Qualla: University of Richmond https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: University of Richmond https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond University of Richmond: Introduction https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Bdl2001, CC BY-SA 4.0. The University of Richmond is the only major American university whose mascot is a spider. The choice was not strategic. In 1894, a Richmond baseball team featured a wiry pitcher named Puss Derrick who pitched with such gangly, long-limbed motion that a local sports reporter called him a spider. The nickname stuck — first to him, then to the team, then to the school. By 1969, the spider's school was nearly broke. Trustee and alumnus E. Claiborne Robins Sr. wrote a check that year for $50 million — at the time the largest gift any institution of higher education in America had ever received. Robins's goal was simple: make Richmond one of the best private universities in the country. The endowment leapt into the upper tier overnight. Almost everything else on the modern campus follows from that single signature.

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full University of Richmond: From a Plantation Schoolroom https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Richard Rummell, Public domain. The university began as a single ministry student at a kitchen table. In 1830, the Baptist General Association of Virginia resolved to form an education society for training preachers. They had no money for a building, so they asked their vice president, Rev. Edward Baptist, to t...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-from-a-plantation-schoolroom.mp3 0:06 2 full University of Richmond: War and Bankruptcy https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Bdl2001, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the Civil War broke out, the entire student body of Richmond College formed a regiment and joined the Confederate army. The college's buildings were turned into a hospital for Confederate wounded, then later into barracks for Union soldiers occupying the city. The trustees h...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-war-and-bankruptcy.mp3 0:06 3 full University of Richmond: The Robins Gift https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Epdma, CC BY-SA 4.0. By 1969, the University of Richmond — renamed in 1920 — was facing existential trouble. Costs were rising, the endowment was thin, and serious discussion centered on turning the institution over to the Commonwealth of Virginia. E. Claiborne Robins Sr., a trustee and alumnus, made...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-the-robins-gift.mp3 0:06 4 full University of Richmond: Spider Stories https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Public domain. The 1992 presidential debate brought George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot to campus on October 15 for the first-ever "town hall" televised debate. An estimated 200 million people worldwide watched. President Obama returned the campus to the national stage on September 1...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-spider-stories.mp3 0:06 5 full University of Richmond: The Campus Today https://qualla.com/university-of-richmond/ Photo credit Rikster2, CC BY-SA 3.0. Boatwright's 1914 westward move bought the university room it has never outgrown. The 350-acre campus wraps around Westhampton Lake, with the Henry Mansfield Cannon Memorial Chapel, North Court, and Ryland Hall — added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 — anchori...

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]]> Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/q/8/v/university-of-richmond-wp/dq8v-university-of-richmond-the-campus-today.mp3 0:06 6 full