University of Virginia Library

PREFACE

I. Method of Treatment

The history of the University of Virginia, during the
one hundred years of its existence, can be related in three
different ways. First, as annals, with an inflexible fidelity
to the flow of events from year to year; second,
as a series of monographs,—the theme of each to be
treated separately for the entire interval of time lying
between 1819 and 1919; or third, as a succession of
periods,—each period growing out of the preceding one,
but dissimilar in length, in problems, and in achievements.
To present that history in the form of annals would be to
introduce unavoidably definite elements of incoherence
and desultoriness. To narrate it in the form of a series
of independent monographs would be to destroy its fundamental
unity, and the close inter-relations of its almost
innumerable phases. On the other hand, to consider
it as a succession of periods permits of the retention of
all the advantages of chronological sequence and of separate
exposition subject by subject, with the discursiveness
of the one and the disconnection of the other substantially
modified.

The history of the University of Virginia lends itself
fully to a narration by periods. Thus we have the First
Period,—the period when there was a persistent struggle
for the incorporation of a university, in which Jefferson
was the great protagonist; the Second Period,—the period
of germination, when Albemarle Academy and Central
College were rapidly developing into a seat of higher

learning; the Third Period,—the period of construction,
which saw the erection of the buildings, the adoption of
the regulations, and the selection of the professors; the
Fourth Period,—the period of formation and experimentation,
which began with the opening of the University
to students; the Fifth Period,—the period of reformation
and expansion, as illustrated in the introduction
of the Honor System, the establishment of the Young
Men's Christian Association, and the addition of new lecture
halls and new schools; the Sixth Period,—the period
of the war, when the activities of the institution were
almost suspended; the Seventh Period,—the period of
reconstruction and re-expansion, which succeeded that
conflict; the Eighth Period,—the period of restoration,
which followed the Great Fire; and finally, the Ninth
Period,—the period of the presidency, in which the drift
has been towards a broader democratization, in harmony
with the dominant spirit of our own times. It is this
division of my general subject which I have adopted in
the present work.

II. Foreword to Volumes I and II

In the preparation of Volumes I and II, I have enjoyed
the advantage of access to the following illuminating
manuscripts which had not before been used for the
same general purpose. The Misses Cocke, of Bremo,
kindly placed at my disposal the correspondence of General
John Hartwell Cocke; Dr. William C. Rives, of
Washington, D. C., the correspondence of his grandfather,
the statesman, William Cabell Rives; Judge John
C. Rutherfoord, Miss Elizabeth Johnson, Mrs. John B.
Henneman and Mr. Malcolm G. Bruce, family letters

written from the University previous to 1842; Colonel
W. Gordon McCabe, letters of Frank G. Ruffin descriptive
of his impressions as a student; Mr. Armistead C.
Gordon, the letters of General William Fitzhugh Gordon
and his wife; Mrs. Caroline Ellis, the correspondence of
her grandfather and father, Governor James Barbour
and B. Johnson Barbour; Misses Bessie and Margaret
Gaines, family letters of their father, the late Major R.
V. Gaines; Professor Raleigh C. Minor, the diary of Professor
John B. Minor; Professor Dunnington, the minutes
of the Temperance Society; Mr. M. S. Dimmock,
the manuscript papers belonging to the University Library
which were gathered up after the Great Fire; Professor
Lancaster, a copy of a letter which throws light
on the offer of the Presidency of the University to William
Wirt.

Two collections of letters and papers in the possession
of the University of Virginia have furnished me with a
large amount of hitherto unused information. I refer
(1) to the loose documents, in the form of vouchers,
receipts, letters, deeds and the like, now in the custody of
the Registrar; and (2) to the mass of unassorted letters
and public papers of Joseph C. Cabell presented to the
Library by his heirs. This latter collection is quite as
valuable as the well-known volume published with the title
of Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, and under the
editorship of Mr. N. F. Cabell. For thoughtful points
of view as well as for important facts, I am indebted to
the following books: Patton's Jefferson, Cabell and
University of Virginia; Garnett and Barringer's University
of Virginia, Its Influence, Example and Characteristics;
Professor Minor's Sketch of the University of Virginia
in the Old Dominion Magazine; Rev. Edgar

Woods's History of Albemarle County; Professor
Adams's University of Virginia; Professor Lambeth's
Jefferson as an Architect; Professor Fiske Kimball's
Thomas Jefferson, Architect; Professor William P.
Trent's Sketch of English Culture in Virginia; Dr. Tyler's
Williamsburg, the Old Colonial Capital, and Professor
Heatwole's History of Education in Virginia.

The following monographs have also been of use to
me in the study of the Third and Fourth Periods: Professor
Charles A. Graves's Martin Dawson; Professor
Thomas FitzHugh's Letters of George Long; William
C. Rives, Jr.'s, Life and Character of William B. Rogers;
Professor George Tucker's Memoir of Dr. Emmet;
Professor Broadus's Address on Gessner Harrison; Dr.
George Tucker Harrison's Address on James L. Cabell;
and Colonel W. Gordon McCabe's Virginia Schools Before
and After the Revolution.

Edgar Allan Poe, the most famous alumnus of the
University of Virginia, was a student during the Fourth
Period. I have deferred an account of his connection
with the institution to the history of the Fifth Period,
which will contain chapters descriptive of the distinguished
alumni of these early times.

In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness
to Mr. John S. Patton, the Librarian of the University,
and his assistants, Misses Mary and Estelle Dinwiddie,
for the unfailing aid which they afforded me in my examination
of the books and manuscripts now in their custody.
I was indebted too to Mr. Howard Winston, the
late Registrar, for his kindness in facilitating my use of
the unbound collection of the Proctor's Papers stored in
his office; and also to the executive committee of the
General Alumni Association of the University of Virginia

—at whose request the preparation of this work
was undertaken by me—for the encouragement which
they have given me throughout its prosecution.