The Clifton Waller Barrett Library takes as its province one hundred and seventy-five years of American literature, the years from 1775 to 1950. It contains, insofar as it has been possible to assemble them, all fiction, poetry, drama, and essays published by an American in book form up to and including the year 1875; for […]

One of the more notable collections in the Special Collections Department at the University of Virginia Library is that of works by and about the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), a distinguished poet and essayist and one of the finest writers of short stories in world letters. It contains more than two thousand individual […]

The Joseph M. Bruccoli Great War Collection was established by Matthew J. Bruccoli in 1965 in memory of his father, Joseph M. Bruccoli (1892?-1965), a veteran of the Great War. Professor Bruccoli, a graduate of Yale University who received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia, initially planned to collect the fiction […]

The history of Virginia and that of the Cabell family are inextricably linked; indeed, since about 1726, the Cabells have been one of the Commonwealth’s most interconnected and influential families. This site offers a broad introduction to the Cabell family and to the extraordinary archival material that Cabells in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries left […]

Jackson Davis, an educational reformer and amateur photographer, took nearly 6,000 photographs of African American schools, teachers and students throughout the Southeastern United States. His photographs — most intended to demonstrate the wretched conditions of African American schools in the south and to show how they could be improved — provide a unique view of […]

The Papers of John Dos Passos at the University of Virginia Library present a vivid chronicle of the author’s activities, thoughts and literary skills as he analyzed, reported on and criticized the turbulent events of the 20th century. Dos Passos, identifying with the leftist radical sympathies of the post-World War I period, experimented in expressing […]

Richard Thomas Walker Duke, Jr. and the Duke Family Papers at the University of Virginia Between 1899 and 1926, Richard Thomas Walker Duke, Jr., a prominent Albemarle County, Virginia, jurist and civic leader, recorded the most memorable events of his life in five, leather-bound volumes for the benefit of his children. This website contains digital […]

William Faulkner’s choice of a repository for the major manuscripts and personal papers in his possession at the time of his death was the University of Virginia. His stated wish was implemented by the creation of the William Faulkner Foundation to which he arranged to bequeath his papers. They were ultimately transferred to the University […]

In early winter of 1986 the Special Collections Department became the repository for one of the great American collections of French books dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, arguably the most important collection of its kind in private hands before it was bequeathed to the University of Virginia by the late Douglas Huntly […]

The Holsinger Studio Collection constitutes a unique photographic record of life in Central Virginia from before the late 1800s through the first decades of the twentieth century. The collection consists of approximately 10,000 wet-plate glass negatives and 500 celluloid negatives from the commercial studio of Rufus W. Holsinger—and later his son, Ralph. Approximately two-thirds of […]

Guide to the Papers The University’s collection of Jefferson papers comprises some 3,650 items. Most are original documents or contemporary transcripts made by secretaries and family members, but some are more recent transcripts and photographic or electrostatic copies of documents which remain in private hands or in less readily accessible institutional repositories. Of the total, […]

One of the cornerstones of the University of Virginia special collections is the American history library of Tracy W. McGregor(1869-1936). In his later years, McGregor had become interested in Virginia and had visited the Charlottesville area from his Detroit home. In 1925, he and his wife had established the McGregor Fund to support charitable works […]

Housed in Special Collections, the Oral History collection (RG 26-) comprises over 250 individual interviews with persons affiliated in some capacity with The University of Virginia. Administrators, faculty, alumni, staff, faculty wives and children, and businessmen share their stories of life at the university and within the greater community of Charlottesville. These interviews span the […]

The Kevin Barry and Kelly Scott Perdue Archive of Traditional Culture at the University of Virginia was first established when Professor Charles L. Perdue began teaching here in September 1971. With the assistance of his wife, Nancy J. Martin-Perdue, numerous student papers, books, recordings, and other priceless items were acquisitioned into the Archive over the […]

The Special Collections Department’s noteworthy holdings in the history of books and printing, which now span the period from the very earliest printers’ manuals to those of the 20th century and include the productions of fine private presses as well, have been strengthened in recent years by the acquisitions of the collections of three artists […]

The Sadleir-Black Collection of Gothic Fiction numbers over a thousand titles. Focusing on English writers and imprints, it is unique in its coverage of minor authors writing in this genre and in its holdings of original and subsequent editions of their works. Although its holdings consist mainly of English imprints issued from 1765 to 1830, […]

Marion duPont Scott (1894-1983) was an internationally renowned Virginia horse breeder and owner of Montpelier, James Madison’s Orange County home. A great-granddaughter of the founder of E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Mrs. Scott grew up at Montpelier. For a time, she was married to Hollywood actor Randolph Scott. She owned and bred […]

Published Music Mackay-Smith Collection of European Music, 1650-1910: Presented to U.Va. in 1946, includes complete runs of what at that time constituted the major musicological journals, reference works, bibliographies, printed library catalogs, monographs, and scores. The collection’s greatest strength is in contemporary editions of 18th-century instrumental music, particularly chamber music (trio sonatas). Musical selection corresponds […]

Albert H. Small is a real-estate developer in Bethesda, Maryland who earned a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1946. The Declaration of Independence Collection is the most comprehensive in the world about the document. Small pledged his entire collection to the University, where selected items are now on display in […]

Throughout her life, Lillian Gary Taylor kept careful records of nearly everything—from her experiences traveling in Europe to her extensive collection of best-selling American fiction. Her various and diverse records include Memories, her five-volume autobiography; her Collecting Journals, in which she tracked her literary acquisitions; and her correspondence regarding her collection. These documents not only […]

In 1924 Paul Victorius left his home in New York City to study medicine in London. As he pursued a medical degree he began collecting rare books and manuscripts, focusing primarily on material concerning Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. After two years, Victorius dropped his medical studies and opened his first bookshop, selling […]

About the U.Va. Visual History Collection: This database now contains images from various sources throughout our collections. There are some major categories, most of which are related to the University of Virginia. These image categories are: • The Rotunda • Sports and Athletic Events • Faculty and Students throughout U.Va. history • People–surnames A-C (not […]