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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.

RG 373 contains a mix of textual and visual materials that were originally compiled into a binder (or notebook) by Ophelia Taylor Pinkard, a former teacher at Hoffman Boston High School. For archival purposes the binder is considered a scrapbook and is treated as such.

The files of the Syphax Family consist of 1.67 linear feet and cover the time period 1920 to 1993. The collection is arranged into seven series. Series 1 comprises the papers of William T. Syphax, both personal and business. The papers of Margarite Reed Syphax make up Series 2. Series 3 are photographs and Series 4 are files on other Syphax family members. Some history of the Syphax family is found in Series 5. Series 6 holds selected issues of Black Enterprise magazine from 1973 to 1983 and a copy of Ebony magazine from August 1977. All of these issues mention or feature Syphax businesses. Series 7 holds miscellaneous personal items of both William and Margarite Syphax.

Typed carbon copy autobiography of Lawyer Walker of Gloucester, entitled "Lawyer Walker of Gloucester (as told to two Northern friends)." There is a dedication page to Walker's wife. Carbon version used for the autobiography "The Honey-Pod Tree: The Life Story of Thomas Calhoun Walker," which was published in 1958. Includes a photograph and sheet music for "De Ole Sheep Done Know de Road." As a lawyer, he defended many African Americans in Gloucester County, Virginia, and eventually served as the Administrator and Consultant in Negro Affairs for the New Deal's Emergency Relief Administration in the 1930s. 350 pages.

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.

The Timberneck Farm Ledgers collection contains 11 ledgers including records of estate in relation to Timberneck Farm in Gloucester, Virginia as well as doctor's ledgers. The collection also includes school notes, essays and a Gloucester Charity School ledger.

The collection MSS 16920 contains the Tinsley, Edwards, Rich family history (1795; 1820-1978) written by William George Rich III (1905-1988) about his great-great grandfather who called himself William Tinsley (born into enslavery in 1795,and freed in 1820), his great grandparents Nelson and Lauren Broady Tinsley, (an indigenous woman) and his grandparents Charles Robert Tinsley (1851-1919) and Betty Edwards Tinsley (1855-1924) (daughter of an indigenous woman Malinda Edwards)and their eight grandchildren (William George Rich III and his 7 cousins) who lived on their own land in Amherst, Virginia. The collection is remarkable in the amount of detail that is provided about a prosperous African American family living during Jim Crow laws. Charles Robert Tinsley was the owner of a livery stable and built a house for his children, grandchildren and his parents, Nelson and Lauren Tinsley.