Through letters, reminiscences, and interviews, Instilling Spirit traces Washington State University's first fifty years, offering a unique perspective on college life as it developed in the United States and elsewhere. Although it focuses on a single institution, the student experience Stimson examines serves as an example of the practical, direct educational philosophy followed by many smaller U.S. colleges and universities. The author maintains that the intensely social nature of education at the land-grant college helped kindle a patriotic, civic, and charitable spirit.On January 13, 1892, thirty years after the passage of Justin Morrill's Land Grant Act, fifty-nine men and women headed to Pullman, Washington, for opening day at the Washington State Agricultural College and School of Science. Many were from farms and had never expected to have any higher education. They were intensely grateful for the opportunity. The young scholars received personal attention; not always the case at other institutions. Often renowned universities were insulated by design--no one should disturb a professor while he was thinking.

In Pullman, the early years revolved around relationships and practical experience, which leaders believed could instruct just as well as a lecture. Researcher William J. Spillman's advice was to skip lectures about oat diseases, and instead take students to count damaged oat heads per square foot. "You are not teaching agriculture, you are studying agriculture with your students." Professors were accessible, often inviting students to their homes in the evening. Indeed, the whole campus urged involvement--whether in music, sports, politics, or debate-until for the majority of students, faculty, and administrators it became an unquestioned value and essential part of learning. Today, Washington State University students still experience the roots of that face-to-face culture.