Georgia Ragsdale Curtis Papers

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:

Email: spcoll@wm.edu

Phone: (757) 221-3090

Fax: (757) 221-5440

Web: swem.wm.edu/scrc

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:

Georgia Ragsdale Curtis Papers, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Summary

Extent:

1.50 Linear Feet

Creator:

Curtis, Georgia Ragsdale, 1913-2008 and Barnett, Laura Ragsdale, 1911-1979

Language:

English and English

Preferred citation:

Georgia Ragsdale Curtis Papers, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains printed materials, photographs, and church-related documents related to Georgia Ragsdale Curtis of Roanoke, Virginia and her family including her sister Laura Ragsdale Barnett. The earliest materials include a 1912 handwritten diary of a Ragsdale family member. The papers in the collection include newspaper clippings of family obituaries, family funeral service programs, family photographs, civil rights related papers and magazines, Addison High School and Patrick Henry High School papers and yearbooks related to Georgia's career as a teacher, and several papers related to the Blue Ridge Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia which Georgia was very involved with from at least 1966 until her death in 2008.

Diary, school diplomas, autograph books, school papers, funeral service programs and obituaries, civil rights papers, and other documents related to the Ragsdale family, especially Georgia Ragsdale Curtis and Laura Ragsdale Bruce.

A Wannamaker 1912 diary with handwritten daily entries of a few sentences each. It is not clear whose diary it is, but may be determined by a thorough reading of it. Presumably owned by a member of the Ragsdale family.

Diploma awarded by Blue Ridge School, Virginia. Rolled when acquired, flattened and housed in oversized box.

Diploma awarded by Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke, Virginia. Rolled when acquired, flattened and housed in oversized box.

Diploma awarded by Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke, Virginia. Rolled when acquired, flattened and housed in oversized box.

Diploma to teach elementary grades, awarded by Virginia State College for Negroes Normal School in Petersburg, Virginia. Rolled when acquired, flattened and housed in oversized box.

Awarded by Virginia State College for Negroes in Ettrick, Virginia.

Awarded by Virginia State College for Negroes in Ettrick, Virginia.

Book used at Virginia State College, Ettrick, Virginia.

Placed inside Georgia Ragsdale 1934 College Autograph Book.

Book used at Lucy Addison High School.

Includes photograph.

Includes photo of Laura Ragsdale.

Includes photograph of Georgia Curtis.

Including Mabel Watson.

Narrated by Ralph Cooper, Audio Record. Transferred to Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.

Headlines include: "Untold Story: Seven Days of Crisis in Selma" and "Tragedy Stalks King in Alabama."

Headline: "The Life and Words of Martin Luther King, Jr."

Headlines include: "Business People Take a Bible Break," "Revivals Can't Be Organized," and "The World Out of Which Books Grow."

"From – The Senior Chorus Berean Baptist Church, To – Our Beloved President, Laura R. Bruce, June 1965" Bible includes handwritten family births, marriages, deaths, and burials. Births: J.E. Ragsdale – May 8, 1879; Ethel Ragsdale – March 31, 1889; Mabel Ragsdale – June 1, 1905; Laura Ragsdale – July 27, 1911; Georgia Ragsdale – June 4, 1913; Guy Ragsdale – July 22, 1915. Marriages: Robert Barnett to Laura; Silas Ragsdale to Sallie Flood. Deaths: J.E. Ragsdale – August 29, 1961; Ethel Ragsdale – November 16, 1969; Mabel R. Watson – February 28, 1972; Hobo – January 26, 1973. Burials: Papa – September 2, 1961; Mama – November 19, 1969; Mabel – March 2, 1972; Hobo – January 31, 1973.

Two copies.

Thirteen copies.

Regarding flight to Los Angeles, California and Roanoke, Virginia.

By Maxie C. Jackson, Jr.

Papers, blueprints, service programs, and account ledger of the Blue Ridge Baptist Church of Roanoke, Virginia. Also includes programs related to other churches and assorted religious booklets.

yearly budget, finances, and other notes regarding the church

Three copies.

Three copies.

Two copies.

Two copies.

Two copies.

Four copies.

Maroon cloth covering, contains 14 photographs.

Rolled when acquired, flattened and housed in oversized box.

Housed in oversize box.

Housed in oversize box

Biographical / historical:

Georgia Ragsdale Curtis lived in Roanoke, Virginia and was born on June 4, 1913. She received a teaching degree from Virginia State College for Negroes in Ettrick, Virginia (the present-day Virginia State University) and later received a Bachelor of Science Degree from the same institution in 1943. Georgia married James William Curtis who was involved in the Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home of Roanoke, Virginia. She was a member Delta Sigma Theta sorority, a member of the NAACP, and particiapted in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Georgia Ragsdale Curtis died on April 11, 2008.

Processing information:

Accessioned and minimally described by Benjamin Bromley in October 2010.

Processed and finding aid written by Austin W. Smith in November-December 2010.

Arrangement:

Box 1 folder 7 is housed with the Manuscripts Artifacts Collection.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related

Related material:

Yearbooks and books separated and catalogued as rare books include: 1966 Lucy Addison High School Yearbook, Roanoke, VA, "Georgia C. Curtis, B.S., M.A." is featured with a photograph as a teacher in the English Department on page 13; 1974 Patrick Henry High School Yearbook, Roanoke, VA, "Mrs. Georgia Curtis" is featured with a photograph as guidance counselor on page 24 (This is the year that Curtis retired and handwritten notes from colleagues appear throughout the front portion of the yearbook); book Nabala, by J.A. Caskie, 1922; book The Origin of the Black Man, by John W. Tyndall, AM. LL.D., 1927 (signature of J.E. Ragsdale in front and back of book along with Blue Ridge, VA); book Scarlet Sister Mary, by Julia Peterkin, 1928 (signature of Randolph Bolles and date 1929 in front of book); book Utica Jubilee Singers Spirituals, by J. Rosamond Johnson, 1930.

Phonograph records from this collection have been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.

Separated material:

Yearbooks and books separated and catalogued as rare books include: 1966 Lucy Addison High School Yearbook, Roanoke, VA, "Georgia C. Curtis, B.S., M.A." is featured with a photograph as a teacher in the English Department on page 13; 1974 Patrick Henry High School Yearbook, Roanoke, VA, "Mrs. Georgia Curtis" is featured with a photograph as guidance counselor on page 24 (This is the year that Curtis retired and handwritten notes from colleagues appear throughout the front portion of the yearbook); book Nabala, by J.A. Caskie, 1922; book The Origin of the Black Man, by John W. Tyndall, AM. LL.D., 1927 (signature of J.E. Ragsdale in front and back of book along with Blue Ridge, VA); book Scarlet Sister Mary, by Julia Peterkin, 1928 (signature of Randolph Bolles and date 1929 in front of book); book Utica Jubilee Singers Spirituals, by J. Rosamond Johnson, 1930.

All audiovisual material from this collection has been moved to the Manuscripts Audiovisual Collection.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

African Americans--Virginia--Photographs
African Americans--Virginia--Roanoke
Baptist Church--Virginia--History
Virginia State University--Students
Cabinet photographs
Photographs
Printed ephemera