Crowell, J. Franklin (John Franklin), 1857-1931

John Franklin Crowell was an educator, economist, and journalist. He served as President of Trinity College (Randolph County, N.C. and later Durham, N.C.) from 1887-1894.

From the description of John Franklin Crowell records and papers, 1883-1932. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 55635813

Clergyman, economist.

Columbia University Ph.D., 1897.

From the description of J. Franklin Crowell papers, 1894. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 489375962

John Franklin Crowell was born in York, Pennsylvania in 1857, and received his A.B. from Yale University in 1883. After serving as principal of Schuylkill Seminary in Pennsylvania, Crowell returned to Yale to study for one year in the Divinity School and for one year in the Graduate School.

At the age of 29, Crowell became President of Trinity College. He served as President, in Randolph County and in Durham, from 1887-1894. Crowell was instrumental in moving Trinity College to Durham and gaining the support of the Duke family. His vision was for Trinity to become a great university and he traveled across the state to publicize its programs. Crowell gradually upgraded the faculty and improved the educational facilities of the college. He was responsible for modernizing Trinity's curriculum, turning it away from recitation and towards research. Crowell was also interested in athletics and introduced intercollegiate football to the South.

After leaving Trinity, Crowell became head of the Department of Economics and Sociology at Smith College. Crowell received his Ph.D. in economics and sociology from Columbia in 1897. Two areas of interest to him were the plight of the poor in N.Y. tenement houses and the development of the cotton markets. Crowell was an economist and statistician for several years in New York and Washington. From 1906 to 1915, he was an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, and later became director of the World Market Institute in New York. Crowell retired in 1925, and died in East Orange, New Jersey in 1931.

From the guide to the John Franklin Crowell Records and Papers, ., 1883 - 1932 and undated, (University Archives, Duke University)