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The manuscripts vertical file is an artificial collection containing a wide variety of unique manuscript items relating to Alexandria, Virginia residents, businesses, organizations, and history.

Prints and engravings removed from 18th century but mostly 19th century books or periodicals. Most prints cannot be matched with the book from which it came or the date. The location of the subject matter of each print or engraving is the primary criterion used in the organization of the collection.

The larger collection consists of the original materials and 7 additions including the most recent one represented in this finding aid.

This Collection contains a number of items all from the original Ramsay Family papers which were donated to the Smithsonian Institute: an account book from Andrew and William Ramsay dated 1798-1801, photocopies of Ramsay letters, history of Ramsay house, genealogical notes on the Ramsay family, Rebecca Ramsay Reese papers and diaries.

This collection contains two bound volumes of record books from the Massie family of Virginia.

Records of land grants made by the Secretary of the Colony of Virginia from 1748 to 1778, by the Virginia Land Office of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1779 until 1863, and by the State of West Virginia from its formation until 1912. These records were held by the Office of the West Virginia State Auditor at the time the Sims Index to Land Grants in West Virginia was published by State Auditor Edgar B. Sims in 1952. The land grants were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and are now held by the West Virginia State Archives.

Reverend C. Shirley Donnelly, a Baptist minister and local historian, collected these materials for his own research and interest in West Virginia history. The collection contains various materials pertaining to coal mining and West Virginia history, especially in the New River area and Fayette County. It includes correspondence, land grant and deed records, pamphlets, journals, local histories, records, photographs, and art relating to mining and life in the New River area. One set of correspondence includes recollections, a yearbook, and newspaper clippings by a World War II sailor from the USS West Virginia. Another series of correspondence includes the antebellum, wartime, and postwar letters and personal receipts of Charles Dequasie, a Confederate soldier from Fayette County, West Virginia, and Robert Edward Dequasie's personal and business correspondence. Other ephemera includes West Virginia and mining journals and certificates belonging to Donnelly and others. A scrapbook and notebook of newspaper clippings pertain to early court hangings and executions in West Virginia. Political posters include those for West Virginia Governor William C. Marland and West Virginia Senators Harley Kilgore and Robert Byrd.

This collection is a book of Reverend Paul A. Menzel's records (one item) of the activities within St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, of which he was pastor. The volume covers the period 1755-1766 and is handwritten in German.