The story of the University of Richmond’s conversion into a World War I hospital has been a part of campus lore for more than a century.

The University had only recently moved from downtown Richmond when the government came calling, hoping to use the brand-new facilities to help soldiers wounded in Europe. The board of trustees voted unanimously and, on June 1, 1918, the campus was under federal control.

Nearly 1,000 soldiers and hundreds of medical workers were stationed on campus. North Court, Ryland Hall, and Thomas Hall were used as medical rooms. Part of North Court was used as an operating room.

And while stories of students giving up their dorm rooms and classrooms capture the sense of patriotism and civic duty on campus, Dywana Saunders, research and digitization associate in Boatwright Library, said the era was also a challenging one for Richmond students.

It was a struggle to find classrooms, laboratory spaces, and dorm rooms for both colleges. Richmond College returned to the original downtown campus, while Westhampton women moved into St. Luke’s Hospital a block away on Grace Street. Alumnus Stuart McGuire leased the hospital to the college after he moved to France to lead a U.S. base hospital.

A number of Richmond College students left school to serve in the war — and some never returned. Their letters back home offer a glimpse into their wartime experience, and Saunders has been building a collection using yearbooks, scrapbooks, and materials from the Library of Virginia.

In one October 1918 letter, a 1915 graduate, Capt. Newton Ancarrow, who later died from his wounds, described the conditions:

“We are now back for a rest and I don’t know how short it will be,” he wrote. “We needed it as we have been living in woods, trenches, and holes in the ground for a month, and a half. I haven’t seen a woman or a house that was standing for a month and something even worse I hadn’t until today, had a real bath since late in August.”

But Saunders says Ancarrow and others were also amazed by the sights they were seeing — an outlook that stuck with her during her research.

“I couldn't believe the detail and how under such horrible conditions, they were finding beauty in France and Italy,” she says. “They were talking about what it was going to take for them to come home. They were young men. I don't think they had any idea that they would end up dying.”