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[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Virginia Child Protection Newsletter Records, 1927-2017, UA 0061, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.
Dr. Joann Grayson, professor and psychologist from JMU's Department of Psychology, transferred the bulk of the collection on April 5, 2017. There were then additional transfers in April and May 2017, one of which included two boxes from Wanda Baker.
Physical copies of the Virginia Child Protection Newsletter are cataloged separately and are available upon request.
Some letters of a sensitive nature were removed by the transferring office pending approval for their inclusion with redaction. Location of letters are noted at the file level. Additionally, printouts of Google search results for "Virginia Child Protection Newsletter" or similar phrases were discarded. "VCPN on the Web" contained a grouping of materials termed "mentions," "other mentions," and "reprints" which comprised web citations (dead links), reprinted articles, etc. in which VCPN articles are mentioned, cited, or reprinted were not retained. Reference lists of the reprinted articles, etc. were retained and filed under the Reference Lists series. CDs and floppy disks comprising draft articles and graphics printed in the physical newsletters were discarded as well.
Much of the collection was transferred in binders. Materials were removed and re-foldered according to original order and groupings.
The Virginia Child Protection Newsletter (VCPN) was originally published by the University of Virginia, with the support of the Bureau of Child Protective Services, Virginia Department of Welfare, beginning in 1974. In 1981, VCPN was transferred to James Madison University when Dr. Joann Grayson and student, Charlotte McNulty, won a bid from the Department of Social Services to take over the newsletter. Each newsletter focuses on one or more topics in child welfare and spotlights local organizations in Virginia that are dedicated to the issue's related topic. Topics included physical, sexual, and emotional abuse; missing children; and the impacts of drugs and alcohol. Some of the articles provide a survey of literature, address current and practice issues, or discuss grants for Virginia community projects. The VCPN was mailed to about 13,000 agencies and individuals in Virginia and across the United States.
Dr. Joann Hess Grayson joined James Madison University in 1975 through the Department of Psychology. In addition to her role as editor of the VCPN, she worked full-time as a professor and supervisor for Psychology 202- Introductory Field Work up until her retirement in 2011. At this time, Debbie Sturm, Professor in the Department of Graduate Psychology, became the new editor of the VCPN. As of 2023, VCPN is no longer in print.
The Virginia Child Protection Newsletter (VCPN) Records, 1927-2017, comprise eight boxes of materials related to the publication and distribution of the newsletter. The collection contains correspondence and complimentary notes, requests for reference materials and back issues, reference lists for the sources used in each volume, year-end reports, grant summaries, and select physical copies of newsletters.
Series 1: Correspondence and Requests, 1981- 2017
Subseries 1.1: Correspondence and Complimentary Notes
Subseries 1.2: Requests for Reprints and Back Issues
Series 2: Reference Lists, 1927-2010
Series 3: Year-end Reports and Grant Summaries, 1990-2010
All series are arranged chronologically with the exception of Reference Lists, which are arranged alphabetically based on topic.Virginia child protection newsletter (Harrisonburg, Va.). (1981-). James Madison University, Center for Child Abuse Education, Psychology Dept.
Volumes 1-3 of Child Abuse and Neglect: The Problem and Its Management were separated and catalogued.
Correspondence for the collection ranges from complimentary notes to consultations related to the VCPN issues. These primarily contain congratulatory messages or questions about specific sources in regards to publishing the VCPN issues with correspondence focusing on questions before publication and consultations dealing with questions from subscribers of the newsletter. Requests comprise emails/forms that request back issues, reference lists, or permissions to reprint the article/newsletter in their own publication.
Reference lists contain bibliographies for each issue published and are arranged based on topic, not volume or issue number. Additionally, because they are separated based on content, there are overlapping bibliographies for certain issues. "VCPN on the Web," a subgroup within the series of Reference Lists, also contains various bibliographic information. Similar to a bibliography, it documents the VCPN's presence on the internet through review citations, links to website mentions of the VCPN, and information on where they have been reprinted.
Year-end reports contain summary reports for the VCPN issue year, typically starting July 1 and carrying on through June 30 of the following year. They're comprised primarily of complimentary notes, statistics on the number of subscribers, resource lists for places where their newsletter was reprinted or mentioned, and some years contain published copies of the VCPN issues. Similarly, grant summaries mostly comprise generated lists of the VCPN accomplishments including workshop and conference distribution and participation, publications, ongoing distributions, and correspondence. Some issues do contain a grant summary essay discussing the accomplishments of the year.