Staunton Academy Records, 1808-1828

Repository:

Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University

Title:

Staunton Academy Records

Collection No.:

SC 0074

Date:

1808-1828

Extent:

1 folder

Language of the Material:

English

Language of the Material:

English

Abstract:

The Staunton Academy Records, 1808-1828, are comprised almost exclusively of minutes from the board of trustees' meetings of the Staunton Academy as well as correspondence and issues addressed at said meetings.

The Staunton Academy in Staunton, Virginia, was incorporated in 1792, but a formal schoolhouse was not completed until after 1810. The Academy was founded from funds raised through bond sales, and also from state funds raised through the sale of glebe lands. The administration of the Academy was first entrusted to James G. Waddell and Bartholomew Fuller, who were the Academy's first principals and faculty, the former teaching classics and the latter teaching mathematics. In 1833, Lyttleton Waddell became joint principal with William Cooke, and Waddell continued as principal for more than twenty years. During that time, the school was very prosperous, attracting many pupils from abroad. The final principals to be appointed by the Board of Trustees were Pike Powers and Charles E. Young. In the 1872-1873 school year, the Staunton public schools were crowded with 375 children. The Staunton Academy, who had 25 day students in 1873, was asked for the use of their building by the public schools. As of 1873, the Staunton Academy became a public school.

The Staunton Academy Records, 1808-1828, consist of ten items housed in a single legal-size folder within a half sized legal Hollinger box. The collection is comprised almost exclusively of minutes from the board of trustees' meetings of the Staunton Academy as well as correspondence and issues addressed at said meetings. Of particular interest is an 1818 document that lists the original members of the board when the Staunton Academy was established in 1792.

The collection is arranged chronologically within a single legal sized folder.

MacMaster, Richard K. http://leo.jmu.edu/record=b1254698~S0. Staunton, Va.:Augusta County Historical Society, 1988. (p. 384)

Waddell, Joseph A. http://leo.jmu.edu/record=b1306078~S0. Harrisonburg, Va.: C.J. Carrier Co., 1986. (p. 46)