Series I: Subject Files, 1911-1922 (bulk 1918-1922).

Containers:

Box 1-61

Extent:

Extent: 61 boxes (27.45 cu. ft.).

Scope and content:

The Subject files series, 1911-1922 (bulk 1918-1922) is housed in sixty-one archival boxes and is arranged alphabetically by subject. This series documents correspondence received and sent by Governor Davis during his four-year term as governor of Virginia. In addition to correspondence, there are reports, proclamations, telegrams, orders, resolutions, acts, publications, news clippings, invitations, proceedings, financial statements, invoices, and other sundry items. Topics include Agriculture, Anti-Saloon League, Attorney General opinions, Bills paid, Home for Confederate Needy Women, the Davis House (Washington Building), Deaf and Blind Virginia School in Staunton, Virginia, Flags, Game and Inland Fisheries, Hospitals, Indians, Influenza, the unveiling of the Stonewall Jackson memorial on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Lime Grinding Plant staffed by state convicts, Child labor, Lynching, Negro education, Lists of Notaries public in the state, the Richmond Penitentiary, Pensions for Confederate Veterans, Railroads, Roads, Southern Commercial Congress, State Fair, Strikes, Taxation, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Normal Schools, Vocational Training, Washington and Lee University, William and Mary College, and YMCA, among others. Also included are appointments to various boards such as the State Board of Charities and Corrections, State Dental Examiners, Congress of Eugenics, State Board of Embalmers, Examiner of Records, Judges, and for School Superintendents across the state.

Included is information on mental hospitals in Virginia concerning conditions and investigations over issues in the state hospitals (Central State, Eastern State, Southwestern State, and Western State); the lynching of Charles Allie Thompson in Culpeper County, Virginia, and letters from Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute asking the Governor for assistance and sending statistics on lynching; letters regarding the appointment of people to the censor board of the Motion Pictures Association and the movie, "Birth of a Nation,"; requests for increases in pensions given to Confederate veterans, often including the service record of the veteran; requests for assistance in capturing criminals and rewards given; letters from Maggie Walker and Mary Cooke Branch Munford regarding the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls in Peake, Hanover County, Virginia; letter from Chief George Nelson containing a tribal roll of the Rappahannock people; letters regarding the resignation of Colonel Robert Kerlin of the Virginia Military Institute due to his advocacy for African Americans in Arkansas; letters requesting appointments to the Virginia Military Institute and also issues regarding hazing rituals at the Institute; and letters and photographs regarding the statue of George Washington done by Jean-Antoine Houdon. Also included are index cards of Notary Publics in Virginia stating the name of the applicant, occupation, address, and title of official who recommended. The index cards are arranged alphabetically by the name of city or county.

Also of note are the War Correspondence materials which relate to such issues of lists of Virginia casualties, Deserters, Draft Exemptions, Gardening, Home Guard, Local Boards, National Guard, Negroes, Physicians, Returning Soldiers, Veneral diseases, War Savings Stamps, and West Virginia Troops. Included are letters from family members thanking Governor Davis for condolence letters sent in regards to a soldiers death; a letter from Governor Davis regarding his lack of confidence in Adjutant General W.W. Sale; letters from family members requesting military exemptions due to family dependence or from localities due to a persons usefulness in the farm labor; letters from family members asking for help in regards to finding the whereabouts of their sons after the war; and letters regarding the League of Nations and Bastille Day.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Access and use

Contents