Collections

The collection consists of circulation, subscription, and financial ledgers, annual lecture series documents, catalogues, correspondence, and various organizational documents. Topics include: foundation of the Alexandria Library Company, its cycles of growth and decline reflecting the local economy; the formation of the local public library system; and the on-going activities of the Alexandria Library Company, most notably its lecture series.

The collection contains reports, correspondence, account books, minutes, warrants, court orders, vouchers, bills to be paid and to be collected, some printed matter, stocks and bonds, petitions, election returns, and poll books, ranging in date from 1750 to 1983, predominately 1825-1875. Topics include both the city auditor and the city treasurer records of receipts and expenditures for many city functions--the poor house, the police, employee pay records, etc.--, election results, the issuance of Corporation stocks and bonds, railroads, and canals.

Letter, 20 May 1806, of Anthony Davis, New Kent County, Virginia to John Ambler, Williamsburg, Virginia, concerning horse-breeding; letter, 18 June 1814, of Thomas Chiles to Edward Ambler requesting permission to kill lambs so sick slaves can have fresh meat; promissory note, 27 Jan[uar]y 1815, from J[ohn] Ambler to W[illiam] Marshall; and check, 8 July 1849, signed by Philip St. Geo[rge] Ambler.

This collection consists of two large manuscript volumes of tax records for Amherst, Virginia from 1819 to 1820, bound in leather. These ledger's identify enslavers and taxes paid for unnamed enslaved laborers among other things. Each volume lists hundreds of taxpayer names on the left side with comments about payments on the right. An alphabetical index in the front of each volume lists the page on which each name appears on the page in the volume, referring to tax transactions. The amount of tax is itemized for each taxpayer's land, enslaved laborers, horses, "muster fines," and levies. Volume one documents 1819 and contains 26 unnumbered pages and 271 utilized pages. Volume two documents 1820 and contains 23 unnumbered pagesand 224 utilized pages. Front endpaper indicates the records were compiled by George Holloway of Amherst for 1819 and his name is found on the end papers for 1820.

Ledgers, 1808-1821, of Amos Johnson, merchant, of Fauquier County, Va. Ledger "b", 1808, also contains loose papers, receipts, and letters, 1859- 1861, belonging to Richard N. Johnson.

The collection consists mainly of certificates presented to Amos R. Koontz, M.D., by the army, together with his medals in a frame, and membership certificates in organizations. Included is a competition for designs for National Military Dress (1809); and shoemaker's account books of Harden Keyser (1849-1861), one of which Mattie Keyser used as a scrapbook at a later period and in which she wrote autograph poems; a souvenir booklet of the Panama Pacific Exposition (1915); and genealogical information on the Koontz, Graves, Stocking, Guy, Snyder, Dolan, Brown and Bageant families.

This collection documents the research, public service, and life of Ancella Bickley, writer, educator, speaker, and historian. Includes writings, research materials, and more, focusing on the history of African Americans in West Virginia and the black experience in West Virginia. Collected research materials are predominantly facsimiles. Printed formats include correspondence, clippings, interview transcripts, typescript writings, publications, pamphlets, ephemera, speeches, articles, military records, and more. Other formats include photographs, slides, and audiocassettes.