ChECN De r ne et meen + ae
On through the day's schedule, then, he would go, wherever his
ne ea, eg a fos a oe ve .
rork might c class office, greenhouse,

   

eae Wp His eg ee i i aie | on a aan 4 - A win she aa am - 4 te
fields; or to chapel exercises, committee meetings, enter sainments=now

Nes Ce, See ei a - mm ows kth WG mart qn Ba op LA ft a Saw Att tue Waa } nn
ana bnen to an h OUP Wilk Was DALNtINS se 4at uel ae a A L G Was Nis cus v om

ee

he pe 3 ee sehen OO
¥? ve 1, Aa arr ye 4 ay 4 TYE 4 h rae AVI AUTO Ta 4 } Wo T onl cl War | ¢ Cc "| Oa Fn an YO ”
Phew Ala ne YL t 8 2 mS A { > ) CALLA ‘@ rj 11 iy hs FO OD, <4 4 {
~ - bs a od “, ir 4 2 K ui dn’
ac Na a 118s lm) 9 2 é Yep oO TiLse a aun fala wees oA g ile

Silat i il i
 

. , C ae it i ee * v NG a 1 , 1.
Qn 1906 there cane another of the ‘great occasions’ at ituskeesgee-—-this

q a ii he Da PR. Tea re cae] iat pair’ Moye Sire Mar aon het tee AEDES Ey St ’ Re ea en ate tit i
time the celebration of the Institute's twenty-fifth Anniversary. Many
: oy ’ Ae on te Wir Risley oR Cage di ey el a I dl
10table figures in Americar ife were present to take part in the cele-=

—
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Secretary of War Taft, and other distinctive men of that genera

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present as speskers or guestse There was abundant cause

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a i 15 eh a i a - a 4 a Ae Se AS ee a oy
of land near the campus; and an endowment of $ 1,225,664 in addition tof
: OO ce + Spon é el i tee es BG er a an it ess Oe a, ~
the’ 22,500 acres of saleable land granted by the United States Congresses
< ~ ct “ pm reg a a igo in 8 “a By, may Va £* bia tone DA c ris oa sca catas aad y ir, oe 2
Professor Carver, reporting on the work of the Research and Experi-

 

 

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ZBx and v peanut He had ad pulletins and 16 leaflets; had
distributed seed samples to farmers and to school gardens; held monthly

Farmers! Institutes on the campus with an average attendance of 75. On

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20 trips through the county he had spoken to 1,000 people. There had been
annual Farm Fairs, newspaper articles written and published in county
national papers; bulletins sent to 10 foreign st offices; 115 samples

of soil analysed for farmers and written instructions given as to quantity
and kinds of fertilisers needed. As to work outside Alabama, "the Direct-

ft Reg fo SES a a OL it Oo: : i lay Hy i a a ai SEER
OP’, 16 said, mas Ghis year hed 7 calls from Georgia, 1 fron Tennesse

bs er. a RR ee i pe ek oa a a pa ee oe ~" hatwannm Fat HOA wy * se s
end’ a from Floridea.® Ang agricultural wagon was being fitted up in which

 
  

. Yrisp | Carver VII -26

“lecturers, demonstrations,and exhibits would be carried around",

"Our two most urgent needs", he wrote, in concluding his report, “are
first, a small barn where,tools could be kept; grain, grasses, forage,
and gp cotton stored. Now ou tools are of necessity kept in a dark
wet basement where they constantly rust,where we cannot dry anything, and
where the too dark to weigh with much accuracy. the other thing we
need ths a wire fence around the field so the crop could be seen to mubh
better advantage alons the road. Such a fence in the end would be much
cheaper than the cumbersane boards which now surround it and are nearly
always out of repair."

Modest requests, indeed, to follow such a report -- a small barn and
a wire fence | But they were charactéristic of the man who made theme=~
a man whose sense of thrift and economy was out-raged to see good tools
going to rust and ruin for the simple lack of a dry shelter to house
thems; a scientist whose habitual accuracy demanded a work-room Ligne
enough to make possible accurate weights and measurements; and an artist
whose love of beauty and ordér was constantly offended by the sight of
a tumbledown board fence surrounding the lovely fields whose growing
crops and autumn harvests should be visible to passersby...characterise
tic requests, coming from Professor Carvere

And so it was that, with the celebration of the twenty-fifth anni-~
versary of the school, his first ten years at Tuskeegee Institute came
to a close -~ ten years which were to be but as a brief Dre lud 6  .<aiaeaireliag

¢
; , : “TNGY are,
a brief intimation of the major themes in the eeeegee symphony of life

and work his coming years would composee

 
Carver=- VIII

Vari
DISCOVERTES
( 1906. =. LOl6 )

Three years after the celebration of TPuskeegee's Twenty-fifth
Anniversary, the agricultural department and the Researcha nd Experiment
S$tatio had completely out-grown their quarters in the Slater-Armstrong
building, and 1909 saw a new Agricultural building erected on the campus-+-=
Milbenk Hall, the gift of George Eastman. On the second floor of this
four-story building there were rooms set apart for Professor Varver, a
confortable,roomy office, and a spacious,well-equipped laboratory which

came in time to be affedtionatly referred to all actess America as

"God's Little Work-shop" - a title well justified by the astonishing

it.

hands of Professor George R. Bridgeforth, with 18 assistants, in order that
Carver might be free to give his time more fully mundt femekx to the Re-
search and Experiment work, the increasing requests for research, lectures,
and demonstrations that were coming in fpom an ever-widening area, Lhe
school farm now included 2,400 acres, with 1,000 under cultivation. The
enrolment of the Institute had reached 1,702-- a student body representing
38 states and 15 foreign couwmtries. The wagon which Carver had men-
tioned in his Anniversary report as being fitted up for carrying "lec-
turers, demonstrations, and exhibits around” had been out on the roads

and around in the various communities within reach of the Institute for
several years, the Tuskeegee "Movable School of Agriculture", Determined

to do everything possible to extondg the school's benefits to those m-

 
Crisp Garver-VIII-~ 2
at
able or unwilling to come to its campus, Dr. pn ly OP the idea
of haying a "school on wheels", equipped with practical demonstration ma-
terials and traveling teachers, to go about among the people and teach
them in their homes and communities, as he and professor Carver had done
vicinity.
SG tered -wemleesRG for years on their week-end trips throughout the mmmmmux
mkxy With plans for such a wagon drawn by Professor Varver, Washingipn
was able to intorest a friend, Morris K. Jesup, of New York, in providing
the money to purfhase and equip such a vehicle. So it was that the "Tus-
xefl Student" in November, 1906, reported that "The Jesup Agricultural Wa-
gon, the first ‘Movable School!, started from the grounds of the Tusk ep~
gee Institute on its mission of usefulness May 24, 1906, under the guidance
of Professor George R,. Bridgeforth of the agricultural department. After
the wagon had been operated three months under Mr. Bridgeforth, and the

success of this type of work seemed assured, the idea was presented by Dre

Washington to the Federal Goverment and accepted." Thomas M. Campbell,

a Tuske ¢gee graduate and one of Professor Carver's out-<stahding students,

was placed in charge of the Movable School , with the title of “Agricul-
tural collaborator for the U.S.Department of Agriculture". Thus the
Jesup wagon, designed by George Carver, “pbacame the vehicle of the first
Negro agent in Federal employ,andy went forth from Tusk ep gee on a regular
schedule to the surrounding communities ...... and Tuskeégee Institute
again, through its Founder, its scientist, and its friendly philanthropist,
had made a significant contribution to American education. the Movable
School continues today--in its new motorized "“vehigle" --to be a valuable
means of exten$iong education, and Mr. Campbell one of the most widely
useful members of the entire Tuskedgee staff.

A pleasant interlude for Carver came in the summer of 1908 when fhe

went back to his childhood home at Diamond Grove for a brief visit with

 
Grisp Carver=-VIII- 2

Moses Carver, who was now a man well along in years. Mrs. Carver had
already passed one During this visit he had the distinct pleasure of
presenting his former master with a new shit of clothes -- a suit in
which Mr. Carver was buried when death came to him not long afterward.
Writing to Dr. Milholland fron Tuskedgee later, Professor Carver men-
tioned this visit, saying "rt was to my old home in Missouri last summer,
and a white lady was laughing and telling me how I used to doctor her
sick plants for here I have much of that s ame reputation here edu

He was "“doctoring sick plants" on a much wider scale now, however,
as a bulB&éivn from the Experiment Station in 1906 indicates-- a bul-
letin entitled "The San Jose Scale in Alabama". He had been "doctoring
sick Agriculture” for more than a decade, for that matter, diagnosing
and prescribing for its basic ills of depleted soils, low yields, u-
scientific methods of planning and @ultivation. In these basic condi-
tions there was beginning to appear here and there some sign of improve-~
ment; some active putting into practise of the sound scientific theo-
ries of soil improvement and conservatiom, crop diversification, home
gardens, and home-grown meat and dairy products consistently taught by

Carver from his arrival in the south. Moreover, the appearance of the

the point of his insistent teaching,"Plant something else bedbded cot-
ton”. But now another basi? ill appeared -- one which demanded scien-
tific diagnosis and prescription far on beyond anything concerned mere-~
ly withthe production of crops and harvests, no matter how diversified
or how abundant they might be. The question now was not so much how to
grow plentiful crops of sweet potatoes, for instance, or of peanuts or

of anything else, but what to do with them when they were grown.Science,
Crisp Carver-VIII-@ 4

Professor Carver now saw, must not only help Agriculture to do better
farming; it must also discover for Agriculture how to make farming paye
Of what value atiundant harvests of sweet potatoes or peanuts gifiiie

if there was to be no market for then ? A farmer must of new

 

cessity raise a "money crop" of some kind. How, then, to make “money
crops" out of farm produce never before consideved in eny such light 7? It
was a problem whose solution involved the mmeaxx hopes and despairs, the
comfort or the poverty, the eventual fulness or emptiness of life for
countless Americans, black and white, living in the potentially rich,
but agriculturally and industrially undeveloped areas comprising the
rural south. Of this George Carver was aware. Here was a problem re-
quiring of Science something more than analytical and remedial/r esearch;
there must be creative research as well. And who shovld be better equipped
for creative scientific research than a scientist who was also-- at
no@, indeed, primarily -- an artist, with an artist's gifts and skills
and habits of creative activity ? It was a problem plainly and peculiar-
Onsare Such ee
ly his ow, and George Carver Mimw it. He must find an answer to this

question of such vital import for the South he deeply loved,

mens of farm

te

Into his laboratory, then, he went with working spec
products -- peanuts, sweet potatoes, cotton, etc. ~~ and “the anvlication
of creative research to farming (which) marked the beginning /of anew era
for the south and for the evolution of agricultural policies" had beruns.
Professor Carver was not alone there in his laboratory in Milbank Halle.
of this he was continually aware, Working with him-- using his Mind, his
hands, his understanding, his resources of acquired information and skille-
was the Great Creator, God. ‘the work he was to do was the Great Creator's

s

work; the answer must be His answer. Intimately personal and vitally real
Carver VIII -

to Carver in these hours of work in his laboratory were the ancient
words “.the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the work..." and an
ordinary looking laboratory in an agricultural building had indeed be-
come “God's own work-shop."

Fo a mind skilled in scientific research as Carver's mind was skilled,
and equivped as his was equipped whth a broad and intimate knowledge and
understanding of plant life and Nature lore, the initial steps in the
search for an authentic answer to this problem were immediately clear.
Here, for instance, was a peanut, easily grown in southern Soil but one
of the lowliest of all farm products. “hat hope did a peanut hold for
a southern farmer, beyond its already somewhat accepted values as a soil
builder and a food for livestock ? The answer to this question of course
involved, first of all, an accurate knowledge of the actual make-up of a

peanut-- of what, actually, was it canposed ? “Pulling a peanut avart”

in his laboratory, Carver the chemist soon knew exactly what was in a

peanut, what amounts of protein, starch, sugar, oil, fat, gum, pentose,
Oni-nd

pentosan, arachin, corarachin, cimdé-acids, etc., etc. And now he was

ready for the next question : What could be made from these contents of

a peanut, in new combinations or combined with other compatible elements,

that would be marketable products, meeting some need of human existence~-

commercially valuable prog@ucts ?

Here the actual “creative research" began to function. Food-- that
was one of the fundamental needs of human life; what food products could
be made from the lowly peanut ? And presently the answer began to appear
in the Carver laboratory--to appear in the visible, tangible, edible
forms of such things as powdered milk, butter, cheese, candies, coffee,

pickles, sauces, breakfastg foods, flour--the list goes ong and on. And

what other commodities, of potential commercial value, might a peanut

 
Carver - VIII -

be induced to vroduce ? Again the definite answers came : wood stains,
ink, insulating boards, paper, plastics, creams, massage oils, dves,
blemish removers,-- the penut list has lengthened through the years to
a total of more than 300, with the possibilities still far from exhaust-
ede

Turning from the peanut to the sweet potato, Professor Carver drew
forth such interesting replies as flour, breakfast food, syrup, tapioca,
starch, fuel alcohol, stains, stock food , Blue, etc., etc. And from
cotton, such additional answers as paper, rugs, cordage, insulating
boards, and asphalt road paving blocks. Not onntent to limit his
search merely to plants, Carver turned the spot-light of his imagina-
tiona-the revealing operations of his chemistry, upon the natural re-
sources of southern farm lands -- the clay in the hills, for one thing,
in all its lovely varieties of shades ranging from pale yellow on
through orange, grey, saffron, rose, to a deep rich mellow red. What
eould come of such clay ? Color, of course | And so it did come,
under his manipulatims --paints and pigments, dyes and stains, then
materials for plastics and pottery, and even washing powders and shoe
polishe Yet another area of resource material for authentic answers
to his query Professor Carver found in the waste materials of farming
and industry,and from theeé began to come such suggestions as a synthetic
marble fram wood shavings -- there are benches made of it on the Insti-
tute campus today! And insulating boards from peanut shells; valuable
fertilisers from swamp muck; house paints from waste crank case oil.

So the incredible list goes on, assuming more and more significance

5 | a | 2 * 2 a e
through theyyears as a definite and dependable answer to the initial

problem which Carver, the creative research chemist, took into his

laboratory at Tuskefgee Institute thirty-odd years ago.

 
 

Crisnv Carver-VIII - 7

As the days went along, and more and more of these actual evidences
of commercially valuable possibilities made their appearance in his lab-
oratory, Professor Carver began to feel an assurance that in such pro=

k
ducts would eventually lie a dound and worable solution to the problem

 

of how to make farming pave
When the accumulation of evidence
reached thefpoint of offering to his owm mind valid and sufficient proof
of the truth of his xueuxtes theory that products fron farm crops, natural
resources, by-products, and wastes could be made to undergird,support,

and sustain a sound agricultural economy, he began to speak now and then
of his “discoveries” to groups or to individuals with whom he talked,

offering the actual samples in support of his spoken statements. Such

Jaiscovery and such proof, he was sure, was no "light to be kept under

a bushel"; it must in time be"placed upon a candlestick" that it might
give light unto mene

Dr. Washington was by no means unaware of these and other distinct-
ive contributions Professor Carver was making to the Institute and to ™m
ever-widening area beyond the bounds of the campus, and gave to him con-
stant support and encouragement. Commenting on the man himself and on
his work, he declared "One of the most gifted men of the Negro race
whom I have ever happened to meet is George W. Carver eee. As a result
of his work in breeding cotton and of the bulletins he has prepared on
experiments in building up worn-out soils, he has become widely known
to both colored and white farars throughout the south. When some years
ago the State Secretary of Agriculture called a meeting at Montgomery
of the leading teachers of the State, Professor Carver was the only

colored man invited to that meeting. He was at that time invited to

deliver an address to the convention and for an hour he was questioned
Griso
Garver- VIII - 8

Experiment
on the interesting work he was doing at oe eecuae occu” Tou

years ago when the colonial secretary of the German Empire, accompanied
h
by one of st cotton experts of his departments, traveled through
the south in a private car, he paid a visit to Tuskepgee largely to
study, in connection with the other work of the school, the cotton-
erowing experiments that Professor Carver has been carrying on for
some yearse In his book, 'The Negro in the New World!, Sir Harry
Johnston says 'Professor Carver, who teaches Scientific Agriculture,
Botany, Agricultural Chemistry, etc. at Tuskepgee , is, as regards com-
plexion and features, an absolute Negro: but in the cut of his clothes,
the accent of his speech, the souriness of his Science, he might be
professor of Botany not at Tuskeegee, but at Oxford and Cambridge"
Having known such support and encouragement from his friend,
Washington, through all his early years at Tuskeégee, Professor Carver,
and student body
with other mambers of the school faculty and in common with hundreds
of people throughout America, heard with sense of overwhelming loss
the shocking news of the death of Booker T. Washington. Stricken ill
in New York City, and taken to a hospital there, Washington insisted
that he must be brought home -- a plea to whitch his physicians, against

their professional judgment, finally gave consent. Knowing his grave

condition, they doubted that he could reach home alive. But reach

« \ ® 5 :
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Wk> FL SF

home he did, and there on the campus of the school to which he had
literally given his life, Booker 1. Washington's great spirit took
tived
Leave of his wm body, on November 14, 1915.
“toe South as well as the nation mourns the loss of a great man”

the governor of Alabama wired Mrs. Washington. "He had won the con-

fidence of our people, and no man since the Civil War did more to
, crisp | Carver-VIII- 9

create harmoious relations between the races", In the local paper

this tribute appeared:"Locally almost to a man our own Tuskepgee and
Macon county citizens are realizing as never before how wonderfully this
man wrought for himself a place inthe confidence and esteem of this
community and country. Ina thousand ways his influence for helpfulness

has been felt and everybody mourns his going away...."

In Tuskepgee,
all stores were closed at the hour of the funeral: in Boston all flags
on municipal buildings flew at half-mast.... A great man had passed one

Acting as promptly as possible, a committee appointed by the
Trustees with Exepresident Low, of Columbia University, as chairman,
took up the work of finding a man to be Tuskeggee's second Principal.
To Hampton again Tuskebgee turned, this time to bring to #lLabama Booker

Robwt Kijssa
T. Washington's able successor, Major /™Moton, a close friend of the
the Institute's Founder, and, like him, a member of the staff at Hamp-
ton Institute. In his inaugural address Major Moton gave reassurance
to any who may have needed it that the canmittee's choice had been
wisely made-- a reassurance which the coming years were increasingly
to 7vitil,

"In order", he said, “that this institution shall continue to carry
forward the ideas and ideals of its great Founder: in order thatwe
shall not cease to render large service to mankinix humankind: in orddr

this
that we shall keep the respect and confidence of the people of kim land,
we must, first, every one of us--Principal, teachers, graduates, and
students, use every opportunity and strive in every reasonable way to
develop and strengthen between white and black people, North and South,

that unselfish cooperation which has characterized the luskeegee Insti-

tute from its very begining Second, we must patiently and persistently

 
Carver-VIII-10

 

and in the soirit of anselfish devotion follow the methods of education
which, in this school, have been so distinctive, so unique, and so
helpful. Third, we must consecrate and reconsecrase our lives to this
work as instruments in God's hands for the training of black men and
women forservice, in whatever capacity, or in whatever locality they

may find a human need. Fourth, there must be no cantankerousness here=-=
we must all work absolutely togethereses” Words which must have stirred
a warm response in the bereaved and saddened heart of George W. Sarver,
who head lost not only an understanding Principal, but a close and

dearly loved friend.

“Ror some time after Dr. “ashingtm's death’, one of Carver's stu-
dents has said, "it seemed that Professor Carver made a special effort
to svend more time with students than he had during the past few yearse
He seemed to know how lost we all felt, and was obviously trying to do
all that he could to help fill the big gap left for us all when Dr.
Washington died."

The time was near at hand, however, when the world outside the
Institute was torecognise something of the extraordinary contributions
whtth George Carver had to make not alone to his own people, his ow
school, but to the world at large, ed to demand of him more and more
time and thought for matters far beyond the bounds of Tuskepgee In-
stitute. A little more than a year after Washington's death, Pro-

fessor Carver found in his mail one day a letter from England which

reads:
Royal Society for the Encouragement
of
Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce
London

Founded 1754 Inc. 1847

29 November, 1916

 
Carver-VIII-11

OLY,

I have the honor to inform you that you were this day elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts,
Manufactures, and Vommerces.s.e...

I am, Sir,
¥r. very obt. servant,
H.eJeWood, Sec.
Society!s House
Adelphi
Lond on

The announcement came as a canplete surprise to Professor Carver.
He has never knowm how the appointment came to be made, nor who itg
was who proposed his name for membership in this distinguished So-
ciety. It is probable that it was some British visitor to the Insti-
tute who saw and appreciated the value of the work that this shy,un-
assuming scientist was doing. However it happened, he remains today
one of the few Americans to whom the honor of election into this dis-
tinctive fellowship has come. It was inevitable that so signal an honor
should attract wide attention to the person apon whom it was conferred--
and the time was at hand whent he light which George W. Carver had
sought, and found-- in the woods and fields at dawn:among the test
tubes and microsgopes in his laboratory; and in the great silent
spaces of his own creative spirit ~- was to be placed upon its candle-~

stick, there to burn as a "light unto men",

 
 
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A
so much for your jletter eee It seems to me that you have the correct and

only solution to the great humanitarian problem. We are all here together,

but few, if any, were consulted before coming here. No large number can

get away, and I am positive that the grace of God in the hearts of the

WarlouUs social eroups will Dit us ao

cr

hat we can live together in perfect
hermony., iI fully believe that "divine Love”® is goings to dominate the
world. I saw it more clearly than ever before in visiting through §$.¢C,.
T lietrally fell in love with those fine young men, so full of possibile

ities, and so full of the love of Jesus Christ. I suffered terribly with

my throat all the way, and at every point I could see really that they

sympathised and wishkad they could do something to help me.... I certainly

thank vou for your kindness and shall endeavor to do as much of your work

BS poseible, and do hope the ecod Lord will emabie me.to do it..c. 3

+ 2

i) i * Bs jp RGR donc pe , 4
The trovble with his throat referred to

)

here preceded a severe ill~-
ness which turned out to be not an ummixed evil, for it brought on an av-~
alanche of evidence as to the place he was beginning to hold in the af-

fection and esteem of many Americans. To a student friend in January he

wrote "Since my illness, HB am more convinced than ever that divine love

dn

will one day conquer the world. 0, the letters, telesrams, whole churches

Fi do? 2 * “4 / Ae g * *
over <,000 miles away praying for my recovery. My, how little it makes

Lz4
\

Crisp Carver=- TX - 13

me feele These came from all classes and nabionalities. T ce net so good,
no better than others except they pull me up to it. What a responsibility ad
phone WU GM NOt yet oii by any means, but very much better. My doctor

says I shall have to give up all public speaking for at least two months
moree My nex ip¥ then I presume will be to Los Angeles, Gal., then

to Tndianapolis, Ind. then T am booked for New York City next Fall. Lhe

2

me to give them four or five weeks in

2

wa

So. Divigion of the Y M A want
the white schools, they sav the students are asking for ae but of course
I cannot do it now."

Later in the year, however, Professor Carver did make a lecture tour
in southern colleges, speaking to approximately 3,500 students, under the
sponsorship of the Southern Interracial Commission. ‘his Commission had
grown out of conferences in France soon after the Armistice, when Major
Moton, Thomas Jesse Jones, and other concerned Americans discussed the
idea and tentative plans which led to definite organization in early 1919.
With headquarters in Atlanta, and supported and directed by men of both
races of such strength and influence as Major Moton and Dr. Will Alexan-
der, this Commission Mis vlayed a major part inthe progress made toward
interracial understanding and good-will in the South during the difficult
after-war decades of the twenties and thirties, whichs aw the pseudo
revival of the Ku Klux Klan, the increased tension bat ‘ween|the races re-=

sulting from widespread unemployment. Importut among the early projects

or tht

oP)

Commission was the decision in 1924 to sponsor Varver lectures
on college campuses. To Professor Carver these lectures were gratifying
experiences, despite the fact that he labored part of the time under the
handicap of a bronchial trovble that made public speaking painful; and

in spite of the difficulties and discomforts to which he was constantly
Crisp
Garver = 1x = 14

submitted in the matters of travel, meals, and lodging--due to the prev-
alent Jim Crow laws and the lack of decent hotel acwmodations available
for a member of his race.

For the 3,500 students who heard’ him, as for their teachers and
townsmen, these Carver lectures were like nothing heard or seen before
on land or on the seal Gathered in their chapel or class-room eroups,
they saw an elderly, broad =shouldered Nogro man seated in a relamed sort ¢)

oto er :
slump in his chair -- a box or,case, or several of them, on the table or
domm on the floor beside it. (Invariably these exhibit cases were there,
for seldom could he be persuaded to lecture wihhout some such tangible
and visible illustrations arownd which to senter his remarks. "

uch to say along the lines of theories or the pure abstract"

The introduction done, this quiet-booking man arose-- a tall, strone-
looking fellow who was apt to stride vigorously back and forth across the
stage during the early portion of his talk, a habvit which was emohasized

R

on those occasions when his shoes happened to squeak, as they sometimes

Gada i Nowy were his first words likely to add anything to the gravity
of the moment. "ZI like to hear myself introduced", the startling higt
pitched voices was xxkmiy apt to begin. "Tr learn so much about myself I

never knew before. I have gathered considerable inspiration, aspiration,

Roe

and a fsw moretations Wom this in

troduction.... Now, we shall try to
hit a few high places here and there, mostly thereeese” An almost inva-

riable wave of laughter greeted these observations, whichwas, of course,

exactly as the Professor intended |

"Now", he would continue, I want to take you with me on a little

BE

journey. We will walk and talk for a while with the Great Creator, and

5

get some information from Him. To do this, we must get ourselves in
Garver - TX - 15

to say to us. Once when I was speaking in
hostess left the living room after saying to me that
I mignt find something of interest on the rac When she came back, she
asked if IE disliked radio programs.
Wo”, © wid,” but ¥ didn't know hew to time in™,

"There are a good many of us like that.ewe don't know how to get in
touch with the source of information; don't know how to tune in with the
Creator. Now I am going to show you how I tue in. If you have some bet-
ter way, that's all right. But this happens to be the method I myself

to quote some verses of Scripture-- now, don't be alarmed.
;O preach. I'm simply going to do what many of the minis-
ters do--take a text and then depart from it, never to return...(Laughter)
Our first verse is ¥Behold¥--which mmamameans,Look --" I have given you

7:

every herb that bears sedd upon the face of the earth, and every tree

4

bearing seed. To you it shall be meat.e.eee Second:'I can do all things

through Christ who stpengtheneth me¥.... Next: ' In all thy ways acknowl-
edge Him, and He shall direct thy paths!.... Now for the fourth verse:

BY

'There is much food in the tillage of the poor!...Now we are ready for

two verses that are to bring us into closer tune wit he Creator:!The

eabth shall be filled with the knowledge of God he waters cover the
i, I show you a mystery!... Now for the final turn of the
to put upg into tune:'Qnen thou mine eyes that I might see

wondrous things out of thy law'.... We arp ready now to see and behold

it

ea |

Ce mysteries of His Laweecsee
r 2 < horas nMithh an Khar i Weta Wanle hoa wonic 4 fs S 4.
faking a simple rubber band out of his pocket, he would stretch it

i | ty on A es awe tay * PA ocd) ins br 9 re Sopa ‘. * 4 3

between his hands. “Here is a mystery. Nobody knows why rubber stretches.

und profundities, we don't know that. A freshman, of

IT once had a letter from a

 
Grisp Carver= IX = 16

Ganadian in China --76 pages long-- explaining his theory of why rubber
gtretches, and asking me what I thought. I replied 'I don't know!. Thepe
are many mysteries in the world. We ars beginning to understand some of
them...... And now we are ready to say 'Mr. Creator, Iw ant to know all

about the creation story.!

'T'M surprised at youe This belongs to the infinite. the finite can-

e

4.

not grasp the infinite. Narrow the extent and increase the intent.!

WS11, then, Mr. Creator, I'd like to know this: Why did You make
the peanut ?!

'I've given you a few brains, I won't say how many, but some. Here
is a peanut. Take it to the laboratory and analyse it. that's the easiest
way to find the answer to your question,!

tees SO we take the peanut and analysen it and find that it is made up

of oil-fat-resin-s sui-pentose-pentosin-arach in=-aorarachin=-aMmino-acids-

protein-starch-sugar... words spoken in a swift prestissimo, and ending
Donton rn

he

   

Pan
8)

“Now you Know emactly what is in a veanut ty". (sae

"Now the Creator says tYou look puzzled!,
‘y, amr,

'Woll, you kvrow what youtve taken out of a peanut. You know what Dre
Slosson and other chemists are saying about adding another kingdom--the
synthetic--to the familiar three; the animal, the vegetable, and the min-
eral. Before many years chemists will be able to reproduce inthe lab-=
oratory alost everything “ature has made....*

! I see now, Mr. Creator, what youmean. I am to take the
and make what I can out of
'Yes, but be careful about compatibility. Don't put things together

that swear at each other,!

'¥You know] Mr. Creator, so many people never touch reality. they
Carver- IX =

say when they pray: O Lord, bless me and my wife, my s

4}

wife, us four and no morése.-. I want to make somevni

manitarian use. I'd like to make something to halp fill the empty dinner
pails Oan i make milk out of a peanut 7?!

‘What kind of milk do you mean--rich Jersey milk or the boarding house

3 4

kind?t And with this, he would reach down 4nto his exhibit case, bring

*

out a bottle of powdered mhlk, displaying it and setting

o

“Here we have a very delicious milk which is being used with good re-

a

sults for the babies of missionaries in Africa. And here is anotner that
Mr. Ghandi in India has found very helpful in building up his strength.’
ooees each 1 from the case, and mentioned, it was placed
besidsa the others

"rot us now for a few moments", he would continue, “explore the cre-
ative mind. This mind dares to break away from set rules and regulations
and blaze out a trail of its own. In our present system of education
a mind like that is usually in trouble-- but by and by, if you let it

alone, it'll accomplish something. I am glad sone of our institutions

»

are beginning torecognise the singularity of such minds and make provi-~

A d@prpeative mind is the moet

Be
0
rs
&

cal you ever heard of,

tillogic
human mind goes by groups,

+he

too muche See how my mind
stays now in this group, the emulsion groupe We have been thinking of

milk--doesn't take any mental gymnastics to think next of cream. Here is

ae |

a bottle of rich cream; it can be made to produce butter. And here is

nice bottle of buttermilk. These are fruit juices combined with milk--
wild plum and blackberry. Mr. Ghandi is now using ¢ h the peanut and

soy bean milks in his diet.... Here is another very interesting pro-

duct, "Penol", a medicine for bronchial colds, creosote and peanut oil

 
Carver~- IX - 18

in a combination that will not disturb the most delicate

2

wa come to a tangent-- no relation except in a ary Waye
This is vinegar... and here we have a group of wheys: orange, lemon,
end cherry, this is worchbster sauce.e. Here is a postum coffees, and

;
this is an instant coffee. with sugar and cream already addedsneseds only
water and heating-- a very delicious drink. This is chop suey...and
this is peanut pickle ... You see, I am now answering my own questin.
This, to me, is why God made the peanut ... Here is a dandruff cure..
and here are more Pickles... these are beauty preparations. I am told
that they will do the work-— I myself have not used them. (Laughter)"
Fhus the lecture proceeded for an hour or more, with product

after product lifted from the case and set inn its place wntil the ta-~

ble held an almost unbelievable array of them. And all the while the

even morse astounding comments went on-- Science and Religion, Dietetics,

J

Industry, and Education mingling in a most un-heard-of flashion, with

secintillent flashes of hunour,and curiosity-provoking side remarks, play~
across ‘
ing mgsmgand around the whole strangely=wrought tapestry of thought

and words and peanut product illustrations. Finally, at the close,
he-

We wovld say "We haven't gven begun yet to explore the

possibilities, but I hope that I have said enough to show you that we

1

can truly walk and talk withthe Great Creator." Sometimes he would

}
conclusion, some caue ee verse which began :X¥Sxudtyxikxen?x?f

"Study it out for yourself, my lad, :
"You have all the equipment the be st have had..."

f.

ask questions and to examine

i

products

There were other ] bures that went along with exhibits of pro-

 
Garver- TX- 19

ducts from clay, or miscellaneous groups. And there were, of course,

&

many variations from the general outline

But by and large this peanut lesture was

2

in demand wherever he spoke, and contained the essential gist of the

message Professor Garver brought time and again in the years of the
to aud iences
twenties and thirties Bll across the continent . To him itg was a

natural and logical thing to speak of Science and the scriptures, pea-~

nuts, potatoes, and the creative mind wherever you happened to be lec-

whew

turing, be it a great-metropolitan church in New York City, or a State

egislative Assembly, a University campus, or an annual Macon County

But to most of those who heard hin an extraordinary thing,

Oo newspapers it was head-line news. Strange indeed were some “of

itles bestowed upon him by the headline writers-- the trail-blazer,
the miracle man,
goober wizard, a prophet of science ,\ benevolent chemist, apostle

of interracial appreciatim-- titles which, with one exception, he

would scarcely have thought of bestowing upon himself. the exception

was “the trail blazer™. “That is what I hope to be", he would say. "I
to blaze a trail and point out a way that those who come after me
may follow."

4

Troical of the more thoughtful respons to his lectures
eet

eminent sociologist who wrote, after hearing him speak

in the most surprising way the simplicity of
devout faith, and the cofidence of scientific certainty.
are apt to impress you as almost childish. then you

of an unfathomable vein of mysticism

ae ~~ 14.7] wrnnri
to speecnless wond

 
Crisp Carver-IX= 20

how he has made so many discoveries, he promptky tells you 'I didn't

iO
ta
c

=
=
re)
O
ry

'

t

eed
=
ce:

=

_

Go it. God has only used me to reves vonderful providences.?

(e3
O
Lids
=
~
£ te
cy
oa
©
pace
a)
ce)
poe
_
poe
c
K
ed
U
Cc

All his work has been done in that st 46 106 pnystical

“

basis, but faith is its inspiration, prayer its atmosphere, and service

hts motive. To Geo. Carver, there is no conflict between Science and

And there was the little boy who, having heard the Professor speak,

came to his mother the following day,carrying a walnut and ag hammer

from his toy tool chest. Mot hey,” he. said, “4f that man can find.all

bj
¥
i

Chere must be a lot more in a walnut, and

that many things in a peanut,
Tih woime to rind out Pieht nowsies” & tye ef response that ,needless
to say, was a delight to Carver when he chanced to rm across it, as he

sometimes did,especially among student attdiences. And naturally a0.

[Hs

for this, to the tuskegge scientist's mind, was the chief reason why

the lectures should be madeg the products exhibited-- mainly that there
micht be some here and there whose minds and imagina ati tonswoul La be

fired to exploration and creation of their own, in Science, and Art ,and
Religion, and Industry, and in the great broad field of constructive

In college groups he frequently found them. After his week-end stay

be)
a

Blue Ridge in 1924 ( By student request he had been secured for a

eae
tent

second summer for the Southern Y C A Conference ) he wrote, in his

report to the sponsoring Council : "I had a most wonderful ti mes;was bbhe

“

i or alae OJ OH SIE EE Des ica Bee OT Ss mh aus y+ ;
est of the Virginia delegation, as you knOWeeee L have never met a

finer group of young mene- tBuly Christian gentlemen. ‘the first after-

{3%
i

noon I arrived, the personal interviews beganwith some of those I met

é

Aan Ro Aw Mave UTAVQ a Peis ae tay) 4-1 + y VA - et >- 5 + + ae
last year. There were so many that.. I would begin at four in the morn-

+ cy WO } i a 2 ex is + ve * + war Sy “4 yi AS Sy :
ing and have my last interview at twelve at night. Sometimes several
wovld come and I would answer their questions ag ~~

a had: wat

av 1 coula. hur
Garver - IX-2l

more feqquently ,only one would come who desired information along the
lines in which he was most interested, 4e@e, one desired to be a food

:
u

hemist, another research chemist, others desired to find Jesus more
definitely than they had done before. All wanted to know how it was
possible to read God out of Nature's great Book as I seemed able to QO.
These interviews were most wonderful and refreshing... I was asked to
visit and talk to two or three ote r State delegations, but owing to
the fact that immediately after supper was the only time at their dis-
posal as a delegation, I could not accept as the Georgia delegation

ie oe
une

had already engaged my services for two evenings. +he second even ning
Dr. Britton, President of the Georgia Pech, joined us and made it very
pleasmt indeed. These were truly fine young mene

" one volunteered to take me to the train at Biltmore in ordor to
getoin his fifteen minute interview. He had some chemical problems that
were troubling him..... I have before me forty-one letters fran those
dear boys. May I quote a paragraph, from one in Kentucky, which is
characteristic of them all;' I sure have orofited greatly by the Blue

J

idge, conference. I count it one of the greatest privileges of my life.

bd

dt

I shall never forget that morning when we stood on the bridge before
breakfast and talked of the wonderful God and how He has planned the
universe. We looked at the trees, shrubs, flowers, and weeds,as you
told us of their uses. It has made a better man of mee! T have Rekyx

2 a
i

forty-one pictures from them and quite a number have asked for minee
2. 2D met a young man there from North Carolina, who is making a specialty
of food chemistry. He asked for the privilege of coming to Tuskegee
and getting me to help him with his chemistry. He stayed 10 days. He

went away very, very happy; I was equally happy to render him this lite

tle service. Since his return, this expression comes Prom his mothers
Carver-IX - 22

*

' I can't express in words the appreciation I feel in my heart for

f

all you have done for my son. You made

ef

tt»
[eo

—
ey

pleasant and pro-

8
fitable,too. You have given him wonderful inspirations... !

"They consult me about health, physical development, and it seems

like evry conceivable thing. Two have sent me pictures of their lady

friends to see what T think of them 1 ... At Blue Ridge, one stepped
on something while bathing in the pool, and ran a thorn. in his foot:
he came to me and I removed it. Another got poisom oak and I had to
apply an old-fashioned remedy to it; another had a badly sprained
ankle and 1 showed him what to do for that...the whole atmosphere
seemed saturated with the Christ spirit of helpfulness. The dear boys
seemed to take special delight in making me very happy. (hb
equally true of the professors.... Divine love is destined to rule the
world. I believe despite the many things that often irritate and dew
press Us this ondition is bé@ing brought about faster than many of us
TOALISO.. secs
Pes. dust in from the Post Office with a peck of fine apples fran

one of the North Carolina boys...the same mail brought a cap

from an Alabama boy. :

Iwo years later one of these "dear boys", then at Princeton, put
into written form a statement concerning the group known to Professor
Carver as his "little family", which grew out of the 1924 Blue Ridge
conference and has added unto itself new members as the years have gone
along: "gt the first meeting Dr. Carver svoke for well over an hour

to a spell bound group of interested students. He svoke of the oneness

e products he had with him how

—

a ‘ihe P| ee gee aaa i) ae 2 to < ts
OL od and Nature an@ showed th rough )

\

7 5 be | % 4 » & 2 \ ie a m
God had permitted him to pierce behind the veil and bring to light

~~
cf)
=
a)
9

of the hidden mysteries 6f Nature. To many men life took on a
Carver= IX = 23

new and deeper meaning that day, and they went forth withthe words 6f

the Psalmist on their Lips: *®Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous

things out of thy law'. The fellowship begun at Blue Ridge was destined

to go on through the ye and a small group who were captivated not only

by the powerful of the universe presented by Dr. Carver, but

charm and beauty of his chara corresponded with him regular

the fellowship will seek to stimulate and encourage original se-
‘ ah Ll
lus amgiong its members in whatever lines they may

seeking thereby to make producer for

the common good of mankind... "
a eed

With the members of this “little family” group Pro
continually kept in touch ; xmeughOm the "boys" are now mature men,

at work in 1 Yr Various prote a4. i t they still make

Tuskegee with the man who brought
ting, and stimulating new vision of the meaning
_ Ua § | pAte x. PP LALA
To Carver, this. ero has been a source of
great joy and faith and comfort; in "boys" he has efile
poured out the affection and concern,

would normally have bestowed upon

vary real to him

Oo means Carver IC—
LO) 7k Om 2 oe a

encouraging need in student

sures, coming from con]=
eyebrows among many of his fellow scientists. Avid

OSPALCE,
not alone Siegm scientists, but Peer) Many others arious of

"liberal" thought and education. Ss this

generation, cast loose from

of conventional morals and orthodox religions, and enam-

the Idea that anything to be valid must have Scientific Proof

 
sp Carver=- IX = 24

C2
rg
pole
ea)

arrived at by Scientific Method -- for a scientist to stand up and

*

speak quite naturally of walking and talking with a Great Creator, and
of being in daily conscious partnership with Him in scientific crea-
tive achievment -- This was too much | No real scientist would be
suilty of such absurdity ! Chemists here and there disavowed him,say-
ing "He is not one of us." A good many men of science dismissed him

4

uy au M is oa al Mann q ‘ a m nant a
k": others declared him “only an agriculturist"™,

as a mere quack
Following a lecture in Fifth Avenue's Marble Collegiate Gh 1 in
New York City , in Nevember, 1924, a wave of such criticism spread throus
the news journals, followed by considerable journalistic debate on the
guestion of this man's science. Observed the “Baltimore Sun™: "Carver
has astonished New York,where he recently delivered a lecture, by two
Aol,

thing. One i8 the large number of simple products of the soil, such

as peanuts and swest potatoes,

vay a Hi eg ee or \ a 1 Spied hh ny 2 ee ? aon Meo ot eA YO
monstrated new possibilities, And the other is his ascrintion of his

success to divine inspiration. As to the latter, it is refreshing to
find a chemist who does not feel it necessary to bar God out of his

work—-shob. nad ds for the field he has

ies)
O
me
ie)
ep
8)
Fe
t

E ty
o
paar
KR
a)
ies]
a3)
Qo
ae

Pe
e)
te
we

feie
£
fe
ta
©
Le
@
6
wf
i

* He |

ant to find a scientist who is not engazed in the devil!s own work of

= +

producing destructive combinations, but devotes himself to deve loping

new méans of ministering to human noeds...."

r

tne Tocal voint at wh

-

lich criticisms following this particuhar lec-

ture were aimed was Carver's assertion (As reported by the press) "No

books ever go into my laboratory. The thing I am to do, and the way of
doing it, comes to me, I never have to grop@® for methods: the method is
revealed at the moment I am inspired to create something new. Without

W

God to draw asié@dé the curtain I would be helpless.... That words like

these

, coming from a@ scientist, should immediately draw fir
Ot Pe wad

oh
Crisp Carver-IX- 25

viously what might have been expected in America in 1924. And the “New
York Times" administered editorial rebuke ih no uncertain terms:"It is
for chemists to determine whether Carver is worthy of recognition..eIt is
ese to be regretted..that Dr. Carver in discussing his own achievments

should use language that reveals a complete lack of the scientific spirit..."

"Sojence", another journal came back in reply, "is so jackassical
cannot eve
that it memmamwkk stand for religious reverence to interfere with i

Professor Carver's own reply to the mimes" editorial was in a let-

ter to the edit

i)
®
Oo

r -- a Yeply so typical of both the thought and words of
this scientist then under editorial fire as to merit complete quotations

Tuskegee Inst
November

tute, Alabama
4, 1924

mH

Gy

2

TM the Editor of the New York Kimes
Pimes Buildin;
New York Gity

mers

I have read with much interest your editorial pertaining to myself in

the issue of November Cothe

   
  
 
  
 

I regret exceedingly that such gross misunder s tanding should arise as
to what was meant by “Divine inspiration" inspira tion is never at va-
riance with information: in fact, the mor 6 Es ~ men ons has, the
greater will be the inspiration. | Worrmabinn

Faul, the creat Scholar, says, Sec ond Timothy 2-15,"Study to show thy-
% oa ” A ct -
‘

Le or ov ec Gt 68 workman that needth not to be ashamed, rightly
viding the word of truth*

Again he says in Galatians l-le: oar I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ",
Many, many other equally strong passages could ae cage but these two
are sufficient tof orm a base around which to cluster my remarks. In
tne first verse, I have followed and m yet follow ae she first word:
Stu Lay «
Tam a graduate of the Iowa State Collese of Agriculture and Mechanical
Arts, located at Ames,nIowa, taking two degrees in Scientific Agriculture.

<1

r
Did considerable work at Simpson Colles a, Indianola, Along the lines
of Art, Literature, and Musi

tte
@

*

+

In Chemistry, the following persons have been my inspiration and guide
for studvs Jus tin von Liebig, Dr. Leroy J. Blinn, Dr. ira Remsen, Drse
Grisvd Garver=} IX = 26

L.L.De Koninck, E. Dietz, Robert Mallet, William G. Valentin, J. Meritt
Matthews, Hdwin E. Slosson, M. Luckiesh, Harrison EK, HQwe, Charvies
Whiting Baker, Helen Abbott, Michael, Mad. Surie, Geo. J.eBrush, Charles
F, Chandler, Ge Dragendorff, Frederick Hoffman, Josef Bersch, Arthur

C. Wright, M.W.O'Brine, Lucien Geschwind, Stillman, Wiley, Dana, Richard
& Woodman, Harry Snyder, Coleman and Addyman, Meade, Ostwald, San Te
Winslow, and a number of others, all of which are in my own lLibrary,wilh
but fow exceptions. In Botany, London, Wood, Coulter, Stevens, Knight,
Bailey, De:Gandole, Pammel, Ressev, Chapman Gray, Goodale, Youmans, Myers
Britton and Brown, Small, and others. These books are page in my own
library. Dietaries; Honry, Richards, Mrs. Potter Palmer, } Piles, Wing,
Fletcher Berry, Kellogg, Rilgen. and otherse

 

In addition to the above, I receive the leading maksxific scientific
HUDLLGEGLONG. thor oughly understand that there are scientists to
waom the whole world is merely the result of chemical forces or material

1.40 not belong 640 thie ¢lass, i fully agres with the Rte
rine Peake Johnson, D.D., Bishop of Colorado, in a little pamphlet
; Ligion™ and the Supernatural,” It is published and distrib-

uted by the Trinity Parish of your own city. I defy anyone who has an

pen mind and Peed this leaflet. through and then deny there is such a thing
sg Divine inspiration.

y)

 

Oy

p> Oo
Oo

In evolving new creations, I am wondering of what value a book would be
to the creator if he is not a master Amaikxyxkx of ‘ane rLytical work, both
qualitative and Fa pop ae I can readily see his need for the book
from which th get his analytical methods. The master analyst needs no
book: he is at eben ty take apart and put together substances, com-
patible or non compatible, to suit his own particular taste or fancy.

While in your beautiful city, Iwas struck with the large number of
Taros and Yautias displaved in many of your markets; they are edible
roots imported to this country largely from Trinidad, Forta Rico, China,
Dutch Cane. and Peru. dust as soon as I saw these luscious roots, I
marveled at the wonderful possibilities for their expansion. Dozens of
things came ne me while standing there looki: ng at them. I would follow
the same or similar lines I have pursued in developing productsbfrom

the wie e potatoe. I know of no one who has ever worked with these roots
17 this Way I know of no book Fran Which t Gan get this information,
wot twill hage no trouble in deine it,

@ Gs 2 5

ct D

If this is not inspiration and information from a source greater than
myself, or greater than any one has wrought up to the present time, kind-
ly tell me what it is.
"And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free"-~John 8-32.
Science is simply the truth about anything.

Yours very truly,

ig | 8 NSS we
Geo. W. Carver

Director of Research and Experiment Station
Grisp Carver=- IX - 27

With the writing of this letter the controversy, so far as Professor

Garver himself was concerned, was over. His days max were far too full--
+ | *

f ae a ihe de oF nn a ge en ‘ a ee a Wee i |
he was much too busy to take time out for discussion as to whether he

®

was “worthy of recos t i

; yy iy

; or possessed 35 the LPUSe
even had such aquestions bem a matter of great concern to him, whic
obviously were not. Excerpts from his letters to his "boys" indicate

something of the fulness of his days on the campus in between the lecture
wo WILLS Uf, neh > 18) . na as . hs

de a so ie an, de ; pu . ae a oe? ie wf pee
trios that now so frequently called him away from home ¢

yo oaee 1 Om working now on micas. 2 have gotten L7 different thing

out of one of the samples I had at Blue Ridge. The micas were the ones
I had in the little bottles. Two new peanut produc ts cane to my mind
Sunday. I want to work them out right Ey ear ey

OCis 29, 1925
m ... fT had stich a wonderful day all day yesterday. One of the most in-

spiring sermons I ever listened to was delivered by our chaplain on

'Thoughtt, My volunteer Bible class in the evening numbered nearly lOO.

a “ SR Se ee eG om a SS cy <n ig re
T had as my subject 'How the persimmon trees talk'. This was suggested

Set. by a young man coming to me with four types of persimmons, sone ripe,
some green, some flat, some long. I tried to show what God meant in
making them that way It seomed to have stirred them up wonderfully,
they say they never heard anything like it eee. i

[Ove Ty L925
Noigte DT pealiy Love to paimt.«« By embition ta to paint oe flower or a

£ ety ee fy PN ‘ a ~ ft f me ons $ ¢ : one fo SN | te de pn an von bee PERS
fruit so that you can see, God in ib, some say I have attained to some

it
Grisn Garver- IX = 28

so many things going on, and people from the N.E.S. & W. are coming

for informatione One man representing the ----- Biwar River Power Coe

was here and spent the day Mon. with the hope of enlisting my interest
and help in working out some of their complex problems. R---- Chocolate

Co. has also a multiplicity of problems they have submitted. A big man-

ufacturing plant in Chieago who manufacture slate products have many

problems they want me to work out, Another man from Atlanta was here

s

and svent the day tO aad if he could not purchase my services in cm-
nection with their immense plant in which they make, bleach, dye, full,

and size cloth of various kinds on a gigantic scale, They say just name

your price, money is no object with us, we want your services. I could

os “4 F

wants me to sell out in that waye

I am going to straighten them out on some knotty problemsSeess O, how I

“

with the young peonle could get a vision of what the world is demandingeee*
weeee Thon Overy day someone is begging me to please come and talkeecel

cannot go now as much as I used to aS you know I am getting along in

*

years and cannot sit up and ride ail nigh dike 1 used £6. doc...

cr

%

1925

i? a 2 ‘ a Vigor Ue im les Ok TOURS Nae eee fos mm a . :
oe ea). ee wonGerEUul oning happened bO. EUS last wUNCay wh oi le ied StvenIing

to a soul stirring sermon from an African clergyman. He related such a

* 4a 4ny af <7 id * ~ 8 eal % . Bani, CE i: amc c ft ethos: ie ane 5 * ™ 3
pathetic story of a native girl who became a Christian, became ill, and

tf

soon her gentle spirit went~ to God who gave ite As I sat and listened

I gaid to myself, 'Poor child, she probably died from tuberculosiSee.

 
 
 

ss cepa moet EE cal :
Make a peanut product that will be a boon to suffer'ng humanity.

Le

' a As : ; ; <atey ¥\ 4 ah at <F
Church wag out by le, we haa dinner at once. I went te me Laboratory

siort time I had a product that our

ae

after dinner and in

4
C4
Lama)

immedi-.te

two leading physicians Say is very remarkable. tt is a toed ang medi-
¥

Crisp Carver-IXk — 29

icine combined, made from the peanut. It is creosote, perfectly emul.

fa

ified wita the peanut products. I have had a slignt cough since my
breakdown in Nov,, a bronchial trouble, 1 took it freely and regular.

~

Lee a A ee ee 8 Fe Lr tice a dd n+ ot 4 mat Kat , wee mane
larly and it has actually stoppea tne cough, 1 a6 not BAavVe Lt any more,

i a
de be end Te! TELA
GliELIi Kh. OQ *®eeses
=~
Som try 4 be ae tl
i Vv vgs Tear 3 ee g fam di
i T de ey Bn re 4. Awan pa + o k 4 piso bis stale SHER. Rak Be Ao li § aT bis tas’ a “7 ot A pope
sca Lb Briea tT) ereak at a join meeting of our i.M@, ana Lt 8 UO m FER tLOTs
a ;

8 pene ea PERO ue ee cc seek aka
Gay Of tne meant ric of NOL 1

_

eo 1 mot all ef my Lillustrations from tne

o

tm

woods, I thought of and longed for you while lL Was collecting then, =

: es ad ee a nat a oe ss ses m ana An tha enaw Ac
am persuaded that tae best way to grow in grace and in the knowledge of

to grow in the knowledge of tie things He has

a

se ©
So Ls

the Lord Jesus Chr

pete
LS

ereated.... I am working now with orange, lemon, am grape fruit peel-

aed

ings (rinds) and

ran

getting some wonderful tiings out of them, £5 or. 3
precious stones have been sent to me from Michigan. Stone cutters and
geologists, they say, are puzzled to know what Mey are, and thought I

might tell them... It will take some time to work them out, but I am
sure I can do it. ‘hey are,however, not diamonds as they tuink. they

are wonderfully brilliant When cut.....

April 24, 1924

.ee Shortly after you were here I received several vackages of
precious stones for identification .. I did the best I could, God di-
rectins me. I made two very full and careful reports, describing the
strata in which each gem was found, tracing them to an ancient river
ped, I also named each gem..... Veologists have taken my statements,
searched the State geological records, and found them absolutely cor-
rect. Of course I never was in the State and know absolutely nothing
about the geology of the State, except as the rocks told me, Job advises
that we get in league with the rocks, meaning that God will speak through

\. a
them to you ces
f

y .

crisp Carver - IX — 30

This man ho whom tue rocks speak an understandable language was then
in his sixtieth year -- an age atb which some men begin to retire in some
measure from tae more strenuous pursuits in Wich tney have engaged. But
tnere was to be no such retiring fromthe mid-stream of affairgs for
Professor Carver--not for many years yet to come, Although he had sp0=
ken of himself as "getting along in years , and unable to travel as
widely as he had done, the coming years “ere to prove him equal to an
extent of trava@, and to demands for public appearances, beyond any he
he yet envisioned. Late in 1924 we find him , as eager of heart and
as interested in the future as a young man in his thirties, making plans
for his work for the coming year, and for many years ahead; Writing to
the "Manufacturers' Record"; "I believe that the South is the richest
section of’ the entire United States, on account of its undevels
sources. I believe, with te Manufecterers' Record, that the time is now
ripe for the developm nt of a number of then ... 1 want to mke my 5x-
hibit at the Southern ixyposition in New “ork next January, Which is
strictly a Southern Gommercial one, of tne highest type. I should like
to show you a few things that are really astonisning ausing one to
wonder why they have not peen developed before And there, observed

: wth ae a a ee nN au eu . i a Wig 2 ’
trhe Asheville (NC) Citizen, Quoting the 1ette ¢ lumns is the

|

map of much of the South's future

 
ar a

ca
A hley Cherry Crisp

Z

te “

¢ am

X
LECTURER EXTRAORDINARY, CONTINUED

( 1924 - 1934 )

The decade lying between 1924 and 1934 saw Professor Carver
traveling up and down and across America carrying with him his "map of
mucir of the future greatness of the South", and reiterating his ecmclu-~
sions and convictions concerning its undeveloped resources. And not

of the South alone. It was of the vast undevehboped resources of all

eS
@

poke -- resources not only of soils and plants and

9)

America that
waste materials, but of the human spirit as well. In legtures sponsor-
ed by Tuskegee Institute, the Southern Interracial Commission, and the
student Y¥sM.C.A.: or in pecan 6 to special invitations from civic
Brov>s,schools, Exposition and Fair managements, farm conventions and
congresses, he spoke again and again of the everyday mysteries of the

universe in which we spend our days, and of the meanings of these mys-~

teries in terms of human happiness and despair, human welfare and ill-will.

if)

11s name increasingly became head-line news. Newspapers, mag-
azines, various journals of the press reported his sayings, his lectures,
his experiments and their outcomes, and the unusual story of his career,
Yet when all the words about him were written, all the reports of his

lectures @nde public appearances made, there was something admittedly

lacking. There was something about this man that eluded description

we

some quality felt almost immediately by those who heard him speak or
who visited him at Tuskegee, that seemingly covld not be gathered up

and portioned out in phrases, words,and paragraphs -- a quality that
Crisp ‘ Carver-X pa
* ri ity

frequently called forth the comment;:"But the man himself-- he is so much
more astonishing that the products that come out of his laboratory }"
His appe arance undeubtedly had something to do with ite fhe porter
in the Washingeten station could scarcely be blamed for failing to recog-
ay

nise in the gentle-voiced,kindly-seeming elderly man the “big scientist

up from Alabama” whom he was all agog to serve. Hundreds of other people

»

made the same mistake,particularly in the earlier years of Carver's
public speaking, before his picture had appeared in newspapers so often
that the American people by and large krsw what to look for when the
"big scientist" arrivedd

Far from being angered at such mistakes, Professor Carver actually
enjoyed them,even at times going so far as to aid and abet them -- or at
least to raise no hand to avoid them. On rare occasions, in genial mood,

he has related stories of these incidents, admitting his own part in them.

a

There was the time, for example, when, arriving by train inna tow where

cS

2

he was to speak, he saw what he took to be the welcomttng delegation ,

ao @

peering and craning for the first glimpse of him as they crowded up to

me

the train. Luggage in and, he turned and walked down the aisle,leaving
the train by the back door of the car,to stand in apparently neglected
and bewildered state among the hurrying crowd for some moments before
anyone even noticed him. And, needless to say, thonoughly enjoying the
whole experience, especially that part of it when reoognition finally
dawned, and apologies were being showered upon him by the embarrassed
welcomers -- apologies to which he made gently gracious, am no doubt
ok ok, that's all right..No need for any apology

at all I Wy
Crisp
Garver X - 3%

ne in

‘by

He will tell, moreover, with great gusto and much del
the recollection, of the time when he stood in the door of Milbank Hall,

y

in his ® irt gleeves and the sagging old flour sack apron that is af part

be
!

of his laboratory uniform, when a group of several visitors to the Inst

>

4}
COLS

tute came hurrying up the steps, in typical tourist fashion craning
> e 4 y c i ° oy - nad
way and that, and saying "Where is he ? Where is Dr. Carver ? We want to
see what he looks like 1" _-- And in their rush, almost capsizing the
yy

old man who somewhat impeded the sir progress. ihen a student in the hall,
in response to their insistent demands, saying "There he is",and point-
ing to the “old man” they had so impatiently brtjshed aside.

I remember once, when he had been telling me some of these sto-
ries, md we had spoken briefly also of certain more bitter experiences

BS

he had known, I remarked that I did not see how he could have come throuBh
such experiences without a great resid@@ of bitterness. The complete si-
lence of the moment that followed my remark was memorable, as was the
great light of yearning and compassion that poured over his face as he
turned and looked at me for a long moment, then shook his head slowly
and said "You can't harbor bitterness... It clogs the channel. I can't
deo my work if my heart is bitter ....."

This was the Carver no reporter was ever able to portray in #&
news stories, or to bring to life in articles; the Sarver whom thousands

9

came out of mere curiosity to hear, to go away dazed by the sud-

 

den impact of an almost incredible personality,saying, "What is it about
this man that makes him affect me as he does ? There is something about

him that gets hold ef you... "

In 1925, following lectures in North Carolina, Virginia, Indianap-
s i. fa) aa °
olis, and Cornell University, Professor Carver packed up his peanup ex-
Carver - X = p-4

hibit in May for the trip to the Southern Exposition in New York City

he had referred to in 1924 letters. Here in the old Grand Gentral Pal-
ace on Lexington Ave, in a comer on the third fleer, fer ic days visi-
torg to the Exposition stopped to talk with Garver about his exhibit,
andg some stayed on to talk with him about many other things. When the
Exposition was over, the governor of Alabama wrote him “Permit me to con-
sratulate you on your exhibit and the splwendid way in which you handled
same. It contributed no little to our success and you and the Institu-
tion you represent are to be congratulated." But there was a young drug

e

stor clerk who expressed appreciation even more gratifying to Carver, (mm

In a noon-time lull one day duringt he Ecposition,a young fel-

 

low strolled over to the Alabama Exhibit,and te fore he knew it was en-

ntle-voiced elderly Negro man he found

ef

gaced in conversationwith the

go

+

among the display of peanut products. After that, the boy came each day
to talk with Professor Carver, and whent he Expostion was over, he came
-up to say good-by.

Grasping VYarver's hand, he spoke in words broken by deep emotion: "I
don't know how to thank you. You don't know it, but you saved me. That
first day I came up here I was desperate:thought I had come to the end
of everything, andwas trying to get up nerve to go on out and doaway
with myself. But I couldn't do it after I'd talked with you. And now I

ve
i

amready to start all over again and see things through. I can't ever
thank yeu fer this...

The year 1926 saw the Professor leaving Tuskegee for lecture in

es

in Indiania , Georgia, and Tennesee, and in 1927 he was back in North
Garolina again, bringing his peanut exhibit. te an Exposition in the lit.
tle town of Windsor. Then followed a year marked not only by numerous

lecture tours, but by two notable evidences of the growing recognition
Criso

of the value and importance of the man himself and of his scient

achievments. In the midst of
a letter from his Alma Mater

selves the honor of

at our commencement exercise

be present",

as this, end heset about mak

ing at the same time to visi

a strange twist of fate

whom he,hoped to

or.

"boys! gee

i

A very fortionate and

ing to lewa. Fortionate, and

Two weeks ago Iw as gored by

ed me down and gored me each

tionately no bones were broken, and as he had no horns, he

s head. I am

cr
ay
[Hs

with

Kids
S-
63
QO
yy
*

e

Cd

6

to my office and

And a 1it he

i
et
it
@
=e
PS)
ct
@
KS
w

"Pressure of course is be

there. I have a first class

effice and back now... i

blow to me not to be able

In late December he was

ing of the American Associat
ing to newspaper annomeenen
and women and friends ever h
tend." Here again, however,

conferring upon you the degree

C2
a9

ar ver

fie

fee

a busy lecture season, in 1928, there came

, Simpson College, saying “We wish to do our-

of Doctor of Science

hee!

gs in dune. We hope that >you can arrange to

It was a heart-warming experience to receive such news

ing plans to attend the commencement, intend-
t also his second college home at Ames. But
ircumstance intervened. Writing to one of his
at Ames, he said:

unfortionate accident will prevent my come
only by God's mercy that Iwas not killed.
an infuriated bull. He attacked me, knock-
time, he knocked me down three times. For-

could only

of course painfully bruised,but can now walk
E “ 3

wrote:

ing brought to bear upon me to here and

£0
‘

alibi new, being crippled. I am walking to my

etter, very much better.... Lt is quite a
be out there.as I want to see you so badly...
3

sheduled to appear on the program of a meet-

ion for the Advancement of Science, accord-

i 4 ie ae Le 2 Tyee a ae a — 2 pei ee oe a
t " the largest gathering of scientific men

eld in this @® uwntry. 5,000 or more will at-

illness prevented Professor Garver from be-

it
Crisn Carver- X - 6

ing present. "T have bean shut in for more than two weeks with an acute

attack of the 'Plut", he wrote a friend on Christmas day, a letter to

which he added this postscript:""Hate, my dear friend, is the very em-
bodiment of everything that is wrong,nothing to revolting or destructive

s

for it to do;:turns us into fiends incarnate. mLove is divine,is ef Ged,

must someday rule the world. It is the only force that has held the world

together,up to date. When we ceas to love our fellow men we become a dan-
gerous character, because we have shut God(love) out of our lives."

The attack of Flu was long-drawn-out. In April, 1929, he wrote"I
have not been able to do any traveling since. the malady has left me ex-
ceedingly weak. I am practically exhausted by the time £ can walk to the
office and back... I do hope you spent a wnderful Easter Bay. It was

sjdeal here. IT heard such a fine sermon in the morning and the beautiful

'Stabat Mater! rendered in masterly fashion at nights."

a,

A few weeks later, able to travel again, he spoke at Birmingham

Ca
i)
=
ct
be
~
(

earn College tm Birmingham, and on June the eleventh, was guest
speaker for a notable and long-discussed meeting of the Lions! Club in
Columbus, Georgia. "Dr. Carver", they said of him there,"comes as an
He is

emisary of industrial progress...the exponent of a new epoch, the fore-
runner of a new era in creative science.” But the Columbus “Ledger", in
editorial comment added:“Above and beyond all that Dr. Carver has done
is what he is ".

1930 was an unusually full and crowded year even for a lecturer

who seemed able to take the most astonishing itineraries and schedules

€

in his daily stride. Harly in the year, accompanied by Mr. H.O.Abbot, of

the Institute faculty, who was frequently his companion and tour manager,

DEN a Wr \
he Pave a series OL >

lectures in Wichita, Kansas,speaking at two univer-

ft

righ schools, and before the American Chemical Association,
Grisp Carver-X— 7

to audiences numbering more than 5,000 people. "The great scientist of
Tuskegee Institute", declared a Wichita newspaper when he had gone," has
most profoundly moved our community", whibe a letter from a Wichita Negro
minister followed him ,with this significant and gratifying statement:”
"Every worthwhil Negro of Wichita is proud that he is a Negro today as a

result of your visit here",

le

From Wichita he went on to Dallas, Texas, where on a Sunday night
he spoke to a great crowd in the city hall auditorium, and on the follow-
ing day in Austin, to another huge audience , his talk here being spon-
sored cooperatively by Tillotson Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, the
State Department of Agriculture, and a ceunty Farm Association. So high
did the enthusiasm for him run here that by a resolution introduced and
passed in the State Assembly, he was invited to speak to a special session
of the Legislature, then in session in Austing -- an invitation he was,of
course, most delighted to accept. Upon his return home, he found a lete
ter from the'manager of the Austin Chamber of Commerce:"I feel that your
visit here has been and will be worth a vast deal to the State of Texas",
A November lecture tour during Nawembaxxek this year took him to Morgan
College and Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Philadelphia,
Harrisburg, Bucknell University, Penn. State College, and finally -to Ja-
maica, New York, where again he spoke at the joint invitation of a group
ef civic organizations.

At Tuskegee, in between his lecture jaunts about the country, he
spent a large portion of his time receiving the visitors who came to the

Institute to see him from

 

"far corners of the world",
as well as from near at home, and on SSM astonishing missions bent,

at times. Among them, in 1928, was C.F.Andrews, the saintly and beloved
Crisp
Carver=- KX = 8

English missionary to India, know in India as "Christ's Faithful Apos=
> @ mt =

tie*®, Mr. Andrews! special mission to +tuskegee was to enlist the help

of Dr. Carver in working out menus and food recipes that would re-

waning N me zt
store the waxkedt strength of Andres! close friend, Mahatma Ghandiw- a

bes

request that Carver counted a cherished opportunity, and one he rejoiced
to be able to fulfil. It has often been observed that a striking simi-
larity, not alone of appearance, but of ways of life and unique power
of spirit, exists between Carver of Tuskegee and Ghandi of India. How-
ever true or untrue this may be, it is true that ,with the visit of
C.F.Andrews to Tuskegee Institute, a warm and vital bond of close com-
panionship was formed between the great spiritual leader of India and
George Washington Carver, of *uskegee-~ a mutually strengthening bond,
aT may being of the spirlt-y a lasting one.

1931 was a great year in the annals of the Institute, for it mark-
ed the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the school. In April of

>

that year, ceremonies worthy of the occasion breught many notables to

Tuskegee, among them Dr. Anson Phelps Stokes, who made the Historical

address of the day, prefacing it with the statement, "Tuskegee Institute

still awaits its historian. I hope that as a result of the interest
created by this semi-centennial, someones may undertake to write a

well- documented definitive account. It would fill a great gap in the

Le

history of American education ae

Three things of particular and personal interest happened to
Professor Carver during this f th anniversary year. In the first

place, he lost his teeth -- the ones Nature had given him, that ist

“ 4 » ye Ne rt reat: Bs or 4 s
"Yes, I had all my teeth taken out last Tuese', he wrote one of his

} 4

. P ae iw am carting along auite wel. think. 4
boys in early February . “F am getting along qui well, 1 ,
 

   

       
   

 

 

a. ,» in March he wrote to a} tudent Y M C A Council
re e toun being plan n°, seohedul
be e celebration in April ;:" I hope I will be

 

now having my ¢

 
   

 

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ental work done, and

Vi 8 cae
LV a

 

a Mf i Pi > ej beta &
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is an oe a CDS SO Ge ce ee fs PEE i big
losing his teeth did not, of course make
Hadas 4. 2 Aiwnineme khe a rey See ge
caine: Gao mad auring tne anniver~
eS , er
4 be py te a iol : eva TT a,yr
a bat 1 te Ver Ver

ce OL Ee OLE RIN ge et ie cy rele ih
His reply was that strength

 

 

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Crisp Carver - X - 13

of investigation that others may fellow; to point out possibilities
that others may develop into economically valuable products". He did
secure a few patents--~ A blanket patent covering several processes for
she manufacture si aints and stains from cla minerala at
Gill bed saa anu. ac cris SS OT pa Lh ri la ae ana wo ve, Lns ug Ed om Cw A a gl a4 cs a aL Par} c) Na eC
from p@anuts; and a copyright on Penol, a medicine for colds and bron-
chial congestions. And there wer@several attempts toestablish commer-

cial concerns for the purpose of manufacturing certain of hisproduc

pee

attempts which, for various reasons, were not carried on to commercial
success, a primary facter in their failure prebably being Garver's
ewn lack of keen int®rest in sucn financial ventures insofar as he was

personally concerned.

A matter of much more serious concern to many, some of them among
his close friends, was the fact that he persisted in being such a
"free lance” in his investigations and discoveries; that he worked at
f
4 ta | Fa er +; 4- 3 + = 7” 4 7 ¢ sw ¢ % 5 & + * f
these things almost entirely alone, sharing with no assistant nor col-

league the actual m ethods ad formulae used and derived in the creat on

of the products which, he declered, were the keys to doars of increased
human welfare and prosperity. And he had no one in training as an
assistant who could carry on these important investigations should

Np a

Gia eee suddenly become unable for somer eason t carry them for-
ward himself. Institute authorities had made several attempts to place

such an assistant with him, arf “understudy”

person; md had made avail-
able for him secretarial aid. But so far such efforts had failed. It

was a Situation which, to some of his most cancerned associates, pre-
sented not oniy a serious problem. but a distressing paradox -- the

ch

inexplainable lack of correlation between his philosophy and basic
teaching and his owm practise in this particular area. "How", these con-

cerned cr&ttics wanted to know," are these discoveries to be of any real
Crisp
Ca ver - zx _ 14

value to the world if he refuses not only to develop them himself, but
to release them for use by anyone else se

Even theproffered secretarial assistance he seemed unable to use
to the fulless advantage. All of his personal mail, and mucin o1 nis
proressional correspondence, he jandled alone, writing all his personal
letters in his own old-fashioned script until as late as 1955-- when
a tremor condition that had long troubled his right hand became so

pronounced that he was no longer able to use the hand for much writing.

oer lack of desire

Having heard expressions of concern at his apparent 7
"train someone to follow him", I mentioned 46 to him once, during one
ef my early trips to luskegee, and asked him if it was really true that

he was making no attempt to tra Lin such an assistant.

"You can't train a poet ® write poetry" , he said. And in that sane-

what cryptic remark I caught a hint of the difficulty underlying the

es

paradox that troubled his friends and critics.

\

By nature and temperament the manw as fundamen tally mope an artist
fe i> ! ey a bs ay ie aye _

eed

thary a scientist, with an artist's inescapeabie preoccupation with his

own individual creations; an artist's intense sensitivity to environ-

@
c
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k PI
ct
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; humgin relationships -- his inability to share
whe working out of his ideas and dreams with any save those with whom
he feels a basic sense of harmony and understanding. ‘the problem at

the

os

time , with Carver ,-- as subsequent solutions have seemed to prove

lay not so much in his unwillingness to hare his discoveries and @

ve i i -~* 2 ye ee 2 oy a al ne s de Ais at aR ES
work with a younger assistant, as in the fact that at that time he had

found no one with whom he could work out the type of "sharing" relation-

J
$ 4 4 a tiie na msi! a
demanded by his peculiarly individualistic nature. And until he

ship
Crisp Carver=- X - 15

did find such a person -- no matter how strong his religious compul-

sions, howd hunanifatian dreams, it was actually

 

impossible poet" to wri

h, however true, did nothing to solve the problem involved,

[He
&

ry

fact wh

N

ner to lessen the justification for the criticism arising out of ite

L ie

sre were sudden striking lapses from his customa

 

Now and then

lee he 20. " roe co WR * am hss eee acc Oe | i Bs ia + pty
courtesy, another matter which sometimes caused considerable concern

am) 2

among his friends. . Following a lecture there was often @rush toward
the table on which the vroducts he had discussed were digplgyed, and

eut to snatch up some of the
products, presumably for closer ihspection. On such occasions his an-

LG Uo 5 IL L

wer was quick and unconcealed,. Or let a “Smart Aleck" guestion come

Sag ae) aR x FR je EN dyna SRS 8), AE genre ues A 2 a
ne crowd to him during the forum period following a lecture-- as

de ey ey ez Ion artime wee 4 ‘ iy ‘ n s a ~
they sometimes did. Like the erack of a whip came his sharo reply, a
she a B ix he J

stinging rebuke followed by a sta tled silence -- thaze was

 

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Crisp Carver=- X - 21

 

gome of the most gorgeous colors I have ever seen. I have one

 

" s a Nee in ee ae a i be TON, Gel SO
measuring 9s inches in diameter and as beautifully marked

a8 an erchid. QO, you can see the majesty, and power of God in

 

eeove MY work has taken on anew turn, a surprising one. Last Sa
urday I was “nonplused" by having a visit from the head of the Science

ept. of a high school . Hes visited the lab. and after I had finished

showing him through, he asked if he might bring his class and have me
ln § i, 5 a ok ae : Le LL bas hat ee ye DI leg eos EM wie ees a 1
show them through and talk to them as I had talked to him. He is to come

i ae Bae , 8 es Ss u Spe ane pie = onl , NT | ke T a
next Pues. God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, Just

a ee We ee a Hig abe 3 a + + oe Se
ao few years ago this would have been impossible. sece

Mr, 1 ok os ’ : ee nn las ns aa |r vo 4 pe
eeee Lhe books you have chosen please me greatly. Y ou are cer~

Lis
ae

1 os dose: hi pri wheat ps de 4
ih 3h Wo O1S With Cons tant OD

 

SB LOEW MaNesscece

: oh A Ga oN a in x TY SRO poe ee or aay agen >
esos An alleday talk at Emory and Henry, Hmory, Va. That is, I

first met the Sunday School, then the little tots, went to Sheen dinnered,

%

ing for an hour, then a volunteer rounl table talk in which I

 

¢
ae
ww

rer questions of many, many kinds for two houfs¢g ,and

a large audience. Suppered, then the main lecture and of course talk af-

terwards to many who were interested. Some followed me to my room and
. raf ats f TT a GO A ei cB AGEL Sas CN
talked until 11:00 Paw. Se you see I had a very,very buisy day «cscs

ijt Ls io ee RC tle ahve 2 is ue a ae ty aa
ecee the check ~- God will bless you in many, many ways for
. nT APO TOR DEES Hg AE ag ye Mu nee VEN es moe Hin tea i hort ane taie  e
sucn a gre at heart. Iwas overcome mys elf » and f, tae F nhank you more

then Len gen tun om wr Ot ae | es ey Ty ty “ x ee 4 fas fs soca fi cae A 2 Ka i eae
than any words can express. I knelt down by the bedside where

 
Crisp Carver= X= 22

to us in the little den and prayed for light and direction. All day
today I have made a survey of the destitute conditions, and found that
ewery family, both white and colored, had been helped, and was still
receiving enough to keep the wolf from enterfing the deor, and if they
will work they will get along. tIsaid, 0 Ged, this is your money. What
shall I deo with it that will bring the greatest returns for Him. The

urge comes to return it to you and let you place it where Ged will di-

rect you.e.. This exhibition of youw great spirit has helped me greatlyee.

eooee Tust at this moment I am writing, but I have been examining
some elm leaves, distinct saprophytes, and am finding some new and
s@range ones. You must do some of this work when you come again....Stium-
ble and fall, my dear friend, ef course I do, but I try not te stay

down,or stumble over the same onstruction ....

@ee &

I picked up dozens of dea twigs, such as old okra stalks, bean
vines, dead leaves that had failen from trees, etc., etc. All were
teeming with the most simple( in some cases) and they marvelously com-
plex compound microscepic life. How I longed for my great boy.. I
wanted him to ses that the thing we mxkk call death in the plant is
only a preparation for myriads ot acvcual microscopic plants that could

not nave exisved had these piants nowt given wp their life as we term Lieece.

ecoeol fear peopie imagined 1 had gone insane, as «. simply screamed
with laughter when 4+ got the new angle on the death of the Cat . I do
hope you will save all the data that have come out and any more you
can piece together, it is without doubt the richest thing that has ever

8

been brought to my attention... Ff am gathering some seed of the smglish
Crisp Garver - X = 23

primrose for your mother. Tell her about them ...e.

ores. Just received a fine letter from Dr. W -- of VeP.I., asking
for some information on “Peanut Skins" for members of his class in Chem-
istry, who want to work with them..... Let us join in prayer for my dear
boy, Mr. N-- He writes me from his camp that he has suffered a very
severe injury to one of his eyes, which may result in the loss of Sight.
He says the camp physician cannot tell as yet. You know the Great Phy-=

sician can de all

er
hr
ad
me
pa
uM
~
eo
o
e
2
e

eesee the rejuvenating peanut oil you have seenseveral times is
still doing wonders. I have used it on fully 175 persons ad they all
fy to its greatness. 1 find it is a wonderful thing for tired

nerves. Theg supt. of the large cotton mills at X--- is takin

abe

(Massages) and declares the massages with the oil is making a new man

of him e@eeee

ees The finite cannot umerstand the infinite or sympathise
with it, but are likely to hold it up to ridiouwlé ....the more I s tudy
Mature, the plainer God speaks to me, and the more direct I can speak

to Him * @«@ @¢

eevee To want to know what people think of you is not bad... It
is important as to what people think of you,they mast love and have
confidence in you if you are to help them ..... God moves in a mys te-

rious way His wonders to perform. Pride goethgf# before a fall. Do not

Rat, i # ve NG ie! Go a ma £ i, Cl uy pes ‘i ul ae .
think more highly of yourself than you ought are passage

daily Wien my mind. And they help me BPO@aClV iis oc

&
Ca

ue}

!
re!
ay)
He

Carver= X-—

eee I did some microscopic work today. You seemed to be near me, the
microscope was near the spot in my little den where we knelt and you

mad? that never to be forgotten prayer. How God revehled Himself through

*¢e@es»e*

thoseg rotten tw igs, as one of the boys called the sticks

a

sve. IT am booked up pretty heavy next mo. in Ohio, Iowa. Will be in
Des Moines, Indianola, and may touch Ames. Will be at the U. of Kan-

sas and Denver, Colorado. I am packing up now for my trip. How I need

BS

Ra our pr a ¥ SVS e-cse

an ee = amy i =o a Ef AE ARN 4 Aah ee ihe es aan Tee ra Sap pune ses LGA
appointing because I did not have time to make the personal contacts

L wished. It was talking, feasting, and toasting all of the time

are it Pa is STG a2. a aN a 4 ag nae AS i piape ee : "a *

the “line-up seems fine. Personally, I do not care for the spectacular...
Fine that we are to have a more dependable car, and yet that car last
year brought out a side of your life that would not have been revealed

ar THT - hac ata. a a " nite 4- Fa © fe ny nh 2 7 NT ao te Ly fee my an
had we not had such-a car. Despite the car troubke I enjoyed the trip

immensely... I feel that this is going to be a wonderful trip despi

CSS aad on " a vives
i
es a a lee oo a RO TSS a. a EGR “an oa AS s 4. pH a A a > Ne
the fact that some of my friends here feel that it will not be safe for

a ty es é SEIN en ae Raa TTS HOMES OR gu ed AL RN Mn coc s
ee.- Another evidence of Ged's Care was the low physical condition in

which I started out (For a lecture trip) Ordinarily i wahld not have
attempted to make the trip as tired as I was, but somehow as the time
drew nearer the more anxious Inwas to go. And I never spoke so mmy times
a day, enjoyed it more, or rettirned in half as good condition. I was

actually stronger when I returned, and have sutfered no ili effects from

 

’ ‘aioe an) ee Ti Ae ee
Charge or you. He shone right t
Crisp Carvere X - 25

brought resultseeee. ou dear boys are making my life really worth

vivimg ...

eee Before we left for Miss. £ mad «= some collections ef fungi,

ES ae - + wi wn a a es dee a ak Tia wie ol ewe
some distance away. Occasionally my mind would urge me to go back there

 

again. the urge becarie so strong this morning that I I found the

>

ylace erown up with weeds and briars. I began pulling dead limbs out,

2 2 any A ote TL a ft
put the wasps had built a nest in it and soon Yan me away, without
z ~ A Fo 4 ca “ath oe « in } an le we gy 1 ¥ nye aanad
- I stood afar off quite perplexed,started nome, proceeded

 

   

     

   

* Ba , ne as Sipe ad ity 2 2 mae) ek ay 2 gn mi ps i | are 2 asl a —

a little ways arm pile ef brush. Inwent to it andl
ye t
a ‘ed } 2 * = Kp ” 5 se a 4 3 rl 4 t a a4 e
it to be one of the richest finds I had,made ,. God clesed the first
a 5 i " as epee ws ion online ae fr. 3 s
door, that I see one 0] pater opportunities. Inis is
Ces poe 2 whee . 9 a) a 1 a, ae dates er?

eften so we are sorely disappointed in some o fondest dr@amSee-.

 

 

   

eene L

 

of the "little family", as you requested. Blue and

 

man from M -- now, who drives up every lueSe

 

 

  

     

     

i OT Lee ce ’ 0 a a a
nieht: he Nerves >» stomacn, mM UC fl Uno 6ewe 1 &

iy ni min + ar rr] & Fan 4 iy! 4 Nas
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water a especially the: who lost dignity by havi ng te rel!

 

push his carg through the water. I shail

 

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r fellowe

 

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Crisp Carver=- X = 27

pe

the items concerning his “favorite colors" and "names and addresses

of his boys" included in these letters had : special meaning and purpose

of which Professor Carver was entirely waware when he wrote them. During
the fall of 1932 some of these boys planned a surprise for him -- a book
made entirely by hand, bound in leather of his favorite shade of blue,

and filled with letters written by members of his “little amily", each

C

trying to put into words womething of what their friend and counselor had

meant to him. It was for this book that they had written him, during
the autumn months, for various bits of information to guide them in making

and binding it . Just arter Christmas there was to be a conference in
Atlanta that would bring students and faculty members from colleges all
over the South as delegates, and the plan was that the "Book of Friend-

shiv" should be presented to D.. Carver then. There were heavy rains in

December, however, that brought Alabama streams up to flood tide so that
Oar

he was unable to get to Atlanta according to pre-arranged plaue —@ cne
book was taken to him at Tuskegee after the conference was over. To one
of the “boys” who planned the surprise, Carver wrote first of his disap-
pointment at not being able to go to Atlanta, and later of his complete
surprise and delight in this token of his Boys’ esteem:

T was so disappointed that I could not get there. I was all
to start Fries morning. the river at Wesve Poin
rising, the water was then up to the first step on the buse Mr. Abbott

went to tow to find out two or three times, all busses were running

Le ; Hk pages yale os aa HUE SL pa ANY id Peerage Meee, a) a
very late. Our boy,Armie, came down anda spent the nighte Iwas so nappy
+ have hin
CO LL Gh Ve Lm @@e 6

+ 4.

Well, I suppose that you are just about as happy a

m
i
e)
Ss
ct
ae)
14
fa
2}
@
cf
_
Ha)
this werld . I pesitively tip my hat
over on me", I do not recall ever hav
this one, and I was so dumb as not to

you ar

oo.
mi

most "

mé

ent. I

fy we hee |
bana

unders

meeting. I

e
sure

exhibition

ion of God
hand to do

pre—tine, T

On my

possessions
that book,

blue=-bound

spilled the

I would

S

eused my suspicion when yo

however slip by without furthe

nt

beans several weeks

yet too dumb to be impressec
now why she high water cut

am sure I would not have

of “crystalized

4. 7)

shining through the

avery special

shetihave- to

Qu G 88 66

first visit to Tuskege

Handing it to me, carefully boxed and wrapped agai

"Now take good

when

civen .

volume It was,

and one not to be touched by careless
ized love" And when tree bank fail
away fr him-- for the time being, an
the total financial savings of his lif
" It has come to me withr enewed force
three bank failures were blessings in

exhibited

werk Ter him...

care

Garver - X -

to you for literally

ia cy
wh gH

“a > mr 6 en at © ~p : °
foresee what was going

u asked about n

r attention.

&

when he wrote

esret at not being able
d. Se ordered, I can so

meé

much composure.

seen. It is

upon whom He has

e, Dr. Carver brought

© de
LG

of

a

ca

tributes written upon th

~

boys", I found myself

indeed, a choice and
hand or mind-- a volvme

in 1953 had cample

a méasure,

e-time, he wrote to one
for the last three days

disguise. ve

nv

ae)

Noutt
a job so canpletely done

ON e

congratu

T &
fe
Ge

i. ae
y

x

ar

Seme-one-—is—teatking_to me.

this book

irs t

toucning

rare

ef

of

that

28

*
ni
}

ing one

eS
em

One

4.

lating

f
De es-

pan 4)
p44.

thorough]:

shee

5 1 50

u

the

am

express-=
laid His

a

Li

we

for

rough

of my choicest

‘al aes ra)
the

pOSS@SSiON 4

"orystal-

that my

Fi | hee | i an m
God wish-
Crisp

ed to impress upon me that there were things of far greater valug@ than

money. For the present my money is gone, I am not worrying,suffering,

er grieving about it. I feel that in God's own good time and way all

wrongs will be righted. The thing that I prize most is the love of my

dear little family that is constantly grpwing...-.-.

. : i 2 we NO WA Auge OU
With two of these young men as tour director and assistai Garver

2. Bie 4
i

ips 1n S80utneTn &@ ne

[te

by wv ? i 5 se 2 v
made two extensive lecture ¢t gastern ci es and

colleses in the spring and in the late fall of 1955. Traveling by cax

these "boys" made of the gp trips the gay, rollicking adventures that

delighted the perenially youthful heart of their teacher and friend.

nt a sg Ge ea a aS 3s SS a pe a AOS eet ee aS ou =
Gooking thehr meals over camp fires at times, they ate what their lec-

turer described as “raw mwat", They played numerous pranks

~
my
Hi)

~
pa
ed
=

we

him a fake telegram inviting |

)

din

rn
U8

im to address a state legislature
then in session -- actuaily fooling him not for one moment, he insisted,
but they held to a different opinion. Making jokes of the curious crowds
who at some places openly declared that they "just wanted to see what he
looked like", these two would insist to the Professor that they must see
to it that thetr "show animal" was kept in good shape. Making sport of

the head-lines, they invented new names for him--"Wizard", "Magici an"

wh & — 2 a = ‘ Pay = £ (% a
"Black Magic Man", and so on 1 And for evidence of Dr. Varver's
naively delighted response to all this youthful tom-foolery, we have

only to turn to his letters to thesé two compa

regard to various aspects of their tours:

ee a * Ou - mn ee ae A OCT ON a ON
May this soak in pretty thoroughly, that two can play mighty

Chie ie eu

pase ae oes hee * - bet ~sce od ae ra = BD py, eo gts "H 4 At < ted n * in a
pretty at that water ducking business. that raw meat wasn't a good
thing for you, and I must see to it that you do not eat any more of it

en our next trip .... Please make it clear to Mr. Elliott that we pre-
Crisp Carver - X = 30

fer to meet the students rather than a small group of the “elite” at

a dinner engagement ..-.. Wallace has sane new names for me, they are

3
not coppywrishted as yet and I am sure he would be glad to have you
add them to your list ..- I ould laugh when I foewnd out that the dear

boy was not hurt, but I was upset when I heard it. I often wish I

a

could have seen you laughing at uhat poor unfortionate fellow you pulled

*

eut of the upturned car. You laugh with such ghoulish delight ....

¢

Letters still ceming in en ow trip. It was great.,..... Now, listen,

see)
@

Mg
don't put that out that you have an article about a boy who was not
worth a horse, for fear my table mates get hold of it and think it me.
then, too, if people generally get that idea,’ you will break up our
‘Shew!...- God does seem to be with us more and more on these trips.

is indeed astonishing

b>
ct

Echoes from our tour are still coming in,
what the Lord c an do and will do with people when they are willing
to be spoken throvgh by Him. Strange to say I came back from this trip
with none of the physi@l1 exhaustio that I suffered last year.. My,
but didn't-we have genuine fun | H_- And then, speaking in more serious
vein, he wrote "We cry, Peace, Peaces there is no permament peace wnere
navions and races nate eacn ovhner. shese are times tnat wry men's
thoughtrul

souls. Only the brave and ZHmwENkKEMXcCan Drave and overcome sucn éondi-
tions!" --j words much more prophetic than he probably knew.

throughout the late twenties there were references in his let-
ters to experimenus he was carrying on with certain oils from peanuts,

used in connection with massage for building up people greatly run-
dewn physically. By 1930 he was writing a friend "T want to show you
such a wonderful fulfilment of Scripture in the form of an oil for the

production of fat md general rejuvination of the body. It layg on
age Carver - X = $1

Pat in a marvelous way, clears the complexion and makes a tired, run-
down person feel like a new person. It is a massage oil. I thpaugh God

have taken it and done wonders with thin,underweight people,people who

BE}

were tired and run-down, for “athletes", etc. etc. When you come I want

* 2

“ i "4 is PAAR i LP MUGEN Ra POO RE bm ei : i
you to know for yourself what it can do
« ev

se 4 a a a Fac & 4x |, 8 " ad “ wR ee t= 3 1» € ri cy 7 +
And by this time, although this work of experimentation had gone on

ne

1
a

with no publi city-- as Dr. Carver wish

ras
Lids
cr
oO
?)
e)
He)
c

bo
ee
pod

to go on until
he had mum more evidence of proof of his theories concerning its-

ihe

there were a number of people here and there who knew from personal

peanut oil massage. It was inevitable that news of this kind should be

= . 2 ANN, YES EDIRNE NRA”, CUM RRR ay 2 a » ooo) as a ae

spread around -- and so it was with this. On December the thirtieth,
2 whew whe am, ns, a a oe ae) NG ety

1933, the fuskegee scientist lay down to sleep unmindful of the -pos-=

@
o
Lids
tH
je
4
ct
S
ae)
—s
:
3
eed
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wo
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+
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Fe
hy x
,  CRiso | : Carver
. we il

“a Vege
“ 4
4 °

Chapter XI - Experiments in Therapy
19335 - 1937

On December 31, 1933, the Associated Press carried a story
beginning " Discovery of A mineral oil in peanuts that has aided in the
recovery of infantile paralysis vistims was announced today by Dre Gee
W. Carver, noted Negro scientist ..-+.- etc" Before the day was
over, cars were lined up before his rooms in "Rockefeller Hall, and a new

period in his work as @ man with answers had DESUNsc ore

ith

This chapter will deal with his activities during the yea
immediately foblowing this AP announcement -- a period of work which
turned out to be not only experiments in physical therapy, but of si
nificance in the areas of mental and spiritual therapy as well =-—-

Dah |

g~=

1- Experiments with certain peanut oils combined with massage in
the treatment of post-infantile paralysis cases-
a-lhe astonishing response to the AP story, with hundreds of
people wiring, writing, coming to see him for help,etc.
beHis theory concernii g the oil-massage treatment; his belief
an 306 effieacy in certain cases
The significance of the work in other than medical areas--
ean bab is the most significant and Pi ie unt piece of inter-~
racial work going on in America today"- (Dr. Moton )
d=Carverts complete and tireless fete to this work

e= Medical skepticism concerning it, and other coments
2. Lectures and Recognitions during this period

3- Year-long celebration of his fortieth anniversay at luskeegee,
culminating with unveiling of bust of him at Tuskegee, May, 1937

td

ay

4e His severe illness and break-down,beginning in autumn of 1937
 

Pr

$ 1-

ou

Ou

hae

b=

G=
'

Tn

 

Crisp

Chapter XII - UP in the Seventies
This chapter will deal with the years 1958 - to the
esent, and will discuss

Long, slow Yecovery(partial) from the breakedown of 1957-58

Carver

making necessary curtailment of practically all public lectures,

Ot.

Removal from Rockefeller Hall to apartment in Dorothy Hall

Preparations for housing permamently his collections, exhibits,
paintings, laboratory, etce - Building set aside for this pure
pose, with green house, laboratory, offices, etce ,near Dorothy
Hall -- His work, as his strength oermitted, in connection with

these preparations, which go forward continuously now.

Plans for, and present work on, the plans toe stablish the Carver
Creative Rosoarch Laboratories: "at Tuskegee, designed to carry on,
eh.

under the direction of his present assistant, the work to whi
Dr. Garver has devoted h: gs time and energies for years.

[ts

—
Lele
A

His continuing work in his laboratory boday

Kecont awards, recognitions, honors

a-School at Ways, Ga., dedicated to him by Henry Ford
b-Theodore Roosevelt Award for distinguished service in the fi
of Science - Presented in New York City, Fall of 1939
C= Speaker on 9th annual Herald-Tribune Forum - “Chemistry and
Foil ar 19S¢

5
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Excerpts fromf his letters to

perio

eld

A

Peace

n