Introduction

The Virginia Historical Society had been in existence for nearly three decades when civil war enveloped the commonwealth in 1861. Over those early years of its history, officers and members of the Society, along with many interested citizens of the Old Dominion, had contributed to a small but growing collection of books, historical manuscripts, and artifacts, gathered by the Society's leaders with the motto of the organization, "To Preserve and Hand Down," ringing in their ears. With the advent of war, and without a permanent home in which to house this nascent collection, the Society's leadership distributed its holdings among its various members during the war, while at the same time they patriotically invested the organization's tiny endowment in Confederate States bonds. Through this quirk of fate, most of the Society's collection was saved; its endowment was not.

Within several decades of the end of the war, with the surviving remnants of the collection rejoined and forming a solid base on which to build, the Society's leadership again cast out the net widely for new historical materials to preserve and to interpret for new generations of Virginians. Among the many items that began to flow into the Society's rooms were materials created or used by Confederate officers, soldiers, statesmen, and officials, as well as by members of many families, black and white, pro-Union and secessionist, who had populated the cities and counties of the commonwealth during the conflict.

The success of those leaders and of their successors in acquiring the raw materials of historical study has now resulted in a collection of the highest quality and significance, nationally recognized and heavily used by researchers from across the country and throughout the world. Along with its extensive manuscript holdings, which this guide more readily identifies, the Society also holds a major collection of Confederate imprints, published reminiscences, memoirs, letters, and diaries, and countless nineteenth- and twentieth-century studies of battlefield and home front. Its museum collection contains hundreds of images of Civil War-era individuals, both men and women, in a variety of formats (daguerreotypes, tintypes, cartes-de-visite, and portraits), as well as images of places and events from the period. Among the museum's artifacts are a superlative Confederate weapons collection, a window from Libby Prison fashioned by African-American slaves, United States Army memorabilia, and many other items relating to the war in the Old Dominion. Other holdings include the well-known Jeremy Gilmer Confederate Corps of Engineers maps and a strong collection of Civil War-era newspapers on microfilm and in hard copy.

This guide, however, focuses strictly on the Society's manuscript holdings, the very heart of its research collections. The original letters and diaries of soldiers and members of their families, the scattered records of Union and Confederate military units and of African-American slaves and free persons who inhabited the Old Dominion, the official papers emanating from the pens of Confederate officials and war clerks (the latter both male and female), the postwar reminiscences and scrapbooks of combatants, widows, and the children of veterans, all help to tell the story of Virginia's extraordinary role in the American Civil War. We hope this guide will attract attention to the Society's widely diverse manuscript holdings, provide ready access to specific items or record groups, and encourage future scholarship in the history of a time and event that continues to capture the imagination and to stir controversy in this country.

Graham T. Dozier      
Project Archivist      

E. Lee Shepard      
Project Director      

Updated January 12, 2005