In December 1829, a group formed as the "New York Athenaeum" led by Albert Gallatin and Rev. James Mathews, and including representatives of the clergy, the commercial occupations, law, and medicine, met at the home of Reverend Matthews. Backers of a new college also included several disaffected Columbia University trustees and faculty.Columbia 250 This gathering resulted in the call for a public meeting for the design and establishment of New York University. At the public meeting, held at the New York Historical Society in January 1830, Jonathan M. Wainwright of Grace Episcopal Church, echoing the thinking of the group, proposed a curriculum based on "useful instruction".New York University
