| Theodore Dwight Woolsey | |
| Order: | 10th |
| President of Yale University | |
| Term Start: | 1846 |
| Term End: | 1871 |
| Predecessor: | Jeremiah Day |
| Successor: | Noah Porter |
| Birth Date: | October 31, 1801 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Death Place: | New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education: | Yale College |
Theodore Dwight Woolsey (31 October 1801 – 1 July 1889) was an American academic, author and President of Yale College from 1846 through 1871.[1]
Theodore Dwight Woolsey was born 31 October 1801 in New York City. His mother was Elizabeth Dwight (1772–1813) and father was William Walton Woolsey (1766–1839).[2] At Yale, he served as President of the secret society, Brothers in Unity, and then graduated as valedictorian of his class from Yale College in 1820. He consequently spent a year in legal study in Philadelphia, and two years of the study of theology at Princeton. For some time, Woolsey was a tutor at Yale, then went abroad to study Greek in Leipzig, Bonn, and Berlin. From 1831 to 1846, he was professor of Greek at Yale.
Woolsey's mother's brother Timothy Dwight (1752–1817) had been president of Yale 1795–1817. Jeremiah Day was the only president Yale had in between the family members.
Woolsey was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1845.[3] After being chosen as president of Yale, he instructed students of history, political economy, political science, and especially international law.He resigned as president of Yale in 1871. After Noah Porter served as president, the office was back in the family as his cousin once removed Timothy Dwight V (1828–1916), was selected in 1886. In 1871, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[4]
During his 25 years as president, Yale advanced in wealth and influence and two new departments, the Scientific School and the School of Fine Arts, were begun. Woolsey was one of the founders of the New Englander, chairman of the American commission for the revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible, president of the World's Evangelical Alliance at its international meeting in New York, a lifelong member and at one time president of the American Oriental Society, and a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Among Woolsey's writings and publications are these: Editions of the Alcestis of Euripides (1834), of the Antigone of Sophocles (1835), of the Prometheus of Æschylus (1837), of the Electra of Sophocles (1837), and of the Gorgias of Plato (1843); an edition of Lieber's Civil liberty and Self Government, and:
Woolsey married twice and had a total of 13 children.On 5 September 1833, he married Martha Salisbury, who was born 30 November 1812 and died 3 November 1852. Their children were:[2]
On 6 September 1854, Woolsey married Sarah Sears Prichard, who was born 3 March 1824 and died in 1900.Their children were:
Woolsey died 1 July 1889 in New Haven.[5]
Woolsey was a descendant of George (Joris) Woolsey, one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam, and Thomas Cornell (settler).[6]
Woolsey Hall at Yale, completed in 1901, and Woolsey Street in New Haven, Connecticut are named in his honor. The statue erected in Woolsey's memory, now displayed on Yale's Old Campus, has a golden toe from being rubbed for good luck.