Collections

The papers of Anna Maria (Campbell Hickman) Otis Mead Chalmers (1809-1891) and her family offer a deep look into a 19th century American family with a sharp focus on enslaved and formerly enslaved persons. The collection documents the life of a young, widowed woman, Anna Maria Mead Chalmers, who was the granddaughter of General William Hull (1753-1825). She was a mother of four children and became a businesswoman in Richmond, Virginia. She was a writer, an editor of the Southern Churchmen, an educator and founder of Mrs. Mead's School for Young Ladies, and a director of The Southern Churchmen Cot ("Retreat for the Sick"), a hospital for children. Anna Maria's family enslaved people who are represented in the papers including Othello "Tillo" Freeman (1790's-1860's?). It includes a letter from William written in [1875], who was their carriage driver, and letters about Sam the fiddler, who settled on the farm after escaping harsher enslavement in Louisianna, and Jordan who was described as being hired out in a letter dated September 8, 1841 from Thomas R. Blair.

This collection consists of permanent and historically significant institutional records created by the University of Virginia Health Sciences Library and the antecedent Medical Library. These records include, but are not limited to: annual reports, planning documents, newsletters, online exhibits, blogs, social media content, conference programs, department histories, committee records, and library-sponsored lecture materials.

This collection consists of the history of Hugh Carr, an African American born in enslavement in 1843 and his family who lived on a tract of land (River View Farm) that Carr and his wife Texie Mae Hawkins bought in 1870 after emancipation. He became one of the largest African American landowners in Albemarle County, where he raised several generations of his family in the Union Ridge Hydraulic Mills community, until his death in 1914.

This collection concerns the inheritance, maintenance, and sale of the Mount Vernon estate by its last private owner, John Augustine Washington III. A large majority of the collection is correspondence to or from John Augustine Washington III with a significant portion relating to the purchase of the estate by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Three diaries kept by John Augustine are also included and contain important information about his slaves, agricultural practices, and finances. Other types of material in the collection include legal documents, receipts, photographs, and ephemera. Photocopies were made for most of the manuscripts and can be viewed as surrogates to the originals.

The John L. Nau III Civil War History Collection (1806-1988, bulk 1861-1865; 133 cubic feet) contains Civil War-era correspondence, service records, pension records, artifacts, photographs, military records (including orders, requisitions, and correspondence), currency, newspapers, and other print materials.

The Madison Friendship Lodge Grand United Order of Odd Fellows collection (1880-1937; 3 cubic feet) contains minute books, financial records, correspondence, event programs, proceedings, a cemetary plot, a framed faternal collar, a fraternal apron, and a flag. Loose manuscripts, meeting minutes, and notes make up the remainder of the collection.

The larger collection consists of the original materials and 7 additions including the most recent one represented in this finding aid.

The University of Virginia Collection on the History of Childhood, Parenting, and Family Building is an artificial collection and periodic additions are expected.

This collection consists of letters written by and addressed to Thomas Jefferson, as well as architectural plans and studies that were created or endorsed by Jefferson, created by other individuals associated with him, deeds, plats, and maps, some of which pertain to the subjects of the architectural studies, and other miscellaneous materials.