EARLIEST KNOWN PHOTOGRAPH OF THE UNIVERSITY

Salted paper print. ca. 1868. Gift of Mrs. Louise Wills, 1965.

This photograph shows a view of the Lawn just after the Civil War. At this time, the Lawn ended at this "cow-catch" that prevented livestock from grazing on the Lawn--unless a groundskeeper decided that it needed trimming.

CATALOG OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY

62-page volume. "A catalog of the library of the University of Virginia." 1825 May 16.

John V. Kean, a Louisa County schoolmaster, was the first person chosen as Librarian of the University Library. He was recommended to Jefferson by his father, Andrew Kean, a prominent central Virginia physician who himself had been offered and refused the University's first professorship in medicine. Kean pointed out that his son possessed a "good English education, a tolerable acquaintance with the Latin tongue, and some small knowledge of the Greek." He lasted nine months as librarian for a total salary of $150.00. Almost his only duty in a University that had few books and fewer students was to compile a catalog.

Jefferson was particularly concerned with the books on government and warned Joseph C. Cabell in a letter on February 3, 1825, to select texts carefully and avoid those with Federalist propaganda.

EDGAR ALLAN POE

Plaster study for a bronze bust of Poe by George Julien Zolnay. Gift of Harry Clemons, 1965.

Harry Clemons served as University of Virginia Librarian from 1927 to 1950. He came to a library of a little over 150,000 volumes and left a library of over 1,500,000 volumes. In reviewing the libraryıs records he also discovered and quietly paid an overdue book fine t hat a careless Edgar Allan Poe had neglected to clear a hundred years before.

WORLD WAR I BUGLE

During military training on University Grounds in the spring of 1917, this bugle was played to sound the calls used in drilling the student corps. The bell of the bugle is lightly inscribed "J. B. O'Neill/ U. of Va./ April 1, 1917/ Will there be war?"

Courtesy of the University of Virginia Alumni Association.

ROTUNDA CAPITAL

Fragment of a Corinthian capital from the Rotunda rescued after the great fire of 1895.

UNIVERSITY MACE

Carried at the head of academic processions, the mace has been the symbol of University authority since its presentation by the Seven Society in 1961.

BASKETBALL

Basketball autographed by noted basketball star, Dawn Staley. Staley graduated from the University of Virginia in 1992.

Courtesy of Brenda Lambert and Jim Shea.

MATRICULATION BOOK

560-page volume. Matriculation of the students for the University of Virginia. 1825-1856.

Students entering the University for the first session presented themselves to a clerk who recorded their name, residence, parent or guardian and course of study. Beginning in 1827 students signed in themselves. These simple listings are the only records available for many of the earliest students. Among the students who signed in for the 1836 session was future Confederate general Lafayette McLaws.

BASIL LANNEAU GILDERSLEEVE'S ACADEMIC REGALIA

Academic robe, mortarboard, and hoods.

Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve, with a Ph.D. from Gottingen in Germany already in hand, came to take the chair in Greek shortly before his 25th birthday. He remained at the University for twenty years, a strict but inspiring teacher. During the lean Civil War years, he taught Latin in addition to Greek and served on the staff of General John B. Gordon during his summer vacations. He was wounded in 1864 and left with a permanent limp. In 1876 he was called to be the first professor of Greek at the newly founded Johns Hopkins, but affection for the University remained and he was the first person to contribute to the rebuilding of the Rotunda in 1895. His headstone in the University of Virginia cemetery contains a quote in Greek from Aeschylus well suited to the scholar and soldier: "Life's bivouac is o'er."

 

PITCHER PRESENTED TO GESSNER HARRISON Gessner Harrison, professor of ancient languages from 1828 to 1859, was presented this silver pitcher and goblets "by the Students of the University of Va. Session 1858 & 9 as a Memorial of their high regard and esteem."

 

CLINCH VALLEY COLLEGE CHECK The check for $1.00 issued by the University of Virginia to the Board of Supervisors of Wise County to purchase the land on which the University of Virginiaıs College at Wise, formerly Clinch Valley College, now stands. Courtesy of University of Virginia's College at Wise.