Since the invention of the camera, photographs have been telling the University of Virginia’s story.
Many are timeless. The serpentine walls, the pavilions, the Lawn and the student rooms that surround it – images taken today would be familiar to a time-traveling visitor from the University’s founding.
Other photographs, though – especially those depicting members of the University community – show that many things have changed.
In 1950, a photographer snapped an image of the University’s first black student, Gregory Swanson, registering for class. Women joined the pages of Corks & Curls, the University’s yearbook, in numbers after the College of Arts & Sciences went fully coeducational in 1970.
Generations of photographers have been on hand to document the University’s life. Historically, two stand out.
In the late 1880s, Rufus W. Holsinger opened a Charlottesville photo studio that would document five decades of the city and UVA. He photographed professors, students, sports teams and buildings. He was there when the Rotunda burned in 1895, capturing one of the most famous images in UVA history. He took a portrait of Georgia O’Keeffe when she taught here in 1915. Much of Holsinger’s work is digitized and searchable through the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
In 1939, Ed Roseberry moved to Charlottesville and soon began photographing student life on the Corner and elsewhere. For decades he captured parties, parades, portraits and more. An exhibit of his work curated by Coy Barefoot was recently on display at Alumni Hall.
The University’s current staff photographers, Sanjay Suchak and Dan Addison, recreated several of the images taken by Roseberry and Holsinger, drawing comparable human subjects from today’s UVA community.
Take a look.
1 Rhodes Scholars
2 The IMPs
Past
This society formed during Mardi Gras 1902, when “a number of convivial though much respected and scholarly students, residing at the southern end of East Range, formed an organization known as the HOT FOOT Society whose avowed purpose was to stage a number of open air soirees throughout the year,” according to its official history. Holsinger took this photo of the group on May 26, 1916.
Present
Today, service is a key part of the IMPs’ mission. The group brings donuts to the library around exam time, awards service fellowships, holds an annual event to help transfer students acclimate to UVA, bestows a faculty award, and more.
3 The Rotunda
4 Service
5 Homer and the Lawn
Past
Roseberry photographed this student studying on the Lawn in 1960. Virginia artist Moses Ezekiel presented the Homer statue to the University in 1907. If it could tell stories, it would have some good ones.
Present
Current student Hayley Martin, the daughter of UVA’s first African-American rector, George Keith Martin, sits in the same spot, though the tree in the original image is gone.
6 Presidents
Past
Holsinger took several photos of Edwin A. Alderman, the University’s first president. However, the photographer of this one – taken circa 1910 and cataloged in UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library – is unknown. Alderman took office in 1905, after the Board of Visitors broke with tradition and created the presidency. He led the founding of the Curry School of Education and the expansion of the library system; Alderman Library and Alderman Road bear his name.
Present
Teresa A. Sullivan is the University’s eighth president and the first woman to serve in that role. She took office on Aug. 1, 2010, and has led UVA through a period of significant transformation and great progress, including the creation and implementation of the Cornerstone Strategic Plan that will guide the University into its third century.
7 The English Department
Past
Identified only as University of Virginia English professors, this group posed for Holsinger in the summer of 1916. While their names aren’t listed, we’re reasonably sure of the two men who held endowed professorships: Charles William Kent, the Linden Kent Memorial Professor of English Literature (third from left); and C. Alphonso Smith, Edgar Allan Poe Professor of English (far right). Second from left might be John C. Metcalf. The man in front holding his hat is most likely Charles G. Maphis, a dean and director of the University’s summer school.
Present
Today, the Department of English comprises 61 tenured or tenure-track faculty and about 300 undergraduate students; it’s one of the largest departments in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
- Anne Bromley
8 “The Motorcycle Picture”
9 Gymnasts
Past
Members of the gymnastics team pulled off this photograph for Holsinger on Dec. 8, 1913. He took several other images of the team, including team portraits.
Present
Members of the Gymnastics Club remade the photograph in front of Fayerweather Hall, though with the addition of some safety provisions.
