Conway Whittle Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from the Manuscripts and Rare Books Librarian, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Preferred citation:

Conway Whittle Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of Conway Whittle II of Norfolk, Va. and of his two sisters, Mary Eliza Whittle Neale and Frances Munford Whittle Lewis.

There are items concerning the earlier generation of the family, represented by Conway Whittle I and his brother Fortescue Whittle, Norfolk merchants. The collection is particularly strong in the subject areas of social history and naval history (including personal and official correspondence of William Lewis [1781-1815] and several letters of his namesake William Lewis Herndon who served in the Navy and went down in the sinking of the ship Central America in 1857).

There are letters written by and concerning Matthew Fontaine Maury.

The collection also covers the following subject areas: life in Philadelphia, life in Norfolk, the Whittle family in Mecklenburg County, Va., war with Tripoli (Barbary pirates), Confederate exiles in Nova Scotia, U. S. Civil War, U. S. Customs Service, Dismal Swamp Canal Company, politics, trips to the springs, marriage and courtship, the Protestant Episcopal Church, and slavery. Prominent correspondents in the collection include Charles Jared Ingersoll, Marquis de Lafayette, Tobias Lear, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Margaret Mercer, James Monroe, Edward Preble, John Randolph of Roanoke, and John Tyler.

See also Southern Women and their Families in the 19th Century Papers and Diaries Series C Reel # 16-22 in Swem Library's microforms area, call number HQ1438 .V5 S68

Custodial history:

Gift of Mrs Seth French.

Processing information:

Box and Folder List compiled by Kassia Halcli, SCRC staff, from January-March 2012.

Arrangement:

Collection is arranged by correspondent.

Physical / technical requirements:

When available, microfilm, photocopies, digital surrogates, or other reproductions must be used in place of original documents.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard