Regular readers of The Uncommonwealth may notice that blogs for Records Rooms Road Trips are published about every three weeks, alternating between the experiences of the two Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP) consulting archivists. My last blog focused on travel through April, so although we are now in mid-July, let’s hearken back to the merry month of May—a month of cooler temperatures and a lot of travel on behalf of the CCRP.
Goochland County
First stop: Goochland County, where I met with Circuit Court Clerk Amanda Adams. That was a busy day, as the Library of Virginia’s Local Records Program Manager Vince Brooks, and Local Records Processing Archivist Caroline Collins were also visiting to transfer pre-1913 chancery records that had been processed and scanned years ago. Since the images are available in color and searchable on the Chancery Records Index, Ms. Adams was happy to transfer the originals to the Library, where they will be housed in a climate-controlled, secure area, and thus open up more space in her records room.
As a rule, archivists enjoy arranging and describing materials, and therefore value order over chaos, so I was most impressed by Ms. Adams’ well-organized binder of documentation related to the CCRP grants program. Truly, the general reader of this blog cannot appreciate the many details that the grants process involves, but clerks and their deputies most assuredly can!
For the last few grant cycles, many of Goochland County’s earliest cellulose acetate laminated volumes and loose land tax books have been conserved, but there are plenty more to go. This visit I examined 18th- and 19th-century volumes, as well as tattered and torn land books spanning the 1850s-1860s. Conservation likely will include flattening, mending, deacidifying, placing them in chronological order within archival polyester sleeves, and reformatting for greater access in the locality’s records management system.
Westmoreland County
The second week of May involved three visits: Westmoreland County, Powhatan County, and King and Queen County. Local Records Processing Archivist Ella Swain accompanied me to Westmoreland. We met with Clerk Anne Garner and examined several cellulose acetate (CA) laminated volumes in addition to examining loose marriage licenses in folders. Of the laminated volumes, we identified one land tax book, 1850-1860, which has the same text format as the Goochland County land books described earlier. It is also a good example of lamination that likely can be removed, although the first page, which is shiny, modern laminate, may prove more problematic, as that type of lamination has proven more challenging to undo.
1980s cellulose acetate lamination with one shiny, modern laminated leaf.
Westmoreland County Land Book 1850-1860
Examining marriage licenses presented an unusual situation. A few grant cycles ago, marriage licenses for 1866-1870 were conserved, and during this visit, while Ella was examining the next batch for consideration, she identified eight earlier licenses that were somehow missed and had since been flat-filed. Again, because archivists crave order, the conservation of these items will involve placing them, once conserved, within the appropriate current volumes, with some modifications to the spine labeling and tabbed dividers.
Powhatan County
The day after my Westmoreland trip, I headed west a few miles to Powhatan County. Circuit Court Clerk Teresa Hash Dobbins was out of the office that day, but her deputy, Rene Holy, and other staff members were helpful. My goal was to examine loose marriage licenses, a few drawers of which have already been conserved over the course of a few grant cycles. Marriage licenses often contain other paperwork such as parental consents, so it is always fun to find something surprising. See especially the 1897 letter to the clerk from an outraged father, in which he states:
Please notify me by return mail on what authority you issued Marriage License to my Daughter. Did she swear she was 21 yrs old! Who were her witnesses! Don’t the law require witnesses! Did my Daughter have a Bogus Certificate with mine or my wife’s name (forged) to it. We have given no certificate or consent and she is only 17 yrs old and I am sure they must have sworn falsely or forged my name to have obtained License from you. … If there is any redress I am going to get it. The License is certainly Illegal and I doubt whether valid. Don’t fail to Advise me by return mail. I don’t wish to Render my Daughter any more miserable than she has made herself, but any way to get at the man I will do so. I think it’s clearly a case of abduction fraud & perjury somewhere – write me all circumstances.
King and Queen County
Processing Archivist Caroline Collins and I ended the week in King and Queen County to meet Clerk Hattie Robinson. The clerk was particularly happy to have acquired roller shelving that would house the many volumes of land books conserved by her predecessors. There is room for the next few volumes, which will likely be conserved this season. Caroline had the opportunity to see a variety of records housed there, including Woodruff drawers containing 19th-century wills and debt cases, and several volumes of heavily worn aerial photos. The aerial photos, however, are a challenging storage issue, as some are rolled, some are in heavy oversized binders, and others had been so heavily used that they were modern-laminated merely to keep them from falling apart. The colored annotations are significant, so if these were to be reformatted, they would be best scanned in color.
Mathews County
After a week’s hiatus, I headed east again to Mathews County, with Local Records Program Manager Vince Brooks and Local Records Processing Archivist (now Senior Local Records Archivist) Mary Ann Mason arriving separately to coordinate a transfer of pre-1913 chancery records, arranged with Clerk Elizabeth Brown. I had examined a few batches of marriage licenses for item conservation grants the previous year, so, reminiscent of King and Queen County earlier in the month, Ms. Brown inquired about options for her locality’s oversized aerial photos. Most of these were even larger and in worse condition than I’ve seen in other localities. In addition, due to their unwieldiness, they were in no discernable order, so most of the visit involved sorting these, which made the area resemble a black-and-white patchwork quilt for a few hours. Due to their size, and the fact that photo paper cannot be deacidified, these may be flattened and mended, with tape and adhesive removed, then placed into pH-neutral oversized folders and housed in appropriately sized drop-front archival boxes. If reformatted, they should be scanned in color, given the colored markings and annotations.
Fluvanna County
Local Records Archivist Caroline Collins joined me again on my final visit for the month, just northwest of Richmond, to the office of Fluvanna County Circuit Court Clerk Tristana Treadway. Many of that locality’s volumes have been conserved, so over the last few grant cycles I’ve examined loose records in Woodruff drawers, including marriage bonds and licenses, deeds, and wills. So Caroline was able to experience the intricacies of examining the condition of (and counting) trifolded marriage licenses, etc. Having her with me expedited the process tremendously!
In addition to assessing the condition of documents, Caroline and I enjoyed some of the personal touches and references illustrated in some of the supplementary documents. For example, this August 17, 1830, note to the administrator in a bundle of estate papers and receipts within wills recorded in the Superior Court 1831-1890 reads:
Sir, Nelly Wood is waiting here for me to inform you, by letter, that she wants meat and meal, or some substitute to keep soul and body together.
The response:
I will pay to the amount of three dollars to any one who will furnish Nelly with meat & bread – at or before next Fluvanna court.
Parental consents are often housed with a marriage license or application, but Fluvanna County had a separate drawer of consents and applications between 1891 and 1914. These also can provide social commentary or genealogical information that might be of interest to others. The fact that they typically were handwritten on whatever paper was convenient by fathers, mothers, or other folks in their stead, makes them even more touching.
Road Trip Roundup
Miles traveled: 500 round trip day-tripping miles
Courthouses visited:
5/2 Goochland County (Goochland, VA; est. 1728 from Henrico County) 62 miles
5/7 Westmoreland County (Montross, VA; est. 1653 from Northumberland County) 130 miles
5/9 King and Queen County (King and Queen County Courthouse; est. 1691 from New Kent County) 86 miles
5/23 Mathews County (Mathews, VA; est. 1790 from Gloucester County) 122 miles
5/29 Fluvanna County (Palmyra, VA; est. 1777 from Albemarle County) 100 miles
Oldest record viewed: Westmoreland County Orders 15, 1705-1721
Soundtracks/songs: If alone: WNRN Independent Music Radio; if with a colleague: actual human conversation!
Best picnic spot: Port Fun Park, Mathews, VA.
Virginia Landmark: Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge (near Warsaw, VA, passed by on the way to Westmoreland County); No Limits Skydiving (Saw some folks in the air on the way back from Mathews County, as I was heading toward Richmond, near West Point, VA)
That sums up my CCRP travel for May. I pass the blog baton now and will catch up again with June travels in a later post!