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[Identification of item], Administration Records Collection (RG 1.01), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
This collection includes early Washington and Lee University papers and miscellaneous materials supplementary to the university's trustee's records, faculty meeting minutes, and treaurer's records. Much of this collection was found over decades from various locations on campus and housed in the Treasurer's Office.
The Business Records series includes primarily documents related to the financial history of the university. They include related correspondence, invoices, and receipts. The invoices and receipts document expenditures such as purchases of wood as a heating source, purchases of supplies to support building repair and/or construction, such as the Chapel and Lee House, as well as fees for labor, purchases of books for the library, purchases of supplies and equipment for teaching, purchase of Confederate bonds, salaries and wages, payments for newspaper subscriptions, advertisements, printing, and fire insurance. Other subjects include Robinson and Santini medals, the John Robinson monument (1855), the purchase of lab supplies and instruments, property rentals, insurance, investments, endowments, scholarships, tuition, promissory notes, bonds, and the purchase of furniture. There are also documents related to enslaved persons. One document is specific to the John Robinson estate. Others refer to the sale or hiring out of enslaved individuals. It is noted within the folder description if the documents lists the names of these individuals. At least one of the earliest documents in this series mentions the Timber Ridge location and Fort Randolph. The records created during the presidency of Robert E. Lee sometime include his signature and notes.
The Administration series includes correspondence sent to or written by trustees, presidents, or other officers. Subjects include the purchasing of mineral specimens (G. W. C. Lee), Cyrus McCormick (correspondent), athletics, correspondence about the Chapel controversy, correspondence about the library, and an oath book signed by both trustees and Librarian Annie White. There is also correspondence related to and with fundraising and fundraising agents including R. D. Lilley, George Peabody, Grover Cleveland, and Oswald Garrison Villard. Villard co-founded the NAACP in 1909.
The Faculty series includes letters of recommendation, letters about student absences and students requesting leave and/or accommodation for tuition, commencement invitations, the College Hotel and student lodging, papers acted upon by the faculty, and papers related to the American Association of University Professors. The letters from fathers of students or students themselves regarding requesting leave from school usually include the reason why which primarily relates to finances or the student's health. Some of the correspondence addressed to the faculty are related to student misconduct. Of particular note is a May 1849 document signed by faculty and officers of both Washington College and the Virginia Military Institute speaking about against the Lexington Bowling Alley.
The Students series includes documents related to student conduct, student petitions, recruitment, and admissions. Of particular note are the documents from 1858 regarding an incident in which students were dismissed from school for drinking and the eventual burning in effigy of the two professors who caught and dismissed them.
The General series includes correspondence about catalog requests, the Alumni Association, and subject files.
The Printed Material series includes broadsides, circulars, pamphlets, etc. that were printed by our about the university including events and programs.
Researchers should be aware that there might be overlap in subject matter and correspondents among the series. References to fundraising, for example, can be found across series.
Researchers should note that this collection was reviewed and organized chronologically as Miscellaneous Papers and Miscellaneous Bills, Receipts, and Vouchers by Dr. William Webb Pusey in 1982. An updated review and the resulting reprocessing was undertaken to create what is expected to be a more cohesive organization and description in effort to increase both the discoverability and accessibility of the contents. Some of Dr. Pusey's decisions regarding arrangement have been kept in the interest of time and the challenge of trying to determine where the documents were originally pulled from. For example, he combined letters of tribute about Professor J. J. White that were sent to Washington and Lee President G. W. C. Lee along with other tributes to White into one folder. That folder remains. He also combined documentation associated with and/or created by the work of Robert D. Lilley in his capacity as a fundraising agent for the university. He combined letters sent to faculty and administrators asking for university catalogs and/or circulars. While these requests have been kept together and arranged chronologically, researchers should be aware that while some letters only ask for a catalog, others include much more information about the letter writer, such as their current financial situation, their educational background, their service in the American Civil War, and their desire to attend or have their son attend the university because of President Robert E. Lee. Researchers are encouraged to consult these files as they might find useful information contained therein.
Documents within this collection were heavily consulted by Ollinger Crenshaw in researching his book
This collection's former unique identifer was WLU Coll 112.
This collection has been arranged into the following series: Business Records, Administration, Faculty, Students, General, and Printed Material.
Book purchases
Documents related to fundraising and the construction of the Liberty Hall Academy building in Lexington.
Book purchases and list of books received from John Rodgers donation
Of particular note is a payroll of "hands employed at Washington College buildings" who are described as "white employees" on the reverse (1866).
Includes receipt for paying Ellick his 1/2 annual allotment for board and clothing
Includes paid invoice for hiring of Ellick
Includes payments made to Ellick
Includes continued hiring of Ellick, an account for Dr. Paine to see Jerry (enslaved) at W. Wilson's, invoice to pay for the work of Elijah
Includes hiring of Jeff and receipts for paying Ellick and Jeff
Includes receipts for paying Jackson's wages
Includes librarian's report
Includes directive to pay A. W. Cameron for the hiring of Alex
Includes letter from Cyrus McCormick regarding $5000 donation
Engineering and Physical Laboratories
Tucker Memorial Hall construction
Construction of Chemistry building
A couple of these relate to John Robinson.
Robinson Estate (includes names of unsold enslaved individuals)
Includes the names of the enslaved and their monetary value
John Robinson estate
Includes a list of men who hired enslaved individuals owned (not named) by Washington College
Also included is a report on students for the 1859/1860 session.
Fundraising
To recoup financial losses suffered by the university as a result of Hunter's Raid
Documentation used to support financial claim to money owed the university by the federal government for losses suffered during Hunter's Raid. Of particular note is a list specific to the loss of library materials.
alumnus and financial agent
alumnus and financial agent
alumnus and financial agent
alumnus and financial agent
This folder includes a description of Cyrus McCormick's funeral.
alumnus and financial agent
Contributors included Booker T. Washington, Isidor Strauss, Oswald Garrison Villard, and Grover Cleveland
Includes correspondence from former U. S. President Grover Cleveland, Oswald Garrison Villard (a future co-founder of the NAACP), and Herbert Welsh.
Correspondents are George Peabody and Oswald Garrison Villard (fundraising agents for the Wilson fund) and John L. Campbell of Washington and Lee. There are references made to a paper published by Trustee Givens Brown Strickler.
Rector of the Board of Trustees, Professor of Law and Equity, Includes letters from Cyrus McCormick
Librarian Clerk of Faculty Secretary and Treasurer to the Trustees
Librarian Clerk of Faculty Secretary and Treasurer to the Trustees
Subjects include election of new university president and the John Marshall portrait
Librarian Clerk of Faculty Secretary and Treasurer to the Trustees
Subjects include John Marshall portrait
Secretary and Treasurer for Trustees
Trustee
Trustee
Trustee
Trustee
Santini medal, mineral specimens purchase, athletic scholarships
Includes handwritten manuscript notice dated November 7, 1912 which announces to students that at their request, the faculty has granted them a holiday to attend a game in Roanoke. The notice reminds the students that they are the "custodians of the honor and reputation of their alma mater while there representing the customs and standards" of Washington and Lee. It further states, "I trust, therefore, that no representative of our campus will be seen entering a bar room or other degrading resort, gambling, or doing anything which would grieve or humiliate their parents, were they present."
The plat was found and removed (by unknown individual) from Board Board Volume 1811-1844. It was originally located in the minutes of October 2, 1844.
Handwritten note by President Lee acknowledging that he shared it with the Trustees
Oath book signed by Trustees and the Annie R. White as the Librarian
Graham family Bible
Professor of Applied Mathematics
Librarian and Clerk of the Faculty
Librarian and Proctor, Clerk of the Faculty, Treasurer
Librarian and Proctor, Clerk of the Faculty, Treasurer
Librarian and Proctor, Clerk of the Faculty, Treasurer
Librarian and Proctor, Clerk of the Faculty, Treasurer
Professor of Latin
Professor of History and English Literature
The 1868 letters were addressed to Johnson, J. J. White, and Edward S. Joynes as the "Committee of the Faculty."
Professor of Modern Languages and English Philology
Professor of Moral Philosophy
Librarian Clerk of the Faculty Treasurer
Librarian, Clerk of the Faculty, Treasurer
McCormick Professor of Natural Philosophy
Cincinnati Professor of Mathematics
Professor of Greek
Regarding the request/order to open a hospital within campus buildings. Faculty ask that the buildings remain in use for educational purposes as they are not fit to accommodate a hospital and lists the various reasons how the buildings aren't compatible for use as a hospital. The letter is signed by Carter J. Harris, Alexander L. Nelson, James J. White, and John L. Campbell.
Building Committee (Graham Hall/Graham Literary Society, Library), Committee to confer with the Resident Masters, Committee to report a plan for the enlargement of the Faculty, Committee on Chapel Service, Library Committee, Committee on Dormitory (Kappa Sigma Fraternity), Committee on Courses, Committee on Entrance Requirements for Freshmen
Friend of Washington and Lee University
Delivered a few days before Kirkpatrick's death, professor of Moral Philosophy
Professor of Moral Philosophy
Rector
The 1868 document was written by the faculty in support of students. It relates to town and gown relations and race relations, and refers to the murder of an African American man. The other documents relate to student behaviors which may have resulted in punishment.
Petition to readmit E. J. Parsons who was expelled, request for the Treasurer to pay 1/2 of deposit to the YMCA, Petition concerning the boarding house/college hotel.
Professors John L. Campbell, Sr. and Junius Fishburn discovered three intoxicated students: W. W. Houston, R. K. Estill, and W. M. Brown. The faculty voted to dismiss them from Washington College. The student body petitioned for their co-horts to be reinstated but were denied. They burned in effigy both professors. In addition to the petition, the folder includes a printed description of events dated March 15 as well as two documents of apology issued to the faculty by offending students. The printed description says there were two intoxicated students but the petition lists the three above.
Commencement Party (1854 June 1), Seventh Annual Congress of the Scotch Irish Society of America (1895 June), inaugration of President William Lyne Wilson (1897 September 15), Eighty-ninth annual celebration of the Graham-Lee Society (1898 January 19), dedication of new law building in memory of John Randolph Tucker 91900 June 19), university's eighty-ninth anniversary (1901 February 22), annual gymnastic tourney (1901 March 15)
includes "Standing Rules Adopted by the Trustees of Washington College" (1840 September 19)
Commencement (1870), "Music of Ye Olden Time" (1877 January 4), Obsequies of John Letcher (1884 January 28), "Programme for the 28th N.Y and 5th Virginia at Lexington" (1884 May 23), 7th Scotch Irish Congress (1895 June), Confederate Memorial Day Exercises (1901 May 25), dedication of the Memorial Westminster Chimes and Clock (1948 September 8)
The issue is about the death of Col. William Allan
regarding compensation for property damage during the Civil War