Certificate, February 3, 1945
Issued to Lieutenant Commander Benjamin F.D. Runk during his
stint in the South Pacific during World War II upon crossing the equator. RG21/13.95 1
Estate of B.F.D. Runk
Letters, 1886 February 21 to March 28, 1886
In this series of love letters, Frank H. Walsh wishes Katherine
Prewitt a happy birthday, chastizes her for neglecting to respond to his
epistles, apologizes for some unknown offense, and, by a combination of shameless flattery and abject grovelling, wins her
forgiveness for the aforementioned offense. Walsh's quest for a picture of
his "best sweet-heart" constitutes a continuing theme of this correspondence.
By all accounts, Walsh never got the picture.
RG-22/2/35.961
Gift of Kate Breckinridge Prewitt
Letter, 1893 July 11
Richard Dabney Anderson, a successful local businessman and ardent Wahoo
sports fan, writes to his wife, describing the agony and the ecstasy of
college baseball in the 1890s.
Virginia competed with seven other schools
in a tournament held in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. True to form,
the Wahoos started out strong, winning four consecutive games, but fizzled
in the finale, losing first to Amherst (8-6) and
then to Yale (8-2) in the tournament's closing rounds.
RG-27/8/1.961
Gift of Aaron V. Wunsch
Remnant of the McGuffey Ash Tree
1826-1990 George Tucker, the University of Virginia's first professor
of moral philosophy, planted the famous McGuffey Ash in 1826. William Holmes
McGuffoy, the University's second professor of moral philosophy, lovingly
nurtured the young sapling until it flourished into the majestic monument of
arboreal splendor that graced our grounds for more than a century and a half.
RG-30/19/5.961
Gift of Miss Anne E.H. Freudenberg
Photograph of William Bainter O'Neal ca. 1910
Perched on the left is a two-and-a-half year old William B. O'Neal, former professor of architecture,
chair of the Division of Architectural History, curator of the University's Museum of Fine Arts, and
founding member of the American Association of Architectural Bibliographers. On the right sits
William's sister, Margaret, age six. Their mother, Nora O'Neal, sits placidly between them.
RG-21/85.961
Gift of the National Gallery of Art
Dance Ribbons, 1895-1899
Ribbons for formal dances, or "german," presented by the University of
Virginia's German Club. RG-30/19/4.951
Gift of Mrs. John Page Elliot
Charles C. Abbot Letter and Poem, August 1, 1968
Abbot, then Dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration, writes to Gilbert Sullivan,
offering a humorous dissertation "on the Status of Deans."
Abbot learnedly concludes that "a Dean is a mouse in training to be a rat."
"The Merlin (A Byrd)," an economics scholium
disguised as nineteenth century American verse, cleverly imitates Poe's
"The Raven. "
RG21/1 10.941
Gift of Preston H. Abbott
Letter, September 1937 & March 1938
Hans Adolph Schmitt, now approaching his seventeenth birthday, writes from
England to his parents in Germany and describes his exaltation at having
successfully completed his courses at Oxford University and Pitman College.
Mr. Schmitt's stint in England would seem to have served him well, for he is
now Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia.
RG-21/97.961
Gift of Hans A. Schmitt
Papers of Miss Roy Land, Photo ca. 1950
The staff of Alderman Library greet incoming librarian Jack Dalton. From left to right: Jack Dalton,
Harry Clemons, Francis L. Berkeley, Roy Land, Harvey Deal, Louise Savage, John Cook Wyllie,
and Roger Bristol.
RG-21/28.941
The Estate of Roy Land
Letter, 1959 May 7
Former Governor John S. Battle congratulates the illustrious Edgar Shannon,
former Rhodes Scholar, Doctor of English literature, and World War II
veteran, on having been elected president of the University of Virginia.
Shannon assumed duties on August 22, 1959, and was officially inaugurated
on October 6 of the same year. RG-21/81.961
Gift of Edgar F. Shannon
