A Collection in the Library of Virginia
Accession Number 41008
Library of Virginia
The Library of Virginia 800 East Broad Street Richmond, Virginia 23219-8000 USA Phone: (804) 692-3888 (Archives Reference) Fax: (804) 692-3556 (Archives Reference) Email: archdesk@lva.virginia.gov(Archives) URL: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/
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Preferred Citation
Robert Alonzo Brock Miscellaneous files, 1655-1908. Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Acquisition Information
The Robert Alonzo Brock Collection was filmed by The Huntington Library in cooperation with The Library of Virginia with funding
provided by The Library of Virginia Foundation with the support of The Roller-Bottimore Foundation and The Robins Foundation.
Microfilm received April 2005.
Robert Alonzo Brock, historian, antiquarian, and collector, was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1839. At the outbreak of the
Civil War he enlisted in the 21st Virginia Regiment, transferring later to a hospital unit with which he remained for the
duration of the war. Brock later served as associate editor of the Richmond Standard (1879-1882), corresponding secretary
of the Virginia Historical Society (1875-1892), and secretary of the Southern Historical Society (1887-1914). He also edited
the societies' papers and authored the first biographical dictionary of Virginians ( Virginia and Virginians ). An avid collector of Virginiana, Brock started his collection before the Civil War and added materials up to the time of
his death in 1914, accumulating nearly 50,000 manuscripts relating to Virginia and the history of the South.
The Robert Alonzo Brock miscellaneous files, 1655-1908, include a wide variety of business, organizational, personal, and
military records collected by Brock. The records encompass not only Virginia, but many other East coast colonies and states.
The files are organized chronologically and cover a variety of topics, locations, and time periods. Included are accounts,
affidavits, agreements, bills, bonds, correspondence, deeds, inventories, invitations, petitions, power of attorney, promissory
notes, receipts, reports, surveys, reports, and warrants.
Topics include agriculture, business, genealogy, politics, social life, universities, and war. The collection encompasses
such a wide range of materials, a separate database was created to identify each manuscript. In order to access the collection,
patrons should search the database for specific names or topics.