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These papers contain correspondence, photographs, business papers, artifacts, certificates, and other materials related to Charles Edward Gary, Jr. Mr. Gary was a prominent African American business owner in Williamsburg, operating for decades the West End Valet Shop off Prince George Street. The collection comprises business ledgers and other West End Valet Shop records over several years, as well as legal documents pertaining to the Valet Shop and Gary family estates such as leases and deeds. Personal materials pertain especially to Mr. Gary's schooling, his miltiary service during World War II, family photographs, and some of Mrs. Zelda Gary's personal papers. An active member of the Williamsburg community, Mr. Gary served in several civic, fraternal, and religious organizations. Centering on his involvement in local baptist churches and in the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World - Old Capitol Lodge, Mr. Gary's papers include speeches he prepared for religious and I.B.P.O.E.W. meeting touching on religion, family, and race issues in America. The collection thus contains materials relevant to the study of twentieth-century Williamsburg history and African American history.

The papers of J. Palin Thorley contain personal and business papers, legal and financial papers, photographs, studio notes, drawings and sketches, ceramics, and artifacts. Joseph Palin Thorley was an internationally known potter who supplied the Craft House museum shop with reproductions of eighteenth-century antiques from Colonial Williamsburg's collection. The collection largely relates to Thorley's pottery work and business, documenting his creative and scholarly process. For an enhanced description of each thematic series, see the detailed series listing.

This collection contains newspaper clippings, fliers, newsletters, a petition, member and alumni lists, photographs and other materials from Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Virginia Kappa at William & Mary.

The collection includes photographs, negatives, slides, film, postcards, ephemera, correspondence and artifacts belonging to Thomas L. Williams, photographer for William & Mary for 35 years. He was also a photographer for Camp Peary and Colonial Williamsburg prior to working for William & Mary.

Papers of the Vinyard Family who lived near Vinton, Virginia in Roanoke County. The collection is primarily composed of the business papers (ledgers, bills, receipts, legal papers, accounts and printed material) of N. J. Vinyard, Walter H. Vinyard, and Walter D. Vinyard, Sr. who farmed near Vinton, Virginia. The collection also includes papers of Fannie Persinger, James Thomas Wood and S. H. Wood. The Vinyard family lived near Vinton, Virginia (Roanoke County) and engaged in farming and milk delivery. The three generations covered by the collection are N. J. Vinyard, Walter H. Vinyard (1875-1940), and Walter D. Vinyard, Sr., an alumnus of the College of William and Mary.