Albert H. Small is a third-generation Washingtonian, a successful real estate developer and a philanthropist, but he may be best known in Washington, D.C., for his unrivaled collection of Washingtoniana—maps, letters, engravings and objects related to the city’s history. In February 2011, he donated his entire collection to the George Washington University.
On Tuesday, during the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Symposium and Luncheon, Mr. Small—who recently celebrated his 86th birthday—shared personal memories and anecdotes about his collection and the process of building it. Robert Perry, a trustee and alumnus of the George Washington University, said in his opening remarks that Mr. Small's gift highlights the evolution of Washington as a city and a capital.
“The collection that Albert Small is donating to GW will be a center of knowledge about the federal city—how Washington was planned by the founding fathers, how it evolved socially, physically and economically, and the trials and tribulations it endured along the way,” he said.
Provost Steven Lerman said Mr. Small’s collection will become an important research and educational focus for the university.
“These artifacts really form a corpus that speaks to us as citizens of Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas,” he said. “We can link the collection now to how students learn and understand history. That’s the real value—it circles around the academic program. This wonderful gift from Albert Small will integrate and bring together so many of our academic programs for our students, faculty and the general public.”
Kenneth Bowling, an adjunct associate professor of history, said that while collecting is a human impulse and most of us have collected at some point in our lives, Mr. Small’s collection goes far beyond a passing fancy to have become a lifelong devotion. And because of his skill and dedication to learning about Washington’s history, with this collection GW can join the ranks of other prestigious institutions that house some of America’s great treasures.
In an informal conversation with Laura Schiavo, PhD ’03, an assistant professor of museum studies who has curated exhibits using material from his collection, Mr. Small talked about some memorable moments in his more than 60 years of collecting. He found the document that would begin the collection in New York City, when, as a 25-year-old, he went to visit the woman who would become his wife.
“I had nothing to do one Saturday, so I wandered into some bookstores,” he said. In one of these bookstores, he saw something that caught his interest: a book manuscript from 1900 that included descriptions and photographs of each of the 40 milestones originally placed when Washington, D.C.’s borders were drawn.
“It wasn’t very expensive, but it tickled my curiosity,” he said. “And that was how I got started.”
Mr. Small talked about some of his favorite pieces, including a rare poster from the Civil War era that called for volunteers from Ohio to join the Army after the surrender of Fort Sumter. This poster, which reads, in part, “To Arms! To Arms!” may be the only one of its type left in existence. “It’s just very dramatic,” Mr. Small said.
He also described the auction process and some of the tense moments he weathered in trying to acquire specific pieces. Often, an important part of being a collector is knowing when to sit back and wait, rather than bidding beyond the level of comfort, he said.
In one memorable case, Mr. Small said, he was the under bidder—the highest bid after the winner—on a collection of materials bearing the signatures of Declaration of Independence signers. The winner was Malcolm Forbes, then publisher of Forbes magazine. A day after the auction, Mr. Forbes’ representative called Mr. Small and offered him the collection at the under bid price. “I said no,” Mr. Small said, to audience laughter. “He felt he had gone too high, and he had. A year later, I was the successful bidder on another collection that was much better.”
Mr. Small said he wants his collection to be widely used and shared. “There’s no reason to keep these things sacrosanct,” Mr. Small said. “People should share them. The larger community should share them.”
The Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection will be exhibited in the George Washington University Museum in Woodhull House, a 165-year-old historic building, and in a yet-to-be-constructed adjacent museum building. An additional gift of $5 million from Mr. Small will support construction of the George Washington University Museum and renovation of Woodhull House.