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Papers, 1945-1993, of Dr. Peter Mellette (1920-1993), longtime director of the Virginia region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews (NCCJ). Almost all of the papers in the collection relate to Mellette's work with the NCCJ, and include correspondence; general NCCJ files, such as administrative reports, committee and local chapter files, manuals, news releases, and newsletters; outreach and program files, including brochures, discussion guides, manuals, resource packets, scripts for radio and television spots and plays, sound recordings, syllabi, and other materials from programs such as Brotherhood Week, Rearing Children of Good Will, and Police-Community Relations, as well as various awards programs; subject files reflecting Mellette's interests in education, race relations, religion, school desegregation, social justice, and other topics; financial papers including budget projections, financial statements, and fundraising files; and an extensive collection of clippings.

Joseph Johnson's Executive Papers primarily consist of incoming correspondence during his four-year term as governor from 1 January 1852 until 1 January 1856. The correspondence in this collection relates to a variety of topics including appointments & recommendations for state positions; improvements to Capitol Square; the construction of the Washington Equestrian Statue; the Virginia Penitentiary; slavery; arms and ammunition; the militia; Revolutionary War bounty land claims; banks and banking; resignations; extraditions; state expenses & revenue; elections; and others. In addition to correspondence, there are resolutions from the Virginia Senate & House of Delegates; accounts; oaths; contracts; pardons; proposals; receipts; election returns & certificates; qualifications; lists; proclamations; petitions; reports; appointments; resignations; bonds; commissions; orders; proceedings; opinions; and other sundry items.

This collection includes both processed series and unprocessed accessions of records created by the Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary including those from component offices and individual staff members. A majority of the collection contains correspondence from the dean of the libraries and library administration. Inventories for some series and accessions are available in the Special Collections Research Center and links to PDFs of those inventories can be provided when available.

The collection consists of financial records, such as account books from the 1800s; dividend payments; income tax returns from 1919-1928; company records and reports; an employee records book from the 1920s-1940; letters of correspondence; company histories; franchise map; and newsclippings from various newspapers in 1956-1957. Of particular interest are the 1867 property book and the book containing the "Copies of Deeds, Agreements, & Contracts" from 1853-1892. Both contain drawings and diagrams of where water pipes had been laid in Old Town.

Highlights of this collection include material concerning the Washington and Lee Journalism Department, including course material, student papers, and lecture notes. Supplementing this course material are published materials on the history of film, 20th century war propaganda, the Nazification of Germany, Paris in the 1920's and the "Lost Generation." There also includes wide selections of personal research materials for projects such as Riegel's books Mobilizing for Chaos and Crown of Glory; collections on Riegel's travels to Central and South America and Europe including Germany during the 1930s, and the typescript of his unpublished autobigraphy to 1945 titled "Hacking It."