Elizabeth Oakes Smith Collection 1843-1883

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

Collection is open to research.

Terms of access:

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred citation:

Elizabeth Oakes Smith Collection, Accession 8326, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Summary

Creator:
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Elizabeth Oakes Smith Collection, Accession 8326, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Background

Scope and content:

[Says she is recovering from illness; longs for snow while suffering through North Carolinaweather; tells him that [Appleton] is clearing woods and trying to repair the yacht in which he was almost wrecked; hopes to escape the fevers next autumn by going away; says she has been elected "Worthy Chief Templar" by the local lodge and she is also superintendent of the Sunday School; describes poverty of the local people; the flag at the lodge is at half-mast because of Vice President Henry Wilson's death; talks about the mischief done by Northern scalawags to the colored people; feels that the colored are seeing through it all; stresses that the colored are in need of schools and instruction of every kind; she and her group are enrolling coloreds in their own lodges; believes that the Negroes are unwilling to work and do so only when driven by necessity.]

[Adds to her earlier letter regarding colored people in her vicinity; claims the coloreds are not persecuted by the whites and that they prefer to live close to their old masters; gives examples to prove that the coloreds prefer slavery to liberation; believes and gives examples that because of their tropical blood, coloreds are averse to toil and work only by necessity; tells him that the white lodges are unwilling to accept the coloreds, who prefer to be among themselves; the Grand Templars have helped to install coloreds into lodges of their own and are not opposed to colored lodges as long as separation is maintained; says that temperance lodges have sprung up all over North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Virginiaand have tens of thousands of members who do "grand Work" for the colored men like going to them as speakers, etc.; explains that she thought that this clarification of her previous letter was necessary.]

Acquisition information:
Deposit [ 1963 Dec 17 ] 1966 Aug 12
Processing information:

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Physical location:
Physical description:
2 items