AUB Fulfills the Dreams of the Founding Fathers after 140 Years

Book cover

The academic year 1991-92 witnessed AUB's 125th anniversary during which AUB was recovering from the brutalities of the civil war that ended in 1991. AUB celebrated the occasion by compiling The Founding Fathers of the American University of Beirut: Biographies (1992). The latter sheds light on the qualities the founding fathers nurtured at AUB, and that helped the University survive despite all the strains of many wars and stressful times.

The book, in both English and Arabic, tells the story of AUB's founding fathers: the Reverend Daniel Bliss, the Reverend David Stuart Dodge, Dr. Edwin Lewis, Dr. Harvey Porter, Dr. George Edward Post, Dr. Cornelius Van Dyck, and Dr. John Wortabet. Ghada Yusuf Khoury's compilation of invaluable primary documents such as the letters, speeches, minutes, and articles from University newsletters reveals the accomplishments and attributes of each of the founding fathers. The book portrays the insights and values they followed in establishing the strong foundations of the University.

The Founding Fathers is dedicated to Dr. William M. Thomson, author of the The Land and the Book, who "according to President Daniel Bliss, 'from his high tower of observation, first gave voice to the thought of a college to supply the wants of the East.'" Later in the book, Daniel Bliss in his retirement address acknowledges William Thomson for suggesting to him in 1861 the "wisdom of establishing in Syria a college for the higher education of the youth of the land."

Perhaps, the unique value of the documents published in this book lies in its revelation of the origin of the ideas that drove AUB to where it is today.

According to Daniel Bliss, "When an institution is prosperous with thousands of alumni like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, it is comparatively easy to raise funds for its enlargement, but a college with no history, no alumni, no campus, no buildings, no existence except in thought and on paper, requires much patience and hard work to secure means for its foundation."

It is thanks to the patience and hard work of the founding fathers that AUB, after 140 years, has a wide campus, is prosperous, and has thousands of alumni whose support has been instrumental in raising funds, just as President Bliss had envisioned.