Background

Julian Alvin Carroll Chandler was born on October 29, 1872 in the farmhouse near Guineys, Caroline County, Virginia, United States, in which Gen. Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson had died nine years before, from wounds sustained at the battle of Chancellorsville. He was the second son of Dr. Joseph A. Chandler, a prominent country doctor, and his wife, Emuella Josephine (White) Chandler.

Education

Julian received his early education in the Caroline County schools and then entered the College of William and Mary, where he received the degree of A. B. at the age of eighteen, and that of A. M. the following year. After a year as superintendent of schools at Houston, later Halifax Courthouse, he was matriculated in Johns Hopkins University, his intention being to work for the degree of Ph. D. in history under Prof. Herbert Baxter Adams. He was there three years, supporting himself by teaching in Morgan College.

Career

While at Johns Hopkins he wrote a valuable historical monograph, Representation in Virginia, published in 1896, and after taking his doctorate in the same year, returned to Virginia as dean of the faculty of the Woman's College in Richmond. In 1901 he published another excellent monograph, The History of Suffrage in Virginia. He was acting president of the Woman's College for the session of 1899-1900, and from 1897 until 1904 was also on the Richmond College faculty, occupying chairs in history or English, or both. It was characteristic of this dynamic and restless man that he frequently held at least two responsible positions at the same time. He was dean of the Richmond Academy, a school for boys, from 1902 until 1904, along with his duties at the two institutions of higher learning, and in the latter year he became editor for Silver, Burdett & Company, school textbook publishers. With all his other duties, he had managed to complete three textbooks--Virginia (1902), in collaboration with W. L. Foushee; Makers of Virginia History (1904); Makers of American History (1904), with O. P. Chitwood. These had attracted the attention of the firm, and he remained its editor for three years. Thereafter he was editor of the Virginia Journal of Education, at Richmond, for two years, and for one of them was also professor of history at Richmond College. In 1907, with T. B. Thames, he published Colonial Virginia. During his incumbency he was joint author of another textbook in American history, Our Republic (1910), to add to those he had previously compiled. When the resignation of Lyon G. Tyler in 1919 left the College of William and Mary without a president, Chandler was chosen for the post. He had just served for a year as chief of the rehabilitation division for disabled soldiers of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, which gave him especial familiarity with the educational problems of the returning soldiers. His background of pedagogical and executive experience in both public and private schools, as well as in institutions of higher learning for both men and women, also was particularly useful. His energy, ability, and zeal brought quick results, and when he died in 1934, William and Mary possessed a large and impressive group of new buildings to add to the venerable colonial structures which had graced the campus since the early eighteenth century. The three original buildings had been restored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. , and Chandler had been helpful in seeing that the restoration was facilitated and carried through to a successful conclusion. It should be said, however, that while he was responsible for vast improvement in the physical plant of the college, he did little to improve academic standards or to build a faculty of the highest caliber. Very probably he would have addressed himself more intensively to these problems if he had lived.

Achievements

• He was chosen superintendent of the Richmond public schools in 1909, and held the post for a decade with marked success. Indeed, his administration was considered one of the most fruitful the city's school system had ever enjoyed. He was especially successful in securing necessary appropriations from the city council. His greatest contribution to the College of William and Mary during his fifteen years as president was in the expansion of the student body and the physical plant. He found the college with a small and declining enrollment, and inadequate buildings and facilities, when he became its executive head. He also had been among the first to grasp the possibilities of the restoration of the town of colonial Williamsburg.

Works

More photos

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  • Virginia

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Life in Old Virginia: A Description of Virginia More Particularly the Tidewater Section, Narrating Many Incidents Relating to the Manners and Customs ... Between the States, Together with Many Humoro

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The South In The Building Of The Nation: History Of The States, Ed. By J.a.c. Chandler

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Colonial Virginia

    (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

  • The Silver-Burdett Speller

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Makers of American History: A Beginner's Book in the History of Our Country 1904

    (Originally published in 1904. This volume from the Cornel...)

Connections

He was married on July 10, 1897, to Lenore Burten Duke, of Churchland; they had four sons, Herbert G. , Alvin D. , Carroll C. , and J. A. C. Chandler, Jr.

Father:

Dr. Joseph A. Chandler

He was a prominent country doctor

Mother:

Emuella Josephine (White) Chandler

Spouse:

Lenore Burten Duke

Son:

J. A. C. Chandler, Jr.

Son:

Carroll C.

Son:

Alvin D.

Son:

Herbert G.