Search

Series 1: Group A, Acc. 78 T97 and 1992.63: Papers, 1856-1895, of John Tyler, Jr., post Civil War Republican Party activist. Subjects covered by the collection include alcoholism, Republican Party politics, Presidential elections, political patronage, Reconstruction, Methodist Episcopal Church, Florida, Braxton Bragg, and the Fenian Brotherhood. Prominent correspondents include Charles Francis Adams, Chester Alan Arthur, Pierre G. T. Beauregard, James Gillespie Blaine, James Buchanan, Jefferson Davis, Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, Henry Stuart Foote, Nathan Bedford Forrest, James A. Garfield, John Brown Gordon, Horace Greeley, Wade Hampton, Rutherford B. Hayes, Andrew Johnson, Joseph Eggleston Johnston, L. Q. C. Lamar, William Mahone, Raphael Semmes, William Henry Seward, John Sherman, Leroy Pope Walker, and William Lowndes Young. Acc. 1992.63 consists of letters of John Tyler, Jr., son of the President, to Mrs. Laura Holloway, author of a book on the ladies of the White House. Letters written from Washington, D.C.

Papers (including business and personal correspondence and accounts) of William H.E. Merritt, of Brunswick and Greensville counties, Va. who was a lawyer, member of the Virginia House of Delegates and editor of the "Richmond Whigquot;and his brothers Dr. Alexander T.B. Merritt of Hicksford, Greensville County,Va. and John F.W. Merritt of Vicksburg, Miss. The collection includes letters, 8 January and 29 March 1857, written by John Minor Botts and accounts of William H.E. Merritt Brother with Cuddy, Brown Co., cotton brokers in New Orleans, La. Subjects covered by the collection include horses, the practice of law, Reconstruction, and slavery.

Dated 1839-1880. Letters, 1859-1880, to Miles C. Selden of Henrico County, Va., from Hill Carter at Charles City County, Va. and from Andrew Johnston of Richmond, Va. Also includes accounts, invoices, and receipts, 1839-1863, of Selden as trustee for Beverly and Ann S. Heth.

Papers, 1727-1918, chiefly 1781-1875, of members of the related Overton, Ragland, Claybrooke and Hart families of Louisa County, Va. and Haywood Co., Tenn. The early papers are primarily legal documents, accounts and account books of John Ragland and Samuel Ragland and correspondence of the children of Samuel Ragland. After 1797, the collection concerns the legal and business papers of Samuel Overton, Thomas Overton, Waller Overton and Sally Overton Claybrooke. After 1810, the collection concerns the Claybrooke family in Tennessee.

The Randolph Family Papers contains correspondence and financial documents relating to Isham Randolph (1771-1844), first cousin of Thomas Jefferson, David Coupland Randolph (1804-1886), son of Isham Randolph, Isham Randolph Page (1834-1923), nephew of Isham Randolph and Judith Randolph Swann (Circa 1815-1870), sister of Isham Randolph. Materials document daily financial activities such as the hiring and buying of enslaved people, and Isham Randolph's role as an officer at the James River & Kanawha Company. Correspondence documents the family's relationship with enslaved people and their participation in the American Civil War (1861-1865). The letters also describe the Civil War in Richmond from the battlefield and the home front. Materials also describe the role of enslaved people in the post Civil War period and records the names and emancipation of those enslaved by the Randolphs.

Diaries, 1858-1872, of Dr. Robert Page Waller of Williamsburg, Va. Although Waller was a medical doctor, these diaries do not relate to the practice of medicine. During the period from October 1862 to July 1865, Waller lived in Lynchburg, Va. The diaries concern farming, his ill-health, family, the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Diaries, 1834-1898, of Robert Skipwith kept in Goochland County, Va., Richmond, Va. and Powhatan County, Va. Much of Skipwith's life is documented by these 14 diaries and topics include weather, personal affairs (the loss of his wife, and his aging), farming, social life in his neighborhood, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Virginia politics. He often included genealogical information on individuals when he recorded their deaths.

Ledger (MsV Ad82 ovesize) time book, 1851-1866, and ledger (MsV Ad83), 1865-1866, of the commissary [company store] of D. & H. Forrer, Shenandoah Iron Works, Page County, Virginia. The latter volume lists foodstuffs and goods given out to workers which they often paid for by work. Includes accounts with free Black persons.