Modern Languagesat the University By WILLIAM
Rodes Massie
J. GAINES*
F. W. Boatwright
Robert A. Stewart
Modern languages, languishing in the shade of the classical Greek and Latin, got some measure of status during the professorship of Rodes Massie who served from 1873 to 1882 as head of the Department of Modern Languages. The department grew in dignity and prestige under the vigorous leadership of F. W. Boatwright. Spanish, now one of the most popular of the languages, was added to the curriculum in 1905 with an elementary course conducted by Dr. Robert A. Stewart. modern languages at the T University of Richmond is a story of amazing growth. They were not offered at HE HISTORY OF
Dunlora Academy in 1830 nor later during the early years of the Virginia Baptist Seminary. Today, from a combined enrollment in Rid1mond College and Westhampton College of nearly 1600, the number taking French, German and Spanish has climbed to the figure of 1,182 ! This means that approximate! y three of every four students during the rnrrent session are enjoying ( ?) the privilege of investigating a modern foreign tongue. The reasons for the poor start are not hard to find. The thirteen students entrusted for instruction to Elders Baptist and Ball as well as those who first entered the Seminary, were all "preparing themselves for the work * Although the catalogue lists him as Professor of Romance languages at the University of Richmond where he has been a member of the faculti , since 1930, at his home on Bostwick lane he is merely Willi am. The title Th e Prof essor is r eserved for his father-in-law , the venerab le Robert Edwin Gaines , professor emeritus of mathematics , who celebrated his 97th birthday on December 7. The younger Gaines is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and University of Wisconsin, where he won his doctorate. He did furt her graduate work at the Sorbo nne. The third member of the Gaines triumvirate at 3 Bostwick lane , Mrs. William J. Gaines (Elizabeth Gaines · 19), is a scho lar in her own right. She is a former headmistress at Collegiate School in Richmond.
of the ministry." Consequently, the founding Baptist fathers designed for them a rnrriculum, with strict economy, comprising only subjects deemed most useful. This meant Latin, four years of it; Greek, three! A history of this sort reflects intellectual and theological changes. Now the clergy of 1830, Janus-like, looked backward and forward; backward at the ancient world, forward to the world to come. Except for the mission fields, they were little concerned with the world around them. For reasons, therefore, both practical and theoretical, our early ministerial student had to feed his mind on a restricted diet of English, Mathematics, Latin and Greek. It was argued, by the way, that the side-effects of such tough food would be mental discipline and humility. And there were no alluring electives in those days. How humane today seem our two little second-year courses required for the degree of Bad1elor of Arts, served a la carte, with selection from .five languages I Non-ministerial "pay students," however, were soon admitted to the Seminary. The need immediately was felt to broaden the curriculum, and to include, among other subjects, modern languages more appealing to the laity than the ancient ones. But not until a whole decade after the founding of the Seminary and two years after the chartering of Richmond College do we find, in
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the catalogue of 1842, the name of a Mr. George Struve listed as "Professor of Modern Languages." These languages were not required, however, and were not even included in the regular course of study. A footnote merely states that "the Professor of Modern Languages, at an extra charge, gives instruction in the French, German , Italian and Spanish Languages. " The following year Mr. Struve, perhaps undernourished by his tutorial fees, has yielded his place to "Mons (sic) E. Ansman," who gives lessons only "in Frend1 at extra d1arge." A small plug for him in the catalogue informs us that he is "a native of France, who speaks the English language." His tenure, too, was brief. Others followed him during the next five years, offering elementary French, of little prestige and no weight as a degree requirement, on this lowly c.o.d. basis. Arthur Frise, in 1849, was the first officially elected Professor of Modern Languages. His title, however, is a bit misleading. Since Frend1 alone was offered, his professorship was not full-time . He was followed by George E. Dabney, who was Professor of Latin and French until 1858, when he devoted his entire time to Latin. Then it was that for the first time a real professorship in modern languages was established. Significant, therefore, is the year 1859, sin.ce it marks the date of the appointment of William S. (C ontinued on page 10)