This collection is open for research use.
The Perkins and Perkins Law Firm records were given to the University of Virginia Library Special Collections on August 4, 1953, by W. Allan Perkins, Charlottesville, Virginia.
The collection has been arranged in three series, 1) Legal Correspondence, 2) Financial and Legal Documents and 3) Bound Folio Volumes and Related Material.
The legal correspondence is arranged alphabetically by last name of correspondent or the company name. All the years of each correspondent have been gathered and filed together.
George Perkins (1847-1918) was a lawyer in Charlottesville, Virginia, and attorney for the City of Charlottesville from November 18, 1896 to January 1, 1915. George was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, to William Allen Perkins and Ann Henderson. Having joined the Confederate forces during the Civil War, he attended the University of Virginia from 1865-1868. He then married Eliza Norris Watson, and they had at least three children, Hay W. Perkins, Annie H. Perkins, and W. Allan Perkins. Perkins apparently shared a legal practice with Judge E.R. Watson (deceased 1887) after graduating from the University of Virginia. George Perkins was a also a member of the Presbyterian Church of Charlottesville and served as an Elder (1888-1918) and a Clerk of Session (beginning in 1890).
George Perkins was joined in his law practice by his son, W. Allan Perkins (1880-1960), soon after Allan studied law at the University of Virginia and graduated around 1903. W. Allan Perkins was married to Lizzie Hazlehurst Bolton Perkins and their children were Hazelhurst Bolton Perkins (1911-1923) and William Allen Perkins, Jr. (1925-2014). Allan Perkins also represented the University of Virgina as an attorney from about 1915-1952, was Treasurer of the University Alumni Association, served on the Charlottesville School Board and was a director of the Farmington Country Club.
Perkins and Perkins Law Firm records, MSS 4407, 1751, 1835-1920, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Some materials were damaged by water prior to their arrival at the University of Virginia Library. These items have been given extra support with mylar enclosures or file folder inserts.
The Perkins Family papers and business records (MSS 38-53) contain related materials, especially the group of letter books belonging to George W. Perkins that contain volumes of personal correspondence, correspondence as Attorney for the City of Charlottesville, and Perkins and Perkins Law Firm.
Letterbook of George Perkins, Attorney for the City of Charlottesville, 1896 November 18 – 1905 December 15
Letterbook of George Perkins, Attorney for the City of Charlottesville, 1906 January 11 – 1914 December 29
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1903 July 1 – 1903 November 12
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1903 November 12 – 1904 April 16
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1904 April 16 – 1904 August 23
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1904 August 24 – 1904 December 12
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1904 December 12 – 1905 March 25
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1905 March 25 – 1905 August 3
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1905 August 3 – 1905 December 2
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1905 December 2 – 1906 March 20
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1906 March 20 – 1906 July 14
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1906 July 14 – 1906 November 22
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1906 November 22 – 1907 April 29
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1907 April 29 – 1907 November 15 (16)
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1907 November 16 – 1908 April 14
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1908 April 14 – 1908 September 8
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1908 September – 1909 January, DAMAGED
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1909 February – 1909 June, DAMAGED
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1909 June 23 – 1909 November 10
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1909 November 30 – 1910 March 9
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1910 March 9 – 1910 July 2
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1910 July 2 – 1910 November 30
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1910 November 30 – 1911 April 11
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1911 April 11 – 1911 September 7
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1911 September 8 – 1912 February 15
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1912 February 15 – 1912 September 12
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1912 September 12 – 1912 December 12
Letterbook of Perkins and Perkins, 1913 February 1 – 1915 January 26
Letterbook of George Perkins, Private Correspondence, 1883 January 20 – 1886 July 28
Letterbook of George Perkins, Private Correspondence, 1886 August 10 – 1908 November 27
Letterbook of George Perkins, Private Correspondence, 1908 – 1915
Letterbook of George Perkins, Private Correspondence, 1915 – 1918
The records chiefly contain legal correspondence, financial and legal documents and bound folio volumes from the law firm of Perkins and Perkins, consisting of George Perkins and his son, W. Allan Perkins, 1903-1916.
In addition, some legal correspondence and documents represent the service of George Perkins as attorney for the City of Charlottesville, 1904-1916. There is very little personal correspondence or documents in these records.
Two items have been removed from the collection and sent to Rare Books for individual cataloging:
Broadside for public auction sale of "Nimrod Hall," near Millboro, Bath County, Virginia, May 4, 1899
Broadside for Sheriff's Sale at Public Auction, Crozet, Albemarle County, March 17, 1908, to satisfy a legal suit between M.R. and Polly Graves v Virginia Ginseng Company, for Sheriff L.C. Watts.
Topics include:
Property and License Tax Controversy with Telephone, Telegraph and Express Companies; Strattan Case and the street through the property of the Charlottesville Ice Company, Folder 1 (1901-1902)
McKee Stree issue; the Federal Building and Leterman, Folder 2 (1902-1904)
Street Improvement Bonds; Charlottesville v Bishop; and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Depot, Folder 3 (1903-1904)
Street Car Company Report; Failes v City of Charlottesville; the Water Main through the Carter property; the account of Albemarle County with the City of Charlottesville; and Patrick Grady lawsuit, Folder 4 (1904-1906)
Greaver v City of Charlottesville; and City Gas Works Lease, Folder 5 (1906)
Late Due Notices for Oakwood Cemetery Lots with lists of purchasers, noting both white and African American buyers, threatening to remove bodies from unpaid lots; and a bond issue for a Gas Plant, Folder 6 (1908?-1912)
Items include a page from a Bible with notes on significant family events for the Mallam, Neil and Hays families (circa 1751-1803); two letters about the finances of Annie Byrd and Edward Alexander Watson (1899); the marriage license of two African Americans, Moses Brooks and Mildred Lewis (1902); 3 insurance policies for "Nimrod Hall," Bath County (1903-1904); a broadside "University of Virginia Students. Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865. Reunion of June 10-12, 1912"; a delegate certificate of Major Channing M. Bolton to the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association Convention (1917); Sketch Map to accompany the Report on Remick-Waters Soapstone property (1911); and a printed notice about the Charlottesville City Democratic Primary (undated).