Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

A Guide to Virginiana, Accession 11101, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Acquisition Information

This material was purchased by the Library on July 7, 1993.

Funding Note

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

Scope and Content

There are four items in this collection relating to the Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia area. Included are two letters, 1840 and 1849, a pharmaceutical prescription, 1893, and a daguerreotype, n.d.

In the letter of June 4, 1840, Tucker Coles (1782-1861), Tallwood House , Albemarle County , writes to John Coles Rutherfoord (1825-1866), Richmond , offering to send him the horse that he had previously offered, as long as it doesn't interfere with his studies, and mentioning Sally Skipwith . Tucker Coles studied law and represented Albemarle County in the House of Delegates, and was an intimate friend of Thomas Jefferson and other distinguished men. He built the mansion at Tallwood in 1803, and married Helen Skipwith (1789-1864), daughter of Sir Peyton Skipwith, on May 22, 1810. John Coles Rutherfoord graduated from the University of Virginia in 1842 and entered law; at the age of 27 he was elected to the House of Delegates as representative of Goochland County, and served for twelve consecutive years. He contributed articles to the press under the signature "Sidney," and gained popularity as a public man and as a private citizen. On October 17, 1856, he married Ann Seddon Roy, daughter of William H. Roy. Further information on Coles and Rutherfoord may be found in The Coles Family of Virginia [Rare Books CS71.C69 1931].

There is a letter, July 8, 1849, to Jane E. Ellis , Richmond , concerning the death of a child "Becka"; the "hororble disese" [sic] of "collera" [sic] and its tendency to "sweep the blacks where ever it goes"; and the effects of a very destructive storm. Also included is a S. C. Chancellor and Company Pharmacists , University of Virginia , prescription for "Strych Sulph" and "Acid Phosphor Dil," signed by G. H. Hammond ; and, a daguerreotype of an unidentified man done by W. A. Retzer , owner of the "Sky-Light Daguerrian Gallery" [see Charlottesville and the University of Virginia in The Civil War ].