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MSS 15477, Julia duVal papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.
This collection has been minimally processed and is open for research.
This collection contains the papers of Julia duVal, dating from 1890 to 1930. Contents include a program to the Lynchburg High School 1910 graduation; an invitation to the Randolph-Macon Women's College 1914 graduation ceremony; a typescript copy of duVal's 1924 University of Virginia Master's thesis on Jane Austen titled "Jane Austen: the determining influences of her life on her works;" a handwritten eulogy for duVal; a photograph of duVal in her academic regalia; the 1912/1913 issue of the Randolph-Macon catalog; an issue of "The Campus Quill" from Bessie Tift College, in which duVal's death is announced; five photographs of Julia at Randolph-Macon; a Randolph-Macon postcard addressed to her father, R.A. duVal. This collection also contains three letters from duVal to her parents, dated 1916, describing Columbia University, St. John the Divine cathedral, sightseeing, and mentioning the infantile paralysis epidemic in New York City and her fears of carrying the contagion if she comes home. There are also two letters to her brother, Gabriel duVal, dated May 6 and May 8, 1916, and an undated letter to Julia from an aunt. Also included is a scripture book dated 1890 and several blank undated postcards.
Julia Ellen duVal was born in Roanoke, Virginia, on June 16, 1891. She graduated from Lynchburg High School in June 1910. She then attended Randolph-Macon Women's College, also in Lynchburg, graduating in 1914 and receiving a Master of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1924, when she submitted a thesis on May 15. She also attended the Berlitz School of Languages in Washington, D. C. She taught at Bessie Tift College (now Mercer University) in Forsyth, Georgia, from 1928 to 1929, where she was Assistant Professor of French. duVal died on January 1, 1929, in Lynchburg. She is buried at Spring Hill Cemetery.
Resources "Julia Ellen duVal." Find A Grave. Accessed 5 December 2025. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97549345/julia-ellen-duval
Tift College. Tift College Catalog, 1928-1929. 1928.Mercer University Libraries. Accessed https://galileo-mum.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01GALI_MUM/7csvfd/alma991005707448105956
This collection was a gift from Louise Scott Steele to the Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia on September 25, 2012 and November 1, 2022.
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