Alderman Library at the
University of
Virginia, built by the University and funded with loans and grants
from the Public Works Administration; construction started in November 1936
and was completed in June 1938.[1,2] UVA was founded
(and designed) by Thomas Jefferson (who lived just up the hill from it)
in 1819. By the 1930s, the University's original library in the Rotunda was
no longer adequate, so this new one was added in a style harmonious with
Jefferson's original design[4]. Today Alderman library
“holds the most extensive Tibetan collection in the world, and holds
ten floors of book ‘stacks’ of varying ages and historical
value. The renowned Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
features one of the premier collections of American Literature in the
country as well as two copies of the original printing of the Declaration of
Independence.“[2] (The building has more floors than the front view
would suggest.)
References
- Short, C.W., and R. Stanley Brown, Public
Buildings, A Survey of Architecture of Projects Constructed by
Federal and Other Governmental Bodies between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the
Assistance of the Public Works Administration,
United States Government Printing Office, Washington (1939), page 123.
- University of
Virginia, Wikipedia, accessed 9 June 2017.
- Public Works Administration
Dockets for Virginia 1934-1939, 3 January 1940: Docket Number W1075.
- Personal knowledge; I attended UVA in the early 1960s.
Photos from C.W. Short, U.S. Federal Works Agency Public Buildings (1939).
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