Books once believed lost in Rotunda Fire resurface in new UVA exhibit

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WRIC) -- A new exhibit at the University of Virginia is bringing history back to life with books once thought to have been destroyed in the 1895 Rotunda fire.

To mark the 200th anniversary of classes beginning at the UVA School of Medicine, UVA Health’s Claude Moore Health Sciences Library is debuting a collection of rare medical texts that survived the blaze more than a century ago.

Archivist Amanda Greenwood uncovered the books in the library’s vault after noticing distinct markings — including library stamps, red-stained edges and spine labels — that tied them to the original Rotunda library. The collection includes a syllabus on medical jurisprudence, along with works on anatomy, physiology, bones and general medicine.

The exhibit, co-curated by Greenwood and Dr. Meggan Cashwell, Curator of Historical Collections, goes beyond the rediscovered books. Visitors can view student notebooks from the 1800s, early medical textbooks, bricks salvaged from the long-gone Anatomical Theatre and reproductions of historic photographs.

The display is part of an open house held Wednesday at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library in Charlottesville.