Beginnings • The Post-War Years • The New Millennium • Student Work Off-Campus
Founded in 1866 by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches, many of Carleton’s first engagements with the wider world were associated with its Christian mission. A number of Carleton’s earliest graduates went on to undertake missionary work in China, Japan, India, Turkey, as well as throughout the United States. Some of Carleton’s earliest international students first become acquainted with Carleton through these missionary connections.
The study of foreign languages at Carleton also has its roots in Carleton’s earliest years: initially, Latin and Greek, with French and German joining them soon thereafter. The early 20th century saw an international dimension introduced to new areas of Carleton’s curriculum, from international relations to geology, with the help of notable figures like Frank B. Kellogg and Laurence M. Gould.
Tsune Watanabe
circa 1890
Tsune Watanabe of Japan was Carleton’s first non-Western graduate, in 1891. Prior to enrolling at Carleton, Watanabe attended a girl’s school in Kobe, Japan, at which Carleton alumna Emily M. Brown ’82 and Susan Searle, a former Carleton teacher, served as teachers and missionaries.