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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Mt. Clinton Voter Registers, 1867-1901, SC 0010, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Purchased from Ronald L. Fulk, care of Dusty's Antique Market in Mt. Sidney, Virginia in December 2008.
Three loose documents were removed from the Colored Register and foldered separately in Box 1, Folder 4.
Mt. Clinton is an unincorporated community in Rockingham County, Virginia, located approximately six miles northwest of the county seat of Harrisonburg. Mt. Clinton was classified as a precinct within the "Central" magisterial district of Rockingham County at the time the voter registers were created. The practice of voter registration in the United States began in the early nineteenth century as a method for localities to confirm the voting rights of their permanent (white, male, property-owning) residents and, in effect, exclude any foreign-born or transient residents from voting. Voter registration became common in the United States after the Civil War, and registration practices were tightened in the Progressive Era to combat voter fraud present in urban centers. The ratification of the 15th Amendment assured all African-American men the right to vote. An act to "Provide for a General Registration of Voters," approved by the Virginia General Assembly on April 12, 1870, required that voter lists be kept and arranged in separate books according to race.
The Mt. Clinton Voter Registers, 1867-1901, are comprised of three ledgers documenting voter registration information of Mt. Clinton's registered white and black male voters. The registers document each voter's race, home precinct, magisterial district, and county. The registers also provide information on the voter's date of registration, number, name, whether they had been "sworn," age, occupation, place of residence, length of residence in the county, length of residence in the state, and, if naturalized, the date of naturalization and the court which issued the naturalization. Often included in the naturalization column is a note about whether a particular voter's registration was transferred to or from another precinct. The ledgers are divided alphabetically into sections by registrant surname. The names are listed chronologically by registration date.
Three loose documents were removed from the Colored Register and foldered separately in Box 1, Folder 4. They include a handwritten request, dated April 26, 1895, from John Washington to have his voter registration transferred from Mt. Clinton to Harrisonburg and a similar request from R.J. Butler, dated May 6, 1900, to have his registration transferred from Mt. Clinton to Harrisonburg. Both requests are addressed to Mt. Clinton registrar S.A. Firebaugh. A printed copy of the 1900 act to amend the Virginia constitution is also included.
Each voter register is individually foldered. The loose documents removed from the Colored Register are housed in Box 1, Folder 4.