Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
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rareuva.bsky.social
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
@rareuva.bsky.social
1.2K followers 40 following 150 posts
Preserving and providing access to more than 16 million manuscripts, archival records, rare books, maps, broadsides, photographs, audio and video recordings at the University of Virginia.
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rareuva.bsky.social
💛Swipe to see how much the Pratt Ginkgo has grown over the past century! Planted on the northwest side of the Rotunda in 1859, the tree is named for William A. Pratt, the University’s first superintendent of buildings and grounds. #ginkgowatch2025 @uvalibrary.bsky.social
Color photo of a large ginkgo tree with brilliant yellow leaves Black-and-white photo of a medium-sized ginkgo tree
November 20, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
uvalibrary.bsky.social
The exhibition entries for Kits and Sea Monsters and much more are in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, UVA, while Horror is on the 4th floor of Clemons, near the DVDs. Read more about H is for Horror on UVA Today:

news.virginia.edu/content/look...
Looking for a good scare? Here’s what to watch this Halloween
Horror movie enthusiasts on UVA Library’s staff offer their recommendations.
news.virginia.edu
October 31, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
uvalibrary.bsky.social
Happy Halloween!! For today, a few #Halloween adjacent entries from our ABCs of the UVA Library exhibition. K is for Kits (in this case, a vampire killing kit), S is for Sea Monsters, and H is for Horror (more on that here:
smallnotes.library.virginia.edu/2025/10/29/h... )
K is for Kits image, featuring a stylized blue chest with several golden compartments on a yellow background with a large white letter 'K' overlaying the image. The blue chest is a vampire killing kit with axe and cross visible. S is for Sea Monster showing a stylized drawing of a sea monster with a sailor in its mouth, twined around a large capital S, on a bluegreen background H is for Horror graphic, a stylized illustration of a movie zombie and a large capital H.
October 31, 2025 at 3:33 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
Brittany Murray (she/her) recently joined @uvalibrary.bsky.social as the Charlottesville and Virginia Collections Conservator. She is responsible for the conservation and preservation of collection items from local communities in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
Headshot of Brittany Murray.
November 3, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
hczmick.bsky.social
Had an absolutely glorious time today looking at medieval books of hours and breviaries at Albert and Shirley Small special collections! @rareuva.bsky.social
I always am fascinated by looking at signs of use - seeing how worn some pages were and where other codices fell open to was amazing!
October 22, 2025 at 3:53 AM
rareuva.bsky.social
New on our blog: Senior Imaging Specialist Stacey Evans reflects on the process of re-digitizing African American portraits in the Holsinger Studio Collection for our 2022-23 Visions of Progress: exhibition. Read her post here: smallnotes.library.virginia.edu/2025/10/21/h....
A screenshot from working with Capture One software showing a 4”x5” black-and-white film target and object, content, and speculative artist’s intent versions of two plates featuring African American women.
October 21, 2025 at 7:10 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
Repost from @/abigailenjoysliterature on TikTok: “to this day, still one of the best days ever. this was one of the highlights of grad school. i yearn for access to special collections again oh my god. what’s the coolest book related artifact you’ve seen?? #reading #BookTok #literature #reader #fyp”
September 30, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
scholarslab.bsky.social
"P is for Point Clouds" exhibit is up in our Common Room! These aren't 3D models—they're clouds of tons of tiny points of measured, preservation-level accurate 3D data. 5 local historical locations including the Pine Grove Rosenwald School=explorable in VR, or as flythrus on our display or online +
September 19, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
literaturegeek.bsky.social
"Z is for Zines" exhibit I curated w/ @rareuva.bsky.social help. As a librarian, zines=I can amplify more authors/experiences/topics our community cares about+needs than via just books; especially work where racism, transphobia+more violence+systematic harm=barriers to author, publish, widely share+
Photo of a museum exhibit glass case on wooden legs, displaying 5 zines with written information about each, under a colorful large sign that explains the miniexhibit about zines: "People often picture zines similar to their 20th-century origins as free collaged and xeroxed paper booklets about subcultures, including punk music and the Riot grrrl movement; fandoms, including for mid-century sci fi; social justice and marginalized experiences; or their earliest precursors, especially the Harlem Renaissance's little magazines." Today, creators make "zines" that vary widely in how they look and what they contain—but most zines stay true to the form's original vision: radically low-barrier authoring, publication, dissemination, and reading. This exhibit showcases a slice of that variety: zines are less about the visible object and more about a DIY (do-it-yourself) ethos of no-gatekeeping making and sharing art, information, and knowledge. The examples in this case are just a few of the many ways zines can look. Despite their differences, what similarities do you notice? My favorite thing about zines and why I think they are important, especially in this moment-is how accessible they can be. Anyone with access to paper and a pen can make a zine and circulate it without dealing with a publisher's gatekeeping. Zines don't need to look good to be effective-there are great zines that are just scrawly penned thoughts on white paper! So many zines are free, in a world where most things (including knowledge!) cost money. As part of the UVA Library's mission to make information accessible to all, zines provide a low- or no-cost way to author and spread knowledge and creativity, which is why we host a public zine distro, plan zine-making workshops and events, and archive campus zines..." Photo of a museum exhibit sign that explains the miniexhibit about zines:l. Sign text continued from previous image alt text: "As a librarian, free zines mean I can display authors and topics from our public space amplifying more authors, more experiences, and more topics our community cares about or needs to know than we can with just books- especially where racism, transphobia, and other violence and systematic disenfranchisement make it hard for people to author, publish, and widely share in book form." Closeup photo of a museum glass display case of 5 paper zines and exhibit labels explaining each
September 26, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
rarebookrosie.bsky.social
In the American Civil Wars class visiting Special Collections today, students were greatly intrigued by a new acquisition: the James Thomas Watt Hairston Civil War prison ledger.
archives.lib.virginia.edu/repositories...
Manuscript frontispiece of the ledger “Mrs. Van Lew, postmistress of Richmond, and a great friend of the prisoners.” “The Prisoners’ Song” Some sort of written code by a POW
September 22, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
uvalibrary.bsky.social
New exhibition—the ABCs of the UVA Library!
From Artists' Books to Zines, with 24 stops in between. (Actually more, as the article notes)
This evening's event is a sold out full house, but the exhibition will be up for the academic year at @rareuva.bsky.social (with outposts in other libraries)
Exploring the ABCs of the UVA Library
A yearlong exhibition showcases nearly 200 items, spotlighting rare books, artifacts and surprising objects from the collection.
news.virginia.edu
September 17, 2025 at 12:56 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
scholarslab.bsky.social
The A-Z exhibits include 2 from the lab: "P is for Point-Cloud Data" by Will Rourk & @arinbb.bsky.social (on 3D captures of historic artifacts+architecture); and "Z is for Zines" by @literaturegeek.bsky.social
Poster graphic by Jeff Hill that says "ABCs of the UVA Library" with a colorful grid of squares behind each letter of the alphabet, with each letter decorated with something referring to the exhibits associated with that letter, such as a z-folded zine image on the letter Z
September 12, 2025 at 12:11 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
"A Discovery and an Eclipse: Langston Hughes’ Rise to Fame": In a new post on our blog, Curator George Riser highlights a set of poems addressed from Langston Hughes to Vachel Lindsay—whose endorsement contributed to Hughes' rise in acclaim as a poet.

smallnotes.library.virginia.edu/2025/07/21/a...
Typed copy of "The Weary Blues” signed and inscribed by Langston Hughes: “For Vachel Lindsay, whose poetry I much admire, these jazz poems of mine.” Lindsay writes below Hughes’ signature, “This is to certify I think these five poems are poetry.”  News page clipping featuring photo captioned "Langston Hughes, Washington's Bus Boy Poet"
July 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
Join printer Josef Beery as he recreates the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in the South Gallery of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library on Thursday, July 3, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. No tickets required!
"Print your own copy of the Declaration of Independence with Josef Beery. South Gallery. Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. Thursday, July 3, 2025. 1:00-3:00 p.m. University of Virginia Library." Graphic features a photo of Beery spreading ink on a printing plate and a photo of a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
June 30, 2025 at 4:27 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
On June 9, 2012, UVA’s first female president, Teresa Sullivan, was controversially fired by the Board of Visitors. The President’s Office received hundreds of letters of support—none was more unusual than this red shoe, sent by the Reverends Mary and Milton Cole from Des Moines, Iowa.
Red shoe covered with words written in black marker.
June 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
One of just eight known copies in the world, this lovingly adorned copy of White Fire, a story about gay male love, was gifted by its author Michael Laurie (likely a pseudonym) to his lover, Julian—whose likeness is captured in an intimate pencil and white gouache portrait drawn by Michael.
Pencil and white gouache portrait of a young man, bordered in red and silver and initialed at lower right. Dedication written in green ink: "For my Julian — without whom there would have been no White Fire: but with whom, all things are possible — from the author. ‘Oh boy whom I love, I will carry you with me in my flight!’ — Gide. Richmond Hill 25/viii/49.”
June 24, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
danielbachman.bsky.social
Happy Juneteenth! Here in Virginia we traditionally celebrate Emancipation Day in April, on the 3, the day Richmond fell, & on the 9, the day Lee surrendered at Appomattox. Check out my short piece here. @rareuva.bsky.social

Juneteenth in Virginia: Keeping the Celebration Going
Juneteenth in Virginia: Keeping the Celebration Going
Visit the post for more.
smallnotes.library.virginia.edu
June 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
Born in Chicago's South Side, Ernie McClintock (1937-2003) was an American director, actor, teacher, and major force behind the scenes of the #BlackArtsMovement. In Chicago in 1962, Ernie met his long-time partner Ronald “Ronn” Tyrone Walker (1936-1999)—an award-winning scenic artist. #QueerHistory
A page from one of Ernie’s journals featuring a love poem.
June 17, 2025 at 6:46 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
Reference Librarian Anne Causey recommends Patchwork Voices by Emilee Taxman as part of @uvalibrary.bsky.social's compilation of book and film recommendations exploring the history, present, and future of trans people for #PrideMonth.

Explore the full list at library.virginia.edu/news/2025/ce....
Cover of Patchwork Voices by Emilee Taxman, featuring the transgender symbol. Two-page spread featuring a sketched portrait of a person with shoulder-length voluminous curly hair and wearing a low cut shirt with a necklace with pointed objects, perhaps stones, alongside text that reads, “A defining moment of my transition I would say was the realization that having these feelings of growing up (being socialized as a girl) and not fitting in with the labels of ‘man’ or ‘woman’ was valid. I realized being non-binary is not linear either. I learned that more than half of the animal kingdom and many common plants are intersex. With knowing that information, researching the tribes in Africa and speaking with the trans/2spirit indigenous community it donned on me that being trans, non-binary and gender variant is ancient, sacred, spiritual and always has been a part of nature. We all look and identify differently and it’s beautiful.”
June 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
If you’ve watched Tyler Perry’s award-winning 2024 film Six Triple Eight, you might be familiar with the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the U.S. Women’s Army Corps—the only Black female battalion overseas during the Second World War.
Black-and-white photograph of Madeleine Coleman Roach in uniform. Newspaper clipping with two photos of the 6888th Battalion, shown working as switchboard operators and interacting with a bulletin board. Black-and-white photograph of the 6888th Battalion standing outdoors in formation with U.S. flag. One page of a newsletter entitled “Special Delivery” featuring an illustration of an overflowing mail bag in its header.
May 28, 2025 at 6:59 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
🎓In honor of Commencement this week, we’re highlighting our collection's oldest diploma—awarded to John A. Gretter as a graduate in the School of Mathematics—from UVA's first graduating class in 1828.

🎊Congratulations to all of the soon-to-be new alumni of UVA!
University of Virginia diploma honoring John A. Gretter of Richmond City as a Graduate in the School of Mathematics. Stained parchment featuring an engraving of the Rotunda and Lawn, a blue ribbon, and a faded seal of Virginia.
May 14, 2025 at 6:22 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
While planning our current exhibit: “Seeing Stars: The Universities Earliest Observatories,” we never imagined that the University’s first telescope—an 1828 W. & T. Gilbert four foot refractor—might still be on Grounds nearly two centuries later!
Photo of gallery installation featuring the W. & T. Gilbert telescope and related archival materials.
May 12, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
uvalibrary.bsky.social
The Thomas Jefferson Foundation Lecture will be given on Mon, May 12 at @rareuva.bsky.social & (free) tickets are still available. Historian @dwaldstreicher.bsky.social will speak on Black Poets & the Patriots who Mocked them in Jefferson's America.
Full info: www.eventbrite.com/e/thomas-jef...
Thomas Jefferson Foundation Lecture
given by David Waldstreicher (College '88)
www.eventbrite.com
May 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
How did you update your parents before cell phones or selfies? When #WilliamFaulkner was studying abroad in Paris in the fall of 1925, he included a few drawings of himself to update his mother on the growth of his beard. “Don’t faint,” he writes, saying it made him look quite “distinguished.”
One page of a letter written in blue ink and featuring a sketch of Faulkner smoking from a pipe.
May 12, 2025 at 1:24 PM
rareuva.bsky.social
The Harrison/Small building, including the reading room and exhibitions, will be closed this Saturday, May 10 due to scheduled facilities maintenance work.
May 8, 2025 at 3:15 PM