Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, UVA

05/26/2026

From mythical pencils to pleasant work environments—the Albert H. Small American Trade Catalogs Collection reveals the business side of life at the turn of the 20th century.

DPG and UVA Special Collections have digitized over 165 catalogs, most photographed by UVA third‑year student Tara Udani. Learn more about “T for Trade Catalogs”—on view now in the ABCs of the Library exhibition—and go behind the scenes of the digitization and exhibition process in a new blog post on Notes from the Underground.

05/26/2026

Interested in our medieval manuscript collections? Check out our new Medieval Manuscript LibGuide, created by recent UVA grad Katharine Stepanian. In this video, she shares her favorite item from the collection and our smallest book of hours.

LibGuide: https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/medievalmanuscript

Item ID: “Stone Baby Hours”. MSS 382 (Med.Ms.W). Horae. Use of Paris (“Stone Baby Hours”). France, saec. XIV (ca. 1385?). Parchment; 239 fols.; 62 × 45 (37 × 22).

Video description: Katharine talks about her favorite medieval manuscript and introduces the LibGuide

05/18/2026

05/15/2026

April showers bring “May Flowers” by Louisa May Alcott. Published in 1899, several decades after “Little Women,” this particular copy bears the bookplate of John Sewell Pratt Alcott, Louisa’s nephew and adopted son.

Item ID: “May Flowers,” Louisa May Alcott, PS1017.M27 1899

05/07/2026

We're hiring a Reference Librarian/ Archivist to join our Public Services Team! Please visit https://at.virginia.edu/reference for more information about the position and to register for the webinar.

04/29/2026

Congratulations to our incredible Instruction Student Kaitlin Truslow who was one of ten student workers across the entirety of UVA who was a recipient of the Outstanding Student Employee Award. We are so grateful for all the incredible work that you have done for us these past two years!

04/24/2026

It's spring! Walking through the flourishing pavilion gardens, Stacey Evans (Stacey Evans Photography ), was reminded of her work digitizing material from the Douglas H. Gordon Collection of French Books at Special Collections. Stacey, senior imaging specialist and project coordinator in the Digital Production Group, photographed tulips and crown imperials in front of the iconic serpentine walls, similar to those etched by Nicholas Cochin in his 1654 publication entitled "Livre Nouveau de Fleurs Tres-util Pour L'art D'orfevrerie, et Autres."

Thanks to Stacey and other DPG folks' wonderful work, you can view the digitized version in its entirety in Virgo, our library catalog: https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/u2279184?idx=0&x=0.384&y=0.305&zoom=0.768&page=18

Item ID: Livre Nouveau de Fleurs Tres-util Pour L'art D'orfevrerie, et Autres, Gordon 1645.C64

04/23/2026

Just over 20 years ago, Albert H. Small donated the most comprehensive collection of letters, documents, and early printings relating to the Declaration of Independence and its signers. Today, nearly 250 years after the first printing of the Declaration, we celebrate the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection with a new LibGuide!
https://guides.lib.virginia.edu/c.php?g=1522310&p=11396398
Explore the more than 350 carefully selected pieces Small collected to capture the personalities and legacies of the founders of our nation.

At the center of Small’s collection is a national treasure: one of 26 known surviving copies of the Dunlap Broadside, the first printing of the Declaration on the night of July 4, 1776. Under the guidance of Josef Beery, attendees at our Cochran lecture last week inaugurated our new printing plate—an exact copy of the Small Dunlap Broadside. Coming soon: additional events where you can print your very own high-fidelity copy of the Declaration of Independence!

Video description: opens with a close-up of a print of the Small Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence. Attendees at our event last week illustrate the process of printing: inking or knocking up the ink balls, then beating the ink on to the surface of the printing plate. Paper is placed on the tympan, then frisket is folded down then closed and placed on top of the form, then the bed is rolled under the platen. The printer pulls the “devil’s tail” or handle, the bed is rolled back out. The frisket is opened, and the completed print can be pulled from the tympan. Many prints were made, with many happy printers proud of their work!

04/17/2026

Today—on her birthday—we honor the memory of our dear colleague and beautiful friend, Grace Hale, Reference and Instruction Librarian in the Small Special Collections Library since August 2021. Grace passed away from cancer, surrounded by her loving family, on February 3, 2026.

Grace graduated Phi Beta Kappa in history from the University of Virginia and pursued her passion for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, followed by a second master’s in library science at the University of Maryland. If you recently visited our Reading Room, asked a reference question online, or participated in a class session, you may have met Grace. She loved medieval books and tapestries, feminist pedagogy, and the ethics of care. She loved working with students and provided excellent care and mentorship as a student supervisor. Most joyfully, she loved being a special collections librarian—and we loved being her colleagues.

She is survived by her wonderful husband, Steve, several indoor and feral outdoor cats, a flock of swans, a donkey and a herd of cows, all on a historic farm in Louisa County where they have been caretakers for years.

04/13/2026

Celebrate National Poetry Month at Special Collections! We’re highlighting poetry broadsides by Rita Dove, the first African American Poet Laureate and a UVA professor, and Rita Mae Brown, an acclaimed le***an feminist author—both of whose manuscript collections are held here. All three broadsides were printed in collaboration with the former Virginia Arts for the Book Center (now Virginia Book Arts).

Item IDs:

“One Volume missing,” Rita Dove. Broadside 2006 .D68
“Language exerts hidden power, like the moon on the tides,” Rita Mae Brown. Broadside 2014 .B76
“Ode to My Right Knee,” Rita Dove. Broadside 2014 .D69