{"id":2813,"date":"2026-03-19T14:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/arthursattic\/?p=2813"},"modified":"2026-03-31T10:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T17:33:13","slug":"santa-clara-university-founders-day-celebrating-175-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/arthursattic\/2026\/03\/19\/santa-clara-university-founders-day-celebrating-175-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara University Founder’s Day: Celebrating 175 Years!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In celebration of the founding of Santa Clara University 175 years ago, SCU Archives & Special Collections is reflecting upon its early days when it was still called Santa Clara College. There is a new display in the St. Clare Room on the 3rd floor of the Library (LLC 316) featuring images of the college and student life in those early days. Over the next quarter, we will have more blog posts about Santa Clara College and its continued legacy from our student worker, Charlotte McManus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Printing
Printing office of Santa Clara Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Communal<\/a>
Washroom in the College Hall (The Ship)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Lecture<\/a>
Science classroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Library<\/a>
Santa Clara College Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Lithographs of various Santa Clara College buildings and amenities from the Santa Clara Bulletin<\/em>. The full catalogs can be found in the Santa Clara University Course Catalogs & Bulletins Digital Collection<\/a>. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Founding of Santa Clara College<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The university celebrates its Founders’ Day on March 19th every year, and today marks its 175th<\/strong>! On March 19th, 1851, Father John Nobili, S.J., formally took possession of Mission Santa Clara and its properties. An inventory of the holdings was signed over to him by the last remaining Franciscan, Fray Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda del Refugio Su\u00e1rez del Real (Foreward, pg. v, Spearman). The founding of the university on the day traditionally celebrated as the Feast of St. Joseph gives the university a second patron saint along with its namesake, St. Clare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The college founders, Fathers John Nobili, S.J., and Michael Accolti, S.J., were both Jesuits from Turin, Italy. They had come to California to look into starting a new school to serve the many new families that had come to the state after the Gold Rush and its growing Catholic population. When the bishop of California, Joseph Sadoc Alemany, offered the mission lands to the Jesuits in March of 1851, the wheels were set in motion to open Santa Clara College. The first class of a dozen students were admitted in May, increasing rapidly over the next decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mission
Photograph showing two bell towers and the wooden Italianate facade that had been applied to the existing Santa Clara Mission Church in 1861. SCU Digital Collections<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These founding Jesuits left an Italian footprint on the campus, not only by planting formal gardens with grape arbors and teaching a traditional Jesuit curriculum rooted in classics, but also in the design of the early buildings. They even added an Italianate fa\u00e7ade to the adobe walls of the mission church (of course, Santa Clara history fans know that the current mission was rebuilt after the 1926 fire).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Clara College Boys<\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"Young<\/a>
College Band at the Campus Shrine of St. Joseph, March 19, 1879 (FOUNDERS DAY!<\/strong>). SCU Digital Collections. <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While the faculty were mostly Italian Jesuits in the earliest years, the students were more representative of the local population. Many were Spanish speaking (unsurprisingly, since California was part of Mexico until the year before the college’s founding), while others were from families of pioneers who crossed the Sierras in search of fortune, including many new Irish and Italian immigrants. While most were Catholic, the school was always open to students of any faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Boys<\/a>
Dining Room interior with long tables full of students. SCU Digital Collections<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the time of its founding, Santa Clara College was a comprehensive boarding school for boys of all ages. There were children as young as 7 years old up through college age students. Students slept in large dormitories and had shared bathrooms. While certain aspects of student life were similar to today–especially the many extracurricular activities from band, drama, student publications and sports–aspects of daily living were far more regimented and restricted. This was not only because of the range in age of the students, but differing expectations: the college was expected to act in place of their parents. They saw their role as shaping their student’s moral character and habits. Students could not leave campus without a chaperone, correspondence would be inspected by the president, and students were only allowed home for Christmas holidays, among other rules. The full regulations and directions were printed in the school catalog (see pgs. 8-10)<\/a>, along with recommendations for personal goods such as how much pocket money a student could be allowed to have per week (a max of 25\u00a2 in 1872).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, Santa Clara continued to change with the times even in the college days. The rules loosened, students had more choice in their studies (dropping requirements for Greek and even Latin), student numbers continued to rise, bringing us closer to the university we know today. There were second, third and even fourth generation Santa Clara College alumni who continued to influence the character of the institution. The first American president of Santa Clara College, Robert E. Kenna, S.J. (1844\u20131912), was first a SCC student before becoming a Jesuit. The final commencement of Santa Clara College was held in 1912. The next year–a new era–it became a university with its nascent law school and a steady focus on undergraduate education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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