Recently I came across a collection from the Secretary of the Commonwealth that was still folded and in its original boxes. It seems that no one has used the collection since the Library of Virginia received it from the Secretary, and I was curious to take a look at it, as it was over 200 years old. The collection is the Correspondence of the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1820-1828 [LVA Accession 39205].
The collection consists of correspondence (1820-1828) containing requests for copies of the Revised Code of the Laws of Virginia (1819) sent by county clerks to Governor Thomas Randolph (1819-1822), Governor James Pleasants (1822-1825), Governor William Giles (1827-1830), and the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth. The letters were sent in response to a communication from the clerk of the council requesting that the clerks of the county courts report to the Executive Department about the number of copies of the Revised Code of 1819 that have been distributed to the justices of the counties. Most of the letters contain only the number of requested books, though some include lists of names of the county justices.
The Code of 1819 was the first codification in Virginia that organized the statutory law by subject matter. For the first time, lawyers and judges could use the code to identify laws related to the issues in the case and reduce the burden on lawyers to determine the relevant legislation on which to base a legal argument.
As part of their duties, the Secretary of the Commonwealth was responsible for dispersing state publications throughout Virginia. Several other similar collections can be found in the Reports from clerks of courts to the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1852 [LVA Accession 39204], Receipts for laws of the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1786-1867 [LVA Accession 36145], and Correspondence of the Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1891-1911 [LVA Accession 38174].
The collection is now flattened and housed in acid free folders and boxes to keep it safe for the next two hundred years. A finding aid is also attached to the catalog record and available online at the Archival Resources of the Virginias.
