IUAA History

n the night of April 9, 1854, the first building of Indiana University was destroyed by a fire. What could have been the devastating ending to a great university instead turned out to be the new beginning of the university and also the historic founding of the Indiana University Alumni Association (at that time titled the Society of the Alumni).

"Three months after the midnight fire, President William Daily took unprecedented action, assembling 14 other alumni to address the future of the institution. Financial support was needed to rebuild the school. Equally important was advocacy of the university before the Monroe County government and the Indiana State Legislature."¹

In that first action, two of the guiding principles of the association were established — first, to assist in the raising of private money to support the mission of the university, and second, that the association members would act as advocates for the university with friends, fellow citizens, and with the local and state governments.

¹The Indiana University Alumni Association One Hundred and Fifty Years, 1854-2004, by Janet Carter Shirley, BA’56, page 5.