Henry Simmons Frieze

Infobox Person
name = Henry Simmons Frieze


birth_date = September 15, 1817
birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts
death_date = December 7, 1889
death_place =
resting_place =
resting_coordinates =
nationality = USA
title = Acting President of the University of Michigan (3 times)
predecessor = Erastus Otis Haven
successor = James Burrill Angell
religion = Episcopalian
spouse = Anna Roffee
children =
parents = Jacob Frieze, Betsy (Slade) Frieze

Henry Simmons Frieze (September 15, 1817, Boston – December 7, 1889) was an American educator and academic administrator. He was an instructor at Brown University and its University Grammar School, a professor at the University of Michigan, and served three separate times as acting president of the University of Michigan.

Biography

Early Life & Brown University

Frieze was born in Boston on September 15, 1817, the child of Jacob and Betsy Slade Frieze. His father was a Universalist pastor, journalist, and noted pamphleteer. He attended Brown University, playing the organ to support himself. After graduating Brown in 1841, he found work as an instructor in Latin at the university and its associated grammar school, where he worked until 1854.harvnb|Angell|1889] One of his students at the grammar school was James Burrill Angell, whose career would later become closely associated with Frieze's at the University of Michigan. He married Anna Roffee in 1847.harvnb|Briggs|1994|p=202]

University of Michigan

In 1854, Frieze moved to Ann Arbor after being appointed chair of Latin at the University of Michigan. Between 1859 and 1862, the Friezes built a large house at 1547 Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor and lived in it until 1870; known as the Henry S. Frieze House, the home is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. [http://www.nr.nps.gov/Red%20Books/72000659.red.pdf]

When Erastus Otis Haven resigned as president of the University of Michigan in 1869, the Board of Regents asked Frieze's former pupil James B. Angell, then serving as President of the University of Vermont, to assume the office. He declined, feeling he had work remaining to be done in Vermont. On August 19, 1869, Frieze was appointed to serve as acting president. [harvnb|University of Michigan Board of Regents|1869] While in office, he oversaw two major changes at the university. His predecessor, President Haven, had opposed the admission of women to the university, and an attempt by the Board of Regents to allow their admission had failed in 1869. The resolution passed when it was reintroduced in 1870, and the first woman enrolled that same year,harvnb|Beakes|1906|p=643] though, at least in the opinion of James Angell, Frieze was not so much a champion of the policy change as he was acquiescent to the wishes of the regents where his predecessor had been vocally opposed.harvnb|Angell|1890, cited in harvnb|Wenley|1917|p=124] He also introduced the "diploma system," whereby students who graduated from college preparatory programs at Michigan high schools that had been accredited by the Board of Regents could enroll at the university without examination.harvnb|Nemec|2006|pp=110-111]

Frieze served as acting president until 1871, when the offer was repeated to Angell, who this time accepted. He served as acting president twice more, once from June 1880 until February 1882 while Angell was serving as the U.S. Minister to China and again from October 1887 until February 1888 while Angell was serving on the International Commission of Canadian Fisheries.

Henry Frieze died on December 7, 1889 in Ann Arbor.

Commemoration

* The Frieze Building, formerly Ann Arbor High School, was purchased by the University of Michigan in 1956. It was demolished in early 2007 to make room for a new residence hall.

Notes

References

* Citation
last = Angell
first = James B.
year = 1889
author-link = James Burrill Angell
chapter = Obituary Notice of Henry Simmons Frieze, LL.D.
title = Proceedings, American Philosophical Society
volume = 28
publisher = American Philosophical Society
publication-place = Philadelphia
pages = pp. 59-61
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=KUELAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59
accessdate = 2007-08-24
isbn = 1422373622
* Citation
last = Beakes
first = Samuel W.
year = 1906
title = Past and Present of Washtenaw County, Michigan
publisher = S.J. Clarke
publication-place = Chicago
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=dww82ti-GM4C
accessdate = 2007-08-24
* Citation
last = Bentley Historical Library
title = Henry Simmons Frieze Papers Finding Aid
url = http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=bhlead&idno=umich-bhl-851370
accessdate = 2007-08-24
* Citation
last = Briggs
first = Ward W.
year = 1994
title = Biographical Dictionary of North American Classicists
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=k8-uLxAnngUC
publisher = Greenwood
publication-place = Westport, CT
isbn = 0313245606
* Citation
last = Nemec
first = Mark R.
year = 2006
title = Ivory Towers and Nationalist Minds: Universities, Leadership, and the Development of the American State
publisher = University of Michigan Press
url = http://www.press.umich.edu/pdf/0472099124-ch5.pdf
accessdate= 2007-08-24
isbn = 0472069128
* Citation
last = University of Michigan Board of Regents
year = 1869
title = Proceedings of the Board of Regents, August 18, 1869
url = http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=umregproc;cc=umregproc;idno=acw7513.1864.001;seq=00000343
accessdate = 2007-08-24
* Citation
last = Wenley
first = R. M.
year = 1917
title = The Life and Work of George Sylvester Morris: A Chapter in the History of American Thought in the Nineteenth Century
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=zOAYAAAAMAAJ
publisher = MacMillan
publication-place = New York
accessdate = 2007-08-28

Further reading

* Citation
last = Angell
first = James B.
year = 1890
authorlink = James Burrill Angell
contribution = A Memorial Discourse on the Life and Services of Henry Simmons Frieze, LL.D., Professor of Latin Language and Literature in the University from 1854 to 1889
url = http://books.google.com/books?id=PLEWAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA155
title = Selected Addresses
publisher = Longmans, Green
publication-place = New York
publication-date = 1912

s-ttl | title=Acting President of the University of Michigan
years=1869–1871s-ttl | title=Acting President of the University of Michigan
years=1880–1882s-ttl | title=Acting President of the University of Michigan
years=1887–1888