Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Page County (Va.) School Records, 1833-1895. Local government records collection, Page County (Va.) Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in a transfer of court records from the Page County Circuit Court.

Historical Information

On February 21, 1818, the Virginia legislature passed a school bill which appropriated $45,000 annually from the Literary Fund for the education of poor children. (The Literary Fund was established in 1810 with passage of a bill to appropriate "certain escheats, confiscated, and forfeited lands" for the "encouragement of learning.") Under the provisions of the 1818 School Act, each county court was required to appoint five to fifteen commissioners to establish and/or administer schools for children of the poor. A more comprehensive, racially segregated public school system was established by the legislature in 1870. The system was racially segregated until the mid-twentieth century.

Page County was named, according to most sources, for John Page, revolutionary patriot, congressman, and governor of Virginia from 1802 to 1805. It was formed from Rockingham and Shenandoah counties in 1831.

Scope and Content

Page County (Va.) School Records, 1833-1895, consist of School Commissioner reports, minutes, accounts, and vouchers documenting disbursement of the county allotment for public education from the state Literary Fund and include information on teacher salaries, the number of schools in the county, number of poor children in need of aid to education, and the number of poor children educated with money from the literary fund. Annual and quarterly reports for tuition allotted to poor children contain the child's name, names of parents, days of school attended, amounts provided for tuition, branches of study, and occasionally the books and supplies used by the student.

Index Terms

Corporate Names:

• Page County (Va.) Circuit Court.
• Virginia Literary Fund--Appropriations and expenditures--19th century.

Subjects:

• Government aid to education--Virginia--Page County.
• Poor children--Virginia--Page County.
• Public schools--Virginia--Page County.
• School reports--Virginia--Page County.
• Schools--Records and correspondence--Virginia--Page County.
• Students--Virginia--Page County.
• Teachers--Virginia--Page County.

Geographical Names:

• Page County (Va.)--History--19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Accounts--Virginia--Page County.
• Attendance records--Virginia--Page County.
• Bonds (negotiable instruments)--Virginia--Page County.
• Financial records--Virginia--Page County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Page County.
• Reports--Virginia--Page County.
• School records--Virginia--Page County.