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Thanks so much for this. paul finkelman Paul Finkelman President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy Albany Law School 80 New Scotland Avenue Albany, New York 12208-3494 518-445-3386 pfink@albanylaw.edu >>> aldous@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU 12/09/06 10:39 AM >>> From: Jonathan White <jww@umd.edu> I recall a few weeks ago seeing a query regarding class rank in the 19th century. I am presently at the Huntington Library and came across this letter from the President of Yale to a Professor of Law at Columbia: Theodore Dwight Woolsey to Francis Lieber, [n.d., circa 1862]: "In a letter you refer to the matter of ranking students. This is done with regard to those who receive appointments with us, when we publish the honors, but we have never ranked and they do not. I believe in England [they] rank the [something in Greek]. What we have done has been opposed. Whether it is worthwhile to classify those who are entitled to no honors just to show who is at the tail of the class, or at the end of the tail, I have my doubts, but I approve of it, as it respects others." I'm not sure who the "they" is in the second sentence. The other side of the correspondence is here, but I don't have the time to look for it. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Jon Jonathan W. White Ph.D. Candidate Department of History University of Maryland, College Park
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