Newly-Available Archival Accessions, July 1-September 30, 2024

The Library of Virginia maintains the most comprehensive collection of information about Virginia’s history, culture, and government. We hold more than 200 million manuscript items, digital images, and records in our archives that tell countless stories of Virginians and our collective past. In addition to state and local government records, the Library has an unparalleled collection of private papers that includes records of businesses, organizations, churches, and individuals. These archival collections continue to grow, and archivists are constantly acquiring and processing records to make them accessible to the public. Four times a year, we publish reports of newly accessioned records. View the New Archival Accession Reports online.

Here are a couple highlights from our most recent accessioned collections:

Papers, 1809-1892, of the Jarratt family of Pocahontas Island, Petersburg, Virginia, including deeds, indentures, stock certificates, tax receipts, and accounts. Items include documents registering members of the family as free Black people that contain physical descriptions of individuals named; receipts for money paid by Richard Jarratt (born circa 1779) for the education of his children; records for land transactions; expense accounts, 1817-1818 and 1826, of the sloop Gayle; correspondence, 1838-1839, between Alexander Jarrott (born circa 1808) and wife (Nancy) Ann Jarrott (born circa 1813); record of the births of Alexander and Ann Jarrott’s children; and a reference, 1883, from Lieutenant C. D. Townsend of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, testifying to John Jarratt’s sixteen years of employment working on improvements to the Appomattox River. The papers also include a newspaper article, undated, about William T. Jarratt Jr. (1915-1985) and his purchase of the old Norfolk and Western Railway passenger station in Petersburg, and an article, 2010, on the rediscovery of the scrapbook in a junkyard in Charlottesville, Virginia. Gift of John F. Jarratt, Petersburg. (Accession 53540). View the Jarratt collection online.

For more information about the free Black community of Pocahontas Island, see our previous UncommonWealth post “Old Plats of Pocahontas.”

Records, 1906-1975, of the Virginian Railway Company consisting of freight conductor’s car and tonnage record books, 1945-1975; rule books for the Virginian Railway Company, the Deepwater and Tidewater Railway Companies, and Norfolk and Western; and bulletins, correspondences, notes, timetables, and other records for the Virginian Railway and for Norfolk and Western. Also includes ledger, 1951-1969, cashbook, 1956-1969, and other documents for the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen.  Purchased.  (Accession 54301)