Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of the Wimbish Family, Accession #8979-v,-w, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were purchased from Louis Ginsberg of Petersburg, Virginia on September 3 and 17, 1986.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of family correspondence and photographs of the Wimbish and related families. Most of the letters are to Lucy Townes Wimbish or her husband, Lewis W. Wimbish (1846-?) of Mecklenburg   County , Virginia, and are generally from their children.

One son, William Townes Wimbish, describes his life and associates at the University of Virginia where he studied medicine, 1894-1896 (December 30, 1894; January 1, 6, and 30, 1895; February 8, 1895; and February 26, 1896). Two daughters, Emmet and Lucy, (a nurse and school teacher, respectively) discuss the woes of working women of the early twentieth century in their letters home. There are also letters from from son Claiborne in Bisbee, Az.; and, from William Townes, a Memphis, Tenn., dentist who mentions Pauline Hall as a patient.

The collection also contains genealogical notes regarding the Wimbish family, a few accounts and other miscellaneous material.

The photographs include: a well-identified group of uniformed cadets at an unknown institution with William Townes Wimbish listed as first captain (1894); the Old Eagle Point Mill [near the Roanoke River]; individuals of the Boyd, Hannah, Townes and Wimbish families, all identified; and a miscellaneous group of related families and friends, such as Mary Townes Davies, Nick Edmunds, Mary Henderson, Mr. and Mrs. A.S. Lee, Sallie Moon, Jim Patello, Mary Rawlins, W. Sanford, Mrs. R.T. Sturdivant, R.T. Thorp, Ellen F. Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Joe P. Turner, Courtney Warthall, Nellie Whitlaw, and Alice Williams.