Collections

Four letters written by future Confederate Spy Antonia Ford. The letters were written to Ford's school friend Frances "Frankie" Carper. Two were written during Ford's terms at the Buckingham Female Collegiate Institute and two were written from her home in Fairfax, VA. The letters include details of her social life as well as her view on her boarding school experiences.

Kept by Eliza Jones of "Concord," Gloucester Co., Va. containing household and farm accounts, 1831-1843. Includes names of slaves and clothing purchased for them. 93 p. : bound volume ; 16 cm.

Three letterpress copy books of the Fletcher Family. The books are written by a woman, possibly from Georgia. The writer is an ancestor of the donor, Dr. John S. Fletcher. Partial signatures suggest Joan and Hownick.

Collections contain letters to and from members of the Hardin family during World War II and post-war Louisiana.

A diary kept by Mary Plummer Mcllwaine during the year of 1932. Mcllwaine was born in 1889 in Petersburg, VA, and died there in 1973 at the age of 84. Her father worked as a medical doctor in Petersburg, and she continued to live there with her mother and sister "Becca" after his passing. This diary covers Mcllwaine's day-to-day activities over the course of a year; recounting her work with rental properties she managed or owned, church activities she attended, and various family events that occupied her time.

A letter from M. (possibly Margaret) E. Griffin to her cousin John Davis. In the letter, Griffin asks Davis to hire out or sell all of the enslaved people working on the plantation she inherited. She mentions that an enslaved man by the name of Henry struck her son Jordan, and left the plantation to go to Lynchburg without permission. Griffin states that Henry has been "increasing in insolence, till his presence can no longer be endured."

Papers of the Shaw family of Skidmore, Missouri. Included are a scrapbook, 1941, of Edna Shaw (b. 1920) documenting her travels through some of the southern states where she directed the comedy "Bubbling Over," which was sponsored by the American Legion. It includes postcards and extensive handwritten descriptions by Edna Shaw, programs, and news clippings reviewing the play.

Viola "Ola" Goodwin was an active leading member in the Women's Christian Temperance movement in Richmond, Virginia and Durham, North Carolina. This collection consists of personal papers, financial records, newspapers, and photographs. Goodwin took notes on sermons given at her local congregation and Sunday school, and collected a variety of booklets and flyers extolling the benefits of temperance. Her correspondence is primarily largely between family members and church acquaintances. Multiple letters are from her nephew Warren, who served as a solider in the United States Army around 1918, and a friend named Lillian McDuffie, who was a missionary in Sierra Leone.