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Editors
Tag Archives: Conservation
See Jefferson’s Papers Conserved!
12 December 2011
The Executive Papers of Governor Thomas Jefferson, 1779-1781, have been named one of Virginia’s top ten endangered artifacts by the Virginia Association of Museums. The letters and manuscripts documenting Jefferson’s service as the second governor of Virginia address the challenges he faced during the Revolutionary War, the drafting of the Articles of Confederation, the negotiation of the boundaries of Virginia and her neighbors, and the dangers of the frontier. The papers are currently undergoing conservation treatments thanks in part to a $110, 000 grant received from Save America’s Treasures. Watch as the video shows Leslie Courtois, Senior Conservator with Etherington Conservation Services, as she works to restore these valuable records in the Library of Virginia’s conservation labs. Thanks to Paige Neal for her script writing and narrating, to videographer Pierre Courtois, and to Audrey Johnson and Dale Neighbors of Special Collections for providing images. For more information on the collection and grant see the earlier blog post “Grant Allows Jefferson’s Papers to be Preserved.”
Posted in Uncategorized
Also tagged in: Preservation, Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson
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Also tagged in: Preservation, Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson
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Spoils of War Return Home to Virginia
4 November 2011
On Thursday, October 20, staff from the Library of Virginia’s Local Records Services Branch were in Jersey City, New Jersey, to formally accept one of the Commonwealth’s long-lost treasures – a Stafford County record book taken from Virginia in 1863 by a Union officer serving in a New York regiment.
The volume, an order book detailing the daily activities of the court from 1749 to 1755, was transcribed by a Stafford deputy clerk in 1791. The book was removed from the Stafford courthouse by Captain W. A. Treadwell of the 4th N.Y. Regiment and was long considered to be a casualty of the war. A note inside the front cover and presumably in Treadwell’s hand states that it was “Taken from Stafford Court House, March 30 1863.”
The volume was handed down several times over many years before it was presented to the Hudson County Historical Society. The Society’s collection eventually was transferred to the collection of the Jersey City Free Public Library’s New Jersey Room. Recognizing that the order book did not fit within the New Jersey Room’s collection policy, Jersey City Public Library’s John Beekman contacted the LVA to return the volume to its rightful home in Virginia. The volume… read more »
Posted in Local Records Blog Posts, What's New in the Archives
Also tagged in: circuit court records, Civil War, Jersey City, New Jersey, Stafford County, Stafford Court House
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Also tagged in: circuit court records, Civil War, Jersey City, New Jersey, Stafford County, Stafford Court House
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Why We Fight: History’s Raw Materials Saved, Conserved, and Shared.
26 August 2011
The first blog entry I wrote back in 2009 was about the shredded first pages of an old family Bible that were part of a Rockingham County Chancery Cause. The sense of wonder and excitement I felt when I opened the letter marked “Exhibit A” filled with those fragments and tucked away in the court papers was not an unusual experience. Hardly a week went by for me during my nearly six years here at the Library of Virginia when I didn’t feel that way at least once, twice, or three times.
Today I leave the Library of Virginia and, hopefully, leave our state’s historic records in a little better shape than when I first came through the door. Like the archivists who worked here before me and those who will come after me, we try to save the building blocks of history, organize and preserve them, and make sure that they are accessible not only to visiting scholars but also to the citizens of this state and those who live around this country with roots deep in the soil of the commonwealth’s history.
I once heard a career counselor say that a job is what you do and the things you are passionate about become hobbies. I have been fortunate enough to do for nearly six years what most people could never dream of – having a job that is a passion and a passion that is a job. It has been an honor to work here and I am so sad to leave the Library of… read more »
Posted in Chancery Court Blog Posts, What's New in the Archives
Also tagged in: chancery, Chancery Causes, Farewell, Rockingham County, Smith family
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Also tagged in: chancery, Chancery Causes, Farewell, Rockingham County, Smith family
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Preservation of Jefferson’s Papers in the News
17 August 2011
In case you missed it, the Library of Virginia’s conservation of the gubernatorial papers of Thomas Jefferson was featured in Style Weekly. The letters and manuscripts documenting Jefferson’s service as the second governor of Virginia are being conserved thanks to a $110,000 grant from Save America’s Treasures. For more information on the collection and the grant see an earlier blog post about it here.
Posted in Archives in the News!
Also tagged in: Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson
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Also tagged in: Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson
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See Montgomery County’s Cohabitation Register Conserved!
2 May 2011
The staff at Montgomery County’s Circuit Court Clerk’s Office recently rediscovered the county’s cohabitation register, one of the most valuable records used for African American genealogical research. Its official title is The Register of Colored Persons of Montgomery County, Virginia, Cohabiting Together as Husband and Wife on February 27, 1866. Watch as this video tells the story of this register and its preservation at The Library of Virginia. Montgomery County is one of only 19 Virginia localities known to have a surviving cohabitation register. The video script was co-written and narrated by our own Sarah Nerney, Local Records Senior Archivist. Thanks also to Audrey Johnson of Special Collections, Leslie Courtois of Etherington Conservation, and videographer Pierre Courtois for their invaluable contributions to this video production. See a previous blog post about the Smyth County cohabitation register.
-Dale Dulaney, Local Records Archival Assistant
Posted in Uncategorized
Also tagged in: African Americans, cohabitation register, Montgomery County, Preservation, Reconstruction, slavery
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Also tagged in: African Americans, cohabitation register, Montgomery County, Preservation, Reconstruction, slavery
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Treasure in the Attic: Accomack County Colonial Era Records
27 April 2011
In 1996, Samuel Cooper, circuit court clerk of Accomack County, contacted the Library of Virginia about a large amount of county records he found in the attic of the clerk’s office. He requested assistance from LVA to determine their value, with the possibility of transferring them to LVA. A team of archivists travelled to Accomack County expecting to examine only a few boxes of old court papers. After climbing through the narrow opening of the office ceiling, they discovered a treasure trove of court records dating from the late 1600s to the early 1700s. Unfortunately, due to the poor environmental and storage conditions the records were in extremely fragile condition. Approximately 50 cubic feet of county records were transferred to the Library of Virginia where they were stabilized.
During the course of several years we examined these records to determine what they were and whether they could… read more »
Posted in Uncategorized
Also tagged in: Accomack County, Circuit Court Records Preservation Program, colonial records
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Also tagged in: Accomack County, Circuit Court Records Preservation Program, colonial records
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Grant Allows Jefferson’s Papers To Be Preserved
23 February 2011
The Library of Virginia recently received a highly competitive Save America’s Treasures grant in the amount of $110,000 for the conservation of the gubernatorial papers of Thomas Jefferson.
The correspondence, letters, and documents pertaining to Thomas Jefferson’s service as the second governor of Virginia bring to life the daily challenges faced by him and other leaders during the Revolutionary War, while drafting the Articles of Confederation, and when addressing frontier relations. The list of Jefferson’s correspondents in the collection reads like a who’s who of American history and includes John Jay, James Madison, Baron Frederick von Steuben, John… read more »
Posted in State Records Blog Posts
Also tagged in: Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson, William J. Barrow
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Also tagged in: Save America's Treasures, Thomas Jefferson, William J. Barrow
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Conserving the Documents of “Union or Secession”
10 December 2010
Have you ever wondered how fragile or damaged documents are repaired or preserved? Check out this behind-the-scenes look at preservation efforts undertaken to conserve one of the documents used in the new “Union or Secession: Virginians Decide” exhibition at The Library of Virginia (LVA). Visit the innovative online classroom to see more about the people, events, and documents that were a part of this crucial time in Virginia history. The exhibition is open now until October 29, 2011. For more video created by LVA staff, see our YouTube channel.
Reuse, recycle…
19 May 2010
One such example exists in the Henkel Family Business Records (Acc. 28040), a collection of 137 volumes related to the family’s general store, farm, and mill businesses in New Market, Virginia. While processing the collection, I came across an L.P. Henkel and Brothers account book, 1869–1872, containing business receipts pasted over handwritten text.
The Library of Virginia’s conservation lab removed each receipt, conserving both the receipts and the ledger pages beneath. This process uncovered a Civil War-era register, 1863–1865, listing conscripts from the 10th Virginia Congressional District (Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Loudoun, Prince William, and Warren Counties), with entries for name, age, occupation, physical description, date and place of enrollment, and company assigned. Also included were special orders regarding enlistment and assignments written from headquarters in New Market and Winchester, Virginia. Thanks to careful conservation, these formerly inaccessible records may help researchers uncover more about their own ancestors’ stories.
The original account book and receipts remain with the Henkel Family Business Records. The register portion was microfilmed and cataloged individually (Acc. 43957, Miscellaneous Reel 5495). All are open for research.
–Renee Savits, LVA Private Papers Program Manager
Posted in Civil War-Related Posts, Uncategorized
Also tagged in: business records, Civil War, Henkel family, military records, receipts, registers
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Also tagged in: business records, Civil War, Henkel family, military records, receipts, registers
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