William Rogers 1769 was chairman and a fund was started to provide medals for contests in declamation and composition.Associated Alumni
There is no record that he did so, but the College later received from Joseph Brown a Gregorian reflecting telescope of 4-inch aperture and 24-inch focal length, made by Watkins and Smith of London, and purchased by him for $500 for the purpose of observing the transit of Venus on June 3, 1769.Astronomy
Rev. Morgan Edwards may be said to have delivered the first baccalaureate sermon when he preached to the graduates in the evening of the first Commencement day in 1769.Baccalaureate
Nov. Anglorum, ab Anno 1769, ad Annum 1772, alicujus Gradus Laurea donati sunt," which was a list of baccalaureate and honorary graduates.Catalogues
This valuable work contained the names of the faculty from the beginning of the college listed by rank and then in order of appointment, and lists of graduates for the classes of 1769 through 1894, with biographical sketches.Catalogues
At the first Commencement in 1769 the subject of the "Disputatio forensica" was "Whether, British America can under her present Circumstances consistent with good Policy, effect to become an independent State?"Debating
Degrees were conferred for the first time in 1769, when seven Bachelor of Arts degrees were granted to students who had completed the prescribed course, along with twenty-one honorary Master of Arts degrees.Degrees
In 1772 six of the seven graduates of 1769 were awarded Master of Arts degrees.Degrees
Solomon Drowne began his studies in 1769 with Charles Thompson 1769, and according to his diary was examined for entrance to Rhode Island College on June 30, 1770.Drowne, Solomon
Among the inhabitants was James Mitchell Varnum 1769, who died during the first year there.Drowne, Solomon
A "matriculation roll" in the hand of James Manning lists 29 students who arrived between 1765 and 1769.Enrollment
Charles Thompson 1769 received fourteen pounds from a legacy left by the widow of John Hobbs of the Philadelphia Association for the education of pious youths for the ministry.Financial aid
Honorary degrees were awarded at the first Commencement in 1769 "at their own request" to ten gentlemen graduated at other colleges and to eleven others who were recommended for literary merit.Honorary degrees
In 1776, when the British arrived in Newport and the College Edifice was needed for barracks, all the books in the College Library were removed to Wrentham, Massachusetts, to the home of William Williams 1769.Library
The Williams Table Collection is the name of the reassembled library of the College at the time of the Revolutionary War, and takes its name from the table which William Williams 1769 used as a student and in which he later stored some of the books in the college library which were sent to his home in Wrentham, Massachusetts, for safekeeping during the Revolution.Library
In 1769, when a building for the College was considered, Warren was first agreed upon as the location.Location
The next contender as a site for the College was East Greenwich, but only a few days after its application, Moses Brown wrote to his brothers on October 23, 1769, that a conversation with Governor Darius Sessions had convinced him of the advantages of Providence as a site.Location
At the Corporation meeting, November 15, 1769, John Cole, Moses Brown, and Hezekiah Smith presented a memorial on behalf of the principal inhabitants of Providence to have the college located there.Location
David Howell, a graduate of the College of New Jersey was engaged as a tutor and was appointed professor of natural philosophy in 1769.Manning, James
One of the exercises at the first Commencement in 1769 was "a Syllogistic Dispute ... on this Thesis, "‘Materia cogitare non potest.’"" Notes taken by Solomon Drowne1773 in his junior year reveal that President Manning’s lectures in philosophy touched briefly upon psychology, intellectual and moral philosophy, ontology, and natural philosophy, and this instruction was completed in only a few days more than a month.Philosophy
Four of the seven graduates in the first class to graduate in 1769 served during the Revolution.Revolutionary War
James Mitchell Varnum, whose part in the Commencement dispute in 1769 had been that America could not subsist independent of Britain, became Colonel of the "Kentish Guards" of East Greenwich, and later Colonel of the First Rhode Island Infantry and Colonel of the Ninth Continental Infantry.Revolutionary War
When a new seal was designed, President Manning wrote in January 1784 to William Rogers 1769 of Philadelphia, "Inclosed you have the Device of the College Seal, which you are requested to procure engraved in the best Manner, & and at the lowest Price, by the famous Engraver, who executes for the Public their curious Devices ... as you know the Poverty of the College we rely on you to obtain it on the best Terms."Seal
From October 1769 to June 1770Hezekiah Smith made a trip to South Carolina and Georgia, preaching and receiving subscriptions for Rhode Island College.Smith, Hezekiah
Hart was the son of Reverend Oliver Hart, who had been awarded an honorary degree at the first Commencement in 1769.Student conduct
The latter committee, composed of Stephen Hopkins, Joseph Brown, and John Davis, in a report on September 8, 1769, recommended that "the building do not exceed sixty-six feet long, and thirty-six feet wide, and three stories high; – that it be a plain building, the walls of best bricks and lime, the door and window frames of red cedar; – that there be a cupola for a bell; – that the first building be so situated as to be one wing of the whole College edifice, when completed."University Hall
With Joseph Brown Benjamin West observed the transit of Venus on June 3, 1769, from a platform on an East Side street later named Transit Street.West, Benjamin
The publication by West of "An Account of the Observation of Venus upon the Sun the Third Day of June 1769" and his observation of a comet in July of 1770 established his reputation, and he received honorary master of arts degrees from both Harvard and Rhode Island College (Brown) in that year.West, Benjamin