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Thomas Bowman (1817-1914) President and Sallie Bowman Caldwell (1936-1948) papers

 Collection
Identifier: PRE-0001-003

Collection Statement

The Thomas Bowman Papers, 1841-1956, consist of letters, speeches, certificates, scrapbooks, programs and biographies written by students and others. A portion of the collection also relates to his daughter Sallie Bowman Caldwell. The collection is arranged into two series by subject. Series 1 relates to Thomas Bowman while Series 2 relates to his daughter, Sallie Bowman Caldwell.

Dates

  • 1841 - 1956

Creator

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Usage Restrictions

Copyright interests for this collection are held by DePauw University.

Biographical Sketch

Thomas Bowman was born in Berwick, Pa. In 1817. In 1837 he was among the first graduating class of Dickinson College where he remained for a time studying law and preaching and teaching in an elementary school related to the college. He worked on the family farm and flour mill before becoming principal of Dickinson Seminary (now known as Lycoming College). He became Indiana Asbury's fourth president in 1858.

As president Thomas Bowman served during the Civil War years; and was also chaplain of the U.S. Senate from 1864-1865. After the war he presided over the admission of women and the planning and beginning of construction of East College. His reputation in the Methodist Episcopal Church was such that in 1872 he was elected bishop on the first ballot with the greatest number of votes cast to that time. He served in the episcopacy for the next 24 years, but continued an his interest in DePauw, serving as chancellor from 1884-1899 and president of its board of trustees from 1887-1895. He retired from active duties in 1896 and died at 96 in 1914.

Thomas Bowman and his wife, Matilda Hartman, had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. One, Sallie Bowman Caldwell, provided the organ for Meharry Hall in East College and a large portion of the funds for Bowman Gymnasium. A son was lost in tragic circumstances in 1871. Thomas Bowman's name is memorialized today with Bowman Park.

Extent

0.4 Cubic Feet (1 document case)

Language of Materials

English

See Also:

DePauw Alumnus:

McKaig, Coeducational Pioneering at DePauw University, Oct. 1937, p.1 Bishop Bowman Honored, May 1939, p.3

Book: Trustees and Officers of Purdue University, p. 67-68 Biographical sketch of Thomas Bowman The Bowman Family by Shadrach Bowman (CS 71.B788 1886) Gospels of Courage, Caldwell, Mrs. Sallie Bowman, 1936

Biographical sketch in FOLDER 23 of the Program of Organ Dedication

Account of death and funeral of Bishop Bowman, 1914, in Committee On Administration.

Correspondence with Sallie B. Caldwell in Gobin Building Fund Document Case.

Hunter, Elizabeth Louise - Purchased and moved old Bowman home - Picture and article about latter.

Letters to Bowman by W.C. DePauw, see DePauw Family Papers

Bowman portrait in Holliday, F.C. - Indiana Methodism, p. 315

Oversize Photographs: DC 2039:32 and oversize drawer 2, item 2



See also: Items located at Lycoming College, Pennsylvania

Title
Thomas Bowman papers Fourth President of DePauw University, 1858-1872
Status
Completed
Author
Hailee Newton
Date
6/4/2012
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Description is in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Archives of DePauw University and Indiana United Methodism Repository

Contact:
Roy O. West Library
405 S. Indiana St.
Greencastle Indiana 46135 United States