Clapp, C. H. (Charles Horace), 1883-1935

Charles H. Clapp was born in Boston, Massachusetts on June 5, 1883. He received his B.A. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1905 and five years later he received his doctorate from the same school before studying at Harvard University. He served as an instructor in geology and mining and assistant state geologist for the University of North Dakota from 1905 to 1907. From 1907 to 1910 he was an instructor of geology and mining at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Beginning in 1913 he served as a professor of geology at the University of Arizona until he accepted a similar position at the Montana School of Mines in Butte, Montana in 1916. In 1918 he became president of the Montana School of Mines where he continued teaching as well until 1921 when he was made president of the State University at Missoula (now The University of Montana-Missoula).

Clapp maintained his interest in geology. As late as the 1930s his accomplishments in the field included a study of the granite mass known as the Idaho batholith in the Bitter Root and Sapphire ranges and a geologic survey of several sites proposed for a Chain of Lakes dam project north of Havre, Montana.

Accomplishments during Clapp's term as president of the university included increased enrollment of upper classmen, increased numbers of graduate students, initiation of Freshman Week, the creation of the School of Religion, and succssful efforts to obtain federal funds for a Student Union building, the first government-financed project of its kind on an American college campus. Other campus construction during his term included the library, three dormitories, the gymnasium, the heating plant, and the forestry building.

Charles H. Clapp and Mary R. Brennan married in 1911. They had seven children, Daniel Brennan, Michael Manson, Mary Lincoln, Francis Coyle, Lucy Ford, Prudence, Paul, and Margaret.

Clapp died on May 9, 1935, while in still holding the office of university president.

From the guide to the Charles H. Clapp papers, 1907-1935, (University of Montana-Missoula Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library Archives and Special Collections)