Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Mary-Cooke Branch Munford Papers, 1881-1935. Accession 28142, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.

Acquisition Information

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Biographical/Historical Information

Mary-Cooke Branch Munford was born in Richmond, Virginia on 15 September 1865. She was educated in Richmond and New York, and married Beverley Bland Munford on 22 November 1893. She co-founded the Richmond Educational Association in 1901; chairman, Co-ordinate College League, 1910-1926; president, Cooperative Educational Association of Virginia, 1910-1925; vice-president, National Consumers' League; member, Board of Visitors, The College of William and Mary and The University of Virginia; first woman member of the Richmond School Board; chairman, Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense; and member, Virginia Agricultural Council of Safety; member of the Board of the Virginia and Richmond League of Women Voters; member of the Board, National Urban League. She died in Richmond on 3 July 1938.

Scope and Content Information

Papers, 1881-1938, of Mary-Cooke Branch Munford of Richmond, Virginia, documenting her work in various political, educational, social, economic, and inter-racial endeavors. The bulk of the collection covers the period from 1910-1930, when she was most active.

The CO-ORDINATE COLLEGE LEAGUE series includes correspondence and subject files concerning Munford's and the League's attempts to convince The University of Virginia to admit women by establishing a coordinate college with its own organization, and its own social, residence and instruction halls. The new college would share the library and laboratories of the University, and students would be taught by some of its faculty. The papers include correspondence from educators at the University of Virginia, as well as around the state and nation, business leaders, politicians, and members of the League. The subject files contain accounts, legislative information, including research data, drafts of bills introduced on behalf of the League, and voting records of the members of the General Assembly, resolutions, brochures, flyers, and pamphlets, mailing and membership lists, and information from various educational, labor, alumni, and other groups opposing and supporting the League's efforts. There is also a large amount of clippings from Richmond newspapers, as well as other Virginia newspapers, which document the League's activities.

The EDUCATION series includes information on Munford's activities in the field of education. It includes information from The University of Virginia, including dockets and minutes of the Board of Visitors, the Richmond Education Association, the Richmond Lancastrian School, Southern Industrial Classes, and the Richmond public schools. Also included is information on the status, salaries, and working conditions of teachers. This series also contains a variety of published newsletters, bulletins, annual reports, and other educational publications.

The FOREIGN POLICY AND NATIONAL POLITICS series contains subject files documenting Munford's assistance during World War I, and her interest in world peace. It includes a large amount of material on here work on the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense during the war, and her help in food conservation and registration drives. There is also information on her activities in the Foreign Policy Association and the Walter Hines Page School of International Relations, as well as peace groups, including the Conference on the Cause and Cure of War. This series also contains material on Munford's involvement in the Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters.

The RACE RELATIONS series includes subject files on Munford's activities with the Commission on Inter-racial Cooperation, Richmond Urban League, National Urban League, Woman's Inter-Racial Committee, National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, Committee on Colored Work, and the Commission on Inter-racial Cooperation. There is also correspondence, clippings, and financial information, as well as publications concerning race relations.

The VIRGINIA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SLAVERY AND SECESSION series concerns this book, written by her husband, Beverley Bland Munford, in 1909. Much of the material concerns Mrs. Munford's work in getting the book re- adopted by the State Board of Education as required text in history courses taught in high schools in Virginia after her husband's death in 1910. The series contains correspondence, briefs and comments, circular letters, and postcards, as well as material on the book's publication, orders, and sales.

The MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECT FILES series contains accounts, bank statements, correspondence, a notebook belonging to Beverley Bland Munford, dated 1881-1885, and information on other groups and activities in which Mrs. Munford was involved. There are also blueprints of alterations to her cottage in Maine by William Lawrence Bottomley, dated 1923, filed in the General Architectural Files, Folder 137. Also included in this series are clippings and publications.

Arrangement

Arranged in six series: I. Co-ordinate College League. II. Education. III. Foreign Policy and National Politics. IV. Race Relations. V. VIRGINIA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD SLAVERY AND SECESSION. VI. Miscellaneous Subject Files.