William Fleming Papers
Collection 009
1.6 linear ft.
Fleming (1729-1795) was a physician, soldier and statesman who was born in Scotland and migrated to the Shenandoah Valley. He played prominent roles in western Virginia during the American Revolution and later in the development of what became the state of Kentucky. He was a Trustee of Liberty Hall Academy from 1776 to 1782. Most of the papers, including several diaries, pertain to Fleming's activities in Kentucky. There is a 1765 medical journal and account book. There are numerous other journals and land transaction documents. His correspondents included many prominent individuals. There are copies of other Fleming manuscripts in the Rockbridge Historical Society Collection.
John C. Calhoun Papers
Collection 010
.2 linear ft.
The collection includes several letters from Calhoun (1782-1850), the Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, U.S. Senator and political philosopher. There are 1818 and 1820 official communications from Calhoun as Secretary of War in the Monroe administration. An 1831 letter as Vice President to Francis Wilkinson Pickens discusses the impending 1832 presidential election. Photocopies of additional Calhoun material from 1824-1825 are located in the Duncan Green Campbell Papers (collection 063).
Jefferson Davis Papers
Collection 011, 011a
.2 linear ft.
This collection includes several letters and telegrams from Davis (1808-1889) concerning the conduct of the war and later concerning preparation for his 1881 book, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. We have several copies of this work in our Rare Book collection including a set owned by G.W.C. Lee. Much of the correspondence is from Davis to William Nelson Pendleton, Lexington minister and Confederate General (1809-1883). There is an interesting and important printed broadside, dated January 5, 1863, and issued by Davis in answer to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. There are other Davis items in our Confederate States of America Memorabilia Collection (collection 110) and the Lee Memorial Association Records of the Rockbridge Historical Society Collection.
James Monroe Papers
Collection 017
.2 linear ft.
The collection includes four legal documents signed by Monroe (1758- 1831), three as Governor of Virginia and one as President of the United States. One of these documents is a March 1802 proclamation from Virginia Governor Monroe authorizing the meeting house outside Lexington as the proper place for housing the county court following a fire that destroyed the Rockbridge County Court House. There is an additional letter from Monroe to Zechariah Johnston in 1791 concerning a possible Constitutional amendment in the Johnston Papers (collection 006a).
James Hubert Price Papers
Collection 090
2.8 linear ft.
Price (1878-1943), of Staunton, was Governor of Virginia from 1938-1942. He was a 1909 graduate of the Washington and Lee University Law School. His success in Virginia politics was notable for his not having the blessing of the Byrd Organization, a political rarity in the Old Dominion at the time. Price also served in the Virginia House of delegates and two terms as Lieutenant Governor. Most of his extensive correspondence in the collection is from his service as Governor. There are copies of many of his speeches. There is a detailed index to the Price collection in Special Collections. For other Price material see the Leroy Hodges Papers (collection 162).
Carson McCullers Papers
Collection 097
.2 linear ft.
Carson McCullers (1917-1967) was a gifted Southern novelist whose best known works include The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding. This collection of her letters was assembled by psychiatrist, Dr. Sidney Isenberg (WLU 1942). In the letters McCullers discusses herself, her work and Southern playwright, Tennessee Williams. There are letters from others discussing McCullers including several from Virginia Spencer Carr, a major biographer of the novelist. For additional McCullers material see the Thomas Henry Carter Papers (collection 004).
Douglas Southall Freeman Papers
Collection 144
.2 linear ft.
Freeman (1886-1953) was the definitive biographer of Robert E. Lee and George Washington and received the Pulitzer Prize for each of these impeccably written multi-volume works. His papers consist of the autograph and typescript drafts of several chapters of volume IV of his monumental biographical work, R.E. Lee. These chapters concern Lee's presidency of Washington College following the war. There are Freeman letters in our holdings in the Leroy Hodges Papers (collection 162) and in the official papers of W&L President, Francis Pendleton Gaines.
Ann Norvell Otey Scott Papers
Collection 163
.6 linear ft.
Ann Scott (1872-1948) was a Lynchburg, Virginia, resident and Chairperson of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Virginia Division. Her papers (1920-1948) pertain principally to the controversy over Washington and Lee President, Henry Louis Smith's, proposed renovation and expansion of the Lee Chapel in the 1920s. Her correspondence is primarily with officials of Washington and Lee and the United Daughters of the Confederacy and with members of the Lee family. The collection includes correspondence and newspaper clippings relating to fund raising for the restoration of Stratford Hall, birthplace of Robert E. Lee.