The personal papers of Julia W. Oxrieder include materials related to Williamsburg, Virginia, documents of interest she collected related to her many interests, and personal material about her life and work in Williamsburg. Many items are copies of biographies, newspaper articles, and ephemera documenting local history including folklore, education, Williamsburg people and organizations, African Americans, and other topics.
Ledgers, 1835-1843 and 1866-1873, of a farmer kept in Rockingham County, Va. The earlier account book includes accounts with free blacks [William Wanser and William Cook (formerly W. Canada)].
2 letters, a total of five pages, written by Rev. James M. Priest to Rev. Daniel Wells, and Hon. Walter Lowrie respectively. Rev. Priest was a formerly enslaved person, freed on the condition that he emigrate as a missionary to Africa. In both letters, Rev. Priest complains about the lack of funds being provided to his mission and the school he founded in Liberia.
Collection of 22 black and white photographs of various African American individuals and families. Some of the photographs are labeled with first names and the date of the picture. Dates range from the 1950's through the 1970's. There is also a newspaper clipping of Annie Poindexter that was published in loving memory of her by her children, Lonnie and Marguerite. Poindexter passed July 3, 1959. It is supposed that the collection of photographs are from a Roanoke Estate.
One page letter from Colonel Robert W. West to Mrs. Lucy Tucker, Mrs. Lucy Hausford, and Mi[f]s. Emily Morrison dated 29 November 1863. It is a summons for the ladies to return to Mrs. Vest's home in Williamsburg, all of the property they took without permission. He requests them to comply within a week or he threatened to send colored troops to their homes to search and remove the items for them.
The Sheet Music Collection includes sheet music collected by the Special Collections Research Center.
Ledger (MsV Ad82 ovesize)time book), 1851-1866, and ledger (MsV Ad83), 1865-1866, of the commissary [company store] of D. & H. Forrer, Shenandoah Iron Works, Page County, Virginia. The latter volume lists foodstuffs and goods given out to workers which they often paid for by work. Includes accounts with free blacks.
Fourteen photographs showing the grounds, buildings, and students of St. Emma's Industrial and Agricultural institute, a school for Black boys founded in 1895 in Powhatan County, Virginia. It was renamed St. Emma's Military Academy and closed in 1972.
Account by Henry Cooke, a runaway slave belonging to Robert C. Nicholas, of a Gospel Meetings in Louisiana, led by William Ellis, another slave, of Virginia. Title, “The Gospel as preached in the South.” The account was given as testimony in New Haven (Connecticut) on January 30, 1844. Cooke epxplains how meetings were arranged, when they were held, how many people attended and what happened if slaves were caught. For excerpts see folder link below.
A three page letter written and signed by Thomas Walker, an African American emigrant teacher in Liberia.
The collection consists of one letter sent from Rikers Island, New York by a soldier, Lester Travis, writing to his sister, Ann Divine in Loch Sheldrake, New York. Rikers Island was at that time a training camp, and Travis discusses trips into New York City itself, mutual acquaintances, and the arrival of African-American volunteers.