Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

James R. Branch papers, Collection # M 213-292, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.

Biographical / Historical

James Ransom Branch (1863-c. 1940s) was educated in Reconstruction Richmond at McGuire's, McCabe's, General Ransom's, Colonel Carter's and Richmond College. "In 1884, he entered the Merchants Bank. At twenty-one he raised thoroughbred horses and cattle. Then he became an impresario for a chain of theaters in Virginia and North Carolina, including Richmond and Norfolk. He returned to the merchants Bank in 1890 and, through ingenuity, innovative approaches, and social aplomb expanded the out-of-town accounts of the bank so that it became the largest between Baltimore and New Orleans. He was appointed a National Bank Examiner and was an active member of the Richmond City Council. He served in the National Guard and in the U.S. Volunteer Infantry in which he was a colonel during the Spanish-American War. Upon his appointment as secretary of the American Bankers' Association in 1895, he became a resident of New York City."

"He married Mary Lillian Hubball, in Richmond, on 28 October 1885." The marriage produced three children: James Robinson Branch (1886-1905), Mary Cooke Branch (1897- ), and Allan Talbott Branch (1890, d. aged 5 mos.). "By his second wife, Mary Warren, Jim had another son names James."

Scope and Contents

The collection contains 27 original letters to Col. Branch from such dignitaries as President Theodore Roosevelt, the Secretary of the Navy, officials at Annapolis, and his immediate family, including James Branch Cabell. The letter-book contains copies of over 500 letters to various individuals.

Arrangement

Collection is arranged in alphabetical order. The original letters have been removed from the notebook in which they were kept and the notebook is filed with the letterbook.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Bankers -- Correspondence. -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Bankers -- New York (State) -- New York.
• Branch, James R. (James Ransom), 1863- -- Correspondence
• Cabell, James Branch, 1879-1958 -- Family