Collections : [Thomas Balch Library]

This collection consists of two church minute books, typescript transcriptions, and typed membership lists. There are several sizable gaps in the minutes, including one caused by the Civil War from 1860-1864. Other gaps span the years 1874-1888, and 1899-1917. Minute keeping was sporadic between 1917 and 1933. The membership lists contain marriage and baptism information from entries in the minute books. There is a resolution honoring Rev. George Washington Popkins (1855-1931), a long-serving pastor at Mount Hope. A microfilm copy of the records is available in the microfilm collection. There is also a reproduction diagram of the Mount Hope Baptist Church Cemetery with a list of burials and their placement in the cemetery. The original diagram remains in the custody of the church.

This collection consists of one black and white photograph measuring 27 x 34 cm. The photograph is in good condition. The estimate of 1909 is based on the style of clothing, lifespan of the photographer, age of the subject, and date of the event.

This collection consists of one photographic portrait measuring 51 x 38 cm. It is an albumen print on paperboard, details enhanced with crayon. The emulsion has been severely damaged by exposure to smoke, heat, and dirt, and the portrait is in poor condition. The photographer is unknown, as is the portrait's date. The estimate of 1910 is based on the style of portrait, clothing, and the apparent age of the subject.

This collection consists of one land survey book and a photocopied version of the book. The survey book is bound in leather and measures 8 x 5 x 1.5 inches. It contains surveys from 1832-1882 along with an alphabetical index in the front. The surveys are metes and bounds descriptions and include no plats.

This collection is made up of the administrative papers of the Home Interest Club. Records include correspondence, financial records, meeting agendas and minutes, as well as some of the notes for presentations made by members at the monthly meetings. Presentations made by Rachel Hoge Branch (1875-1944), one of the founding members, have been photocopied and collected in a bound volume by her son. The volume, included here, is titled Papers from Overlea. There are handwritten recipes contributed by the membership, some of them dating to the founding of the club. The recipes have been arranged thematically in preparation for the production of a cookbook in 2003, a copy of which is also included in the collection. Also of note in the collection are yearbooks, which contain the names of the officers for the year, a list of meetings, and brief descriptions of the meeting presentations. It was common for the yearbooks to be bound in scraps of wallpaper. The collection includes a small set of photographs, and a walnut button box that was used in the election of new members to the club.

The Williams Family Papers includes materials from five families: Pearce, Wilson, Harrison, Williams, and Winslow. The papers comprise approximately six cubic feet, with five oversized boxes housing documents and artifacts. Inclusive dates are 1819-1993, with the bulk of the material dating from 1850-1945. The collection is arranged in series by family name, with the papers of individual family members as subseries.

The Winslow Williams Photograph Collection consists of approximately 12,000 negatives and 1,000 prints taken by Winslow Williams over the course of his life. Images are individually catalogued in PastPerfect, Thomas Balch Library's visual collections database available onsite, and may be identified in the online index available at www.leesburgva.gov/ThomasBalchLibrary/SpecialCollections by searching vc_0003.

This collection consists of a digital and a paper copy of one volume of minutes and accounts relating to the administrative functions of the incorporated town board of Waterford, VA, 1891-1911. Topics discussed in the minutes include the appointment and election of town officials and judges, town boundaries, street maintenance, and the collections of taxes. Town accounts are entered at the end of the volume.

This collection consists of the personal papers of Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer, including her years at Bryn Mawr College (1913-1917). There are letters she wrote her parents while traveling in Egypt and Europe in the 1920s, as well as her travel diaries. The photographs in the collection document Anna's college years, her travels, and the Wildman house on Edwards Ferry Road. The collection also includes material from the estates of several family members.