 | CHAPTER XXVI Jefferson, Cabell and the University of Virginia |  |
Modern Languages:
George Blaettermann was the founder of the
School of Modern Languages (1825), in which he
held himself prepared to teach almost any modern
tongue. He retired in 1840. Other professors were
Charles Kraitsir,[2]
1841-44; Dr. Maximilian Schele
De Vere,[3]
1844-95; Joachim Reinhard, acting professor
of French and German, 1895-96; James A.
Harrison, English, French and Spanish, 1896-98;
Romance Languages, 1898-99; Teutonic Languages
since 1898; William H. Perkinson, German
and Italian, 1896-98; Richard H. Wilson, Romanic
school, and his successors were foreign born until
1896.
The School of Modern Languages was divided at
the beginning of the session of 1898-99 into the
School of Teutonic Languages, of which Dr. James
A. Harrison has since been professor, and the School
of Romanic Languages, Dr. Richard H. Wilson
professor.
Dr. Blaettermann's successor, Dr. Kraitsir, was a native of
Hungary, and was educated at Pesth and Vienna. After a
brief practice of medicine he joined the Polish patriots in their
effort to throw off the Russian yoke, and served as a surgeon
at Warsaw and in the field. His life was migratory for years,
during which he sojourned in Germany, Italy, France and
Belgium. The languages of all those countries he spoke fluently,
and he was regarded as a remarkable linguist. Dr.
Kraitsir retired from the University in 1844 and eventually
made his home in Morrisania, New York.
Dr. Schele was a native of Sweden, but at eight years of
age his father's family went to Southern Germany, where he
grew to manhood. He studied at Berlin and Bonn, receiving
his doctorate from the former. The following year Greifswald
gave him the degree of Juris Utriusque Doctor. After a
short term in the military and later in the diplomatic service
of Prussia he came to America and spent a year in travel, and
in study in Boston, where he met Ticknor and Longfellow.
He retired from his chair after 51 years of service and died at
the Providence Hospital in Washington May 10, 1898.
The funeral was held from Christ Church, Navy Yard, and
the interment in Rock Creek Cemetery. The pall-bearers were
Holmes Conrad, Leigh Robinson, Charles L. Bartlett, O. W.
Underwood, John Sharpe Williams, W. A. Jones, William B.
Mathews, and E. I. Renick.
Dr. Schele did much for the University. His work as an
author covered a wide field—philology, sociology, fiction. He
compiled and published a semi-centennial catalogue which
stands first among books about the University for the varied
and important information it contains.
| CHAPTER XXVI Jefferson, Cabell and the University of Virginia | |