Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, UVA

The Small Special Collections Library Reading Room will have slightly different hours this summer:
Monday: 1-5
Tuesday-Friday: 10-5

For updated hours and holiday closures, always check:
https://library.virginia.edu/hours

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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.