[Manuscript notes for] The University of Virginia Library, 1825-1950; story of a Jeffersonian foundation. |
NOTES TO II. 1826-1861. FROM THE DEATH OF THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE
WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. |
 |
|
 | [Manuscript notes for] The University of Virginia Library, 1825-1950; |  |
NOTES TO II. 1826-1861. FROM THE DEATH OF THOMAS JEFFERSON TO THE
WAR BETWEEN THE STATES.
The abbreviations indicated below are used for the books which are
most frequently referred to in the notes for this period.
Bruce Bruce, Philip Alexander. History of the University of Virginia, 18191919.
New York, Macmillan, c1920-1922. Five volumes
Cometti Jefferson's Ideas On a University Library. Letters from the
Founder of the University of Virginia to a Boston Bookseller. Edited
by Elizabeth Cometti. Charlottesville, The Tracy W. McGregor
Library, 1950
1828 Catalogue 1828 Catalogue of the Library of the University of Virginia.
Reproduced in Facsimile with an Introduction by William Harwood Peden.
University of Virginia Bibliographical Series, Number Six.
Charlottesville, Printed for the Alderman Library of the University
of Virginia, 1946
Ford Jefferson, Thomas. The Works of Thomas Jefferson. Federal edition.
Collected and edited by Paul Leicester Ford. New York, Putnam,
1904-1905. Twelve volumes
Lipscomb Jefferson, Thomas. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson. Memorial
edition... Andrew A. Lipscomb... Editor-in-Chief... Washington,
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1903-1904. Twenty volumes
Peden dissertation Peden, William Harwood. Thomas Jefferson: Book-Collector.
A dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the
University of Virginia in candidacy for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy, 1942. (A typewritten copy has been deposited in the
Alderman Library, University of Virginia.)
62. Cometti, pp. 11,12
63. Peden dissertation, pp. 180,181. The letter is published, with a
facsimile, in Poe, Edgar Allan, Edgar Allan Poe Letters Till Now Unpublished.
In the Valentine Museum, Richmond, Virginia. Introductory Essay and
Commentary by Mary Newton Stanard... Philadelphia, Lippincott, 1925, pp. 4348.
John Allan was a resident of Richmond, Virginia.
64. The Alderman Library building was erected in 1936-1938, and in May
1938 there were moved to it the books from the Rotunda and from several other
buildings which at that time contained sundry school and special collections.
65. Examples are Kimball, Fiske, Thomas Jefferson Architect... with an
Essay and Notes by Fiske Kimball, Boston, 1916; Kimball, Fiske, The Genesis
no. 6, December 1923, pp. 397-399; Lambeth, William Alexander, Thomas
Jefferson as an Architect... Boston, 1913.
66. There is in Kimball, Fiske, Thomas Jefferson Architect, a chapter,
pages 90-101, on "The Architectural Books Owned by Thomas Jefferson." This
lists four editions of Palladio acquired at various times by Jefferson (the
first Leoni London edition of 1715 in Italian, French, and English; the
third Leoni London edition of 1742; an edition of Palladio's First Book of
Architecture translated into English by Richards; and the first edition in
French, by de Cambray, published in Paris in 1650); there are listed also
three editions of the French Bibliotheque d'Architecture de Jombert which
contained material by or about Palladio. The text acquired for the University
of Virginia Library on Jefferson's recommendation was an 1801 Italian edition
in one volume.
67. A full story of the building of the Rotunda and its intended uses is
given in Bruce, volume one, pages 260-269. Details are also given in
Lambeth, Thomas Jefferson as an Architect, page 55.
68. The building-to-be is called the Library in minutes of the meetings
of the Board of Visitors for 2 April 1821, 30 November 1821, 7 October 1822.
The first use of the name Rotunda in the Visitors' minutes is for the meeting
of 7 April 1823.
69. Harlan, Richard. Medical and Physical Researches: or Original
Memoirs in Medicine, Surgery, Physiology, Geology, Zoology, and Comparative
Anatomy... Philadelphia, 1835. The quotation is from pages 408,409.
70. Martineau, Harriet. Retrospect of Western Travel. In two volumes.
London: Published by Saunders and Otley. New-York: Sold by Harper &
Brothers, 1838. There has been a recent Harper reprint, in 1942. The quotation
is from volume one, page 207.
71. Figures for faculty and student loans and for faculty approvals of
student loans during the first session have been obtained by checking the
items in the manuscript circulation record against the names of the faculty
and students as listed in the University of Virginia Catalogue for 1825.
Of the students, William T. Maclin had the highest number, thirty-three, of
times of borrowing during that session (the count is for times of borrowing,
not of volumes borrowed).. Next to him were Henry E. Coleman, Benjamin H.
Magruder, and Henry C. Thweat, with thirty-one times each. John Vaughan
Kean and William Wertenbaker, the first two Librarians, both of whom were
students during that session, were low in number of borrowings. Of the
faculty, Thomas Hewitt Key, Professor of Mathematics with a Cambridge University
background, led in number of borrowings, forty, and in approvals for
student loans, 319. George Blaettermann, Professor of Modern Languages with
a background of Heidelberg and Leipsig Universities, was second to Professor
Key in approvals for student loans with 242; but the small number of his
personal borrowings from the Library, twelve, possibly reflects his irritation
over the policy of making faculty members subject to the library
regulations.
68A. Abernethy, Thomas Perkins, Historical Sketch of the University of
Virginia, Richmond, c1948, p.9; Bruce, vol. 2, pp. 230-232; Patton,
pp. 274-277.
72. Following is a list of the eight original professors, Lomax receiving
his appointment as Professor of Law in 1826. There are given the subjects
of each professorship, the years of service at the University of
Virginia, and the names of the institutions from which college training had
been received.
GEORGE BLAETTERMAN. Modern Languages (1825-1840). Educated at
Heidelberg and Leipsiz Universities.
CHARLES BONNYCASTLE. Natural Philosophy (1825-1827); Mathematics
(1827-1840). Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, England.
ROBLEY DUNGLISON. Medicine (1825-1833). Educated at the Universities
of London and Erlangen.
JOHN PATTON EMMETT. Natural History, Chemistry (1825-1842). Educated
at West Point and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.
THOMAS HEWITT KEY. Mathematics (1825-1827). Educated at Cambridge
University.
GEORGE LONG. Ancient Languages (1825-1828). Educated at Cambridge
University.
GEORGE TUCKER. Moral Philosophy (1825-1845). Educated at the College
of William and Mary.
JOHN TAYLOR LOMAX. Law (1826-1830). Educated at St. John's College,
Annapolis.
73. Records of Professor Blaettermann's insurgency can be found in the
Faculty Minutes for the following meetings: 5 July 1828 (concerning keys
to library building); 2,5,8 November 1828 (concerning fines for professors);
5,8 November 1828 (concerning the gentleman's agreement); 7 October 1829
(concerning comments written in the margins of library books).
74. For record of authorization by professors of student loans see note 71.
Edgar Allan Poe was a student during the second session and is recorded
as having borrowed books from the Library on six dates, all in 1826, as
follows:-
"June 13. 1,3,4 vols. Rollin's A. hist." The entry in the 1828
catalogue, page 10, is Rollins, complete works, Fr. Paris 1807 60 vols.
8vo. Also Atlas, 1 vol. 4 to. The "A. hist." evidently meant Ancient
History, the Histoire Ancienne of Charles Rollin's Oeuvres Complètes. This
set, except for volumes 10 and 15, survived the Rotunda fire of 1895.
"Aug. 8. 33,34 vols. Rollin (`hist. Romaine'). "These volumes belonged
to the same set of Charles Rollin's Oeuvres Complètes, being the Histoire
Romaine.
"Aug. 15. 1 &2 vols. Robertson's America." The entry in the 1828
catalogue, page 18, is Robertson's History of America, Dublin, 1777. 2 vols.
8vo. These two volumes by William Robertson survived the 1895 fire.
"Aug. 29. 1 &2 vols. Marshall's Washington." The entry in the 1828
catalogue, page 17, is Marshall's Life of Washington with Maps, Philadelphia,
1804, 5 vols. 8vo. The whole five volumes set by John Marshall survived
the burning of the Rotunda.
"Sept. 12. 9,10 Voltaire." The loan entry is so brief that this item
is a puzzle. There were two Voltaire sets in the 1828 catalogue, page 101,
which had a ninth and a tenth volume. They were Voltaire's Works complete,
French, Paris, 1817, 25 vols. 8vo. and Voltaire's Collection of Letters,
French, Paris, 1785, 12 vols. 8vo. The Alderman Library has a set of
Recueil des Lettres de M. de Voltaire, Paris, 1785, lacking volume nine,
which may have been the set listed in the 1828 catalogue. There seems to
have been no 1817 Paris edition of the Oeuvres Complètes in 25 volumes.
There was one of 56 volumes which appeared between 1817 and 1821, and the
Library may have acquired only the first twenty-five of these. Volumes nine
and ten contained poetry, the long poem "La Pucelle d'Orléans" being in
volume nine. The set originally owned by the University has disappeared and
probably destroyed in the fire of 1895. There is another copy now in the
Alderman Library.
"Nov. 4. 1 &2 Dufief's Natural display." The entry in the 1828
catalogue, page 25, is Dufief's Nature Displayed, Fr. &Eng. Philadelphia,
1823, 2 vols. 8vo. This work by Nicholas Gouin Dufief, the full title being
Nature Displayed, in her Mode of Teaching Language to Man: or, A New and
Infallible Method of Acquiring a Language ... Adapted to the French, survived
the burning of the Rotunda.
For a careful discussion of those borrowings by Poe see Arthur Hobson
Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography, New York, 1941, pages 102-104.
75. The first regulations of the Library were drafted by Jefferson in that
early spring of 1825 when he was busily preparing for the opening of the
first session and compiling the book list for the Boston book agent. They
were passed at a meeting of the Board of Visitors held on 5 March 1825, and
were as follows, the capitals, punctuation, and spelling being copied as
in the original minutes.
"For the use and care of the library the board now establishes the
following regulations.
"The Professors of the University shall at all times have free use of
the books of the library, in confidence that they will not keep them out
longer than while in actual and active use, and leaving with the Librarian
a note of the books borrowed.
"Books may be lent to the Students of the university, by the Librarian,
and by no other person, on a written Permit from a Professor whom such
Student attends, specifying the day beyond which they shall not be retained.
but it is meant that the books lent are for reading only, and not for the
ordinary purpose of getting lessons in them as schoolbooks.
"No Student shall carry any book borrowed from the Library, out of the
precincts of the University; nor shall any Student be permitted to have
more than three volumes in his possession at any time.
"If a Student shall not return a borrowed book on or before the date
limited in his Permit, he shall recieve no other until it be returned; and
he shall pay moreover for every week's detention, beyond the limitation,
10. cents for a 12mo. or book of smaller size, 20. cents for an 8vo. 30.
cents for a 4to. and 40. cents for a folio.
"Not every book in the Library shall be free to be lent to Students,
but such only as shall not be expressly prohibited by the Faculty on
account of their rarity, value or liableness to injury.
"No Student shall ever be in the Library but in presence of the Librarrian,
or of some Professor whom he attends, nor shall be allowed to take
any book from the shelves, nor remain in the room to read or consult any
book, but during such presence.
"If any Student deface, injure, or lose any book of the library, he
shall pay the value of the book if defaced, double value if injured, and
threefold, if lost; and shall be suspended from the privilege of borrowing
during such term as the faculty shall adjudge.
"On some one day of every week, during term, and during one hour of
that day, (such day and hour to be fixed on by the Faculty) the Librarian
shall attend in the Library, to recieve books returned, and to lend such
others as shall be applied for according to rule. and at some one hour of
every day (to be also fixed by the Faculty) the Librarian shall attend, if
requested by any Professor, to lend to such Professor such book or books as
he may require, &to recieve any he may have to return.
"The Librarian shall make an entry of every book lent, and cancel the
same when returned, so that it may always be known in what hands every book
is.
"Strangers whom the Librarian may be willing to attend, may visit the
library; but, to prevent derangement of the books, they are to take no book
from the shelf, but in his presence. they may also be permitted to consult
any book, to read in it, make notes or quotations from it, at the table,
under such accomodations and arrangements as the Librarian shall prescribe,
on his own responsibility.
"Resolved that the salary of the Librarian be raised to the sum of
150. Dollars.
"Resolved that when the monies, expected as before mentioned from the
General government, shall be paid, the board consider it advisable to employ
mr. Hilliard of the firm of Cummings, Hilliard and co. of Boston to purchase
the library of the University, according to the Catalogue which has been
made."
75A. Thomas Jefferson to John L. Thomas, 9 January 1825. A file copy by
Jefferson is no. 2130 in the Jefferson Collection at the Alderman Library.
The text is as follows:
We have as yet no library nor consequently
employment for a librarian, and [when] we need
one we propose a compensation of 50. D. a year
only, counting that some one of the professors
will undertake it for that. the fact is also
that a librarian must ever be a man of a high
order of science and able to give to enquirers
an account of the character and contents of the
several books under his care. be pleased to
accept the assurance of my great esteem &respect.
As has been stated, these regulations and resolutions were adopted
by the Board of Visitors on 5 March 1825. That their tenor was approved
by the other members of the Board is evidenced by the equally strict and
somewhat more elaborate regulations which were adopted at a meeting of the
Visitors on 6 October 1826, three months after Jefferson's death.
Minor changes were made or at least discussed during this period at
meetings of the Visitors on 19 July 1827 and 7 July 1840, and by the Faculty
at meetings held on 2 December 1826, 9, 17, and 27 October 1845, 1 July 1846,
and 3 November 1846.
76. The letter of appointment of John Vaughan Kean as Librarian was dated
30 March 1825. There is a file draft (number 2164) among the Jefferson
Papers in the Alderman Library. The text is as follows:
You are hereby appointed Librarian to
the University of Virginia, with a compensation
of 150.D a year to be paid by the Proctor from
the funds of the University. an important part
of your charge will be to keep the books in a
state of sound preservation, undefaced and free
from injury by moisture or other accident, and
in their stated arrangement on the shelves
according to the method and order of their Catalogue.
your other general duties and rules of
conduct are prescribed in the printed collection
of the enactments of the Board of Visitors, of
these rules the Board will expect the strictest
observance on your own part and that you use the
utmost care &vigilance that they be strictly
observed by others. Given under my hand this
30th day of Mar. 1825.
The letter of temporary appointment of William Wertenbaker as the
second Librarian was dated 30 January 1826. The original and a file draft
of the first paragraph (number 2283) are among the Jefferson Papers in the
Alderman Library. The letter was printed (page 82) in Frederick W. Page's
article on "Our Library" in the Alumni Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 3, November
1895, pp. 78-85. The text is as follows:
The office of Librarian to the University
of Virginia having become vacant by the resignation
of mr Kean, and the authority of ultimate
appointment being in the Board of Visitors, it
becomes necessary in the meantime to place the
library under the temporary care of some one;
you are therefore hereby appointed to take
charge thereof until the Visitors shall make
their final appointment. you will be entitled
year to be paid by the Proctor from the funds
of the University.
"An important part of your charge... [the
text of this paragraph is identical with the
text of the Kean letter]
"Given under my hand this 30th day of
January, 1826.
The appointment of Wertenbaker was "approved and confirmed" by the
Board of Visitors at a meeting held 4 April 1826.
76A. Letter from Kean to Jefferson, 13 July 1825. Copy in Alderman
Library.
76B. Letter from Kean to Jefferson, 13 May 1825. Copy in Alderman Library.
The originals of both of these letters are in the Huntington Library.
76C. Letter from Jefferson to Kean, 16 May 1825. Copy in Alderman Library.
The original is at the Library of Congress.
77. Peden dissertation, p.87, mentions this letter from Jefferson to
Kosciusko, dated 26 February 1810. The letter is printed in Lipscomb,
vol. 12, pp. 365-370.
78. See chapter I, note 24, of this historical sketch.
79. The story of the printing of the 1828 Catalogue is outlined in the
following quotations from minutes of faculty meetings. There is no specific
reference in the minutes of meetings of the Board of Visitors. It appears
probable that the payment to the printer, Gilmer, Davis, &Co. of
Charlottesville, is merged in accounts of the Proctor which were approved
by the Visitors.
19 December 1826. "On motion of Mr. Key, a Catalogue of the Books of
the Library is ordered to be printed under the Superintendence of Mr. Key
and Dr. Dunglison."
21 February 1827. "Resolved that the Proctor be recommended to
purchase sufficient paper for 500 octave copies of the Library Catalogue
about to be printed."
19 April 1827. "On motion Resolved that in preparing the catalogue
of the Books of the Library for publication, the original prices of the
books be inserted in the catalogue as far as it may be practicable to
ascertain the prices, and where books have been presented to the University
that the names of the donors be published on one of the pages of the
catalogue and the initials of their names opposite to each donation in
the catalogue."
22 May 1827. "The Chairman laid before the Faculty a letter from
Mr. Wertenbaker stating certain difficulties which had occurred to him in
pricing the catalogue of books as he was directed at the last meeting.
Whereupon Mr. Tucker moved that the publication of the catalogue and the
preparations which were here to and are ordered for the printing thereof be
suspended until after the meeting of the Visitors."
10 September 1827. "On Motion Resolved that the Catalogue be
printed without the prices.
"On Motion ordered that in the catalogue the books in the Ancient &
foreign languages shall be published with their English names designating
with suitable contractions which language they belong to."
13 October 1827. "Resolved that in printing the catalogue, the names
of persons who have given Books to the Library, together with a Catalogue
of the Books presented, be published at the end of the Catalogue."
15 February 1828. "On Motion - Resolved that Dr. Dunglison be appointed
a committee to superintend the printing of the catalogue." [Professor
Key had by this time resigned and returned to England.]
The Catalogue appeared later in 1828. In 1945 it was reprinted in
facsimile as number six of the University of Virginia Bibliographical
Series, issued by the Alderman Library.
80. See Mearns, David C. The Story Up to Now: The Library of Congress
1800-1946, Washington, 1947, pp. 162, 172. Adams, Randolph G., Three
Americanists, Philadelphia, 1939, pp. 91-94.
81. After the burning of the Rotunda in 1895 the Dewey Decimal System
of Classification came gradually into use at the University of Virginia
Library. A change to the Library of Congress Classification began in 1929.
82. More elaborate discussion of Jefferson's adaptation of Francis Bacon's
classification of the fields of learning may be found in Adams, Randolph G.,
Three Americanists, Philadelphia, 1939, pp. 91-94; Page, Frederick W., "Our
Library", in the Alumni Bulletin of the University of Virginia, vol. 2,
no. 3, November 1895, pp. 79, 80; and in the Peden dissertation, pp. 72-85.
83. Of the twenty-nine "chapters" of the 1828 Catalogue, the twenty-eighth
— Architecture, Designing, Painting, Sculpture, and Music — includes
subjects which were not in the initial curriculum; and the twenty-ninth —
Miscellaneous, including Poetry, Rhetoric, Education, &c.- is a catch-all
of the remaining subjects. The numbers of the other twenty-seven chapters
are given below as they apply to the eight original Schools.
1. Ancient Languages - 1
2. Modern Languages - 2,3,4
3. Mathematics - 5
4. Natural Philosophy - 5
5. Natural History - 6-11
6. Anatomy and Medicine - 12-22
7. Moral Philosophy - 23,27
8. Law — 24,25,26
84. It was a plan of the organization of the University that there should
be a Chairman of the Faculty appointed by the Board of Visitors from among
the Professors. The Chairman was to receive appointment for two years, and
might be reappointed. His duties were much like those of a present-day Dean.
There was at first some difference of opinion about the length of the term
of office. Bruce, vol. 2, pp. 48-52, gives the details of the discussion.
There is a list of the Chairman of the Faculty down to the turn of the century
in page 78 of Patton, John S., and Doswell, Sallie J., The University
of Virginia: Glimpses of its Past and Present, Lynchburg, c1900.
83A. "Montpellier" was the spelling used in Madison's day. This was
later changed to Montpelier. See articles on James and Dolly Madison in
Dictionary of American Biography.
85. Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Visitors 17 July 1827.
"Resolved that hereafter there shall be a standing committee of the Visitors
to be appointed on the first day of every meeting, whose duty it shall be
to examine and report to the board, the state and condition of the Library ..."
The first committee — Joseph C. Cabell, John H. Cocke, and William C.
Rives — was appointed the following July, 10 July 1828.
86. See minutes of the faculty meeting of 5 July 1828. Professor
Bonnycastle made the motion, and Professor Dunglison was the first Inspector
elected — on the second ballot.
87. The first action was taken by the Faculty at its meeting on 8 October
1834, Professor Emmet being selected as Chairman of the special committee.
The report of that committee apperas in the minutes of the faculty meeting
of 11 November 1834, and is an important document concerning the administration
of the Library. At a meeting of the Faculty on 30 December 1834
Professor Emmet was directed to draw up resolutions "to render effective the
suggestions of the report." The resolutions were presented and approved at
a meeting held on 9 January 1835. On 30 June 1835, on motion of Professor
Emmet, it was voted "that in the opinion of the Faculty the state of the
Library, especially in relation to the irregular performance of the duties
assigned, by the Enactments, to the Librarian, require the immediate attention
of the Board of Visitors." The minutes of the Board of Visitors for 8 July
1835 record the resignation of Brockenbrough and the reappointment of
Wertenbaker. A fuller statement of this matter is given in the sketch of
William H. Brockenbrough in chapter five of this history of the Library.
88. The first regular Faculty Library Committee was appointed at a meeting
of the Faculty on 31 October 1836. It was composed of Professors Bonnycastle,
Tucker, and Gessner Harrison (who had in 1828 succeeded Professor
Long in the School of Ancient Languages).
89, The faculty minutes of 10 September 1827 record that this fact was to
be called to the attention of the Board of Visitors.
90. This matter was mentioned at a meeting of the Board of Visitors on
23 July 1828; it was further considered on 21 July 1830; and final action
was taken on 20 July 1831.
91. The action is recorded in some detail in the minutes of the faculty
meeting of 15 April 1829.
92. For early examples of such petitions, see the minutes of faculty
meetings on 10 September 1927, 7 July 1930, 9 July 1931, 2 November 1932.
This last was an eloquent appeal which the Faculty forwarded to the Governor
of the State, and it resulted in a $500 appropriation the following June.
93. For the ten sessions beginning with July 1927, the Visitors' minutes
record six general library appropriations: $500 on 21 July 1829, $250 on
17 July 1932, $500 on 20 July 1833, $300 on 18 July 1834, and $500 on
13 August 1836.
93A. Bruce, vol. 2, p. 192. See footnote 51. The Executor was Jefferson's
grandson, Thomas Jefferson Randolph. In the letter referred to the following
footnote, the number of volumes is given as about 950 and the estimated value
$2,000.
93B. Robley Dunglison to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 25 December 1828. This
letter is among the Cabell Papers in the Alderman Library.
93C. John Tayloe Lomax to John Hartwell Cocke, 29 September 1827. This letter
is among the Cocke Papers in the Alderman Library.
93D. Robley Dunglison to Joseph Carrington Cabell, 10 January 1829. This
letter is among the Cabell Papers in the Alderman Library.
94. The reference is, of course, to The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Julian
P. Boyd, editor... Princeton, 1950-
95. The action of the Visitors on 29 July 1845 was as follows: "Resolved. -
That the Rector be authorized to have a suitable press made for the purpose
of keeping the papers of the Board of Visitors, and that he be requested to
prescribe a suitable method of arrangement on advisement with the Secretary."
An admirable account of these archives and of the Lee Papers may be
found in an article on "The University of Virginia Library" by Francis L.
Berkeley, Jr., in the Winter 1952 issue (Vol. IV, no. II) of the Autograph
Collectors' Journal, pp. 32-36.
96. The grandson, after he had completed his Memoir of the Life of Richard
Henry Lee, Philadelphia, 1825, two volumes, divided the papers he had collected
among the American Philosophical Society (a notice of the gift in
the Society's records is dated 17 June 1825), the Library of Harvard University
(there is mention of the Arthur Lee papers under date of 24 July 1827),
and the University of Virginia (which therefore probably received them in
1825, the year of the first session of the University of Virginia.)
The six sons of Thomas Lee (1690-1750), who married Hannah Harrison
Ludwell in 1722, were as follows: (1) Philip Ludwell Lee (1726-1775), heir
of Stratford, a preRevolutionary figure; (2) Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778),
a popular but less prominent member of the family; (3) Richard Henry Lee
(1732-1794), a signer of the Declaration of Independence; (4) Francis
Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797), a signer of the Declaration of Independence;
(5) William Lee (1739-1795), Commissioner to Courts of Berlin and Vienna;
(6) Arthur Lee (1740-1792) Commissioner to France with Silas Deane and
Benjamin Franklin. There were also two daughters, Hannah (1728-1782) and
Alice (1736-1818). There are sketches of the last four sons in volume
eleven of the Dictionary of American Biography, those of Richard Henry,
William, and Arthur by Edmund C. Burnett and that of Francis Lightfoot by
H. J. Eckenrode. There is an extended discussion of the six sons in Part II,
"The Six Sons of Stratford", pages 85-175, of Burton J. Hendrick's The Lees
of Virginia: Biography of a Family, Boston, 1935.
97. Interesting details concerning the Lee Papers are given on page 34 of
the article on "The University of Virginia Library" by Francis L. Berkeley,
Jr., in the Winter 1952 issue of Autograph Collectors' Journal. Supplementary
to these footnotes is a typed copy of the references to the Lee Papers
in the minutes of meetings of the Board of Visitors and of the University
Faculty.
98. The regulation concerning "Strangers" is included in the list of the
original regulations in footnote 14. Negative actions with regard to loans
of library material outside of the precincts are recorded in the minutes
for the Visitors' meeting of 19 July 1827 and for the Faculty meeting of 4
January 1845.
99. The early handling of the Madison endowment is recorded chiefly in
minutes of meetings of the Board of Visitors. The dates of the meetings in
which this matter was discussed were 17 August 1837, 5 July 1843, 5 July
1844, 4 July 1845, 27 June 1846, 28 June 1847, 27 June 1851. At the time of
It required, however, an action of the Faculty on 25 October 1852 to pry
loose that amount; and it was not until a meeting of the Visitors held on 28
June 1856 that the order was given for a regular appropriation to the Library
of $90 annual interest from the Madison endowment.
99A. The spelling "Dolley" in a signature appears in facsimile in Time,
vol. 61, no. 6, 4 February 1953, p.4. The inscription on the tombstone
(courteously copied for these Notes by Mrs. William J. Phillips of Charlottesville)
is as follows:-
In
Memory of
Dolley Payne
wife of
James Madison
Born May 25, 1768
Died July 8, 1849(?)
100. The record of the Madison bequest of books dragged through many
meetings of the Visitors and of the Faculty. The list, in chronological
order is: Visitors 17 August 1837; Visitors 5 July 1838; Faculty 2 April 1840;
Visitors 5 July 1843; Visitors 3 July 1845; Visitors 30 October 1845; Faculty
27 November 1852; Faculty 3 May 1854; Visitors 27 June 1854; 29 June 1854.
There was one pleasant feature in the legal action. The Board of
Visitors offered to James W. Saunders, its agent and attorney, a fee of one
hundred dollars and five percent of the value of the books recovered.
Saunders accepted the fee, but the Visitors' minutes of 29 June 1854 records
that he "relinquished his right to the 5 per cent."
Various statements concerning the number of the Madison books can be
found. In The University of Virginia: Glimpses of its Past and Present, by
John S. Patton and Sallie J. Doswell, Lynchburg, c1900, page 30, the number
is given as "about two thousand volumes." Philip Alexander Bruce in his
History of the University of Virginia, volume two, page 196, states that the
legacy was "of about one thousand volumes." The minutes of the Visitors for
27 June 1854 records that 431 volumes were recovered. But the University
Catalogue for the session of 1857-1858 gives the number as 587, and this has
been accepted.
That Dolly Madison was empowered by the will of James Madison to retain
such of the volumes as she might choose is stated on page 336 of Katharine
Anthony's Dolly Madison: Her Life and Times. Garden City, 1949.
Some of the responsibility for the delay should doubtless be placed on
the widow. In Bruce's History of the University of Virginia, volume two, page
196, and volume three, page 102, it is wholly charged to her. The biographies
of Dolly Madison seem to be silent about this matter. But the inept management
of "Montpellier" by John Payne Todd is freely acknowledged, and he is
specifically mentioned in the Visitors' minutes of 3 May 1854. Dolly
Madison's warm friendship with Jefferson and her personal interest in the
University while James Madison was Rector are well known.
Concerning Jefferson's purchases in France for Madison's private library
there are apposite references in Dumas Malone's Jefferson and the Rights of
Man, Boston, 1851, pp. 87, 162, 163.
101. The adjectives descriptive of Christian Bohn are quoted from the
University Catalogue for 1844-1845. In connection with the Bohn gift there
are many references in the minutes of meetings of the Visitors and of the
Faculty. A list of those meetings, arranged in chronological order, is as
follows: Visitors, 5 July 1838; Faculty, 25 September 1838; Visitors, 3 July 1839; Faculty, 7 September 1839; Faculty, 29 June 1840; Visitors,
7 July 1840; Faculty, 4 September 1841; Faculty, 19 November 1851; Visitors,
29 June 1853.
The Bohn gift is stated in the 1857-1858 Catalogue of the University
to have contained 3,380 volumes.
The special faculty committee on examining the books was composed of
Professors Harrison (Ancient Languages), Bonnycastle (Mathematics), and
Blaettermann (Modern Languages). There were two successive committees on
Professors Tucker (Moral Philosophy), Griffith (Medicine), and Davis (Law).
The second, appointed 4 September 1841, was composed of Professors Kraitsir
(Modern Languages), Cabell (Anatomy and Surgery), and Tucker (Moral
Philosophy). Some of the engravings were placed on display in the Rotunda.
By 29 June 1853 the Library Committee of the Board of Visitors had become
tired of seeing them and it was directed that they be removed from the walls.
102. The various economic histories of the United States analyze the
reasons for this growing prosperity. The main reason was the effect of the
cotton gin in reducing the cost of harvesting cotton.
103. There are indications that the feeling of tension was more pronounced
on the part of the families which sent their sons to northern colleges than
it was on the part of the sons themselves. In general the southern students
won some measure of sympathetic understanding from the northern university
communities, particularly at Princeton. Though their numbers decreased during
the 1850's, there were southern students at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton
right up to the firing on Fort Sumter. Indications of the situation can be
found in Bruce, vol.3,p.4; Collins, Varnum Lansing, Princeton, New York,
1914,pp.93-95, 159-162; Dwight, Timothy, Memories of Yale Life and Men, 18451899,
New York, 1903, pp.62-66; Pier, Arthur Stanwood, The Story of Harvard,
Boston, 1913, pp.163-165; Wertenbaker, Thomas Jefferson, Princeton 1746-1896,
Princeton, 1946, pp.265,266.
104. The tracks of the Virginia Central Railroad Company (originally the
Louisa Railroad Company) reached Charlottesville from the direction of
Richmond in 1850. The tunnels through the Blue Ridge, an engineering achievement
by Claudius Crozet which was completed in 1858, extended the line westward
over the Blue Ridge Railroad. This opened transportation east and west,
and is now the line of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Meantime the Orange
and Alexandria Railway had extended its tracks from Orange to Gordonsville
in 1840, and from there it made use of the tracks of the Virginia Central.
The continuation to Lynchburg was not completed before the war of 1861-1865.
This north and south connection later became the Washington City, Virginia
Midland, and Great Southern Railroad, and was finally merged with the Southern
Railroad system.
The general fact of the opening of Charlottesville to railway communication
is clear, but the references are a bit confusing as to dates. See
Bruce, vol. 3,p.3; Couper, William, Claudius Crozet: Soldier-Scholar-Educator-Engineer
(1789-1864), Charlottesville, 1936, pp.127-173, especially
p.131; Meyer, Balthazar Henry, History of Transportation in the United
States Before 1860, Washington, Carnegie Institution Publication No. 215c,
1917, pp.460-464; Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion, American Guide
Series, New York, c1940, pp.94-96.
105. The contribution of the graduates of the University of Virginia to
secondary education during this period receives full exposition in Bruce,
vol. 3,pp.3, 224-244.
106. Bruce, vol.3,p.3; vol.4,p.323.
107. Bruce, vol.3,pp.30-34. The establishment of a School of History
and General Literature was approved by the Board of Visitors in May 1856,
and the School went into operation in the session of 1857-1858. The first
Professor was George Frederick Holmes — and he continued to hold that chair
until 1882.
108. The order that there be seven hours of opening on weekdays was given
by the Faculty on 1 December 1858. Various schedules had been experimented
with. One complicated schedule that was approved by the Faculty on 19
October 1858 called for opening on Mondays and Thursdays from 8:45 a.m. to
2:00 p.m. and from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., and on the other four weekdays from
8:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. and from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.
109. The Visitors tried two methods of increasing the Library appropriations.
On 28 June 1850 the Board voted "That if in any of the Schools,
there should be a surplus over the maximum limit of $3000 [for the salary of
the Professor], such surplus shall remain in the hands of the patron subject
to appropriation for enlargement of the Library &of the philosophical and
chemical apparatus..." On 28 June 1856 the Board voted "that the fee for
matriculation and the use of the library &public rooms shall hereafter be
$20 [instead of $15] and one fourth part thereof shall be annually appropriated
for the increase of the library."
110. As was stated in the first section of this historical sketch and in
its footnote 30 the approximate size of the original library was 8,000 volumes.
The University Catalogue for the session 1849-1850 gives 20,000
volumes, and for the session 1859-1860, 30,000 volumes.
111. The Faculty at its meeting on 2 December 1848 voted "that a committee
be appointed to make temporary provisions for the books now accumulating and
to suggest to the Board of Visitors the kind of cases most suitable for the
reception of future additions to the Library — Dr. Schele, Dr. Courtenay
and Mr. Minor were appointed the committee." On 7 December 1848 Dr. Schele
de Vere made an oral report for the committee and this was approved.
The Faculty at its meeting on 17 October 1856 voted "that the Proctor
be instructed to provide immediately additional accommodation for Books in
the Library, under the direction of the Committee heretofore appointed to
report upon a plan for the same." [Apparently this was the committee
appointed eight years before.] An action with similar wording was taken at
the Faculty meeting of 9 October 1857.
112. The question "began to emerge" - though not yet in specific words.
Cf. Faculty minutes 1 November 1859.
113. See minutes of meetings of Visitors held 19 August 1837 and 4 July
1839.
114. See minutes of meeting of Visitors held 29 June 1848.
115. See minutes of meetings of Faculty held 3 January and 1 February 1861.
The books included some presented to the Library by the American Tract
234 works presented by an unknown benevolent lady through the Rev.
Dr. Alexander of Princeton." The location of the reading room on West Lawn
is given by Bruce, vol.3,p.142.
116. See action of Board of Visitors at its meeting of 3 July 1838.
117. The following minutes was recorded for the Faculty at its meeting of
1 March 1861:-
"The Chairman reported that the cornice of the
Rotunda where it joins the roof of the Front Portico on
the west took fire this morning from a coal accidently
dropped by Plumbers at work on the top of the building.
- By the early discovery of the fire and prompt
and well directed efforts of students and others the
Rotunda was saved from serious damage if not destruction.
Among the students conspicuous for their services
on the occasion Mr. Wm H. Chapman deserved to be
honorably mentioned - whereupon
"Resolved that the Chairman be requested to tender
the thanks of the Faculty to the students and others
and particularly to Mr W. H. Chapman for the prompt and
efficient services on the occasion referred to."
118. This action was taken by the Faculty at its meeting on 18 April 1859.
119. See footnote 57 in first section of this historical sketch.
120. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors 28 June 1856.
It is of interest that the motion was apparently offered by Muscoe
Russell Hunter Garnett, a young lawyer and booklover of parts, who had
recently completed a brilliant student record in the College Schools and in
Law. His home library has been preserved intact in the Garnett Room in the
Alderman Library. See article by William H. Wranek, Jr., in University of
Virginia Alumni News, vol. 26,no.7, April 1938,pp.138,139.
121. Minutes of meeting of Faculty, 2 July 1856.
122. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors, 27 June 1857.
123. Biographical references are recorded in the footnotes to the sketch
of William Wertenbaker in section five of this history. An early reference,
by his son Charles Christian Wertenbaker, appeared in the University of
Virginia Alumni Bulletin, vol.4,no.1, May 1897,pp.21-25.
124. See previous note; also Bruce, vol.2,pp.200,201. Bruce gives Street
and Sanxey as the firm name of the Richmond owners of the bookstore at the
University.
125. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors 27 June 1857.
126. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors 30 June 1857.
127. Visitors' Minutes, 28 June 1856, 27 June 1857.
128. Visitors' Minutes, 27 June 1857.
128A. Faculty Minutes, 4 September 1857.
128B. Faculty Minutes, 1 April 1859 (for books); 1 November 1859 (for
bookcases).
129. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors 28 June 1856.
130. The indications are that this was Muscoe Garnett. See footnote 120.
131. See the Chapter on "The Smithsonian Library" by Cyrus Adler, pages
265-302, in Goode, George Brown, ed., The Smithsonian Institution 1846-1896:
The History of its First Half Century, Washington, 1897.
Charles C. Jewett, the first Librarian at the Smithsonian, 1847-1855,
was a pioneer in librarianship. He had compiled a catalogue of the Brown
University Library in 1843, and after appointment at the Smithsonian he proposed
the making of a union catalogue of all the libraries in the United States.
In 1855 he left Washington for the Boston Public Library. In 1866 the
Smithsonian Library was incorporated with the Library of Congress.
It is not clear what the Visitors meant by "the plan recommended by the
Smithsonian Institution." But Jewett is credited with having introduced a
method of descriptive cataloguing.
(It may be of local interest that the steel shelving in the corridor on
the first floor of the Alderman Library was originally used for the
Smithsonian collection at the Library of Congress. It was moved by Library
of Congress officials to its present location in order that there might be
transferred temporarily to these shelves the newspapers on lM of the stack,
thus releasing that stack for the Union Catalogue of the Library of Congress.
When the Union Catalogue was returned to Washington after the Second World
War, the Alderman Library purchased these stacks from the government.)
132. Minutes of meeting of Board of Visitors 27 June 1857.
133. Minutes of meeting of Faculty 9 October 1857. The special committee
"to report on a plan for preparing a Catalogue of the Library" was composed
of George Frederick Holmes, Professor of History and General Literature,
Francis Henry Smith, Professor of Natural Philosophy, and Basil Lanneau
Gildersleeve, Professor of Greek.
134. Minutes of meeting of Faculty 1 December 1857.
135. The full report of 1 December 1857 was recorded in the minutes of the
Faculty as follows:-
"Mr. Gildersleeve from the committee appointed
to suggest a plan for the catalogue of the Library submitted
the following report -
"I For convenience of reference they would recommend
the adoption of the alphabetical arrangement.
"II To obviate the necessity of renewing the task
and to preclude all doubt as to the editions of the
respective works, they would suggest that the titles be
given in full, with such bibliographical notices as
may be proper in the case of rare editions.
"III For the sake of enabling the student
to ascertain the resources of the Library in the
different departments, they propose to add a
classified index, to be arranged in a few simple
categories, under which the titles will be merely
indicated, with references throughout to the full
catalogue."
136. Visitors' Minutes, 4 September 1858. The minute with regard to
the plan for a catalogue was as follows:-
"The plan of a catalogue of the Library adopted
by the Faculty on Dec. 1st, 1857, is approved with
the following modifications.
"1. Where the title is long it may be abridged
provided so much of it is preserved, as may be
necessary, to identify the book, and in all cases
the date and place of publication, the edition, and
the size of the volume shall be indicated.
"2. The catalogue into which the classified
index is to be divided, shall be fixed by the Faculty
in consultation with the Librarian."
137. Bruce, vol. 3, pp. 104-106. See page 82 of article on "Our Library"
by Frederick Page in Alumni Bulletin, vol. 2, no. 2, November 1895, pp. 7885.
138. Visitors' Minutes, 9 February 1860 (Holcombe requests salary advance),
30 June 1860 (salary advance approved)
138A. Visitors' Minutes, 27 May 1861.
138B. Visitors' Minutes, 16 July 1861.
139. Faculty Minutes, 2 December 1861.
| [Manuscript notes for] The University of Virginia Library, 1825-1950; | |