Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

J. Rives Childs Papers, Accession #9256-m, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was a gift to the Library from the Honorable James Rives Childs through Mrs. Hilda Noel Schroetter of Richmond, Virginia on 8 Sep 1982, and 20 Jan 1983.

Biographical/Historical Information

James Rives Childs was a retired foreign service officer.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of correspondence; manuscripts, particularly his memoirs Brave Music of a Distant Drum ; photographs; and printed materials such as itineraries, newsletters, clippings, articles and Randolph-Macon college publicity. These papers relate to his activities during the 1960s and 1970s, especially his interest in Randolph-Macon, Casanova, the Middle East, and the writing and attempted publication of his memoirs. There is a small group of letters written to his mother, Lucy Howard (Brown) Rives, (a Lynchburg, Virginia schoolteacher) from the 1870s through the 1890s. Correspondents inlcude Edward Christian Glass, Peter A. Iseman, Marco Leeflang, Robert Murphy, and Luther White. There are brief notes from Jacob Javits and Hugh Scott and a copy of a letter to Warren Beatty regarding Childs' memories of John Reed and Louise Bryant.

Arrangement

These papers are arranged chronologically into three series: correspondence; manuscripts; printed material, photographs and miscellaneous. Folders are arranged alphabetically in manuscripts and printed material, photographs and miscellaneous.