Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation Survey Records, 1987-1992

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888

Summary

Creator:
Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

Survey records, 1987-1992, containing information about graves in Blandford Cemetery, Petersburg, Virginia. The survey was performed by the Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation as part of the procedure for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, to which the cemetery was added in 1992. A group of documents referred to as "record cards" make up the great majority of the collection. They are arranged according to the alphanumeric identifier of a given plot and include, where available, information such as the names of those buried in it, birth and death dates, the text of tombstone inscriptions, and the type, dimensions, and condition of grave markers. Where inscriptions have been obscured or destroyed, surveyors sometimes supplemented extant information with records made by the Works Progress Administration in the late 1930's. In addition to the record cards, the collection also includes photographs of approximately one-third of the surveyed graves, administrative paperwork created by survey workers, and maps of the cemetery. Please note that the survey ended in 1992, and was not comprehensive even at that time; therefore, it cannot be taken as a complete record of the graves in Blandford Cemetery.

Biographical / historical:

In 1737, a new church building, situated in present-day Petersburg, Virginia, opened in the Anglican Church's Bristol Parish. Originally called the Brick Church on Wells's Hill, it came to be known as Blandford Church by the early 1760's. Approximately seventy years after its construction, the building was abandoned and left to years of neglect. On 8 March 1819, the Town of Petersburg purchased it and the adjoining graveyard for use as a burial ground. The Church itself was left to fall further into disrepair for the time being. It came to be appreciated by some as picturesque ruins with symbolic significance, and was referenced in several works of poetry, art, and music.

After the Civil War, Blandford became a focal point for Petersburg's determination to honor its war dead. Memorial events such as "decoration days" were routinely observed, and have been credited as the inspiration for the national Memorial Day. Concerned by the fact that many soldiers' remains were left in hastily-dug graves on the battlefield, the Ladies Memorial Association of Petersburg was formed in 1866. The organization quickly got to work raising funds and other assistance to reinter the bodies at Blandford. Their work focused not only on the men who died fighting in and around Petersburg, but also on Petersburg natives who had fallen at more distant battlefields.

Some basic restoration work was performed on Blandford Church in 1882. Later, it became another project of the Ladies Memorial Association. In 1900, the group petitioned Petersburg for the right to convert it into a "mortuary and memorial chapel." Over the course of 1904-1912, fifteen original Tiffany windows were installed, including eleven donated from the states of the former Confederacy, one each from Maryland and Missouri, one from the Ladies Memorial Association, and one from Lewis Comfort Tiffany called the "Cross of Jewels." Over the years, the Association also directed its energies to the building of an iron bandstand (dedicated in 1908) and of a granite arch marking the entrance to Memorial Hill (dedicated in 1914), among other things.

Blandford Cemetery has further benefited from the care of the Cockade City Garden Club, which, beginning in 1945, undertook restoration of some of the deteriorating ironwork and tombstones. The non-profit Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation, which sprung from the Cockade City Garden Club, formed in March 1987. Determined to counteract both the wearing effects of time and a growing problem of vandalism at the Cemetery, the Foundation has the stated mission to "promote the restoration, rehabilitation, preservation, and interpretation of [Blandford Cemetery's] ironwork, tombstones, landscaping, brickwork, masonry and funerary art."

Greatly assisted by this outside help, the City of Petersburg continues to own and operate the Cemetery. Through multiple land acquisitions, it has grown the property from just over four acres (the size at the time of the 1819 purchase) to some 189 acres. The part of the cemetery dating from its 18th-century origins to a twenty-acre addition made in 1854 form the Cemetery's "Old Ground." The land added from the next addition, purchased in 1866, and beyond make up the "New Ground."

The survey records that constitute the greater part of this collection were created by the Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation from 1987-1992 as part of the nomination procedure for addition to the National Register of Historic Places. The Cemetery was added to the register in 1992.

For more information, see the John O. Peters book Blandford Cemetery: Death and Life at Petersburg, Virginia, published by the Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation in 2005.

Acquisition information:
Gift of the Historic Blandford Cemetery Foundation, Petersburg, Virginia, 15 March 2005.
Arrangement:

Organized into the following series:

  • I. Record Cards
  • II. Photography
  • III. Administrative Files
  • IV. Maps
  • V. Additional Materials

Series I and the photographs in Series II are arranged according to alphanumeric plot identifiers indicating the locations of graves in Blandford Cemetery.

The cemetery is divided into two main areas: Old Ground and New Ground. Each of these areas is further divided into wards, which are identified with a letter or letters, followed by the designation "OG" for Old Ground or "NG" for New Ground (for example: "A-OG" refers to Ward A, Old Ground, and "CC-NG" to Ward CC, New Ground). Survey workers sometimes used the abbreviations "OGR" and "NGR" interchangeably with "OG" and "NG," respectively. Also note that two of the wards in Old Ground are not identified by letters, but by the names Lee and Jackson.

All of the wards are divided into squares, which are numbered. Most of the squares are further broken down into sections, also numbered. Example: B-NG, Square 4-3 refers to Ward B, New Ground, Square 4, Section 3.

The record cards in Series I and photographs in Series II are first separated into Old Ground and New Ground, then arranged alphabetically by ward, and numerically by square and section.

Please note that it will be difficult to use the collection unless the researcher knows the alphanumeric plot identifier. An online database has been constructed to help patrons find out the identifier by typing in the name of the person they are researching. The database also contains birth and death dates (where available).

Physical description:
14.88 cubic feet (46 boxes) and 49 reels of microfilm.