Collections

Printed maps, circa 1675-1918, collected by Col. John Womack Wright pertaining to his interest in military events in Europe chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The collection primarily concerns the cartography of areas in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Italy. The collection includes examples of the work of Willem Janszoon Blaeu, Guillaume de L'Isle, Johann Baptist Homann, Tobias Conrad Lotter, Placide de Saint Helene, John Senex, George Mattheus Seutter the Older; and Nikolaus Visscher II. Also includes notebook, 1919; and a publication of the American Geographical Society, 1924.

Manuscript Latin exercise book. English exercises consisting of original aphonisms on schoolmasters, rules of life, extracts from contemporary letters, notices of a few remarkable events, etc. on one page with the Latin translation opposite 1672-1674. 180 pp. Latin exercises done by Richard Wardell. At end of book, the exercises were done by Thomas Bullen in 1721.

This collection (47 items) consists of two series. The first series contains records (1702-1814; 17 items) related to the Virginia Militia, including regimental returns for various militia units. This material pre-dates the establishment of the state arsenal in Lexington, Virginia, but the documents were found among Lexington Arsenal records. Two of the documents date from the British colonial period (1702). The second series (1819-1839; 30 items) contains items concerning the operation of the state arsenal in Lexington. Included are payrolls and other financial records, guard returns and muster rolls, and two enlistment documents.

This collection contains two single leaves from early manuscript (calligraphic) copies of the Qur'an (Koran) and two leaves from a manuscript copy of Dala'il al-Khayrat, a book of prayers for the prophet Muhammad by Moroccan Sufi scholar Muhammad ibn Sulayman Jazuli. Each leaf is written in Arabic. One Qu'ran leaf is from the Ottoman Period (c. 1847 AD) and retains its gold and color illumination. Its text contains the first sixteen verses of the Surat Al - Bagarah (the Cow). The second leaf likely dates to the 19th century and is also illuminated and contains the first twelve verses of Surat Al - Ghafir (the Forgiver). The two manuscript leaves of the Dala'il Al - Khayrat both predate the 20th century and include text framed by colored borders of red and purple.

An artificial collection of papers created from material acquired during the 1930's and 1940's. Mostly letters, financial records, published material and official records of individuals in Virginia and elsewhere. Includes documents and signatures of well known people, such as Benjamin Harrison, John Randolph and Franklin D. Roosevelt.