University of Virginia Library

LI. The Alumni—General Association

The objects which the General Alumni Association
kept in view throughout the Ninth Period continued, as
formerly, to be: (1) to advance all the material and
moral interests of the University; (2) to encourage unity
and kindliness among the alumni; and (3) to strengthen
the spirit of the local chapters, and to bring them together
in the bonds of a closer organization.

In 1904–05, the threshold of the Period, there were
twenty-six chapters in Virginia, all of which, with the
exception of a half dozen, were situated in the towns
and cities of the Commonwealth. At this time, there
were twenty-eight chapters in existence in the other States.
Indeed, every Southern State besides Virginia, including
Maryland and Missouri, could claim the possession
of one or several,—by 1909, there were eight chapters
in Texas alone, and four in Tennessee. Beyond the
borders of the South, flourishing chapters had been
founded in New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Los
Angeles, and Porto Rico. There were twenty-eight in
Virginia during 1912–13, and thirty-six outside,—
which took in the new chapters established in Wilmington,
Delaware, and Kansas City; but two years later,
the number of the Virginia chapters shrank to twenty-six,

although, beyond the borders of the State, the number
had increased to forty-three. During 1916–17, there
were twenty-seven in Virginia, and forty-eight outside,
—a total of seventy-six. Twenty-five hundred
of the alumni were, in 1909, enrolled in these different
organizations; and in the course of the following
eight years, this enlistment was very much enlarged.

Everyone of the chapters which, in 1904–05, contained
ten active members was entitled to appoint the incumbent
of a scholarship at the University. During this
session, there were forty holders of such scholarships,
of whom twenty-six had been named by the Virginia
chapters, and fourteen by the foreign. No chapter could
fill one position of this kind unless it had remitted to
the treasurer of the General Alumni Association the
fee of five dollars due for the preceding year; and it
could only fill two if it had paid twenty-five dollars in
fees. In 1905–06, the General Assembly reduced the
general charges of the Virginia student to ten dollars,
and this enactment rendered almost valueless the scholarships
belonging to the Virginia chapters. Five years
later, the records disclose that only fifteen of the existing
sixty chapters to be found throughout the United
States had made appointments to these alumni scholarships;
and this fact was the more remarkable as no cost
in filling the position fell upon the individual chapter.
At the annual meeting this year, it was proposed that
every chapter which so wished should have the right to
appoint a scholar at its own expense; but few were willing
to assume the charges thus to be incurred.

Although the amount of the annual dues payable to the
General Alumni Association by each chapter, did not,
during the early years of the Ninth Period, exceed fifty
cents for each of its members, yet the collection of even

this small sum was tedious and precarious. The Association
needed a moderate income to defray the expenses
of printing, postage, clerical work, and other miscellaneous
details; and it was imperative too that some remuneration
should be allowed the secretary for his time
and labor. It was estimated, in 1909, that the sum of
$1,750 would be required each year; and of this amount,
twelve hundred dollars was to be reserved for the salary
of that officer. A committee, which reported on this
subject to the General Association, recommended that
each member of every chapter should be permitted to
pay five dollars on condition of obtaining a permanent
exemption from further assessment except by his chapter
for its own support. The adoption of this suggestion
created a system of life memberships; but it was left to
the option of each member whether he should apply for
such membership; and before the end of the first year,
one hundred had taken advantage of the rule.

By 1915, the dues of each member of the association
had been fixed at two dollars annually; and this amount
was increased to two dollars and a half in the course of
the ensuing session. Payment of these dues entitled the
member to the following privileges: he could cast a
vote at the alumni meeting; he could participate in the
appointment of alumni scholars; he could call on the
alumni office for information or aid in any university
matter in which he was interested; he could claim a year's
subscription to the Alumni News; and finally, he was to
be admitted to the enjoyment of all the advantages of the
Colonnade Club. In 1916, the central office of the
General Alumni Association derived its income from
the following sources: (I) an appropriation by the
Board of Visitors of fifteen hundred dollars each year
for its support; (2) advertisements in the Alumni News;

(3) annual dues of the members; and (4) sums paid
by classes, alumni chapters, and the University itself,
for special services independent of the routine work.

Between 1904 and 1916, the office of President of the
General Alumni Association was filled by men of distilnction,
—the number included among others, Samuel
Spencer, Thomas Nelson Page, R. Walton Moore, O.
W. Underwood, and John Sharp Williams. There
were but two treasurers elected in this interval,—
Professor Raleigh C. Minor, and William A. Perkins.
There were numerous vice-presidents,—among them,
George W. Lockwood, R. C. Blackford, Dr. H. H.
Young and Swager Shirley.

The most important office was the secretaryship; and
this was occupied in succession by Professor James M.
Page and Lewis D. Crenshaw. In June, 1914, the former,
who had performed the duties of the position during
ten years, withdrew from it, and was succeeded by
Mr. Crenshaw, who, on the first day of the preceding
January, had been elected recorder for the six months to
end with the last day of the ensuing June. The specific
purpose of his appointment at that time, and for that interval,
was to assure, through his energy and devotion,
the success of a reunion of alumni which was projected
for the finals of that year. The necessity of employing
a permanent and salaried secretary was clearly perceived
as early as 1904–05, for it was only by offering
substantial inducements that a competent man could be
influcnced to give his entire attention to the duties of the
office. We have already alluded to the recommendation
of an alumni committee, in 1909, that a definite sum
should be annually reserved for the requital of such a
secretary; but it was not until Mr. Crenshaw was chosen
recorder that a really practical step was taken to bestow

upon the incumbent of the place a living wage. On his
appointment for the period of six months, he was
promised a monthly salary of one hundred and fifty
dollars, with seventy-five dollars for the same length of
time for routine expenses.

When the term of six months expired in June, Mr.
Crenshaw's services as recorder had proved to be so
valuable that the General Alumni Association determind
to collect four thousand dollars to secure his retention,
and at their annual meeting in June, $2,050 of
this sum was contributed by thirty-three of the members
then present. The Board of Visitors appropriated
$1,500 for the same purpose; and the alumni in general
were asked to subscribe the remainder. The arrangement
was intended to continue until June, 1915, when it
was anticipated that a plan would be drafted for the
permanent support of the office, which, by the action of
the executive committee of the association on July II
had come to combine the different duties of secretary and
treasurer. It was these duties which Mr. Crenshaw was
to undertake. The demand for the creation of the
office in a durable form was in harmony with the experience
of other institutions, the majority of which were,
at this time, employing a permanent alumni secretary.
There was now a national organization of such secretaries;
and their annual conferences had begun as early
as 1913.

The functions of the new secretary may be summarized
as follows: (I) he edited the Alumni News; (2)
he assisted the officers of the local chapters in a general
way; gave early notice of chapter meetings and banquets;
organized new chapters and reorganized old; took part
in the choice of incumbents for the alumni scholarships,
and secured their necessary credentials; (3) he formed

the alumni into class units, and each outgoing class into
a distinct body; published the class directories; aided in
compiling the class bibliographies; arranged for the entertainment
of alumni at the finals; (4) he indexed all
the alumni by card alphabetically and geographically,
and kept the roll of them up to date; helped the fraternities
in their similar work; assisted in the public propaganda
of the University; and cooperated with the General
Alumni Association in attracting a large attendance for
special events. It was also his duty to draft and mail to
the alumni the annual letter which informed them of the
trend of affairs at the institution during the previous
session; and as he occupied the position of treasurer
as well as that of secretary, it was also his duty to collect
the annual fees. An extraordinary burden of additional
work, too minute to be particularized, fell upon
his back.

At the annual meeting of the Association in June, 1915,
it was decided to confine all alumni work to the office of
the secretary and treasurer, and to keep up that office by
means of modest dues to be paid by the entire body of
membership. The Board of Visitors also appropriated
$1,500 per annum for three years, beginning July
1, 1915, for the continuation of its routine functions.

There had been an early recognition of the fact that
an endowment fund was needed to maintain the secretaryship
in unbroken usefulness, and in 1916–17, a campaign
began to collect the sum of $200,000 for its support.
The purposes which the endowment was expected
to ensure were: (I) to reorganize the chapters, so as to
make them alert and influential for the benefit of the
University; (2) to reorganize the classes; (3) to check
up annually the addresses of the alumni; (4) to prepare
directories for all the alumni classes; (5) to inaugurate

an annual campaign to induce so many of the alumni to
return to their several class reunions that the attendance
at finals would reach at least one thousand persons each
year; (6) to obtain a photograph and biography of each
alumnus; (7) to mail to every alumnus the annual reports
of the secretary, the President, and the bursar, and
all other college literature of the like practical interest;
(8) to take the necessary steps to persuade the best of
the high school graduates to matriculate in the University;
(9) to establish a bureau of appointments, through
which recent graduates or older alumni might find employment;
(10) to make of the University night, during
the Christmas holidays, a brilliant social occasion to which
thousands of alumni would come, and to furnish each
of these gatherings with photographic stereopticon studies
or moving pictures of the University; (11) to establish
a travelling fund to enable the secretary to visit annually
a large number of alumni chapters, and to be present, as
the college representative, at every important chapter
meeting; (12) to develop among the alumni a spirit of
pecuniary liberality towards their alma mater; (13) to
appoint for each year a date on which the alumni could
return for the purpose of watching the institution at
work; and finally, (14) to keep the practical needs of
the University always in the public eye, in order to ensure
a more generous legislative support.