Ohio University Fundraising Document

              The Trustees of the Ohio University being convened at Athens, 
on the nineteenth day of May, A D. 1818,  for the purpose of taking into con- 
sideration the state of their funds, and of devising means for the speedy 
completion of the College edifice lately erected,  after mature delibera- 
tion, believe it to be their duty to the University as well as to the publick 
with which they consider its interests to be intimately connected, to exhibit 
a view of its situation, and to appeal to that publick for the patronage 
and aid now so important and indispensably necessary. 
In addressing a liberal and enlightened people, they do not 
conceive it necessary to enlarge on the value of seminaries of  Literature 
from their influence on the best interests of society, their tendency to cherish 
civil and religious liberty, and to promote the purity and permanence of 
republican institutions.  This great truth at the present day is recognized 
and deeply felt by the whole American nation, and, as they fully believe 
by none more than by the citizens of Ohio. 
It is generally known to those whom the trustees have the honor to 
address that the Ohio University owes its foundation to [crossed out] the wisdom and [end] a contract entered into between 
[crossed out] benevolence of [end] the Ohio Company and the Government of the United States, that, in early times, 
foresaw the rising importance of this Western division of our Republick, 
and was solicitous to provide for its welfare by the diffusion of useful 
knowledge, science, and literature, and of moral and religious 
instruction. 
Soon after the establishment of the government of the state, it 
was organized, and committed to the change of a President, the 
Reverend Jacob Lindly, under whose superintendance, with the aid 
of an assistant instructor, it has been conducted with fidelity and suc 
cess, and has answered the just expectations of the board of Trustees, 
and of the community. 
In the mean time the funds in the treasury of the University, 
consisting of the surplus of the annual rents charged on its lands, after 
defraying all the expenses of the Institution, had considerably accu- 
mulated, so that in the year 1816, according to the report of the 
Treasurer there was on hand and due to the corporation a sum ex- 
ceeding [crossed out] ten [end] seven thousand Dollars. 
In this state of things, persuaded that the time had never arri- 
ved, when an extension of the plan of the Seminary was imperiously requie 
red, that the object contemplated in its establishment and the will of its foun- 
ders might be carried into full-effect, the Trustees determined to proceed 
in the important work without delay, and they have, in the course of the 
last year, erected a spacious and substantial edifice, of brick, eighty two 
feet in length, and fifty one feet in breadth, three stories high, sufficient, 
with their former building, for the convenient accommodation of more 
than one hundred students.  In effecting this they have entirely exhausted 
their treasury, nor do they perceive any source of supply with in their power, 
except the anticipation of the annual rents, which they would, if possible, 
uniformly apply to the exclusive purpose of defraying the expense of instruction. 
The sum already appropriated to the edifice exceeds Ten thousand dollars, 
and a further sum of nearly seven thousand dollars is estimated to be still 
necessary for its completion. 
The Board of Trustees have also recently appointed a 
Professor of Languages, and the unusual number of applications for admis 
sion into the seminary, from various parts of this state and of the neighbouring