William Small

William Small (1734-1775) taught at William & Mary from 1758 to 1764. Born in Carmyllie, Forfarshire, Scotland, he was educated at Marsichal College (University of Aberdeen).

In 1963, the science building was named Small Hall in honor of Professor Small.

Thomas Jefferson said of Small:

“It was my great good fortune, and what probably fixed the destinies of my life that Dr. Wm. Small of Scotland was then professor of Mathematics, a man profound in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication, correct and gentlemanly manners & an enlarged and liberal mind.”

A portrait of William Small from the 18th century by Tilly Kettle, a member of the esteemed British Royal Academy, is in the collection of the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary in Virginia.

Material in the SCRC

• Photographs P1979.209, 1986.39
• William Small Collection
• Letter, Stephen Hawtrey, Brick Court, London, 26 March 1765, to Edward Hawtrey, Exeter, Devon, containing a short description of the College and of the professorship of William Small at the College; Edward Hawtrey Folder, University Archives Faculty Alumni File Collection.
• Martin Clagett, William Small, 1734-1775 : teacher, mentor, scientist, Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003. Also available in Archives Books: call number: LD6051 .W518 S53 2003.
• James Patrick Muirhead, James Watt, William Small, The origin and progress of the mechanical inventions of James Watt; illustrated by his correspondence with his friend and the specifications of his patents, TA140 .W3 A2 V.1

Additional Material

• Herbert L. Ganter, "William Small, Thomas Jefferson's Beloved Teacher," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d. series, 4 (1947): 505-511, provides an account of Small's years at William and Mary.
• Dumas Malone, Jefferson, the Virginian, Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1948, for Small's influence on Jefferson, 51-55. .

References

• SCRC File.

External Links

• Professor William Small 1734-1775 by William T. Walker, from the Department of Physics.

Need help?

To search for further material, visit the Special Collections Research Center's Search Tool List for an overview of the Special Collections Database, W&M Digital Archive, Flat Hat-William & Mary News-Alumni Gazette index, card catalogs, and other tools available to help you find material of interest in William & Mary Libraries Special Collections Research Center.

Questions? Contact the Special Collections Research Center at spcoll@wm.edu or 757-221-3090, or visit the Special Collections Research Center in the Earl Gregg Swem Library at William & Mary.

A Note About The Contents Of This Wiki

The information available in this wiki is the best available from known documents and sources at the time it was written. Unfortunately, many of the early original records of William & Mary were destroyed by fires, military occupation, and the normal effects of time. Information in this wiki is not complete as new information continues to be uncovered in Swem Library's Special Collections Research Center and elsewhere. Researchers are strongly encouraged to use the Special Collections search tools for their research as the information contained in this wiki is by no means comprehensive.