Thomas Cooper
Born in Westminster, England, and educated at Oxford University (where he left before earning a degree), Thomas Cooper (1759–1839) was lawyer, scientist, and philosopher who identified himself with various radical causes. Emigrating to America in 1794 in hopes of finding political freedom, he settled in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, where he practiced law and medicine. By 1799 he had become well known through his pamphleteering as an opponent to the Sedition Act, and under this legislation he was convicted in 1800 and served six months in prison.
 |
| Thomas Cooper |
Upon his release, Cooper served as a county commissioner and a state judge in Pennsylvania but soon thereafter left politics and the judiciary to take up teaching. From 1811 to 1815 he was chair of chemistry at Carlisle (now Dickinson) College, and from 1816 to 1819 he was a professor of applied chemistry and mineralogy at the University of Pennsylvania. Through the patronage of Thomas Jefferson, Cooper was elected to the faculty of the University of Virginia in 1819 but never assumed the position.
In 1820, Cooper became professor of chemistry at South Carolina College and was elected the institution's second president in the following year. As a member of the faculty, he taught not only in the sciences but also in the social sciences; his Lectures on the Elements of Political Economy (1826) was one of the pioneer university textbooks in the United States. Retiring from the presidency in 1834, he remained an active figure in state and federal political circles until his death on May 11, 1839. He was buried in Trinity Churchyard, Columbia.
The Thomas Cooper Society
The Thomas Cooper Society serves as a volunteer support organization for the University'sThomas Cooper Library, encouraging community interest in the Library and promoting a fuller understanding of its purpose, programs, and potential. Opportunities for cultural enrichment are offered through a stimulating series of lectures, exhibitions, and special events. Through its generosity, the Society fosters gifts, endowments, and memorials to the Thomas Cooper Library, enabling the library to acquire distinctive and valuable materials for students and scholars.
The Society publishes the Thomas Cooper Society Newsletter for members once each semester. Back issues are online on the Library Publications web site.
Activities
Activities of the Society include special dinner meetings, lectures by prominent individuals, exhibits of rare and important materials, seminars and workshops on book-collecting and various aspects of the book arts, fund-raising, and a periodically distributed newsletter. To encourage and reward the beginning collector, the Society sponsors an annual student book-collecting competition.
Membership
Members of the Society receive:
- borrowing privileges and interlibrary loan service at the Thomas Cooper Library,
- discounts on books published by the University of South Carolina Press,
- an invitation to the annual Society dinner and reception as well as to other Society events, and
- selected library publications, including a suscription to the Society newsletter, Thomas Cooper Society Newsletter.
To help the Thomas Cooper Society fulfill its mission, please join the Society. One can join in one of two ways, either by joining the Ex Libris Society, where complementary memberships in both the South Caroliniana and Thomas Cooper Societies is a benefit, or by filling out the form immediately below and submitting it. For those joining the Thomas Cooper Society through the form, numerous membership levels are available. Funds not needed for the modest expenses of the Society are committed to the Thomas Cooper Library for the purchase of books, manuscripts, periodicals and other scholarly resources. The Thomas Cooper Society will send you additional information and a bill for your desired membership category. Membership in the Society is valid for 12 months from the time of enrollment.
More Information
| To contact the Society: | Thomas Cooper Society Thomas Cooper Library University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 1-803-777-2794 |
This library is a congressionaly designated depository for U.S. government documents. Public access to the government documents collections is guaranteed by public law.