
Frank Vanderbilt and Amelia McTyeire: Two Women Behind the Founding of Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt University would not exist today if it were not for two women: Amelia McTyeire and Frank Vanderbilt. Bishop McTyeire gained access to Cornelius Vanderbilt through his wife Amelia’s familial connection with Vanderbilt’s second wife Frank. Frank and Amelia thus provided the crucial link between McTyeire and Vanderbilt that resulted in the Commodore’s endowment of Vanderbilt University.

![[Letter from Cornelius Vanderbilt to Holland Nimmons McTyeire]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/1873-McTyeire-Commodore-Tigert-letter-p01-1-640x480.jpg)
![[Bishop McTyeire’s Campus Residence]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/MSS0455-McTyeire_residence-01-640x480.jpg)
![[Frank Armstrong Crawford Vanderbilt]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/MSS455-B4-Frank_Crawford_portrait-Alman-640x480.jpg)
![Bishop McTyeire’s Sermon [for Cornelius Vanderbilt]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/Cornelius_Vanderbilt_Scrapbook_Vol_2-page_79-640x480.jpg)
![[Nineteenth Century Pen Belonging to Cornelius Vanderbilt]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/11/Cornelius_Vanderbilt-Pens-01-IMG_027805-640x480.jpg)
![[Letter from Frank Vanderbilt to Holland McTyeire]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/10/MSS0283-Frank_Crawford_Vanderbilt_Letter-April_1880-03-640x480.jpg)
![[Amelia Townsend McTyeire]](https://exhibitions.library.vanderbilt.edu/strengthening-ties/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2019/10/MSS0455-Tigert-Amelia-McTyeire-portrait-by-Giers-and-Koellein-640x480.jpg)