Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth. Records, 1853-1899. Accession 22988. State government records collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

Transferred on 3 December 1948 from the Secretary of the Commonwealth, Richmond, Virginia.

Processing Information

Abstracts of Votes, 1883-1884, were removed from this collection and placed with Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, Election records, 1776-1941 [Election Records No. 416, Accession 38055, box 283]. Includes 22 abstracts from local special elections.

Biographical Information

The Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth has evolved from early colonial times when there existed a Secretary of the Colony. Thomas Nelson held the position of the first Secretary of Virginia in 1776. Early Secretaries were elected by the public. An Act of the General Assembly in 1920 changed the election to a joint vote of the General Assembly. In a 1930 Act the duties of the Secretary were redefined with the Secretary of the Commonwealth serving as the ex officio secretary of the Governor, as custodian of many official State records, and as keeper of the Greater and Lesser Seals of the Commonwealth. The office of the Secretary has gradually acquired other functions, such as: service of out-of-state civil process; appointment and regulation of notaries public; and registration and oversight of lobbyists. The Office became a gubernatorial appointment subsequent to a 1958 Act of the Assembly. The Secretary of the Commonwealth is under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office. The Secretary is appointed by the Governor for a term of four years. Currently the Secretary of the Commonwealth is responsible for gubernatorial appointments, clemency and restoration of civil rights requests and extraditions. Additional activities include: serving as ex officio Secretary to the Governor; serving as keeper of the seals of the Commonwealth; compiling and publishing the annual Blue Book; commissioning and regulating notary publics, including the publication of a Notary Handbook and conduct of disciplinary hearings; promulgating the lobbying disclosure requirements, registration of lobbyists, and recording of lobbying reports; servicing the civil process of out-of-state defendants and other parties; and authenticating and certifying the records of the courts and of any state agency.

Scope and Content

Records, 1853-1899, including correspondence, contracts, insurance policies, and receipts of the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth. During these years one individual often served as both the Secretary of the Commonwealth and the State Librarian, so many of the items concern the Virginia State Library. The bulk of the documents relate to George W. Munford's (1803-1882) term as Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1852-1864.

Includes requests for copies of the code of Virginia and Grattan's reports; receipts for purchases by the Virginia State Library; draft of acts and correspondence related to the removal and safe keeping of the records of the Supreme Court of Appeals in Richmond and Greenbrier County [W.Va.], 1862; correspondence, 12 May 1866, from George W. Munford to John M. Herndon, Secretary of the Commonwealth, regarding the settlement of accounts with the Library fund and the return of Confederate bonds and books that had been intermixed with his personal papers. Also included is a receipt, 1879, for a portrait of James Monroe to hang in the Library, from Dr. Charles G. Barney; receipts, 1880-1883, from the Library of Congress for books sent from the Commonwealth of Virginia; insurance policies, 1873-1884, for the Virginia State Library; and related receipts and lists. Of note are contracts, 1877-1879, with James River and Kanawha Company, New River Railroad Mining and Manufacturing Company, and the Bristol Coal and Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad Company for convict labor. A book, "Burning Soft Coal Without Smoke," by Angus Sinclair (1899) is also included for some unknown reason.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.