Liberty Hall Academy subscription list

Access and use

Location of collection:
Washington and Lee University, Leyburn Library
Special Collections and Archives
James G. Leyburn Library
Washington and Lee University
204 W. Washington Street
Lexington, VA 24450
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tom Camden
Phone: (540) 458-8649
Phone: (540) 463-8109
Fax: (540) 463-8964
Restrictions:

This collection is open for research use. When available, photocopies, digital surrogates, or other reproductions must be used in place of original documents.

Terms of access:

The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source.

Preferred citation:

Liberty Hall Academy Subscription List (RG 1.03), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Summary

Extent:
2.0 Linear Feet 1 oversize box
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Liberty Hall Academy Subscription List (RG 1.03), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of the subscription list presented to members of the House of Burgesses and other leading politicans and judicial officers of that time by the Presbytery of Hanover (Virginia) to raise funds to move Augusta Academy to a location in Timber Ridge. In addition to outlying the purpose of the funding request and naming who the academy's leadership would be, including Rev. William Graham, the document includes the signatures and financial pledges of the individuals who subscribed their support as well as noting if they paid. Of particular note, in addition to a "who's who" in the earliest days of the history of Virginia and the American Revolution, this list is signed by 5 future signers of the Declaration of Independence: Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe, Carter Braxton, Benjamin Harrison, and General [Thomas] Nelson [Jr.].

At a subsequent time, an unidentified person added a handwritten note "Subscriptions Taken in Wmsburg for Liberty Hall Supposed 1775."

Subscribers: Thomas Anderson, Garl Anderson, William Aylett, Burl Bassett, Samuel Beall, George Booth, John Blair, Carter Braxton, George Brooke, Cuth Bullett, Lewis Burwell, John Cabel, Charles Carter, Archibald Cary, Richard Cary, W. M. Cary, William Claiborne, J. Clapham, William Cowper, W. R. W. Curle,

Biographical / historical:

1749: Augusta Academy is founded in near Greenville in Augusta County, Va.

1776: The Academy is moved to Timber Ridge and renamed Liberty Hall Academy. At the time, Timber Ridge was in Augusta County. It became part of Rockbridge County when it formed out of Augusta County in 1778.

1782: Liberty Hall Academy relocates from Timber Ridge to Lexington, Va.

1796: Liberty Hall Academy is renamed Washington Academy following George Washington's gift of James River Canal stock.

1813: Washington Academy is renamed Washington College.

1870: The college is renamed Washington and Lee University following the death of the school's 11th President, Robert E. Lee.

In circa 1776-1777, a group of men representing the Presbytery of Hanover and Augusta Academy traveled to Williamsburg, the capital of the Colony of Virginia, for the purpose of raising funds to "establish and patronize a public academy Timber Ridge in Augusta County to be managed by the Reverend William Graham..." By 1776, enough funds had been raised to move Augusta Academy to Timber Ridge where the school was renamed Liberty Hall Academy. It would eventually move again to Lexington in 1782. It became Washington and Lee University in 1870.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard