INTERNATIONAL SILVER CO. STERLING SILVER LARGE 1910 PRESENTATION VASE / LOVING CUP TO EDWIN ANDERSON ALDERMAN, FIRST PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA (UVA), baluster-form well with two curved handles having embossed branch designs featuring leaves and berries, raised on a round stemmed foot, one side of well featuring embossed presentation inscription that reads, "To / EDWIN ANDERSON ALDERMAN / FIRST PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA / IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HIS / DEVOTED AND EFFICIENT SERVICES TO THE / UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA / IN THE INCREASE OF ITS RESOURCES / IN THE EXPANSION OF ITS WORK / IN THE ENHANCEMENT OF ITS USEFULNESS / WITHOUT SACRIFICE OF ITS STANDARDS OR TRADITIONS / AND ALSO / OF HIS JUST AND SYMPATHETIC ATTITUDE / TOWARDS HIS COLLEAGUES. / FROM / THE MEMBERS OF THE FACULTY / OF THE / UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA / 1910". Underside impressed with a maker's mark above "STERLING. / C1767". Total weight: 68.22 ozt. International Silver Co., Meriden, CT. Circa 1910. 15" HOA. 14 1/4" WOA, 5 7/8" x 6 1/4" OA rim.
Catalogue Note: Edwin Anderson Alderman (1861-1931) was born in Wilmington, NC to parents James Alderman (1825-1885) and Susan Jane Corbett (1832-1885). His education consisted of a Bachelor of Philosophy from the University of North Carolina in 1882, as well as receiving a D.C.L from the University of the South in 1896, and an LL.D. from Tulane University in 1898 and another from John Hopkins University of 1902. He started out in 1885 as a schoolteacher in Goldsboro, NC, being a superintendent of the city schools, and then he became a conductor of the state teacher's institutes from 1889 to 1892.
Alderman campaigned to democratize elementary and secondary education in addition to supporting the extension of higher education for women. He and Charles Duncan McIver (1860-1906) pushed the state's legislature to establish the Normal and Industrial School for Woman, which is now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where McIver served as the first president there. Alderman taught history at the State Normal College from 1892 to 1893, after which he became professor of pedagogy at the University of North Carolina. In 1896, he was named president of that institution until he accepted the presidency at Tulane University in 1900. Only four years later, his final move was to the University of Virginia, where Alderman became the first president, a position he occupied from 1904 until his death.
Even though UVA was founded 1819, the University never had a serving president, instead leadership was shared by a rector and the Board of Visitors. At the turn of the century as the University continued to grow, it was apparent that this arrangement was incapable to handle much of the administrative and fundraising tasks needed to support and run the institution. During his time there, Alderman became known as a prolific fundraiser and an established orator in addition to focusing on the Medical School and expanding education. In extension to his earlier advocacy of women's education, women were first admitted as degree candidates at the University's graduate and professional schools in 1920. Despite this achievement, he did not succeed in providing opportunities for women at the undergraduate level.
Through more than half his 27 years-long term as president, Alderman experienced health issues and physical disability due to tuberculosis, though the illness did not deter him from completing his job at the University. On April 29, 1931, Alderman died from a stroke in Connellsville, PA while en route to deliver a speech in Illinois. He is buried along with his wife, Bessie Green Hearn (1881-1959), and their son and only child, Edwin Anderson Alderman, Jr. (1905-1970), at the University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium in Charlottesville, VA.
For another presentation piece to Edgar Anderson Alderman in this auction, please see lot 2080.

Very good overall condition with some wear, scattered surface scratches being heavy in some areas and spots, and nicks, some scattered dents including two sizable dents to one handle and to the adjacent edge of foot, causing the piece to slightly wobble.