Professional and personal papers of Parke Shepherd Rouse, Jr. who was a newspaper writer and columnist and an author of books on Virginia.

His personal correspondence covers his college years at Washington and Lee University; his years in the Navy during World War II; his early career while working in Richmond, Virginia and Newport News, Virginia; and his business affairs. His college and Navy letters include not only the letters he wrote home, but the letters he received from family and friends. Memorabilia, articles and official papers from his time in the Navy are also included. His personal papers include material on his leadership roles in the Jamestown Festival and Colonial Records Project, among others. Sixty-four playbills from the 1930’s and 1940’s are also part of this collection.

His professional papers include his notes, research, drafts, transcripts, notecards, photographs, clippings, correspondence, financial material and copies/drafts of his books, articles and columns. The material includes copies of his Sunday feature column in the Daily Press which were vignettes of people, places and the history of Virginia, mostly in the Williamsburg and Tidewater area from the 17th to the 20th century. Some notes and research are for books and articles that he never wrote or published, mostly about late 18th century and early 19th century famous people, places and events in Virginia.