Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Additional Papers of John Lloyd Newcomb, Accession #1875-1947 (bulk 1899-1947), Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was formerly MSS 2755 and was transferred to the University of Virginia Archives on August 11, 2006 and reprocessed.

Biographical/Historical Information

John Lloyd Newcomb was born in Gloucester County, Virginia, in 1881, and died in 1954. Newcomb attended graduate school in the University of Virginia Department of Civil Engineering, was appointed an adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering in 1905 by the Board of Visitors (1905-1925), and also served as Dean of Engineering (1925-1931). Newcomb served as Assistant to the President (1926-1931) under Edwin A. Alderman, spent two years as Acting President upon Alderman's death (1931-1933), and succeeded Alderman as the University of Virginia's second president in 1933 until his retirement in 1947.

Newcomb saw the University through the Depression and the Second World War and managed its physical expansion, including the construction of Scott Stadium, the Bayly Art Museum, and Alderman Library. After his death, Newcomb was revealed to be a member of the Seven Society, the University of Virginia secret society known for its gifts to and in support of the University community. In 1958 the Seven Society donated $17,777.77 to establish a loan fund for faculty and students in Newcomb's honor.

An engineering professorship, the John Lloyd Newcomb Professor of Material Science and Engineering Physics, is endowed in Newcomb's memory, and the student union building at Virginia, Newcomb Hall, is named after him.

Scope and Content

These papers are chiefly the personal papers of University of Virginia President John Lloyd Newcomb and his wife, Grace, ca. 1875, 1896-1947, ca. 1,275 items (7 boxes, ca. 2.5 linear feet) including some course notebooks and papers, from his days as an engineering graduate student, with some material associated with his role as president. The files pertaining to his service as University President include: the budget; construction on the Chemical Building (1941); correspondence with miscellaneous state and federal government officials about possible programs and involvement with the University; courses taught at the University; photographs and prints; press notices and songs about the University; reports including specifications for the new library building (Alderman) and others by Rowland Egger, H.D. Albright, and Wilson Gee.

Arrangement

The folders are arranged alphabetically by the title and in reverse chronological order within each folder, except for the two boxes of book donation receipts placed at the end of the collection due to their size.