Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Pittsylvania County Business Records, Accession 38-80, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

These papers where given to the library by Richard Reid of Chatham, Virginia, on May 12, 1931.

Funding Note

Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Scope and Content

This collection consists of the business papers and school records of W. C. Tate , a merchant and chairman of the school board in Chalk Level, Virginia , and the Reid-Ragsdale ledgers of Pittsylvania Court House, Virginia .

The Tate papers consist of ca. 700 items. The business papers include receipts, accounts, promissory notes, invoices, orders and some correspondence, 1859-1907. The papers pertaining to Tate's position on the Staunton River District School Board contain annual reports, teachers' contracts, attendance records, accounts and receipts acknowledging teachers' reports, 1870-1878. Among the printed material is a copy of the "Educational Reporter" from 1872 and several essays on educational philosophy.

The Reid-Ragsdale ledgers contain the general merchandise accounts of D. C. Ragsdale & Co. and Ragsdale, Carrington & Co. of Pittsylvania Court House (later Chatham), Virginia . Included among these volumes is a ledger, 1770-1771, and four day books, 1854-1858. Volume 1854-1855 includes a journal of " J. H. C[arrington] , trustee of V. Dickinson."