University of Virginia Library

Foreword

By
The President of the
University of Virginia

It is an honor and keen pleasure for me
to be able to offer a few words of introduction
to the valuable and delightful biographies
of former professors of the University
of Virginia which Harry Clemons,
Librarian Emeritus of the University, has
written. In the succeeding pages, Mr.
Clemons has vividly and concisely delineated
the life and character of the twenty-two
eminent teachers and scholars, diverse
in personality but consistent in distinction,
for whom the modern dormitories of the
University are named.

Mr. Jefferson, of course, built the first
rooms for students at the University, still
known, as he designated them, as the Lawn

and the Ranges. They were occupied upon
the opening of the University in 1825.
During the succeeding century, some additional
accommodations were provided.
Finally, in 1929 the University completed
the construction of a group of a dozen
residence "Halls."

In planning for these Halls, President
Edwin A. Alderman, on 28 April 1928,
appointed Professors Robert Montgomery
Bird, Robert Bennett Bean, George Oscar
Ferguson, Jr., William Mentzel Forrest,
and William Alexander Lambeth as the
members of a "Dormitory Committee."
There is no proof that this committee
(which was active in determining the location
of the buildings and in drawing up
rules for their occupancy) named the
twelve Halls, but it seems likely that they
did. The minutes of the Board of Visitors
show that the following resolution was
adopted on 2 November 1928: "The suggestion
of the President that the entries to
the new dormitories be designated by
names taken from the list of professors who

had served the University from its beginning,
was approved."

The only additional documentary information
is an undated typewritten list
in President Alderman's 1928 correspondence
of the names actually used, with the
pencilled notation "names verified by Dr.
[William Mynn] Thornton." Thus twelve
of Mr. Clemons' twenty-two men were
chosen.

The remaining ten were commemorated
by the undergraduate "Houses," which
were opened in 1950. While these dormitories
were under construction. President
Colgate W. Darden, Jr., asked the University
Senate to recommend names for them,
and a committee of the Senate, consisting
of Professors James Southall Wilson,
Earnest Jackson Oglesby, and Ivey Foreman
Lewis determined upon the names
for the ten Houses from a list of forty
former professors nominated by members
of the Faculty. As the minutes of the committee
show, "The names were selected on
the basis of stature in the world of scholarship,

influence in the University of their
day, and in the case of the last two [Page
and Hancock] their hold on the affection
of the alumni growing out of their personal
influence on students." On 10 February
1950, the Board of Visitors approved the
recommendations of the committee. Mr.
Clemons' list of twenty-two was then complete.

All who cherish the University of Virginia
are indebted to the Librarian Emeritus
for these biographical sketches and for
the care and grace with which he has recreated
our heritage. I am grateful that
successive generations of students will be
able to turn to this work and bring to life
the men whose names they daily encounter
in the residence Halls and Houses. I trust
that these biographies will also alert each
contemporary generation of students to the
fact that, if they want to know great men
in the flesh before the enshrinement of
posthumous honor, they need only look
about them on the Grounds.

It is a happy circumstance that the name

of one of the great men of the University
now living should be linked with these
illustrious names of her past through the
authorship of this book. His tribute to
their influence bespeaks the enduring
spirit of the University.