FIRST-- School of Journalism in World, University of MO - Superlatives on Waymarking.com

Walter Williams founded the School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in September,1908.

I was not familiar with the name of Walter Williams (1864-1935) until a few years ago. A friend mentioned that sculptor Sabra Tull Meyer, was doing a bronze bust of Williams for his hometown of Boonville,Missouri. The friend mentioned, in passing, that Walter was the founder of "the first journalism school in the world" at the University of Missouri.

Fast forward to the summer of 2010. I drove over to the MU campus to do a WAYMARK of Missouri University’s new Tiger Plaza. When I finished there I also checked several other buildings on the MU campus for WAYMARK possibilities. I remembered the conversation about Walter Williams.

One of the buildings I walked past was the MU School of Journalism’s Walter Williams Hall and a connecting tower and the Journalism Arch dedicated in 1936.

Under the arch I also found a bronze plaque which read:
"ON THIS CAMPUS THE WORLD'S FIRST SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM WAS FOUNDED BY WALTER WILLIAMS SEPTEMBER 1, 1908--- PLACED MAY 4, 1956 BY SIGMA DELTA CHI NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISM FRATERNITY.”

It was time to learn something about Walter Williams.
I found two books in my local public library: one written in 1998 by Ronald T. Farrar; one written in 2008 by Steve Weinberg.

Ronald Farrar can also be seen in an interesting online video forum recorded in April, 2009 at MU's Reynolds Journalism Institute. Walter Williams and his “Journalist’s Creed” was the theme of this forum discussion.

The Steve Weinberg book is a centennial history of the MU School of Journalism. In it I found that the first journalism school honor almost went to Columbia University's School of Journalism in New York City. They received generous support from Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the New York World in 1905. However, they didn't get around to opening their school of journalism until 1912.

In summary, as unlikely as it seems, the first journalism school got its start in the Midwest and not on the East Coast. Their motto and watchwords of Walter Williams are etched in stone above the arch:
"WISE SHALL BE THE BEARERS OF LIGHT."

Though Williams did not live to see that motto carved in stone, the weathered phrase still bears his impress. Walter was a deeply religious individual. His moral compass was centered around Columbia Missouri’s First Presbyterian Church where he met many friends who were of great value in pursuing his vision There he taught a Sunday School class that was so popular that it drew the attention of a St. Louis reporter and the President of the United States back in 1902. Theodore Roosevelt had also been a Sunday School teacher as a young man.

The old stone church was torn down decades ago, but an image of it hangs in the new church a few blocks away on Hitt Street. It played an important role in the life of Walter Williams and his family.

As for the motto, I looked around a bit for its source and how it was selected. Originally, I thought it might be from the King James Version of the Bible. That however, turned out to be a dead end. It may have come from an evangelist of that time period, or perhaps an Englishman like Lytton Strachey. One of Walter Williams favorite quotes was by this historian and critic.

The quote found in Ronald Farrar's book is: “The most useful man in the world is the man with the matches---the man who gives you the light, who enables you to know where you are and what you are doing, and who will prevent you from running into other people.”

Walter Williams saw himself as the man with the matches who passed on the light to his friends and students. They in turn would continue the spreading of the light to the nation and the world.

Walter’s success in founding the first journalism school was surely due to his vision, his persistence, his civility and his network of friendships he made. His defining moment before the journalism school’s founding was his very successful travels promoting the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis to the leaders and press of the world. It turned out to be a fantastic fair that some have called the “World’s Greatest Fair.” It was a great stepping stone of achievement on the way to his life’s goal.

Walter Williams received many accolades from the nation and the world during his lifetime and after his death.(July, 1935) I like one that was succinctly written and delivered by Dr. Fredrick A. Middlebush, University of Missouri President in September, 1935.(Western Historical Manuscript Collection)

More currently I like the one I found online on the National Press Club in Washington D.C. website and in their ethics tab: "Walter William's Journalist's Creed: This creed was written by Walter Williams (1864-1935), the man who founded the world's first school of journalism at the University of Missouri and perhaps contributed more toward the promotion of professional journalism than any other person of his time."

Today, not everyone remembers his name, but those who do may want to revisit his Journalist's Creed, and perhaps wonder what he would think of the world, journalism and journalists in this 21st century.

You can do that online with a Google search for the April 2009 forum
program at the Reynolds Journalism Institute that featured Ronald Farrar and the dean of the MU School of Journalism,Rilla Dean Mills.

Type of documentation of superlative status: National Press Club online ETHICS Tab Location of coordinates: Plaque coordinates : N 38 56.874 W92 19.667 Web Site: [Web Link]

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