Groundbreaking for a new library that will house unique relics of American history will take place tomorrow in front of Alderman Library.
The new library, the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature and Culture and the Albert H. Small Special Collections Library, will be housed in a 70,000-square-foot facility taking the place of Miller Hall, which will be demolished. The building will be designed in the neoclassical style of neighboring Jeffersonian structures.
The library will house Special Collections holdings such as the first Bible published in the New World, one of 25 copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence and original editions of accounts from early explorers of the Americas such as Amerigo Vespucci and Capt. John Smith.
The institute also will house Small's collection of historic letters and documents related to the Declaration of Independence and artifacts from archaeological excavations on Virginia sites, including Harrison's Flowerdew Hundred plantation, a historic land grant on the James River.
Three exhibits per year are planned for the Harrison Institute, each lasting at least three months.
Also included in the Institute will be a spacious exhibition gallery, study areas for visiting scholars and a seminar room for lectures and classes.
Capital Budget Manager Tom Leback said building construction will be completed by October 2003.
University President John T. Casteen III, donor Albert H. Small, donor David A. Harrison III and his family and University librarian Karin Wittenborg will speak during the ceremony.
The new institute will be financed in part by a $10 million donation from Harrison, a 1939 graduate of the College, a 1941 graduate of the Law School and a member of the University's Capital Campaign executive committee. Harrison made the donation in September. The University also received $10 million from the Commonwealth, Leback said.
In the past, Harrison has been a large donor. He has pledged millions of dollars in gifts to the Law School, Medical School, the College and University athletics. Both the Law School Grounds and the football field at Scott Stadium are named after him.
Small, a former Board of Visitors member and 1946 Engineering graduate, also contributed funds to the building of the institute.
Melissa Norris, Alderman Library public relations coordinator, said the library's entire Special Collections holdings will be transferred to the institute.
Library administrators said they plan to form a committee to decide what will be done with the space in Alderman that is freed by the movement of the Special Collections.
To make way for the new library, the University's undergraduate Office of Admissions, which now is housed in Miller Hall, will move next door to a newly renovated Peabody Hall.
The Peabody Hall renovations will be financed by $2 million in state funding, recently appropriated by Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R).
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