Dora and Cara Armistead Papers

Collection

Identifier: Mss. Acc. 2004.24, 2006.54

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Papers from the household of Dora Travis Armistead (1890-1979) and Rowland Cara Armistead, sisters of Williamsburg, Virginia. Includes letters, personal, financial and business papers of Cary Peyton Armistead (1856-1901), father of Dora and Cara, Steward of Eastern Lunatic Asylum (now Eastern State Hospital), and prominent local Episcopal Church and school leader; Eudora Ester Armistead (d. 1940), mother; Cary Champion Armistead (d. 1944), brother, and lawyer for a time in Detroit, Michigan; Meriwether Irving Armistead (d. 1945), brother, and lawyer in Williamsburg; and Dora and Cara Armistead, elementary school teachers; along with materials related to relatives in the Armistead family, most notably Gregory Armistead, brother, who died at an early age; and Julia Maria Armistead (1858-1897), sister of Cary Peyton. The papers pertain primarily to Armistead family finances, health and personal affairs, the financial operation of the asylum/hospital, and school and church issues. Also included are a number of undated and unlabeled photographs, schoolwork of the Armistead siblings as children and college students, letters to Cary Peyton from College of William and Mary Presidents Benjamin S. Ewell and Lyon G. Tyler, and a long series of letters to Cary Champion from girlfriend Ruth Conkey.

Dates

1880-1950

Creator

Armistead, Dora Travis, 1890-1979 (Person)

Language of Materials

English

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.