Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Electronic documents are available in the Reading Room of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia.

Use Restrictions

Electronic documents may not be shared online without prior consent of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Charlottesville Derby Dames Records, Accession #15490, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Biographical/Historical Information

The Charlottesville Derby Dames are Charlottesville’s first and only skater-run, flat track roller derby league. The Dames’ mission is to promote sportsmanship and community by providing an alternative form of fitness and entertainment to the women and men of Charlottesville and surrounding counties.

The idea to form a derby team in Charlottesville began back in 2007 with founding members Jessika Daver and Phenol Barbie Doll. By October of that year the Dames had recruited more team members and began to practice. The Dames made their public debut in 2008 when three CDD members (Little Miss Pissed, MatilDa Molish, Dark and Stormy) played in Commotion by the Ocean, a roller derby event in Virginia Beach. In 2009 the Dames hosted their first home bout, Daylight Slayings, featuring Charlottesville Derby Dames v. Northside Stranglers at Expoland.

The league has steadily grown to around 60 members. As of January 2011, the league grew to two bouting teams drafted for skill equality at the start of the season, generally referred to as "split teams" (the Downtown Maulers and the Blue Ridge Bombshells), plus a travel team comprised of reliable, devoted, and skilled skaters (the All-Stars). By the end of 2012, the team added a second travel team (now known as the Belmont Bruisers) and elected to keep the split teams primarily for intraleague scrimmages. In addition, the league comprises many trainers, coaches, refs, NSOs, and non-skating members. The Dames became members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) in December 2012.

The Dames are active in the local community and donate portions of the proceeds from their bouts and events to local charities and engage in other community events.

Timeline January 25, 2007: First interest meeting for a roller derby team held at Atomic Burrito.

November 14, 2007: First practice at the National Guard Armory

June 8, 2008: Three members of the Dames play in their first bout: Commotion by the Ocean

October 31, 2008: Dames host their first event: Masquerade Brawl

November 1, 2009: Dames host their first home bout: Daylight Slayings held at Augusta Expo in Fishersville, Va.

April 30, 2011: Dames host their first bout at the Main Street Arena, on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall: Brawl on the Mall

November 11, 2010:Dames featured on season premiere of Charlottesville Inside Out August 5, 2011: Dames host the first annual Virginia is for Shovers Tournament

December 13, 2012: Dames become members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association after a year-long apprenticeship with the organization

Scope and Content Information

The Charlottesville Derby Dames records include approximately 1,100 electronic documents, primarily in Word, Excel, PDF, and JPEG formats, outlining the formation of the team and its operation. An additional 12,750 digital photographs and videos are also included, as well as captures of the Dames’ website and facebook circa December 2012.

The collection covers the earliest organizational efforts of this non-profit athletic organization in 2007 and include items like meeting minutes and event planning records, rosters, flyers, programs and other promotional materials, bylaws and policies. All Dames use pseudonyms when referring to each other ("derby names"), therefore supplementary documentation of actual names as well as a history of events are included.

In addition, the team has donated a small collection of physical flyers, programs, and any other media appearances (primarily newspaper or magazines with articles) from the years 2011 and 2012.

The electronic documents contained in this collection were transferred through multiple electronic systems before arriving in the custody of the University of Virginia. Transfers prior to arriving at the archive have resulted in modifying the date of creation or last modification. In particular, many documents were copied from a Yahoo! message board in January of 2011 to a shared GoogleDocs drive, resulting in a date of creation of January 27, 2011. In some cases the date of the electronic document will appear to be out of the scope of the collection because of a file system characteristic (such as having been created in 1979) and should not be trusted. When the approximate dates of the materials are known, these are indicated in the finding aid.