WILLIAM SHIRLEY BAYLEY AND ELIOT BLACKWELDER: RESEARCH COMES TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS' GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT

With the appointment of President Edmund J. James in 1905 the University of Illinois set forth to become a research university. He immediately appointed William Shirley Bayley, Rufus Matthew Bagg and Thomas Edmund Savage in Geology. Bayley, of national repute, was a Johns Hopkins Ph.D. and had substantial publications on iron deposits. Bagg, also a Hopkins Ph.D. Published on foraminifera and economic geology. Savage, a Yale doctoral cadidate, had been a college professor and acting head of the Iowa Geological Survey. Charles Wesley Rolfe remained as senior professor in geology and director of the Illinois ceramics program. Thus a one man department devoted almost entirely to teaching became a four man group actively engaged in research. When Bagg resigned in 1911, he was replaced by John L. Rich, a Cornell Ph.D. In 19l4 F. M. VanTuyl, a Columbia Ph.D. joined the department working in geomorphology and economic geology. Finally Eliot Blackwelder, a Chicago Ph.D. replaced Rolfe in 1916 and served through 1919. Between 1905 and 1916 the department produced 14 masters and two doctorates. Notably they particiapted in the Crocker Land Arctic Exploratory expedition and mounted a Hudson Bay expedition. Illinois had become a fully recognized research department.