Nancy Graham Rogers Collection 1910-1975

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195

Summary

Creator:
Elizabeth Seccombe Smith, Lewis Leigh
Abstract:
The manuscript materials consist of personal and business correspondence of Nancy Graham Rogers, including letters from her fiance, Albert C. Johnson. There are also letters Rogers inherited from her mother, Anna, including one from her father to her grandmother asking for Anna's hand in marriage. There are business receipts, correspondence, tax information, and material regarding the estates of relatives for whom Rogers served as executor, including Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer and Christine Wildman. The collection also includes scrapbooks, Nancy's mother's wedding book, and a small diary Rogers kept from 1932 to 1935. An account book marked "Turkeys and Chickens 1915" was used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, and contains clippings and expenses. A journal also used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, contains recipes, family expenses for 1914, and clippings. There are two scrapbooks compiled by Mary Oden Rogers containing clippings and pictures. Some loose material in the scrapbooks was removed and placed in folders. Separation sheets detailing where these materials were placed were put in the scrapbooks.
Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

The manuscript materials consist of personal and business correspondence of Nancy Graham Rogers, including letters from her fiance, Albert C. Johnson. There are also letters Rogers inherited from her mother, Anna, including one from her father to her grandmother asking for Anna's hand in marriage. There are business receipts, correspondence, tax information, and material regarding the estates of relatives for whom Rogers served as executor, including Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer and Christine Wildman. The collection also includes scrapbooks, Nancy's mother's wedding book, and a small diary Rogers kept from 1932 to 1935. An account book marked "Turkeys and Chickens 1915" was used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, and contains clippings and expenses. A journal also used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, contains recipes, family expenses for 1914, and clippings. There are two scrapbooks compiled by Mary Oden Rogers containing clippings and pictures. Some loose material in the scrapbooks was removed and placed in folders. Separation sheets detailing where these materials were placed were put in the scrapbooks.

The visual materials include family snapshots including photographs documenting trips, family outings, homes, and friends; a large number of color slides of wildflowers taken by Rogers; and a large photograph album that belonged to Mary Oden Rogers containing pictures of a summer in Maine.

Biographical / historical:

The Ferguson family lived in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, but owned Belmont, a farm near Leesburg, Virginia, that they used as a summer residence. Their daughter, Anna Louise Ferguson (1883-1973) married William Thomas Clagett (W.T.C.) Rogers (1875-1930) of Leesburg in the chapel at Belmont on 7 June 1910. W.T.C. Rogers had several siblings, including Mary Oden Rogers (1868-1905) and Christina Rogers Wildman (1873-1943). Mary died before her brother's marriage. She drowned at a sanatorium in New York where she was being treated for an unspecified illness. Although she never married she was engaged at the time of her death. Christina married and had two daughters, Anne (called Anna) Snowden Wildman Dyer (1895-1973) and Christine Wildman (1898-1958).

After their marriage, W.T.C. and Anna Rogers lived at Belmont for several years then settled in the town of Leesburg. They had two children, Nancy Graham Rogers (14 October 1912-27 January 2000) and William Thomas Clagett Rogers, Jr. (1914-1985). Nancy Graham Rogers graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1934 and taught science for a short time at Aldie High School. She eventually became a virologist working in medical research for the United States government at Walter Reed Medical Center. The U.S. War Department awarded her the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal in 1946 for her wartime work developing a typhus vaccine. In addition to her work in virology, Rogers was an award-winning photographer and had an interest in botany, speleology, and the study of bats. Life Magazine published a photograph of her working with bats in a Virginia cave in their 10 September 1956 issue. Her love of photography and botany produced an extensive slide collection of wildflower photographs from all over the world. Rogers was a member of the Leesburg Garden Club and left her collection of daffodils to the club. She was also an active member of St. James Episcopal Church. Although Rogers never married, her diary indicates she had an active social life in high school and college and was once engaged to a doctor, Albert C. Johnson (fl. 1930s). She kept his letters to her from 1937 to 1939, though there is no explanation of why they did not marry. Nancy Rogers died 27 January 2000 in Leesburg and is buried in Union Cemetery in Leesburg.

Acquisition information:
Elizabeth Seccombe Smith, Eugene, OR; Lewis Leigh, Leesburg, VA
Arrangement:

Folder