U.VA. BOARD OF VISITORS MEMBER ALBERT H. SMALL
PLANS TO GIVE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT COLLECTION

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 7 -- A rare documents collection
valued at $25 million and an additional $2.5 million toward
construction of a new Special Collections Library building have been
given to the University of Virginia by Albert H. Small, a member of
U.Va.'s Board of Visitors. The gifts were announced Saturday night
at the Dinner on the Lawn, part of the kickoff celebration for
U.Va.'s capital campaign. 
	Small, a graduate of the School of Engineering and Applied
Science, is a real estate developer, philanthropist, and long-time
supporter of both the engineering school and the University.  He
received the 1990 Virginia Engineering Foundation's Distinguished
Alumnus Award and a building in the engineering school now bears his
name.
     	Small also has been a supporter of the University Library,
which was the recipient of one of his earlier gifts -- a letter
written by Thomas Jefferson in 1825 to the University's proctor
describing the fledgling school's "uneasy" fiscal prospects.
	His current gift includes the rest of his unique collection
of rare documents, especially pieces relating to Jefferson, the
American Revolution, and the University. The cash portion of the
gift will assure that the documents are housed in a suitable
facility. Library officials said that the University could never
have found the financial or professional resources to build such a
collection, which Small has been accumulating for many years.



After earning his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering in 1947,
Small entered the construction and real estate development business,
winning industry awards for his work in and around his native
Washington, D.C.
	Over the years, he and the company he founded, Southern
Engineering Corporation, have built more than 10,000 apartment
units, many thousands of single-family homes and more than 2 million
square feet of new office space in the greater Washington area. His
firm has also conducted residential and commercial development in
New York, Baltimore, Norfolk and Richmond.
###
October 7, 1995