Letter from Charles Hamlin to President Pepper, 1868, Colby Special Collections.
The above images depict a letter from Charles Hamlin to the president of Colby College in the year 1868. Hamlin wrote this letter because he was worried that word got out about the fact that he was offered a position at Orono, and he wanted to inform the president why he was considering a career change. He explains how problematic the funding (or lack thereof) for the science department is and its impact. Hamlin was incredibly frustrated because he does not have the technology required for the research he wanted to pursue, and did not have the funds needed to purchase this equipment. He also felt overwhelmed by the time constraints of teaching with such a small department, and again felt hindered in his research by his commitment to teach. In comparison, Orono was ready to provide what Hamlin needed and promised to build a brand new laboratory as well as a large salary that he knew Colby was unable to afford. Although Hamlin did end up staying at Colby after he sent this letter, it provides context for why he chose to leave four years later to do research at Harvard./ k
Curated by Lolo Niemiec