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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Nelson Conrad and Birdie Thomas Love Token, 1882, Artifact-061, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Nelson Conrad and Birdie Thomas Love Token was purchased by Special Collections and University Archives in February 2015.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Nelson Conrad and Birdie Thomas Love Token was completed in July 2025.
Nelson Conrad is likely Thomas Nelson Conrad, Jr., who was born on August 26, 1868, to Thomas Nelson Conrad, Sr. (1837-1900) and Emma S. Ball (1845-1906). His father was president of Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College from 1882 to 1886. Conrad, Jr., married Kathryn Hammett on February 27, 1908, and he worked for the Washington, D. C., health department. He died on May 3, 1911, and is buried alongside his wife in Westview Cemetery in Blacksburg.
Birdie Thomas was a resident of Blacksburg, Virginia. No other information could be found.
External sources:
U.S. Census Records, 1870-1910
Thomas Nelson Conrad. Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41489869/thomas_nelson-conrad. Accessed July 21, 2025.
Thos N. Conrad. Ancestry.com in the Washington, District of Columbia, U.S., Marriage Certificates, 1870-1920, database. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/62863/records/26320. Accessed July 21, 2025.
The collection includes a love token, reading "Birdie Thomas, Blacksburg, Va., 1882" on one side and "Nelson Conrad VAMC 1882" on the other side. The token is round and silver, with a hole in the top of it where a chain would go through. Above Birdie Thomas's name is an image of a woman holding a flag pole and a ribbon goes around the background of the woman with stars on it before turning to a blank ribbon that is the background of the remaining coin.
Virginia Tech Special Collections and University Archives also has the Thomas Nelson Conrad Book Manuscript, Ms1989-095 and RG 2/3, Thomas N. Conrad, 1882-1886, in the University Archives.
The guide to the Nelson Conrad and Birdie Thomas Love Token by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (