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Abstract

The G. E. Roberts Letter contains information pertaining to an African American man shooting a white doctor, Dr. Hammet, in Christiansburg, VA. The letter is written to Walter J. Reeve in Central Depot, VA on February 8, 1874.

Abstract

This letter was sent from G. C. Shippen, acting superintendent of the Virginia Manual Labor School of the Negro Reformatory Association of Virginia, to Mr. F. W. Whittaker of Lynchburg. This letter is a response to a request to commit a young man named Lucien Gilmore to the institution. Shippen writes that the institution is at capacity and that it will be six weeks before they can accept any new inmates.

Abstract

This collection contains nineteenth century financial documents, including tax records for various Virginia residents. Also included are several hand-written receipts mentioning the sale or labor of enslaved people, including a Black child named Peter and a Black man named Bob.

Abstract

The Virginia Tax Receipt includes a pre-printed tax receipt for Peter Logan, dated 1859, from Chesterfield, Virginia. There is a handwritten tax on one free person of color. Almost all printed categories except "Clock" and "Furniture" have been crossed out.

Abstract The collection consists of two diaries (1913, 1928) written by Jeffrey T. Wilson (1843-1929). Wilson was a former enslaved person who spent most of his life in and around Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia. He worked as a bailiff in the Norfolk courts after leaving the U. S. Navy and wrote a column, "Colored Notes," for The Portsmouth Star from 1924 until his death in 1929. He outlived four wives and had at least twelve children. Wilson's diaries...