The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
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Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], James Tarter Ledgers, 1879-1941, Ms2022-061, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
This collection was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in two accruals in 2020.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the James Tarter Ledgers was completed in October 2022. The ledger for 1879-1881 was added in October 2023.
James Ephraim Tarter was born to Elijah Tarter and Catherine (Baker) Tarter in Wythe County, Virginia, on March 14, 1857. He married Letitia Virginia "Lettie" Gose in Wythe County on December 28, 1882, and they had at least 10 children. Tarter worked as a doctor in Southwest Virginia in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He was a member of the Southern Medical Association. He died in Wytheville on May 31, 1921.
Sources:
United State Censuses, 1900, 1910
"James E. Tarter", Virginia, U.S., Marriage Registers, 1853-1935. Wythe County, 1882. Ancestry.com Database. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/1012304:60214.
Dr James E. Tarter. FindAGrave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/195794386/james-e.-tarter.
This collection contains financial documents, personal records, and ephemera related to the medical practice of Dr. James E. Tarter of Wytheville, Virginia, from roughly 1879 to 1941. Materials include ledgers, doctor's record books, textbooks, receipts and checkbooks, medical publications, medical equipment, and one photograph. Tarter's record books list patients treated and some include information about diseases as well as records of patient treatments, births, and deaths.
The collection is arranged by material type:
Series I: Ledgers, 1879-1887, 1890-1920, undated, includes ledgers and large record books.
Series II: Textbooks and Publications, 1885, 1890, 1906, 1910, 1920, includes textbooks and medical publications.
Series III: Account Books and Receipts, 1888-1931, includes account books and receipts.
Series IV: Physician Records and Personal Papers, 1889-1941, undated, includes other physician records and documents.
Series V: Ephemera, undated, includes medical ephemera and one photograph.
The guide to the James Tarter Ledgers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (
This series includes ledgers and large medical record books of Dr. James Tarter, with dates ranging from 1881 to 1920. Ledgers include data related to Tarter's medical practice.
This series includes two textbooks and two medical publications.
This series includes check and receipt books, receipts, and written payment records of Dr. James Tarter. Some documents are dated and itemized, while others are unlabeled financial calculations written on scrap paper.
This series includes various personal and medical records belonging to Dr. James Tarter. Items include Tarter's patient visit books, advertisements for various medicines, a booklet of birth certificates, blank envelopes, and miscellaneous records.
This series includes medical ephemera belonging to Dr. James Tarter. Items include a catheter, petit tourniquet, speculum, and urethral sound. There is also one photograph of an unidentified man in a lab.