A Guide to the Warren M. Billings Research Files, 1970-2006 (bulk 1984-2006) #43386

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Some items in the correspondence files are available only in redacted form (Social Security numbers have been blacked out). The originals will not be available until May 2083.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Warren M. Billings Research Files, 1970-2006. Accession 43386. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Warren M. Billings, New Orleans, Louisiana, 24 July 2007.

Warren M. Billings (1940- ), a scholar of seventeeth-century Virginia history and early American law, is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of New Orleans and Historian of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. He holds degrees from the College of William and Mary, the University of Pittsburgh, and Northern Illinois University. Among his many publications are Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia (Louisiana State University Press, 2004) and The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677 (Library of Virginia, 2007). Sir William Berkeley (1605-1677) served as colonial governor of Virginia from 1642 to 1652 and from 1660 to 1677.

Scope and Content

Research files, 1970-2006, compiled by Warren M. Billings (1940- ) while editing The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677 (Library of Virginia, 2007). Correspondence, 1984-2006, reflects Billings's efforts to locate Sir William Berkeley (1605-1677) manuscripts at repositories in England and elsewhere, find answers to research queries, obtain funding, consult with editors, and arrange for publication of the book. Included among the correspondence files are proposals, grant applications, status reports, and a looseleaf travel diary documenting a 1989 research trip to England. Other materials in the collection include notes and outlines, an undated, 1,117-page draft of the book, and photocopies of Berkeley manuscripts.

Contents List

Warren M. Billings research files, 1970-2006 .

Extent: 5 boxes.

Original folder groupings and titles have for the most part been maintained.

Box 1 Folder 1
Berkeley exhibit (proposed)
Box 1 Folder 2
Berkeley manuscripts in county records
Box 1 Folder 3
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1970, 1975, 1984-1988 .
Box 1 Folder 4
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1989 .
Box 1 Folders 5-6
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1990 .
Box 1 Folders 7-10
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1991 .
Box 1 Folders 11-12
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, January-April 1992 .
Box 2 Folders 1-2
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, May-December, 1992 .
Box 2 Folders 3-4
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1993 .
Box 2 Folders 5-7
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1994 .
Box 2 Folder 8
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1995 .
Box 2 Folders 9-10
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 1996 .
Box 2 Folder 11
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence, 2004-2005 .
Box 2 Folder 12
Berkeley Papers Project - Correspondence and miscellaneous documents, 1994-2003 .

Additional correspondence and miscellaneous documents on CD-ROM. Documents include a bibliography of works on Berkeley and related topics, overviews of the Berkeley Papers Project, calendars of William Berkeley and Frances Culpeper Berkeley papers, and materials related to the publication of Billings's other major Berkeley work, Sir William Berkeley and the Forging of Colonial Virginia (Louisiana State University Press, 2004).
Box 2 Folder 13
Berkeley Papers Project - Overview (partial), ca. 1999 .
Box 2 Folder 14
Berkeley Papers Project - Publisher shift, 1999 .
Box 2 Folder 15
Berkeley Papers Project - Research notes, etc.
Box 3 Folders 1-2
Bonseil on silk
Box 3 Folder 3
Culpeper family papers from Kent County Archives
Box 3 Folder 4
The English Court: from the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War by David Starkey (photocopied excerpts)
Box 3 Folder 5
Frank Berkeley's notes on Frances Culpeper Stephens Berkeley mss.
Box 3 Folder 6
Gardening bibliography for notes, etc.
Box 3 Folder 7
General court case, 1638 [?] v. Poythress (merchant suit)
Box 3 Folder 8
John Catlett letter (from CW)
Box 3 Folder 9
Ludwell State House group
Box 3 Folder 10
Miscellaneous lists of Berkeley manuscript materials
Box 3 Folder 11
Notes and other data on Green Spring House
Box 3 Folders 12-14
The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677 , draft
Box 4 Folders 1-8
The Papers of Sir William Berkeley, 1605-1677 , draft
Box 4 Folders 9-10
Permissions correspondence, 1989-2006
Box 5 Folder 1
Research materials pertinent to Berkeley, his family, and cirlces of acquaintance
Box 5 Folders 2-3
Rough notes ideas, work lists, etc.
Box 5 Folder 4
VHS style guidelines for Berkeley papers, 1991