XI. Minor Courses of Instruction
Jefferson was one of the first Americans to discern the
value of manual training as a minor feature of a liberal
education. Before the University was opened, he had
provided in the ordinances for the erection of workshops
within the precincts, or on sites sufficiently near to be
convenient to the students. Here all who so desired
were to be free to acquire skill in the use of those mechanical
contrivances which generally are only employed
in the pursuit of a trade. In order to reduce the expense
of the shops, they were to be offered to respectable
workingmen, who were to be relieved of the payment of
rent on condition of their consenting to the students handling
their tools; and they were also to have the right
to sit under any professor without paying a fee, if his
lectures bore upon the mechanical and philosophical principles
of their art. There exists no proof that this
scheme, which has become so common in our own times,
was put in practice.
In 1833, the Board of Visitors determined to introduce
a course in civil engineering as an adjunct to the one
in mathematics. Bonnycastle endeavored to carry out
their purpose by delivering a series of lectures on the subject;
but the plan did not, apparently, at this time pass
beyond this rather barren initial act. He continued, however,
to urge that this professorship should be created.
Again, in 1836, he informed the Board that he considered
its establishment as entirely practicable, and Professor
Rogers, of the School of Natural Philosophy, now offered
his assistance to bring it about. This combination assured
the chair; the new school was designated the School
of Civil Engineering; and one lecture was delivered
weekly by each professor belonging to it. Seventeen
students attended during the session of 1836–7; and in
1839, four graduates received diplomas.
It will be recalled that a room was reserved in the
Rotunda by Jefferson for instruction in those arts which
are employed to embellish life. One of these was music,
and in April, 1825, the Faculty required the proctor to
advertise in the journals of New York, Philadelphia, and
Richmond, for a teacher, who was to be "a good practical
performer on more than one instrument, and well
versed in orchestral performance and the science of composition."
At least, one candidate for the position was
turned down. In fact, there was much difficulty in filling
it properly. The Board of Visitors asked the Faculty
to give the reason of this, and that body replied, that,
unless some additional inducements were offered, no competent
person could be engaged; this, they advised, should
take the form of a moderate salary for at least one year,
—which would indicate that fees had previously been
relied upon to support the incumbent. Mr. Bigelow applied
for the situation; but it was not until November,
1828, that he is found giving lessons in music, and at the
same time, occupying a room within the precincts. His
only reward was the fees which he received from his
pupils. He remained at the University as late as the year
1833, and quite possibly longer.
In 1828, Dr. Barber obtained the Faculty's permission
to deliver a course of lectures on the subject of elocution.
His place, in 1832, was taken by Donald McLeod,
who also occupied a dormitory; and he was succeeded
by at least two others. Lessons were also given
in penmanship and stenography.[9]
As far back as 1803, Jefferson expressed an interest in
agricultural education, and when he came to draft the
Rockfish Gap Report, he recommended that a course in
the science of agriculture should be comprised among
the general courses to be adopted. But the suggestion
failed to secure the countenance of the Legislature. It
was the popular opinion in Virginia in those times that
the young farmer could be trained for his calling by
learning from his own slaves all the methods used in the
past; and that these were sufficient for the undiversified
crops which were grown in the soil of the State. Jefferson
philosophically consoled himself with the hope that
the professor of natural history,—whose principal course
was chemistry,—would be able to give agricultural instruction
along definite general lines at least. But Cocke,
—who, it will be recalled, was not inclined to balk at the
most radical innovations unless they took the form of
bringing in foreign teachers or building Roman temples
on American hilltops,—was determined to establish at
the University, if practicable, a professorship in this
science. He is said to have advocated the incorporation
of the Agricultural Society of Albemarle principally because
it would be the most feasible means of raising an
endowment for this agricultural professorship; and other
bodies in the State of a like character were urged to join
in swelling the fund. A letter was drawn up by the President
of the Society and circulated far and wide through
the rural parts of Virginia, with the result that a large
sum was collected; but, unhappily, the person to whom it
was loaned fell into bankruptcy, and the investment was
irrevocably lost.
William C. Rives was solicitous, in 1835, that the
Board of Visitors should at once petition the General Assembly
to establish a new professorship at the University
to take "charge of the principles of agriculture," along
with the kindred sciences of botany, geology, and mineralogy.
A model farm, he said, should be laid off as a
department of the school, and the whole subject taught at
once practically and scientifically. The hour, however,
was not yet ripe for the project.
