Administrative Information

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Use Restrictions

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Preferred Citation

Virginia. Treasurer's Office. Lee Monument Association records, 1864-1893. Accession TOI 113. State government records, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, VA. 23219

Acquisition Information

Transferred by the Virginia Treasurer's Office at an unknown date.

Biographical Information

Following the death of Robert E. Lee in 1870, several organizations were formed with the goal of erecting a monument to Lee in Richmond. These included the survivors of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, the Lee Monument Association led by Confederate General Jubal Early, and the Ladies' Lee Monument Association (previously known as the Hollywood Memorial Association). There was also the Lee Memorial Association (based in Lexington, Va.) The Lee Monument Association was incorporated by an act on 25 January 1871. S. Bassett French served as secretary.

The Lee Monument Association recruited help from the Ladies' Lee Monument Association to collect contributions but the women were excluded from the association board and disagreed on the choice of a sculptor. The Lee Monument Association preferred the sculptor Edward Valentine, while the Ladies' Lee Monument Association favored French artist Jean Antonie Mercie. Over the next fifteen years a bitter rivalry developed between the Lee Monument Association and the Ladies' Lee Monument Association. Finally in 1886 Governor Fitzhugh Lee was able to work out a compromise between the two groups allowing a new board of directors with representatives from state government and the Ladies' Lee Monument Association.

In May 1886 $3,000 in prizes was offered for the best models by sculptors from America and abroad. In the summer of 1887 Jean Antonin Mercie, a French sculptor, was selected. Otway S. Allen gave land for the site at the end of Franklin Street which became the beginning of Monument Avenue. While masons laid the cornerstone on October 17, 1887, the equestrian statue did not arrive until May 4, 1890. On May 7 Richmond citizens pulled the twelve-ton statue, shipped in pieces, in wagons by ropes from the Broad Street railroad station to the site. General Joseph E. Johnston unveiled the statue on May 29, 1890.

For additional information see Dr. Caroline E. Janney, Burying the Dead but not the Past , 2012, and Dept. of Historic Resources, News, "Cornerstone Contributions: Where are the women? (published 13 April 2022).

Scope and Content

Records, 1864-1893, of the Lee Monument Association as maintained by the Virginia Treasurer's Office. Included are administrative records and minutes, correspondence, clippings, lists of contributors, broadsides and circulars, budgets and finances, artist proposals, deeds and plots, contracts, and resolutions detailing the construction of the Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia.

The administrative records,1870-1890, contain minutes and reports from the Lee Monument Association, deeds and grants, contracts, copies of House and Senate bills, histories and reports, specifications, plot for land, and financial records. The circulars, 1864-1883, include broadsides describing the monument, a study model of the Lee monument by M.H. Mosman, souvenir program of the dedication of the monument, a broadside for a Lee Monument Ball in Greenbrier County, West Virginia (Aug. 15, 1878), and a circular encouraging former soldiers to contribute to the erection of the statue.

Of note is the correspondence, 1876-1890, regarding the efforts to find a sculptor and to raise money to build the statue. The bulk of the letters were incoming to Secretary S. Bassett French. Includes correspondence, 1877-1878, from artists and sculptors inquiring into the project and submitting specifications, proposals, and sketches (not included). The Association had advertised for artists in newspapers nationally and internationally in 1877. Artists and sculptors correspondents include: Gilbert R. Frith, Moses J. Ezekiel, Vinnie Ream, Caspar Buberl, Robert Reid, William Kopsky, J.A. Bailey, A. D'Amore, Wilson MacDonald, Theodore A. Mills, D.B. Sheahan, Edward V. Valentine, Casoni & Isoloa, Albert E. Harnisch, James Wilson Alexander MacDonald, A. Louis Lansing, and Alexander Doyle, among others. Also includes correspondence from politicians and dignitaries invited to vote to choose a sculptor. Correspondents include: S. Bassett French, R.M.T. Hunter, William H. Mann, Governor Henry M. Mathews (W. Va.), Governor John M. Stone (Mississippi), U.S. Secretary of State William M. Evarts, General J.B. Gordon, Tiffany & Co., General William Mahone, General Jubal A. Early, Governor Fitzhugh Lee (Va.), Thomas M. Hunter (U.S. Representative, Arkansas), Col. Robert E. Withers, Dr. William P. Palmer, J. Proctor Knott (U.S. Representative, Kentucky), Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox, Gen. Charles E. Hooker, Lt. Gov. Samuel J. Tilden (NY), and Gen. Marcus J. Wright, among others.

The conflict between the Lee Monument Association and the Ladies' Lee Monument Association can be found in the correspondence. Included are letters, March-April 1871, between Gen. Jubal A. Early and Sarah N. Randolph, and a letter, 11 March 1878, from Jubal Early, Lynchburg, Virginia, to Governor Holliday, in which he described how the association was created and explained issues with the ladies of the Hollywood Memorial Association (which became the Ladies' Lee Monument Association). Included is correspondence, 1886-1893, between Sarah N. Randolph, President of the Ladies' Lee Monument Association, and the sculptor, Jean Antonin Mercie, with some letters written in French. Also included is correspondence to Governor Fitzhugh Lee regarding the payment and shipment of the monument, and correspondence with the Archer Anderson and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. Also of note are the lists of contributors, 1875-1879, who donated to the monument. Lists include members of the General Assembly, public schools, and various collections throughout the cities and counties of Virginia. The oversize folder includes broadsides for the Lee & "Stonewall" Jackson Lee Monument Ball (8/15/1878), budgeting spreadsheets, and a list of contributors to the Association.

Additional Lee Monument Association records maintained by the Virginia Treasurer's Office include: Minute book (TOI 112), Cash book (TOI 114), Daybook (TOI 115), Journals (TOI 116), Subscribers' names account books (TOI 117), and Subscriptions (TOI 118).

Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.