PUBLIC "-//Thomas Balch Library//TEXT (US::ViLeTBL::viletbl00214:: Nancy Graham Rogers Collection 1910-1975)//EN" "viletbl00214.xml" A Guide to the Nancy Graham Rogers Collection, 1910-1975 Nancy Graham Rogers Collection M 058, VC 0044 Teckla H. Cox Thomas Balch Library © 2006 By Thomas Balch Library. All rights reserved.

Conditions of Use

Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word, created by Elizabeth E. Preston, 14 September 2012 Description is in English 2013-11-21 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the Nancy Graham Rogers Collection, 1910-1975 A Collection in theThomas Balch Library M 058, VC 0044 Teckla H. Cox

Thomas Balch Library 2006 Teckla H. Cox Thomas Balch Library Descriptive Summary Thomas Balch Library Nancy Graham Rogers Collection 1910-1975 M 058, VC 0044 English The manuscript materials consist of personal and business correspondence of Nancy Graham Rogers, including letters from her fiance, Albert C. Johnson. There are also letters Rogers inherited from her mother, Anna, including one from her father to her grandmother asking for Anna's hand in marriage. There are business receipts, correspondence, tax information, and material regarding the estates of relatives for whom Rogers served as executor, including Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer and Christine Wildman. The collection also includes scrapbooks, Nancy's mother's wedding book, and a small diary Rogers kept from 1932 to 1935. An account book marked "Turkeys and Chickens 1915" was used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, and contains clippings and expenses. A journal also used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, contains recipes, family expenses for 1914, and clippings. There are two scrapbooks compiled by Mary Oden Rogers containing clippings and pictures. Some loose material in the scrapbooks was removed and placed in folders. Separation sheets detailing where these materials were placed were put in the scrapbooks. Elizabeth Seccombe Smith, Lewis Leigh Administrative Information Access Restrictions

Collection open for research.

Use Restrictions

No physical characteristics affect use of this material. Visual materials may require special handling.

Preferred Citation

Nancy Graham Rogers Collection, 1910-1975 (M 058), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Elizabeth Seccombe Smith, Eugene, OR; Lewis Leigh, Leesburg, VA

Alternative Form Available

None

Accruals

2006.0145; 2000.0002

Processing Information

Teckla H. Cox, 14 September 2012

Biographical Information

The Ferguson family lived in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, but owned Belmont, a farm near Leesburg, Virginia, that they used as a summer residence. Their daughter, Anna Louise Ferguson (1883-1973) married William Thomas Clagett (W.T.C.) Rogers (1875-1930) of Leesburg in the chapel at Belmont on 7 June 1910. W.T.C. Rogers had several siblings, including Mary Oden Rogers (1868-1905) and Christina Rogers Wildman (1873-1943). Mary died before her brother's marriage. She drowned at a sanatorium in New York where she was being treated for an unspecified illness. Although she never married she was engaged at the time of her death. Christina married and had two daughters, Anne (called Anna) Snowden Wildman Dyer (1895-1973) and Christine Wildman (1898-1958).

After their marriage, W.T.C. and Anna Rogers lived at Belmont for several years then settled in the town of Leesburg. They had two children, Nancy Graham Rogers (14 October 1912-27 January 2000) and William Thomas Clagett Rogers, Jr. (1914-1985). Nancy Graham Rogers graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1934 and taught science for a short time at Aldie High School. She eventually became a virologist working in medical research for the United States government at Walter Reed Medical Center. The U.S. War Department awarded her the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal in 1946 for her wartime work developing a typhus vaccine. In addition to her work in virology, Rogers was an award-winning photographer and had an interest in botany, speleology, and the study of bats. Life Magazine published a photograph of her working with bats in a Virginia cave in their 10 September 1956 issue. Her love of photography and botany produced an extensive slide collection of wildflower photographs from all over the world. Rogers was a member of the Leesburg Garden Club and left her collection of daffodils to the club. She was also an active member of St. James Episcopal Church. Although Rogers never married, her diary indicates she had an active social life in high school and college and was once engaged to a doctor, Albert C. Johnson (fl. 1930s). She kept his letters to her from 1937 to 1939, though there is no explanation of why they did not marry. Nancy Rogers died 27 January 2000 in Leesburg and is buried in Union Cemetery in Leesburg.

 Scope and Content

The manuscript materials consist of personal and business correspondence of Nancy Graham Rogers, including letters from her fiance, Albert C. Johnson. There are also letters Rogers inherited from her mother, Anna, including one from her father to her grandmother asking for Anna's hand in marriage. There are business receipts, correspondence, tax information, and material regarding the estates of relatives for whom Rogers served as executor, including Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer and Christine Wildman. The collection also includes scrapbooks, Nancy's mother's wedding book, and a small diary Rogers kept from 1932 to 1935. An account book marked "Turkeys and Chickens 1915" was used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, and contains clippings and expenses. A journal also used as a scrapbook, probably by Anna Rogers, contains recipes, family expenses for 1914, and clippings. There are two scrapbooks compiled by Mary Oden Rogers containing clippings and pictures. Some loose material in the scrapbooks was removed and placed in folders. Separation sheets detailing where these materials were placed were put in the scrapbooks.

The visual materials include family snapshots including photographs documenting trips, family outings, homes, and friends; a large number of color slides of wildflowers taken by Rogers; and a large photograph album that belonged to Mary Oden Rogers containing pictures of a summer in Maine.

 Arrangement

Folder

Adjunct Descriptive Data Bibliography

Loudoun County Cemetery Database. http://www.leesburgva.gov/index.aspx

Nancy Graham Rogers Collection, 1910-1975 (M 058), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Virginia.

Obituary for Nancy Rogers. Loudoun Times-Mirror. 2 February 2000, page A17.

Other Finding Aid

None

Technical Requirements

None

Related Material

Leesburg Garden Club Collection, 1920- (M 044).

Contents List M 058 1 Letter from Albert C. Johnson, undated Letters from Johnson, 1937-1938 Letters from Johnson, May 1938 Letters from Johnson, May 1938 Letter from Johnson, May 1938 Letter from Johnson (includes photograph of Johnson on right in bathing suit), May 27, 1938 Letters from Johnson, May-June 1938 Letters from Johnson, June-July, 1938 Letters from Johnson, July-August 1938 Letters from Johnson, August-September 1938 Letters from Johnson, September 1938 Letters from Johnson, September-October 1938 Letters from Johnson, October-November 1938 Letters from Johnson, November 1938 Letters from Johnson, November-December 1938 Letters from Johnson, September 1939 Personal correspondence, 1938 Personal correspondence, 1945, 1975-1976 Personal correspondence, no date Invitations, 1938, 1988, 1996 Employment Correspondence, 1938-1939 Five year diary, 1932-1935 University of Iowa application, 1938 Receipts, 1937-1938, 1943 2 Anna Ferguson Rogers correspondence, 1909-1969 Anna and W.T.C. Rogers, receipts, 1920, 1924-1927 Anna and W.T.C. Rogers, business affairs, 1924, 1935, 1940 Anna and W.T.C. Rogers, taxes, 1915 Anna and W.T.C. Rogers, taxes, 1918 Ledger used for recipes (Anna Ferguson Rogers), undated "Turkeys & Chickens 1915" scrapbook (Anna Ferguson Rogers), undated "Turkeys & Chickens 1915," loose material, undated League of Women Voters cookbook, 1921 Address book used as cookbook (Anna Ferguson Rogers), undated Anna Ferguson Rogers suggested obituary, 1965, 1968 Savings account books: Anna Rogers, Anne Wildman Dyer, 1950-1969 Notes for Anne Wildman Dyer funeral, 1973 Estate of Anne Wildman Dyer, 1975 Partition of land of Anne Wildman Dyer, 1975 Estate of Nancy Ferguson, 1936-1942 William (Bill) Rogers papers, 1936, 1951, 1981 Christine Wildman, business papers, 1958 3 "Boxwood," pamphlet from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 1950 Civil Service card, calling cards, calling card printing die, undated Awards: clippings about Rogers' Exceptional Civilian Service Award; photography award coin, 1946; 1962 Garden Club of Virginia booklets, 1952, 1964 Flight Plan to Australia, 1967 Leesburg addresses, ca. 1961 Newspaper clippings Postcard, Christ Church, Alexandria, VA, undated Story by Mary Hamilton, undated Textiles: tennis scores recorded on handkerchief scrap; Loudoun Museum sampler kit, 1922; 1994 Valentine poem, no author, 1904 Loose material from "S.E. Ledger" (OMB 015), undated Loose material from "S.E. Ledger" (OMB 015), undated Loose material from "S.E. Ledger" (OMB 015), undated Loose material from "The House the Jack Built," the wedding book of Anna Ferguson Rogers (OMB 015), undated Rogers' genealogical information Photocopies of Wildman family records 4 Anna Ferguson Rogers' wedding book, "The House that Jack Built," 1910 Photograph Album (Mary Oden Rogers), 1901 Scrapbook (Mary Oden Rogers), undated Scrapbook (Mary Oden Rogers), 1899 S.E. Ledger: Belmont Farm ledger partially used as cookbook, undated VC 0044 1 Christmas and Easter cards (Anna Ferguson Rogers) Photographs, possibly Ferguson horses Photographs of Nancy and her brother From small album (#1): Leesburg High School From small album (#2): Leesburg High School Photographs, Nancy at Agnes Scot College, ca. 1932 - 1935 Photographs (4 are of tennis at Greystone near Waterford, 1930s) Photographs of Dr. Albert Johnson's colleagues at Ithaca, ca. 1937 Miscellaneous photographs Unidentified photographs Small album of photographs of a picnic, ca. 1940s Photographs, all labeled "NR New Guinea," 1962 Photographs of a bear, undated Large photographs of scenery and of horses, undated Photographs of Nancy's workplace, 1940s 4 studio photographs of Nancy Rogers, undated Miscellaneous photographs of Nancy, 1940s and 1950s Illustrations Postcards of Loudoun County buildings Location notations of color slides of western trip and trip to Japan (see VC boxes 4 and 5 for the slides themselves) Photocopies of photographs of Nancy Rogers Loose visual material from front of Mary Oden Rogers' photograph album (OMB 015) Loose visual material from throughout Mary Oden Rogers' photograph album (OMB 015) Loose visual material from back of Mary Oden Rogers' photograph album (OMB 015) 2 Approximately 480 color slides, unmarked. 3 Approximately 150 color slides. Trip to the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, demolition of the Leesburg Inn in 1973, ruins of the Broad Run Bridge at Route 7; the remainder are unmarked. 4 Approximately 325 color slides. Trip to the western United States. Box 1, folder 20 contains handwritten notations of specific locations for these slides. 5 Approximately 480 color slides. Trips to western United States, Japan, and Pebble Beach, California. 6 Approximately 480 color slides of wildflowers, mostly unlabeled. 7 Approximately 200 color slides wildflowers, mostly unlabeled.