Collections : [College of William and Mary]

Diary, 1877 October 11-December 17, of Anne Christian of [Richmond, Va. ?] The diary includes a description of Rutherford B. Hayes to the Virginia State Fair; and discusses the courtship of friends.

Includes courtship letters between Dr. Augustine Smith of Yorktown, Va. to Alice Grymes Page of "Rosewell," Gloucester County, Va. whom he later married. Also includes correspondence, 1792, between Smith and John Page, seeking permission to marry Alice Page. Also includes a poem by Smith about his love for Alice and a certificate of Smith's course study at University of Edinburgh.

Letters, chiefly 1765-1817, of the Blair, Banister, Braxton, Horner, and Whiting families. Correspondents include John Blair (1732-1800), Anne (Blair) Banister and Mary (Blair) Braxton Burwell Prescott. Many of the letters are written by women.

Marriage announcement between George A. Cunningham of Alabama and Emma Branch of Virginia at the Washington St. M.E. Church in [Petersburg, Virginia]. Undated. Membership certificate for George A. Cunningham in the Virginia State Agricultural Society. October 22, 1875. Two incomplete notary drafts for George A. Cunningham and Emily Cunningham concerning a corporation in Georgia and Virginia, dated 1889. Letter to Emma Cunningham in Richmond, Virginia from her husband, George A. Cunningham, in which he asks her not to spend money because she is ruining the business, suggests a marriage separation, and tells of the trouble "Branch" is in with the law and financially. July 17, 1890.

Marriage records kept by Robert W. Kyger when he was the Williamsburg, Virginia Marriage Commissioner.

Photographs (and negatives) of papers concerning the marriage of Count Antonio Barziza, Venice, Italy to Lucy Paradise, daughter of John and Lucy Ludwell Paradise, Williamsburg, Va. Includes a typed copy of a letter, 24 February 1805, from Lucy Ludwell Paradise to Littleton Waller Tazewell; and a photograph of a letter, 28 January 1831, written by Margaret Nelson Bellett. Description: Photographs Williamsburg, Va. Williamsburg Restoration, 1930. 18 cm.

Papers and photographs, 1871-1913, bulk 1873-1904, of the Peebles, Watson and Arrington families of Norfolk and Petersburg, Va. Includes letters, primarily from Joseph Littleton Peebles to Kate S. Watson during their courtship and marriage. Also includes genealogical notes. The Peebles farm is a part of the Petersburg National Battlefield Park.

Correspondence, 1833-1856, between the Shipman family of Rockingham County, Va. and the Wills family of Fluvanna County, Va. There are letters, 1838-1840, between James C. Shipman while serving in the Virginia House of Delegates and his wife Mary Minor Wills Shipman. Many letters are written by women. The collection includes letters of Jane R. Riordan discussing her going to Richmond to learn the millinery trade and starting in business; letters concerning marriage and courtship; letters describing stagecoach rides as well as a pass, 1839, for a slave to go from Fluvanna County to Rockingham County; and a printed circular, 1870, advising southerners to take advantage of the United States Bankruptcy Act.

Handwritten marriage bond for the marriage between Thomas Blackburn and Mary Jenkins, signed by Thomas Blackburn and Hanson Jenkins, dated December 21, 1790. Bond issued in Virginia.