Gragg publishes on early S&T director

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On October 6, 2020

1911 Rolla

Rolla, Missouri, in 1911. At the turn of the 20th century, the town had fewer than 2,000 residents and no running water. Undaunted, Ladd set out to establish the School of Mines and Metallurgy as a fixture within Missouri’s higher education system. Photo courtesy of Young Collection, Missouri University of Science and Technology Archives.

An article by Dr. Larry Gragg, Curators’ Distinguished Teaching Professor emeritus of history and political science, is featured in the October 2020 issue of the Missouri Historical Review. The article is titled “‘From the Hell’s Brew of Malice, Hatred, and Vindictiveness’: The 1906 Investigation of George E. Ladd, Director of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy.”

George E. Ladd
George E. Ladd, circa 1907. Photo courtesy of Clair V. Mann Collection, Missouri University of Science and Technology Archives.

The journal is a scholarly quarterly for members of The State Historical Society of Missouri that has been the cornerstone of the organization’s publication program since 1906.

The subject of the article, Dr. George E. Ladd, was the sixth director of the Missouri School of Mines (MSM). Although he had no degrees in mining or metallurgy, he had earned a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard College and had managed the Massachusetts stone and mineral exhibit for the 1893 World’s Fair. When he took the MSM job, he was serving as the assistant geologist at the Georgia Geological Survey. Gragg describes him as brash and arrogant, but at the same time, an effective leader who took MSM to the next level academically and with brick and mortar additions to the campus when Rolla was a town with less than 2,000 residents and no running water.

Gragg explores how Ladd’s efforts to transform MSM into a first-rate technological institution created powerful enemies in Rolla and across the state that ultimately led to a contentious, political investigation designed to unseat him. Along the way there were secret meetings, fist fights and a mock funeral oration. The results of the investigative committee’s work were sent to Missouri Gov. Joseph W. Folk who left Ladd’s fate in the hands of the University of Missouri’s board of curators.

Imperial Hotel
The Imperial Hotel in Rolla, where the committee investigating Ladd held “secret” proceedings. School of Mines students who supported Ladd marched through the town and then held a “funeral oration” for Ladd’s nemesis Henry Hohenschild in front of the hotel in an attempt to persuade the investigators to exonerate their school’s director. Photo courtesy of Clair V. Mann Collection, Missouri University of Science and Technology Archives.

Gragg’s article on Ladd is his first to appear in Missouri Historical Review. His article is based on new research subsequent to his newly released book, Forged in Gold: Missouri S&T’s First 150 Years, his 10th published book.

Gragg will present a webinar on the article about Ladd at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 that is sponsored by The State Historical Society of Missouri. Registration is required.

With this publication, Gragg joins a roster of Missouri S&T scholars who have contributed their research on the state to Missouri Historical Review including Drs. Diana Ahmad, Lawrence O. Christensen, Petra DeWitt, Patrick Huber and Jack Ridley.

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On October 6, 2020. Posted in Accomplishments