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Show Presidents of the University ORSON SPENCER, 1850-1854 JOHN R. PARK, 1869-1892 DAVID O. CALDER, 1867-1869 JAMES E. TALMAGE, 1894-1897 JOSEPH T. KINGSBURY, 1897-1916 PREPARATIONS FOR A UNIVERSITY. In the summer of 1848, after the crops had been saved by the gulls, the pioneers began to speak of a higher institution of learning, where not only teachers might be prepared for the common schools, but where the "rising generation" might partake of that influence which would "make good citizens and upright men and women." The colonizers were over a thousand miles from the confines of civilization, and though they were just beginning to build their homes in the very heart of the Great Basin and were without money, they opened the first university west of the Missouri River. Soon after the organization of the provisional government of the State of Deseret, Governor Brigham Young signed an Act, passed by the first Legislative Assembly, incorporating the University of the State of Deseret. Part of the ordinance reads: "Section 1. Be it ordained by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret: That ostut xmzWi FIRST UNIVERSITY HOME a University is hereby instituted and incorporated, located at Great Salt Lake City, by the name and title of the University of the State of Deseret. "Sec. 2. The powers of the University shall be vested in a Chancellor and Twelve Regents, the number of which regents may be increased when necessary, who shall be chosen by the joint vote of both houses of the General Assembly, and shall hold their office for the term of one year, until their successors are qualified. "Sec. 3. The Chancellor shall be the chief executive officer of the University, and Chairman of the Board of Regents. "Sec. The Chancellor and the Board of Regents are a body corporate, to sue and be sued; to act as trustees of the University; to transact and cause to be transacted all business needful to the prosperity of the University; to transcat and cause to be transacted all business needful to the prosperity of the University in advancing all useful and fine arts and sciences; to select and procure lands; erect and purchase buildings; Page Twenty-five |