"All the Hoos in Hooville" : Traditions

As early as 1898, University students celebrated Easter Week or "Easters." This week-long diversion included elaborate dances and athletic games which helped the students shake the winter doldrums. It was also an occasion to celebrate Thomas Jefferson's birthday as it often fell near April 13. In the early days, the Easter week dances were chaperoned by faculty wives and "pledged"-Ｎeaning no student could imbibe an alcoholic beverage after noon of the day of the party without violating the honor code.

Though Easters had grown tremendously in scale by the 1950s, students were, for the most part, still commended on their gentlemanly behavior. Easters continued to expand over the years, however, until thousands of students on the East Coast were making the pilgrimage to Charlottesville to celebrate what came to be known nationally as the "Best Party in the Country"--to the dismay of University administrators. With the increasing use and abuse of alcohol by students and the influx of "outsiders"--visiting students and townspeople--administrators became concerned about the University's reputation and its students' welfare. The mud slides and massive weekend parties in Madison Bowl were discontinued following the 1976 Easters. The last Easters at the University of Virginia was celebrated in the spring of 1982.

Photograph. Easters in "Mad Bowl." 1976 April 11. Photograph by Jon Golden.

Photograph. Easters concert in the McIntire Amphitheater given by Xavier Cugat and his orchestra. 1948. Photograph by Ralph Thompson.

The final Easters T-shirt. 1982. Gift of Robert T. Canevari.

Autograph letter, signed. James C. "Jim" Tyrone, Class of '77, to Dean of Students Robert T. Canevari. 1979 April 11.

In his letter to Canevari, Tyrone writes: "You can imagine both my chagrin and outrage when I realized that the time-honored practice of 'a decades-old rite of spring that was held at Madison Bowl' had come to a tragic end. . . .Mr. Canevari, we both recognize this action for what it really is: another attempt by the Dean of Students Office to eliminate all fun for students."

In her memoirs, Frances Parkinson Keyes writes: "When I was born, [my mother] and my father had been living at the University of Virginia, where he was the head of the Greek department, and my mother had always intended to have me make my debut there during Easter Week, as was then a very prevalent custom among privileged Southern girls . . . It did not seem to strike her or anyone else that the program she outlined was absurd, but I was twenty-four years old, I had been happily married nearly six years, and I had one son five and another three."

Frances Parkinson Keyes. All Flags Flying: Reminiscences of Frances Parkinson

Keys. New York: McGraw Hill, 1972.

THE LAWN

Photograph. West Lawn. ca. 1910. Photograph by Rufus Holsinger.

Despite numerous inconveniences, students annually vie for a room on the University's Lawn. Originally only Virginians were eligible to reside in the coveted Lawn and Range rooms but all this changed in 1949 when it was announced that the rooms would be assigned to student leaders--geography notwithstanding.

In 1891 William Holding Echols came to the University as professor of Mechanical Engineering. Four years later, the tall, red-haired, fearless "Reddy" made a valiant effort to save the Rotunda from the fire consuming its annex by hurling one hundred pounds of dynamite from the roof in order to blast a gap between the two buildings. With a detonation heard fifteen miles away, the blast blew out all the Rotunda windows but was not ultimately successful in saving the Rotunda.

Echols remained on the faculty for thirty-nine more years, famed as a lecturer, as Grand Banana of the Elis, and as the chief upholder of the Honor SystemＵhe University's most famous tradition. Each year he addressed the first-year men on this code of ethics. In his 1929 address he proclaimed to the students that the University was now "as democratic as a roller towel,"an assertion that would soon be challenged.

"On my honor . . ." Philosophy and Guidelines of the Honor System. University of Virginia. 1988.

The Honor System was created following the shooting death of Professor John A.G. Davis on the Lawn. On July 4, 1842, Professor Henry St. George Tucker offered this resolution to the unsettled and frustrated students:

The students passionately accepted this code of ethics and eventually assumed full responsibility for the System. It has since undergone many changes, but the philosophy of the Honor Committee is to maintain ongoing discussion of the System's philosophies and procedures to ensure that it remains responsive to the student body.

THE GOOD OLD SONG

"The Good Old Song" in Songs of the University of Virginia. New York City: Hinds, Nobel and Eldridge. 1906.

Commemorative sterling silver spoon. No date. Gift of Miss Evelyn Moore.

Missing from the 1906 songbook, yet inscribed on the handle of this spoon, is the chorus of "The Good Old Song" that is still sung today:

Wah-hoo-wah Wah-hoo-wah U-NI-V VIR-GIN-I-A! Hoo-rah-rae Hoo-rah-rae Rae-rae U-V-A

RAYMOND C. BICE

Over the years, beloved Professor Emeritus of Psychology Raymond C. Bice devised many inventions which came to be known as "Bice Devices." Mr. Bice invented the pseudophone, on display, to test sound localization--"or what would happen if you could place your right ear on the left side of your head." Believing that "a demonstration is worth a thousand words" and "learning is supposed to be fun," "Doc" Bice entertained over 27,000 students during his 46 years of teaching "Bice Psych," his celebrated Psychology 101 course.

Photograph of Raymond C. Bice with pseudophone. No date.

RAY CHARLES

Photograph of Ray Charles concert in Memorial Gymnasium. 1963. Photograph by Edwin S. Roseberry.

First published in 1888, the student yearbook's original name is often misunderstood by today's student to mean "wine and women." However, the title is taken straight from the vernacular of the late 19th century: "The student who flagrantly failed to reply correctly to the questions of his professor in the classroom was said to have been 'corked' . . . if he answered with a grand flourish of pertinent information, he was said to have 'curled.'"

Photograph.
Female students moving into dormitories following women's admittance to UVa on the same basis as men. 1970 September.

Photograph. Architecture students' Beaux Arts Ball with a "Camelot" theme. 1963. Photograph by Edwin S. Roseberry.

JOHN LEWIS

John Lewis never formally matriculated at the University of Virginia. Instead he left his wife and farm in Spotsylvania County in the summer of 1827 to study privately with Professors George Long (classics) and George Blaettermann (modern languages). With the students gone he found the University a quiet place where he could make faster progress than he anticipated. In a letter to his wife he gives instructions on haymaking; briefly mentions regular student Albert Holladay, later a missionary to Persia and president of Hampden Sydney; and concludes, "I must now go to Dr. Blaettermann's to continue the conjugation of German verbs begun yesterday so farewell my dear wife."

Autograph letter, signed. John Lewis to his wife, Jean. 1827 July 20.

Autograph letter, signed. Richard B. Gooch to Colonel G. W. Gooch. 1838 December 30.

RICHARD B. GOOCH

Richard Barnes Gooch, later a Richmond lawyer, wrote to his father from the University in 1838 describing the "frolicksome" Christmas season as one of "unrivalled dissipation, like a sea in a storm after a long calm . . . On Christmas day, all the Boarding houses vied with each other in the splendor of their dinners. The Professors were divided off among themselves, the greatest number being with Mr. [George] Tucker, who, it is said, gave the most elegant repast which has been seen here for a long while . . . On yesterday, Mr. [John A.G.] Davis was so kind as to invite me to a sumptuous dinner at his house. His amiability and that of his family, have gained him the esteem of all." Almost as an afterthought, Gooch mentions that Davis is the author of an article on the anti-credit law and that he himself is currently studying Metaphysics.

Stereograph photographs. Edwin Anderson Alderman. ca. 1917. Photographs by the Keystone View Company. Gift of Krainik Gallery.

In answer to Pastor Lapsley's request for President Alderman's opinion "as to the moral conditions pervading student life at the University of Virginia," Alderman, in the letter on display, responds with support for the students at the University. Apparently, the University had some reputation for intoxication and dissipation. In the letter, Alderman explains that there are over 800 students at the University, of all ages and from all places, none of whom are admitted without recommendation as to their good character. While acknowledging the occasional folly and thoughtlessness of youth, Alderman assures Lapsley that he considers "the character and spirit of the student body at the University of Virginia the very finest asset of the Institution." Alderman states his belief that the moral tone at the University is above the average town or city or community.

Every page in the 1852 diary of Walter Bowie of 26 East Lawn gives a glimpse into the life of a late ante-bellum student. On January 29, he spied on his roommate who was courting a local girl. The next day, he attended a moral philosophy lecture by William Holmes McGuffey and noted that a noisy "calathump" serenaded Professor William Barton Rogers and Instructor Ernest Volger.

Bowie was an officer in the Washington Society and faithfully recorded both their activities including the breakaway of a splinter group to form the Parthenon Society and their debate topics. The Society debated such topics as the abstract right of state secession; whether domestic slavery was a blessing; whether the system of free schools should be adopted in Virginia; and whether a dissolution of the Union would be disadvantageous to the South. The society decided affirmatively for the first two topics and against the latter two.

After leaving the University, Bowie farmed in Westmoreland County until the Civil War when he joined the Northumberland Rifles of the 40th Regiment Virginia Volunteers, rose to captain, and was severely wounded at Gettysburg. After the war he became Treasurer of Washington College and secretary to its president, Robert E. Lee.

Socrates Maupin, as Chairman of the Faculty, issued monthly attendance reports to the parents or guardians of all students. This one, sent to R. T. Archer of Port Gibson, Mississippi, notes that his son A[bram] B. Archer never missed a day of class and that he had $110 deposited with the Patron.

The administration and parents alike believed that too much money in the hands of students led to too many vices, particularly drinking and gambling. Students had to place all their funds on deposit and have it doled out to them as necessary, up to a total of $100.00 for clothing and $40.00 in pocket money per session. In fact, in 1838, the General Assembly of Virginia passed a law stating "That no merchant, confection or other dealer, no tailor, shoemaker . . . shall . . . sell or let for hire to any student of the University of Virginia [and of four other Virginia colleges] any goods, wares, [etc.]" on credit.

No exhibit on student life at the University of Virginia would be complete without a sampling of examinations given through the years.

Issued in 1831, The Chameleon was the first student newspaper at the University of Virginia. Neither the Board of Visitors nor faculty members were receptive to the idea of a student-run newspaper, fearing that it would "impede the performance of duty and the purposes of a liberal education."

When it was first anonymously published in 1920, Ye Yellow Journal created a stir among the faculty and administration for its satirical approach regarding prominent members of the University community and was denounced by some students as being "inconsistent with the ideals and traditions of the University of Virginia." Shortly after its discontinuation in 1934, the University's Administrative Council set forth an order forbidding "the publication or sale of any anonymous paper, and [we] desire to record our unanimous condemnation of the recent number of the Yellow Journal as scurrilous and indecent in the extreme."

The Ugly Club's annual contest was an enormously popular form of entertainment held at the University in its early years. The boisterous event held on the Lawn featured many clever speeches. Entrants vied for awards given to "the man with the homeliest countenance," "the prettiest man," "the smallest man," and "the vainest man." The prize for being the ugliest was a pair of boots.

Poem. Raven Society. 1969.

The Raven Society was organized in 1904 to recognize academic excellence before a Phi Beta Kappa chapter existed on Grounds. Early chapter projects included raising funds to mark the grave of Elizabeth Arnold Poe, Poe's mother, in St. John's Churchyard, Richmond, and the refurnishing of Poe's room at 13 West Range in 1930.

Candidates for membership in the Raven Society must submit a parody of Poe's most famous poem. This particular one was offered by then graduate student John Casteen in 1969 (Currently John T. Casteen III serves as President of the University of Virginia).

Photograph. IMP Society. 1930.

The IMP Society surfaced in 1913 as a successor to the secret Hot Feet Society. The Hot Feet were disbanded in 1912 by the University's administration after a night of revelry in which Hot Feet members removed an assortment of life-sized, stuffed creatures, including a moose, kangaroo, polar bear, Bengal tiger, three-toed emu, and boa constrictor, from the basement of Cabell Hall and placed them before the front door of each professor's Lawn residence.

The IMP Society is still in existence today and gives an annual award to a "faculty member who has been outstanding in promoting student-faculty relations." They also give the IMP Student Athlete Award at graduation each year to an exemplary female athlete who has shown exceptional performance and integrity both on the playing field and in the classroom. For the first time this year, students will have an opportunity to apply for a $1,000 community service fellowship sponsored by the IMPs.

Ceremonial Tin Hot Foot Crown. IMP Society. No date.

Original photograph from The University of Virginia: A Pictorial History (Charlottesville, Va: University Press of Virginia and University of Virginia Bookstore, 1999).

THOMAS H. ELLIS

Address. Thomas H. Ellis. 1894.

In May of 1894, Colonel Thomas H. Ellis, one of the oldest living alumni of the University and the first secretary of the first Society of Alumni, addressed a meeting of the District of Columbia Alumni Association, recalling his childhood in Richmond, his youth at the University, and subsequent career as a diplomat and railroad and bank president.

Ellis recalled being taught to swim by family friend Edgar Allan Poe; witnessing a fist fight between U. S. Senator and Board of Visitors member William Cabell Rives and Virginia Delegate and future governor Thomas Walker Gilmer; chicken dinners at 10 p.m. supplied by "Lewis the Bell Ringer"; the founding of the Society of Alumni; and the good times at Cocke's tavern on the stage road to Brown's Gap

4 pen-and-ink cartoons. "Typical University of Virginia Students." Drawn by Carlton Abbot in April 1962 for the University of Virginia Magazine published by the Jefferson Society. Gift of B.F.D. Runk.

THE GHOUL

Amusements Bicycling, Chess, Newcomb Hall Clothes Stretch Socks, Leggett's Galoshes, Clearasil Drink Vanilla, Coke, Teem Girls Night-Stand Books Places Never Seen Cavalier, Down the Road

THE PSEUDO

Amusements Raven Room, I. M., Cave Club Clothes Ascot, Pipe, Blue Blazer, Yellow Shirt Drink Jack Daniels, Heineken Girls Sweet Briar, Bennett Places Never Seen Gym, Waffle Shop, White Spot

THE JOCK

Amusements Gym, Weight Room, Pool Parlor, White Spot Clothes UVAA Sweat Shirts, Leather Sleeve Jackets Drink Sly Fox, Gunther, Black Lab, Orange Ade from the Sandwich Man Girls Bimbos, Lane, Townies Places Never Seen Blair House, Sweet Briar College

THE GOOD GUY

Amusements Road Trips, Tube Army R. O. T. C., Italian 1-2 Clothes Eljo's, Weejuns and White Socks, Dickie's, Old Spice, Frayed Collars Drink V. B., National Boh. Girls Mary Washington, Hollins Places Never Seen Newcomb and Cabell Halls, Library

The first alumni association of the University was organized in 1838. Unfortunately the earliest minutes disappeared when General Philip Sheridan's troops came through Charlottesville in March of 1865. After the Civil War the organization was reconstituted and new chapters organized throughout the country. By 1893 there were twenty-six local branches from New York to San Francisco.

On April 23, 1870, nine University alumni residing in New York gathered to organize "an Alumni Association for social intercourse and friendly cooperation." Minutes of their earliest meetings were kept by John R. Thompson, editor of the New York Evening Post, former editor of The Southern Literary Messenger and the Southern Illustrated News, spokesman for the Confederacy in England and author of many well-known "Confederate poems."

In 1932, Chi Omega was the first sorority to be established at the University of Virginia, following the entrance of women into the professional schools in 1920. The Chi O's motto, written in 1909, reflects their philosophy that remains today:

"To live constantly above snobbery of work or deed; to place scholarship before social obligations and character before appearances . . . and to have her welfare ever at heart that she may be a symphony of high purpose and helpfulness in which there is no discordant note."

Motto. Chi Omega Symphony by Ethel Switzer Howard. 1909.

Photograph of Block Show (Step Show). 1980 March 1. An African-American fraternity displays its unity in this yearly presentation. Photographed by Charene Guilford.

This handsewn pillowcase was made with ribbons from German Club dances, cotillions, final balls, and other social events sponsored by the University of Virginia German Club, Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, and Eli Banana. The ribbons range in date from 1897 to 1903.

Fraternity Pins. No date.

(Clockwise from top left)

Sigma Alpha Epsilon

Phi Gamma Delta

Iota Sigma

[Raven Society]

Phi Beta Kappa

Sigma Alpha Epsilon (in the center)

Fraternity Pins. No date.

Colgate Darden, a future president of the University of Virginia, was elected governor of Virginia in 1941. Darden was interested in all aspects of education in the state and was particularly concerned about the exclusive image of the University of Virginia. He outlined his plans for reforming the University to a Board of Visitors committee in September 1942, calling for the abolishment of fraternity houses (but not fraternities), the raising of entrance requirements, the dismissal of students with unsatisfactory grades, a banning of automobiles, and a re-evaluation of the role of societies on Grounds. The committee agreed that there was a need for reform at the University but voted against the banning of fraternity houses. They did recommend the construction of a student center with facilities available to all students for entertainment and social events.

When Darden was elected third president of the University in 1947, he successfully pushed appropriations for a student activities building, now Newcomb Hall, through the General Assembly and oversaw its completion despite the lobbying and protests of students, faculty and alumni grimly determined to keep all aspects of "State U-ism" off Grounds.


1895	1900

1913	1964