Purdue's Lack of a School of Music

After our ending discussion where it was mentioned that Purdue has no school of music due to a stipulation by John Purdue, I thought to myself "that's probably a myth." So I walked over to the Elliott Hall of Music to talk to a friend of mine, Professor Jay Gephart, Director of Bands at Purdue.

He was busy, but was able to quickly answer my question. "Why doesn't Purdue have a school of music?" I asked. He responded "I don't know exactly, but it has to due with the fact that it is a land grant institution and IU already had a school of music at the time of its founding." I replied, "Did John Purdue establish any requirements when he gave his initial donation prohibiting a school of music?" Jay's response: "no, it was nothing like that."

So there's an argument from authority. But that's hardly good enough, so I went digging in an old book that I bought a while back. It's out of print (though apparently the Purdue library system has it online). The book is called "Century and Beyond: The History of Purdue University". It's a good book and I encourage anyone planning to stick around here for a while to read it.

On page 29 you can find the letter that John Purdue wrote to the Governor of Indiana detailing the conditions associated with his donation. I've reproduced it below:

To His Excellency Conrad Baker, Governor of Indiana:
Sir --
As the General Assembly, at its present session, will doubtless be called upon to consider the questions relating to the establishment and location of the Agricultural College, contemplated by the act of Congress of July 2, 1862, I desire to avail myself of the opportunity to render a testimonial to the county in which I have spent thirty years of the ripeness of my life, and also to manifest my interest in the cause of collegiate education, by offering (as I now do) through your Excellency to the State of Indiana, to donate the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the use of such college, provided the General Assembly will, by law, secure me in the following conditions:
First. Locate the said college at such point in Tippecanoe County as may be decided upon by a majority of the present Board of Trustees of the Indiana Agricultural College, to whom I be added as a member.
Second. Name the Institution by an irrepealable law "Purdue University".
Third. Provide that I be a member of the Board of Trustees having control of said institution, and should I cease to be such, I be retained as a advisory member thereof, and have visitorial power over the University during my lifetime.
Upon these conditions I offer this donation, which I agree to pay in yearly installments of $15,000 until the full sum of $150,000 is paid; and I am prepared to render my obligations accordingly as may be required.
I will thank you to present my offer to the Houses of the General Assembly for their consideration.
Very respectfully yours,
John Purdue
April 15, 1869


So to clear up any ambiguities, the fact that Purdue University does not have a school of music really has nothing to do with John Purdue. The exact details are still unclear to me, and I spent a little time digging around trying to find Purdue's actual charter with no success.

My understanding is that because IU predates Purdue (and the Morrill Act) it was a more traditional liberal arts college, representative of post-secondary education at the time. When the Morrill Act was passed the Indiana legislature leveraged it to create an Agriculture/Mechanical (Engineering) college – Purdue – and in the process wanted to avoid duplicating programs that already existed at the other state institution. That is why, for instance, IU has a medical program and Purdue does not. Purdue has a vet med program, and IU does not. IU has a school of music, and Purdue does not (although you can minor in music here). As time progresses we can see some duplication of programs between the two universities, but that is probably to be expected as the enrollment increases. This is simply my understanding, I haven't put forth the effort to find any citations to support my claims.

That said, my main goal with this post is to help prevent the spread of misinformation. I hope that it is clear that Purdue's lack of a school of music has nothing to do with John Purdue.

If someone happens to have more information regarding this particular historical oddity I would be very, very interested in hearing it. Thanks!