The Johns Hopkins University was incorporated under the laws of the
State of Maryland, August 24, 1867. Three years later, June 13, 1870,
the Trustees met and elected a President and a Secretary of the Board.
They did not meet again until after the death of Mr. Hopkins, when they
entered with a definite purpose on the work for which they were
associated. They collected a small but excellent library of books,
illustrating the history of the universities of this and of other lands;
they visited in a body Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, Ann Arbor,
Philadelphia, Charlottesville, and other seats of learning; they were
favored with innumerable suggestions and recommendations from those who
knew much about education, and from those who knew little; and they
invited several scholars of distinction to give them their counsel.
Three presidents of colleges gave them great assistance, answering in
the frankest manner all the searching questions which were put to them
by a sagacious committee. Grateful acknowledgments will always be due to
these three gentlemen: Charles W. Eliot, LL. D., President of Harvard
University, Andrew D. White, LL. D., President of Cornell University,
and James B. Angell, LL. D., President of the University of Michigan.