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The Alexander Lockhart Nelson Papers consist of materials related to Nelson's life as mathematician at Washington and Lee University; Nelson, Guy, Matthews, Archer, and Rennick family genealogy; an address by Nelson on his teaching experience during Robert E. Lee's presidency of Washington College; some family and miscellaneous correspondences; and photographs. Included and, perhaps, the primary aspect of the collection is Nelson's notebook used during his time as both student and professor of mathematics during the mid through late 19th century. The notebook also contains a range of content unrelated to his career as mathematician such as an extensive family tree, a journal/day book which includes details about weather from December 1880 through March 1881 in Lexington, Va.; a pencil drawing of his property and its improvements in downtown Lexington; and notes about payments made to a hired laborer for his Lexington home and grounds. There is an albumen photograph of a group of young girls of the Ann Smith Academy in Lexington – including an image of Nelson's daughter Evelyn. The collection is in two series – each formerly a unique accession from unique sources and different dates. The collections have recently been combined. Each series includes a control folder explaining its provenance. Series two includes a letter from WLU student Jack C. Desha in 1871 to his father Lucius Desha of Kentucky. In the letter Jack shares his travel experiences from Cincinnatti, Ohio to Lexington, Va., including an overnight visit in Washington DC. Series two also includes student Randolph Preston's (WLU class of 1902)typescript reminiscence of his Washington and Lee University student experience fifty years earlier.

Papers contain information about Dunlap's family members, especially Madison Dunlap (1808-1883) of Kerr's Creek and his son, John Matthew Dunlap, a member of the Washington and Lee Class of 1857 who was killed at at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863. The collection includes compositions that John Matthew Dunlap wrote for Professor J. J. White in 1856-1857, transcripts of letters he wrote while serving in the Confederate Army, and letters concerning his death. The collection also includes the manuscript of J. D. Morrison's Old Monmouth and Its Times.

This collection consists primarily of business papers of the family including sale lists, indentures, land surveys, deeds, wills, promissory notes, and numerous receipts. It also includes 71 photographs from the collection of Samuel W. McCown, Jr. (WLU 1919).

This collection includes individual or small collections of letters to the Custis, Lee, Davidson, McDowell, Reid, and Hale families. Subjects include the Custis family involvement in the American Colonization Society, John Brown's Raid as recounted by V.M.I. cadet Charles A. Davidson of Lexington, Va., Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee's life, Lee family genealogy, Anne Lee Marshall's death, the Markoe family of Baltimore, Md.,Edgar Allan Poe, and Washington College (Va.) history including a letter from Cyrus Hall McCormick. The material was found in upstate New York in the mid 20th century and given to Washington and Lee University Archives in 2013.