Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk. (library-special@jmu.edu).

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Leri Melissa Thomas Papers, 1926-1995 (bulk 1988-1992), SC 0156, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

Leri Thomas donated the collection to Special Collections in September 1998.

Processing Information

In order to streamline the process of applying collection numbers, Special Collections staff completed a large-scale renumbering campaign in 2017-2018. This collection was previously cataloged as SC 4015.

Bio/Historical Note

In 1979, Leri Melissa Thomas moved to Madison County within five miles of Shenandoah National Park. In the late 1980s, when the park inaugurated a study of its surrounding lands, she became a leader in the private property rights movement that protested the potential expansion of the park. She contacted government officials at all levels and publicized the public concern over the park's Related Lands Study (also known as Adjacent Lands Study) and other activities. Among her neighbors were descendants of people who had been dispossessed by the park in the 1920s and 1930s, when the park was first established.

Scope and Content

This collection is composed of one box of files documenting the relationship between Shenandoah National Park (SNP) and residents and officials in several counties adjoining the park, especially Madison, Augusta, and Rockingham Counties, 1926-1995. The documents, which are mostly photocopies, constitute a wide variety of materials, including newspaper clippings, newsletters, correspondence, memos, reports, maps, minutes of meetings, and surveys. Some materials were obtained from SNP and other federal agencies by Ms. Thomas through Freedom of Information Act requests. She has made notes on and/or highlighted many of the materials.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged topically into thirteen folders.

Related Material

Shenandoah Park Oral History Collection, 1964-1999, SdArch SNP, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Appalachians (People) -- 20th century
• Augusta County (Va.) -- History
• Blue Ridge Committee on SNP Relations
• Compensation law -- United States
• Depressions -- 1929 -- United States
• Environmental monitoring -- Virginia -- Shenandoah National Park
• Eviction -- Government policy -- United States
• Floods -- Virginia -- Madison County
• Gore Tract (Madison County, Va.)
• Hunting -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Hunting -- Virginia -- Shenandoah National Park
• Hunting customs -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Land use -- Government policy -- United States
• Land use -- Law and legislation -- United States
• Land use -- Virginia
• Land use surveys -- Virginia
• Light Tract (Madison County, Va.)
• Madison County (Va.) -- History
• Mountain life -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Mountain people -- Government policy -- Virginia
• National parks and reserves -- Virginia -- History
• Page County (Va.) -- History
• Poaching -- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.)
• Poaching -- Virginia -- Shenandoah National Park
• Private property rights movement
• Real property -- Virginia
• Right of property -- United States
• Rockingham County (Va.) -- History
• Rose River Tract (Madison County, Va.)
• Rural-urban migration -- Virginia
• Shenandoah National Park (Va.) -- History
• Shenandoah National Park (Va.). Related Lands Study
• Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History -- 20th century
• United States. Bureau of Land Management
• United States. National Park Service