A Guide to the Blackwell Family Papers 1848-1937 Blackwell Family Papers 5764-b

A Guide to the Blackwell Family Papers 1848-1937

A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 5764-b


[logo]

Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
URL: http://small.library.virginia.edu/

© 2002 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Processed by: George L. Vogt

Repository
Special Collections, University of Virginia Library
Accession number
5764-b
Title
Blackwell Family Papers 1848-1937
Physical Characteristics
This collection consists of ca. 12 shelf feet.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Blackwell Family Papers, Accession #5764-b, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was a gift of Mrs. Edward J. Jones (Lucy Blackwell Jones), Clifton Farm, Route #1, Warrenton, Virginia 22186. It was removed from storage at Clifton Farm and transferred to the University of Virginia Library where the Manuscripts Division accessioned it on February 19, 1974.

Scope and Content Information

The Blackwell Family Papers consist of correspondence, photographs and miscellany, of the interrelated Blackwell, Leavell, and Smith Families. By far the largest part of the collection is family correspondence among the Blackwells and Leavells during the years 1895-1923. Of particular interest are: the letters of Louise and Nancy Blackwell, who attended Randolph-Macon Woman's College, 1899-1905; the letters of Joseph M. Blackwell, who attended the U.S. Naval Academy, 1905-1911, and served in the Navy until his death in 1923; the letters of Edwin S. Blackwell, Jr., who attended the University of Virginia 1910?-1912; and the letters of Edwin and John Davenport Blackwell, who served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Students of medical history may find useful information in the Smith Family Papers and in the correspondence of Nannie Leavell Blackwell and her daughters Nancy and Agnes. The two daughters suffered severe hearing losses as a result of childhood illness. Agnes Blackwell's letters also contain much of interest about her career as an interior decorator in Bar Harbor, Maine.

As a whole, the collection will be of interest to social historians because it contains a substantial portion of an entire family's correspondence for an extended period of time. The letters document in detail the successes, failures, and tragedies of a prominent Fauquier County, Virginia, family.

On the other hand, readers will find few letters of the father, Edwin S. Blackwell, Sr., who was a faculty member of Bethel Military Academy, and relatively little information on the Academy itself.

The major family correspondents are Jonathan M. Leavell (b. 1824) and his wife Louisa M. Leavell (b. 1827), several of their children, Lizzie Newton Leavell (b. 1861), Byrd Leavell (b. ?), Nannie Fillmore (Leavell) "Mrs. Edwin S." Blackwell, (b. 1856) and the Blackwell children, Nancy, Louise "Mrs. Hugh" McClung, Agnes, Edwin S., Jr., Joseph M., and John Davenport.

In addition to the manuscript items, the collection included ca. 8 inches of sheet music, many printed items including books, newspapers, playbills, and ca. 30 daguerreotypes.

Arrangement

Except for the small collection of Smith Family Papers, which are grouped in one box, the collection of correspondence is arranged by author in one chronological series. Thus, the box containing the years 1904- 1905 holds all of the family correspondence of those years arranged in folders generally by individual correspondent. Miscellaneous correspondence to a family member from non-family members is included in the folder of the addressee except for the volumnious miscellaneous correspondence of Nannie Leavell Blackwell and Lizzie N. Leavell, which is separately foldered.

Contents List

Blackwell Family Papers
Back to Top
Miscellaneous Papers
Smith Family Papers
Miscellaneous Items