University of Virginia Library

PREFACE

I. Method of Treatment

The history of the University of Virginia, during the one hundred years of its existence, can be related in three different ways. First, as annals, with an inflexible fidelity to the flow of events from year to year; second, as a series of monographs, -the theme of each to be treated separately for the entire interval of time lying between 1819 and 1919; or third, as a succession of periods, -each period growing out of the preceding one, but dissimilar in length, in problems, and in achievements. To present that history in the form of annals would be to introduce unavoidably definite elements of incoherence and desultoriness. To narrate it in the form of a series of independent monographs would be to destroy its fundamental unity, and the close inter-relations of its almost innumerable phases. On the other hand, to consider it as a succession of periods permits of the retention of all the advantages of chronological sequence and of separate exposition subject by subject, with the discursiveness of the one and the disconnection of the other substantially modified.

The history of the University of Virginia lends itself fully to a narration by periods. Thus we have the First Period, -the period when there was a persistent struggle for the incorporation of a university, in which Jefferson was the great protagonist; the Second Period, -the period of germination, when Albemarle Academy and Central College were rapidly developing into a seat of higher

learning; the Third Period, -the period of construction, which saw the erection of the buildings, the adoption of the regulations, and the selection of the professors; the Fourth Period, -the period of formation and experimentation, which began with the opening of the University to students; the Fifth Period, -the period of reformation and expansion, as illustrated in the introduction of the Honor System, the establishment of the Young Men's Christian Association, and the addition of new lecture halls and new schools; the Sixth Period,-the period of the war, when the activities of the institution were almost suspended; the Seventh Period,-the period of reconstruction and re-expansion, which succeeded that conflict; the Eighth Period,-the period of restoration, which followed the Great Fire; and finally, the Ninth Period, -the period of the presidency, in which the drift has been towards a broader democratization, in harmony with the dominant spirit of our own times. It is this division of my general subject which I have adopted in the present work.

II. Foreword to Volumes I and II

In the preparation of Volumes I and II, I have enjoyed the advantage of access to the following illuminating manuscripts which had not before been used for the same general purpose. The Misses Cocke, of Bremo, kindly placed at my disposal the correspondence of General John Hartwell Cocke; Dr. William C. Rives, of Washington, D. C., the correspondence of his grandfather, the statesman, William Cabell Rives; Judge John C. Rutherfoord, Miss Elizabeth Johnson, Mrs. John B. Henneman and Mr. Malcolm G. Bruce, family letters

written from the University previous to 1842; Colonel W. Gordon McCabe, letters of Frank G. Ruffin descriptive of his impressions as a student; N-Tr. Armistead C. Gordon, the letters of General William Fitzhugh Gordon and his wife; Mrs. Caroline Ellis, the correspondence of her grandfather and father, Governor James Barbour and B. Johnson Barbour; Misses Bessie and Margaret Gaines, family letters of their father, the late Major R. V. Gaines; Professor Raleigh C. Minor, the diary of Professor John B. Minor; Professor Dunnington, the minutes of the Temperance Society; Mr. M. S. Dimmock, the manuscript papers belonging to the University Library which were gathered up after the Great Fire; Professor Lancaster, a copy of a letter which throws light on the offer of the Presidency of the University to William Wirt.

Two collections of letters and papers in the possession of the University of Virginia have furnished me with a large amount of hitherto unused information. I refer (t) to the loose documents, in the form of vouchers, receipts, letters, deeds and the like, now in the custody of the Registrar; and (2) to the mass of unassorted letters and public papers of Joseph C. Cabell presented to the Library by his heirs. This latter collection is quite as valuable as the well-known volume published with the title of Correspondence of Jefferson and Cabell, and under the editorship of Mr. N. F. Cabell. For thoughtful points of view as well as for important facts, I am indebted to the following books: Patton's Jefferson, Cabell and University of Virginia; Garnett and Barringer's University of Virginia, Its Influence, Example and Characteristics; Professor Minor's Sketch of the University of Virginia in the Old Dominion Magazine; Rev. Edgar

Woods's History of Albemarle County; Professor Adams's University of Virginia; Professor Lambeth's Jefferson as an Architect; Professor Fiske Kimball's Thomas Jefferson, Architect; Professor William P. Trent's Sketch of English Culture in Virginia; Dr. Tyler's Williamsburg, the Old Colonial Capital, and Professor Teatwole's History of Education in Virginia.

The following monographs have also been of use to e in the study of the Third and Fourth Periods: Professor Charles A. Graves's Martin Dawson; Professor Thomas FitzHugh's Letters of George Long; William Rives, Jr.'s, Life and Character of William B. Rogers; Professor George Tucker's Memoir of Dr. Emmet; Professor Broadus's Address on Gessner Harrison; Dr. George Tucker Harrison's Address on James L. Cabell; and Colonel W. Gordon McCabe's Virginia Schools Before and After the Revolution.

Edgar Allan Poe, the most famous alumnus of the University of Virginia, was a student during the Fourth period. I have deferred an account of his connection to the institution to the history of the Fifth Period, which will contain chapters descriptive of the distinguished alumni of these early times.

In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness Mr. John S. Patton, the Librarian of the University, and his assistants, Misses Mary and Estelle Dinwiddie, for the unfailing aid which they afforded me in my examination of the books and manuscripts now in their custody. I was indebted too to Mr. Howard Winston, the e Registrar, for his kindness in facilitating my use of the unbound collection of the Proctor's Papers stored in his office; and also to the executive committee of the General Alumni Association of the University of Virginia

-at whose request the preparation of this work was undertaken by me -for the encouragement which they have given me throughout its prosecution.

PHILIP ALEXANDER BRUCE.
University of Virginia,
March 7, 1920.