On this Day, December 11, in 1924, James B. Duke signed the indenture that would allow Duke University to exist:
“I have selected Duke University as one of the principal objects of this trust because I recognize that education, when conducted along sane and practical, as opposed to dogmatic and theoretical, lines, is, next to religion, the greatest civilizing influence,” J. B. Duke wrote. He intended for Duke to attain “a place of real leadership in the educational world.”