The collection consists of a letter from Dr. Robert Peter to George Kinkead. The letter discusses the conflict between the Christian Church and the Board of Curators of Kentucky University (Transylvania University) regarding control of the school. Appended to the letter is a list of the school's endowments between 1780 and 1839.
Collection is arranged by format.
Collection is open to researchers by appointment.
The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections.
2012MS073: [identification of item], Dr. Robert Peter to George Kinkead, 1875 December 11, University of Kentucky Special Collections.
George B. Kinkead (1849-1940), a Lexington attorney, was the son of lawyer William Bury Kinkead. He graduated from Princeton University in 1870. After further study in his father's law office, Kinkead entered the bar in 1872. He practiced law until his death in 1940.
Chemist, physician, and teacher Robert Peter (1805-1894) was born in England but emigrated to America in 1817. He lived for a time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After attending the Rensselaer School, in Troy, New York, and lecturing on chemistry at Western University of Pennsylvania, Peter moved to Lexington, Kentucky, where he became a professor of chemistry at Transylvania University. He also studied medicine at Transylvania, and received his medical degree in 1834. He only practiced medicine for a short while, but served on the medical faculties of Transylvania and of the Kentucky School of Medicine in Louisville. Peter supervised military hospitals in Lexington during the Civil War and later served as a professor of chemistry at what is now the University of Kentucky. He also served as chemist for two geological surveys of Kentucky and one each of Arkansas and Indiana.