Alice Cohn Rice was born to Henry L. and Mary Cohn Rice in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1905. In May of 1942, she married Louis I. Jaffe (1888-1950). During the 1960s and 1970s, Alice Jaffe was an art teacher at Old Dominion College (later Old Dominion University). She died in January of 1994 in Norfolk, Virginia. She is buried with her husband in Cedar Grove Cemetery.

Additional manuscript collections relating to Alice (and Louis) Jaffe can be found at Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia.

Louis Isaac Jaffe was born to Philip and Lotta Kahn Jaffe in February of 1888. Jaffe was raised around Durham, North Carolina, attending Durham High School and Trinity College (later Duke University). He began his career as a newspaper writer and editor in college, later going to work for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He served in France during World War I and after the war, became the editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, the position he would hold until his death. During this lengthy term as editor, he had a reputation as a defender of civil liberties and a promotor of the arts. He helped write key elements of legislation against lynching in Virginia (passed in 1928). In 1920, Jaffe married Margaret Davis; the couple divorced in 1939. In the mid-1930s, Jaffe helped found the Norfolk branch of Virginia Union University (now Norfolk State University). In 1942, Jaffe married Alice Cohn Rice. In 1950, Jaffe suffered a heart attack and died. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.

Additional information about Louis Jaffe can be found in his biograpihcal entry in the Encyclopedia Virginia online. Additional manuscript collections and papers created by or about Jaffe can be found at multiple archives in Virginia, including the University of Virginia, Old Dominion University, and the College of William and Mary.

Julius B. (J.B.) Lankes was the oldest of four children born to Julius John (J. J.) and Edee Bartlett Lankes. Lankes died in Michigan in 2010 and is buried in Newport News, Virginia.

The collection of Rosemary Sprague at Longwood University contains two boxes of correspondence with J. B. Lankes.

Julius John (J. J.) Lankes was born in 1884 in Buffalo, NY. He began working as a draftsman in 1902, but spent the majority of his professional life known for his woodcuts. In 1914, he married art student Edee Maria Bartlett (1885-1958). Between 1915 and 1924, the couple had four children. Lankes' career as an artist spanned decades, during which he created woodcuts and illustrations for authors, among others. In addition to Sherwood Anderson, he worked with Robert Frost and Beatrix Potter. Lankes wrote and illustrated , published by Henry Holt in 1932. In 2006, The University of Tampa published a new edition of this book with selected letters and other writings, edited by Welford Dunaway Taylor. (A copy of the 2006 edition is housed in Special Collections. A copy of the 1932 edition is available at the University Libraries' Art & Architecture Library.) In addition to his illustrations and work as an artist, Lankes taught at Wells College from 1933 to about 1940. From 1943 to 1950, Lankes worked for the reproduction section of the National Advisory Council for Aeronautics (NACA, later NASA). He retired in 1951 and died in April 1960.

In addition to Virginia Tech, J. J. Lankes manuscript collections and artworks can be found in multiple archives around Virginia , including the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University.