{"id":380,"date":"2023-05-18T18:51:29","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T18:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/archives\/?p=380"},"modified":"2023-05-18T20:32:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T20:32:28","slug":"president-thomas-alva-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tntech.edu\/archives\/2023\/05\/18\/president-thomas-alva-early\/","title":{"rendered":"President Thomas Alva Early"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Dean Duncan-Morin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Alva Early was the first of seven recorded children of George Peter Early and Mattie J. Nolen Early, born in Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi on August 28, 1881. He attended public school in Mississippi and then graduated from the University of Georgia. After, he returned to Mississippi to act as Superintendent of schools for Yalobusha County. There, he was contacted by Seaman A. Knapp, a prominent agronomist and innovator of farm demonstration work. Early caught Knapp\u2019s attention for his work promoting agricultural clubs in the Yalobusha school district, and following Knapp\u2019s death in 1911, helped organize and raise funds for the Knapp School for Country Life and Peabody College in 1913-1914. During this time, he joined the University of Georgia Agricultural Extension Department, establishing extension programs throughout Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee. Through this work, he connected with many wealthy and affluent individuals throughout the Lower and Lower Middle Appalachian region, who later helped him in his contest for the position of President of the newly formed Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (Tech), in early 1916.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Acrylic portrait on canvas of Thomas Alva Early painted by M.L. Stone in 1960. This picture was painted for Tennessee Tech and details of hair and eye color were provided by government records.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, a new technical school in Cookeville, Tenn., began its peculiar and extremely tenuous existence from its conception on the state Senate floor in early 1915. In 1914, Cookeville politicians and spokespersons, spurred by the passage of the 1909 General Education Bill establishing three state normal schools, or schools for teaching teachers, began advocating for a fourth state normal school in Cookeville. Cookeville advocates encountered fierce resistance from the administrative heads of the previously established normal schools, who felt that their exclusive privileges as state colleges would be diluted by a fourth teaching college. Advocates for the new school proposed establishing a technical and agricultural school instead, given the rural nature of the region. While this did not particularly calm the misgivings of those incensed against its founding, it convinced legislators of its benefit; on March 27, 1915, Governor Thomas C. Rye passed the legislation establishing the Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, using the now defunct Dixie College as its campus. Even though the bill passed the legislature, school administration from the other state normal schools were dead set on the repeal of its establishing legislation. And so, with the formative decisions regarding the fledgling Tech being closely watched by those seeking its downfall, a President needed to be hired to guide the institute\u2019s first steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having heard through word of mouth that the newly established technical institute was looking for someone to helm the position of President, Early sent word to Putnam County Superintendent J. M. Hatfield on Feb. 21, 1916 of his accomplishments and desire for the position. Early\u2019s influential Nashville friends convinced members of the Board of Education that he was the best person for the job, and by late March, he was the first President of Tennessee Tech. \u00a0Within the month, the new President put together a list of professors to staff the school. This alone placed his stamp on the school forever, molding each department as he saw fit by whom he placed at its head. This action, however, according to Tech Historian Austin Wheeler Smith, eventually led to internal conflicts that resulted in Early\u2019s later removal from the position in 1920. Smith purported that Early\u2019s educational background in vocational and industrial work placed him at odds with the liberal arts and master\u2019s degreed professors that he appointed as the various departments\u2019 heads, particularly the man he appointed as Dean of English, Charles Denson Daniels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n