That session, Tyler's advocacy led legislators to approve $10,000 to restore the College of William and Mary, which had received no funding for several years and had not yet recovered from a Civil War battle (Battle of Williamsburg) and later neglect. When Virginia's governor signed the appropriation into law, the college reopened in 1888, and its trustees named Tyler its president. President of the College of William and Mary From 1888 to 1919, Tyler served as the 17th president of the College of William & Mary (W&M). He restored the college's finances following the deterioration which took place in and following the Civil War. During his tenure, Tyler was also chairman of the history department, and with six other professors formed the body known as the "Seven Wise Men". He also started the William and Mary Quarterly journal. Tyler also advocated women's suffrage and oversaw the college when it admitted women in 1918. While at William & Mary, Tyler became interested in the history of Virginia. He researched throughout the state, and campaigned for the preservation of local records. In 1896 he persuaded the Virginia General Assembly to appropriate $5,000 to copy 17th-century court records, which set a precedent for spending public monies to preserve state records. Preservation became his mission in later years, and he traveled extensively throughout the Commonwealth to find material. In 1915 he was appointed to the State Library Board and would serve until his death. He was a member of the Virginia Historical Society for fifty-two years, including forty-seven years on its executive committee and thirty-two as a vice president. A prolific author, his work spurred recognition of the significance of both Jamestown and Williamsburg to American history. As discussed below, Tyler also attempted to rehabilitate his father's political reputation. Criticism of President Lincoln and retirement Tyler received notoriety late in life for criticizing President Abraham Lincoln on numerous occasions. The first came in 1917 in response to an editorial in The New York Times, The Hohenzollerns and the Slave Power, which analogized Southern slaveholders to the German aristocrats then engaging Europe in what became known as World War I. Tyler wrote that Lincoln more closely resembled the Prussian nobility because he was opposed to the rights of self-determination of the Confederate states, in the same way that Germany was opposed to the rights of various smaller nations of Europe. Tyler resigned as president of