University of Virginia Library

XI. Library

When the books which had been dropped in confused
piles on the Lawn during the Great Fire were about to be
gathered up for temporary deposit elsewhere, it was decided
that the safest place of storage for the present was
one of the upper rooms of the Brooks Museum; and here
the remnants of the once fine collection found a resting
spot until the Rotunda was rebuilt. In the meanwhile, at
least one plan for a second temporary removal was debated
by the Faculty. In January, when barely sixty
days had passed since the reduction of the old library
room to ashes, that body, in their anxiety to assort the
surviving volumes and rearrange them for use, recommended

that the chapel should be put in shape to receive
them until more commodious quarters could be obtained.
But the Board apparently failed to adopt this suggestion,
—in all probability, because it would have made necessary
at least two transfers of the books.

When the library-room was first ready for reoccupation,
the volumes were not removed there at once. Before
this could be done, shelves had to be provided.
This brought the question of the physical equipment of
the apartment up for disposition; there was, at the moment,
an almost complete lack of funds for the continuation
of the building; and the Faculty were of the opinion
that the rough shelves then in existence at the Brooks
Museum should be taken down, and replaced in the new
library-room, there to remain until the University should
be in a financial position to substitute for them shelves of
a better quality. One year later, the same body complained
that the professors and students were still practically
deprived of the use of the books,—there were,
they said, no enclosures to the shelves, no doors to the
cases, few chairs for seating the readers. Apparently as
late as October, 1898, the books had not been deposited
on the shelves owing to the fear that they would be
damaged by the repairs, which had now become necessary
in consequence of certain defects in the original reconstruction.
The students went so far as to threaten
to place the volumes before these repairs were begun, as
they had grown impatient over the small use to be made
of the library. When the last touch, however, had been
given to the room, the University was in possession of
one of the noblest apartments of that character to be
found in the United States.

Apart from law and medical books, about eleven thousand
volumes were snatched from the jaws of the consuming

flames by the fierce energy of the students, with the
heroic cooperation of the ladies of the University, and
with the assistance also of the people of Charlottesville.
Frederick W. Page was still the librarian. In May, 1896,
he was able to report that nearly seven thousand volumes
had been presented by friends of the institution during the
short interval that had elapsed since the conflagration.
Among these donors were publishers like Little, Brown,
and Company, Harper Brothers, and the Macmillan
Company; universities like Tulane, Yale, and Columbia;
and private citizens like Colonel Charles S. Venable, General
Eppa Hunton, and John S. Pierson. In the course
of the same year, the choice Hertz collection, comprising
twelve thousand titles, which had been bought by the members
of the New York chapter of the alumni, was delivered
to their alma mater, with an eloquent expression of
sympathy and affection, which made the gift doubly
valuable.

By the opening of the year 1897, not less than twenty
thousand volumes had been added to the collection by
the generosity of individuals and organizations. Among
the donors in 1897 were the Virginia State Library; the
Universities of Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge; the
executors of Professor Minor; Colonel R. T. W. Duke,
educator, lawyer, and soldier; Dr. W. H. Ruffner, who
had been most influential in establishing the public school
system in Virginia; John S. Wise, the author of the End
of an Era; F. W. M. Holliday, Governor of the Commonwealth,
and a man of uncommon culture; Professor W. P.
Dubose, the distinguished theological writer; Daniel B.
Lucas, the poet and jurist; and John L. Williams, the
philanthropic banker of Richmond and a devoted alumnus.
No one had been more instrumental and more successful
in replenishing the depleted library by their private

appeals to friends than Colonel W. Gordon McCabe
and Rev. Dr. J. William Jones. By February, 1897,
the librarian reported that the number of volumes then
in the University's possession was thirty-eight thousand.

A gratuitous stream of valuable books continued to
flow in. Alfred Roelker, of New York, in May, 1897,
presented a large number of volumes relating to German
philology; and in September of the same year, gave a
complete set of the works of Professor Bledsoe. An
alumnus purchased a bulky portion of the collection which
had belonged to Professor George F. Holmes,—three
thousand titles in all—and made a gift of it to the University.
Governor Holliday, who died in 1899, bequeathed
to the institution his entire library, which had
been gathered together with remarkable discrimination
extended over a long period. It contained more than
four thousand volumes, and was especially rich in works
relating to the history of Virginia. Several hundred volumes
of a very choice collection were presented during
the same year by Miss Marie Bruce as a memorial of her
father, William Ballard Bruce. In the course of the next
year, Professor James A. Harrison and his wife gave a
large number of books bearing upon the subject of Southern
literature; and they also presented a cabinet filled
with editions of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and publications
relating to his chequered life. During the twelve
months ending with June, 1899, not less than nine thousand
additional volumes were placed on the shelves of the
library. Among the donors of 1901, were Rev. Haslett
McKim, Rev. Charles A. Briggs, and Dr. B. W. Green.

By the end of the following year, the library had
swelled to fifty thousand volumes, and it now lacked only
about seven thousand to be equal in size to the one which
had fallen a prey to the flames in 1895. The original

had contained some old and rare editions which were of
almost priceless value in the eyes of bibliophiles, and
which could never be replaced; but for practical usefulness,
the new library was superior in quality to the old;
the room too was far better lighted and heated; and it
was observed also that it was much more resorted to by
the students. In 1903, three thousand books belonging
to the Barnard Shipp collection were added to the library.
Mr. Shipp had directed his chief attention to the purchase
of works relating to American history. This gift was
swelled, in the course of the following year, by Mrs.
Thomas R. Price's presentation of her deceased husband's
collection of four thousand volumes. The law
library of General Bradley T. Johnson was also given at
this time by his son and executor, Bradley S. Johnson.

In addition to these numerous and valuable gifts, several
endowments were established for the annual purchase
of books. In 1899, the family of Alfred H. Byrd, of
New York, in conformity with his wishes, presented his
entire estate to the University as a memorial fund, the
income from which was to be annually invested in the purchase
of volumes relating to the history and literature of
Virginia. A separate alcove in the library was reserved
for the storage of the special works to be thus acquired.
The D'Arcy Paul memorial fund, amounting to one thousand
dollars, was created by his widow, with the provision
that the interest annually accruing from that sum was to
be used for subscriptions to journals devoted to modern
philology.

Interesting busts and portraits were also added to the
existing collection of the library in the course of this
period. As we have seen, there had been no loss in either
form by the fire in consequence of the fact that these objects,
having caught the eye of the rescuers at once, had

been promptly carried out to a place of safety. All, including
Galt's statue of Jefferson, were restored to the
room as soon as it was thrown open for reoccupation.
Among the additions to the number of busts was a marble
one of Senator W. C. Preston, of South Carolina, presented
by his brother, the former rector, Colonel Thomas
L. Preston; a bronze bust of Poe, the artistic work of
Zolnay; a replica of Houdon's bust of Lafayette, which
was presented by the French Republic in appreciation of
the warm reception extended by the University to Jusserand,
the French ambassador, on the occasion of his
visit; and a bronze bust of Cicero, the gift of Doctor
Coles, of New York. The portraits added, during the
same period, were those of Alfred H. Byrd, a benefactor;
Schele de Vere, the professor; John R. Thompson, the
poet; Robley Dunglison, a member of the first Faculty;
John Marshall, the gift of John L. Williams; W. Gordon
McCabe, the gift of the alumni of his school; Commodore
Maury, the gift of John L. Williams also; and
Thomas Norwood, the gift of his former pupils.

In October, 1902, John S. Patton was appointed assistant
librarian for the session of 1902–3. When Frederick
W. Page retired from the senior position, after occupying
it for nearly twenty years, Mr. Patton was elected
in his place, with Miss Anne S. Tuttle as his assistant.
A resolution of the Faculty paid a just and feeling tribute
to the character of Mr. Page,—his love of books, his interest
in literature, his courteous manners, his sense of
order, his knowledge of the students' needs, and his extraordinary
tact, patience, and kindness.