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THE MICHIGAN QUARTERLY REVIEW
gated good fortune. Mr. Barbour's alma
mater benefited from his interest not only
financially but in many other ways. Regents
were encouraged to participate directly in
University affairs in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. They dabbled in the implementation of the University's business in
ways that would plague contemporary University management. However, they also handled, and handled well and efficiently, almost
all the details of the legal and business affairs
of the institution. Such functions are now
performed by the professional business staff,
but in a previous era these responsibilities
would otherwise have devolved upon the
President himself.
Levi Barbour made one gift of property
during his first Regental term, namely, Barbour Gymnasium. He gave to the University,
at the Regents' meeting of October 24, 1894,
"a lot in Detroit as a donation toward the
erection of a gymnasium wing for women."
This building, completed in 1896, was the
center of women's activities on the campus
for the next thirty years. Its marble floored
basement was to prove the scene of many
suppers and picnics. Its smoky stove was to
cook gallons of fudge in a fudge eating era,
and its modest swimming pool (19 v 28 feet)
was an acceptable if daring innovation in the
direction of female physical fitness. Dramatic
groups and women's societies performed
their plays or staged their parties in the
building's social room, Sarah Caswell Angell
Hall. Certainly it was not without cause that
Regent Frank W. Fletcher moved on January
26, 1898, "that because of Regent Barbour's
generosity, the new Women's Building be
known as the Barbour Gymnasium."
It is possible that Barbour was also the
prime mover in bringing Dr. Eliza Mosher,
Michigan's first dean of women, to the campus. President Emeritus Harry B. Hutchins
wrote in 1922 that it was Barbour's "initiative that led to the establishment of the
office of Dean of Women and to the election
of the first incumbent." However, there is no
evidence in either the Mosher or Angell
papers of Barbour's role. Nonetheless there
is no doubt that the existence of Barbour
gym was a deciding factor in Dr. Mosher's
acceptance of her position, a pioneering ven
ture in meeting the needs of women at coeducational institutions.
Regent Barbour retired from the Board of
Regents in 1898, the same year his name was
bestowed on the new Women's Building.
However, he was called to serve another
term as Regent, 1902-08. While the University profited from his industry and frequently was honored by his advice during
this period, he refrained from any outright
gifts to his alma mater.
BETSY BARBOUR HOUSE and the Barbour
scholarships for Oriental women were
conceived almost simultaneously by Mr. Barbour. In 1912, on a round-the-world trip, he
toured extensively in the Far East. Here he
met three women, trained at Michigan, whose
work impressed him. Two were American
girls, Mary Stone and Ida Kahn, serving as
medical missionaries in China after taking
their M.D. degrees at Ann Arbor in 1896,
during his first term as Regent. Tomo Inouye,
who had graduated from the Michigan medical school in 1901 and was serving her
people in Japan, impressed him even more.
Before his Oriental tour Barbour already had
exhibited an interest in the training in the
United States of Oriental women for service
in their home countries. In 1905 one such
girl studying at Michigan wrote Barbour
thanking him for his hospitality, "which cannot be described but is immediately felt, and
puts the stranger at once at ease. And indeed I felt easy, comfortable and quite at
home while you kindly entertained me.
the first time I ever had since I came to this
country."
Two Japanese girls came to the campus
under his auspices in 1914. One died of
tuberculosis while in residence, and in consequence Barbour investigated living conditions for women on the campus and found
them wanting. From this came the plan for
Betsy Barbour Residence, conceived in 1917,
but postponed in actual construction until
1920 because of the First World War.
BARBOUR first wrote to President Hutchins,
April 23, 1917, "Would it be agreeable
to see me on Wednesday morning?" Again
on May 22, "If it could be arranged to have
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