The Sacrifices of F.A. Mood

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Francis Asbury Mood
[Scrapbook]
1857-1880 

In this scrapbook, F.A. Mood kept materials and clippings of news pertaining to his family, Soule University, and Southwestern University. Most of the scrapbook is dedicated to the central University movement that Mood spearheaded, including many clippings from the Christian Advocate that Mood had sent in describing and defending the progress they had made. The item stands as Mood’s own testament to his efforts on behalf of the University.

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Francis Asbury Mood
[Letter from F.A. Mood to J.D. Giddings]
February 19th, 1876 

Mood writes to J.D. Giddings, one of the wealthiest men in the state, and a Trustee of Southwestern University, regarding the expenses Mood has put up in opening and sustaining the University: “When we located at this point I found simply an empty house – no benches, blackboards or other facilities for teaching. I had sold my place in Chappell Hill bought with what I had saved from the wreck of war in SoCa. I have been compelled to consume this entirely in getting the institution on its feet. . . .I have expended $16 or 1800 of my own – or rather my wife’s means – in starting the affair + if refunded it would be all I desired.” His request to be refunded the money he put into furnishing the University was most likely spurred by his declining health; Mood writes of a worsening cough and tells Giddings “I am anxious to leave my family in some sort of a home.”

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J.C.S. Morrow 
[Letter from J.C.S. Morrow to J.D. Giddings]
April 10th, 1876 

Morrow, a board member of the University, writes to Giddings about a plan he has drafted “without the knowledge or consent of Dr. Mood” to solicit $2000 from their wealthy associates in order to build Mood a suitable residence in Georgetown. Morrow describes the sacrifices of Mood and his living conditions: “The Dr. is without a home of his own – Having sacrificed nearly all he had in and in his efforts to open the University here at the time he did. In consideration of the afore, together with the facts, that Dr. Mood has been and is yet indefatigable in his energies for, and unceasing in his devotion to the welfare of his Institution and Church, the gradual but permanent success of the Institution as the result of his labors, the privations endured by himself and family (having lived in a part of the lower story of the University Building for more than a year.) practicing since his residence here closer economy than his nature and comfort demanded. I say to you cordially that his is a rare instance of self sacrifice and devotion to his Church and her Institution.”