Press Releases
UVa Library Receives Rare and Valuable Items from Albert H. Small
The gift is the second by Small from his personal Declaration of Independence collection, one of the most comprehensive in the world about the document. Small has pledged the entire collection to the University, where items will eventually be on prominent display. Read the press release
The Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture and Albert H. Small Special Collections Library
A new library building will soon be built adjacent to Alderman and Clemons libraries to house the collections and services of the Special Collections Department.
Special Collections Receives Rare and Valuable Items from the Collection of Paul Mellon
Six letters penned by Thomas Jefferson, including one that contains his most famous quotation on the subject of slavery. A rare edition of Christopher Columbus' first-hand account of the discovery of the New World. The transcript of the trial of abolitionist John Brown, signed by the judge who presided over the case. These are among the more than 400 items the University of Virginia Library received from the estate of noted American collector and philanthropist Paul Mellon. His collection of rare books, manuscripts, maps and atlases, pertaining primarily to Virginia and American history, made him "the greatest American book collector of the second half of the 20th century," according to one expert.
NEH Preservation Grant Will Fund the Virginia Heritage Project
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a $250,000 preservation grant to the University of Virginia Library, representing VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia. The grant will support the creation of the Virginia Heritage Project, a database integrating thousands of Encoded Archival Description (EAD) tagged finding aids that describe and provide online access to a large body of primary source materials held by major academic and research libraries in Virginia.
Pop Goes the Page: Moveable and Mechanical Books from the Brenda Forman Collection
The University of Virginia Library invites you to step into the world of pop-up and movable books -- into the world of rivets, spirals, flaps, folds, and cut paper, into the world of gifted illustrators, artists, and paper engineers. Here jungle animals spring to life, rockets blast into space, and Columbus arrives again on the shores of the New World. All this is possible by visiting the exhibition, "Pop Goes the Page: Movable and Mechanical Books from the Brenda Forman Collection," opening May 12 and running through August 18 in the McGregor Room in Alderman Library. Full press release here.
Special Collections Selected to Host NHPRC Fellow
The University of Virginia Library Special Collections Department was chosen to host a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Fellowship in Archival Administration for the 2000-2001 academic year.
$10 million gift to University of Virginia Library
University of Virginia alumnus David A. Harrison III of Hopewell, Va., has pledged $10 million to the University Library to establish an institute for the study of American history, literature and culture. The institute will draw on the library's extensive holdings of American manuscripts, rare books and documents and will be part of a new library complex on the University's central grounds.
Newspapers in Special Collections
A database of newspapers held by Special Collections. The database is searchable by place of publication, dates of publication, or a combination of place and date. The database was compiled by the Geospatial and Statistical Data Center.
"All the Hoos in Hooville" : 175 Years of Life at the University of Virginia
This new exhibit explores the history of the University through the lives of its students and its faculty. The exhibit opens June 1 and runs through Oct. 30. Read the press release.
The James Rogers McConnell Memorial Collections
An online exhibit drawn from the University of Virginia Archives and the personal papers of McConnell, a UVa alumnus and pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille, 1915-1917.
Lee Letter Donated to Special Collections
Gen. Robert E. Lee, normally a reserved man, shows a different side of himself in a detailed and apparently unpublished Civil War letter recently donated to the University of Virginia Library.
Minutes of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, 1965-1996
This site currently provides the complete meeting minutes for the Board of Visitors from October 1965 to November 1996. The Browse page allows you to access the minutes from a particular year. The Search page allows you to search for any word or phrase occurring anywhere in the minutes.
Special Collections Awarded Grant to Digitize African-American Educational Photographs
On September 28, 1998, the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library was awarded a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to digitize, identify, arrange, describe and conserve the ca. 4,500 photographs of African-American educational scenes in the southern United States taken by Jackson Davis during the period 1915-1930 when he was affiliated with the General Education Board in New York, New York. Read the press release.
Original Illustrations for "Misty of Chincoteague" Classic Series of Children's Books are Given to Special Collections
Some 170 original illustrations created by noted horse-artist Wesley Dennis for the beloved children's book "Misty of Chincoteague" and for author Marguerite Henry's other classic books about the wild ponies of the Virginia coastal island have been given to the Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library. The illustrations, chiefly black-and-white pencil drawings, were given to the library by the Misty of Chincoteague Foundation Inc. of Chincoteague, Va., through its secretary Elizabeth H. Sutton of Charlottesville.
The Holsinger Studio Collection Image Database
The Special Collections Department of the University of Virginia Library has placed thousands of historic photographs of Charlottesville and Albemarle County and of turn-of-the-century residents on the World Wide Web where the images are freely available, according to the principles of fair-use. The pictures are from the library's Holsinger Studio Collection, a unique photographic record of life in Charlottesville and the surrounding area from the late 19th century into the 1920s. Most of the approximately 9,000 dry-plate glass negatives from the commercial studio of Rufus W. Holsinger have never been displayed publicly or published before. Some of photos are well-known, such as those of the University Rotunda before, during, and after its famous burning in 1895. But many others, including nearly 500 important studio-portraits of African-American residents, have never been seen before.
Gift of Letters Completes Dos Passos Archive
An important collection of letters written to American novelist John Dos Passos has been given to the University of Virginia Library by his widow Elizabeth Dos Passos of Westmoreland County, library officials announced. The gift strengthens U.Va.'s renowned American literature materials that are studied by scholars from around the world. The collection of letters,previously on deposit for scholars to use here, touches on many parts of 20th century literary history and includes correspondence from such literary figures as poets E.E. Cummings and Archibald MacLeish, critic Edmund Wilson and novelist Ernest Hemingway.
Anonymous Gift to Alderman Library - U.Va. Acquires Another Letter Written By Jefferson
Without fanfare, someone who wants to remain anonymous has stepped forward and handed Alderman Library a one-page holograph, complete with Jefferson's signature and seal.
Jefferson-Jackson Letter Highlights Rare Autograph Collection Transferred to U.Va. Library
An advice-filled letter signed by former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson highlights a collection of historic autographs recently placed at the University of Virginia by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Was Mark Twain a racist?
The University of Virginia Library's Special Collections Department has acquired a letter that won't resolve the controversy, but it does add another dimension to the ongoing debate. The four-page letter, dated Jan. 12, 1881, known to scholars but previously held in private collections, is addressed to Gen. James Garfield, who had recently been elected president of the United States. Twain wrote to express his hope that Garfield would retain Frederick Douglass, the noted African American abolitionist and ex-slave writer, in his present position of marshal of the District of Columbia.