Farr married the former Anita Nicholson Harris in 1901, and the couple had two daughters, Jane and Anita,[6] and an infant son who did not survive.
Academic career
After completing his doctorate, Farr became a professor of English language and literature, the head of English instruction, and later the vice president at one of the University of Florida's four predecessor institutions, Florida Agricultural College (FAC) in Lake City, Florida, from 1901 to 1905.[1] Farr was also the head coach of the FAC "blue and white" college football team for two seasons in 1901 and 1902.[10] Farr was only moderately successful as a football coach, posting a 1–2–1 record in two seasons.[10] During Farr's tenure, the FAC blue and white's sole victory was a 6–0 decision over Florida State College, the predecessor of the modern Florida State University, in 1902.[10]
As a member of the college's faculty, Farr was actively involved with advocating the consolidation of the State of Florida's several publicly supported institutions of higher learning, and organized a letter-writing campaign to newspapers throughout the state, extolling the merits of consolidation.[11] After the Florida Legislature, in 1905, mandated the merger of Florida Agricultural College with three other state-supported institutions to create the new University of the State of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida,[12] Farr became a professor of English language and literature and the chairman of the new university's Department of English.[13] (In 1909, the new university's name was shortened to the "University of Florida.")
As part of one of his first English classes at the new university, Farr implemented an honor system in 1905.[14] Other faculty members thought the honor system was a good idea, and began to implement it in their own classes on an ad hoc basis.[14] In 1914, the students requested the creation of a school-wide honor code, and university president Albert A. Murphree and the Florida Board of Control approved the concept in 1916.[14]
During the three years from 1916 to 1919, Farr took an outspoken stand on the Southernracial issues of the day by signing a series of four published letters addressed to Southern college students.[15] He wrote the letters, together with ten other professors from the universities of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, as well as Louisiana State University and Virginia Military Institute, under the rubric of the "University Commission on Race Questions," in an attempt to influence the opinions of the younger generation of Southern college students as future opinion leaders.[15] The four letters addressed lynching, migration, education and a "new Reconstruction."[15]
Farr also served as the first vice president of the University of Florida from its inception in 1905 until his retirement,[16] and it fell upon him to lead the university through the world-wide influenza epidemic of 1918 when president Murphree was incapacitated with the illness.[17] Hundreds of the university's students and faculty fell ill with the deadly "Spanish flu," and although one professor and several students died, the university was fortunate to suffer few fatalities.[17]
He became the acting, or interim, president upon the unexpected death of president Murphree in December 1927.[1] He served as the university's interim president until his permanent successor, John J. Tigert, assumed office in September 1928.[1] In his role as the university's first vice president, Farr ultimately served under three different university presidents—Andrew Sledd, Murphree and Tigert.
After retiring from the university's faculty because of illness in 1934, Farr and his wife moved to Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He was placed on "special status" and commissioned by the university and Board of Control to write several manuscripts between 1935 and 1941.[1] These writings included an unpublished manuscript of his personal reminiscences of the University of Florida and its predecessor institution, Florida Agricultural College, entitled The Making of a University, and covering the years 1901 to 1934.[18]
Legacy
Farr died in 1958.[19] He was one of the University of Florida's last living links to the generation that was responsible for the university's creation in 1905. Farr's unpublished manuscript, The Making of a University, provides a first-hand account of the politics surrounding the creation of the university, and serves as one of the primary sources regarding the university's early history from its inception in 1905 through his retirement in 1934.
^ abJames M. Farr, The Making of a University (unpublished manuscript), University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, Special Collections, p. 5 (c. 1935–1941).
^Intensives and Reflexives was a standard reference in its field, and remains in print as of July 2009. See James Marion Farr, Intensives and Reflexives in Anglo-Saxon and Early Middle-English, BiblioBazaar, Charleston, South Carolina (2009). Retrieved February 23, 2010.
^ abcTom McEwen, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama, pp. 19–27, 363 (1974).
^Samuel Proctor & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 23–24 (1987).
^The University of Florida was first known as the "University of the State of Florida," from 1905 to 1909, when its official name was simplified to its present form.
^See, generally, Farr, Making of a University. It was a subject with which Farr was personally well acquainted from his time as professor and vice president—the subtitle of the manuscript was "The personal memoirs of one intimately associated with its growth."
^ abAssociated Press, "Ex Vice President Of Univ. of Florida Dies," Ocala Star-Banner (March 5, 1958). Retrieved January 16, 2011. The Associated Press wire article misstates Farr's age as 73; he was actually 84 years old at the time of his death.
Farr, James M., The Making of a University (unpublished manuscript), University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries, Special Collections, Gainesville, Florida (c. 1939–1941).
McEwen, Tom, The Gators: A Story of Florida Football, The Strode Publishers, Huntsville, Alabama (1974). ISBN0-87397-025-X.
Pleasants, Julian M., Gator Tales: An Oral History of the University of Florida, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (2006). ISBN0-8130-3054-4.
Proctor, Samuel, & Wright Langley, Gator History: A Pictorial History of the University of Florida, South Star Publishing Company, Gainesville, Florida (1986). ISBN0-938637-00-2.
Van Ness, Carl, & Kevin McCarthy, Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future: The University of Florida, 1853–2003, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (2003).