Guide to the Summerfield Smith autograph album , MSS 16879

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
P.O. Box 400110
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
URL: https://small.library.virginia.edu/

Eric Willersdorf, Student Accessioning Archivist Assistant

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Use

The Library believes that all or nearly all material in this collection is likely to be in the public domain, free of copyright restrictions. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is minimally processed and open for research.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16879, Summerfield Smith autograph album, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a gift from James Wayman to the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on 2 December 2024.

Biographical / Historical Description

Born in Leesburg, Virginia, on August 6, 1836, Smith enrolled at the University of Virginia in the 1855-1856 session and graduated in 1858. Smith enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861. He served in the 1st Regiment, Confederate Engineer Troops, Company I, and rose to the rank of Captain in 1863. Almost a year after his appointment as Captain, in early 1864, Smith was taken to the University of Virginia Hospital, where he died of typhoid fever on March 2, 1864. He was interred at the University of Virginia Cemetery and Columbarium.

Content Description

This collection contains the autograph album of Summerfield Smith (1836-1864), compiled while he was a student at the University of Virginia. Smith collected fifty-eight autographs of peers and professors at the University between 1856 and 1858. The red leather-bound autograph book contains entries that list a student's name, the date of entry, their location, where they lived away from the University, the "session" (i.e. 1857-58), and a personal note to Summerfield (referred to as "Summerfield", "S", or "Smith" throughout). Inscriptions include well-wishes for careers and family life, references to jokes between Summerfield and his friends, and descriptions of student life at the University of Virginia in the middle nineteenth century. Some entries did not include personal notes. Alongside the autographs of five men is their date of death during the Civil War, written in pencil.