Today is the University of Richmond’s official birthday: the Virginia General Assembly granted a charter to Richmond College on March 4, 1840. This came after a decade of our experiment in Powhatan County as Dunlora Academy, which was established by the Virginia Baptists to train men to become Baptist ministers.

The name Richmond College would encompass all of the school’s various elements as the institution grew to add a School of Law in 1870 and a coordinate college for women (Westhampton College) in 1914. The official use of University of Richmond came in 1920, when we aligned Richmond College, Westhampton College, and the School of Law under that name.

We’ve come a long way since the days of the academy at Dunlora. If you’re like us, you might be curious to learn more about the University’s history.

Luckily, we can point you in several great directions:

• The UR History website is a great place to start, including an interactive timeline with major milestones described, biographies of key historical figures, and a few notes on UR traditions that developed over the years.
• The Virginia Baptist Historical Society houses most of our historical records and the archives of the University, a byproduct of our existence for many years as a Baptist institution. Make an appointment with one of their team and enjoy pouring over old paper files that have survived the campus move in 1913 and the fires of the past.
• Last, but not least, there are several exciting digital collections at Boatwright Memorial Library, which provide online access to everything from the archives of The Collegian to the letters and papers of Dr. Frederic W. Boatwright, who at 26 became president of the University and served for 51 years in that role.

Boatwright Library’s digital collections also have a special project looking back at the University’s earliest days on our current campus. For the Centuries: 100 Years at Westhampton  provides some never-before-seen glimpses of campus during its infancy and includes architectural drawings of our first buildings and some gorgeous photos like the one above of Ryland Hall, then known as the academic building’s library.