Collections : [University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.]

University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
170 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Primary Collecting Areas:
American literature, antiquarian and contemporary, American history (Southeastern United States), Virginiana, British literature, Sporting books and manuscripts, World War I, Bibliography, the book arts, history of the book and typography
Fine press and artist’s books, Pop-up books, Victorian publishers bindings, Typography, Archives of the University of Virginia
Description:

The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library administers over 13 million manuscripts, 3.6 million items in the University archives, and 325,000 rare books, as well as approximately 5,000 maps, over 4,000 broadsides; more than 250,000 photographs and small prints; over 8,000 reels of microfilm; and substantial holdings of audio recordings, motion picture films, and ephemera.

The major emphasis of the Department’s collections are American history and literature, with additional substantive collections in Virginiana, British literature, African-American history, book arts, the history of sporting and World War I, among others. In addition, the library serves as the University Archives, holding records of historic significance to UVA.

POC: Special Collections Public Services & Reference Staff
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Start Over Repository University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept. Date range 1915

Wooden paper cutter with the initials, E.L.R. attached, 1900/1950 Box 49, Folder 36

The paper cutter was presented to Emilie L. Reed and was made with wood taken from the door sill of the building in which Walter Reed was born in Belroi, Virginia.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever collection, 1800/1998, bulk 1863/1974
  3. Series IV. Philip Showalter Hench, 1850/1966, bulk 1837/1960

World War I scrapbook albums, 1914/1915 0.03 Cubic Feet One folder in a legal document box BW 12.

World War I scrapbook albums,1914-1915,0.03 cubic feet,contain many black and white photos with captions and entries written in German. Photos depict patients, doctors, and nurses on the Eastern front at a Red Cross Hospital, probably the Rupprecht shcool in Kaiserslautern.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.

World War I soldier diary and papers, 1915/1917 0.03 Cubic Feet 1 folder

A concisely written diary documenting the realities of life on the Western Front as experienced by chemical warfare soldiers in the British Army. The diarist makes his first proper entry upon being transferred from the Machine Gun Section to the Chemical Section in September 1915, only a few weeks before the first British mobilization of chemical weapons during the Battle of Loos. Following his month-long training at Helfaut, he is attached to the 15th section of the 187th Company, first entering the trenches on December 17, where for the next year and a half he would manage the supply, disposal, and potential bombardment of gas shells. The diary ends suddenly on April 15, 1917, after a series of hurried entries referring to the diarist's work with the advancing artillery in the Somme Offensive. It is not known if the diarist lived to see the final Armistice in 1918.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.

World War I wooden puzzle game "The Silver Bullet or The Road to Berlin" (Addition 27) 2023-0196, 1915 0.15 Cubic Feet Custom Made Box ( 8x13 1/4) Flat_Box 5

This addition to MSS 16758, the University of Virginia Collection on the History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building, contains a 9.5" x 6.5" wooden puzzle with a wooden frame and a glass window titled the Silver Bullet: Or the Road to Berlin.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. The University of Virginia Collection on the History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building., 1700/2014
  3. Series 3. 1900-1980

Writings, 1904/1925 0.04 Cubic Feet One folder in legal document box. Box 5. Box 5 [X030899293], Folder 7

There are poems, manuscripts and untitled drafts by Celestia Essie Wade Butler Smith, including "The Scepter of Ahazuerus", "The Natural Bridge", "Lexington", "A Wish", "Gathered Rosebuds", "The Pictures", "The Most Unique Museum in the World", "The Return", "Drury's Bluff Battle", "The Mystery of a Pack of Cards", "Your Friend and Mine", "Beyond Despair", "The Man Who Has Won", "The Making of Arms and Ammunition's in the Confederacy", "Stars and Heaven", "Mystery", "A Christmas Wish", "The South's Part in Establising the United States", and "The House By the Side of the Road". There are also poems by other individuals including her brother Thomas Greer Wade, Sam Walter Foss, Elizabeth Reid Hill, and Alexander Jessup. There are also a few letters from various publishers.

  1. University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
  2. Celestia "Essie" Wade Butler Smith papers, 1793/2002
  3. Writings and printed, 1904/1961

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