University of Virginia Library

XXI. Academic Schools—Continued

In 1904–05, there were three courses in the Kent
Memorial School of English. The first, which was
designed for those students who were either deficient in
training, or preparing for professional studies, embraced
the subjects of composition and rhetoric, poetry and
prose in general, and the history of American literature.
The second course covered the subjects of rhetoric,
versification, types of poetry, Shakespeare, Pope, and
Johnson, and the poetry of the nineteenth century; the
third touched upon still broader themes—such as
Shakespeare as a dramatic artist, Johnson and his times,
Victorian and American poets, and the like. The course
of graduates who were aspiring to the degree of doctor

of philosophy was more or less elective. After the adoption
of entrance requirements in the autumn of 1905,
changes were made in all these courses,—without, however,
substantially modifying their character. In conjunction
with this school, a course in the art of public
speaking was established in 1907.

As time slipped by, there sprang up a demand for the
division of the school into several schools. The original
chair was specifically a chair of English literature, but,
afterwards, the subjects of belles-lettres and rhetoric
were added; and still later, the theme of American
literature. The first offshoot established was the Edgar
Allan Poe Memorial School of English Literature, to
which Professor C. Alphonso Smith, of the University
of North Carolina, was called. One of the most important
courses taught by him at the beginning of his
incumbency had for its topics the short story, the essay,
and the oration, as types of literature,—all of which
were studied both in their origin and in their structural
development; and themes were also suggested by him
for essays and orations, and plots for tales. Another
course bore upon the general subject of American
literature. Professor Smith endeavored to measure
the proportionate degree to which each section of the
country had, through its authors, contributed to the
growth of the national spirit and to the formation of
national ideals.

In 1911–12, he taught, in his first course, Old English,
Middle English, and lastly, modern English. He also
lectured upon the syntax of English, which included the
foundation of English grammar, the principles of structure,
and the changes now in progress. In his second,
he had American literature as his subject; and the
third course, which was for graduates, was divided into

two sections: (1) old English poetry and (2) dramatic
prologue. Subsequently, Professor Smith delivered a
series of lectures on English and Scotch ballads, and the
Morte d'Arthur poems.

The interest aroused by the course on English and
Scotch ballads led in April, 1913, to the organization of
the Virginia Folklore Society, an association which, under
his inspiration, accomplished a work of singular value.
The Bureau of Education was so much impressed with
this work that it commissioned Professor Smith, its most
conspicuous member, to undertake a nation-wide quest
for versions of these old ballads, which had exerted so
deep an influence on the sentimental character of so large
a part of the colonial population of America. It was
his opinion that the task of research could be performed
more successfully by the public school teacher than by
any other person in the community, since he reached the
very class of people who were most likely to have preserved
the ancient ballads of the British Islands in their
transmitted form in America. A ballad bulletin was
issued by the Department of Public Instruction in Virginia,
which became a bond between the University of
Virginia and those numerous Virginian school-masters
who were interested in assisting Professor Smith and
the Folklore Society, of which he was the President.
Of the original three hundred and five English and
Scotch ballads, twenty-six were, after no long interval
of hunting, found in Virginia; and of these, five had
never been reported to exist elsewhere in the United
States.

During the session of 1916–17, the courses taught by
Professor Smith embraced, in a general way, the subjects
of Old English, Chaucer, and early modern English,
the history and the structure of the English language,

American literature by types, the ballads, Browning,
and Poe. The most popular of all these topics
was the history and structure of the English language,
which drew one hundred and fourteen students on the
average to his class-room. Professor John Calvin
Metcalf succeeded Smith when he resigned after his
appointment to the faculty of the United States Naval
Academy at Annapolis. Associated with him is Adjunct Professor
H. P. Johnson. Professor James Southall
Wilson is the present incumbent of the chair of the Kent
Memorial School of English.

In 1906–07, a course in exposition of the theory and
practice of journalism was added to the latter chair.
It was asserted that this course would furnish all the
instruction which could be imparted outside the precincts
of a newspaper office. The teacher was Leon R.
Whipple. In 1909, the financial condition of the English
schools made necessary the discontinuance of this
course. In 1915, the President of the University, in his
commencement address, spoke of the need of a School
of Journalism within the precincts, which would equip
young men to serve as the leaders of public opinion.
This utterance prompted the class of 1908 to raise a
fund to reestablish the chair. In the end, the sum of
twelve hundred dollars a year was guaranteed by that
particular body of alumni for the support of the professor
during a period of three years, by which time it
was expected that the chair would be able to maintain
itself. The professorship was in full operation by the
beginning of the session of 1915–16, and continued in
existence until Professor Whipple,—who had been again
chosen to fill it,—was displaced by the decision of the
Board of Visitors. Twenty-one students registered
during the first session. Some of these soon proved

themselves to be successful writers in more than one
province of composition. Stories were disposed of by
them to the New York Evening Post, the Christian
Science Monitor, and the Louisville Courier-Journal; and
they are said to have furnished editorials to the Charlottesville
Progress. A University publicity bureau was
organized to prepare a detailed weekly letter for the
greater papers, and to forward items of college news to
less conspicuous columns.

The study of history in the University of Virginia
was, in 1904–05, directed (1) to the unity and continuity
to be observed in the progress of world events, with
particular regard to the principal periods; (2) to English
and American annals; (3) to European development
in every aspect; and (4) to the Reconstruction
of the Southern States. The third and fourth courses
were taught in alternate years. In the first and second,
the professor quizzed the student; in the third and
fourth, the student quizzed the professor. By 1915–16,
the subjects of instruction had been slightly shifted.
The first course,—which was intended for undergraduates,
—was divided into two sections: one of these
treated of general history down to the close of the
Middle Ages, and the other, down to the outbreak of
the World War. In the second course, which was designed
for undergraduates and graduates, the professor
lectured on the subject of American history, and in the
third, which was designed for graduates only, he lectured
either on the general development of Europe or on the
Reconstruction of the Southern States.

As early as 1905–06, it had been clearly discerned
that the School of History and Economic Science ought
to be divided into two schools, a School of History and
a School of Economics,—the latter to treat of the subjects

of money, credit, and the protective tariff. As
the single school then stood, the professor was called
upon to traverse ground which, in seventeen of the
principal institutions of learning of the country, was
assigned to not less than ten instructors. Properly
speaking, the then existing school should have been
divided into four schools, having, as their topics, history,
economics, political science, and sociology respectively.
But for the present, the University had to be content
to establish a separate chair of economics and political
science. This was in operation by the session of 1906–
07, with Thomas W. Page as the incumbent. The subject
of instruction for undergraduates was the principles
of economics; for undergraduates and graduates, the
growth of American industry and commerce; and for
the graduates, some theme requiring original research.
The fundamental weakness of this school, in its early
stages, consisted of its inability to offer a large number
of courses pertaining specifically to ordinary business
affairs. "There is no field," said Professor Page, "in
which the Southern college has done so little, and none
where growth and expansion would more immediately
accrue to the public benefit, than the field of scientific
business training. While the Northern and Western
States, during the last fifteen years, have been developing
schools of this kind, those of the South have either
been unable to do so, or have failed to appreciate the
need of it." In time, several new studies of a practical
bent, preparatory to a business career, were added.

Professor Page was appointed a member of the
Federal Tariff Board in 1911, and this chair, during his
absence, was occupied by a substitute.

In 1911–12, the instruction in political science related
to (1) the formation of the Federal system; the State

and city governments of the United States and the
administrative methods of other countries; and (2)
political theory and practice. By 1914–15, a separate
professorship for political science had been created. Its
first incumbent was W. M. Hundley, who, on his translation
to the Virginia Military Institute at the end of the
session of 1914–15, was succeeded by Lindsay Rogers.
During 1915–16, the instruction given in the general
School of Economics and Political Science touched upon
(1) the principles of economics and constitutional
government, commercial geography, taught by Professor
Bardin, and commercial law, taught by Professor
Forrest Hyde; (2) the growth of American industry
and commerce, and public finance, international law, diplomacy,
and State and municipal government; (3) politics,
jurisprudence, and the constitutional aspects of social
and economic problems.

The ground traversed by the School of Moral
Philosophy had not, previous to 1904–05, undergone
any conspicuous modification during many years,—the
instruction, for want of time, had been limited to the
bare elements of logic, psychology, ethics, and the history
of philosophy. In 1906, the Corcoran School of Moral
Philosophy was re-named the Corcoran School of Philosophy.
Professor Noah K. Davis withdrew in 1906–07;
and for some time, the subjects of logic and psychology
were taught by Professor Bruce R. Payne,—who filled
the chair of secondary education,—and the subject of
philosophy, by Professor Albert Lefevre. After Professor
Payne's retirement, Associate Professor Balz and
Adjunct Professor Pott were connected with the school.
During 1915–16, the three courses belonging to it treated
of the following themes: (1) logic, ethics, general
psychology, and history of morals; (2) history of

philosophy, psychology, and recent philosophical tendencies;
(3) empiricism and rationalism, together with
a critical study of Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel.

The John B. Cary Memorial School of Biblical History
and Literature was the outgrowth of a Bible lectureship
founded at the University of Virginia by the
Christian Women's Board of Missions, and earnestly
supported by many persons interested in Biblical instruction.
An acute need of such support in the case of that
branch of teaching existed at the University of Virginia
because the public taxes could not be used for the
advancement of religion. There were two obstacles to
surmount: (1) how could the prejudice against such
teaching at this institution be removed? and (2) how
could that teaching be conducted there without raising
a suspicion of sectarianism and denominationalism? All
this was accomplished by the establishment of a lectureship
which had no scholastic connection with the University.

But, ultimately, this was not considered sufficient.
How could it be so arranged that work done in a course
of Biblical instruction should receive credit in a candidacy
for a degree? It was recognized by the teacher of
this course, Rev. W. M. Forrest, that it would never
acquire its rightful importance until it was placed on a
footing of equality with all the other studies prescribed
for the baccalaureate diploma. To this status, the
lectureship was advanced in 1905–06,—at first, for a
period of three years, in order to test the acceptability
of the proposed new chair by actual experiment. It was
organized as the School of Biblical History and Literature,
and on the normal basis of an elective. Its general
object was to impart such an acquaintance with the

history and the literature of the Bible as would be taken
for granted in one supposed to be liberally educated.
This chair was supported by the income accruing from
a special fund created by the generosity of the Christian
Women's Board of Missions and the children of Colonel
John B. Cary, of Richmond,—in whose honor the chair
was named. The new associate professor was expected
to cooperate with the Young Men's Christian Association
in religious work; to deliver open lectures on the
Bible; and to teach the local Bible classes.

Through the donation to the general library by Rev.
Haslett McKim of a large collection of Biblical
volumes,—added to the volumes already there,—the
new school came into possession at once of one of the
most extensive departmental libraries to be found at
the University. By the session of 1908–09, the instruction,
—which had, originally, been limited to the history
and literature of the Old Testament and the English
Bible,—had been extended to the history and literature
of the New Testament also. Within a few years,
the studies of the school were divided into three
courses, leading, like the courses in the other schools,
each to its special degree or degrees. In 1915–16, these
studies embraced the history of the Hebrew people,
the literature of the Old and New Testament, the
history of the English Bible, and the theology of the
two divisions of the Sacred Book. At first, the
members of the class assembled in one of the rooms of
Madison Hall; but they were afterwards transferred
to the room elsewhere occupied by the School of Moral
Philosophy. During the session of 1915–16, the School
of Biblical History and Literature was placed by the
Standardizing Committee of the Religious Coeducational

Association in the highest class,—that class to
which only thirty-one Biblical departments in the United
States were then assigned.