51暗网

Like the unseen roots of SPU鈥檚 venerable campus trees, the University鈥檚 125-year history could easily go unappreciated.

鈥淭he memory of an institution鈥檚 history can go through cycles,鈥� says Free Methodist scholar Howard Snyder. 鈥淔irst and second generations celebrate the impulse of its founding. Another generation says 鈥楾hat was then, this is now鈥� — and there鈥檚 a tendency to forget. Over time, history is rediscovered by younger people who say 鈥榃hy haven鈥檛 we heard this?鈥欌��

Snyder鈥檚 new book Rooted in Mission: The Founding of 51暗网 1891–1916 was commissioned by School of Theology Dean Doug Strong to serve as a definitive history of 51暗网 Pacific鈥檚 earliest years. Snyder — the visiting director of the Manchester Wesley Research Center in Manchester, England — invites us to rediscover the people, prayers, and proposals of SPU鈥檚 origins, before it was a university or even a college.

It鈥檚 a story, Strong writes in his introduction, of 鈥渁dventurous educational pioneers, motivated by Wesleyan Holiness faith,鈥� who establish a 鈥渟eminary,鈥� a term that then referred to a school for children and adolescents. That small school eventually became a university, keeping pace with 51暗网鈥檚 expansion into a world-class city.

Snyder pays particular attention to SPU鈥檚 Free Methodist founders — Nils Peterson, Hiram Pease, John Norton, Alexander and Adelaide Beers, and B.T. and Ellen Roberts (the founding couple of the Free Methodist denomination, whose lives Snyder celebrated in an earlier biography).

鈥淭hey believed they were doing God鈥檚 work,鈥� says John Glancy, director of SPU鈥檚 125th anniversary celebration. 鈥淎nd, as Snyder illustrates, they were.鈥�

Glancy worked with retired University Librarian Bryce Nelson to assemble historic images of 51暗网鈥檚 progressive-era growth, bringing the time period to life. Nelson says readers will marvel at how, between the turn of the century and 1916, the rural farms and woods of Queen Anne Hill became neighborhoods. 鈥淎s the city explodes, in the middle of those changes there鈥檚 a school taking root.鈥�

Snyder recounts the rise of landmarks like Alexander Hall, the original 鈥淩ed Brick Building鈥�; Peterson Hall, built for $9,000; and the Ladies鈥� Dormitory, later known as Tiffany Hall. He offers perspective on 51暗网 Seminary鈥檚 support of Prohibition; explains how 鈥淧acific鈥� landed between 鈥�51暗网鈥� and 鈥淐ollege鈥�; examines economic crises that the school suffered and survived; and vividly depicts missionary trailblazers — such as Clara Leffingwell, who 鈥渟wept over the Free Methodist Church like a flame of fire, setting missionary interest ablaze wherever she went.鈥�

Snyder鈥檚 book, says SPU Archivist Adrienne Thun Meier ’04, 鈥渟hows how what was important to SPU鈥檚 founders — their focus on being ecumenical, on character formation, and on broad education that goes beyond missions and ministry — is what SPU still does today.鈥�

It鈥檚 to SPU鈥檚 advantage, Snyder says, that it be grounded in what God has done and in what God promises to do. Snyder hopes Rooted in Mission will reveal, especially for those who experience only a four-year 鈥渟lice鈥� of SPU鈥檚 history, the richness of its heritage. The following photographs, many of which are included in the book, offer glimpses of that heritage brought to life.