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Preferred citation: [Identification of item], Campbell Family Papers, WLU Coll. 0393, Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA
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Henry Donald Campbell was born in Lexington, Virginia on July 29, 1862, the son of John Lyle Campbell and Harriet Peters (Bailey) Campbell. He was educated at Washington and Lee University, receiving an MA (1882) and PhD. (1885). He attended the Universities of Berlin and Heidelburg (1886-1888). In 1888, he married Martha Miller; their childeren were: Henry Donald, Edmund Douglas, Ben Miller, and Robert Bailey. At Washington and Lee he was Professor of Geology and Biology, 1887-1920, Professor of Geology, 1920-1934, Dean, 1906-1932, and acting President, January-July, 1912, and the historian of the University. He was President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools in 1930.
John Lyle Campbell was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on December 7, 1818. He was the son of Robert S. Campbell and Mary Isabella Paxton Campbell (married 1814). Alexander Campbell, his grandfather, helped found Liberty Hall Academy. He graduated from Washington College with Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1843. After graduating he taught at Staunton Male Academy and another in Kentucky. In 1851 he came back to Lexington to accept the Robinson Professorship of Chemistry and Geology at Washington College, and continued to hold the position until his death.
Items in the collection include a scrapbook, a bound volume of the Ring-Tum Phi, a book of pressed leaves, Miller family birth records, photographs of Lexington and Campbell family members, newspapers, and personal letters.