User talk:68.48.79.224

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Please discuss the 1634 date on Georgetown University's talk page --AW 16:01, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 1634 foundation of Georgetown University

I'm afraid that your repeated insistence on a founding date of 1634 borders on nonsense. Do you truly want to improve this encyclopedia? Where do you suppose Georgetown University was located, during this period from 1634 to 1789, if it had no buildings? Why should we write down a founding date in Wikipedia that is different from what the University itself states? Do you think the University is mistaken? Do you have any evidence of students studying, faculty teaching, or degrees being conferred during this period? EdJohnston 21:33, 27 February 2007 (UTC)


This is not nonsense. Please do some research on the matter: start off by reading Miniatures of Georgetown: Tercentennial Causeries by W. Coleman Nevils, S.J. 1634 is the founding date of Georgetown's predecessor school, St. Mary's City. As a previous user noted, this is not far-fetched compared to the claims of Penn or Harvard, for example, though those claims might be more widely known. The university chose 1789 because it wanted to align the foundation year of the university with the foundation year of Washington, D.C. and the United States. Before that the 1634 date had been in vogue. For more on this you might read the College History Series book on Georgetown. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.48.79.224 (talk)

Unless you can find multiple reliable sources (WP:RS) to testify that St. Mary's City and Georgetown U. are the same school, I doubt that your claim can remain in Wikipedia. Do you want us to modify the G.U. article to assert that 'The university says it was founded in 1789, but that's incorrect?' What should we do if the University calls Wikipedia, and asks us to substantiate it? I doubt that one out-of-print book, published in 1934, is enough to turn the tide.
Here is what a reviewer had to say in 1936, in the Journal of Higher Education 7(1), p. 56, about the 'Miniatures of Georgetown' book:

Miniatures of Georgetown, 1634 to 1934, adequately described in its subtitle, "Tercentennial Causeries," is pleasant conversation about the history of Georgetown for three centuries. It is not, however, a history of the University.

(from a review by Edward A. Fitzpatrick of Marquette University). EdJohnston 04:14, 28 February 2007 (UTC)