Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Floyd Gray Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Floyd Gray Papers, Ms89-085 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Acquisition Information

The Floyd Gray Papers were purchased by Special Collections in 1989.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement and description of Gray's papers commenced and was completed in October 2003.

Biographical/Historical Information

Floyd Gray, civil servant and Bedford County Republican Committee chairman, was born in Bedford County, Virginia on September 25, 1867. The son of Mercer H. and Ann Jane W. Robertson Gray, Floyd Gray played an active role in local politics and became chairman of the county's Republican Party committee in 1896. Around 1903, Gray was appointed a general storekeeper-gauger, charged with overseeing the operation and taxation of distilleries in Virginia's sixth internal revenue district. Because his civil service position forbade an active role in politics, Gray resigned from the chairmanship of the county's Republican organization in 1904. He was succeeded as chairman by his brother, W. B. Gray, but apparently continued to be the driving force behind the party's county organization. Floyd Gray died in Bedford County on December 5, 1941 and is buried in Gray Cemetery.

Scope and Content Information

This collection contains the papers of Floyd Gray, a local Republican Party official and civil servant from Bedford County, Virginia. The collection contains correspondence and notes relating to Gray's work as chairman of the Bedford County Republican Party Committee, including many letters regarding party organization and appeals for assistance in obtaining local civil service positions. (A number of letters to W. B. Gray, who succeeded his brother as chair of the committee, are included as well.) The collection also contains correspondence, duty assignments and reports from Gray's general storekeeper-gauger civil service position. A small number of Gray's personal correspondence and financial records (including receipts, account statements, deeds, etc.) completes the collection.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by subject matter, then chronologically.