Oxford College is a two-year residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education, and is one of nine divisions of Emory University. The college is located on Emory University's original 1836 campus in Oxford, Georgia, 38 miles east of the main Atlanta campus. Students from this campus automatically continue their studies at the Atlanta campus after successfully completing Oxford's curriculum. Oxford stresses excellence in liberal arts scholarship, leadership, and community life. The College is also home to a small Confederate States of America Soldiers' Cemetery. During the Civil War campus buildings saw duty both as a Confederate hospital and Union headquarters. In 1833 the Georgia Methodist Conference first contemplated the establishment of a church-sponsored manual labor school, where students would combine farm work with a college preparatory curriculum. In doing so, they planted the seed that became Emory College — and later Oxford College of Emory University. Events preceding the chartering of Emory College began in 1834.