Commencement Speeches
Listed below are commencement speeches given by graduating seniors from 1856-1893.
| Year | Name | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1856 | Walton, James M. | oration on Grecian Mythology |
| 1856 | Beesley, Bartholomew W. | oration on Pericles |
| 1856 | Comfort, Jonathan J. | oration on The Cultivation of the Taste |
| 1856 | Wood, Edward R. | oration on the relative Progress of the world in Morality and in the Physical Sciences |
| 1856 | Cadbury, Joel, Jr. | valedictory (in Latin) |
| 1857 | Wood, Stephen, Jr. | oration on Socrates |
| 1857 | Cheyney, Jesse | Latin Oration: "De Româ" Augusto imperante |
| 1857 | Mendenhall, Cyrus | Demosthenes the Patriot Statesman |
| 1858 | Wistar, Thomas | De Reformatione (in Latin) |
| 1858 | Rhoads, William Gibbons | The Discovery of Neptune |
| 1858 | Burgess, Thomas Harvey | The Spirit of Law |
| 1858 | Hunt, Daniel Williams | Nathaniel Bowditch |
| 1858 | Tyler, William Graham | Περὶ τοῦ Περιχλεους |
| 1858 | Clark, Thomas | Burke, the Legislator |
| 1858 | Yarnall, Ellis Hornor | Cola di Rienzi, and the Romans of the Fourteenth Century |
| 1858 | Satterthwaite, Samuel Taylor | The Patron of Education, our Truest Patriot |
| 1859 | Sampson, Edward Cobb | Rome, Athens and Jerusalem |
| 1859 | Paxson, Richard C. | De Amicitia (delivered in Latin) |
| 1859 | Sharpless, Abram | The Moral Causes of the Fall of Rome |
| 1859 | Chase, Richard Wyatt | Gibbon on the Steps of the Capitol |
| 1859 | Smith, Benjamin Hayes | Περί γῶν Μν`δών γῶν Ελλψνιχῶν |
| 1859 | Sampson, George | Paul of Tarsus |
| 1859 | Rhoads, Edward | The Office of the Greek Drama |
| 1860 | Richardson, Francis | The Wilderness and Rome |
| 1860 | Morris, Theodore H. | The Moors in Spain |
| 1860 | Clark, Lindley M. | The Material and Intellectual Elements of Civilization |
| 1860 | Smith, Clement L. | De Alexandro Secundo, Russiarum Imperatore (delivered in Latin) |
| 1860 | Pancoast, Richard | Modern Greek Literature |
| 1860 | Lindley, Cyrus | Mahometanism Subservient to the Divine Purposes |
| 1860 | Corlies, William M. | Thucydides and Tacitus |
| 1860 | Underhill, Silar A. | The Absolutism of Louis XIV |
| 1860 | Morris, Frederick W. | The Deliverance of Antioch |
| 1860 | Pinkham, John W. | The Dawn of the New Philosophy |
| 1860 | Tyson, James | Ad Italiam Resurgentem (a Latin ode) |
| 1861 | Potts, William Newlin | De C. Juli Caesaris Caede (delivered in Latin) |
| 1861 | Bettle, Charles | The Two Types of Grecian Character |
| 1861 | Wood, Isaac Francis | The Late Dr. Francis |
| 1861 | Bettle, Edward | The Royal Psalmist |
| 1861 | Jones, Charles Henry | Η της Ελλαδος Απελεν ερωοις |
| 1861 | Broomall, William Booth | The Civil Law |
| 1861 | Lamb, Thomas White | The Emancipation of the Serfs |
| 1861 | Stuart, Jehu Harlan | The Victories of Truth |
| 1861 | Bettle, Henry | The Poetry of Cowper |
| 1861 | Thomas, John Clapp | Rome and Carthage |
| 1862 | Coates, Henry Troth | Still Waters run Deep |
| 1862 | Williams, Horace | Copernicus |
| 1862 | Wood, Isaac Francis | Men of the Time |
| 1862 | Mellor, George Brown | The Elevation of the People |
| 1862 | Hadley, Samuel Allen | The Poets of Judea |
| 1863 | Battey, Thomas Jesse | Labor and Rest |
| 1863 | Coates, William Morrison | Cicero at his Tusculan Villa |
| 1863 | Coates, George Morrison | The Uncertainty of the Future |
| 1863 | Jones, Richard Thomas | The Poetry of Tennyson |
| 1863 | Morris, William Henry | The Druids |
| 1863 | Pinkham, Joseph Gurney | Reason and Faith |
| 1864 | Ashbridge, William | The Lasting Celebrity of Good Authors |
| 1864 | Wood, Randolph | The Philosophy of Dreams |
| 1864 | Pancoast, Albert | Ideal Relations of the Useful Arts |
| 1864 | Longstreth, Morris | The Literature of Friendship |
| 1864 | Cooper, Howard M. | The Historical Literature of America |
| 1864 | Roberts, Charles | Statesmanship, Ancient and Modern |
| 1864 | Garrett, Albin | English and American Classics |
| 1864 | Coates, Edward H. | The Regeneration of the Empire |
| 1864 | Scull, Edward L. | The Influence of Art |
| 1864 | Sampson, E. Pope | Who is the Statesman? |
| 1864 | Angell, Franklin | De Jure Civili (delivered in Latin) |
| 1865 | Nichols, David Holder | The Duties of Great Men |
| 1865 | Brown, Edward Taylor | Ad Americam, Emporium Gentium (a Latin ode) |
| 1865 | Wistar, Caleb Cresson | Order |
| 1865 | Vail, Benjamin Augustus | The Bonds of Our Union |
| 1865 | Smith, George | The Poetry of Science |
| 1865 | Downing, Joseph Miller | The Spaniard in Mexico |
| 1865 | Chase, James Anthony | Liberty and Law |
| 1865 | Sharpless, Henry Williams | The Spirit of Grecian Poetry |
| 1865 | Bringhurst, John Richardson | Alexis de Tocqueville |
| 1865 | Thomas, Allen Clapp | The Companionship of Books |
| 1866 | Elliott, Aaron Marshall | The Progress of Liberty |
| 1866 | Valentine, Benjamin E. | Man and the Universe |
| 1866 | Taber, Robert Barney | Behind the Veil |
| 1867 | Crenshaw, Nathaniel Bacon | De Whittier Poeta (delivered in Latin) |
| 1867 | Ashbridge, John | Chief Justice Marshall |
| 1867 | Ashbridge, George | The Christianization of Asia |
| 1867 | Collins, Samuel Craft | Conversation |
| 1867 | Darlington, Charles Howard | True Science |
| 1867 | Eshleman, B. Franklin | A Congress of Nations |
| 1867 | Dorsey, William Tagart | What we owe to Arabian Civilization |
| 1867 | Wood, Walter | James Logan |
| 1867 | Sharpless, Charles William | The Council of Nicaea |
| 1867 | Clark, William Penn | New America |
| 1867 | Jones, Richard Mott | College Life a Rehearsal |
| 1868 | Wills, Joseph Henry | The Christ of History |
| 1868 | Cook, Edward Hanson | Contest and Victory |
| 1868 | Starr, Louis | Michael Faraday |
| 1868 | Satterthwaite, Benjamin Cadwallader | The Fanatic and the Enthusiast |
| 1868 | Tomlinson, S. Finley | Laborare est Orare |
| 1868 | Cope, Alexis T. | The Science of Language |
| 1869 | Estes, Ludovic | The Church and the Empire |
| 1869 | Kaighn, William B. | De Barclaii Apologia (delivered in Latin) |
| 1869 | Wood, Walter | The Plurality of Worlds |
| 1869 | Whitlock, James G. | Confucius |
| 1869 | Taylor, William S. | The Progress of Agriculture |
| 1869 | Randolph, William H. | The Fate of the North American Indian |
| 1869 | Cope, Henry | The Balance of Power in Europe |
| 1869 | Evaul, Henry | John Bunyan |
| 1869 | Congdon, Johns H. | The History of the English Bible |
| 1869 | Wood, Henry | Many-sidedness |
| 1869 | Taylor, Edward B. | The Great Eclipse |
| 1869 | King, Pendleton | Hamilton and his Philosophy |
| 1870 | Longstreth, Thomas Kimber | Paul as an Orator |
| 1870 | Owen, Oliver Goldsmith | Philistinism |
| 1870 | Comfort, Howard | Lowell as an Essayist |
| 1870 | Brown, J. Stuart | International Ethics |
| 1870 | Coale, Alford Gable | American Art |
| 1870 | Wood, Charles | Scientific Atheism |
| 1870 | Hubbard, William Harrison | The Mystery of Suffering |
| 1870 | Hilles, Thomas Allen | Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
| 1870 | Steele, John Dutton | The Age of Iron |
| 1870 | Rose, David Franklin | Politics and Statesmanship |
| 1870 | Carey, John Ellicott | John Ruskin |
| 1870 | Pratt, Charles Edward | The Ink-Deluge |
| 1870 | Wood, Stuart | The Harmony of the Sciences |
| 1871 | Haines, Reuben | Trades Unions |
| 1871 | Brown, Henry Graham | The Holy Roman Empire |
| 1871 | Thurston, Edward Day | The Degeneracy of Modern Wit and Humor |
| 1871 | Reeves, Ellis B. | Arthur Helps |
| 1871 | Moore, Walter Thomas | The Literary Character of Bunsen |
| 1871 | Haines, William Henry | The Ordeal |
| 1871 | Garrigues, John Sharpless | The Sun |
| 1871 | Roberts, Alfred Reginald | American Classics |
| 1871 | Taylor, Charles S. | Augustine |
| 1871 | Winslow, Randolph | Ancient North American Civilizations |
| 1871 | Hartshorne, Joseph | De Jove Dodonæo (delivered in Latin) |
| 1871 | Hoskins, Jesse Franklin | Pro Patria Vivere (delivered in English) |
| 1871 | Evans, William P. | Biblical Revision |
| 1872 | Longstreth, William Morris | The Nineteenth Century |
| 1872 | Estes, Thomas Rowland | The American Scholar |
| 1872 | Haines, Caspar Wistar | Heat and Light |
| 1872 | Carey, James Jr. | The Castles and Abbeys of England |
| 1872 | Cadbury, Richard T. | Success |
| 1872 | Downing, Thomas S. Jr. | The River of Egypt |
| 1872 | Huston, Abram Francis | The Age of Chivalry |
| 1872 | Kimber, Marmaduke C. | The Sculptor of Cyprus |
| 1872 | Thomas, Richard H. | Christianity a Pleroma |
| 1872 | Gummere, Francis B. | Cicero as a Philosopher |
| 1872 | Ashbridge, Richard Jr. | Charlemagne |
| 1872 | Erben, Walter | The Birth and Growth of American Freedom |
| 1872 | Gibbons, William H. | Valedictory |
| 1873 | Cope, Thomas Pim Jr. | The Hanseatic League |
| 1873 | Comfort, James Cooper Jr. | The Progress and Influence of American Journalism |
| 1873 | Fox, Joseph M. | Dmitri the Pretender |
| 1873 | Haines, Henry Cope | The Scots Worthies |
| 1873 | Tomlinson, Julius Lines | The Scientific Uses of the Imagination |
| 1873 | Sampson, Alden Jr. | The Birth-day of a Republic |
| 1873 | Emlen, George Williams | Theirs and the French Republic |
| 1873 | Lowry, Benjamin Howard | Daniel O'Connell |
| 1874 | Hilles, Samuel E. | A Latin Salutatory, and the Friendship of Books |
| 1874 | Hartshorne, Charles R. | Faith and Free Thought |
| 1874 | Trotter, Joseph | Samuel Taylor Coleridge |
| 1874 | Emlen, James | Unconscious Education |
| 1874 | Thompson, James B. | Financial Panics |
| 1874 | Jones, John Barclay | Democracy in Europe |
| 1874 | Allinson, Edward P. | A Vexed Question |
| 1874 | Price, Theophilus P. | Harmony of Interest |
| 1874 | Kirkbride, Mahlon | Dr. Thomas Young |
| 1874 | Bullock, John G. | World's Idols - Valedictory |
| 1875 | Tebbets, Charles Edwin | Erasmus and Luther |
| 1875 | Hunt, William, Jr. | France as a Republic |
| 1875 | Huston, Charles Lukens | Count Rumford |
| 1875 | Bispham, Edward K. | Leonardo da Vinci |
| 1875 | Pharo, Walter W. | The Old Regime in Canada |
| 1875 | Newlin, Harold Parker | Sir James Mackintosh |
| 1875 | White, Miles Jr. | Political Ethics |
| 1875 | Haines, Charles E. | The Republic of Venice |
| 1875 | Brown, Alonzo | The Vice of Self-consciousness |
| 1875 | Davis, James Franklin | Philosophic Charity; and Valedictory |
| 1876 | Allinson, Francis Greenleaf | Inter Montes viget Fides |
| 1876 | Bispham, David | Bacon or Shakespeare? |
| 1876 | Colton, Reuben | Torquato Tasso |
| 1876 | Dudley, Henry Wilson | Hamilton and the Constitution |
| 1876 | Gifford, Seth Kelley | The Expansive Character of Greek Faith |
| 1876 | Hobbs, Lewis Lyndon | Jonathan Edwards |
| 1876 | Holme, Richard Henry | The Duty of the State as Regards Public Education |
| 1876 | Kimber Thomas William | Ideals |
| 1876 | Longstreth, Charles Albert | Penn's Holy Experiment |
| 1876 | Nicholson, John Whitall | God in History |
| 1876 | Roberts, Percival Jr. | The Coming Struggle |
| 1876 | Taylor, Frank H. | Cosmic Philosophy |
| 1876 | Taylor, Howard Gardiner | The Draining of Haarlem Lake |
| 1876 | Taylor, Lewis Alfred | Theory and Empiricism |
| 1877 | Forsythe, Isaac | Salutatory, and "The New Learning" |
| 1877 | Baily, Frederic L. | France Regained |
| 1877 | Smith, Willliam F. | Federalism under Washington |
| 1877 | Anderson, Isaac W. | The Great Commoner |
| 1877 | Mercer, George G. | Are We a Nation? |
| 1877 | Krider, James D. | A Higher Culture or the Ballot |
| 1877 | Townsend, Wilson | Le Due Risposte (delivered in Italian) and Valedictory |
| 1878 | Smiley, Daniel Jr. | Salutatory and "Federalism" |
| 1878 | Thomas, John M.W. | The Idealism of Berkeley |
| 1878 | Baily, Albert Lang | The Alpine Church |
| 1878 | Baily, Henry | La Venise de l'Occident (delivered in French) |
| 1878 | Comfort, Edward Thomas | Italy's Greatest Sculptor |
| 1878 | Forsythe, Edward | The Harmonies in Nature |
| 1878 | Eldridge, Jonathan | Prescott as an Historian |
| 1878 | Crosman, Charles Sumner | Milton's Masterpiece |
| 1878 | Frazier, Cyrus Piggot | The Poet's Influence |
| 1878 | Hill, Samuel H. | Some Guarantees of Republican Government in the U.S. |
| 1878 | Stokes, Henry Newlin | Hissarlik |
| 1878 | Carey, Francis King | England in America |
| 1878 | Haines, Robert B., Jr. | Communism |
| 1878 | Taylor, Henry Longstreet | The Russian Emancipation |
| 1878 | White, George Wilson | Cosmic Life |
| 1878 | Reynolds, Lindley M.H. | De Bello, Vera Virtute, Amicis (delivered in Latin) and Valedictory |
| 1879 | Gause, Charles Edward | The Republic of Liberia |
| 1879 | Edwards, Levi Talbot | Advantages of Compulsory Education |
| 1879 | Winston, John Clark | Objections to Compulsory Education |
| 1879 | Moore, Jesse Hollowell | Christianity as a Medium of National Reconciliation |
| 1879 | Hadley, Walter Carpenter | Woman in America |
| 1879 | Jones, Wilmot Rufus | England and the Russo-Turkish War |
| 1880 | Brede, Charles Frederic | (Latin?) Salutatory |
| 1880 | Perry, William Francis | The Imagination in Mathematics |
| 1880 | Corbit, Alex Peterson | Kearneyism |
| 1880 | Bishop, William | Why we Look at the Stars |
| 1880 | Jones, Edward Megarge | Independence in Politics |
| 1880 | Gause, Charles Edward | Domestic Life of the Romans |
| 1880 | Lynch, James Lewis | Whence and How |
| 1880 | Edwards, Josiah Pennington | Man the Elector |
| 1880 | Mason, Samuel Jr. | Stability of the State |
| 1880 | Cox, Charles Ellwood | Prohibition and Liberty |
| 1880 | Rhoads, Joseph Jr. | Valedictory |
| 1881 | Blair, William Allen | England's Mission |
| 1881 | Johnson, Isaac Thorne | Sacred Literature of the Hebrews |
| 1881 | Brinton, Walter Carroll | Poetical Tendencies |
| 1881 | Edwards, Levi Talbot | Political Element in Education |
| 1881 | Page, William Enoch | American Self-esteem |
| 1881 | Carey, Anthony Morris | The Friars in England |
| 1881 | Hartshorne, Edward Yarnall | The Renaissance at Florence |
| 1881 | Price, William Farmer | Valedictory |
| 1881 | Kennard, Edwin Orson | Latin Salutatory |
| 1881 | Cook, Joseph Horace | The Eastern Question |
| 1881 | Moore, Jesse Hollowell | The Decline of Spanish Supremacy in Europe |
| 1881 | Winston, John Clark | The World's Indebtedness to Quakerism |
| 1881 | Forsythe, Davis Hoopes | Modern Science |
| 1881 | Smith, Albanus Longstreth | Government and the Railroads |
| 1881 | Collins, William Henry | Astronomy, Past and Present |
| 1881 | Winslow, Thomas Newby | The Influence of Neo-Platonic Thought |
| 1882 | Leeds, William Pancoast | Latin Salutatory |
| 1882 | Cox, Isaac Milton | Nationality in American Literature |
| 1882 | Winston, Lindley Murray | The Oxford Reformers |
| 1882 | Palmer, Thomas Chalkley | Ancient and Modern Science |
| 1882 | Crosman, George Loring | Originality of Character |
| 1882 | Hazard, Richard Bowne | Practical Education |
| 1882 | Jones, Wilmot Rufus | Longfellow as a National Poet |
| 1882 | Barton, George Adam | Valedictory |
| 1882 | Jones, Frederick Dilwin | Why they Come |
| 1882 | Morgan, Jesse Henley | Pastoral America |
| 1882 | Coffin, John Elihu | Modern Northmen |
| 1882 | Randolph, Edward | The Machiavellian Policy |
| 1882 | Corbit, Daniel | The Greco-Russian Church |
| 1883 | Worthington, Thomas Kimber | The Apathetic Position toward Reform |
| 1883 | Shoemaker, Samuel Bines | Society and the Incorrigibles |
| 1883 | Stuart, Francis Bacon | Political Duty |
| 1883 | Edwards, David William | A National Obligation |
| 1883 | Briggs, Frank Elwood | International Reform |
| 1883 | White, William Alpheus | Valedictory |
| 1884 | Chase, T. Herbert | Latin Salutatory |
| 1884 | Jacob, Charles Richard | The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes |
| 1884 | Moore, Walter Linton | Wordsworth's Place in Literature |
| 1884 | Smith, Alfred Percival | Practical Living in Work |
| 1884 | Bates, Orren William | Webster and our Nationality |
| 1884 | Hill, Louis Taber | Valedictory |
| 1885 | Murray, Augustus T. | Latin Salutatory |
| 1885 | Baily, Charles W. | Frederick the Wise and the Reformation |
| 1885 | Doan, Enos L. | Present Aspects of Poetry |
| 1885 | Hussey, William T. | Three Forces in History |
| 1885 | Jones, Rufus M. | Mysticism and its Exponents |
| 1885 | Markley, Joseph L. | The Teachings of Buddha |
| 1885 | Reeve, Augustus H. | A Political Retrospect |
| 1885 | Hilles, William S. | Valedictory |
| 1886 | Wadsworth, Edward Dorland | Latin Salutatory |
| 1886 | Smith, Horace Eugene | Napoleon Bonaparte |
| 1886 | Dickinson, Jonathan, Jr. | Socialism in America |
| 1886 | Johnson, Guy Roche | Clapp-Griffith Process |
| 1886 | White, Wilfred Walton | History in Art |
| 1886 | Betts, Thomas Wade | Valedictory |
| 1887 | Newhall, Barker | Latin Salutatory |
| 1887 | Strawbridge, Frederic Heap | The Church Reformation of the 2nd Century |
| 1887 | Garrett, Alfred Cope | A Safe Philosophy |
| 1887 | Futrell, William Harrison | The Question of the Hour |
| 1887 | Goddard, Henry Herbert | Individuality |
| 1887 | Philips, Jesse Evans | Valedictory |
| 1888 | Cox, Exum Morris | Latin Salutatory |
| 1888 | Lewis, William Draper | The Cause of Poverty |
| 1888 | England, Howell Stroud | The Most Probable |
| 1888 | Morris, Frederick Wistar, Jr. | Practical Education |
| 1888 | Hartshorne, Francis Cope | Agnosticism and Religion |
| 1888 | Sharp, Joseph W., Jr. | Valedictory |
| 1889 | Burr, Charles Henry, Jr. | Latin Salutatory |
| 1889 | Haughton, Victor Mellet | The Greek Ideal |
| 1889 | Goodwin, Warren Clarkson | Country of the River Platte |
| 1889 | Fite, Warner | Individualism |
| 1889 | Stevens, Lindley Murray | The Destiny of Canada,-not Manifest |
| 1889 | Ravenel, Samuel Prioleau, Jr. | Valedictory |
| 1890 | Burr, Charles Henry, Jr. | Master's Oration: "Characterization" |
| 1890 | Angell, Edward Mott | The Wages of Art |
| 1890 | Lewis, John Frazier Taylor | Railroads as a Factor in Western Development |
| 1890 | Kirkbride, Thomas Story | The Friars and the Towns |
| 1890 | Gilbert, Henry Lee | Culture and Socialism |
| 1891 | Blair, David Hunt | Our Literary Debt |
| 1891 | Morris, John Stokes | Romance of the Exact Sciences |
| 1891 | Thomas, George, 3rd | Civilization and Poetry |
| 1891 | Mekeel, D.L. | High Speed Travel |
| 1892 | Yarnall, Stanley R. | The Classics at Haverford |
| 1892 | Collins, Minturn Post | Haverford Athletics |
| 1892 | Hart, Walter Morris | Aesthetic Interests at Haverford |
| 1892 | Morris, John Stokes | Master's Oration: "Graduate Study" |
| 1893 | Rhoades, Charles James | The Homeric Question |
| 1893 | Estes, Wilbur Albert | Alfred the Great |
| 1893 | Whitall, Franklin | The Influence of the English Gilds |
| 1893 | Hart, Walter Morris | A Plea for the Tramp |
For more information, please contact Margaret Schaus (610-896-1166).