Francis Huntington Snow (1840-1908)

Francis Snow was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He at­tended Williams College (graduating valedictorian in 1862) and Andover Theological Seminary. Snow was hired as professor of mathematics and natural sciences at the University of Kansas in 1866. With only two colleagues, Snow's teaching duties spanned impossibly wide fields. Snow was also responsible for build­ing the library and museum collec­tions. As the University grew, Snow's teaching duties narrowed, but his influence on the development of the institution was immense.

Snow had strong convictions that no students be excluded on grounds of either race or sex. Although the University charter stipulated a "fe­male branch" separate from the "male branch", this was never car­ried out, and KU was to become one of the earliest co-ed state universities. Excursions and field trips led by Snow regularly included women stu­dents, an unusual practice at the time.

Snow's administrative ability made him an obvious choice for the chan­cellorship in 1890. He strengthened the faculty by exceptional appoint­ments in both the sciences and humanities, and many of the modern schools of the University were organ­ized at this time.

A bequest by Snow's great-uncle, William B. Spooner, built Spooner Hall and the old chancellor's resi­dence. The inscription on Spooner, "Whoso findeth wisdom findeth life," was one of Snow's favorite quotes.

Snow's long hours "on the Hill" were well known. Alexander Wet­more, a KU museum student later to become secretary of the Smithsonian recalled: "Work in the laboratories began for me at eight in the morn­ing, but through rising at six I could reach the museum by seven and so have an hour for research on my specimens. But any feeling of per­sonal vanity at this display of energy was humbled in me completely by the fact that each day as I came toward the building I met Dr. Snow coming down the hill on his way to breakfast after having spent two hours or more at work in the early morning."