Collections : [Virginia Commonwealth University, Cabell Library]

The Richmond Renaissance Archives include correspondence, minutes, newspaper and journal clippings, various publications, reports, photographs, slides, and various promotional materials dating from 1956 through 1995. The bulk of the collection dates from 1982 through 1994 and focuses on Richmond Renaissance's activities to foster downtown Richmond revitalization. The collection documents the organization's involvement with a number of initiatives in the city, including the development of the city's riverfront properties, redevelopment of the downtown area, including Broad Street, and Jackson Ward neighborhood, and its planning, promotion and leadership in the development of the Sixth Street Marketplace.

The materials in this collection range from 1936 to 1999 and include correspondence, treasurer's reports, meeting minutes, photographs, yearbooks, news clippings, and ephemera from the Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond. The collection highlights the annual events and the meetings of the organization.

The collection includes minutes, correspondence, annual as well as other reports, newsletters, newspaper clippings, notes, various publications and other materials. The date range of the collection, from the early 1920's until the present, spans the history of the organization. There seems to be some minutes missing from the years 1939 through 1945.Much of the correspondence from the 1970s focuses on the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and includes letters to and from Virginia's U.S. Congressional delegation. Numerous regional and state issues are also documented in the collection.

The collection consists of publications, histories, newspaper clippings, letters to the editor, Richmond City proclamations, photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera. The materials range in date from 1935-2004. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings and publications.

The collection contains the office files of Senator John C. Watkins (1947- ) covering the years from 1979 through 2001 and includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, files on legislation and various topics and issues that the Virginia General Assembly addressed during this time period. The correspondence contains letters to and from Senator Watkins and includes constituent requests for favors or patronage and letters of inquiry about legislation. Correspondents include United States Senators Paul Trible and John Warner, Virginia Governors George Allen, Gerald Baliles, Thomas Bliley, James Gilmore III, Charles Robb, and L. Douglas Wilder III, and President of the United States George Bush. The legislation covers issues of importance to Senator Watkins. Of particular concern are those that represent his committee assignments, including Agriculture, Conservation and National Resources, Commerce and Labor, Local Government, and Transportation. The Powhite Parkway, the Virginia Lottery, health care, gun control, education, and Disney America are among some of the issues addressed in the collection. Watkins has been active in encouraging increased cooperation between the City of Richmond and the county governments of Henrico and Chesterfield and the collection includes materials covering those issues.

Please note: this collection contains materials that use insensitive or offensive language. To represent the resource as accurately as possible, the staff has transcribed the titles exactly as they appear on the archival material or objects.

The collection includes correspondence, notes, newspaper and journal clippings, organizational minutes, reports and files, speech drafts, manuscripts and published materials dating from 1944 through 1988. The bulk of the collection dates from the early 1960s through the mid-1980s, focusing on Townes' interest in and involvement with issues concerning race, politics, and the revitalization of downtown Richmond, Virginia. The collection also includes a significant amount of material on the role of African American members of the Virginia Republican Party during the 1960s and in the National Republican Party during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The papers of Dr. Lewis H. Bosher are primarily items relating to his professional work as a surgeon and a member of the faculty at the Medical College of Virginia (MCV).The majority of his papers are made up of correspondence and also includes some journal articles, newspaper clippings, and photographs. Bosher's papers also contains materials he collected to write a biographical sketch of fellow surgeon Dr. Isaac A. Bigger, and items from his great uncle, Dr. Lewis C. Bosher, including his lecture notes from 1905.

Cathryn Hankla's collection contains her poetry, short stories, plays, and novels from 1971 to 1992. The material documents the development and maturation of Hankla from the age of 13. The bulk of Hankla's collection is in her poetry drafts (1971-1989) and her published work (1980-1992). There are no significant gaps in her collection since its contents are spread out evenly throughout its 21 year period.Another strength of Hankla's papers is in her poetry. Containing the poems that she has written over a 18 year range, many of her initial poems have been revised repeatedly. These drafts provide an insight to her development as a poet and writer by demonstrating the obvious changes in her style, form, and content. The weakness of this collection is the lack of any biographical information about Cathryn Hankla. Except for some passing information in some of her book reviews, there is no significant information about Hankla herself. In this collection of novels, poetry, short stories, plays, theses, and notes, a large area of interest is in her published work. This is especially true in examples like Phenomena, Learning the Mother Tongue, A Blue Moon in Poorwater, and Afterimages that contain a complete set of correspondence, drafts, and reviews. Specifically, the correspondence shows her initial contact with numerous publishing companies and her continuous discussion with the eventual publisher about the evolution of her work. As a result, the collection documents the complete development of her work from draft to review. Presently, Hankla is not represented in any other repository.

The Zelda K. Nordlinger Papers, 1970-2008, is a collection of files used by Richmond, Virginia feminist and women's rights activist Zelda Kingoff Nordlinger. The papers provide insight into the second-wave feminist movement in the Richmond area with examples of the experiences, methods of activism, and organizations Nordlinger and her colleagues used to further their goals.