Theodore C. (Ted) DeLaney, Jr. papers, 1961/2020

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: SCA Staff
Phone: (540) 458-8649
Phone: (540) 463-8109
Fax: (540) 463-8964
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use with the exception of the oral histories for which there are no signed release forms. Oral histories without signed release forms will not be made available to researchers. They remain protected by copyright for the life of the creators plus 70 years. Both the interviewer and the interviewee hold joint copyright.

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:

[Identification of item], Theodore C. (Ted) DeLaney, Jr. Papers (RG 60.0003), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Summary

Extent:
9.5 Linear Feet
Creator:
Delaney, Theodore C., Jr., Dr.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Theodore C. (Ted) DeLaney, Jr. Papers (RG 60.0003), Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

The Theodore C. (Ted) DeLaney, Jr. Collection is composed of materials from Dr. Theodore C. "Ted" DeLaney's personal and professional life. The collection is arranged into nine series.

Series 1: Correspondence - includes letters and cards written to DeLaney. Series 2: Student Career and Early Professional Career - includes documents related to DeLaney's early professional career and his career as a student, including class notes while a doctoral student at William & Mary and his dissertation research files. Series 3: Journals - journals kept by DeLaney while on trips. Series 4: Washington and Lee University - items associated with his employment as a faculty member at Washington and Lee University including syllabi. Series 5: Subject files - files on a variety of subjects kept by DeLaney. Series 6: Research and Scholarship - files of research and papers produced by DeLaney over the course of his professional career including African American teachers and faculty and the desegregation of schools. Series 7: Oral History Projects - transcripts of oral histories that have signed release forms. Primarily about the desegregation of schools in western Virginia and Conversations with Ted DeLaney. Series 8: Photographs and Press Series 9: Personal papers - primarily items associated with his family

Biographical / historical:

Theodore C. "Ted" DeLnaney was born in Lexington, Va. on October 18, 1943. In 1963, he began working as a custodian in the Washington and Lee University biology department and was promoted to lab technician a year later. He served in that position for 19 years. DeLaney enrolled at WLU in 1979, taking one course per term. He enrolled full-time in 1983 and graduated cum laude in history in 1985. He graduated with a doctorate in history from the College of William and Mary in 1995 and taught history at the State University of New York College at Geneseo before joining the history department at WLU.

Ted DeLaney married Patricia "Pat" Scott in 1973. Dr. DeLaney died in Lexington on December 18, 2020.

From https://www.wlu.edu/delaney-center/about-ted-delaney:

In 2021, Washington and Lee University named its new interdisciplinary academic center for teaching and research on Southern race relations, culture, and politics in honor of late professor of history emeritus Theodore "Ted" Carter DeLaney Jr. '85. DeLaney's scholarship focused on the untold histories of African Americans in Virginia, including his research on John Chavis, who was the first known African American to receive a college education in the United States in the 18th century and who studied at Liberty Hall Academy. In addition, DeLaney recorded oral histories of western Virginians directly involved in the battle over school desegregation 15 years after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling. Much of his research found its way into his courses and the presentations he developed for alumni colleges, class reunions, neighboring colleges, museums and historical societies. DeLaney's own oral history is now part of W&L's Special Collections.

During his career at W&L, DeLaney taught courses on colonial North America, comparative slavery in the Western Hemisphere, African American history, civil rights, and gay and lesbian history. His popular Spring Term course on the civil rights movement took students on the path of the Freedom Riders through the South, while his course on the institutional history of W&L introduced students to archival research in W&L's Special Collections & Archives.In 2005, DeLaney co-founded the Africana Studies Program, which he directed from 2005-07 and again from 2013 to 2017. He chaired the History Department from 2007 to 2013 and was the first Black department head at W&L. He also served on both the Working Group on the History of African Americans at W&L and the 2018 Commission on Institutional History and Community.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard