Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for use without restrictions.

Use Restrictions

None.

Preferred Citation

Box/folder, Elisabeth Scott Bocock Papers, M 260, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to Special Collections and Archives by the children of Elisabeth Bocock

Processing Information

Collection processed in December 1988.

Biographical/Historical Information

Elisabeth Scott Bocock (1901-1985) was born in Richmond to Mr. and Mrs. Frederic Scott in 1901. A few years later the Scotts built a home at 909 West Franklin Street, a house Mrs. Bocock was to share with the Junior League's Senior Center and later with Virginia Commonwealth University, which used the front of the house first as dormitory space and then for administrative offices.

Mrs. Bocock attended Jennie Ellett's School in Richmond and graduated from St. Timothy's School in Catonsville, Maryland. In 1928 she married John Holmes Bocock, a Richmond lawyer. Shortly after his death in 1958, Mrs. Bocock began coursework at the Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women. Over the next ten years she attended several other schools, including Mary Baldwin College and the University of Virginia, before receiving a liberal arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. During her lifetime she was recognized by VCU, the Junior League, and the Federated Arts Council for her commitment to the city, its people, and its culture.

Mrs. Bocock herself lent her energies and talents to a variety of causes. She was a founder of the Richmond Symphony, the William Byrd Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the Historic Richmond Foundation, the Early Virginia Vehicular Museum, the Hand Workshop, and Richmond-on-the-James. Most prominent were her efforts to preserve Richmond's architecture and historic character. Through her volunteering, her financial contributions, and the individual restorations which she herself undertook, she was largely reponsible for setting in motion the city's agenda for historic preservation. In keeping with her interest in Richmond's past, she collected some 60 horse-drawn carriages which comprised a lendable Vehicular Museum until she gave them to Maymont Foundation in 1977. At her death in 1985 she was busy promoting the downtown revival of a distinctively Richmond vehicle, the electric trolley.

Scope and Content Information

The collection contains personal correspondence, diaries, articles, and scrapbooks; architectural plans; and correspondence, minutes, and other information pertaining to organizations that promote historic preservation, the arts, conservation, and the city of Richmond. Nearly all of the material dates from 1958 onward, with the bulk of the collection dating from the 1970's. Several issues of Revitalization News and Historic Richmond Foundation News have been integrated into the Special Collections' Serials and University publications. The entire series of photographs has been removed and may be found in Box 20 of University Photographs RG60.

Arrangement

Materials arranged alphabetically and chronologically therein.

Series I--Issues and Organizations (n.d. 1936-1985)

Series II-- Personal Material (1928-1985)

Series III--Oversized Material [architectural drawings] (n.d., 1902-1980)

Series IV: Serials (1979-1984)

Series V--Photographs