The Cavalier Daily — the University of Virginia’s student newspaper — has been recording UVA history and student life for 134 years, since it was founded in 1890 under the name College Topics. Now, more than 7,500 pages of that history are available online, as staff from the UVA Library’s Preservation Services and Digital Production Group worked with the Library of Virginia to add the first 25 years of College Topics to Virginia Chronicle. Virginia Chronicle is a resource from the Library of Virginia that provides free access to digitized images of over 4 million newspaper pages. The College Topics archive, from Vol. I, No. 1 of January 15, 1890 to Vol. XXVII, No. 64 of June 14, 1916, represents a run of 1,270 issues and 7,663 pages. Fully searchable text created by optical character recognition accompanies the digitized images, and viewers are encouraged to create an account and correct the text where necessary.
An early issue (Vol. I, No. 4) declared the paper “Devoted to the interests of the University at Large” and promised a summary of the week’s news including “Athletic Interests — Football, Baseball, Tennis, etc., etc.; Society News, Personals and all subjects of interest to the students.” Fake news was even included — in Vol. XVIII, No. 32, of February 2, 1907, the paper reported breathlessly of “Two Students in Pistol Duel,” only to reveal in the next issue that the duel itself was “a big joke” played out by “those on the inside.” College Topics began with a subscription price of $1.00 for the academic session, the editors noting that “it is impossible to carry on a paper of this kind without money, and by money we do not mean promises to pay, but cash.” By 1916, the paper’s price was 5 cents a copy.
In addition to news, humor, editorials, and letters, advertising was a mainstay of the paper. From Volume I onward, advertising was extensive, sometimes taking up more than half an issue. The first issue featured ads for a hardware store; tailor and clothier; footwear; grocer; dry goods; wine and liquor; a pharmacist and chemist; and livery, feed, and sale stables. Times changed, and by the end of the online run advertising in the paper (now up to eight pages from an initial four) no longer included livery and stable services, but automobiles for hire. Advertising in later issues might also include banks, typewriters, printers, bookstores, hotels, tobacco of all kinds, billiard parlors, restaurants, railways, and the ubiquitous clothiers, including some located in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. For those interested in the history of student life at the University, College Topics makes for interesting browsing, and an examination of the advertising in the paper provides a fascinating snapshot of the times.
The online archive covers about half of the original publication, all of which can be perused in bound copies in the Reference Room of Shannon Library. However, the archive is just the beginning for College Topics and Cavalier Daily in Virginia Chronicle, as UVA Library and Cavalier Daily staff continue to work with the Library of Virginia to make the resource freely available to all.
This story originally appeared in the Library’s Annual Report for FY 2023-24. Download the full PDF to read more.