Collections

As of December 2011, displayed in Purcell's office

The materials in the The Reverend Dr. and Mrs. Richard Eugene Hager (Anne Peyton Judkins Hager) Collection consists of book manuscripts and unpublished essays, newspaper clippings, land deeds, correspondence, receipts, notes, and copies of wills. Also included are books belonging to the Preston family which include a family Bible, a children's poetry book, and many others. Of particular interest is an 1832 receipt to General Francis Preston (1765-1835) for a subscription to the Saturday Evening Post, writings by Elizabeth Preston Gray about the history of her family, the 1981 nomination of the Aspenvale Cemetary in Smyth County to the National Register of Historic Places, copies of Mary Preston Gray's book manuscript, The Family Tree (about the various family lines), and correspondence from Hatch Dent Poston regarding the sale and purchase of enslaved individuals.