Russell Conwell
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Russell Herman Conwell (1843-1925) was an American Baptist minister, lawyer, writer, and outstanding orator. He is best remembered as the founder and first president of Temple University in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, and for his lecture and book Acres of Diamonds. He was born in South Worthington, Massachusetts. He was buried in Founder's Garden at Temple University.[1]
He studied law at the Albany Law School and became a lawyer. He was a writer for the Boston Evening Traveller (Newspaper), first visiting and writing on civil war battlefields and then on an around the world trip.
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[edit] War experiences
During the American Civil War he served in the union army from 1862-1864 and was commissioned a Captain. He, a non-believer at the time, was attended by a sixteen year old aide de camp named Johnny Ring, a youth who shared his tent and was also charged with safeguarding the captain's saber and was devoutly Christian. The boy "idolized Conwell and was always with him," an affection which Conwell returned. On one occasion, Conwell being away from camp, the platoon was forced into a hasty retreat, setting fire to a bridge to block pursuit. Ring, attempting to save his captain's sword, crossed the burning bridge and enemy lines, retrieving the sword and crossing back through the flames, dying later of his burns. Upon hearing the news Conwell lost consciousness, then spent days in delirium of grief, converting to Christianity later so as to be able to rejoin his friend after death. According to his own account, is is the memory of the love they shared that gave him the energy to accomplish his works in life.[1]
[edit] Acres of Diamonds
Acres of Diamonds originated as a speech which Conwell delivered over 6,000 times around the world; it was eventually published as delivered in Conwell's home town, Philadelphia.[2]
The central idea of the work is that one need not look elsewhere for opportunity, achievement, or fortune -- the resources to achieve all good things are present in your own community. This theme is developed by an introductory anecdote, told to Conwell by an Arab guide, about a man who wanted to find diamonds so badly that he sold his property and went off in futile search for them; the new owner of his home discovered that a rich diamond mine was located right there on the property. Conwell elaborates on the theme through examples of success, genius, service, or other virtues involving ordinary Americans contemporary to his audience: "dig in your own back-yard!".
Conwell's capacity to establish Temple University and his other civic projects largely derived from the income that he earned from this speech.
[edit] Legacy
His name lives on, as well, in the present-day Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (with campuses in South Hamilton and Boston, Massachusetts and Charlotte, North Carolina). This interdenominational evangelical theological seminary was formed in 1969 by the merger of two former divinity schools (Conwell School of Theology of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Gordon Divinity School in Wenham, Massachusetts).
The author Russell Conwell Hoban was named for him.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Charley Shively, Drum Beats: Walt Whitman's Civil War Boy Lovers, p.44
