When founding this university, Thomas Jefferson had a unique vision that strayed greatly from the traditional university in America at the time. The official university website puts it this way: “in 1819, Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia and inaugurated a bold experiment – a public university designed to advance human knowledge, educate leaders, and cultivate an informed citizenry,” (About the University). This was a stark contrast from colonial colleges (or colleges founded before 1776), and the other universities at the time. Most initial schools in America were both private and religious and sought to educate the future religious leaders of both Catholics and Protestant denominations. Jefferson had a different vision – his school sought to break the mold of traditional and strict education and start to broaden the horizons of knowledge.

In A system of education, not just a university: Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy of education, M. Andrew Holowchak, who has a Ph.D. in philosophy and history and is the editor of The Journal of Thomas Jefferson’s Life and Time, analyzes the system of education that Jefferson promoted when he established the University. Holowchak discusses Jefferson’s “political philosophy” and how it “worked hand-in-glove with his thoughts on systemic educational reform,” (Holowchak). Jefferson’s political philosophy “placed strict demands on the sort of system that needed to be put in place for Jeffersonian republicanism to thrive as an improvement over antiquated extant systems, based on arguments often dating back to Plato and Aristotle,” and thus also recognizes the influence from Ancient Greek structures (Holowchak). Jefferson was “instantiating a system of education to edify all persons according to their needs” and wanted to radically reform the way our country saw educating their citizens, at least the white men (Holowchak).

This change started at the foundation, literally – the architecture of the school. He centered the school around the Rotunda rather than a chapel and capitalized on Roman influences when envisioning the architectural landscape of Grounds. With gorgeous marble columns and the “innovative” rotunda, Jefferson was bringing his university vision to life. Jefferson saw public education as necessary to the growth and development of the nation, and he kept knowledge at the center of his vision. His “Academical Village” surrounded the Rotunda, a library at the time, and sought to encourage professors and students to be in constant community and communication with one another. On May 5th, 1817, Jefferson “presented his plan to the college’s governing body, the board of visitors,” and proceeded to lay the cornerstone for the first building, Pavilion VII, on October 6, 1817 (Brandt). He critiqued the architecture of his alma mater, William and Mary, and pursued his new love of architecture and passion for public education at the same time.

The archival object I primarily analyzed was The centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921; the proceedings of the centenary celebration, May 31 to June 3, 1921. More specifically, I looked into the script of the pageant. The pageant was titled The Shadow of the Builder, and it was heavily concentrated on Thomas Jefferson and his vision for the university. This script was used in a performance during the Centennial Celebration of UVA; everyone attending the celebration would have seen it performed. The pageant was directed by Emma Ody Pohl, and written by Frances O. J. Gaither, a Mississippi State College for Women graduate. Arthur Fickenscher, the first head of the Music Department at UVA, was the Musical Director, and the famous novelist William Faulkner was the Dramatic Director. The chairman of the pageant, W. M. Forrest, describes the pageant in the Foreword as having “packed all the hopes, and dreams, and struggles” of the first few days of the university in a short story (The centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921; the proceedings of the centenary celebration, May 31 to June 3, 1921). This was portrayed through dialogues between Ancient Greek figures and Thomas Jefferson and his granddaughter. This script paints Jefferson as an ideal founder who was a forward thinker and tended to leave out his bad and ugly side.

This script raised many questions for me. I wondered why there was such an extensive amount of the script dedicated to Socrates, Plato, and Lysus. Additionally, I pondered the significance of depicting the decision of the marble and what that meant to the greater celebration as a whole. I first looked into the seeming Greco influence on the pageant as a whole. In the foreword, Forrest claims the “untrammeled soul of Socrates gave [Jefferson] an ideal for the professors of his new temple of learning,” and that Jefferson wanted to see the students of the university “crowding the colonnades and pavilions of his own athenæum” (The centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921; the proceedings of the centenary celebration, May 31 to June 3, 1921). Jefferson idealized a new way of thinking that was not necessarily “progressive”, per se, but was new and innovative compared to the education system at the time. He wanted a community that fostered dialogue and encouraged meaningful conversation. Jefferson had a deep “reverence for classicism” and believed that Americans should “should have easy access to educational opportunities,” (Brandt). This system of education still influences how UVA conducts classes today, with availability between the schools and open seats for everyone in their classes. The country has adopted this great experiment and the public education system is an extremely prominent source of knowledge today. The inclusion of dialogue from Socrates and Plato points both at the Socratic method of debate as well as the idea of spoken knowledge that is accessible to everyone.

The pageant was centered around a day in which the marble for the first building was decided upon. It ends with Jefferson deciding on the “white marble from the quarries of Carrara,” (The centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921; the proceedings of the centenary celebration, May 31 to June 3, 1921). White marble from Carrara is considered white gold; “Michelangelo most favored Carrara marble” for his sculptures and it has been prized “since the days of the Roman Empire,” (Carrara Marble Quarries). This continues Jefferson’s deliberate deferral from colonial tradition and his embrace of classical architecture and thought. He wanted the very cornerstone of his university to be from this prized marble that was both expensive and an inconvenience to ship. Similarly, he wanted to educate in a new way, despite it being “difficult” to break the education standards they had in place in America.

That said, it is still important to acknowledge that Jefferson was a nowhere near-perfect founder of this school. He may have claimed he wanted education for everyone and for knowledge to be a public forum, but his initial university explicitly excluded women, ethnic minorities, and even poor white men. He obviously admired classical structures and the influence of Greece. Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire were also slaveholding societies that sought to serve the men of their nation; they had little to no care for anyone else. Jefferson took a beautiful lesson on education from them, but by association also took this negative influence from them. They both aspired for educated white men to lead their cultures and be their foundation. By the Centennial Celebration, some progress had been made – a woman wrote the passage and women were central to its performance, but women would not be allowed to attend the school for another 50 years. Slaves built this university, yet the pageant seemingly cites Jefferson as the sole creator of UVA; the first black man was not admitted to the university for another 30 years. Music was entering the scene as a central point of the pageant, with the Washington Concert Orchestra even making an appearance to provide a live performance.

Overall, the pageant was an elaborate display of university pride and a celebration of 100 years of existence. Jefferson’s aspirations for a university that seeks the advancement of knowledge are clearly being fulfilled, and the pageant emphasizes his inspiration from early Roman and Greek influences that aligned with his vision. The university still had a long way to go by 1921 to truly be a forum of public knowledge for all, but it was certainly on its way.

Works Cited

“About the University.” The University of Virginia, www.virginia.edu/aboutuva/#:~:text=In%201819%2C%20Thomas%20Jefferson%20founded,later%2C%20this%20vision%20is%20thriving. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

Brandt, Lydia M. “The Architecture of the University of Virginia.” Encyclopedia Virginia, 3 May 2024, encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/university-of-virginia-the-architecture-of-the/.

“Carrara Marble Quarries.” NASA, NASA, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/6936/carrara-marble-quarries. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

Holowchak, M.Andrew. “A System of Education, Not Just a University: Thomas Jefferson’s Philosophy of Education.” History of Education, vol. 47, no. 4, July 2018, pp. 488–503. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2017.1411531.

“The Centennial of the University of Virginia, 1819-1921; the Proceedings of the Centenary Celebration, May 31 to June 3, 1921” Internet Archive, New York, Putnam, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/centennialofuniv00virguoft/page/n99/mode/2up.