Small Hall, as with much of William and Mary’s ‘new campus’, was built in the 1960s, and currently serves as the home for the Department of Physics. In 1975, the Thomas Harriet Observatory housing a ten-inch reflecting telescope was added. Small Hall was renovated again in 1985, and most recently from 2008 to 2011. The construction of Small Hall coincided with an increase in students attending the College following the Second World War and was likely built to accommodate larger class loads. The building coincided with the construction of Jones Hall, Andrews Hall, and Swem Library, all of which are located on new campus.

William Small began as a professor at William and Mary on October 18th, 1758. He was a Scotsman, born in 1734 and educated in Great Britain until he came to Virginia to begin his professorship. Small brought to William and Mary the lecture style of teaching, which was already prominent in Europe. According to College lore and Thomas Jefferson, this was the first time any professor in the colonies taught using a ‘lecture style’, marking yet another ‘first’ for the College. Small was considered a competent professor, with his most famous student, Thomas Jefferson, remarking,  “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 & liberal mind.” Of all the things Jefferson disliked at the College, Small was not one of them. Small also sent scientific apparati to the College in 1767, three years after he returned to England, which remained one of the most impressive scientific collections for decades according to the William and Mary Quarterly. Yet, it should be noted that money for this was allocated several years earlier in 1762 by the House of Burgesses. Moreover, Small had been seeking to travel to England to purchase this apparatus for several years and, as discussed below, was suspected to have simply been a pretense to return to England and leave William & Mary.

William Small and Thomas Jefferson shared a similar dislike for the College. After returning to England in 1764, Small was described as “...rather Inclined to party & Opposition and…he may speak partially on this head & too much like a prejudiced person…” by the brother of future William & Mary professor Edward Hawtey. This is taken to mean that Small himself was biased against the College in describing a feud he may have had with the Board of Visitors. They had been discussing an oath professors were made to take, declaring that they would adhere to the rules and statutes of the President and Board of Visitors in which they retained the power to fire professors instead of authorities in England. Yet Small’s displeasure with this oath was more apparent in a letter sent to him by James Fontaine. Fontaine, then the Rector of the College, accused Small of disagreeing with the oath not on moral objections but because it prevented him from looking for other employment. Moreover, Fontaine accused Small of not only looking down on the College, but lying to the Board of Visitors in order to return to England. While the Board appeared to believe Small would return in eight months after his 1764 departure, he would never come back to William & Mary once leaving. Small’s failure to return to the College as well as evidence of his searching for professorships and opportunities in England (seen through letters from inventors James Watt and Benjamin Franklin - yes, that Franklin) give particular credence to the Rector’s accusations.  Most damning, is the indication that the Board of Visitors obtained a copy of a letter written by Small, the contents of which caused Fontaine to remark “your letter…giving a Description of our Countrymen, College & the Visitors, has cross’d the Atlantick [sic] & fallen into some of our Hands; we cannot but despise the Malevolence & Injustice of its Author, & may of us regard it as the finishing Stroke given to a Character…” This  letter gives the impression that, just like his student Jefferson, William Small could not wait for the day he could leave the College. Along with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, William Small disliked the institution that would come to valorize him. 

During his time at the College, Small participated in slavery. Recorded in the Bursar’s records about William Small’s account is a 10 pound charge, “To Servant’s Board two years” on March 25th, 1763. Although the word "slave" is not used in Small's records, first-hand documentation listed enslaved persons as "servants," a word used to denote the same brutal institution. In fact, these records show that rarely was the term ‘slave’ used in College records from the time, often opting for either ‘servant’ or ‘negro’. Therefore, it is not unlikely that, in this instance, this is a reference to an enslaved individual. Given that this is the only reference to an individual enslaved by Small in the current record, the identity of this person is still unfortunately unknown. Small’s own attitudes may be directly lost to the record yet those of his friends may prove insightful. In a letter to Small from James Watt, Watt exclaims “You talk to me about coming to England just as if I was an Indian that had nothing to remove but my person…” Watt’s comfort in speaking derogatorily about Native peoples to Small indicates that Small himself may have shared this sentiment towards the Natives of the land he desperately escaped. In the same letter, Watt invites Small back to America, telling him “...If you do I can recommend you to a fine sweet girl that will be anything you want her to be If you can make yourself agreeable to her…” (Small was never married). The identity of this girl is unknowable to modern historians, yet it was not uncommon for white men to seek out enslaved women for pleasure. Although unclear whether this unknown woman was enslaved or simply available, these examples are further evidence that may contextualize Small’s hiring of a “servant,” and his attitudes towards slavery.

William Small’s biggest contribution to William and Mary is the lecture system, still in use today. Yet the school’s idolization of him seems more derived from his connection to Thomas Jefferson, whose own fame elevates that of anyone he was associated with. Small’s short biography on the Physics Department’s website begins with a paragraph from Jefferson’s autobiography. Small associated with many famous men of his time, including several Virginian governors, fellow professors, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. This association begets inquiry into the man himself, yet it should not overshadow Small’s own actions, enslaving at least one known person, and disparaging the College itself. Instead, all of these factors add to Small’s own legacy, one entwined with that of William & Mary.

Clagett, Martin Richard. “William Small 1734-1775: Teacher, Mentor, Scientist.” PhD. diss. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2003.

“Early Professor Made Lasting Contributions,” W&M News (Williamsburg, VA), Oct. 14, 1975

Fontaine, James. William Small Collection. William and Mary Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, Williamsburg, VA.

Hawtey, Stephen. William Small Collection. William and Mary Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, Williamsburg, VA.

Jefferson, Thomas. Autobiography. New York and London: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1914

"Journal of the Meetings of the President and Masters of William and Mary College,” William and Mary  Quarterly 3, no. 1 (1894): 60-64

“Papers Relating to the College,” William and Mary Quarterly 16, no. 3 (1908): 162-173

“Small Hall, Constructed 1962-1963,” TribeTrek. Special Collections Research Center, William and Mary Libraries, accessed February 24th, 2023. https://tribetrek.wm.edu/items/show/30 

Watt, James. William Small Collection. William and Mary Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, Williamsburg, VA.

Photo used on Home page: https://www.wm.edu/research/news/science-and-technology/a-betterr- and-bigger-small-hall-b.php