The collection is open for research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
Reproduction or digitization of materials for personal or research use can be requested using our reproduction/digitization form: http://bit.ly/scuareproduction. Reproduction or digitization of materials for publication or exhibit use can be requested using our publication/exhibition form: http://bit.ly/scuapublication. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives (specref@vt.edu or 540-231-6308) if you need assistance with forms or to submit a completed form.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Gardner Family Papers, Ms2008-096, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Gardner Family Papers were purchased by Special Collections in 2008. The papers had been identified as a collection of Shawsville miscellanea but were determined to relate specifically to the Gardner family.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Gardner Family Papers commenced and was completed in December 2008.
George Wesley Gardner was born March 31, 1839 in Montgomery County, Virginia. He married Ruth Annette McDonald (born 1842), and the couple had nine children: Ida, John Sessler, George, William Redman, Harvey, Lou Emma, Nannie Sue, Joseph, and Frank. George Wesley Gardner died September 20, 1916.
John Sessler Gardner, a son of George Wesley Gardner and Ruth Annette McDonald, was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, on May 1, 1865. Around 1887, he moved to Florida, where he married Jennie Paige. Gardner died November 23, 1937 in Zellwood, Florida.
William Redman, younger brother of John Sessler Gardner, was born in Montgomery County, Virginia on August 16, 1871, and died April 6, 1952. His essay on store inventory indicates that he operated a mercantile business.
This collection contains papers of the Gardner family of Shawsville (Montgomery County), Virginia. The collection includes two letters home from John Sessler Gardner in Florida. Within Gardner's letters are lengthy tributes to his parents and the family dog. He also briefly mentions the orange crop, investment in local real estate, the 1890 election, and Florida tycoon Henry Flagler. Also within the collection is a set of Montgomery County property tax receipts for William Redman Gardner, a Shawsville High School grade report and 1937 commencement program, a lighthearted essay by William R. Gardner about end-of-year store inventories, and assorted ephemera.
The collection is arranged by document type, then chronologically.
The guide to the Gardner Family Papers by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).