{"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1884\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026page=12","prev":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1884\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026page=11","next":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1884\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026page=13","last":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog.json?f%5Bdate_range%5D%5B%5D=1884\u0026f%5Blevel%5D%5B%5D=Sub-series\u0026page=43"},"meta":{"pages":{"current_page":12,"next_page":13,"prev_page":11,"total_pages":43,"limit_value":10,"offset_value":110,"total_count":425,"first_page?":false,"last_page?":false}},"data":[{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c14","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c14","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c14"],"title_filing_ssi":"F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence","title_ssm":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence"],"title_tesim":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence"],"normalized_title_ssm":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889"],"text":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers","2 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1882/1889"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1882-1889"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":71,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["2 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"date_range_isim":[1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#13/components#5","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"access_terms_ssm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n 1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n \u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c14_c06"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c16","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c16","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c16"],"title_filing_ssi":"F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence","title_ssm":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence"],"title_tesim":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence"],"normalized_title_ssm":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889"],"text":["F. Stack Mine; volumes B and D. of\n lettered sequence, 1882/1889","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers","2 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Ledgers"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1882/1889"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1882-1889"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":85,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["2 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"date_range_isim":[1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#15/components#5","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"access_terms_ssm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n 1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n \u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c16_c06"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"Galt Family, 1865/1929","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04","parent_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04"],"title_filing_ssi":"Galt Family","title_ssm":["Galt Family"],"title_tesim":["Galt Family"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Galt Family, 1865/1929"],"text":["Galt Family, 1865/1929","Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1865/1929"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1865-1929"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[2],"sort_isi":362,"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":2,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"date_range_isim":[1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929],"_nest_path_":"/components#3/components#0","timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:04:30.136Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WM/repositories_2_resources_8766.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Grigsby-Galt Papers","title_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers"],"title_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1736-1982","1840-1930"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1736-1982"],"unitdate_bulk_ssim":["1840-1930"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"text":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766","Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century","College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards","Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.","Mss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt.","The collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient.","Captain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: .","Arranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.","Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson.","Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).","Many collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026 Mary College collections.","The Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b).","This collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.","The collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.","Both these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers.","The Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.","Gift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt.","Artifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.","The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately.","Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.","Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881","English Spanish;Castilian"],"collection_title_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"collection_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766"],"unitid_tesim":["Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766"],"repository_ssm":["College of William and Mary"],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"geogname_ssm":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"geogname_ssim":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"places_ssim":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"creator_ssm":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"creators_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881","Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"access_terms_ssm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"acqinfo_ssim":["Gift"],"access_subjects_ssim":["College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"access_subjects_ssm":["College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["16.75 Linear Feet"],"extent_tesim":["16.75 Linear Feet"],"genreform_ssim":["Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"date_range_isim":[1736,1737,1738,1739,1740,1741,1742,1743,1744,1745,1746,1747,1748,1749,1750,1751,1752,1753,1754,1755,1756,1757,1758,1759,1760,1761,1762,1763,1764,1765,1766,1767,1768,1769,1770,1771,1772,1773,1774,1775,1776,1777,1778,1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access:"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"accruals_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accruals_heading_ssm":["Accruals:"],"accruals_tesim":["Mss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient.\u003c/p\u003e "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement of Materials:"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCaptain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: \u003cextref href=\"http://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/William_W._Galt\" title=\"William W. Galt\"\u003e\u003c/extref\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Information:"],"bioghist_tesim":["Captain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: ."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson.\u003c/p\u003e "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information:"],"processinfo_tesim":["Arranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.","Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eHugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMany collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026amp; Mary College collections.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b).\u003c/p\u003e "],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Materials:"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).","Many collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026 Mary College collections.","The Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b)."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBoth these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt.\u003c/p\u003e "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.","The collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.","Both these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers.","The Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.","Gift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt."],"separatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArtifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately.\u003c/p\u003e "],"separatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Separated Materials:"],"separatedmaterial_tesim":["Artifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.","The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBefore reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.\u003c/p\u003e "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use:"],"userestrict_tesim":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster"],"names_coll_ssim":["Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"famname_ssim":["Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"persname_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"language_ssim":["English Spanish;Castilian"],"total_component_count_is":384,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:04:30.136Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c01"}},{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"Genealogy Research, 1827/1984","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003eThis subseries comprises correspondence, applications to family heritage organizations, and copies of documents regarding genealogy research on the Black, Kent, Apperson, and related families.\u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04","ref_ssm":["viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04"],"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07","parent_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07","parent_ssim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984","Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827/1984"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07"],"title_filing_ssi":"Genealogy Research","title_ssm":["Genealogy Research"],"title_tesim":["Genealogy Research"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Genealogy Research, 1827/1984"],"text":["Genealogy Research, 1827/1984","Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984","Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827/1984","Arranged alphabetically by name of family being researched.","This subseries comprises correspondence, applications to family heritage organizations, and copies of documents regarding genealogy research on the Black, Kent, Apperson, and related families."],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984","Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827/1984"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984","Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827/1984"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1827/1984"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1827-1984"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[2],"sort_isi":125,"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"collection_ssim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":15,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["The collection is open to research."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"date_range_isim":[1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArranged alphabetically by name of family being researched.\u003c/p\u003e"],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement note"],"arrangement_tesim":["Arranged alphabetically by name of family being researched."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis subseries comprises correspondence, applications to family heritage organizations, and copies of documents regarding genealogy research on the Black, Kent, Apperson, and related families.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This subseries comprises correspondence, applications to family heritage organizations, and copies of documents regarding genealogy research on the Black, Kent, Apperson, and related families."],"_nest_path_":"/components#6/components#3","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:29:13.394Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_ssi":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_root_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","_nest_parent_":"viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1290.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers","title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1779-1984"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1779-1984"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1779/1984"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984"],"text":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984","Ms.1974.003","Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)","Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History","The collection is open to research.","Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.","The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers\nSeries II. Black Family Papers\nSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers\nSeries IV. Black Family Business Records\nSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers\nSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers\nSeries VII. Alexander Apperson Papers\nSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks\nSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company\nSeries X. Assorted Papers","In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources\n Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183\n A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995)\n Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183\n \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.","The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).","The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.","See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040","The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and The Christian Union publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.","The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.","This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)","The materials in the collection are in English."],"collection_title_tesim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984"],"collection_ssim":["Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779/1984"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Ms.1974.003"],"unitid_tesim":["Ms.1974.003"],"repository_ssm":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"repository_ssim":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"geogname_ssm":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"geogname_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"places_ssim":["Blacksburg (Va.)","Huntsville (Ala.)","Marion (Va.)"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"creator_corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Apperson family","Black family","Kent family"],"creators_ssim":["Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)","Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family"],"access_terms_ssm":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"acqinfo_ssim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers were donated to Virginia Tech from 1955 to 1990. The American Civil War letters of Harvey Black and the Civil War diaries of John Apperson were donated in 1974."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Civil War","Folk, historical, and patent medicine","Genealogy","Local/Regional History and Appalachian South","Medicine","Medicine, Military -- History","Montgomery County (Va.)","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865","United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Diaries","Women -- History"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"extent_tesim":["ca. 7 Cubic Feet 21 boxes and 1 oversize folder"],"date_range_isim":[1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982,1983,1984],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection is open to research.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["The collection is open to research."],"altformavail_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca show=\"_blank\" href=\"https://digitalsc.lib.vt.edu/collections/show/38\"\u003eSome of this collection has been digitized and is available online.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eA microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library.\u003c/p\u003e "],"altformavail_heading_ssm":["Existence and Location of Copies"],"altformavail_tesim":["Some of this collection has been digitized and is available online.","A microfilm edition of the diary, 1847-1850, of Harvey Black and the American Civil War diaries of John S. Apperson was made by the Library of Virginia in January 1976 and is available at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The Civil War letters of Harvey Black were published in 1995 in a volume edited by Glenn L. McMullen, which is available in the Rare Book Collection and in Newman Library."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries include the following:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u003clist\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VII. Alexander Apperson Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003citem\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers\u003c/item\u003e\n\u003c/list\u003e\u003c/p\u003e "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement"],"arrangement_tesim":["The papers are arranged into series corresponding to the creators of the material and subseries by type of material.","Series include the following:","Series I. Harvey Black Papers\nSeries II. Black Family Papers\nSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers\nSeries IV. Black Family Business Records\nSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers\nSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers\nSeries VII. Alexander Apperson Papers\nSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks\nSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company\nSeries X. Assorted Papers"],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eIn 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eOn August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAfter the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eFrom 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eJohn S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eJohn Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAfter his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eIn 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eHarvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGermanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.\u003c/p\u003e ","\u003clist type=\"ordered\"\u003e\n \u003chead\u003eSources\u003c/head\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eGlenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eA Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995)\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003eBiographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003citem\u003e\"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d.\u003c/item\u003e\n \u003c/list\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Note"],"bioghist_tesim":["In 1889, Elizabeth Black of Blacksburg, Virginia, married John Apperson of Marion, joining the Black and Kent families of Blacksburg with the Apperson family. Elizabeth Black's father Harvey Black and John S. Apperson served together in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade during the American Civil War. Black was a regimental surgeon and Apperson was a hospital steward under his command.","Harvey Black (1827-1888) was a native of Blacksburg and a grandson of town founder John Black. (Harvey Black did not use the e in his given name, but as an adult he regularly signed his name as H. Black and he was almost always identified publicly as Harvey Black.) After attending local schools, he began studying medicine under two local doctors. In 1847, he volunteered to serve in the Mexican War in the 1st Regiment Virginia Volunteers; three months later, he was made a hospital steward. He entered medical school at the University of Virginia in 1848 and graduated in June 1849. That fall, he took a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through the upper Mid-West as far west as Iowa. He decided to settle in Blacksburg and opened a medical practice there in 1852. The same year, he married Mary Kent of Blacksburg.","On August 2, 1861, Harvey Black was appointed regimental surgeon in the 4th Virginia, 1st Brigade, known as the Stonewall Brigade. John Apperson, who had enlisted with the Smyth Blues of Smyth County, Virginia, in April 1861, was appointed hospital steward under the command of Harvey Black in March 1862. Black and Apperson served together with the 4th regiment until late 1862. They provided medical care to the wounded at first Manassas, second Manassas, and the Battle of Fredericksburg. In late 1862, Black was appointed surgeon of the field hospital of the Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, and brought Apperson with him. Both served in this hospital until the end of the war, taking care of recuperating soldiers who were wounded of the Second Corps' major engagements, including the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 and the Spotsylvania Campaign in 1864. Black assisted Hunter Holmes McGuire with the amputation of Stonewall Jackson's arm on May 3, 1863.","After the Civil War, Harvey Black resumed his medical practice in Blacksburg. He was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1872. He played an instrumental role in the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in Blacksburg in 1872. He was the first rector of the Board of Visitors.","From 1786 to 1882, Harvey Black was Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum in Williamsburg. In 1884, he was appointed to the board of a proposed state mental hospital for southwestern Virginia. In 1885, he was elected to represent Montgomery County in the House of Delegates and served two sessions. In the House, he influenced the decision to locate the new hospital in Marion. In 1887, Black became the first superintendent of the new Southwestern State Lunatic Asylum in Marion. He appointed John S. Apperson assistant physician there. Harvey Black died in Richmond in October 1888 and was buried in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.","John S. Apperson (1837-1908) was born in Locust Grove, Virginia, and moved to Smyth County in 1859. He took a job splitting rails and began to study medicine under local physician William Faris. In 1861, Apperson enlisted in the Smyth Blues, organized as Company D, 4th Virginia. After the Civil War, he studied medicine at the University of Virginia, earning a degree in 1867. He returned to Smyth County and married Victoria Hull in 1868. They lived in Chilhowie, and Apperson practiced medicine and farmed. They had seven children.","John Apperson's first wife died in 1887. The same year, he took a job as assistant physician under Harvey Black at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia in Marion. When Harvey Black died in 1888, Apperson resigned his position at the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum and established a medical practice in Marion. In 1889, he married Elizabeth, daughter of his friend and mentor Harvey Black. They had four children: Harvey, Alexander, Kent, and Mary.","After his second marriage, John Apperson pursued a career in business. He was one of eight founders of Staley's Creek Manganese and Iron Company. In 1906, he expanded the operations of the Marion Foundry and Milling Company into the Marion Foundry and Machine Works. He also promoted the building of the Marion and Rye Valley Railroad.","In 1892, the Virginia Board of World's Fair Managers employed Apperson to collect items and transport Virginia exhibits to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. John Apperson died in Marion in 1908. His wife Elizabeth died in Blacksburg in 1942.","Harvey Black Apperson (1890-1948), the oldest child of John Apperson and Elizabeth Black, lived in Salem, Virginia, and practiced law in Roanoke for thirty years. He became active in Democratic Party politics in the 1920s. In a special election in 1933, he was elected to represent Floyd, Franklin, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties and the cities of Radford and Roanoke in the State Senate. He served on the State Corporation Commission from 1944 to 1947 and was Chairman of the Commission from June 1944 to 1947. Governor William Tuck appointed him Attorney General in August 1947, and he took office October 7, 1947. He died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Richmond on February 2, 1948. Alexander Apperson worked at the Marion Foundry and Machine Works for a period and later moved to Birmingham, Alabama.","Germanicus Kent (1791-1861) and Arabella Amiss Kent (1809-1951), parents of Harvey Black's wife Mary, are also documented in this collection. Germanicus Kent was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and attended Yale College. Circa 1822, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a cotton merchant. In 1827, he married Arabella Amiss of Blacksburg. According to a family account, Germanicus Kent left Huntsville in 1834 at the insistence of his brother Aratus Kent, a missionary in Illinois who opposed slavery. Aratus Kent was a founder of Beloit and Rockford colleges in Illinois. The family moved to Illinois in 1834. Lewis Kent (also known as Lewis Lemon), who was enslaved by Germanicus Kent in North Carolina when he was a boy, moved with the family and later purchased his freedom and settled in Iowa. Germanicus Kent is considered a founder of the town of Rockford, Illinois, and served in the Illinois state legislature. Mary Kent, born in 1836, was the first child of European ancestry born in Rockford. The family returned to Arabella's hometown of Blacksburg in 1843.","Sources\n Glenn L. McMullen, \"Tending the Wounded: Two Virginians in the Confederate Medical Corps,\" Virginia Cavalcade, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Spring 1991), 172-183\n A Surgeon with Stonewall Jackson: The Civil War Letters of Dr. Harvey Black, edited by Glenn L. McMullen (Baltimore: Butternut and Blue, 1995)\n Biographical sketches of John S. Apperson by Glenn McMullen and of Harvey Black Apperson, by Crandall Shiflett in John T. Kneebone, J. Jefferson Looney, Brent Tartar, and Sandra Gioia Treadway, eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography, Vol. 1 (The Library of Virginia, 1998), 181-183\n \"Germanicus A. Kent: Founder of Rockford, Illinois,\" published by the Rockford Historical Society, n.d."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\"\u003ehttps://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/\u003c/a\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e "],"odd_heading_ssm":["Rights Statement for Archival Description"],"odd_tesim":["The guide to the Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/)."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.\u003c/p\u003e "],"prefercite_tesim":["Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-003, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThree boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information.\u003c/p\u003e "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["The papers were previously organized into three collections: the Black Family Papers, Ms1974-003; the Apperson Family Papers, Ms1974-017; and the Kent Family Papers, Ms1974-018. They were further processed and merged into one collection in 2002. Additional description was completed in 2021.","Three boxes are unprocessed. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for more information."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1474.xml\"\u003eJames Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_1779.xml\"\u003eElizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2503.xml\"\u003eMedical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e\u003ca target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/VT/repositories_2_resources_2361.xml\"\u003eBell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e "],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Archival Materials"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["See the following materials related to these families, which are also at Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives:","James Randal Kent Papers, Ms1987-031","Elizabeth Kent Adams Papers, Ms1990-045","Medical Bill Signed by Dr. Harvey Black, Ms2009-084","Bell, Kent, Cloyd, Withrow Family Collection, Ms2008-040"],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eDating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGeneral Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026amp; Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSeries X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and \u003cemph render=\"italic\"\u003eThe Christian Union\u003c/emph\u003e publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown.\u003c/p\u003e "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Black, Kent, and Apperson Family Papers, 1779-1984 (bulk 1821-1948) documents the families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection comprises American Civil War letters of Dr. Harvey Black, Civil War diaries of John Apperson, records and correspondence pertaining to nineteenth-century Blacksburg residents Edwin Amiss, his sister Arabella Amiss Kent, and her husband Germanicus Kent, cotton trader and Rockford, Illinois pioneer; and account books, correspondence, and photographs of several members of the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion, Virginia. The collection is divided into the following major series: Harvey Black Papers, Black Family Papers, Germanicus Kent Papers, Black Family Business Records, John S. Apperson Papers, Mary E. Apperson Papers, Alexander Apperson Papers, and Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks.","Series I. Harvey Black Papers, 1847-1888, contains the following subseries: Diaries, Civil War Letters, General Correspondence, Medical Career Records, and Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College. It also includes one photograph, ca. 1865, of Harvey Black.","Dating 1861 to 1864, the Civil War Letters document Black's experiences as a regimental surgeon in the Stonewall Brigade and as surgeon in charge of the Second Corps field hospital. The series comprises letters Black wrote to his wife Mary (Molly) in Blacksburg. Black usually wrote to his wife two to three days after a major battle and reported who, from Blacksburg, had been killed or wounded. He describes the effects of disease on the troops, looking for his brother-in-law Lewis Kent among the Union wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the delirium of Stonewall Jackson as he lay dying at Guinea Station, and the difficulties of keeping his family clothed and fed during the war.","The Diaries consist of a short diary Black kept of his journey from Christiansburg to Mexico to fight in the Mexican War and a diary of a four-month journey, on horseback, from western Virginia through West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Tennessee in the fall of 1849. The Mexican War diary details Black's trip from Christiansburg to Norfolk and eventually Buena Vista, but provides little information about serving in the war. Both diaries contain mainly Black's observations about the towns and cities he passes through. The diary of the trip west compares culture and society in Virginia and the West and references encounters with Virginians who had moved west.","General Correspondence, 1847-1871, comprises two letters Black wrote while he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia, his proposal of marriage to Mary (Molly) Kent, and a folder of letters Black received from family members between 1848 and 1871. One letter describes pioneering in Island County, Washington Territory, in 1853; and two letters from Virginia State Senator John Penn regard the establishment of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, forerunner of Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg.","The Medical Career Records, dating 1848 to 1888, documents Harvey Black's medical career before and after the Civil War and letters of recommendation for the position of Superintendent of the Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia and the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia. This series also contains an 1887 annual report for the Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia.","The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College Records span the years 1870 to 1873. This small series consists of a subscription list for the Preston and Olin Institute, an early history of the founding of the Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, and certificates of appointment to the college's Board of Visitors.","Series II. Black Family Papers, 1779-1911 (bulk 1845-1911): Materials include an 1845 bill of sale for an enslaved girl named Adaline; an 1856 letter from Charles to Alexander Black; photographs of Alexander Black, Kent Black, and Kent's wife Mary Bell Black; a 1911 letter from Mary Kent to her children; and a quilt given to Kent Black by his medical patients, ca. 1890. Additionally, the series has the wedding register of Mary and Kent Black and an invitation to the 1885 Blacksburg Grand Annual Ball.","Series III. Germanicus Kent Papers, 1818-1899: The series comprises Germanicus Kent's cotton books and correspondence with his sons Lewis and John, his brother Aratus Kent, and his brother-in- law Edwin Amiss. The cotton books document Kent's experience as a cotton merchant based in Huntsville, Alabama, 1821 to 1823. They provide lists of cotton prices and copies of correspondence to clients in Nashville and New Orleans. The correspondence describes life in Blacksburg in the 1830s, the Kent family's decision to settle in Virginia after living in Illinois, and Kent's business investments in the west and in Blacksburg. Letters from Edwin Amiss to Arabella and Germanicus Kent pertain to Arabella Kent continuing to enslave people by inheriting her mother's estate. An 1860 letter from Germanicus Kent to Aratus Kent discusses Germanicus Kent's desire to establish contact with the man he formerly enslaved Lewis Lemon Kent, then living in Iowa.","Series IV. Black Family Business Records, 1832-1924: Account books for mercantile establishments in Blacksburg make up the bulk of this series.. It also contains an account book for A.W. Luster; a 1908 inventory for W. Stone \u0026 Son; and a copy of an undated newspaper advertisement for A. Black and Company.","Series V. John S. Apperson Papers, 1858-1915: John Apperson's Civil War Diary is the centerpiece. The diary consist of Apperson's account of his journey, in 1859, from his home in Locust Grove, Virginia to Smyth County in Southwest Virginia. In the Civil War diaries, he describes medical care of soldiers and lists monthly figures of wounded and dead for the Second Corps field hospital. He discusses going onto the battlefield after the fighting stopped at First Manassas, the scene on the morning of the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862; performing his first amputation; and his efforts to continue his medical education during the Civil War. Additionally, this series contains correspondence about Apperson's business career, 1900 and 1910, a catalog for the Marion Foundry and Machine Works, and photographs of John Apperson, Elizabeth Black, and their children.","Series VI. Mary E. Apperson Papers, 1889-1977, and Series VII. Alexander Apperson Papers, 1827-1984: Research files on the Black, Kent, and Apperson families of Blacksburg and Marion compose the bulk of these two series. Materials also include publications pertaining to family history; correspondence with the Rockford, Illinois Historical Society regarding research on Germanicus Kent; correspondence related to other genealogy research; the recollections of Elizabeth Black Apperson about Blacksburg history and buildings; family photographs and a photograph, ca. 1900, of the Alexander Black house in Blacksburg; and family artifacts.","Series VIII. Harvey B. Apperson Political Scrapbooks, 1933-1950: The scrapbooks largely consist of newspaper clippings detailing Harvey B. Apperson's political career and Democratic Party politics in the Roanoke area in the 1930s and in Richmond in the 1940s. Additionally, there are letters and telegrams of congratulation Apperson received when he was appointed Attorney General of Virginia in 1947, telegrams and letters of condolence his wife received upon his death four months later, photographs, and political ephemera.","Series IX. Blacksburg Mining and Manufacturing Company, 1826-1965: Legal documents and correspondence pertain to the division of proceeds of mining investments among the Apperson descendants of Harvey Black. The series also contains maps of Black and Apperson property in Blacksburg, ca. 1949.","Series X. Assorted Papers, 1872, 1912: The last series includes two items, the Louise Caton Travel Diary, 1912, and The Christian Union publication, 1872. The diary of Louise Caton's four-month tour of Europe in 1912 describes her voyage from New York to Genoa on the Laxmia and from Liverpool back to New York on the Celtic. The relationship of Louise Caton to the Black, Kent, and Apperson families is unknown."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eReproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuareproduction\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuareproduction\u003c/a\u003e. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: \u003ca href=\"http://bit.ly/scuapublication\"\u003ehttp://bit.ly/scuapublication\u003c/a\u003e. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.\u003c/p\u003e "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use"],"userestrict_tesim":["The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.","Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form."],"abstract_html_tesm":["\u003cabstract id=\"aspace_36b4a62ab56ab232aa259e6ea40349e2\" label=\"Abstract\"\u003eThis collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson.\u003c/abstract\u003e\n "],"abstract_tesim":["This collection contains the papers and artifacts of an interrelated family prominent in Blacksburg's history. It includes the American Civil War letters of Confederate surgeon Dr. Harvey Black, the Civil War diary of hospital steward John S. Apperson, cotton books and correspondence of Germanicus Kent, nineteenth-century account books of a Blacksburg general store, 1912 European travel diary, and the political scrapbooks of State Senator and Attorney General Harvey B. Apperson."],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son"],"names_coll_ssim":["A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"famname_ssim":["Apperson family","Black family","Kent family"],"persname_ssim":["Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech","A. W. Luster","Confederate States of America. Army. Stonewall Brigade","Eastern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia","Marion Foundry and Machine Works (Marion, Va.)","Preston and Olin Institute (Blacksburg, Va.)","Southwestern Lunatic Asylum of Virginia (1887-1935)","Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (1872-1896)","W. Stone \u0026 Son","Apperson family","Black family","Kent family","Amiss, Edwin","Apperson, Alex","Apperson, Elizabeth Black","Apperson, Harvey Black, 1890-1948","Apperson, John Samuel, 1837-1904","Apperson, Mary","Black, Harvey, 1827-1888","Black, Kent, active 1876-1890","Black, Mary Kent, b.1836","Caton, Louise","Kent, Germanicus, 1791-1862","Lemon, Lewis","Kent, Lewis (enslaved person)"],"language_ssim":["The materials in the collection are in English."],"descrules_ssm":["Describing Archives: A Content Standard"],"total_component_count_is":172,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:29:13.394Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viblbv_repositories_2_resources_1290_c07_c04"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"George B. Austin, 1848/1888","abstract_or_scope":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06#abstract_or_scope","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":"\u003cp\u003e14 items.\u003c/p\u003e","label":"Abstract Or Scope"}},"breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01","parent_ssim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939","Series 1: Letters, 1765/1939","Subseries 1.1: Letters to, from, or about the Austin Family, 1800/1888"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_392","viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01","viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01"],"title_filing_ssi":"George B. Austin","title_ssm":["George B. Austin"],"title_tesim":["George B. Austin"],"normalized_title_ssm":["George B. Austin, 1848/1888"],"text":["George B. Austin, 1848/1888","Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939","Series 1: Letters, 1765/1939","Subseries 1.1: Letters to, from, or about the Austin Family, 1800/1888","14 items."],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939","Series 1: Letters, 1765/1939","Subseries 1.1: Letters to, from, or about the Austin Family, 1800/1888"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939","Series 1: Letters, 1765/1939","Subseries 1.1: Letters to, from, or about the Austin Family, 1800/1888"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1848/1888"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1848-1888 and undated"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":21,"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":1,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"date_range_isim":[1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003e14 items.\u003c/p\u003e"],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["14 items."],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#0/components#5","timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:02:25.478Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_392","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WM/repositories_2_resources_392.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Austin-Twyman Papers","title_ssm":["Austin-Twyman Papers"],"title_tesim":["Austin-Twyman Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1765-1939"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1765-1939"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1765/1939"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939"],"text":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939","Mss. 69 Au7","/repositories/2/resources/392","Amherst County (Va.)--History--19th century","Buckingham County (Va.)--History--19th century","Legal documents","Medicine--Practice--Virginia","Medicine--Study and teaching--Virginia","Slavery--Virginia--19th century","Slavery--Virginia--History--19th century","Slaves--United States--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Social conditions","United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865","United States--History--War of 1812","Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates","Account books","Correspondence","Manuscripts (document genre)","10,764.00 items","Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.","Organization: This collection is organized into 5 series: Series 1 contains letters, Series 2 contains the James River and Kanawha Company papers, Series 3 contains accounts and legal papers, Series 4 contains genealogical material, and Series 5 contains manuscript volumes. Arrangement: This collection is arranged into series and then subseries. These subseries are arranged by family names, then by individual name and finally by date. Also available on microfilm University Publications of America.","Additional information may be found at: http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00045.frame","When available, microfilm, photocopies, digital surrogates, or other reproductions must be used in place of original documents.","Papers, 1765 (1800-1890) 1939, of the Austin, Twyman, Spiller and Horsley families of Amherst and Buckingham counties, Virginia.","The papers include correspondence, accounts, legal papers and manuscript volumes. Includes papers of Archibald Austin (1772-1837), member of Congress, 1817-1819, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1815-1816, 1835-1837, his wife, Grace R. (Booker) Austin and their children, James M. Austin, John Austin and Bernard Austin, Grace Austin and Frances (Austin) Wright.","Correspondents of Archibald Austin include William H. Cabell, Walter L. Fontaine, Charles Yancey, Waller Taylor, George Booker, and Robert T. Hubard.","Subjects include the War of 1812, national politics and the business of the Virginia General Assembly. Papers include correspondence of Archibald Austin's son-in-law, Doctor Iverson Lewis Twyman (1810-1864) who married first, Mary Lavinia Horsley and second, Martha E. Austin. His correspondence concerns slavery, farm management, the study and practice of medicine and the education of his children whose letters are also part of the collection. His children were Iverson Lewis Twyman (1849-1921), John Austin Twyman, Superintendent of Schools in Buckingham County, Samuel Rogers Twyman (concerning Twyman genealogy), Augusta Giles Twyman and Mabel Booker Twyman.","Austin twyman papers collection 1765-1865 Amherst and Buckingham Counties is available on 35 reels of microform in Swem Library's Microforms area call number HD1471 .U5 R43","Papers also contain a few items concerning the Horsley family and much correspondence and many accounts of James Madison Spiller, a friend of Dr. Iverson Lewis Twyman and the father-in-law of Iverson Lewis Twyman, Jr. The collection includes several items relating to Peter Francisco, Revolutionary War hero; materials relating to the James River and Kanawha Canal; letters pertaining to the Civil War; accounts and legal documents concerning Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Botetourt, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Goochland, King and Queen, Nelson, Powhatan and Prince Edward Counties; genealogical materials relating to the Austin, Booker, Byrd, Clark, Gaines, Lewis, Montague, Rogers, Twyman and Walker families; and miscellaneous material consisting of poetry, religious manuscripts, recipes, memoranda and photographs.","Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.","Special Collections Research Center","James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)","Horsley family","Spiller family","Austin family","Twyman family","Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939"],"collection_ssim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, 1765/1939"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Mss. 69 Au7","/repositories/2/resources/392"],"unitid_tesim":["Mss. 69 Au7","/repositories/2/resources/392"],"repository_ssm":["College of William and Mary"],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"geogname_ssm":["Amherst County (Va.)--History--19th century","Buckingham County (Va.)--History--19th century"],"geogname_ssim":["Amherst County (Va.)--History--19th century","Buckingham County (Va.)--History--19th century"],"places_ssim":["Amherst County (Va.)--History--19th century","Buckingham County (Va.)--History--19th century"],"creator_ssm":["Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Horsley family","Spiller family"],"creator_ssim":["Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Horsley family","Spiller family"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831"],"creator_corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Horsley family","Spiller family","Austin family","Twyman family"],"creators_ssim":["Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831","Special Collections Research Center","James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)","Horsley family","Spiller family","Austin family","Twyman family"],"access_terms_ssm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"acqinfo_ssim":["Purchased: 10,706 items, 1969."],"access_subjects_ssim":["Legal documents","Medicine--Practice--Virginia","Medicine--Study and teaching--Virginia","Slavery--Virginia--19th century","Slavery--Virginia--History--19th century","Slaves--United States--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Social conditions","United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865","United States--History--War of 1812","Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates","Account books","Correspondence","Manuscripts (document genre)"],"access_subjects_ssm":["Legal documents","Medicine--Practice--Virginia","Medicine--Study and teaching--Virginia","Slavery--Virginia--19th century","Slavery--Virginia--History--19th century","Slaves--United States--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Correspondence","Slaves--Virginia--Social conditions","United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865","United States--History--War of 1812","Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates","Account books","Correspondence","Manuscripts (document genre)"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["10,764.00 items"],"extent_ssm":["27.50 Linear Feet"],"extent_tesim":["27.50 Linear Feet"],"genreform_ssim":["Account books","Correspondence","Manuscripts (document genre)"],"date_range_isim":[1765,1766,1767,1768,1769,1770,1771,1772,1773,1774,1775,1776,1777,1778,1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access:"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eOrganization: This collection is organized into 5 series: Series 1 contains letters, Series 2 contains the James River and Kanawha Company papers, Series 3 contains accounts and legal papers, Series 4 contains genealogical material, and Series 5 contains manuscript volumes. Arrangement: This collection is arranged into series and then subseries. These subseries are arranged by family names, then by individual name and finally by date. Also available on microfilm University Publications of America.\u003c/p\u003e "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement of Materials:"],"arrangement_tesim":["Organization: This collection is organized into 5 series: Series 1 contains letters, Series 2 contains the James River and Kanawha Company papers, Series 3 contains accounts and legal papers, Series 4 contains genealogical material, and Series 5 contains manuscript volumes. Arrangement: This collection is arranged into series and then subseries. These subseries are arranged by family names, then by individual name and finally by date. Also available on microfilm University Publications of America."],"odd_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eAdditional information may be found at: http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00045.frame\u003c/p\u003e "],"odd_heading_ssm":["General"],"odd_tesim":["Additional information may be found at: http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/wm/viw00045.frame"],"phystech_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eWhen available, microfilm, photocopies, digital surrogates, or other reproductions must be used in place of original documents.\u003c/p\u003e "],"phystech_heading_ssm":["Physical Characteristics or Technical Requirements:"],"phystech_tesim":["When available, microfilm, photocopies, digital surrogates, or other reproductions must be used in place of original documents."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eAustin-Twyman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.\u003c/p\u003e "],"prefercite_tesim":["Austin-Twyman Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers, 1765 (1800-1890) 1939, of the Austin, Twyman, Spiller and Horsley families of Amherst and Buckingham counties, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe papers include correspondence, accounts, legal papers and manuscript volumes. Includes papers of Archibald Austin (1772-1837), member of Congress, 1817-1819, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1815-1816, 1835-1837, his wife, Grace R. (Booker) Austin and their children, James M. Austin, John Austin and Bernard Austin, Grace Austin and Frances (Austin) Wright.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eCorrespondents of Archibald Austin include William H. Cabell, Walter L. Fontaine, Charles Yancey, Waller Taylor, George Booker, and Robert T. Hubard.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eSubjects include the War of 1812, national politics and the business of the Virginia General Assembly. Papers include correspondence of Archibald Austin's son-in-law, Doctor Iverson Lewis Twyman (1810-1864) who married first, Mary Lavinia Horsley and second, Martha E. Austin. His correspondence concerns slavery, farm management, the study and practice of medicine and the education of his children whose letters are also part of the collection. His children were Iverson Lewis Twyman (1849-1921), John Austin Twyman, Superintendent of Schools in Buckingham County, Samuel Rogers Twyman (concerning Twyman genealogy), Augusta Giles Twyman and Mabel Booker Twyman.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eAustin twyman papers collection 1765-1865 Amherst and Buckingham Counties is available on 35 reels of microform in Swem Library's Microforms area call number HD1471 .U5 R43\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003ePapers also contain a few items concerning the Horsley family and much correspondence and many accounts of James Madison Spiller, a friend of Dr. Iverson Lewis Twyman and the father-in-law of Iverson Lewis Twyman, Jr. The collection includes several items relating to Peter Francisco, Revolutionary War hero; materials relating to the James River and Kanawha Canal; letters pertaining to the Civil War; accounts and legal documents concerning Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Botetourt, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Goochland, King and Queen, Nelson, Powhatan and Prince Edward Counties; genealogical materials relating to the Austin, Booker, Byrd, Clark, Gaines, Lewis, Montague, Rogers, Twyman and Walker families; and miscellaneous material consisting of poetry, religious manuscripts, recipes, memoranda and photographs.\u003c/p\u003e "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["Papers, 1765 (1800-1890) 1939, of the Austin, Twyman, Spiller and Horsley families of Amherst and Buckingham counties, Virginia.","The papers include correspondence, accounts, legal papers and manuscript volumes. Includes papers of Archibald Austin (1772-1837), member of Congress, 1817-1819, member of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1815-1816, 1835-1837, his wife, Grace R. (Booker) Austin and their children, James M. Austin, John Austin and Bernard Austin, Grace Austin and Frances (Austin) Wright.","Correspondents of Archibald Austin include William H. Cabell, Walter L. Fontaine, Charles Yancey, Waller Taylor, George Booker, and Robert T. Hubard.","Subjects include the War of 1812, national politics and the business of the Virginia General Assembly. Papers include correspondence of Archibald Austin's son-in-law, Doctor Iverson Lewis Twyman (1810-1864) who married first, Mary Lavinia Horsley and second, Martha E. Austin. His correspondence concerns slavery, farm management, the study and practice of medicine and the education of his children whose letters are also part of the collection. His children were Iverson Lewis Twyman (1849-1921), John Austin Twyman, Superintendent of Schools in Buckingham County, Samuel Rogers Twyman (concerning Twyman genealogy), Augusta Giles Twyman and Mabel Booker Twyman.","Austin twyman papers collection 1765-1865 Amherst and Buckingham Counties is available on 35 reels of microform in Swem Library's Microforms area call number HD1471 .U5 R43","Papers also contain a few items concerning the Horsley family and much correspondence and many accounts of James Madison Spiller, a friend of Dr. Iverson Lewis Twyman and the father-in-law of Iverson Lewis Twyman, Jr. The collection includes several items relating to Peter Francisco, Revolutionary War hero; materials relating to the James River and Kanawha Canal; letters pertaining to the Civil War; accounts and legal documents concerning Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Botetourt, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Goochland, King and Queen, Nelson, Powhatan and Prince Edward Counties; genealogical materials relating to the Austin, Booker, Byrd, Clark, Gaines, Lewis, Montague, Rogers, Twyman and Walker families; and miscellaneous material consisting of poetry, religious manuscripts, recipes, memoranda and photographs."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBefore reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.\u003c/p\u003e "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use:"],"userestrict_tesim":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)"],"names_coll_ssim":["James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)","Austin family","Twyman family","Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831"],"famname_ssim":["Horsley family","Spiller family","Austin family","Twyman family"],"persname_ssim":["Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","James River and Kanawha Canal (Va.)","Horsley family","Spiller family","Austin family","Twyman family","Austin, Archibald, 1772-1837","Francisco, Peter, d. 1831"],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":571,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:02:25.478Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_392_c01_c01_c06"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler, Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard, 1881/1926","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c28","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c28"],"title_filing_ssi":"G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler,\n Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard","title_ssm":["G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler, Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard"],"title_tesim":["G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler, Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard"],"normalized_title_ssm":["G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler, Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard, 1881/1926"],"text":["G. Foremen's; includes foremen E.\n Bateman, P. H. McKinney, F. M. Turner, W. O.\n Fridley, George K. Anderson, Jr., Mr. Hepler, Floyd Paxton, C. C. Weikel, and J. F.\n Dillard, 1881/1926","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books","16 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Time Books"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1881/1926"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1881-1926"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":155,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["16 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"date_range_isim":[1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#27/components#6","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"access_terms_ssm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n 1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n \u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c28_c07"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records, 1880/1920","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c21","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c21"],"title_filing_ssi":"G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records","title_ssm":["G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records"],"title_tesim":["G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records"],"normalized_title_ssm":["G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records, 1880/1920"],"text":["G. Miscellaneous; includes one volume\n of Covington records, 1880/1920","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books","13 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Payroll Books"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1880/1920"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1880-1920"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":116,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["13 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"date_range_isim":[1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#20/components#6","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"access_terms_ssm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n 1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n \u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c21_c07"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"Grigsby Family, 1880/1889","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04","parent_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04"],"title_filing_ssi":"Grigsby Family","title_ssm":["Grigsby Family"],"title_tesim":["Grigsby Family"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Grigsby Family, 1880/1889"],"text":["Grigsby Family, 1880/1889","Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Series 4: Grigsby and Galt Family Photographs"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1880/1889"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["circa 1880-1889"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[2],"sort_isi":365,"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":2,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"date_range_isim":[1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889],"_nest_path_":"/components#3/components#1","timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:04:30.136Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_8766","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/oai/WM/repositories_2_resources_8766.xml","title_filing_ssi":"Grigsby-Galt Papers","title_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers"],"title_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers"],"unitdate_ssm":["1736-1982","1840-1930"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1736-1982"],"unitdate_bulk_ssim":["1840-1930"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"text":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930","Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766","Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century","College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards","Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.","Mss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt.","The collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient.","Captain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: .","Arranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.","Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson.","Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).","Many collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026 Mary College collections.","The Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b).","This collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.","The collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.","Both these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers.","The Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.","Gift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt.","Artifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.","The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately.","Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.","Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881","English Spanish;Castilian"],"collection_title_tesim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"collection_ssim":["Grigsby-Galt Papers, 1736/1982, bulk 1840/1930"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766"],"unitid_tesim":["Mss. Acc. 2009.308","/repositories/2/resources/8766"],"repository_ssm":["College of William and Mary"],"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"geogname_ssm":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"geogname_ssim":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"places_ssim":["Charlotte County (Va.)--History--19th century","Japan--Description and travel","Virginia--Genealogy","Virginia--History--19th century","Virginia--Social life and customs--19th century"],"creator_ssm":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_persname_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"creator_corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster"],"creator_famname_ssim":["Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"creators_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881","Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"access_terms_ssm":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"acqinfo_ssim":["Gift"],"access_subjects_ssim":["College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"access_subjects_ssm":["College of William and Mary--History--19th century","Farms--Virginia--History--19th century","Genealogy","Indians of North America","Legal documents","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898","Manila Bay, Battle of, Philippines, 1898--Pictorial works","Norfolk (Va.)--History--19th century","Report cards","Spanish-American War, 1898","Tobacco farmers--Virginia","United States. Navy","United States. Navy--History--19th century","United States. Navy--History--20th century","Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"extent_ssm":["16.75 Linear Feet"],"extent_tesim":["16.75 Linear Feet"],"genreform_ssim":["Cabinet photographs","Carte de visite photographs","Certificates","Clippings (information artifacts)","Correspondence","Financial records","Genealogical tables","Greeting cards","Letters (correspondence)","Manuscripts for publication","Marriage certificates","Photographs","Poems","Postcards","Receipts (financial records)","Speeches","Stock certificates","Visiting cards"],"date_range_isim":[1736,1737,1738,1739,1740,1741,1742,1743,1744,1745,1746,1747,1748,1749,1750,1751,1752,1753,1754,1755,1756,1757,1758,1759,1760,1761,1762,1763,1764,1765,1766,1767,1768,1769,1770,1771,1772,1773,1774,1775,1776,1777,1778,1779,1780,1781,1782,1783,1784,1785,1786,1787,1788,1789,1790,1791,1792,1793,1794,1795,1796,1797,1798,1799,1800,1801,1802,1803,1804,1805,1806,1807,1808,1809,1810,1811,1812,1813,1814,1815,1816,1817,1818,1819,1820,1821,1822,1823,1824,1825,1826,1827,1828,1829,1830,1831,1832,1833,1834,1835,1836,1837,1838,1839,1840,1841,1842,1843,1844,1845,1846,1847,1848,1849,1850,1851,1852,1853,1854,1855,1856,1857,1858,1859,1860,1861,1862,1863,1864,1865,1866,1867,1868,1869,1870,1871,1872,1873,1874,1875,1876,1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918,1919,1920,1921,1922,1923,1924,1925,1926,1927,1928,1929,1930,1931,1932,1933,1934,1935,1936,1937,1938,1939,1940,1941,1942,1943,1944,1945,1946,1947,1948,1949,1950,1951,1952,1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1960,1961,1962,1963,1964,1965,1966,1967,1968,1969,1970,1971,1972,1973,1974,1975,1976,1977,1978,1979,1980,1981,1982],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCollection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Access:"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility."],"accruals_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eMss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt.\u003c/p\u003e "],"accruals_heading_ssm":["Accruals:"],"accruals_tesim":["Mss. Acc. 2011.269 addition given as a gift by William R. Galt."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient.\u003c/p\u003e "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Arrangement of Materials:"],"arrangement_tesim":["The collection has been divided into Series 1, Galt Family; Series 2, Grigsby Family; Series 3 for material from both families; and Series 4 for photographs from both families. Series 1, Galt Family, includes most of the correspondence from the Galt Family and is filed in chronological order, regardless of recipient."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eCaptain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: \u003cextref href=\"http://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/William_W._Galt\" title=\"William W. Galt\"\u003e\u003c/extref\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical Information:"],"bioghist_tesim":["Captain William W. Galt (1852-1934) was a direct descendent of John Minson Galt, the senior surgeon at the Battle of Yorktown and founder of the insane asylum in Williamsburg. Captain Galt's application for the position of Assistant Paymaster with the US Navy was dated March 20, 1876. He reached the ranks of Paymaster by 1893 when he was dispatched for duty to Norfolk. He served in the Navy for 50 years and won a promotion from Congress to Captain. He married Mary Blair Grigsby and they had six children. Mrs. Galt was the daughter of Hugh Blair Grigsby, Chancellor of The College of William and Mary from 1871 to 1881. Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: ."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson.\u003c/p\u003e "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information:"],"processinfo_tesim":["Arranged and described by Jeffrey Flanagan, SCRC staff in September 2009-February 2010.","Processing completed in late 2010 and early 2011 by Anne Johnson."],"relatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eHugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eMany collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026amp; Mary College collections.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b).\u003c/p\u003e "],"relatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Related Materials:"],"relatedmaterial_tesim":["Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss. 95 G87).","Many collections concerning various branches of the Galt Family are part of the Special Collections Research Center. Hugh Blair Grigsby documents also appear in William \u0026 Mary College collections.","The Virginia Historical Society has a large Grigsby Family collection: Hugh Blair Grigsby Papers (Mss 1 G8782 b)."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThis collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eBoth these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers. \u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eThe Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003eGift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt.\u003c/p\u003e "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Contents"],"scopecontent_tesim":["This collection contains the family papers of members of the Grigsby and Galt Families. Mary Blair Grigsby married William W. Galt in 1881. The collection contains papers of various members of the Grigsby family, particulary Hugh Blair Grigsby who was a historian and Chancellor of The College of William and Mary and his son, Hugh Carrington Grigsby who lived his entire life at the family farm, Edgehill, in Charlotte County, Virginia.","The collection also contains the personal papers and some navy material of William W. Galt, U. S. Navy Paymaster and author of a book on the Battle of Manila Bay. Extensive correspondence to and from all the members of his family is included.","Both these groups contain correspondence, genealogy, financial papers and personal papers.","The Galt Family resided in Norfolk, Virginia and the Grigsby Family at Edgehill, Drakes Branch, Charlotte County, Virginia.","Gift of the Zimermann family of Susan Galt, daughter of William W. Galt."],"separatedmaterial_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eArtifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.\u003c/p\u003e","\u003cp\u003e The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately.\u003c/p\u003e "],"separatedmaterial_heading_ssm":["Separated Materials:"],"separatedmaterial_tesim":["Artifacts have been removed from the collection and filed in the Mss. Artifact Collection.","The collection contains moldy material and is shelved separately."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBefore reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.\u003c/p\u003e "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Conditions Governing Use:"],"userestrict_tesim":["Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library."],"corpname_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster"],"names_coll_ssim":["Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"famname_ssim":["Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family"],"persname_ssim":["Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"names_ssim":["Special Collections Research Center","Eastern Publishing Co","United States. Navy. Office of the Paymaster","Carrington family","Galt family","Garland family","Grigsby family","Galt, William Richard, 1818-1892","Grigsby, Hugh Blair, 1806-1881"],"language_ssim":["English Spanish;Castilian"],"total_component_count_is":384,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T23:04:30.136Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_8766_c04_c02"}},{"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces, 1877/1918","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07","ref_ssm":["viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07"],"id":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssi":"viu_viu00917_c01_c12","parent_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viu_viu00917","viu_viu00917_c01","viu_viu00917_c01_c12"],"title_filing_ssi":"G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces","title_ssm":["G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces"],"title_tesim":["G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces"],"normalized_title_ssm":["G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces, 1877/1918"],"text":["G. Shipments-Low Moor\n Furnaces, 1877/1918","Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig","9 volumes"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","Bound Volumes","Iron, Ore \u0026 Pig"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1877/1918"],"unitdate_other_ssim":["1877-1918"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":57,"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"physdesc_tesim":["9 volumes"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":0,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"parent_access_terms_tesm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"date_range_isim":[1877,1878,1879,1880,1881,1882,1883,1884,1885,1886,1887,1888,1889,1890,1891,1892,1893,1894,1895,1896,1897,1898,1899,1900,1901,1902,1903,1904,1905,1906,1907,1908,1909,1910,1911,1912,1913,1914,1915,1916,1917,1918],"_nest_path_":"/components#0/components#11/components#6","timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z","collection":{"numFound":1,"start":0,"numFoundExact":true,"docs":[{"id":"viu_viu00917","ead_ssi":"viu_viu00917","_root_":"viu_viu00917","_nest_parent_":"viu_viu00917","ead_source_url_ssi":"data/uva-sc/viu00917.xml","title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"text":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927","662","95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes","Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections.","The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.","The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.","The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.","By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.","The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.","See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.","English"],"collection_title_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"collection_ssim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company \n 1873-1927"],"level_ssm":["collection"],"level_ssim":["Collection"],"unitid_ssm":["662"],"unitid_tesim":["662"],"repository_ssm":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"repository_ssim":["University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept."],"access_terms_ssm":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"acqinfo_ssim":["This collection was purchased from Green Bookman in\n 1939."],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"physdesc_tesim":["95 linear feer + 1200\n volumes"],"accessrestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eStored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections. \n\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"accessrestrict_heading_ssm":["Access Restrictions"],"accessrestrict_tesim":["Stored off-site. Users must request boxes 48 hours in advance of desired use. Neither drop-in nor next-day requests can be fulfilled. For additional information, contact Special Collections."],"arrangement_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAs noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThese steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eSome consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eA certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"arrangement_heading_ssm":["Organization"],"arrangement_tesim":["The word \"organization\" is used here with considerable\n diffidence, for any researcher studying the container list\n that follows will realize quickly that there is no\n organization in the usual sense of the word.","As noted under \"Provenance,\" the Low Moor Iron Company\n papers were subjected to a number of moves; when processing\n began in the fall of 1976, no discernible scheme of\n organization could be determined.","The first step was to review the series of coded numbers\n placed on the bundles of papers before they were moved to\n the dormitory attic, but these did not provide any sort of\n useful organization. Next, the spine titles of the original\n letter boxes were reviewed (they had been copied onto the\n gray cardboard sheets before the move to the dormitory\n attic), but they, too, proved useless.","These steps having provided no scheme, and after a\n considerable hiatus due to a turnover in student processors\n on the collection, the new student processors were\n instructed to begin a box-by-box inventory of the contents\n of the collection. During this inventory, old folders were\n replaced with acid-free ones, and the original folder\n headings were copied onto the new ones. Some removal of\n paper clips was accomplished, and the materials were\n reviewed and notes taken for the guide.","Some consolidation of materials was accomplished, and in\n other cases, materials were moved. This work has created\n some problems in the numbering of the boxes. Thus, the\n researchers will find boxes marked \"6A\" and \"23C\"; he will\n also discover that certain box numbers have been entirely\n omitted. As the box numbers exist only to aid in the\n location of material, it was not felt that the unusual\n numbers and the omissions would cause problems in working\n with the papers.","A certain amount of movement of boxes within the\n collection, and of materials among boxes, probably would\n ease use of it. But what processing was accomplished on\n this project took far longer than had been anticipated, and\n there was no time in the late spring of 1978, when the\n processors had to complete their work with the project, to\n undertake a mass movement of material. Thus, they stand in\n the order in which we found them at the beginning of the\n project."],"bioghist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eCoal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026amp; O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026amp; O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n \u003cblockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo Mr. George Wickes \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eSupt. of Mines \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eKay Moor, Virginia \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDear George, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eTony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSigned, \n \u003clb\u003e\u003c/lb\u003eEd D. Wickes Supt. of Mines\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/blockquote\u003eLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhen America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eWhy did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n \u003cbibref type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003e\u003ctitle type=\"simple\" href=\"\"\u003eManufacturers Record\u003c/title\u003e\u003c/bibref\u003edated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eDuring the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eLow Moor Iron Company Personnel:\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eExecutive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFactory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"bioghist_heading_ssm":["Biographical/Historical Information"],"bioghist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company, the first producer of pig\n iron in Virginia according to the company's claims, was a\n self-contained manufacturing unit producing from its own\n mines the coal, limestone, and iron ore needed for its iron\n production. Located in Low Moor near Clifton Forge in\n Alleghany County in western Virginia, an area rich in\n mineral deposits, the company was in operation from\n 1872-1930, producing only pig iron; it never attempted to\n produce finished iron products.","Coal came to the Low Moor furnaces from the Kay Moor\n Mines at Kay Moor, West Virginia, about thirty miles from\n Low Moor; limestone was produced from the Low Moor\n limestone quarries; and iron ore came from the Fenwick,\n Dolly Ann, Jordan, Rich Patch, Low Moor, and Longdale\n Mines, most of them within twenty miles of Low Moor at\n Covington or Clifton Forge.","The towns of Low Moor and Kay Moor were company towns in\n every respect. Workers lived in company-owned houses,\n bought food in company stores, worshiped at the company\n church, saw movies in the company theater, were treated in\n the company hospital, and were buried in the company\n cemetery. Workers received part of their pay in scrip that\n they exchanged for goods and services. According to a\n statement from the Kay Moor Mines dated November 1904, Kay\n Moor then employed 338 people, paid them an average wage of\n $36.26 per month, and issued half of their pay in scrip.\n Kay Moor had four stores; Low Moor had seven or eight. All\n of these stores carried large inventories which are\n detailed in the collection. These inventories are valuable\n to anyone interested in determining the wants and needs of\n a coal miner and his family.","In the late 1910's and 1920's Kay Moor had a company\n theater called the Azure Theater which seated about 300\n people. There were also plans for a company-owned social\n center, to have pool tables, a soda fountain, and\n provisions for dancing and skating. The company was in\n tough economic straits by the 1920's, however, and there is\n no evidence that the social center was built. The town of\n Low Moor was so completely under the company's influence\n that one of Low Moor Iron Company's assistant managers\n served as the town sheriff. He often foreclosed on people\n who did not pay their debts, and drove troublesome people\n \"out of town on a rail\" as he put it.","The Low Moor Iron Company's fortunes fluctuated during\n the various business cycles between the years 1880-1930.\n Low Moor was one of the larger pig iron producers in\n Virginia, but Virginia pig iron production was not\n important nationally. Low Moor officials sometimes sold\n their product themselves, but more often they used agents,\n the prevalent method at the time. Low Moor Iron Company\n used a variety of agents through the 1900's. James F. Bryan\n acted as the exclusive agent for the sale of Kay Moor Coal\n from September 21, 1903 to September, 1905. From about 1890\n until about 1910 Dalton Nash and Company were the exclusive\n eastern agents of Low Moor Iron. After that time the\n exclusive agency went to Philips Isham and Company located\n in New York. From about 1890 the western agency was handled\n chiefly by Thomas Mack and Company. After 1902 Thomas Mack\n and Company underwent a name change, becoming Walter\n Wallingford and Company, with offices located in\n Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chicago.","Perhaps the Low Moor Iron Company's biggest problem over\n the years was obtaining railroad cars for the\n transportation of its finished product. Low Moor Iron\n Company had its own cars for transporting its raw materials\n among its various facilities. For the long haul necessary\n for its finished goods, however, it depended upon the\n services of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the\n relationship was not always a happy one. The Low Moor\n Company complained many times to the C \u0026 O Railroad\n about the discrepancies between long-and shorthaul freight\n rates. Low Moor also had trouble getting cars from the C\n \u0026 O. In a letter to one of Low Moor Company's agents\n from an irate customer dated 1898, the customer wrote: \"We\n wrote you on Saturday and endeavored to question upon your\n mind the necessity of taking care of us with Low Moor iron.\n We are on our uppers--there is not a pound of Low Moor iron\n in the yard. Of the one hundred tons ordered some time ago,\n not one pound of it has been received.\" This was, according\n to the Low Moor Iron Company, because they could not get\n the railroad cars. In a letter from Thomas Mack and Company\n dated November 26, 1901, to General Manager E. C. Means:\n \"We are hopeful that the car supply will get better because\n of the number of orders you have of ours for prompt\n shipment. Our customers are complaining that they are not\n getting the iron fast enough. . . . We hope that the\n railroad will be able to supply you with empty cars.\" In\n another letter dated 1916 to John B. Guernsey, then acting\n General Manager of the Low Moor Iron Company, \"We were not\n supplied with coke cars for today's loading, and\n consequently we have been practically down of Kay Moor\n ovens all day.\"","The problem of procuring labor also plagued the Low Moor\n Company. The company sometimes tried to hire immigrant\n laborers and send the men directly to Low Moor from New\n York City. There were problems with this, as is explained\n in the following letter dated April 7, 1906: \n To Mr. George Wickes \n Supt. of Mines \n Kay Moor, Virginia \n Dear George, \n Tony arrived with twenty one men last night. One\n got away in Jersey two in Washington D.C., four in\n Charlottesville. Some of the men are very good looking,\n but taken as a whole they are the worst lot I have ever\n seen: Irish, German-Jews, and Italians. . . . Our New\n York transportations to this place have never been a\n success.Signed, \n Ed D. Wickes Supt. of MinesLow Moor usually employed labor agencies, one\n of which was Atwood's Employment Agency. Often the Low Moor\n Company would request certain nationalities, believing them\n to be better workers than others. Sometimes the company\n would request a gang of twenty made up of \"ten Greeks and\n ten Italians.\" Many of the immigrants fled Low Moor and Kay\n Moor when they learned that they would have to work\n underground. There is a fair amount of material on\n immigrant labor and its procurement in the collection, and\n it is noted in the description of the box contents.","Low Moor Iron Company not only had trouble procuring\n labor, but it also had trouble with labor already employed\n in the mines and at the factory. Labor dissension and\n strikes troubled the Kay Moor Mines through the 1900's. The\n great coal strike of 1902 hurt the Low Moor Company's coal\n mining operation, but by 1903 things were \"nearly back to\n normal\" according to the mine superintendent. There was\n still trouble at Kay Moor Mines, however. In a letter dated\n April 26, 1906, to the treasurer of Low Moor Company, the\n manager of the mines wrote about the trouble in \"trying to\n get the agitators out.\" The mines were seventy-five men\n short of the total labor force needed because many of the\n coal miners returned to their farms during the spring.\n There were rumblings of another strike at Kay Moor, the\n result of which was to be a fourteen percent increase in\n wages for the Kay Moor Mine workers via an agreement with\n the United Mine Workers Union in December.","The Low Moor Iron Company grew along with the rest of\n Virginia industry in the 1890's and 1900's. Starting with\n only one furnace in the 1870's, it opened a second furnace\n at Covington, Virginia, in 1891. In 1911 it opened a third\n furnace, this time at Low Moor. Covington, with its heavy\n industry, soon became known as the \"Pittsburgh of\n Virginia.\" Virginia's pig iron production rose from 9,000\n short tons in 1870 to 544,034 long tons in 1903. Judging\n from the Low Moor Company's correspondence, the most\n prosperous period for the company fell between the years\n 1895-1907. In the years between 1907-1917 problems befell\n the Virginia pig iron industry. In a letter from William W.\n Hearns, the president of the Virginia based Princess Pig\n Iron Company, to U. S. Senator Thomas S. Martin, Hearns\n writes of the problems of the Virginia pig iron industry:\n \"There is not a blast furnace in Virginia that is making\n any money from the manufacture of pig iron. The cause of\n this is there is an exceedingly low price on pig iron in\n the country at the present time, and the increased cost of\n manufacturing is due to the increase in wages in all\n lines.\" With the outbreak of World War I prices rose\n dramatically, but in a market report to Low Moor dated\n November 11, 1916, it was stated that: \"In spite of the\n high prices, it is not a picnic to be in the iron industry.\n There is a desperate shortage of cars and equipment in the\n coal and iron districts, and in consequence there are\n troubles of all kinds to get materials shipped. The\n situation has grown serious.\"","When America became involved in the First World War, it\n meant a boost for the Low Moor Iron Company. The government\n helped it procure labor, and even helped it repair its\n furnaces. The problem of supplies and cars for their\n shipments, however, plagued the company more than ever. It\n had a good deal of trouble getting all the raw materials it\n needed due chiefly to the \"tight ship\" run by Harry F.\n Byrd, Sr., U.S. Fuel Administrator for Virginia. After the\n war very serious problems began to trouble the Low Moor\n Iron Company. The demand for iron fell precipitously and a\n short but severe depression ensued from 1919-1922. The\n depression seemed to hit the iron industry especially hard.\n Prices took a huge drop due to the lack of demand, and many\n pre-war contracts had to be revalued. To compound the\n company's problems, the Kay Moor Mines went on strike in\n 1919. This strike was quickly settled, as the market for\n coal was so good that the Low Moor Company ceased taking\n orders temporarily in 1921 as it could not fill the orders\n it had on hand.","The Low Moor Company furnaces lay idle for some twenty\n months. Finally, in November 1922 one of Low Moor's\n furnaces was finally fired up. While prosperity gradually\n returned to the rest of the country, the Low Moor Iron\n Company never recovered. Production of pig iron in the\n Virginia iron industry declined from 544,034 tons in 1903\n to 148,053 tons in 1923, considered a good year for the\n industry as a whole. In February 1926 Low Moor officials\n talked of merging with two other iron companies in order to\n revive the iron business for the three companies. The\n merger, however, never occurred. By late 1926 the company\n was in the process of liquidation. An advertisement in the\n Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail dated April 30, 1927,\n told of a huge warehouse sale at the Low Moor Iron Company.\n The advertisement noted \"thousands of screws, pipe\n fittings, valves, etc.\" The last piece of correspondence\n from the Low Moor Iron Company in the collection is dated\n 1929. It deals with the sale of a machine.","Why did the iron industry in Virginia decline as it did?\n Some say that lack of speed, efficiency, and a decent\n transportation system for Alleghany County caused it. In a\n letter from C. E. Bertie, secretary of the Virginia Pig\n Iron Association, to the \n Manufacturers Recorddated 1925, Bertie claimed that it was the\n tremendous rise in the cost of transportation. Virginia, he\n claimed, had almost no home market. Over 80% of its normal\n production was shipped out to other states. The failure of\n the Interstate Commerce Commission to treat Virginia\n furnaces as southern furnaces was the cause of much of the\n trouble. From 1914-1925 there were four blanket increases\n in freight rates in the country, of which only one applied\n equally to all localities. Southern furnaces were received\n only two increases--a 25% increase in 1918 and a 25%\n increase in 1920--but northern furnaces had had 5%, 15%,\n 25%, and 40% increases in their transportation costs.\n Virginia furnaces, although recognized as southern\n furnaces, had had freight rates increased in line with the\n northern furnaces. Prior to the war Virginia iron reached\n all points in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois on a\n competitive basis with southern furnaces. After World War I\n the advantage was limited to a small portion of\n southeastern Ohio. All of Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan\n were now lost to the Virginia producers. The Virginia\n producer, according to Bertie, felt that the freight rates\n should be restored to a relationship with southern\n furnaces. If what Bertie said was true, the other southern\n states iron industries should not have been in the same\n desperate economic straits as Virginia's, and statistics\n should support this. In the 1920's production rose to new\n heights in Alabama. In Tennessee, however, iron production\n plunged to new lows during the 1920's. While the south\n accounted for 10.2% of the entire U. S. production in the\n years 1919-1924, Virginia accounted for less than 1% during\n those years. In 1915 Virginia accounted for over 6% of the\n U.S. iron production. One can see a decline in other areas\n of the south than Virginia. While the discrepancies in the\n freight rates may have helped cause the decline, clearly\n there are other reasons.","During the 1900's there was a discovery of extremely\n rich iron ore deposits in the mid-west. Much of this ore\n was on or near the surface, making the mining of it both\n easy and inexpensive. This in turn lowered production costs\n of the pig iron. This caused iron production to shift to\n that region, and resulted in a decline in the Virginia iron\n industry. There was a sharp increase in iron production in\n the mid-west through the 1920's. The iron ore in the\n mid-west may have been of better quality than Virginia, but\n the iron ore in Virginia was of sufficient quality to\n produce a good pig iron. The western ore deposits were not\n as conveniently located as Virginia deposits, but the\n inexpensiveness of production more than made up for it.","In examining the rise and fall of the Low Moor Iron\n Company, we can see a situation in which the conditions for\n the manufacture of iron were nearly ideal. There was plenty\n of land for expansion and resources for the manufacture of\n the iron. The major internal problem faced by the Low Moor\n Iron Company was that of transportation. External\n developments, however, caused the final demise of the Low\n Moor Iron Company.","Low Moor Iron Company Personnel:","Executive Staff: Managing Director, Colonel H. M.\n Goodwin: ca. 1881. General Managers: H. G. Merry: ca.\n 1884-1902; E. C. Means: ca. 1905-1915; J. P. Guernsey: ca.\n 1915 (acting General Manager); F. U. Humbert: ca.\n 1916-1929. Assistant General Manager: E. B. Wilkinson: ca.\n 1909-1915. Treasurers and Assistant Treasurers: Edward Low:\n ca. 1886-1898; Frank Lyman (in New York): ca. 1898-1919; S.\n G. Cragill (Asst. Treasurer): ca. 1900-1915; H. A. Dalton:\n ca. 1921-1929; John Lipscomb (Asst. Treasurer): ca.\n 1918-1928.","Factory and Mine Supervisors: Kay Moor Superintendents:\n C. C. Cooke: ca. 1918; Ed. D. Wickes: ca. 1906; H. L.\n Tansell: ca. 1903; A. H. Reed: ca. 1906. Kay Moor Managers:\n J. W. Monteith: manager of mines. ca. 1918; promoted in\n 1925 to general superintendent in charge of mine plants,\n coke ovens, shops, repairs, and construction; A. L.\n Monteith: assistant superintendent of mines, ca. 1918;\n George T. Wickes: manager of Covington mines, ca.\n 1906-1917; Ross Howell, ca. 1918. Stack Mines\n Superintendents: J. H. Carpenter: ca. 1906; C. D.\n Oberschain: ca. 1907; J. L. Harris: ca. 1903; John S. Ham:\n ca. 1891-1901. Rich Patch Mines Superintendents: John R.\n Thompson: foreman, ca. 1906. Low Moor assorted other\n personnel: S. L. Tulley: trainmaster, ca. 1906; B. J.\n Shenkley: foreman, Low Moor limestone quarries; L. Q. Wood:\n assistant traffic manager, ca. 1919."],"custodhist_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"custodhist_heading_ssm":["Provenance"],"custodhist_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company ceased operations in 1930;\n what happened to the records of the company in the years\n immediately following is not known, but in 1939, the Green\n Bookman, a Charlottesville bookshop, sold the records to\n the University of Virginia Library.","The records arrived at the receiving room door of the\n new Alderman Library on October 16, 1939, in a trailer\n truck whose load was estimated to weigh about fourteen\n tons. As the manuscripts staff dug around in the piles of\n over 1200 account books, and countless boxes of papers they\n realized that the company had saved almost all of its\n papers including checks, invoices, vouchers, and receipts,\n and certain of these records were destroyed as their\n information was recorded in other records. Once the bulk of\n the collection had been reduced, the remaining records were\n transferred to the stack area of the Division of Rare Books\n and Manuscripts."],"otherfindaid_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSome 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eMembers of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eFrom the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eInsofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eAvailable in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eResearchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"otherfindaid_heading_ssm":["Other Finding Aid"],"otherfindaid_tesim":["Some 1200 bound accounting record books of the Low Moor\n Iron Company came into the custody of the Library with the\n loose papers. When the project staff investigated these\n volumes in the dormitory attic where they were stored, they\n found that the volumes had been shelved by size rather than\n by series. Thus, a letterbook may stand next to a stock\n report book for a furnace, which is, in turn, next to a\n store account book for the Kay Moor Mines' store. No series\n are shelved in order.","Members of the project staff surveyed the volumes,\n completing for each volume two copies of a mimeographed\n survey form, and assigning to each volume a number. One\n copy of the survey report form was placed in the volume,\n and the second was returned to the Library.","From the survey report forms, 3 x 5 inch index\n cards--with a carbon copy of each--were typed. One set of\n index cards has been kept in order by the numbers assigned\n to the volumes as they stand on the shelves. This provides\n a shelf list for the use of the library staff. The other\n set of cards was sorted into categories as a finding aid.\n On the list that follows, the researcher will find a number\n of major headings such as \"Accounts,\" \"Inventories,\"\n \"Letter Books,\" and \"Shipments-Outgoing.\"","Insofar as it has been possible to determine from the\n data on the survey report forms, the volumes have been\n assigned to categories. Most of the major categories, or\n headings, have sub-headings. Within those sub-headings, the\n volumes have been arranged chronologically. The\n investigators realize that after careful study of some of\n these volumes, they will be revealed as belonging to other\n categories than those in which they have initially been\n placed. The card index will allow such movement.","Available in the Manuscripts/Archives Reading Room in\n the Library is the sorted card index file. There is a card\n for every volume in this file whereas, on the pages that\n follow, volumes have been summarized under the headings and\n sub-headings. In each case, the number of volumes has been\n given in the summarized list; the date ranges given are\n inclusive in most cases, and do not reveal the many gaps in\n sequences unless the number of volumes is small and the\n date range wide. Occasional remarks about the content of\n volumes have been supplied if the contents are not obvious\n from the heading or sub-heading.","Researchers wishing to examine any of these volumes will\n have to use the card index file in order to be able to give\n to the staff the volume number assigned to the individual\n volumes that are to be inspected."],"prefercite_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003ePapers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"prefercite_tesim":["Papers of the Low Moor Iron Company, Accession #662,\n Special Collections, University of Virginia Library,\n Charlottesville, Va."],"processinfo_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eBy 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eIn late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThe more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"processinfo_heading_ssm":["Processing Information"],"processinfo_tesim":["By 1958, little storage space remained in Alderman\n Library, and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Division was\n especially crowded because of the rapid growth of its\n collections. After an examination of its storage areas, the\n division's staff decided to move the Low Moor records to\n the attic of one of the student dormitories. The collection\n had had little use chiefly because there was no finding\n aid. There seemed little likelihood of extensive researcher\n use until the collection could be processed.","In preparation for the move, the old letter boxes in\n which much of the collection had arrived in the Library\n were discarded. The records from each box were placed\n between sheets of the heavy gray cardboard used to protect\n unbound newspapers in the Library's stacks, and the spine\n labels of the old letter boxes were copied onto the\n cardboard. The resulting bundles were wrapped with brown\n Kraft paper and tied up with string. The bundles were\n numbered. Whatever original order the letter boxes may have\n had was lost by the time they arrived in the Library, and\n after the bundling, removal to a dormitory attic, and\n subsequent return to the Library in 1976, all vestiges of\n the original order were lost.","The bundles remained in the dormitory attic for almost\n twenty years. Occasional visits were made by the division\n staff to check on their condition, and on very rare\n occasions, a researcher was brave enough to ask to be shown\n the collection. Once the researcher saw the imposing amount\n of material and the conditions in the attic, interest in\n using the collection invariably died.","In late 1976 a grant from the National Endowment for the\n Humanities was obtained to allow the Library to process the\n Low Moor Iron Company papers, and the papers of Edward L.\n Stone and the Borderland Coal Company, another large\n collection of records stored in the same dormitory attic.\n All of these records and papers were moved back to the\n Library where the bundles were cleaned and opened. The\n contents of each were placed in a Hollinger storage box,\n and all notes on the paper wrappings and on the gray\n cardboard sheets were recorded.","The more than 1200 bound accounting records of the Low\n Moor Iron Company were surveyed by the grant project staff.\n The contents of each volume were noted on a mimeographed\n form, and later typed on 3 x 5\" cards to create a\n readily-accessible file for the Manuscripts Reading Room.\n This information was also typed on pages to be added to\n this guide."],"scopecontent_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eThe Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.\u003c/p\u003e\n ","\u003cp\u003eThis material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers.\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"scopecontent_heading_ssm":["Scope and Content Information"],"scopecontent_tesim":["The Low Moor Iron Company papers consist of\n approximately 280 four-inch Hollinger archives boxes (ca.\n 95 linear feet) of records, ca. 1885-1927, and some 1200\n bound volumes of the company's accounting records,\n 1873-1927, of this iron producing company located in Low\n Moor (four miles southwest of Clifton Forge), Alleghany\n County, Virginia.","This material consists of records typical of those\n produced by a firm of this type in the period, but as the\n company owned its own coal and iron mines and limestone\n quarries, there is considerable information about the\n production of these raw materials. Large numbers of the\n records that deal with the company's employees have\n survived: time books, payroll books, hands ledgers, and the\n like. Because these books sometimes include information\n about the employee's trade or job with the company, and as\n race is indicated in some of the records, these books\n should provide date for studies of the structure and upward\n mobility within the labor force, patterns of\n ethnic--possibly racial--occupational penetration and\n mobility, material conditions of the workers, and so on.\n The papers should permit a range of studies detailing the\n pattern and evolution of industrial organization in the\n iron industry, and the evolution of markets and marketing\n structures for the entire period. Because the company was\n dependent upon railroads to move its raw materials to the\n furnaces, and for the marketing of its products, there is\n considerable information about railroads and their\n relationship to their customers."],"userestrict_html_tesm":["\u003cp\u003eSee the \n \u003cextref type=\"simple\" href=\"https://www.library.virginia.edu/policies/use-of-materials\"\u003e\n University of Virginia Library’s use policy.\u003c/extref\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n "],"userestrict_heading_ssm":["Use Restrictions"],"userestrict_tesim":["See the \n \n University of Virginia Library’s use policy."],"language_ssim":["English"],"total_component_count_is":1879,"online_item_count_is":0,"component_level_isim":[0],"sort_isi":0,"timestamp":"2026-08-14T22:56:23.128Z"}]}},"label":"Breadcrumbs"}}},"links":{"self":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viu_viu00917_c01_c12_c07"}},{"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01_c12","type":"Sub-Series","attributes":{"title":"Harper's Bazar, 1878/1892","breadcrumbs":{"id":"https://arvasarchive.org/catalog/viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01_c12#breadcrumbs","type":"document_value","attributes":{"value":{"ref_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01_c12","ref_ssm":["viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01_c12"],"id":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01_c12","ead_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853","_root_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853","_nest_parent_":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01","parent_ssi":"viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01","parent_ssim":["Richard Wright collection, 1806/2017","Series 7: Newspapers","Newspapers and clippings by publication"],"parent_ids_ssim":["viw_repositories_2_resources_9853","viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07","viw_repositories_2_resources_9853_c07_c01"],"title_filing_ssi":"Harper's Bazar","title_ssm":["Harper's Bazar"],"title_tesim":["Harper's Bazar"],"normalized_title_ssm":["Harper's Bazar, 1878/1892"],"text":["Harper's Bazar, 1878/1892","Richard Wright collection, 1806/2017","Series 7: Newspapers","Newspapers and clippings by publication"],"parent_unittitles_ssm":["Richard Wright collection, 1806/2017","Series 7: Newspapers","Newspapers and clippings by publication"],"parent_unittitles_tesim":["Richard Wright collection, 1806/2017","Series 7: Newspapers","Newspapers and clippings by publication"],"normalized_date_ssm":["1878/1892"],"unitdate_inclusive_ssm":["1878 - 1892"],"level_ssm":["Sub-Series"],"level_ssim":["Sub-series"],"component_level_isim":[3],"sort_isi":567,"repository_ssim":["College of William and Mary"],"collection_ssim":["Richard Wright collection, 1806/2017"],"has_online_content_ssim":["false"],"child_component_count_isi":5,"parent_access_restrict_tesm":["Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. 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In 2019, Wright donated his collection to William \u0026 Mary so that it might be \"a helpful resource to students\" in the future.","William \u0026 Mary Libraries' archival, digital and physical collections may contain content with harmful language or difficult subject matters. We strive for transparency in making these materials available for teaching and research, but we do not endorse the attitudes, prejudices or behaviors found within them.","William \u0026 Mary Libraries' perspective on harmful content and language aligns with the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) and university libraries around the world.","Comic book volumes and other published materials included with this collection have been transfered to Rare Books and cataloged individually.","The Richard Wright collection, compiled by Richard Wright and orginally referred to by Wright as \"The Richard Wright collection of Graphic Images of African Americans,\" focuses on the evolution of the Black American image in print media, cartoons and comics. 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