Collections : [University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.]

This collection contains twenty black and white photographs, approximately 9 x 7 inches, depicting African American life, presumably in a segregated area in rural Virginia. The pictures have no annotations on the back, and the photographer is unknown. The location is also unclear; however, it may be somewhere near or in Fauquier County, Virginia. This location possibility is based on a photograph that depicts several storefronts, including a beauty salon which has two names painted on the window, Green & [ ] Beauty Salon. Juline Turner and Helen Blackwell, are presumably the proprietors of the salon.

The papers chiefly consist of letters Albert Frederick Wilson (1883-1940) sent to his mother in New Jersey while a student at the University of Virginia. There is also some correspondence from Wilson's father and grandfather; family photographs; and unpublished manuscripts by Wilson.

This collection contains one catalog for the Bluestone-Harmony Academic and Industrial School from 1935-1936, two Minutes of the annual session of the Harmony Baptist Sunday School Convention: 45th (1941), 46th (1942), and fourteen minutes of the annual session of the Bluestone Baptist Association: 39th (1910), 43rd (1914), 50th (1921), 51st (1922), 52nd (1923), 53rd (1924), 55th (1926), 58th (1929), 59th (1930), 67th (1938), 69th (1940), 73rd (1944), 75th (1946), 91st (1963).

This collection contains a certificate of a local Virginia election in the first district of Accomack County on October 22, 1867, preliminary voting for delegates for the upcoming Constitutional Convention, marking the first time African-Americans voted in the state.

This collection contains a photograph album of a student from Hampton Institute. The original photo album, measuring 7' x 10' with 24 pages, contains 44 black and white photographs of an unidentified young Black woman, approximately 20 years old, as well as cut newspaper images and a photo postcard. She is seen at Hampton Institute, a historically Black University, in Hampton, Virginia, posing in front of school buildings, clowning around with friends, and preparing for graduation. Also included are scenic photographs of places she visited such as a dam, a church, and a parade. The last few pages contain family photographs; a couple photographs show her with an elderly woman. Some of the baby photographs are inscribed "To Grandma" and "To Grand Dad" and another is labeled "Me". The identification of the Hampton Institute as the locale comes from a real photo postcard with the title "The Hampton Institute Creative Dance Group" and a newspaper cutout of the Hampton Institute Choir along with the news caption, "They Keep Spiritual Values High at Hampton." It is possible that this album was kept by the grandparent of the young women.

John Walter Wayland collection of correspondence,notes,photographs, and newspaper clippings about Henry Martin who was the bell ringer for the University of Virginia from 1868-1909. "Henry Martin rang the bell at dawn to awaken the students, and rang it during the day to mark the hours and the beginning and ending of class periods. He was beloved by generations of faculty, students, and alumni, and he remembered them all when they returned for visits." Dr. Wayland, a former University of Virginia Ph.D. student (1907), history professor, and author from Harrisonburg, Virginia was planning to write a paper about Martin who was born enslaved by Monticello, and the Carr family estate. During the American Civil War, he tended the wounded at the military hospital in Charlottesville. In 1866 he was hired by the University to haul coal. He worked at UVA for more than four decades, becoming a well-known figure there but one who was treated in the context of the Lost Cause archetype of the faithful servant. He died in 1915.

This collection contains one ledger book kept by Melvin McGinness (1896-1970) for his tailor shop on 273 West Main Street in Vinegar Hill, Charlottesville, Virginia. Dates in the ledger indicate that the book was kept between 1964 and 1968, evidenced by two dated "Look-Rite Cleaners" receipts and a handwritten date by McGinness at the top margin of page 27. Earlier material is tipped in at the front and back endpages. This ledger records work completed by McGinness at this second tailor shop location,151 Brown Street in the Starr Hill neighborhood, as evidenced by receipts throughout the book dated after the razing of Vinegar Hill.

The collection primarily contains correspondence of the Randolph family and Nicholas family. Several land title records are also present.

This collection consists of the papers of the Randolph Family of Edgehill, (commonly called the Edgehill-Randolph Papers) and the Wilson Cary Nicholas papers, ca. 787 items (6 Hollinger boxes, 2.5 linear shelf feet), ca. 1765-1869, and undated.

This collection contains the manuscript ledger book, "Record of Deaths" kept by Thomas H. Brown's Funeral Home, 301 Gill Street, Petersburg, Virginia. This book detailed the funerals of approximately 500 African Americans during the last years of the Great Depression. The volume opens with a twenty-four page alphabetical index, listing the names of the deceased persons with the number of the page for further information about their funerals. Entries for each funeral appear in chronological order.