Hervin U. Roop Papers
Dates
- 1929-1931
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice. Because of the nature of certain archival formats, including digital and audio-visual materials, access will require additional advanced notice.
Conditions Governing Use
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Biographical / Historical
Hervin Ulysses Roop (1869-1955) was the 6th president of Lincoln Memorial University from 1929 – 1931.
He was born in Pennsylvania in 1869. He graduated from Lebanon Valley College, earning advance degrees at Yale University and University of Chicago. He became a minister and public-school educator, searching president of Lebanon Valley College, Eastern College, and York College, before becoming faculty at Wheaton. He wrote 10 textbooks in psychology, ethics, and logic.
His career held many controversies. Prior to LMU, he had secured funds from Andrew Carnegie for a new library at Lebanon Valley College, only to add additional thousands of dollars for building, all without Carnegie’s knowledge. This caused him to resign in 1906.
In 1928, Roop was hired at LMU as the Dean of Faculty and head of the Department of Philosophy and Sociology. In 1929 he launched new curriculum and faculty adding Business Administration, Engineering, Forestry, Agriculture, Music, Physical Education, and Home Economic. This took a major toll on LMU’s budget.
The issues culminated when Roop and other teachers added fictitious degrees to their biographies. LMU was working to achieve accreditation, and this along with miscommunication resulted in a second failed attempt. As a result, the Board required the chancellor John Wesly Hill to fire him but instead was granted medical leave with pay. He also fired faculty before his departure. This decision sparked the 1930 Student Strike. During the strikes, Roop was replaced in 1930 by J. H. S. Morrison who presided before H. Robinson Shipherd.
Post strike, Roop never held a job in academia again. He sent threats and appeals to receive salary payments, but the university could not afford to pay him. (168) Roop was a pastor in Pennsylvania from 1931-1937 and wrote a book on courtship and marriage. He died in 1955 in Pennsylvania.
Information summarized from:
Hess, Earl J. Lincoln Memorial University and the shaping of Appalachia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2011. Chapter 6.
Extent
0.25 Legal-sized Hollinger Box (0.1 Linear Feet)
Language of Materials
English
- Title
- Hervin U. Roop Papers
- Author
- Finding Aid uploaded and edited by Olivia Coyne (2025)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives & Special Collections Repository
Lincoln Memorial Univesity
Carnegie-Vincent Library
6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway
Harrogate Tennessee 37752 United States
archives@lmunet.edu