Fiske Kimball Culmination and Legacy

Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, 1970-1996

Completed in late 1969 and ready for occupancy in January 1970, the new School of Architecture building was named Campbell Hall to honor the life and career of Edmund Campbell. Campbell headed the art and architecture program from 1928 until his death in 1950. The University's Committee on Names decided that the library contiguous to the Architecture School would be suitably named in honor of Fiske Kimball. The Board of Visitors formally enacted the naming of the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library on October 2nd, 1970.

The library celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 2nd, 1995. The Library's collection originated by merging the book holdings of the McIntire Department of Art (from Cocke Hall) and the School of Architecture (from Fayerweather Hall). This resulted in a collection broadly inclusive of the visual and design arts, reflecting Mr. Kimball's areas of expertise. On a rainy weekend in late January 1970 architecture students and faculty organized themselves into teams to transport the 12,000 volumes from Fayerweather Hall to the new Library.

The scope and diversity of the Library's collections have expanded in remarkable fashion between 1970 and 1995. Not reflected in the statistics below are the rarity and special qualities of many books donated to the Library by friends, patrons, and alumni. The collage of bookplates copied from the Library's holdings of texts by and about Fiske Kimball illustrates how important gifts have been in establishing the strength of this Library's collection. The book collection and the visual resources collection have increased in number and interdisciplinary subject coverage to keep pace with the changes in kind and quantity of research and teaching conducted at the University. Now, information is collected, stored, and made accessible in all conceivable media, including electronic databases and digital archives.

	Daily Progress October of 1970, courtesy of Special Collections, Alderman Library, University of Virginia
	Letter from Raymond C. Bice, October of 1970, courtesy of Special Collections, Alderman Library, University of Virginia
	Students moving books to Fine Arts Library, Cavalier Daily, January of 1970, courtesy of Special Collections, Alderman Library, University of Virginia
	Collection of Bookplates, courtesy of Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, University of Virginia
	Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, source unknown
	Collection Survey Size, July of 1995, courtesy of Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library