[BLANK_AUDIO] >> Peter, I'd like to welcome you to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. >> Hey, David, it's great to be here. You got some wonderful stuff. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the Small collection? >> Well, I'm one of two curators for the collection, and it's quite massive. There are 400,000 rare books, 16 million manuscripts. Thousands of maps, photographs, and other primary sources that we make available to researchers. >> And for some reason, you got a special interest in Thomas Jefferson, thanks to Albert Small. >> Yes, indeed. We have the world's best collection of materials relating to the Declaration of Independence, thanks to Mr. Small. >> So, let's talk a little bit about some of the stuff you get. You know, I, I work on Jefferson. I take this stuff seriously, but I rarely get this close, never get this close to the good stuff. So take us on a trip. Show us some of the stuff you've picked out of this vast collection. >> Well I've brought in our two most recent acquisitions to the Small collection, but on the Declaration of Independence. And we have a large holding of printed replicas, facsimiles and representations of the Declaration of Independence. And our most recent one is quite rare. We can't trace another copy. It dates from the mid-19th century, but I don't know if you can recognize. >> Yeah, >> What that might be. >> That's gotta be shorthand. >> E, e, exactly. It's the Pittman Shorthand. A method devised in the 1830s by Sir Isaac Pittman. It became very popular in the United States until Gregg Shorthand took precedence in the 20th century. >> Oh, right, right. >> But this is the transcription of the text in Pittman shorthand. >> Wonderful. So it's important for the history of shorthand as well as the history of the Declaration. >> Exactly. >> And its reception. We get started. >> Mm-hm. >> The short beginning to American history. The shorthand beginning to American history. >> Mm-hm. >> The Declaration. That's actually pretty accurate description of what the Declaration is. [LAUGH] >> Uh-huh. >> Is the beginning of the nation. So what else have you got, David? >> Well, we're quite proud of Thomas Jefferson, the founder of the University of Virginia. >> Yeah. >> And we have a very large and important collection of Jefferson manuscripts, some 4,000 items, >> Mm. Related to Jefferson and his family, and I'd like to show you our most recent acquisition; which came in just last week. We try as best as we can to find Jefferson manuscripts that are unpublished, previously unknown and make them available to scholars. >> Right. >> And this really is the ideal acquisition, and it has an interesting story to it. 25 years ago we learned of this fragment being put up at auction, we asked for help from the editors of the papers of. >> Right. >> Thomas Jefferson and they said, oh you simply must acquire it, it's the earliest known significant political writing done by Thomas Jefferson. >> Mm. >> In 1769, at the age of 26. >> Wow. >> As a new member of the Virginia's House of Burgesses, he was appointed to a committee and charged with drafting new rules of procedure for the House of Burgesses. >> Mm-hm, mm-hm. >> And this is that draft, or the top half of it. >> Mm-hm. >> So we acquired that and then fast forward to last month. I was in New York City at an, an antiquarian book fair. >> Okay, so this is one of the great moments in your life? >> Absolutely. >> Aright, okay. >> And I was there [COUGH] shortly after the opening of the book fair. A dealer waved me over to his booth and he said, I have something to show you. >> Mm. >> And it was the bottom half of the document. >> Amazing. >> So we get Jefferson. Organizing everybody else here and what's that other document David? >> This is a printed document. Looks very modest, but it relates to the Declaration of Independence. In June of 1776 a committee was formed and charged with writing the Declaration of Independence. The next day another committee was chose to write the first Constitution for the United States. And that took longer, it took a year and a, a half almost. >> And then it wasn't ratified until 1781 but there it is. >> But here in November of 1777, Congress has been basically we move from Philadelphia, the British are, are there and they moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania where they approve the Articles of Confederation. And this is the very first printing of that document done by John Dunlap no less, [CROSSTALK] printer of the original declaration. >> Very Exciting. The first Constitution didn't work out too well, but what an important and wonderful document. So, a lot of people think that history is just dead gone by, but your career suggests another way of thinking about history. You're always discovering new stuff. >> It's truly amazing how many documents are still out there that even after 250 years an important Jefferson manuscript can just suddenly appear. And our job as curators, one of our jobs is to be there when they do appear, and bring them into an institution where they can be made available for study. [BLANK_AUDIO]
