Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Duke Family Papers, Accession #9521-h, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottessville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Duke family papers were given to the Library by Mrs. Gerald Kinne of Setauket, New York, and Mr. William E. Duke of Richmond, Virginia, on August 20, 1985.

Genealogical Information

Slaughter Family

Edith Ridgeway married Charles M. Harker (d. 1876), and their daughter Mary Haines Harker (d. 1897) married (1853) John Flavel Slaughter, Sr. (1828-1893), son of Robert Harrison Slaughter , and Mary Rice Garland , whom he married in 1818. Seven of Mary Harker and John Flavel Slaughter 's children survived to adulthood. The following genealogical information is incomplete.

Duke Family

Richard Thomas Walker Duke, Sr. (1822-1898), son of Richard Duke and Maria Walker , married (1846) Elizabeth Scott Eskridge (1820-1896), daughter of William Scott Eskridge and Margaret Frances Brown . Their children were:

Scope and Content

This addition to the Duke family papers contains ca. 10,400 items (38 Hollinger boxes, 12 linear shelf feet), 1764-1983, chiefly personal and topical correspondence, business papers, and legal papers of this prominent Charlottesville family, and the related Slaughter family of Lynchburg, Virginia . The collection also has genealogical material, invitations (arranged by year), literary manuscripts and poetry by R. T. W. Duke, Jr. (1853-1926), miscellaneous papers, printed material, school records and papers, photographs, diaries, account books, notebooks and other bound volumes, postcards and papers concerning a few legal clients of the Duke and Duke law firm.

The overwhelming bulk of the correspondence consists of letters to and from R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , Edith Slaughter Duke (1863-1921), his wife, and their children, Mary Willoughby Duke (1885-1966); Richard Thomas Walker Duke, III (1887-1960); John Flavel Slaughter Duke , "Jack" (1889-1933); William Eskridge Duke (1893-1959); and Helen Risdon Duke (1895-1984).

The correspondence subseries devoted to letters written to R. T. W. Duke, Jr. contains three different groups of material: 1) letters from his wife, Edith Slaughter Duke ; 2) an alphabetically arranged group of miscellaneous correspondents; and 3) a group of individual correspondents, each with his own folder.

The letters from Edith to Tom Duke , 1882-1921, were written whenever they were separated during their courtship, family visits, vacations, and business trips. As could be expected, most of these letters contain plans for furnishing their new home, family news, and personal messages, all of which chronicles the growth of the Duke family .

The alphabetical miscellaneous correspondence file has letters from college, fraternity and Masonic friends, business associates, and other acquaintances and includes merchandise orders, requests for speaking engagements, business matters, literary concerns, letters of sympathy and personal news.

Letters of note in this group include the following correspondents and topics: S. A. Duke (Dec. 9, 1908) re reconstruction and "the great negro question;" A. Ranken Ford (Nov.23, 1914) re America's Civil War, England 's preparation for World War I and Germany 's spying activities prior to the war; George Gilmer (Jul. 28, 1918) re the important role of the Y.M.C.A. in keeping up the morale of the American soldier in Europe ; T. H. Harrison (Apr. 21 and Jun. 25, 1916) re Canadian involvement in World War I; H. C. Marchant (Sep.[15], 1895) re vestry records of Christ Episcopal Church ; and Jessie Uppleby (Apr. 18, Jul. 5, Aug. 19, Nov. 22, 1917, and Aug. 29 [n.y.]) re World War I war news from Scotland .

The group of individual correspondents to R. T. W. Duke, Jr. include the following people: B. Johnson Barbour , Mary Carey , J. E. Creary , John Singleton Diggs , Elizabeth Eskridge Duke , Maymee R. Slaughter Duke , Myrtle Judson Duke , R. T. W. Duke, Sr. , William R. Duke , Eugene Ellicott , fraternity brothers, Kate Gunther , Lizzie Gunther , and Maude Gunther , Paul Jones and Peter Tudor Jones , Luther Kountze , Nancy Leary , Thomas Nelson Page , Thomas D. Ransom , Schele De Vere , John F. Slaughter, Sr. , John F. Slaughter, Jr. , Mary Harker Slaughter and Mary Willoughby Duke Slaughter .

The letters to Edith Duke include correspondence from Myrtle Judson Duke , R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , Susan Harker Risdon and miscellaneous letters from friends and family, excluding her children.

A third subseries of correspondence consists of letters from R. T. W. Duke, Jr. and Edith Duke to their children, Mr. and Mrs. R. T. W. Duke, Sr. and miscellaneous correspondents. Of note in this group is a volume of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. 's letters from Europe which contains transcripts of his letters home during his European tour of 1882. Duke describes his voyage over on a ship "Egypt," his companions and acquaintances, his itinerary in England , Holland , Germany , Switzerland , and France , and the many museums, historic sites, and towns which he visited.

The fourth subseries contains letters to and from the children of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , including correspondence with their parents and with each other. The sons of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , Walker, Jack, and Eskridge, were all in the armed forces during World War I, and their letters that decribe camp life and their war experiences are in the correspondence to their parents, 1917-1919.

Jack (John Flavel) Duke was an Air Service officer stationed at Post Field, Sill, Oklahoma , and at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas , and his correspondence, 1917-1919, and no date, describes his flying experiences. Although Eskridge Duke attended the U.S. Naval Academy preparatory school at Annapolis, Maryland and sailed as a midshipman on the U.S.S. Illinois from 1911-1913, he served during World War I in France as an army officer with the American Expeditionary Forces , from September of 1918 until May of 1919.

R. T. Walker Duke 's letters to his parents from 1908-1911 describe his experiences in Montana as a cowboy, his interest in homesteading, bronco riding, and his work as a printer. In 1917, Walker was assigned to the 5th Illinois Company , Ft. Sheridan, Illinois . His letters written during his service in Europe run from October 1918 to March 1919. After the conclusion of the war, Walker served with the Judge Advocate General Department in Washington, D.C. (letters to his parents, 1920-1925).

Mary Duke 's letters to her parents, 1918-1926, and no date, describe her nursing experiences and other charitable work in the Archdeaconry of Southwest Virginia with Mrs. Hugh F. Binns at Nora, Dickinson County, Virginia .

Another interesting group of letters in this subseries are those of William Eskridge Duke, Jr. to his family and to his aunts, Mary Duke and Helen Duke . Bill Duke served in the navy during the Korean War and his letters describe the places which he visited on his tours of duty, such as Naples , Athens , Marseilles , Guam , and Yokosuka, Japan , 1949-1951.

The correspondence of the Duke brothers and sisters to each other consists almost entirely of carbons or originals of letters concerning the personal business transactions of the family. It also reveals the financial difficulties of various family members during the Depression years.

The Slaughter family correspondence comprises the fifth subseries of correspondence and contains letters to and from members of Edith Slaughter Duke 's family, including her parents, Mary Harker and John Flavel Slaughter, Sr. , and her brothers and sisters. The letters from Dr. Blanche Rosalie Slaughter Morton , a graduate of the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania (1897) and practicing surgeon, form one of the most interesting sections of this correspondence. She describes her travels in Europe (May 11, September 19, and 24, 1899); her concern for the Lee family in China during the struggle of the Kuomintang with the warlords for political supremacy (March 29, 1927); her trip to Mexico (July 25, 1928) and the Middle East (November 4, 1935).

Most of the Slaughter correspondence concerns either business matters or family news with a few exceptions. Charles Slaughter, Sr. writes concerning a strike and riot in Duluth, Minnesota (July 7, 1889); Charles M. Harker, Sr. describes the meeting of the American Convention ( Know-Nothing Party ) in Philadelphia (June 10, 1855); Mary B[?] R[?]'s letters, 1861-1862, provide a woman's view of the Civil War; and Samuel Slaughter describes his trip to Ireland , Scotland , and England (July 24, August 1 & 5, 1889). Members of the Garland family write concerning family news, Dr. [Erasmus] Darwin 's theory of the earth, and the significance of fossils, and General Hull's activities at Sandwich in Canada during the beginning of the War of 1812 (August 4, 1812); and a trip to Boston and Montreal (August 1 & 11, 1851).

Of note among the miscellaneous correspondence are two letters from John Singleton Mosby , one to R. T. W. Duke, Jr. (September 27, 1915) acknowledging Duke's letter of sympathy on the loss of Mosby's son, and another to Captain Sam Chapman (September 30, 1919) concerning the manifesto of the "Stonewall Jackson Camp" at Staunton about the role of Southern soldiers in the Civil War.

Also of interest are the letters, 1895-1954, from Mary Lee and Claude Lee , an Episcopal medical missionary family in Wisuh, China . They ran a hospital and dispensary from 1908 until ca. 1947. Although their letters reveal various aspects of missionary life and personal family news, they contain little of Chinese events. One letter by Claude Lee (October 13, 1918) speaks of the participation of the 8th Czecho-Slovak Regiment in a battle against the Bolsheviks in the Ural Mountains near [Tagelove ?], Russia , during World War I.

The last subseries of correspondence consists of topical files concerning the American Legion and World War I; business correspondence of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. ; the publication of the poetry of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. ; the rental of the Duke's Park Street house; the will of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. ; and the St. Paul's Memorial Building Fund .

The other six non-correspondence series comprise about a third of the collection and include: manuscripts and miscellaneous papers, photographs, bound volumes and notebooks, postcards, papers from the Duke and Duke law firm and oversize items.

The manuscripts and miscellaneous papers series contain the personal business papers of the Duke and related families, especially the Slaughter family . There is also a sizeable amount of family financial material in the Papers of the Duke and Duke Law Firm at the University of Virginia Law Library .

Other types of material in this series include; genealogical material, with a typescript about Mary Harker Slaughter by her son, William A. Slaughter ; invitations; legal papers, including indentures, deeds, agreements, land surveys, etc.; manuscripts by R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , both poetry and prose, including "Albemarle County and the City of Charlottesville in War Time," "Libraries and Their Contents," "Pearls and Pebbles," typescripts of portions of his "Recollections," (the whole five volumes of Duke's "Recollections" of his life can be found in 9521-i); printed material, including Masonic items and an undated political pamphlet entitled "Mahoneism Unveiled!"; and Duke family school records and papers.

The photographic series consists of both identified and unidentified photographs. Identified photographs contain the following categories: Judge R. T. W. Duke, Jr. , R. T. W. Duke, Sr. , men and women in the Duke and related families, Rosalie Slaughter Morton , miscellaneous men and women, European scenes, places, photographs of a trip, University of Virginia , and Zeta Psi Brothers and University of Virginia friends. Unidentified photographs have been placed in the following groups: animals, children, groups and families, men, places, and women.

Series four, consisting of bound volumes and notebooks, contains primarily diaries and notebooks of the immediate Duke family members. The fifth series has United States , foreign, and topical postcards. The United States postcards are separated first by state and then by city or county; the foreign by country only, and the topicals are grouped together.

The papers of the Duke and Duke law firm contain incomplete case files handled by the family law firm. Among these are Maria Carter v. Roy Brown ; J. E. Costan v. Downing L. Smith ; Dr. Funsten v. W. Ed. Pickering ; Insurance Company of Charlottesville v. V. W. F. Carter, Jr. ; the Kentucky Coal Company , Pike County Coal Company , and Ohio and Big Sandy Coal Company ; Jefferson M. Levy Legal Papers; Piedmont Gas and Oil Corporation v. R. S. Duncan ; and Snyder v. University of Virginia . Most of the law firm's papers are located in the University of Virginia Law Library .

The last series consists of oversize documents and photographs.

Organization

Because this collection was not received by the Library in any discernible order, the material has been arbitrarily placed into seven different series. These include: I) Correspondence; II) Manuscripts and Miscellaneous Papers; III) Photographs; IV) Bound Volumes and Notebooks; V) Postcards; VI) Papers from the Duke and Duke law firm; and VII) Oversize Items.

Due to the large amount of correspondence present in this collection, the correspondence series has been further broken down into seven subseries: A) Letters to R. T. W. Duke, Jr. (boxes 1-9); B) Letters to Edith Duke (boxes 10-11); C) Letters from R. T. W. Duke, Jr. and Edith Duke (box 12); D) Letters to and from the children of R. T. W. Duke, Jr. (boxes 13-20); E) Slaughter Family Correspondence (boxes 20-22); F) Miscellaneous Correspondence (box 23); G) Topical Correspondence (box 24)