Brown Ayres Correspondence
This collection consists of correspondence between Brown Ayres and famous inventors Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. It includes a letter from Thomas Edison in 1881 asking Ayres (then at the University of New Orleans) to record the condition of light bulbs sent to him for testing purposes. Also included are a ticket to an 1877 exhibition of the telephone that Ayres attended and letters dated 1878 and 1916 between Bell and Ayres documenting Ayres' attendance at this exhibition and his role in publicizing this invention.
Dates
- 1877-1881, 1916
Conditions Governing Access
Collections are stored offsite and must be requested in advance. See www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Conditions Governing Use
The UT Libraries claims only physical ownership of most material in the collections. Persons wishing to broadcast or publish this material must assume all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants on www.special.lib.utk.edu for detailed information. Collections must be requested through a registered Special Collections research account.
Extent
0.1 Linear Feet (1 folder)
Abstract
This collection consists of correspondence between Brown Ayres and famous inventors Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell discussing testing and publicity of the light bulb and telephone. A ticket to one of Alexander Graham Bell's exhibitions is also included.
Biographical/Historical Note
Brown Ayres was born on May 25, 1856 to Samuel Warren and Elizabeth Little (Cook) Ayres in Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his BS (1878) and MS (1888) degrees in Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. In 1880, he became a professor of physics and electrical engineering at Tulane University in Louisiana. He married Katie Allen Anderson on July 5, 1881, and the couple had eight children: Martha Garland (Ayres) Newman (1883-1982), Samuel Warren (1886-1915), John Anderson (1890-1969), Elizabeth Cook (Ayres) Link Ayres May (1893-1980), Mary Douglas (Ayres) Ewell (1895-1999), Katherine Stewart (Ayres) Watson (1897-1990), Ruth Virginia (1899-1987), and Morgan Brown (1902-1981). Ayres rose rapidly through the ranks at Tulane, where he remained until accepting the presidency of the University of Tennessee in 1905.
As president, Ayres made a number of notable improvements to the University. He increased the number of faculty and students, made the College of Liberal Arts equal in stature to the Colleges of Agriculture and Engineering, enlarged the College of Agriculture, elevated the departments of Law, Medicine, and Dentistry to Colleges, constructed a separate library, stiffened academic requirements (resulting in recognition by the American Association of Universities), reorganized the Board of Trustees, established scholarships to attract students from outside the Knoxville area, merged the Medical and Dental Colleges with the University, and made the Summer School of the South a regular part of the University program. Ayres died on January 28, 1919 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Arrangement
Collection consists of a single folder.
Repository Details
Part of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tennessee, Knoxville Repository