Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16057, May familly papers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Provenance

Accession number 2019-0197, purchased November 2015.

Biographical Note

Virgil May, Sr. and his wife Mamie lived in Richmond during the early- and mid-20th century. One of their twin sons, Virgil R. May, Jr., graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1939, while the other, Phil, graduated from Virginia Military Institute the same year. Virgil Jr. went on to become a doctor and married Ella Stowe.

Source: Materials within collection.

Scope and Contents Note

The May family papers (1870-1945; 0.4 cubic feet) document the lives of a couple generations of the Richmond-based May family. Photograph subjects in the collection include J.A. May in his Confederate Army uniform post-Civil War, J. Howard May, Jr. as an infant, Virgil May, Sr., Phil May with relatives at Virginia Military Institute, and Virgil R. May, Jr. with his wife Ella and children Linda and Billy.

Letters in the collection are primarily written by or to Virgil, Jr. and Ella, including ten letters the former wrote to his parents during his surgeon internship at Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania.

Arrangement

Files are arranged chronologically.

Related Material

A related collection can be found at MSS 16433, Stowe grocery store ledgers, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• cabinet photographs
• family papers
• letters (correspondence)
• tintypes (prints)