Applications are now being accepted for the fall 2019 Buchanan Fellowship, Strengthening Ties: Cornelius Vanderbilt and the Founding of Vanderbilt University. The fellowship is open to undergraduate students in good standing. Fellows attend 10 seminars, create a project and earn $1,000. If you are interested in Vanderbilt University’s history and would like to know how to curate an exhibition, please apply for the fall 2019 Buchanan Fellowship program. Students should submit:
- Cover letter addressed to Celia Walker describing what you hope to achieve in the project
- Curriculum vitae including name, address, email, and telephone
- Letter of recommendation from a faculty member
Strengthening Ties: Cornelius Vanderbilt and the Founding of Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt students celebrate founder’s day on March 17, the day Cornelius Vanderbilt wrote to Bishop Holland Nimmons McTyeire, “I make the following offer, through you, to the Corporation known as the Central University of the Methodist Episcopal Church South….” From this gift sprang our university. But what is (or was) Central University? Who was Holland McTyeire? How did Cornelius Vanderbilt, a northern financier, get the idea of giving such a large sum of money to a southern institution, a place he never visited? These are just a few of the stories that may be found in the rare letters, photographs and artifacts held in Vanderbilt University’s Special Collections.
For more information, visit the Libraries’ Buchanan Fellowship pages or contact Celia Walker.