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Norfolk County (Va.) Board of School Commissioners Records, 1820-1870. Local government records collection, Chesapeake (City)/Norfolk County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.
These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of records from Chesapeake Circuit Court.
The collection is located at the State Records Center. Contact Archives Research Services staff for access information, directions, and hours.
On February 21, 1818, the Virginia legislature passed a school bill which appropriated $45,000 annually from the Literary Fund for the education of poor children. (The Literary Fund was established in 1810 with passage of a bill to appropriate "certain escheats, confiscated, and forfeited lands" for the "encouragement of learning.") Under the provisions of the 1818 School Act, each county court was required to appoint five to fifteen commissioners to establish and/or administer schools for children of the poor. A more comprehensive public school system was established by the legislature in 1870.
Norfolk County was probably named by Adam Thoroughgood, a local resident, for his native county in England. It was formed from Lower Norfolk County in 1691. Norfolk County became extinct in 1963, when it was consolidated with the city of South Norfolk to form the city of Chesapeake.
Norfolk County (Va.) Board of School Commissioners Records, 1820-1872, are comprised mostly of reports documenting attendance, tuition, and teacher salaries at schools established by the Board for the purpose of educating poor children in the county. The records also include scattered receipts and attendance records, 1827-1830, a survey of school districts in the county, 1845, and copies of resolutions pertaining to the assessment of a schools tax, 1845-1847, including a resolution exempting free African Americans from the school tax, 1845.
Reports and accounts contain monthly reports submitted to the Board by teachers they employed. The reports include the names of students and a parent or guardian, date and time attended, tuition charged, and notes on conduct and progress. Reports also include the names of teachers employed and amount they were paid.