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Jackson Davis, Papers, 1906-1947, Accession #3072, #3072-a, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA 22903.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Langhorne and Mrs. Helen Lynch, Dec. 7, 1948 and Nov. 3, 1949.
The photographs, photographic negatives and glass lantern slides are available as digital images, online at https://small.library.virginia.edu/collections/featured/jackson-davis-collection-of-african-american-educational-photographs/
Jackson Davis was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, on September 25, 1882, the son of William Anderson and Sally Wyatt (Guy) Davis. He attended the public schools of Richmond, Virginia, and received his B. A. from the College of William and Mary in 1902 and his M. A. from Columbia University in 1908. Honorary L.L.D. degrees were conferred upon him by the University of Richmond in 1930 and the College of William and Mary in 1931.
Following graduation from William and Mary he was the principal of the public schools of Williamsburg, Virginia. He was assistant secretary of the Roanoke, Virginia YMCA from 1903- 1904, was principal of the public schools of Marion, Virginia from 1904-1905, and was superintendent of schools in Henrico County, Virginia from 1905-1909. From 1909-1910 he was a member of the state board of examiners and inspectors of the Virginia State Board of Education, and from 1910-1915 he was state agent for African-American rural schools for the Virginia State Department of Education. In 1915 he became affiliated with the General Education Board in New York, New York, as a field agent. Two years later he was transferred to New York city as the board's general field agent, in which capacity he remained until 1929 when he was made assistant director. He became associate director in 1933 and vice-president and director in 1946. Throughout his career Davis specialized in Southern education, interracial problems, and education in Belgian Congo and Liberia. In 1935 he went to Africa as a Carnegie visitor, and in 1944 went again as head of a group sent by the Foreign Missions Conference of North America, the British Conference of Missions, and the Phelps- Stokes Fund. Davis was also a trustee of the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an organization devoted to African-American education and race relations both in America and in Africa. He became vice president of the fund in 1940, and succeeded Anson Phelps Stokes as president in 1946. During the years of his association with the General Education Board its work was concentrated on education in the Southern states and Davis' influence on behalf of better relations and understanding between whites and African-Americans and his pioneer work in promoting regional centers of education in the South were of immense significance. At the time of his death he was president of the board of trustees of Booker T. Washington Institute in Libera, president of the New York State Colonization Society, and a member of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation and of the Advisory Committee on Education in Liberia. He served as a member of the board of visitors of the College of William and Mary during 1913-1920 and as secretary of the International Education Board from 1923- 1938. Davis and Margaret Wong co-authored Africa Advancing in 1946, a book providing the results of the survey made in 1944; he was also a frequent contributor to educational journals.
Davis was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Virginia Academy of Science, Virginia Historical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Theta Delta Chi, Phi Delta Kappa, and the Town Hall and Century clubs. He was married in Bluffton, Georgia, on May 9, 1911, to Corinne Mansfield ( -1941), and they had two daughters, Helen Mansfield who married John Phillip Lynch, Jr., and Ruth Elizabeth, who married Charles Rolfe Langhorne. Davis died in Cartersville, Virginia, on April 15, 1947.
The papers consist of topical files, personal, professional, and financial files, photographs, glass lantern slides, photographic slides, negatives, card indexes and printed materials.
Papers and slides are arranged alphabetically by subject for collection 3072. Items in 3072 (negatives and slides) are arranged numerically according to slide/negative number.
OrganizationThe contents list is arranged by box number with the addition of the letter, "a" to the boxes from collection 3072-a (slides, lantern slides, negatives).
Alphabetical by subject
1937-July 1942 Box 7 (3 folders)
1942- August 1946 Box 8 (2 folders)
The 6000 number series are prints for which there are no negatives.
Photographs are arranged alphabetically by subject
Liberia, unidentified
Bibb County, Birmingham, Coosa County, Fort Deposit, Lowndes County, Montgomery County, Selma, Tuscaloosa, Tuskegee Institute; Selma and Tuskegee postcards
Edmondson
Daytona, Gainesville, Leesburg, Miami, Palm Beach County, St. Augustine, Sarasota, Tallahassee
Coweta County, Thunderbolt, Waycross
Burgin, Danville, Harrodsburg, Louisville, Madisonville, Paducah, unidentified
Bastrop, Baton Rouge, Bienville, Calcasieu, East Carroll, Lake Charles, Ruston, Sabria Nor?, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne, Theriot, Washington, Welsh, unidentified; Baton Rouge postcards
Baltimore, Prince George County, unidentified
Alcorn, Braxton, Coahoma County, Columbia, Covington County, Edwards, Ellisville, Forest County, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Lamar County, Leland, Mound Bayou, Okolona, Pearl River County, Starksville, Tougaloo, Tupelo, Utica, Wiggins; unidentified numbered; unidentified; Gulfport postcards
Ithaca, New York, and Queensborough postcards
Asheville, Chapel Hill, Columbus County, Elizabeth City, Fayettevile, Greensboro, Halifax County, Kinston, Kittrell, Method, Mount Mitchell, Pamlico, Parmele, Pitt County, Raleigh, Salisbury, Seminole County, Smithfield, Wadesboro, Wake County, Winston-Salem, Winton; Stony Point; unidentified; Winston-Salem postcards
Bookertee, Carter County, Langston, Rentiesville; unidentified numbered; unidentified; Muskogee postcards; Portland (Oregon) postcards
Allendale, Bamberg, Cola, Columbia, Conway, Greenville County, Hartsville, Laurens County, Marion, Mayesville, Moncks Corner, Orangeburg, Ridge Spring, St. Helena Island, Sumter, Trenton, Williamsburg County; unidentified; Charleston and St. Helena Island postcards
Brownsville, Clarksville, Fayette County, Henry County, Maryville, McMinnville, Mount Meigs, Nashville, Shelby County, Signal Mountain, Wilson County; unidentified; Knoxville postcards
Austin, Bishop, Camp County, Guadalupe, Hallettsville, Harrison County, Houston, Hunt County, Huntsville, Kerens, Ladonia, Limestone County, Manor, Marion, Marshall, McAllen, Mexia, Pittsburg, Prairie Grove, Prairie View, San Antonio, Sequin, Sweet Home, Travis County, Tyler, Waco, Walker County; unidentified; Austin postcards
Albemarle County, Alexandria, Amelia County, Amherst County, Bowling Green, Brunswick County, Burkeville, Caroline County, Charles City County, Charlottesville, Chesterfield County, Emporia, Gloucester, Halifax, Hampton, Harrisonburg, Henrico County (and "Virginia Randolph and her work"), Kenbridge, Kilmarnock, King and Queen County, King George, King William, Lawrenceville, Lottsburg, Lynchburg, Manassas, Middlesex County, New Kent County, Nottoway County, Petersburg, Rappahannock River, Richmond, Rockbridge County, Surry County, Waverly, Whitestone, Williamsburg, Winchester, York County, unidentified; Cartersville, Hampton, Lynchburg, and Petersburg postcards
Harpers Ferry, Institute, Shepherdstown
members and related --one person, --two people, --three people, --four people, --five or six people, --six or more people
G. E. B. members, including Trevor Arnett and Wallace Buttrick; Meeting of the State Agents Negro Rural Schools, New Orleans, Louisiana; Ottis' Fish Market
outdoor scenes, --parades, --sports, --vehicles, streets
men; women; indoors; outdoors
--one person, --two people, --three people
Averill; Bethel Church and School; Brookville School; Cappahoocie School; Chester School; Flatiron School; Indian Road School; Pace School; Poplar School; Rising Sun School; Rising Valley Church and Schoolhouse; Swansboro School; White Oak Store; unidentified; and, Rosenwald School, the 4000th
J. H. Alston; Henry Brooks; George Calloway; H. R. Eubank; Walter Johnson; Sallie Marable; Elnora Neal; McQueen Smith; H. H. Wynn
Grouped by identifying number on verso
These are archival prints of the negatives listed in Boxes 1a-10a
Arranged in numerical order.
Missing images 0071, 0129, 0132
Missing images 0608-0612, 0923
Missing image 1797
Missing images 2332, 2326-29, 2523
Missing images 2705-2713
Missing images 3127, 3129, 3210-12, 3249
NP-157.HA: Group photo
NP-157.HB: Woman in kitchen
NP-157.HC: Building
NP-157.HD: Church
NP-157.HE: Buildings
NP-157.HF: Building
NP-157.HG: School house
NP-157.HH: School building
NP-157.HI:
NP-157.HJ: School building
NP-157.HK: School building
NP-157.HL: Building
NP-157.HM: School building
NP-157.HN: Group of men
NP-157.HO: Two men
NP-157.HP: Group of men
NP-157.HQ: Group of school girls
NP-157.HR: Building
NP-157.HS: Group of Students
NP-157.IA01: Perce Rock, Gaspé Bay
NP-157.IA02
NP-157.IA03
NP-157.IA04
NP-157.IA05
NP-157.IA06
Note: the numerical order of the 3072-a boxes are not continuous since the materials are stored in different locations. There is no Box 11a
Slides are arranged chronologically by slide identification number.