2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the 1999 Virginia state budget amendment that funded 17 new Library of Virginia positions “to eliminate the 54-year backlog in processing significant archival, special and other historical collections” by 2020.1 This little-known budgetary initiative unlocked the treasures of the Commonwealth that “represent[ed] the printed and manuscript heritage not only of Virginia, but of the nation.”2 The influx of new staff enabled the Library to undertake foundational archival work – processing collections, creating catalog records and online finding aids, indexing, and microfilming records – making previously hidden collections discoverable and accessible. It also facilitated the growth of digitized collections such as the Chancery Records Index, Free Negro Registers, and Legislative Petitions, 1776-1865 and digital projects like Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative and Making History: Transcribe. For Archives Month, I thought I would look back at some of the many accomplishments of the backlog initiative over the past 25 years. I’ll also look at what it did not achieve: eliminating the backlog.
In 1994, the Virginia General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 96 which established a nine-member joint subcommittee “to study the future and possible reorganization of the Commonwealth’s state library agency.”3 The General Assembly continued the study by passing additional resolutions in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 1998. One of the issues identified by the subcommittee in their 1999 final report was the archival backlog:
Historically lacking the resources and staffing to process and preserve [archival] materials, The Library now faces a backlog of unprocessed archival materials totaling over 17,186 cubic feet. This current backlog of 25.8 million archival items – or over 17,000 boxes of 18th, 19th, and 20th century historical records – would require 54 years for processing at current Library staffing and resource levels…With 17 additional staff members at an annual funding rate of $787,943, an estimated 904 cubic feet might be processed annually, thereby reducing the backlog to 19 years.4
Thanks to the efforts of Delegate Anne Gregory “Panny” Rhodes, State Senator Stanley Walker, other members of the budget conference committee, and Library supporters, the backlog initiative was fully funded by the 1999 Appropriations Act.5 Staffing for the Description Services Branch (Private Papers, State Records, and Local Records) grew from 18 to 31.6

Library of Virginia Items Being Scanned at Backstage Library Works
Since 1999, the Library’s archivists processed over 21,000 cubic feet of records, created over 5,350 online finding aids and over 11,000 catalog records, prepared over 8,500 personal property and land tax books for microfilming, indexed over 279,000 chancery cases, and put over 12.8 million images of chancery causes online.7 The numbers are only a small part of the story. Below is a snapshot of just some of the collections made available to the public over the past 25 years. While processing collections like these can be monotonous, this work is the foundation for any digital project.
State Government Records
The State Government Records collection, the Library’s largest, documents the record of Virginia government from 1776 to the present. The collection includes records of Virginia’s governors, state agencies, boards, commissions, constitutional conventions, General Assembly, and Supreme Court.
State Government Records Collection List
- Legislative Petitions Digital Collection (processed, indexed, microfilmed, and digitized). Contains nearly 25,000 petitions to the General Assembly between 1776 and 1865. Petitions were the primary catalyst for legislation in the Commonwealth during this time period. Public improvements, military claims, divorce, manumission of slaves, division of counties, incorporation of towns, religious freedom, and taxation were just some of the concerns expressed in these petitions.
- Executive Communications of the Office of the Speaker, 1776-1864 (processed, individually cataloged, microfilmed, and digitized). The Executive Communications contain correspondence to the Speaker of the House of Delegates between 1776 and 1864. This collection should not be confused with the Executive Papers which contain incoming correspondence directly to the Governor’s Office. The Executive Communications, however, complement the Executive Papers by reiterating many of the central issues facing the Commonwealth. In addition, correspondence from the Governor often includes letters, accounts, petitions, proceedings, reports, returns, resolutions, and other documents for the consideration of the General Assembly.
- Governors’ Records, 1776-1865 (processed, cataloged, microfilmed, and select records digitized), 1866 to present (processing is ongoing) and Governors’ Letters Received, 1776-1784 (online). Archival records survive for every governor of Virginia, telling the history of the Old Dominion from its establishment as a commonwealth in 1776 to the present. These are the second-oldest continuous series of state records held by the Library of Virginia. These records richly document Virginia government and the life of the commonwealth’s citizens from the Revolutionary War to the early 21st century.
- Virginia Office of Civilian Defense, 1939-1947 (bulk 1942-1944) (processed and cataloged). This collection documents the activities of the Virginia Office of Civilian Defense (1942-1945), and also includes some records from the Virginia Defense Council (1940-1942) and the Southwest Virginia Regional Defense Council (1941 Dec-1942). Virginia Office of Civilian Defense records include series for Correspondence, Subject Files, Civilian Mobilization, Civilian Protection, State Child Care Committee, Emergency Medical Service, Evacuation Authority, Coordinator for Negro Civilian Defense Activities, Transmissions and Directives, Financial and Personnel Records, History Files, Photographs, Posters, and Published Materials.
- Virginia Penitentiary, 1796-1991 (bulk 1906-1970) (processed, cataloged, and select records microfilmed). The Virginia Penitentiary collection contains a wide variety of bound volumes and paper records spanning nearly 200 years (1796-1991; bulk 1906-1970). Included are administrative records such as annual reports, correspondence, office and subject files, minute books, photographs, blueprints, as well as specific records related to the State Convict Road Force and the State Convict Lime Grinding Board. Also included are financial records such as account books, cash books, ledgers, payrolls, and receipt books. The prisoner-related records include prisoner registers, photographs and negatives, medical records, commitment orders, punishment records, escape reports, index cards, and execution files. The records of the Virginia Penitentiary document the institution’s operational history, prisoners, and the evolution of corrections in Virginia.
- Virginia War History Commission, 1915-1931 (processed and cataloged). These records include books, broadsides, checks, citations, correspondence, diaries, invitations, invoices, magazines, maps, military records, minute books, newspapers, newspaper clippings, photographs, post cards, press releases, programs, publications, questionnaires, receipts, reports, scrapbooks, sheet music, song books, and telegrams. These records document Virginia’s participation in World War I and its attempt to preserve records of that participation.
- Central State Hospital, 1874-1961, Eastern State Hospital, 1770-2009, and Western State Hospital, 1825-2000 (processed, cataloged, and select records microfilmed). Records from three of Virginia’s state mental hospitals.
- Land Tax Records, 1901-1927 (approximately 2,300 volumes on 800 reels of microfilm).
- Personal Property Tax Records, 1870-1925 (approximately 6,500 volumes on 5,000 reels of microfilm).
- Virginia World War II Separation Notices, 1942-1950 (bulk 1944-1946) (processed and currently undergoing transcription). The World War II Separation Notices Collection documents demographics, civilian life, and military service history for more than 250,000 men and women from across Virginia.
Local Government Records
The Local Government Records program oversees a large collection of historically significant records created by Virginia cities and counties from the 17th to 20th centuries. The largest proportion in this collection are from the Circuit Courts and include wills and administrations, deeds, military records, marriage records, records related to enslaved individuals, plats and surveys, and tax records. Of note are the chancery records. Each of Virginia’s circuit courts created chancery records that contain considerable historical and genealogical information. Because the records rely so heavily on testimony from witnesses, they offer a unique glimpse into the lives of Virginians from the early 18th century through the First World War.
Local Government Records Collection List
- Chancery Records Index (ongoing processing, indexing, microfilming, and digitization). The Chancery Records Index (CRI) is a result of archival processing and indexing projects overseen by the Library of Virginia and funded, in part, by the Virginia Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP). As of 2023, there are over 279,000 cases indexed in the database and over 12.8 million images of chancery causes available online.
- Virginia Untold: The African American Narrative (ongoing processing, indexing, digitization, and transcription). Containing over 24,000 original documents, Virginia Untold provides digital access to records that document some of the lived experiences of enslaved and free Black and multiracial people in the Library of Virginia’s collections. Traditional description, indexing, transcription, and digitization are major parts of this effort. However, and perhaps more importantly, this project seeks to encourage conversation and engagement around the records, providing opportunities for a more diverse narrative of the history of Virginia’s communities.
- Lost Records Localities Digital Collection (ongoing indexing and digitization). This collection consists of images for a wide variety of court records found as part of chancery and other locality records-processing projects. The images are of surviving records from localities where most records are no longer extant. The original record is scanned, and the images are filed together in an artificial online collection—the Lost Records Localities Digital Collection. Please check periodically as this is an ongoing project.
- Coroners’ Inquisitions Digital Collection (ongoing processing, indexing, and digitization). This contains investigations into the deaths of individuals who died by a sudden, violent, or suspicious manner, or died without medical attendance. Common causes of death found in these records include deaths relating to accidents, alcohol, drowning, homicide, injuries, infanticide, medical conditions, natural causes (‘visitation by God’), and suicide. To see inquests specifically relating to free and enslaved Black and multiracial individuals prior to 1865, see the digital collection of coroner’s inquisitions in Virginia Untold.
- Naturalization Records Digital Collection (ongoing processing, indexing, and digitization). Naturalization records typically include affidavits, reports for naturalization, declarations of intent to become United States citizens, and notices of application for admission of citizenship. The reports are narrative accounts made by applicants summarizing their journey to the United States. The declarations of intent record the person’s name, place of birth, age, country of previous citizenship, renunciation of allegiance and fidelity to the nation of which the person is currently a citizen, and the date the intention was sworn. Also found in the collection are affidavits filed with the reports and declarations. They were given by individuals who knew the applicant and could vouch for their loyalty to the United States. This collection consists of loose naturalization records and legislative petitions held by the Library of Virginia. It does not represent all of the naturalization records in the Library’s collection, many of which are not digitized. See the Naturalization Records for Virginians research guide to learn more about these records and to access records held by other institutions.


A plat of Scottsville from the Local Records Collections before and after conservation.
Private Papers
The Library’s Private Papers collection encompasses Bible records, business records, cemetery and church records, genealogical notes and charts, organizational records, and personal papers. These collections range in size from a single sheet of paper to more than 1,000 cubic feet of records. While representing about 10 percent of the Library’s holdings, they are heavily used and are time-consuming to process and catalog. Manuscripts Acquisition and Digital Archivist Trenton Hizer wrote a Guide to the Personal Papers Collections at the Library of Virginia in 2008.
Private Papers Collection List
- Owen B. Pickett Pre-Congressional Papers, 1955-1988 (processed and cataloged). This collection documents Pickett’s legal and General Assembly legislative career, and the political campaigns and elections in which he was involved. Although the date of the collection extends beyond the beginning of his Congressional career, the bulk of the collection relates to his career before he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
- Tredegar Iron Works Records, 1801-1957 (bulk 1870-1945) (processed, cataloged, and select records microfilmed). This collection documents the history of one of the most important and largest iron making factories in Virginia and the Confederacy.
- WRVA Radio Collection, 1925-2000 (processed, cataloged, reformatted, and select records online). The WRVA Radio Collection spans seventy-five years and documents the history of WRVA, the role the station played in Virginia and Richmond for over half a century, and the development of radio in Virginia and the United States. The collection is also rich in material on the Larus & Brother Company, including histories, anniversary booklets, photographs of officials, employees, and factories, and promotions.
- Bible Records Digital Collection (ongoing processing, cataloging, and digitization). Virginia family Bible records are an important source for birth, death, and marriage dates and sometimes other personal and family information, including the births and deaths of enslaved persons. Centralized recording of vital records did not begin in Virginia until 1853, making early Bible records even more valuable. The Library of Virginia has digitized over 7,000 Bible records in its collection, which grows with new donations regularly. Some early images—usually digitized from photocopies—are less legible than more recent scans due to the poor quality of the paper records. For more information about this collection, see the Bible Records Digital Collection research guide.
After all that the Library has accomplished over the past 25 years, how is there still a backlog? As Virginia State Archivist Gregory E. Crawford noted in the most recent backlog report, the growth of the collection (28,594 cubic feet accessioned) exceeded our ability to process (21,846 cubic feet processed). In addition, the Library received a huge influx of electronic records and email, primarily from the Office of the Governor. Periodic budget reductions/stagnation over the past 15 years has reduced the number of processing archivists from 30 in 2008 to 14 in 2023.The funding source has also changed. As of June 2023, only half of the 14 positions are funded in part by Virginia’s General Fund. The entire Local Government Records staff is now funded by the Circuit Court Records Preservation Program (CCRP). State Government Records staff are funded partially by the federal Library Services and Technology Act.8
Crawford concludes his report with this:
While in 1997 the challenge appeared to be acquiring the right number of staff needed to whittle away at the backlog of 17,186 cubic feet of material, Library leadership and members of the General Assembly could not have anticipated the impact of technology on record-keeping, governing, communication, and the economy as we now know it 24 years later. Technology has enabled amazing advancements in the way government runs on a daily basis. However, the fallout on archives – not just in Virginia, but across the world – has been overwhelming and disheartening at times. The Library of Virginia’s accomplishments with [gubernatorial] emails are much greater than many others working in this area, but the challenges continue to grow more complex and more costly over the years. While the amount of paper records will continue to decrease, and over time the paper backlog will along with it, a new electronic backlog has emerged and will only continue to grow without significant changes to processes, staffing, and funding.9
Editor’s Note: The author would like to thank Vince Brooks, Local Records Program Manager, Trenton Hizer, Senior Manuscripts Acquisition and Digital Archivist, and Paige Neal, Senior State Records Archivist for their contributions to this post.
Footnotes
[1] “Library Receives Funding and Staffing to Attack Backlog,” The Library of Virginia Official Newsletter, No. 132, March/April 1999, 1.
[2] Letter from Librarian of Virginia Nolan T. Yelich to Delegate James H. Dillard, II, February 16, 1999, Correspondence and Subject Files of the Librarian of Virginia, Accession 41116, box 1, folder 27, General Assembly, State government records, Library of Virginia.
[3] Senate Document 31 – Final Report of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Reorganization of the Library of Virginia, 1999, 1, https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/1999/SD31 (accessed October 16, 2024).
[4] Ibid., 3-4.
[5] Budget Bill – HB1450 (Chapter 935), 1999 General Assembly Session, Library of Virginia, Item 265, https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/item/1999/1/HB1450/Chapter/1/265/ (accessed October 16, 2024). The $787,943 was added to the Library’s General Fund based appropriation. The act added that the “Librarian of Virginia and State Archivist shall conduct an annual study of The Library of Virginia’s archival preservation needs and priorities, and shall report annually by December 1 to the Governor and the Chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Appropriations Committees of the General Assembly on The Library of Virginia’s progress to date in reducing the archival backlog.” Most of the annual archival backlog reports can be found on the Virginia Legislative Information Services Reports to the General Assembly website.
[6] Four of the 17 positions were assigned to the Technical Services Branch and Government Documents Program to catalog rare, printed material, and government documents. Three were assigned to Private Papers, four to State Records, and six to Local Records. The Library’s three-person Human Resources Department set an aggressive four-month recruitment schedule (March to July 1999) to fill the 17 positions. They largely accomplished their goal. The author started in State Records in August 1999. See Correspondence and Subject Files of the Librarian of Virginia, Accession 41116, box 1, folder 24, Finance and Administration Services Division, State government records collection, Library of Virginia.
[7] Numbers compiled from a variety of sources including the Annual Report on Reducing the Archival Backlog at the Library of Virginia, 2017-2023, Archival Resources of the Virginias (ARVAS) website, https://arvasarchive.org/ (accessed October 17, 2024), and Library staff members.
[8] Annual Report on Reducing the Archival Backlog at the Library of Virginia, 2023, 1-2. https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2023/RD594/PDF (accessed October 17, 2024).
[9] Ibid., 4.