Transylvania University

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Creation Date

1780

Entity Type

Organization

"Transylvania University" in the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/O001010, (accessed April 16, 2025).

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Organization of higher education in Lexington, Kentucky. Established by an act of the assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia as Transylvania Seminary in 1780. First classes held in Danville in 1785. Earliest religious affiliations were with the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. Campus moved to Lexington, Kentucky, in 1789. Transylvania Seminary was combined with Kentucky Academy to form Transylvania University by the legislature of the Commonwealth of Kentucky on January 1, 1799. Included a law school, medical school, divinity school, and college of arts and sciences. Affiliated with the Methodist Church from 1841 to 1865. Operated only as a high school from 1861 to 1865. Transylvania University merged with Kentucky University and lost its name from 1865 to 1908. While part of Kentucky University, it affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) beginning in 1865. The university reclaimed its name and its trajectory as a private, Christian university in 1908.

Irvin E. Lunger, "Transylvania College: Its History and Future," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 56, No. 4, 309-318.
John D. Wright, Jr. and Eric H. Christianson, "Transylvania University " in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, John E. Kleber, ed. (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 894-96.
"Our History," Transylvania University, http://www.transy.edu/about/our-history, (c) 2003-2016 by Transylvania University (accessed January 2, 2020).
"Religious Life on Campus," Transylvania University, http://www.transy.edu/campus/religious-life, (c) 2003-2016 by Transylvania University (accessed January 2, 2020).

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