Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Frederick B. Kegley Papers, Mss. Collection 1968.1, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by the estate of Frederick B. Kegley in 1968.

Biographical Information

Born on 7 July 1877, Frederick Bittle Kegley received A. B. and A. M. degrees from Roanoke College. He taught during the 1901-1902 school year at Wytheville High School. He later worked as an instructor of English and history at Roanoke College from 1902 to 1905. Kegley studied political and social science under Professor E. P. Cheney at the university of Pennsylvania from 1905 to 1906. When his father died, he returned home to manage the family farm and to teach at Wytheville High School. In 1910 Kegley became an agricultural agent, working in Washington and Wythe counties.

Kegley married Frances Pinckney Withers in 1914. Frances Kegley attended Stonewall Jackson College in Abingdon, Virginia as well as Randolph Macon College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She was active in Wythe County civic life as a member of the Home Demonstration Club, Daughters of the American Revolution, and other organizations.

Besides farming and teaching, Frederick B. Kegley researched and wrote about the history and culture of southwestern Virginia. He focused on the settlement, trade, and transportation of the region. In 1938 he completed his most famous work, Kegley's Virginia Frontiers: the Beginning of the Southwest, the Roanoke of Colonial Days, 1740-1783 . As associate editor of The Mountain Empire , Kegley wrote on the people, geography, industry, transportation, and historical sites of southwest Virginia.

He also administered efforts of the Works Progress Administration in collecting and documenting the history and culture of Virginia. Kegley supervised W. P. A. workers in many southwestern Virginia counties as they transcribed court records, inventoried artifacts, interviewed residents, and visited historical sites. He kept copies of many reports submitted by workers; these are indexed and arranged topically in the Kegley Library vertical file collection.

Before his death on 4 May 1968, Kegley donated his extensive collection of monographs, periodicals, maps, documents, pamphlets, and other materials to Wytheville Community College Library. The college designated this collection as the Kegley Library in his honor.

Scope and Content

Series I includes order forms, flyers, and a brochure about Kegley's Virginia Frontier which was published in 1938.

Handwritten and typewritten manuscripts of periodical articles comprise Series II. Most of the manuscripts were published in The Mountain Empire of which Kegley was associate editor. Other manuscripts appeared in issues of the Roanoke County Historical Society Journal and the Wythe County Historical Review . Topics include geography of Southwest Virginia, Shot Tower, New River, transportation, turnpikes, and others.

Series includes photostatic copies of maps and documents used by F. B. Kegley in the research for his book Kegley's Virginia Frontier: the Beginning of the Southwest, the Roanoke of Colonial Days, 1740-1776 . Included are maps drawn by Elizabeth Waller Wilkins, items from the Draper Manuscripts (William Preston Papers, Virginia Papers), and other collections. Records copied include land surveys, militia reports, and marriage records. Geographic area covered includes western Virginia from Augusta County, Botetourt, and Montgomery counties of the 18th century.

Series IV is comprised of documents relating to the Wythe County sesquicentennial celebration of 1940. Scripts for the pageant "Wings of Time, " financial records, ticket sales records, newspaper clippings, programs, and brochures are included.

Series V contains correspondence between Mary B. Kegley and Frederick B. Kegley relating to their book St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wythe County, Virginia, its Pastors and their Records, 1800-1924 and Mary B. Kegley's book Riggle Family of Wythe County, Virginia . The letters also touch on research for later books published by Mary B. Kegley. Also included are letters from researchers interested in the Kegley family, Riggle family, Leedy family, and the Umberger family. Correspondents include Marietta McWane Kegley, Mrs. S. J. Beecher, M. V. Koger, Virgie R. Wilson, Carl S. Kegley, Walter Smay, Cornelius E. Koppenheffer, Frances H. Whitman, Emma B. Collins, W. H. Kackley, M. M. Quaife, and D. Earl Keckley.

Series VI, St. John's Book research, contains manuscript drafts and research notes used by F. B. Kegley and Mary B. Kegley for their book St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wythe County, Virginia, its Pastors and their Records, 1800-1924 .

Series VII, Historical Highway Marker Manuscripts, contains 22 onionskin pages of typed drafts that Kegley helped prepare for the Virginia Conservation Commission program of placing highway markers throughout Virginia. Kegley, a member of the Advisory Committee on Markers, was in charge of the southwest Virginia region.