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Art dedicated to the Morrill Act together in a gallery at the Krannert Art Museum. Photo by Brad Thorp

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Before the SAT and ACT existed, students applying to the University of Illinois were asked to “give some of the chief uses of vegetables” as part of their entrance exam. While this may seem a little strange, it’s one example of how the history of the University, both its founding and fundamentally different early years, is being showcased at Krannert Art Museum.

KAM and the University of Illinois have teamed up to host the Morrill Act, signed by Abraham Lincoln, along with a display of documents and photographs from the school’s early years in their exhibit “The Morrill Act:The Land Grant Roots of a Great University,” on display through Oct. 31.

The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act was signed on July 2, 1862, and forever changed education in the United States. It granted each state 30,000 acres of public land whose sale would fund the establishing of a major public university. Basically, without this act, UI students may not have the same opportunities they have today. “It was revolutionary, because before the Morrill Act, the only people who could go to college were the wealthy,” said Ryan Ross, a graduate student in library and information science, who curated the exhibit. “The act democratized education by making education available to basically every citizen or white citizen at the time.”

Ross organized the exhibit with no prior experience, researching and choosing pieces to include. He split it up into a section about the development of the Morrill Act and the early history of the university and one about 19th century student life. “I tried to tell a story of how the development of the act led into the early history of the university and how the university sort of branched off from what the Morrill Act originally called for,” he said.

According to Ross, the museum was able to bring the Morrill Act from Washington, D.C., for display because it is an accredited museum, a requirement to ensure proper standards of preservation.

For Ross, the process of creating the exhibit was a learning process that allowed him to immerse himself in the background of both the act and the University. Not knowing much about the topic when he began, he came at it with a fresh perspective. “If I had been really familiar with it I’m sure I would have overlooked something,” he said. “I tried to be as comprehensive as possible.”

In the UI history section, which relies more on written documents to tell the story, viewers can see the plan of the grounds, letters about the name of the university changing and a photograph of what is now Green Street depicting a field and only two buildings in sight. Probably the most interesting item in this section is the “Examination for Admission” from 1875. Students had to take a specific test to get into the University, with questions about arithmetic, grammar, geography, history, physiology and botany. One of the questions is “Give some of the chief uses of vegetables.” It’s clear how different things were when the school was founded and how monumental the change to the area was.

Another part of the exhibit that shows this idea is a drawing by Lorado Taft, sculptor of the Alma Mater, from when he was 14 years old. The drawing shows the Taft family grounds, an area now bordered by John, Wright, Chalmers and Sixth streets — the heart of today’s campus.

The student life table showcases several scenes from the University in the 1880s and 1890s. The Morrill Act affected the daily lives of students at this time, requiring them to have a daily regimen of manual labor, attend church and do military drill practices. Ross looked for photos that would have a voice of their own for this part. “I picked things that would be historically important but would also look good in an exhibit case, and items that would speak for themselves without a lot of explanation,” he said. Students studying in the library, playing tug-of-war and exercising in a women’s physical education class illustrate the early days of the University and highlight the vast differences between then and now. Women wear dresses while doing exercises; most of the students are men, and the student boarding houses were important social centers before there were various restaurants, bars and stores on campus.

More than anything, the exhibit celebrates the history of University of Illinois and how it came to be the place it is today. The exhibit is being used as a kickoff event and centerpiece for other related events taking place to celebrate the Lincoln Bicentennial, the anniversary of his birth, through educational programs, public forums, and arts projects.