Does Archives at UVA include all archival materials at the University of Virginia? What if I cannot find what I am looking for?
What if I have questions? Where should I go for help with Archives at UVA?
Begin a basic search by entering your search terms in the search bar. You may limit the search by searchable fields, record type, and date.
The searchable fields are:
Keyword: Searches the entire text of the finding aid.
Title: Searches titles of the materials described, including collection records and series and files within collections. If you know the precise title of the thing you’re looking for, searching by title can be very helpful.
Creator: Searches names of the persons, families, and organizations who created the collections.
Subject: Searches by subject headings assigned to materials by archivists and librarians, e.g. United States history.
Call Number: Searches by identifier, which is a unique number by which materials are tracked and requested.
Record types allow you to customize the type of records you want a search to return:
Limit to collections will only return records for collections, rather than people, subjects, series, and files.
You may select a date span to limit the search results chronologically. Searching by date is approximate, and results may fall outside the date span you enter.
You may construct a more complex search by selecting the + icon and adding additional search parameters.
Searches are not case sensitive.
You may search for phrases by including quotation marks (e.g. “Noland family”)
By default, searches with three or fewer search terms return results containing all of the search terms. Searches with four or more search terms return results containing most of the search terms. You may add OR and NOT to change this behavior (e.g. Stiles OR Morse or art NOT British).
You may add a tilde (~) to search for search terms within a specified number of words of one another (e.g. “maps Asia”~5 will return results where the term maps occurs within 5 words of the term Asia).
“Wildcard” symbols ? and * help return a greater number of relevant results by searching for variant spellings and forms of search terms simultaneously.
? replaces a single letter in a search term (e.g. searching wom?n will return both women and woman, and searching archiv? will return both archive and archivy)
* replaces any number of letters at the end of a search term (e.g. searching mission* will return mission, missions, missionary, and missionaries)
? and * may not be used as the first character of a word.
To use a wildcard in combination with another search term (e.g. wom?n suffrage), use the + icon to create another row and enter each search term in a separate row.
Once you have done a search and are on the search results page, you can use the filter pane on the left side of the page to further limit and customize search results.
You may use the filter pane to filter by repository, record type, subject, and name.
You may also use the search bar at the top of the filter pane to create additional searches within the search results.
To begin a search, use the search bar on the home page.
To learn more about the repositories on Archives at UVA , including contact details, choose a repository from the bottom of the homepage.
To see a full alphabetical list of collections, click the Collections tab.
To see a full alphabetical list of unprocessed collections, click on the Unprocessed Material tab.
To see a full alphabetical list of subjects, click the Subjects tab.
To see a full alphabetical list of names, click the Names tab.
For help and FAQs, click the Help tab.
You can return to the home page at any time by selecting Repositories from the banner.
Archives at UVA includes finding aids from 4 repositories at the University of Virginia:
Each repository has its own location, hours, and policies for providing access to its collections. Please consult the specific repository with questions about using the materials.
When you have done a search and are on the search results page, the “found in” breadcrumb trail at the bottom of each search result indicates which repository holds the collection.
When you are viewing a record, the breadcrumb trail at the top of the page indicates which repository holds the collection.
To request materials from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library , select the request button at the top of the page.
After you click on the request button:
You will be asked to log into your special collections account or to create an account if you are a new user.
You will be taken to the request review page, where you should see the item listed, along with any other requests you may have placed in review.
Check the box next to the item(s) you wish to request.
Please note the “reading room” and “availability” columns, as they will indicate where the item can be viewed and when it can be made available for your use.
Select your visitation date based on this information and press the submit request button to send the request to the repository. If you are unsure if you want to immediately order the box, you may leave the request in your queue by clicking “Save for Later.” Doing so allows you to queue any number of requests without ordering them, important as Small Library allows you to order only request five items at a time.
Each repository has its own location, hours, and policies for providing access to its collections. Please consult the repository with questions about using the materials. Collections are non-circulating and must be used in the repository’s reading room. In some cases the collections are stored off-site and require advance notice for retrieval.
Please note that although the system allows requesting at the item level, you do not need to place multiple requests for items within the same box. For instance, if you want to view the files on “Airports” and “Black Lung” from the John Warner papers, MSS 10191-o, you should place only a single request for Box 1.
Note that requesting is not enabled for the Law Library Special Collections, Health Sciences Library, or the Bjoring Center for Nursing Inquiry. To request a research visit to view those materials, please contact the repository.
All first time users will be prompted to create a request system account after clicking the request button. You may also create an account in advance of requesting here: landing page.
First, you will be asked to read and accept Small Special Collections first time user policy. Current UVa users can use their NetBadge user ID and password to sign in and create request system account. All non-UVa affiliated users; including Alumni and Retirees should choose the Non-UVa sign in option. A valid email address is needed to complete registration.
For additional information about registering for a Special Collections Request System account, including forms of identification needed to complete registration upon visiting the Library, please submit an online Reference Request.
Some of the biggest changes you may notice include:
Searching names and subjects, allowing you to see the collections associated with each name and subject across repositories.
Searching series, files, and items in addition to collections. Searches may return relevant files from collections you may not have considered otherwise.
The default search settings return results at the series, file, and item levels as well as the collection level, rather than a list of collections. Staff and other users searching for known items may therefore wish to limit their searches to collections by selecting the record type “collection.”
Navigating finding aids in multiple “views,” including collection organization context trees, container lists, and a traditional finding aid view. You can also download a fully formatted PDF of a finding aid.
Archives at UVA does not include all archival materials at UVA. Materials not included here are:
Small Special Collections is in the process of migrating finding aids into Archives at UVA. Please continue to also consult Virgo and Virginia Heritage for finding aid created before 2016 if you do not find what you need in Archives at UVA.
Some unprocessed collections (except for unprocessed recent archival acquisitions from Small Library, which are included) may not be represented in Archives at UVA.
Some materials have access restrictions that may preclude them from patron use.
Archives are materials created or received by a person, family, or organization that are preserved because of the enduring value of the information they contain.
Collections are groups of materials assembled by a person, family, organization, or repository. They can be divided hierarchically into series, groupings, and files.
Containers are anything that houses or stores archival materials. A container might be a standard size archival box, an oversize box, a broadside folder, or a media case.
Digital records are born-digital and digitized materials that are available online.
Finding aids allow users to discover, understand, and access archival collections. Finding aids describe the creation, arrangement, content, and context of archival materials.
Name records are the people, families, and organizations that create archival materials. In Archives at UVA , users can view name records to see all of the collections created by a person, family, or organization. Name records are shared across all libraries and repositories at UVA, and staff choose them from controlled lists, including the Library of Congress.
Provenance is the information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection.
Record Groups are hierarchical divisions that are sometimes equivalent to provenance, representing all the records of an agency and its subordinate divisions. However, the records of a large agency may be broken into several record groups, treating the records of different divisions as separate collections rather than as a series.
Record Series are groups of similar records that are arranged according to a filing system and that are related as the result of being created, received, or used in the same activity.
Repositories are institutions that hold archival materials. Archives at UVA contains finding aids from 4 repositories at the University of Virginia, including libraries, archives, and special collections.
Subject records are topics, places, and genres used to describe the context and content of archival materials. In Archives at UVA , users can view a subject record to see all of the collections relating to that topic, place, or genre. Subject records are shared across all libraries and repositories at UVA, and staff choose them from controlled lists, including the Library of Congress.
Unprocessed collections or Unprocessed materials are groups of materials, physical or digital, that may not have been arranged, described, or rehoused for patron use. Some processed materials may not be immediately available for patron access.
If you have a general question, you are welcome to submit it here:
For questions regarding access to Small Special Collections Materials; including circulation, material requests, visits, reference queries, etc… please visit our website or place an online Reference Request.
For question regarding access to the Law Library Special Collections , please visit our website or send us an email .
For questions regarding access to the Health Sciences Library Historical Collections , please visit our website or send us an email .
For questions regarding access to the Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry , please visit our website or send us an email .