(Prepared by C. L. Rein subject to revision.)

See Who's Who in America; also American Men of Science.

Chancellor Samuel Avery of the University of Nebraska has lived in this state nearly forty years and with some short interruptions twenty-five years of his life have been spent in Lincoln. Since Nebraska is still comparatively a new state it will be sometime before its public men can claim that they were born, raised educated and performed their life work in Nebraska. Chancellor Avery was born in the State of Illinois but he came to Lincoln early enough in the life of the state to be classed among its pioneers and early enough in his own life to draw his education sympathies and his inspiration as a teacher from the circumstances and conditions which surround the educational profession in Nebraska.

Students of colleges and universities who are partially or wholly self-supporting while in school are gradually coming to be regarded as self-made men. Chancellor Avery belongs to this class. Largely by his own economic extertion he graduated from Doane College in 1887 took a degree in science at the University of Nebraska in 1892 and recieved from the same institution the degree of Master of Arts in 1894. Having become by this time a confirmed and habitual student of chemistry with a view to

preparing himself for educational work in the chemical field he went to Germany and began the study of chemistry at Heidelburg University. From this institution he recieved in 1896 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. With his graduation from Heidelburg the Chancellor's professional life as a Nebraska educator began.

He is called a Nebraska educator for the reason that except for the years 1899 to 1901 during which time he was head of the Chemistry Department in the University of Idaho the Chancellor has spent his twenty years of professional life in the University of Nebraska. During the eleven years of service on the Faculty of Chemistry at the State University Chancellor Avery was consistently advanced from what might be called the "foot" to the head of the Chemistry Department and when Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews resigned Chancellor Avery was transferred from the head professorship of chemistry to his present position.

Both during his student days and subsequently in his work as a teacher and scholar the Chancellor was the recipient of a number of scholastic honors and the author of several pub lications on chemical subjects. The Chancellor is a member of Phi Beta Kappa the honorary scholarship fraternity a member of Sigma Xi the honorary scientific fraternity a member of the American Chemical Society and a member of the Deutche Chemische Gesselschaft of Berlin and others. Because of his work in agricultural experiment stations of Idaho and Nebraska University Chancellor Avery had had the opportunity to do considerable

investigation and he has written and published many articles of interest to chemists among which are the following:

Nicholson and Avery Excercises in Chemistry Aromatic Glutario Acids Constitution of Paris Green Action of Benzyl Cyanide on Cinnamic Ether Some Aromatic of Succinic Acids.

It will soon be eight years since Chancellor Avery assumed his present position. Because of the organization of the University and the large amount of administration work required of so great an educational institution the Chancellor's office performs a vast amount of routine labor. Notwithstanding this fact Chancellor Avery has been able to take his part in the determination of questions of policy concerning the welfare of the University as a whole. During his administration the great project of University expansion was brought to a head and has materialized in the purchase of additional ground for University buildings and in the commencement of building construction both on the city and farm campuses. The funds for University extension were appropriated by the Nebraska Legislature of 1913 with a proviso that the voters of the State should decide by initiative and referendum whether they desire to have the University located on the city campus or State Farm campus. The details of the work of getting the University location question on the ballot and of getting the building funds relesed for expansion purposes were left entirely to Chancellor Avery's care, and the larger part of his time during at least two years of his administration was consumed in carrying out the rather

intricate compromise between the House and Senate on the matter of University expansion, funds and location. Under the direction and control of the Board of Regents and with the assistance of the University faculty and administrative force the Chancellor is now mainly employed in supervising the construction of new University buildings and the arrangement of the enlarged campus.

Sent to C. R. Constable, General Delivery, City, for publication in city history. May 6, 1916.