On a warm and bright autumn day in 1868, Cornell University celebrated its first Inauguration Day. Though the Arts Quad was little more than a cow pasture and only one still-unfinished building (Morrill Hall) stood, The New York Times reported that at sunrise in Ithaca on Oct. 7, "from all the hills poured forth delightful music, and every few minutes the thunder of artillery from the eastern hills responded to the booming of cannon from a lofty eminence on the west side of town."

A few hundred people attended the ceremonies at Library Hall, which stood on the corner of Tioga and Seneca streets. Because the new university's nonsectarian foundation was extremely controversial at the time, Gov. Reuben E. Fenton did not attend the ceremonies, but was represented by Lt. Gov. Stewart L. Woodford, a strong supporter of the new institution.

The Founder, Ezra Cornell, delivered a brief address, in which he said: "I hope we have laid the foundation of an institution which shall combine practical with liberal education, which shall fit the youth of our country for the professions, the farms, the mines, the manufactories, for the investigations of science and for mastering all the practical questions of life with success and honor. I believe that we have made the beginning of an institution which will prove highly beneficial to the poor young men and the poor young women of our country."

"I desire," he added, "that this shall prove to be the beginning of an institution which shall furnish better means for the culture of all men of every calling, of every aim; which shall make men more truthful, more honest, more virtuous, more noble, more manly; which shall give them higher purposes and more lofty aims, qualifying them to serve their fellow men better, preparing them to serve society better ..."

Lt. Gov. Woodford administered the oath of office to Andrew Dickson White and presented him with the Charter, Seal and keys of the university. White delivered a lengthy address in which he asserted the formative ideals of the new university and declared its educational independence.

Later that day, the crowd climbed up East Hill to the site of the university, where they gathered around a rough wooden structure from which hung a chime of nine bells presented by Miss Jennie McGraw of Ithaca. After the bells rendered "Old Hundred" and "Hail, Columbia," six distinguished speakers orated, among them Louis Agassiz of Harvard, who said, "I hope I shall live to see the time when all the old colleges will draw fresh life from this young university...."

Charles Kendall Adams, 1885

Cornell's second Inauguration took place on Nov. 19, 1885, in the Old Armory, a building that stood on the approximate site of the Quadrangle of the College of Engineering. After a procession from the Arts Quad, participants attended formal ceremonies that lasted several hours, with three-and-one-half-hours of speeches alone. The new president, Charles Kendall Adams, spoke for more than an hour about the development of higher education in America and his plans for a new form of education. Trustee Henry W. Sage formally presented the new president with the Charter and Seal. Later that night, the armory was transformed into a festive hall with dancing that lasted until midnight.

Jacob Gould Schurman, 1892

Jacob Gould Schurman, who was inaugurated in the Old Armory on Nov. 11, 1892, used the occasion to retell the story of the Morrill Act and to excoriate the state of New York for not having given one cent of support to its fledgling land-grant university. He asked for an annual appropriation from the state of "not less than $150,000!" He also listed special needs, such as faculty salaries, dormitories and scholarships, for which he would seek private support.

Livingston Farrand, 1921

Livingston Farrand was inaugurated at the dawn of the "Roaring Twenties" on a day of drizzling rain. In his inaugural address on Oct. 20, 1921, in Bailey Hall, he spoke about the crisis in Europe, with special regard for the plight of Poland and the need for the university to recognize its "international responsibility." The cornerstone of the Baker Laboratory of Chemistry was laid as the climax of the day's ceremonies, attended by Gov. Nathan L. Miller. An inaugural dinner for 700 guests was held at the Old Armory, with Professor Emeritus Thomas E. (Teefy) Crane of "Davy" fame as toastmaster.

Edmund Ezra Day, 1937

In his inaugural address presented on Oct. 8, 1937, Edmund Ezra Day detailed the ideals on which Cornell University had been established, quoting extensively from Andrew Dickson White's Autobiography and noting that it was almost 68 years to the day since White's inauguration. On the eve of World War II, he declared: "The time has passed when it can be assumed that social well-being will flow automatically from self-interested individual enterprise. If democratic institutions are to be preserved and individual liberty remain our proud possession, the citizen must recognize his obligation to make his life add to the common weal." Day was the last Cornell president, until Hunter Rawlings, to receive the Seal and Charter as symbols of authority.

Deane Waldo Malott, 1951 In keeping with the pattern of events that took place at the university during and just after the war years, Deane Waldo Malott was inaugurated in an informal hour-long program held "within the Cornell family" on Sept. 19, 1951. Some 10,000 spectators watched as he was installed as president in an 11 a.m. ceremony on the Library Slope, after which Gov. Thomas E. Dewey presented an address at a luncheon in Statler Hall.

James A. Perkins, 1963

The inauguration of James A. Perkins as president of Cornell was signified by the first presentation of the University Mace and Baton as symbols of authority by the chairman of the Board of Trustees. Previously, the symbols of authority presented to the new president were the University Charter and Seal. The formal ceremony was held in Bailey Hall on the morning of Oct. 4, 1963, with remarks presented by Dr. John W. Gardner, president of the Carnegie Corp. of New York.

Dale R. Corson, 1969

Dale R. Corson had been at Cornell for 23 years, rising from assistant professor of physics to provost, before he was chosen to be its president. His naming as president was marked with a dinner at the time of the announcement, and his formal investiture took place at Commencement ceremonies in Barton Hall on June 8, 1970. In keeping with the tenor of the times, student demonstrators briefly disrupted the ceremonies. In his formal address, Corson said: "The last several years have been increasingly critical and traumatic for the country as a whole and for the universities. Cornell has been no exception. I would...express the hope that all of us may learn increasingly to respond to these problems out of a deep sense of our common destiny."

Frank H.T. Rhodes, 1977 Three presidents emeriti (Malott, Perkins and Corson) were among more than 6,000 guests gathered in Barton Hall on Nov. 10, 1977, for Frank H.T. Rhodes' inauguration. On the previous day, Carl Sagan, the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences, moderated a panel on "Spaceflight and the Future." In his inaugural address, "...And Perhaps Cornell," Rhodes enumerated his goals as president: "We must reaffirm, first, the power of reason; second, the strength of community; third, the priority of research; and, fourth, the wider partnership of Cornell." He emphasized that major research universities are "a national asset, whose well-being is of paramount importance to the nation's welfare, security, prosperity, and health....the great reservoir on which the fulfillment of all our hopes and larger social aspirations must draw....humankind's best hope against the stark alternatives of the future."