University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XIX

UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS

In June, 1828, Professors Tucker and Dunglison
began the publication of the Virginia Literary Museum
and Journal of Belles-letters, Arts, etc., in
weekly numbers of sixteen pages super royal octavo.
They relied upon their fellow members of the faculty
to contribute quite freely on the subjects of their
special investigations, but it turned out, of course,
that the editors (whose names do not appear anywhere
in the publication) had to furnish most of the
articles they printed. They edited alternate numbers
and the single volume of more than 800 large
pages which has come under the observation of the
writer contains contributions on many subjects connected
with the moral and physical sciences and
belles lettres, all of them apparently timely and many
of them excellent in treatment and finish. Professor
Bonnycastle's contributions appear under the
signature of PZ and Dr. Patterson's under that of
Trevor. Only two volumes appeared.

The next publication was by the students, and was
called the Collegian. It was established in 1838 and
lived through four sessions, with a separate editorial
committee for each session. For the first the editors
were John S. Barbour of Culpeper, afterwards

a United States Senator from Virginia; John
Critcher of Westmoreland County; a political leader
in his section and its representative in Congress; R.
Barnes Gooch of Richmond, who, although he died
young, had won distinction at the bar; James P.
Holcombe of Lynchburg, professor of law in this
University, a member of the Secession Convention
and of the Confederate Congress, and also a confidential
agent of the Confederate Government;
Thomas H. Watts of Alabama, Attorney-General in
President Davis' Cabinet, Governor of his State,
and for years the supreme leader of his section.
Subsequent editors were—session of 1839-40: W.
C. Carrington, J. Harvey French, Augustus E.
Maxwell, James McDowell, Jr., and Thomas
Slaughter; session of 1840-41: L. M. Ayer, J. S.
Caskie, J. L. Marye, T. R. Rives, and R. E. Withers.
The editors for the session of 1841-42 are not
named in the magazine, and there is no contemporary
reference to them.

At the beginning the Collegian flourished, ending
its first year with all its debts paid and a surplus in
its treasury. This condition of things led the editors
to dream dreams and see visions which were
never realized. "Successfully managed," they
wrote, "this fund may be yearly increased until it
becomes sufficient to support a professorship of
English literature which it is proposed shall be established
in the University. Thus a most useful
purpose might be accomplished, and a great and lasting
benefit conferred on education in the State. We
throw out this suggestion for the consideration of
those who are interested in the success of the Collegian,
in that of the University and in the literary

reputation of Virginia—believing that their interests
are one and the same." But the novelty wore
off, enthusiasm waned instead of waxing, and the
end of the session 1842 saw the end of the Collegian
also.

Its successor was The University Magazine,
whose first number was dated January, 1849.
This periodical, which seems to end with the May
number, which was the fifth, is not to be confused
with the University Literary Magazine, established
in 1856, which is still published under the somewhat
changed name of Virginia University Magazine.
The editors in the first number of The University
Magazine—the one of 1849—seemed to regard it as
a revival of The Collegian, which had ceased to
be seven years before. Its editorial management
was certainly quite as good, and this is not an equivocal
compliment. Who the editors of the first numbers
were cannot be learned from the publication
itself. In the April number a new board of editors
made its debut. There were seven members:
George Mason, on the part of the students; Nicholas
Davis, Jr., and F. W. Page, on the part of the
Jefferson, V. G. Claytor and J. W. Archer, representing
the Washington; and E. F. Paxton and C.
E. Sinclair from the Philomathean Society.

The last number of this monthly contained the
prospectus of the Jefferson Monument Magazine,
whose first number appeared in October, 1849. The
reason for its establishment was, as its prospectus
announced, the desire of the students to testify their
gratitude to Thomas Jefferson as the patriot, the
statesman, the sage, and especially as the illustrious
father of the institution with which they were so
proud to be connected. It was the expectation that

the surplus income of the magazine would form a
fund out of which could be erected a monument to
he founder's memory. "In thus proposing to publish
a magazine," to quote the prospectus, "the
profits of which shall constitute a monument fund,
there has seemed to be appropriateness in such an
idea of raising the fund by means of the productions
of minds which receive their development and training
at the institution which was the pride of Mr.
Jefferson's heart, the loved child of his old age."

The publication was directed by four editors during
the first session and presumably by the same
number in subsequent years. Who these editors
were there is nowhere the slightest intimation. Excepting
two numbers, there are two volumes of the
magazine in the University Library, the last number
of the second volume bearing the date of June, 1851.
The editorial pages contain no intimation that the
publication is to be discontinued, although there is a
note of discontent on account of lack of "subscriptions"
as well as of contributions.

The University Literary Magazine was established
by the Jefferson, the Washington and the
Columbian literary societies, with editors from each.
The Columbian, however, did not long survive.
The first number bears the date December, 1856, and
the first volume ends with the date December, 1857.
Since then the volumes have ended with the number
for June. Like its three predecessors, the magazine
was founded with the avowed purpose of supplying
the lack of instruction in composition. There
was not at that time, and indeed not for many years,
a distinct School of Literature in the University.
One is struck by the excellent work done by the student
contributors to those early publications.

The editors were soon face to face with the problem
which had defeated their predecessors of The
Collegian, The University Magazine and the Jefferson
Monument Magazine. There were few contributors
and they found it difficult to fill with creditable
productions the thirty-two pages required for each
monthly issue. They hit upon the usual plan for
stimulating literary activity. In June, 1857, the
editors made this anouncement:

"It has been determined by a consultation of committees
from the three literary societies of the University
to offer a medal of the value of one hundred
dollars to be awarded to the writer of the best
essay to be published in the Magazine during the
next session. The design is, after the nine numbers
have been issued, to place them in the hands of three
learned professors of the University—Professors J.
B. Minor, W. H. McGuffey, and G. F. Holmes—
and get them to decide as to the respective merits of
the articles and award the medal to the most worthy.

"This is, it has been thought, to be a means at
least by which the Magazine may be made a real
index to the talent of the University, as the honor of
such an award will awake the ambitious energies of
all. We, therefore, feel safe in promising to our
subscribers and friends outside of the University,
for the next session, a punctual delivery of a magazine
at any rate superior to the one which has been
so far issued."

This medal remains to this day an eagerly sought
honor. In after years other honors were added,
among them a medal for the best translation; another

for the best original verse; and a third for the
best short story.[1]

There have appeared two volumes of reprints
from this magazine. The first was made of poems
under the title of "Arcade Echoes," now in its second
edition. It was compiled by the late Thomas
Longstreet Wood of Virginia, one of the brightest
and most promising men sent out from this institution,
but whose performance had not reached the
full measure which would have been his at the maturity
of his powers, when death claimed him as a
youthful victim. The second edition appeared with
all the advantage of careful editing and discriminating
additions by Mr. John W. Fishburne of Charlottesville.
Dr. Charles W. Kent edited the volume
of short stories, six in number, under the title of
"Idylls of the Lawn," and was probably successful—
through the exercise of judgment and taste rarely
trained—in selecting the six entitled to outrank all
other short stories in this publication. The illustrator
of this handsome volume was Mr. Duncan
Smith, a Virginian artist resident in New York.

In the early winter of 1889, Leigh R. Page of
Richmond, A. C. Carson, of Riverton, Virginia, and
Stuart-Menteth Beard united in advocating the establishment
of a weekly paper for the chronicling
of athletic news, as well as the other happenings in
which students were interested. The societies were
approached, but feared that the publication would
not be financially successful. After some delay the
students above named, and two others—Hunt Chipley
of Florida, and John G. Tilton of Virginia—undertook
the publication as a private enterprise, and
in January, 1890, the first number of College Topics

made its appearance. It at once won favor with the
students, and became the organ and exponent of all
their enterprises. The literary field was left to the
Magazine, but that of college news was monopolized
by Topics. Chipley and Page soon resigned, and
Joseph McElroy and J. Breckinridge Robertson took
their places—the latter as editor-in-chief. At the
close of the first volume these adventurers in the
field of college journalism divided among themselves
a surplus of $150. The General Athletic Association,
which had been organized in 1887, acquired
Topics in some way at the beginning of the session
of 1890-91, and since that time it has been managed
in the interests of athletics. Its editors are appointed
by the Association.

The students' annual, Corks and Curls, preceded
Topics some two years, the first number appearing
in 1888. It is published about May of each year by
a board of editors and artists appointed by the
Greek-letter fraternities, and appears in quarto size.
In addition to the usual contents of a university "annual"
it has printed a great many articles of high
excellence and some descriptive papers of rare finish.

More than half a century separates the first publishing
venture of the faculty and the next, which
was the Annals of Mathematics, established by Professor
Ormond Stone, in 1884, as a medium for the
publication of advanced investigations. For a time
Professor Echols was associated with him as editor.
In 1899 Harvard College acquired this highly creditable
publication.

The Alumni Bulletin dates from 1894, when its
publication was begun by the faculty to provide a
means of communication between the University
and its alumni. Its first form was quarto, but in

1901 it was changed to royal octavo. A great deal
of the history of the University, dating years before
this publication was established, has been recovered
and given place in its pages; while, of
course, every important event occurring after its
publication was begun has been duly recorded.