Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Alexandria County (Va.) Superintendent of Schools Records, 1851-1920 (bulk 1870-1884). Local government records collection, Alexandria/Arlington 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 papers from Arlington County.

The collection is located at the State Records Center. Contact Archives Research Services staff for access information, directions, and hours.

Historical Information

Dr. William H. Ruffner was elected by the General Assembly to be the first Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1870.

Public schools in Virginia were established during Reconstruction, and they were racially segregated until the mid-twentieth century.

Arlington County was originally named Alexandria County. It was formed from a portion of Fairfax County that Virginia in 1789 ceded to the federal government for use as the site of a new national capital. In 1801 the area officially became part of the District of Columbia, although Congress named it Alexandria County. By an act of 9 July 1846, Congress returned the county to Virginia, and the General Assembly extended the commonwealth's jurisdiction over the region effective 20 March 1847. By an act of assembly passed 16 March 1920, the county name was changed to Arlington, the name of the Custis family mansion (the home of Robert E. Lee), which is located in the county.

The 1870 Virginia Constitution required that each county in the state be divided into no less than three townships (see Article VII, section 2). The Acts of Assembly provided that each township be divided into school and electoral districts (see Acts of Assembly 1869-1870, Chapter 39). The published Acts of Assembly appended a list of township names by county following the acts for every year that townships existed in Virginia.

Scope and Content

Alexandria County (Va.) Superintendent of Schools Records, 1851-1920 (bulk 1870-1884). The records are comprised of annual reports, correspondence, oaths of office, and personnel records documenting the administration of the public school system in Arlington County. The collection contains annual district and teachers' reports that document statistics such as the average number of students attending schools, gender, age, and race (white or African American) of students, average number of students per teacher, textbooks used, county tax records, and the number of private schools in the district and county. Some reports also include general remarks.

Correspondence consists mostly of the correspondence of Richard L. Carne, Alexandria County Superintendent of Schools, with teachers and prospective employees and with William H. Ruffner, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The collection also contains an 1870 census of persons between the ages of five and twenty-one years in the Jefferson and Arlington districts of Alexandria County. The census of the Jefferson district includes a hand-drawn map of Jefferson Township, located along the shores of the Potomac River, designating neighborhoods as white or colored. The map shows proposed boundary lines that appear to have been drawn with the intent of creating separate school districts for white and African American households.

Arrangement

Arranged chronoligically.

Related Material

Alexandria County (Va.) Public School Teachers' Registers, 1892-1907, and Jefferson Township Board of Public Free Schools Minutes, 1871-1880, Alexandria/Arlington County (Va.) Court Records, Local government records collection, Library of Virginia. See also Virginia Department of Education School Census Returns, 1895-1925, Accession 23350, State government records collection, Library of Virginia.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Carne, Richard L.
• Ruffner, William Henry, 1824-1908.

Corporate Names:

• Alexandria County (Va.) Public Schools.
• Arlington County (Va.) Circuit Court.
• Commonwealth of Virginia--Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Subjects:

• African American students--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• African American teachers--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• American students--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Education--curricula--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Education--statistics--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Reconstruction--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• School buildings--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Schools--records and correspondence--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Segregation in education--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Segregation--Virginia--Jefferson Township.
• Tax records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Teachers--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Textbooks--Virginia--Alexandria County.

Geographical Names:

• Alexandria County (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Arlington County (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Jefferson Township (Va.)--History--19th century.

Genre and Form Terms:

• Annual reports--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Attendance records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Census maps--Virginia--Jefferson Township.
• Census records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Correspondence--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Financial records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Local government records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Monthly reports--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Oaths--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Personnel records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• School records--Virginia--Alexandria County.
• Statistics--Virginia--Alexandria County.

Added Entry - Corporate Name:

• Alexandria (Va.) Circuit Court.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Alexandria County (Va.) Public School Teachers' Registers, 1892-1907, and Jefferson Township Board of Public Free Schools Minutes, 1871-1880, Alexandria/Arlington County (Va.) Court Records, Local government records collection, Library of Virginia. See also Virginia Department of Education School Census Returns, 1895-1925, Accession 23350, State government records collection, Library of Virginia.