Edward H. Russell President, 1908-1919 Fredericksburg State Normal and Industrial School for Women

Edward Hutson Russell was born in Petersburg, Virginia on November 26, 1869. He graduated from Virginia Military Institute in 1891 and studied law at Richmond College until he began teaching. His early teaching career was varied: he served as principal at Pulaski, for two-years as commandant of the Fishburne Military Academy, and as superintendent of schools in Bristol, where he founded and conducted a summer school for teachers at Emory and Henry College. In 1905 he became a member of the State Board of Public School Examiners for the First Circuit that included Fredericksburg. While in Fredericksburg, he again founded and taught a summer school for teachers.

Based partially on his intimate knowledge of the public schools as well as his successful summer institutes for teachers, on May 19, 1908 the Board of Trustees appointed Russell as president of the new Fredericksburg State Normal and Industrial School for Women.

Beyond his responsibilities for establishing the facilities of the school, Russell also set the courses of instruction. He established a regular course that was two to four years of high school level education and a professional course that was a two year normal school course after a high school education. It was Russells hope that as the state established more high schools, the regular course would be reduced by two years. The professional course covered general education, methodology, and student teaching completed in concert with the Fredericksburg Public School system. The program concluded with a teaching certificate issued by the State Board of Examiners.

Due to limited accommodations, admission to the new teacher-training school was competitive; applicants were required to be at least fifteen years old, of good moral character, and possessing a thorough knowledge of subjects taught in the grammar grades of public school. Social standards were equally high. Students were expected to practice self-control and required to wear clothing of simplicity and modesty. Though the school was not affiliated with any single church, Russell extended his policy of discipline to religious worship. Students were expected to attend some church, preferably by the choice of their parents. Aside from church-sponsored entertainment, students had numerous activities to choose from, including sports and clubs. The Russell Literary Society was particularly popular among students, as well as the Student Government Association and the school yearbook, the Battlefield.

As the first president of what is now the University of Mary Washington, Russell supplemented the normal school course of study with curriculum in classical, commercial, and industrial courses, already envisioning a larger institution. However, his ambitious efforts weakened him physically, and ill health forced him to resign the presidency on May 9, 1919. He then moved with his family to Washington, where he entered the real estate business. He died in 1956.