Dora and Cara Armistead Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
College of William and Mary
Special Collections Research Center
Earl Gregg Swem Library
College of William and Mary
400 Landrum Drive
PO 8795
Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (757) 221-3090
Fax: (757) 221-5440
Restrictions:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Terms of access:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Preferred citation:

Dora and Cara Armistead Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Summary

Extent:
6.00 Linear Feet
Creator:
Armistead, Dora Travis, 1890-1979, Armistead Family, Armistead, Cary Champion, d. 1944, Armistead, Rowland Cara, Ewell, Benjamin Stoddert, 1810-1894, and Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, 1853-1935
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Dora and Cara Armistead Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers from the household of Dora Travis Armistead (1890-1979) and Rowland Cara Armistead, sisters of Williamsburg, Virginia. Includes letters, personal, financial and business papers of Cary Peyton Armistead (1856-1901), father of Dora and Cara, Steward of Eastern Lunatic Asylum (now Eastern State Hospital), and prominent local Episcopal Church and school leader; Eudora Ester Armistead (d. 1940), mother; Cary Champion Armistead (d. 1944), brother, and lawyer for a time in Detroit, Michigan; Meriwether Irving Armistead (d. 1945), brother, and lawyer in Williamsburg; and Dora and Cara Armistead, elementary school teachers; along with materials related to relatives in the Armistead family, most notably Gregory Armistead, brother, who died at an early age; and Julia Maria Armistead (1858-1897), sister of Cary Peyton. The papers pertain primarily to Armistead family finances, health and personal affairs, the financial operation of the asylum/hospital, and school and church issues. Also included are a number of undated and unlabeled photographs, schoolwork of the Armistead siblings as children and college students, letters to Cary Peyton from College of William and Mary Presidents Benjamin S. Ewell and Lyon G. Tyler, and a long series of letters to Cary Champion from girlfriend Ruth Conkey.

Papers from the household of Dora Travis Armistead (1890-1979) and Rowland Cara Armistead, sisters of Williamsburg, Virginia.

Note that, due to ambiguity in these records, the documents contained in the following folders may pertain to Eastern Lunatic Asylum (now Eastern State Hospital), school district, church, or personal accounts. Documents are grouped by year

Documents are grouped by year

The Checks in this box were pasted by Dora into stub books, with approximately 40 checks in each book. 21 items.

Note that Hazel – last name unknown – is occasionally referred to in these letters as "Carolina."

Content regarding the addition of a bathroom to the family home.

The letters in this box, and the next two, were written by a friend and admirer, Ruth Conkey, whom Champ met during his time at the College of William and Mary. The correspondence continued for four years from 1919 to 1922, as Champ moved from Williamsburg to Wilmington, Del., and then Detroit, Michigan. Letters are arranged chronologically by date.

Correspondence related to personal business (finances, property) and friendly communication.

Includes W.A.R. Goodwin, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Henry Ford.

Issues included here are church materials, politics, the Travis House, collected advertising materials, seed and bulb advertisements, Cara's contest entries, Dora (I)'s family tree, and pro- and anti-Ku Klux Klan clippings.

Note that, when possible, the photographs have been removed from the original folder, envelope or sleeve. When done, the original folder or sleeve has been filed with its accompanying photograph. These items are included in the item total for each folder (i.e., one photograph and its accompanying folder are considered two items).

Photo taken of them posing in front of a Statue of Thomas Jefferson on the campus of the University of Virginia.

Note that some photos have duplicates, which are stored in the same sleeve.

Includes an unidentified, extremely fragile rolled photograph.

See Box I for financial materials.

Includes Iinscription, "Compliments of the Author, and Genl. James H. Lane."

Scope and Contents Recommendations for John Charles, a Williamsburg teacher, to be the head of the "Model School" to be established by the College of William and Mary. Includes 3 Certificates of Proficiency for Miss Minta Charles at the Williamsburg Female Academy.

Three Certificates of Distinction given to Cara Armistead while a student at Blackstone Female Institute in Blackstone, Virginia. Each certificate has a stamped signature of James Cannon, Jr. This addition is filed at the beginning of Box 1, Mss. Acc. 2006.54.

Acquisition information:
2006.54 purchased from Hamilton's Bookstore. 2004.24 Addition Transferred from University Archives on May 5, 2004.
Processing information:

Processed by Zach Hilpert, P.J. Bell and Samantha Besora in 2006.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard