Ethel Littlejohn Adams Collection 1847-1941

Access and use

Location of collection:
Thomas Balch Library
Thomas Balch Library
208 West Market Street
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Alexandra S. Gressitt
Phone: (703) 737-7195
Fax: (703) 737-7195
Restrictions:

Collection open for research.

Terms of access:

Visual materials may require special handling.

Preferred citation:

Ethel Littlejohn Adams Collection (M 091), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Summary

Creator:
Ethel Littlejohn Adams, Leesburg, VA.
Abstract:
Material from a drugstore in Leesburg, Virginia owned by Armistead R. Mott, followed by Horace C. Littlejohn. Also includes material from the founding and administration Loudoun County Hospital, its management, and records from Littlejohn's service as its treasurer.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Ethel Littlejohn Adams Collection (M 091), Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, VA.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains a variety of materials that belonged to Armistead Randolph Mott and Horace C. Littlejohn. A few items belonged to Ethel Littlejohn Adams. Much of the material from A. R. Mott concerns the operations of the drugstore and his medical practice. His day books contain lists of appointments, and the prescription ledgers are made up of prescribed compounds pasted to ledger pages. His material also includes three bills of sale of slaves, Mott's oath of allegiance to the U.S. government, and an application for pardon after the Civil War. In addition, there is a farm book from Rokeby that contains payment accounts for several African American workers on the farm. Mott managed Rokeby in his wife's name, who inherited it from her father.

Littlejohn's material contains prescription ledgers and receipt books as well, but is primarily made up of information about the founding of Loudoun County Hospital, its management, and records from Littlejohn's service as its treasurer. Also included are the minutes from the Leesburg chapter of the Children of the Confederacy, of which Ethel Littlejohn and her sister were charter members. Among the bound volumes is a ledger from the shop of Thomas C. Morallee, Merchant Tailor and Dealer in Men's Furnishings, Goods, etc., an establishment that operated in downtown Leesburg during the 1850s and 1860s.

There are seventeen visual items, thirteen photographs and four postcards. Twelve photographs depict scenes of Leesburg and one of Purcellville. Two of the photographs identify Underwood & Underwood as the photographer. The postcards depict scenes of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Biographical / historical:

Armistead Randolph Mott (1822-1894) was a physician and pharmacist. Though born in Leesburg, Virginia, Mott spent much of his early life in Kentucky. In 1845 he graduated from the Jefferson College of Medicine in Philadelphia and returned to Leesburg to practice medicine and pharmacy. Mott opened a drugstore opposite the courthouse at 5 North King Street and saw patients in an office above the store. Mott married Virginia L. Bentley in 1846 and had several children, including T. Bentley Mott, U. S. military attache and memoirist. During the Civil War, Mott served in the Confederate Army as a medical officer. At the conclusion of his service, Mott resumed his medical practice and worked with a succession of partners in the operation of the drugstore. He eventually moved the establishment next door, to 7 North King Street. Mott died in 1894, but the drugstore retained the name Mott & Purcell until it was purchased by Horace C. Littlejohn in 1919.

Horace C. Littlejohn (1883-1965), a native of Leesburg, was educated at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. He was a founder and treasurer of the Leesburg Hospital, eventually known as Loudoun County Hospital. Littlejohn began his career as a clerk at Mott & Purcell Drugstore. He purchased the establishment in 1919, and Littlejohn Pharmacy became a gathering place for the community until his death in 1965.

Littlejohn married Ethel R. Thomspon (1886-1936). His daughter, Ethel Littlejohn (1917-2006), graduated as valedictorian of Leesburg High School and received a bachelor's degree from Duke University. Ethel returned to Loudoun County where she taught French, English, history, math, and physical education. She married Stephen Hawpe Adams (1912-1997) in 1944, and they had two daughters. Ethel served on The Ladies Board of Loudoun Hospital and was active in the Leesburg United Methodist Church.

Acquisition information:
Ethel Littlejohn Adams, Leesburg, VA.
Processing information:

Lisa Dezarn and Elizabeth E. Preston, 8 January 2014

Arrangement:

Box: folder

Accruals:

1988.0001

Physical / technical requirements:

None