Collections

Reverend C. Shirley Donnelly, a Baptist minister and local historian, collected these materials for his own research and interest in West Virginia history. The collection contains various materials pertaining to coal mining and West Virginia history, especially in the New River area and Fayette County. It includes correspondence, land grant and deed records, pamphlets, journals, local histories, records, photographs, and art relating to mining and life in the New River area. One set of correspondence includes recollections, a yearbook, and newspaper clippings by a World War II sailor from the USS West Virginia. Another series of correspondence includes the antebellum, wartime, and postwar letters and personal receipts of Charles Dequasie, a Confederate soldier from Fayette County, West Virginia, and Robert Edward Dequasie's personal and business correspondence. Other ephemera includes West Virginia and mining journals and certificates belonging to Donnelly and others. A scrapbook and notebook of newspaper clippings pertain to early court hangings and executions in West Virginia. Political posters include those for West Virginia Governor William C. Marland and West Virginia Senators Harley Kilgore and Robert Byrd.

Business, military and legal papers, chiefly 1774-1822, of Richard Billups of Mathews and Gloucester Counties, Virginia. Papers include accounts, land records, and correspondence and some concern shipbuilding. Includes minutes, 1842, of a temperance meeting and Methodist church records.

Richard G. Joynt's collection of British manuscripts, from the 15th to the 20th century, of 88 letters and documents, 41 cut signatures, and many book engravings. The authors and signatures include kings, queens, prime ministers, nobles, military officers, authors, and other dignitaries. Personal matters, military orders and letters, religion, treaties, politics, intrique, and much more are covered in these letters, often interwoven with current events.

Papers, 1800-1901, of and relating to John Hipkins and John Hipkins Bernard (mostly accounts); of and relating to members of the Hipkins, Bernard and Robb families; and relating to the Hipkins-Bernard-Robb home "Rose Hill," Caroline County, Va. (later renamed "Gay Mont") and to Bernard's lands in Alabama, Texas and Arkansas. Includes diaries, correspondence, poems, accounts and account books of women (Elizabeth Hipkins, Jane Gay Robertson Bernard, and Helen Struan Bernard Robb); and legal documents and letters of John Taylor of Caroline. Of special interest are the diaries of Eugenia D. Robb while serving with the American Red Cross in Germany and Japan during and after World War II (1999.56A).

This ledger (16.5" x 14" x 2") contains hand-written recipes for elixers, tonics, medicines, and other cures. Many pages are blank or have been taken out; it is not clear if there was writing on those pages.

Papers, 1871-1933, of Robert Morton Hughes of Norfolk, Virginia, concerning his law practice; his interest in maritime law; his biography of Joseph Eggleston Johnston; his influence in Virginia politics; and the College of William and Mary. Correspondents include Joseph Eggleston Johnston, Fitzhugh Lee, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Thomas Nelson Page, Woodrow Wilson, Flora (Cooke) Stuart and Theodore Roosevelt. There is also an autograph collection, 1715-1924, which includes signatures of Frances Hodgson Burnett, Mark Hanna, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Samuel L. Clemens and presidents of the United States.

Letters and papers; 1730-1950, of the Robertson family. Also includes genealogical material concerning the family of William B. Robertson, Lynchburg, Va. with references to Archibald Robertson, Mary Robertson, Robert S. Robertson, and Wyndham Robertson. Also includes genealogical information on the Waller, Macon, Garland, and Meredith families.

Includes letters, chiefly 1793-1848, written to John Robinson from Merit M. Robinson and Ann Robinson of Smithfield, Va. and from his sons Moncure Robinson, Conway Robinson, Eustace Robinson, Alfred Robinson and Cary Robinson. The collection includes notebooks containing copies of letters, 1853, written by Conway Robinson on a tour of the British Isles and copies of letters, 1861-1864, written by Cary Robinson (1843-1864) while serving in the 6th Virginia Infantry Regiment as well as papers, 1881-1882, concerning property in Washington, D. C. belonging to the estate of John Marshall; and genealogical materials on the Leigh, Marshall and Robinson families. Prominent correspondents include Edward Colston, Benjamin Watkins Leigh and Gustavus Adolphus Myers.

This collection contains biographical and genealogical information on various people, primarily from in and around Rockbridge County.