Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Walter Scott Copeland, Accession #5497 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Copeland Papers were originally placed on deposit in the library on December 3, 1956, by Mr. Fillmore Norfleet of Woodbury Forrest, Virginia. The collection was given to the library by Mr. and Mrs. Fillmore Norfleet on May 5, 1980.

Biographical/Historical Information

Copeland was born on March 14, 1856, in Jackson, North Carolina, to Dr. Winfield Scott and Catherine Randolph Copeland. He was educated at a private academy and the University of Virginia from which he graduated in 1874. He married Mary A. Christian on October 13, 1885, and they had a daughter, Katherine (Mrs. Katherine C. Lacy). After the death of his first wife he married Grace B. Cunningham on April 26, 1906, and they had two children, Elizabeth Randolph (Mrs. Fillmore Norfleet) and Randolph Scott.

Copeland first worked on the staff of the Petersburg Index-Appeal in 1881. He later became the city editor of the Norfolk Virginian . In 1886 he purchased an interest in the Danville Register and served eight years as its editor, until he sold it to purchase an interest in the Richmond State . Selling it in 1896, he became a staff member of the Richmond Times , and later established the Richmond Evening Leader . In 1901, he conducted a negotiation between the Times and the Richmond Dispatch , its competing morning newspaper. These talks resulted in the consolidation of the Times and the Dispatch , into a single morning paper called the Times-Dispatch , and of their afternoon papers, the Evening Leader and the News , as an afternoon edition known as the News-Leader .

He resigned from the Times-Dispatch in 1909, purchased the Newport News Times-Herald , and moved to that city in 1911. When the Times-Herald was consolidated with the Daily Press , Copeland became president of The Daily Press, Inc., as well as publisher and editor of the Daily Press and Times-Herald . He also served four terms as president of the Virginia Press Association. Copeland died on July 24, 1928, at age seventy-two.

Scope and Content Information

This collection of Walter Scott Copeland papers consists of ca. 900 items (4 Hollinger boxes; 1.5 linear shelf feet), 1880-1954, chiefly Copeland's profesional and personal correspondence regarding his newspaper career. Also included are speeches, newspaper clippings, memorabilia, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Copeland, as editor of various Virginia newspaper, correspondend with many prominent persons concerning gubernatorial and U. S. Senate elections; race relations, particularly an incident at Hampton College in 1925 and a campaign to repeal the 14th, 15th, and 18th amendments; illiteracy; road improvements; patriotism; the Newport News shipyards; merchant marine legislation; an alleged interview that discredited Carter Glass; and numerous other subjects. Some letters deal with the financial and business aspects of the newspaper business and one undated letter gives a lengthy analysis of operations of the Newport News Daily Press . Correspondents include John Stewart Bryan, Harry F. Byrd, Sr., William Hodges Mann, Josephus Daniels, S. L. Slover, Carter Glass, Thomas Staples Martin, John Garland Pollard, Henry C. Stuart, Claude A. Swanson, and Elbert Lee Trinkle. Other correspondents include Edwin A. Alderman, James Branch Cabell, Douglas Southall Freeman, Ellen Glasgow, Louis I. Jaffe, Mary Johnston, Helen Keller, and the Newport News Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Copeland's correspondence also includes a topical file for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation; there is also a file for letters, telegrams, and newspaper clippings regarding his death.

His file of speeches, addresses, and testimonials covers the period of 1919-1928. Most were written by Copeland but also included are one or two speeches written by Senator Claude Swanson and one by Senator Simeon Fess. Newspaper clippings present in the collection consist chiefly of articles written by or about Copeland, as well as miscellaneous pieces, 1908-1954. The memorabilia consists of invitations and stamps honoring the Yorktown Sesquicentennial of 1931 and covers the perios 1921-1931. Also included is a collection of photographs and prints, for the most part undated.

Of the four scrapbooks in this collection, one was kept by Mary A. Christian, Copeland's first wife, from 1880 to 1904. The second, 1895-1920, contains a pencil drawing of Copeland and the third, dated 1904, contains postcard views of Newport News, Virginia. The fourth scrapbook, 1925, pertains to a National Editorial Association trip through Virginia. There are two oversize items: one, dated 1909, certifies Copeland's membership in the Associated Press, and the other, dated 1923, appoints him a Virginia delegate to the Centennial Celebration of the Monroe Doctrine.

Organization

The collection has been arranged into six series: I. Correspondence, II. Business Memoranda and Papers re the Times-Herald , III. Speeches, Addresses, and Testimonials, IV. Miscellaneous Papers and Printed Material, V. Scrapbooks, and VI. Oversize Material.

Most of the correspondence is in individual folders in chronological order, followed by folders of miscellaneous and topical correspondence. Speeches are filed chronologically and testimonials honoring Copeland are filed in a separate folder. Series IV is divided into folders of miscellaneous papers, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and photographs. The scrapbooks are arranged chronologically and loose items found it the scrapbooks are filed in folder directly following the books.

Separated Material

"The most ancient of all American commonwealths is Virginia ... "[Broadside 1930 .T44 copy 1]

Additional Descriptive Data