Shenandoah Valley Miscellaneous Ledgers, Minute Books, and Registers, 1804-1933, (bulk 1820s-1890s)

Repository:

Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University

Title:

Shenandoah Valley Miscellaneous Ledgers, Minute Books, and Registers

Collection No.:

SC 0079

Date:

1804-1933

Extent:

41 ledgers; 6 Hollinger boxes; 2.5 oversize Hollinger boxes; 1 flat item, 4.6 linear feet

Language of the Material:

English .

Abstract:

The Shenandoah Valley Miscellaneous Ledgers, Minute Books, and Registers, 1804-1933, are comprised of an assortment of bound record books from various organizations and individuals, documenting a variety of agricultural, social, commercial, and educational endeavors in Harrisonburg and surrounding counties in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Representative of books 1-5, and 20-21

Book 1 is the contract book of the Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association (now called the Tri-State Tobacco Growers Association). The Association was founded in 1922 and acts as a marketing association for the two Carolinas and Virginia, including Rockingham County where attempts were made to grow tobacco in the 1920s. Book 2, an unidentified business ledger, 1856 to 1858, lists sales of brandy as well as other items and labor. Book 3 is representative of the Grottoes Investment Company, a real estate investment company founded in 1891 at Shendun (now known as Grottoes, Virginia). The Ashby Memorial Association was a Confederate veteran's organization founded in 1897 whose membership included those from the S.B. Gibbons Camp, the Turner Ashby Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and the Turner Ashby Camp of Sons of Confederate Veterans. Book 4 includes the minutes of the Ashby Memorial Association from July 1897 to April 1898. Book 5 is the school register for Public White School No. Six. The school was one of several schools located in the Plains District of Rockingham County. Book 20 records the accounts of the Valley Turnpike Company. Incorporated in 1834, the company was one of several companies authorized to construct a number of toll roads, including the one from Staunton to Winchester. Book 21 has been transcribed and published as the Michael Baker Store Account Book; see Related Material.

The Shenandoah Valley Miscellaneous Ledgers, Minute Books and Registers, 1804-1933, are comprised of an assortment of bound record books from various organizations and individuals, documenting a variety of agricultural, social, commercial, and educational endeavors in Harrisonburg and surrounding counties in the 19th and 20th centuries. Books 1-5 represent the first acquisition of the collection.

The collection was numerically arranged based on the order of accession. In the summer of 2008, the physical order of the books was changed to maximize storage space, however original numbering was retained. See the contents list below for the current physical arrangement.