Considering the Past: Topics in M.C. History

Prior to assuming the presidency of the Baptist Female University in 1900, Richard Vann had been a teacher and an ordained minister in the Baptist Church. Born to a large farming family in Hertford County, North Carolina, he lost his mother at five and two of four brothers who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. In a cane mill accident, when he was eleven, he lost both arms, one below the elbow and the other below the shoulder. Nevertheless, he graduated from Wake Forest College in 1873 and attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for two years. 

While recognized as gifted preacher, in 1900 Vann took on the task of the administrator of a very young school with a grand vision - but also a debt of $43,000, no endowment and multiple organizational and property issues. But Vann was committed to the education of women for the benefit of society. To address the question of money, Vann wrote letters seeking large donations from more affluent benefactors, and then traveled the state widely, seeking small gifts from the many Baptists with whom he hoped to create long-term links to the college. Already by early 1904, the value of the school's property increased from $75,000 to $289,050, and an endowment of $127,000 was accumulated. 

The Meredith College Archives holds a collection of Vann's letters. In reading his correspondence, one is struck by the vast range of his responsibilities and his care for potential students, current students, staff and alumnae, He writes with kindness and firmness about coursework, room assignments, personnel issues and the occasional unwelcome presence of men on campus. In the meantime, Vann wrote the words and music to Meredith College's Alma Mater.

Leaving Meredith in 1915, Vann went on to serve in multiple roles for the Baptist State Convention, often seen as moderator during controversial issues facing the denomination, most notably during a split over the teaching of evolution.  He was also a trustee for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.(1909–24) and Wake Forest College (1894–1928.)

When C Dormitory was renamed for Vann in 1930 by the Board of Trustees, the student newspaper explained, "Dr. Vann rendered distinguished service in this capacity [as president] not only by helping to construct a worthy curriculum and [to] bring a coterie of workers fitted for the enterprise in hand; but in placing the institution in the hearts of our people and giving it a merited place in their affections. He did this at a time when there was little enthusiasm for higher education for women in North Carolina. Conditions were wonderfully changed through his connection with the college."

Vann died in 1941.