Virginia Committee of Correspondence Records, 1758-1775

Access and use

Location of collection:
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Archives Reference Services
Phone: (804) 692-3888
Restrictions:

There are no restrictions.

Terms of access:

There are no restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Virginia. Committee of Correspondence. Records, 1758-1775. Accession 50794. State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Summary

Extent:
.75 cu. ft. [3 boxes]
Creator:
Virginia. Committee of Correspondence.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Virginia. Committee of Correspondence. Records, 1758-1775. Accession 50794. State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Background

Scope and content:

Records, 1758-1775, including correspondence, minutes and petitions of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence.

Included are meeting minutes, 1759 May 2-1764 December 19, for the Committee of Correspondence mainly containing correspondence with Edward Montague, Agent for the colony of Virginia. The letters [dated and undated], 1758-1775, consist of copies and partial letters regarding a variety of topics. Includes a copy of a letter, 9 December 1758, from Prime Minister William Pitt (1708-1778) to raise forces for the French and Indian War; appointment of an agent for Virginia; a list of judgments for sterling money obtained in the General Court of Virginia by persons residing in Great Britain, 1757-1763; letter, July 5 1770, to the agent regarding the Cherokee Indians and land settlements; undated partial letter regarding a bill that recently passed that declared slaves to be personal estate; and an undated partial letter regarding the act (ca. 1758) passed by the Virginia legislature allowing colonists to pay debts with paper money.

Included is a petition, 1763, asking Parliament to allow colonists to import salt from Lisbon [Spain] or any part of Europe; and a volume, Minutes and Letters, 1773-1775, which contains meeting minutes of the Committee, as well as transcribed copies of letters and resolutions received. The original letters and resolutions received which were transcribed into the volume, exist in the second box of this collection. Also included are resolutions, 1773-1774, from several other state Committees of Correspondence, including Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

These records were originally housed with the Journal of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 1773-1776 [Acc. 36808]. Most of the documents have been transcribed and are available in the "Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1773-1776" [ed. John Pendleton Kennedy] which can be found online at HathiTrust.

Biographical / historical:

The Virginia Committee of Correspondence was formed by a resolution of the House of Burgesses on 12 March 1773 and consisted of eleven members including Peyton Randolph, Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thomas Jefferson. The Committee was formed to maintain communication with the other British colonies in North America in regards to the acts and resolutions of Parliament that effect the colonies and the rights of British in America. The committees sought to establish, through the writing of letters, an underground network of communication among Patriot leaders in the Thirteen Colonies. The committees were instrumental in setting up the First Continental Congress, which convened in Philadelphia in September and October 1774. The Committee of Safety was a later outcome of the Committee of Correspondence.

For a more detailed biography see Virginia Humanities Encyclopedia Virginia entry on the Virginia Committee of Correspondence here.

Acquisition information:
Acquired prior to 1905.
Processing information:

The materials have been barrowed.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged chronologically.