Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Norris Family Papers, Accession #2454, 2454-a, 2562, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The original Jefferson Davis Norris collection was given to the University by Dudley Page Cotton and Miss Martha Norris of Medomak, Maine, in July, 1946, which Mrs. Cotton subsequently expanded with additional materials received 30 May 1952 (2454-a), and to which Mrs. Cotton added the papers of William Norris (2562) on 3 December 1946. The letter of 1880 February 20 from Jefferson Davis to William Norris remains the property of Mrs. Dudley Page Cotton, Jr., and Mr. Jefferson Cabell Cotton.

Scope and Content Information

The Norris Family Papers, 1661-1942, have been divided into four major sections, the papers of Colonial William Norris, the papers of Jefferson Davis Norris, the papers of members of J. D. Norris' immediate family, and the papers of other families that are distantly related to the Norrises.

The papers, 1857-1896, of William Norris, Colonel in the Signal Corps of the Confederate Army, contain primarily business letters and invitations. An 1880 letter from Col. Norris to Jefferson Davis and Davis' reply have been placed in a separate folder. The rest of Col. Norris' correspondence has been arranged chronologically. There is also a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings on miscellaneous topics.

The papers, 1880-1942, of Jefferson Davis Norris, a Maryland lawyer who received his degree in 1890 from the University of Virginia are further broken down into four sub-divisions. First, there is the correspondence of J. D. Norris with various members of his immediate family which has been arranged genealogically as follows: correspondence with his father, Col. William Norris, with his mother, Ellen Norris; with his brother, William Catesby Norris; with his sisters, Sarita M. and Susan F. Norris; with his wife Cabell Norris; and with his daughters, Josephine and Martha Jefferson "Bee" Norris. Correspondence with his mother and with his brother contain colorful descriptions of life at the University of Virginia in the 1890s. Personal correspondence with various friends follows his family correspondence. Where the quantity of correspondence has warranted it, individual correspondence has also been broken down by decade and runs chronologically.

The second sub-section of J. D. Norris' papers consists of his business correspondence. This is arranged chronologically by decade with certain correspondence pulled and placed in separate folders because of its quantity or because of its topical interest. Norris' business letters during the thirties in particular indicate the troubles and turmoils of a once well-to-do lawyer trying to face up to the hardships of the Great Depression. Norris' letters reveal a certain bitterness about his financial difficulties but also an unfailing wit that he used against businesses that he used against businesses that he believed were trying to cheat him, particularly the exchange of letters and "legal briefs" between Norris and the Consolidated Gas, Electric Light and Power Company. Six folders of bills and receipts, arranged chronologically by decade, follow the business correspondence.

The third sub-division consists of Norris' legal and political correspondence which is arranged chronologically and within the respective folders.

Fourthly, miscellaneous items of Norris are arranged topically, from a folder of newspaper clippings, to miscellaneous pamphlets to unaddressed postcards.

The third major section of the Norris family papers consists of the correspondence of members of J. D. Norris' immediate family (minus their correspondence with J. D. Norris). Again, these have been arranged genealogically as follows: that of Mrs. William M. and Susan F. Norris; that of William Catesby Norris; that of Sarita M. and Susan F. Norris; that of Cabell Norris; and that of Josephine, and Martha Jefferson Norris. The significant portion of this section are the letters Ellen Norris wrote to her parents from Richmond apparantly during Grant's siege. The papers of other Norris' have been placed chronologically following the regular Norris family correspondence. The family papers also include various cloth items, notebooks and photographs. Of particular interest is the undated civil war material.

Related family papers consist of a few letters, 1861-1875, of George Gardner Hobson and his wife Sarah and several letters, 1863-1920, of the Della Torre family. Particularly interesting among the latter are the letters from Frank Della Torre to his mother Mrs. P. Della Torre written during the 1870s while Frank was a student at the University of Virginia. These two family collections are arranged chronologically.

Also included in th eother family papers are eighteenth and nineteenth century legal documents of the Arnold Smith and Whipple families. These are broken down by family, chronologically by decade within the family division.