Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Conditions Governing Access:

Collection is open to all researchers. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation:

Jo Ann Davis Records, Special Collections Research Center, William & Mary Libraries.

Acquisition Information:

Gift

Biographical Information:

Jo Ann Davis was born in 1950 near Salisbury, North Carolina and moved to Hampton, Virginia when she was 9 years old. She was living in Gloucester, Virginia at the time of her death.

Jo Ann Davis was Virginia's first female Republican in Congress, elected in 2000 as the Representative from Virginia's First District. She was a strong leader in national security issues, shipbuilding, veterans and the Chesapeake Bay. She was in her fourth term when she died of breast cancer in 2007. She was on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees.

Before she became a Congresswoman, she owned real estate businesses and represented York County in the Virginia House of Delegates in 1997.

Scope and Contents

Records of United States Representative Jo Ann Davis, Congresswoman from Virginia's First District from 2000 to 2007.  The Papers are mostly legislative material where she was involved either as an originator of or co-signer to Dear Colleague letters or as a sponsor or co-sponsor to legislation, but also includes speeches, press releases and office files.

The first folder in the first box contains news clippings, biographical information, list of staff members and definitions of Co-Sign, Sign-On and Dear Colleague Letters.

Arrangement of Materials:

The files are arranged into the following series: Co-sign and Dear Colleague Letters and Co-sponsored Legislation, Congressional Sessions, Legislative Matters, Publicity, Constituents and Office Files.  Most files are in chronological order, though there are exceptions.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Correspondence
• Memorandums
• Military Affairs - United States
• Press releases
• Reports
• Speeches
• United States Congress
• Virginia--Politics and Government