University of the South (University Archives and Special Collections)

The University of the South will provide conservation treatment to two watercolors on paper. These highly unstable works of art, both painted in 1859 by the Rt. Rev. John H. Hopkins, constitute one of the earliest recorded topographical views of the location of the university, as well as the school’s earliest architectural proposal. The first items to be added to the university’s permanent collection, tradition holds that these paintings were among the few items sent away from the school for safekeeping during the American Civil War.