Collections : [College of William and Mary]

The records of the Alumni Association of the College of William and Mary include office files, material from select Executive Secretaries, meeting minutes, publications, correspondence, and other material documenting the activities of the William & Mary Alumni Association as well as the College of William & Mary's history and alumni more generally.

Personal and professional papers of Amos Ralph Koontz, surgeon. The personal papers, 1865-1986, include the correspondence of Koontz, his wife, Besse (Stocking) Koontz and their son, James William Koontz. Included are travel diaries, documents concerning the College of William and Mary and Johns Hopkins and material relating to social clubs and societies. The professional papers contain correspondence relating to Koontz' medical practice, political material, documents pertaining to military service, memberships in professional organizations, and newspaper and magazine article reprints.

The collection contains letters and programs, writings and other papers documenting Aquilla Matthews, an African-American woman originally from Danville, Virginia who was the director of the USO African American Women's group, The Sun and Sand Caravan during World War II. The collection includes: photographs of several members of the group notes with description of different areas served and several letters documenting Matthews personal and professional life.

The collection contains letters belonging to August "Auggie" Lourenco, a Portuguese-American from Newark, New Jersey, who served in the United States Army during World War II. Most letters are addressed to his girlfriend-then-wife, Anna "Ann" Lourenco (née Ertman), a second-generation Polish immigrant. Lourenco joined the United States Army in 1943 and completed his basic training at Camp Gordon, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee, before being sent to Yuma, Arizona for additional training. Lourenco was then stationed across Europe, most often in Germany but also in France and Belgium. Most of Lourenco's work in the Army consisted of truck driving.

Collection of letters and documents of the Braun and Jung families from the 19th and 20th centuries. The earliest documents are a prenuptial agreement, dowry agreement, and will from the middle 1800's (photocopies). The documents are in German, but an English translation accompanies most items. The collection includes a "Familien Stammbuch" or family genealogy book along with two ancestry passports for Gunter Braun and Ernst Jung. They were used to prove familial background in Nazi Germany.

The personal and professional papers of Carter Lowance, executive assistant to six governors of Virginia: William M. Tuck, John S. Battle, Thomas B. Stanley, J. Lindsay Almond, Albertis S. Harrison and Mills Edwin Godwin. Papers also concern Harry F. Byrd, Sr. and Harry F. Byrd, Jr., and John N. Dalton. There are speeches, papers relating to Lowance's military career (including correspondence with his wife, Elizabeth Austin Lowance), awards received by Lowance, photographs, and papers concerning his funeral. There is also correspondence received by Mrs. Lowance after his death. The collections includes material concerning proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution as well as some papers concerning Lowance's service with the College of William and Mary.

These papers contain correspondence, photographs, business papers, artifacts, certificates, and other materials related to Charles Edward Gary, Jr. Mr. Gary was a prominent African American business owner in Williamsburg, operating for decades the West End Valet Shop off Prince George Street. The collection comprises business ledgers and other West End Valet Shop records over several years, as well as legal documents pertaining to the Valet Shop and Gary family estates such as leases and deeds. Personal materials pertain especially to Mr. Gary's schooling, his miltiary service during World War II, family photographs, and some of Mrs. Zelda Gary's personal papers. An active member of the Williamsburg community, Mr. Gary served in several civic, fraternal, and religious organizations. Centering on his involvement in local baptist churches and in the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World - Old Capitol Lodge, Mr. Gary's papers include speeches he prepared for religious and I.B.P.O.E.W. meeting touching on religion, family, and race issues in America. The collection thus contains materials relevant to the study of twentieth-century Williamsburg history and African American history.

Letters, chiefly 1919-1964, written by Mary Haldane Begg Coleman (1875-1967) of Williamsburg, Virginia, to Julia Gardiner Tyler Wilson (1881-1965), of Charlottesville, Virginia. Diaries of Mary Haldane Begg Coleman and Isabella Haldane.

Collection of letters to and from the Dowdy family from 1944-69. Daniel and Gladys Dowdy were residents of Eggleston, VA. Their letters to each other, written in 1944-45, discuss their life together, their plans for after the war, and their romance in explicit detail. Also includes letters from 1961-62 from the Dowdy children's German penpal, and letters from 1969 as son Harold began basic training in the US Army.

Papers of Elizabeth Nunn, an elementary school teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia.