Peabody Education Fund

Founded of necessity due to damage caused largely by the

American Civil War, the Peabody Education Fund was
established by George Peabody in 1867 for the purpose
of promoting intellectual, moral, and industrial education in the most destitute portion of the Southern States.
The gift of foundation consisted of securities to the value
of $2,100,000, of which $1,100,000 were in Mississippi
State bonds, afterward repudiated. In 1869 an additional
$1,000,000 was given by Mr. Peabody, with $384,000 of
Florida funds, also repudiated later. The main purpose
of the fund was to aid elementary education by strengthening existing schools. Because it was restricted from
founding new schools, it did not benet freedmen in the
South, as there were no established schools for blacks.

Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press

2 Notes
[1] Orr, 1950, p. 409
[2] Ko Lomotey, ed. (2010). Encyclopedia of African
American Education. v1. Sage Publications. p. 50. ISBN
1412940508. Retrieved October 2013. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)

The fund introduced a new type of benefaction in that

it was left without restriction in the hands of the trustees
to administer. Power to close the trust after thirty years
was provided on condition that two-thirds of the fund
be distributed to educational institutions in the Southern
states.[1]
The rules of the Peabody Education Fund were strict,
allowing for the distribution of about $80,000 per year
over a period of thirty years. By the time of the termination of the fund in 1898, about $2,500,000 had been
distributed. In 1875 the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund founded the Peabody Normal School of the
South which promptly became the Peabody Normal College (1875-1911). It was maintained in connection with
the University of Nashville and supported by annual donations from the Peabody Education Fund. In 1910 the
Peabody College for Teachers was organized. Placed adjacent to Vanderbilt University, the college opened its
doors on June 14, 1914 for summer school. In September 1915, four new buildings had been completed at a cost
of $750,000. About 1915, the Peabody Education Fund
ceased to exist.
The Southern Education Foundation, a not-for-prot
foundation, was created in 1937 from the Peabody Education Fund and three funds intended to support education for blacks: the John F. Slater Fund, the Negro Rural
School Fund, and the Virginia Randolph Fund.[2]

Literature
L. P. Ayres, Seven Great Foundations (New York,
1911)
Orr, D. (1950). A History of Education in Georgia.
1

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