In 1908, near the end of his eight-year term as President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt resolved to dramatically change certain coinage of the United States. He commissioned a gold Indian Head Quarter Eagle, face valued at two and one-half dollars. It went into mass circulation in 1909. It was a beautiful coin. The obverse honored a Native-American in profile wearing a full-feathered war bonnet. On the reverse was a proud standing eagle; a symbol of peace, yet preparedness.
Few of these coins have survived to the present. Ironically, most were rounded up and melted down under the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt! There are exceptions. Here is the story of a 1909 Indian Head Quarter Eagle that outlived the purge.
A young woman named Ruby Grey from Zanesville, Ohio decides to enter college at the University of Toledo. She has an aunt there she can live with while earning her degree. Her aunt writes that Toledo is a booming city and home to many hard-working peoples from around the world. She also writes that there will be a new College of Arts and Sciences established there. She knows Ruby wants to become a teacher.
Ruby is also crazy about American history and literature. She is in fact related to P. Zane Grey, an aspiring writer, and his determination to succeed is a great inspiration to her.
So Ruby moves to Toledo in 1909 to begin her college years. She takes along two trunks filled with personal possessions. In her purse she has fifty-two dollars and fifty cents. Her father gives her fifty dollars to help her "settle in." The remainder is a tiny gift from her mother: a freshly-minted 1909 Indian Head Quarter Eagle! It is in a tiny wooden box. "For luck!" Ruby's mother says as she hands her the box.
And Ruby had good luck, indeed. She moved to Toledo, earned her degree, married the son of a banker, and taught middle school for fifty-six years. She had three children. The eldest was a boy she named Zane. When Ruby died in 1971, Zane inherited some of her possessions and one item was the small box containing the handsome gold coin now worth several hundred dollars (even though its face value remained two dollars and fifty cents.)
Ruby once told Zane that the coin in the box was a very special family treasure and some day it would be his and he must take ownership of it and care for it and give it to his own son some day. She called this responsibility "proper stewardship" and he realized that he had hardly ever heard that word used before, so he immediately looked it up in the dictionary: "One who manages another's property."
Several weeks after Ruby's funeral Zane was in his kitchen watching an NFL football game. It was halftime and he had an idea. He retrieved the small box from his bedroom dresser drawer and placed it on the kitchen table with some steel wool, powdered soap, a sponge and a bowl of water. He opened the box and removed the coin and inspected it closely. It had the patina of one hundred years passing upon its surface. He proceeded to abrade and polish the coin to an unprecedented luster, rubbing hard to ensure that the coin's value would increase substantially through his efforts. He thought he was practicing good stewardship.
The Jacobs Administration at the University of Toledo claims to be practicing good stewardship of this taxpayer-owned university. However, it has inspected the College of Arts & Sciences and has found fault with, rather than appreciation for, its unique and valuable patina earned after 100 years of excellence. There is a strong possibility that upon the implementation of the Jacobs "Directions" strategic plan beginning in November of this year, the College will be abraded and polished, perhaps beyond recognition. Is this good stewardship? Happy Anniversary, CAS!
—David Nemeth is Professor Xtreme and can be reached at david.nemeth@utoledo.edu.
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28 comments
I’m listening to a Spanish Song. The lead singer from Rage Against the Machine performs on a traditional South American guitar.
I’ll soon work on a song I have in mind, write the lyrics, add chords.I love Professor Xtreme’s writing style. I love the meaning of his Stewardship as much as the last. I and my friends wish Professor Xtreme could teach us for the writing some how. We already learned a lot by reading his columns.Thanks a lot!By the way. Even, thousand people follow a bad direction, we should follow a good direction. Let’s think about it.
Research dollars are up. Enrollment is up. This year academic standards have been raised. Engagement with the community is up. Engagement in economic development is up. Your definition of failure - evidently based entirely on the fact that some professors are upset - is pretty intellectually lazy.