University of Virginia Library

I
ACCOMPLISHMENT

THE University of Virginia was conceived, founded, and
organized by Thomas Jefferson. It was established by
the Legislature of Virginia January 25, 1819, and
opened to students March 7, 1825. The total number
of young men enrolled as students during the eighty sessions
which preceded the election of President Alderman as its first
President in June, 1904, was fifteen thousand nine hundred and
twelve. During this period three hundred and sixty-one students
received baccalaureate degrees; the degree of Master of
Arts was conferred upon three hundred and ninety-three candidates,
and that of Doctor of Philosophy upon thirty-five. Degrees
in Engineering were conferred upon ninety-nine candidates;
the degree of Doctor of Medicine upon one thousand two
hundred and fifty-seven, and that of Bachelor of Law upon one
thousand three hundred and thirty-five. No honorary degree
has ever been conferred by the University.

*Reprinted in part from "The University of Virginia in the Life of the
Nation."—1905.

The alumni of the University have been largely represented
in executive, judiciary, and other services of the National Government,
and in Congress, as well as in State governments and
legislatures. Four alumni have served as Cabinet officers; one as
a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; one as a
Justice of the International Court of Appeals; and eight as Ambassadors
or Foreign Ministers. Twenty-five have been members
of the Senate, from thirteen States, and eighty-six have
been members of the House of Representatives from fifteen
States, many of them for several terms. Eight Senators and
fourteen Representatives in the present Congress are alumni of
the University—a larger representation than that of any other
American university. Eighteen alumni have been Governors in
ten States, and forty-eight Judges of Supreme Courts in seventeen
States, many of whom are now in office. A large number

have served or are serving as members of State Legislatures,
Secretaries of State, Attorneys General, and in other offices of
trust and importance.

Alumni of the University took an important part in the formation
of the Confederate government, and a still more prominent
part in the Confederate army and navy. Thirty-eight
alumni were in the convention which on April 17, 1861, passed
what is popularly known as the ordinance of secession. Five
alumni were members of the Confederate Cabinet; fourteen were
members of the Provisional Congress, from eight States; ten
were Senators, from seven States, and eighteen were Representatives,
from seven States, in the first and second Permanent
Congresses. The number of students matriculated up to the
close of the Civil War was less than nine thousand; of these, two
thousand four hundred and eighty-one (over twenty-seven per
cent.) served in the field or at sea; and of this number, four
hundred and seventy-one (nearly one-fifth) died in service. One
thousand four hundred and eighty alumni (nearly sixty per cent.
of the entire number serving) were commissioned as officers of
various grades, among whom were four major-generals, twenty-four
brigadier generals, and ninety-eight colonels, from ten States.

In addition to the large number of alumni who have served
as teachers in public and private high schools, or as assistant
professors, instructors, or tutors in collegiate institutions, four
hundred and eleven alumni have occupied chairs in one hundred
and fifty-one universities, colleges, and professional schools,
located in thirty-three States and four foreign countries; of
these one hundred and seventy-one are now in positions. Sixty-five
alumni have been made presiding officers of fifty-one institutions
located in nineteen States. Alumni of the University
have held chairs in ninety-nine institutions, located in sixteen
Southern States; of these, one hundred and forty-one are at
present serving in sixty-six institutions, located in fourteen
States, including nearly all of the State universities and technical
schools, and the leading private foundations, of the South.
Alumni have held chairs in fifty-seven institutions located in seventeen

Northern and Western States; of these, thirty are now
serving in eighteen institutions, located in eight States.

While the University has no Department of Theology, nor
any denominational affiliation, over five hundred of its alumni
(over three per cent. of its total enrollment) have entered the
ministry, chiefly of the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist and
Methodist churches; a large number of these have served or
are serving as missionaries in all parts of the world. Eleven
alumni have been made bishops of the Protestant Episcopal
Church; one of the Methodist Episcopal Church; and one of the
Reformed Episcopal Church.

From the opening of the University to students in 1825, to
June, 1904, it had conferred the degree of Bachelor of Law
upon one thousand three hundred and thirty-five of its graduates
(a little over eight per cent. of its total enrollment). To
these may with propriety be added a still larger number of its
matriculates who, without completing the entire course in Law
at the University, have there obtained the larger part (if not the
whole) of their professional education, and have since been in
successful practice. Alumni in the Law have attained distinction
in every branch of the profession, and have been prominent
in public life, alike in the National Government and in that of
their respective States.

Without taking account of a large number of practitioners
who have there received their academic (and in many instances
the larger part of their professional) training, the University at
the close of the eightieth session had conferred the degree of
Doctor of Medicine upon one thousand two hundred and fifty-seven
of its students (about eight per cent. of the total enrollment).
Representatives of this body have been and are prominent
in their profession in nearly every State and large city of the land.
They comprise a larger number of the surgeons of the Army,
Navy, and Marine Hospital Service of the United States than

the graduates of any other medical school, forming at the present
time about twenty per cent. of the National Medical Staff.

Alumni of the University constitute a large proportion of
those American writers who, especially in the South, have attained
distinction as authors in various fields of literature, or as
editors of leading periodicals and newspapers, both religious and
secular.

Although the Department of Engineering is of comparatively
recent organization, its graduates are filling positions of importance
throughout the land; the same may be said of graduates
of the School of Chemistry and of Geology.