An Inventory of the Thomas David Perry Collection, ca.1979-2007
A Collection in
Special Collections
Accession Number Ms2008-006
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Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Contact Information:University Libraries
P.O. Box 90001
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia 24062-9001
USA
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Email: specref@vt.edu
URL: http://spec.lib.vt.edu/
This collection is unprocessed. John M. Jackson
2008 By Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. All rights reserved.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Collection is open to research.
Use Restrictions
Permission to publish material from the Thomas David Perry Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.
Preferred Citation
Thomas David Perry Collection, Ms2008-006 - Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Acquisition Information
The Thomas David Perry Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2002. Additional materials were donated in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Processing Information
The collection is unprocessed. This inventory is adapted from a guide created by the donor. A digital version of the donor's guide, which provides a more detailed description of its contents, may be found here.
Biographical Information
Born in 1960, Thomas David Perry graduated from Virginia Tech in 1984. He founded the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust in 1990, serving as its president from 1990 to 1992; he has also served at various times on the trust's board of directors and has served on the boards of directors of the Jubal Early Homeplace and the Patrick County Historical Society. In North Carolina, Perry has been a founding member of both the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and the Surry County Civil War Round Table. Perry has presented numerous speeches on Patrick County, "Jeb" Stuart, and the Civil War; he has also conducted several symposia and tours and published several works on these topics.
Scope and Content
This collection contains materials gathered by Virginia Tech graduate (class of 1984) and historian Thomas David Perry during more than 20 years of research and writing on the history of Patrick County, Virginia. Much of the material is devoted to the life, family and birthplace of Confederate General James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart. The collection contains such materials as manuscript drafts, printed materials, correspondence, scrapbooks and photographs. Much of the material relates to the research and writing of three of Perry's books, Ascent to Glory: the Genealogy of Jeb Stuart; Stuart's Birthplace: a History of Laurel Hill Farm; and The Free State of Patrick: Patrick County, Virginia in the Civil War. The collection also contains press and promotional material relating to the effort to preserve Stuart's birthplace.
Arrangement
The collection is unprocessed and remains largely in the order in which it was received. Generally, the collection is arranged within the following categories: Patrick County in the Civil War; genealogy of J. E. B. Stuart; history of Laurel Hill Farm, Stuart's birthplace; records of the J. E. B. Stuart Birthplace; general Civil War and Patrick County history files; and Perry's personal papers.
Related Material
The following books were transferred to the Rare Book Collection:
Adjunct Descriptive Data
Other Finding Aid
A guide developed by the donor, providing a more detailed inventory of the collection, may be found here.
Separated Material
The following books were transferred to the Rare Book Collection:
Other Finding Aid
A guide developed by the donor, providing a more detailed inventory of the collection, may be found here.
Contents List
Research notes, drafts (including final draft), back-up copies, and related materials
Research notes, drafts and materials related to the book
Draft copies and miscellaneous material
Notes and rough drafts of Stuart genealogy; drafts, copies and compact disc back-ups of second edition
Books and materials relating to chapter 1 about Native Americans, geography, geology, William Byrd and Peter Jefferson
Books and materials relating to chapters two through six
Books and materials relating to time period after the Stuarts; materials relating to family of Archibald and Elizabeth Letcher Pannill Stuart
Newsletters, newspaper clippings, correspondence, videocassettes
Archaeological assessment reports by the college of William and Mary; scrapbooks
Includes various material on tours and speeches given from 1990 to 2002
Material on various topics relating to the history of the county, particularly the Patrick County Oral History Project, together with books relating to the history of Patrick County and the surrounding region
Books and programs such as Tracing Your Civil War ancestor, Stoneman's Raid and civic group presentations. Also contains Laurel Hill Teacher's and Reference Guides, Jeb Stuart's North Carolina Connections, the Play the Last Cavalier by Frank Levering and Patrick County World War II book
Papers and speeches relating to George Stoneman's raid and William Jackson Palmer
17th Tennessee Infantry; notes for proposed tour of Civil War sites west of Blacksburg; material on various aspects of Civil War history
Jonathan Hanby Carter: research material relating to naval career of Carter, of Surry County, North Carolina; Hairston family: books and papers relating to the Hairstons of Virginia and North Carolina; Perry and Hobbes family