Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Adalbert J. Volck Collection of Etchings, Collection Number M 149, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was purchased by the Department in 1979.

Biographical Information

Adalbert J. Volck was born on April 14, 1828 in Augsburg, Bavaria. He studied in Nurnberg and Munich, but was forced to leave the country in 1848 due to his revolutionary sympathies. Volck came to the United States in 1849 and became caught up in the gold rush. By 1851, he had enrolled in the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, receiving his D.D.S the following year. Volck was a charter member of the Maryland State Dental Association and a founder of the Association of Dental Surgeons. He was instrumental during the Civil War in getting medical supplies to the South.

During the war, Volck made a series of caricatures favorable to the South under the pseudonym of V. Blada. The Confederate War Etchings, the best known of this series, are in the Volck Collection. After the war, Volck became interested in others fields of art. Several of his works can be seen here in Richmond, at the Valentine Museum (portrait of Lee) and the Confederate Museum (shield). Volck died in March, 1912 at the age of 84.

Scope and Content

The Volck Collection is comprised of 29 Confederate War Etchings and three folders containing articles about the artist and his work. Also included is an original first edition of "The Grasshopper", a cantata written by a Virginian, Innes Randolph, and illustrated by Volck.

Arrangement

The etchings are arranged according to their index numbers, 1 through 29. The folders in box 3 are arranged alphabetically.