The nucleus of the library (450,000 volumes in 1908) was purchased in
Berlin soon after the university's organization, in one great collection
of 175,000 volumes. Scholarly research has been fostered in every
possible way, and the university press has been active in the
publication of various departmental series and the following
periodicals:--_Biblical World_, _American Journal of Theology, American
Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, American Journal of
Sociology, Journal of Political Economy, Modern Philology, Classical
Philology, Classical Journal, Journal of Geology, Astrophysical Journal,
Botanical Gazette, Elementary School Teacher and School Review._ The
courses in the College of Commerce and Administration link the
university closely with practical life. In extension work the university
has been active from the beginning, instruction being given not only by
lectures but by correspondence (a novel and unique feature among
American universities); in the decade 1892-1902, 1715 persons were
prepared by the latter method for matriculation in the university (11.6%
of the total number of matriculants in the decade). Extension lectures
were given in twenty-two states. At Chicago the work of the university
is continuous throughout the year: the "summer quarter" is not as in
other American schools a supplement to the teaching year, but an
integral part; and it attracts the teachers of the middle western states
and of the south. In the work of the first two years, known together as
the Junior College, men and women are in the main given separate
instruction; but in the Senior College years unrestricted co-education
prevails. Students are mainly controlled by self-government in small
groups ("the house system"). Relations with "affiliated" (private)
colleges and academies and "co-operating" (public) high-schools also
present interesting features.

The value of the property of the university in 1908 was about
$25,578,000. Up to the 30th of June 1908 it had received from gifts
actually paid $29,651,849, of which $22,712,631 were given by John D.
Rockefeller.[4] The value of buildings in 1908 was $4,508,202, of
grounds $4,406,191, and of productive funds $14,186,235. Upon the death
of President Harper, Harry Pratt Judson (b. 1849), then head professor
of political science and dean of the faculties of arts, became acting
president, and on the 20th of January 1907 he was elected president.

See the _Decennial Publ