June 25, 1878

Class Day exercises and the trustee meetings were held on Tuesday, June 25. Henry L. Young of Poughkeepsiewas elected to the board, and William Buck White was appointed professor of natural history and director of the Natural History Museum, succeeding James Orton, who had died the previous fall on an expedition in the Andes.

The next day, before a large crowd, President Raymond conferred 42 baccalaureate degrees on the Class of 1878. Sarah Wilkinson ’78 delivered the valedictory address. Also awarded were three post-graduate degrees: to Julliette Monroe ’74 in the department of medicine, to Mary Augusta Jordan ’76 in the department of metaphysics and to Helen Hiscock ’73 in the department of English literature.