A Guide to the Frederick W. Neve Papers, 1854-1981 (bulk 1900-1940) Neve, Frederick W., Papers 10505

A Guide to the Frederick W. Neve Papers, 1854-1981 (bulk 1900-1940)

A Collection in
Special Collections
The University of Virginia Library
Accession Number 10505

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
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Processed by: Special Collections Staff

Repository

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Accession number

10505

Title

Frederick W. Neve Papers 1854-1981 (bulk 1900-1940)

Physical Characteristics

This collection consists of 744 items.

Language

English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Frederick W. Neve Papers, Accession #10505, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These papers were a gift to the Library through D. Ralph Davison, Jr., of Charlottesville, Virginia, on May 10, 1982.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of 744 items (5 Hollinger boxes, ca. 1.7 linear feet), four bound volumes, and two oversize items, covering the years 1854 (1900-1940) 1981. The collection contains very little correspondence; many autograph and typed manuscripts form the bulk of the papers. Also included are publications, reprints, pamphlets, minutes, newspaper clippings, church records, receipts, sermons, brochures, a scrapbook, films, photographs, and miscellaneous printed items. Major areas of interest are the history of education in the Ragged and Blue Ridge Mountains, the history of public education in Virginia, the history of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, and the life of Frederick W. Neve (1855-1948), the founder of the mountain mission movement of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, 1888-1948, as well as a poet and prolific writer.

Frederick William Neve, born in the county of Kent, England, was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and ordained a deacon in 1880 at the abbey church of St. Albans (his certificate of ordination is in this collection). In 1888, the vestries of St. Paul's (Ivy) and Emmanuel (Greenwood) Churches asked Neve to come to Virginia, and he accepted. In 1890 Neve built his first church in the Ragged Mountains, St. John the Baptist. Ten years later he began supporting a teacher at Simmon's Gap, an isolated community in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This was the beginning of his work with the mountain people that eventually embraced seven Virginia counties and became the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge.

This collection amply documents Neve's early struggles with establishing mission schools in this area. There are two of his own accounts (typescripts) - his memories [1914] and an autobiography [1940]; in addition, there are ca. 365 issues of Our Mountain Work , 1909-1954, a monthly publication edited by Neve and published by the Advisory Board of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge. Our Mountain Work features detailed accounts and stories regarding the various mountain missions, and includes Neve's poetry, most of which was written between 1917 and 1930. Other items in the collection illustrating Neve's poetical aspirations are a book of published poems and a printed poem-hymn, "Gentleness".

In addition to writing for and editing Our Mountain Work , Neve also wrote a weekly column ("The Thousandfold Page") for the Southern Churchman between 1930 and 1940. This collection contains ca. 33 of these printed columns.

In 1917, when more mission schools were serving more students than at any time in the history of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge, Neve focused on a new project: the founding of the "Order of the Thousandfold," his formalized movement designed to unite the world in prayer. In 1921, the Theological Seminary of Virginia awarded Neve an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Until his death in 1948, Archdeacon Neve worked vigorously, through both the spoken and printed word, trying to turn the thousandfold idea into a world-wide movement.

For further biographical information on Neve, see the following: Special Collections Department accessions #9115 and #9970, Neve's Autobiography published in The Magazine of Albemarle County History , XXVI (1967- 1968), and Dexter Ralph Davison's dissertation, Frederick W. Neve: Mountain Mission Education in Virginia, 1888-1948 , which is also available in the department.

In 1963, as a retirement project, the Rev. Dennis Whittle, who had worked with Neve as a missionary between 1922 and 1948, began collecting material on Neve and his mountain work. Due to his efforts, most of the manuscripts and published material relating to the mountain work of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge are preserved in this collection. Whittle had planned to write a book on Neve, but he soon felt he was too old to complete the project. This collection contains Whittle's extensive notes for his intended biography, his unpublished articles about Neve, letters to him regarding the compilation of Neve material, and even some of his own family correspondence, including a letter from Francis McNeece Whittle, bishop of the Diocese of Virginia, 1876-1902.

The manuscripts describing life in the mountain missions and Neve's work there are of special interest. Written by various individuals who performed a direct role in the arcdeaconry, they provide valuable descriptions of mountain home and church life. Some noteworthy examples are Susan Preston's "Life in Pocosan Hollow," H. H. Williams' "Missionary Recollections," Dr. George Mayo's "Early Experiences in the Blue Ridge," and Elizabeth E. Winegar's "Some Incidents in My Life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia." In addition, these manuscripts are complemented by two scrapbooks of photographs, as well as many individual photos, giving a good picture of the Virginia mountain missions during the early twentieth century.

Official records, too, are extensive in this collection. There are minutes of the Advisory Board of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge, extracts from the register of St. Paul's Parish, 1887-1928, resolutions pertaining to Archdeacon Neve's death, a record book of St. Paul's and Emmanuel Churches, 1859-1876, a minute book of St. Paul's, 1867-1947, a minute book of the Albemarle Convention of Churches, 1897-1912, and various receipts, legal and financial records, and correspondence of St. Paul's Church (53 items, 1854-1945).

Peripherally, there is also research material of D. Ralph Davison, Jr., who wrote his dissertation on Neve with the aid of the Rev. Whittle's collection. This consists of some correspondence, notes, articles, and printed material.

Organization

There was no discernible order to the collection when it was received by the Library. It was organized into series by type of material and arranged within each series chronologically: I. Correspondence, II. Manuscripts and Writings, III. Printed Material and Miscellaneous, IV. Photographs, V. Bound Volumes, VI. Oversize and VII. Motion Picture Films. The material in Series III has been divided into two Subseries: A. Printed Material, and B. Miscellaneous, each with a chronological arrangement.

Box 1
Letters, chiefly re St. Paul's Church and Neve, with church records 1869-1947

8 items
Box 1
Correspondence of the Whittle Family, with related Whittle materials 1879-1949, n.d.

12 items
Box 1
Rev. F. W. Neve to Miss Maria, with manuscript enclosures re Pocosan Mission 1921

3 items
Box 1
Letters to Rev. Dennis Whittle re his collection of Neve material 1953, 1964-1976, n. d.

14 items
Box 1
Correspondence of Rev. Dennis Whittle 1965-1980

13 items
Box 1
Correspondence of Ralph D. Davison, Jr. with his notes 1980-1981

10 items

Series II: Manuscripts and Writings

Box 1
Rev. R. C. Cowling's account of the building of the Church of the Good Shpherd at Snicker's Gap 1895

AMs. 1 item
Box 1
Fragment from Neve's Memoirs ca. 1914

AMs. 1 item
Box 1
Memoirs of Frederick William Neve (An Early Account of Mountain Work) , chapters 1-28, 2 folders [1914]

TMs (carbon)
Box 1
Susan Preston's "Life in Pocosan Hollow," edited by Neve, with related material ca. 1914, n.d.

3 items
Box 1
Neve's "The Call From the Mountains" ca. 1915

TMs (carbon) 1item.
Box 1
Neve's early account of his work ca. 1915

AMs. 1 item
Box 1
Fragment from Neve's first attempt at autobiography [1919]

AMs. 1 item
Box 1
H. H. Williams' "Missionary Recollections," (electrostatic copy) ca. 1924

1 item
Box 1
Description of the dedication of Neve Hall by R. W. Mackreth 1925

AMs. 1 item
Box 1
Neve's "History of the Mission of St. John the Baptist" printed in Our Mountain Home (electrostatic copy) 1934

1 item
Box 1
Treadwell Davison's "Neve, A Man of Vision," and Margaret Parisher's "Man With A Vision" 1937, n.d.

2 items.
Box 1
Neve's autobiography, The Life of Frederick William Neve [1940]

TMs (carbon)
Box 1
Dennis Whittle's "An article for the seminary Journal" ca. 1963

TMs. 1 item
Box 1
Dennis Whittle's transcription of Carrie Makely's Diary, "The Thousandfold Man" by Whittle and Frances Scruby (electrostatic copy) 1968, n.d.

2 items.
Box 1
Sue Jones's "St. Anne's Preventorium" 1980

TMs (carbon) 1item.
Box 1
Dr. George Mayo's "Early Experiences in the Blue Ridge" n.d.

TMs (carbon) 1item.
Box 1
Neve's "The Order of the Thousandfold," typed copy from original n.d.

TMs (carbon) 1 item
Box 2
Rev. Dennis Whittle's notes re a biography of Archdeacon Neve n.d.

30 items
Box 2
Rev. Dennis Whittle's notes re a biography of Archdeacon Neve (electrostatic copies) n.d.

24 items
Box 2
Dennis Whittle's biography of Neve n.d.

TMs (carbon) 1 item
Box 2
[Elizabeth E. Winegar's] "The Story of Life on the Blue Ridge Mountains" n.d.

TMs (carbon) 1 item
Box 2
Elizabeth E. Winegar's "Some Incidents in My Life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia," with other Winegar material n.d.

TMs & carbon. 5 items

Series III: Printed Material and Miscellaneous

Subseries A: Printed Material
- Box 2
  Pamphlets by Rev. F. W. Neve 1903, 1908-1909, n.d.
  
  18 items
- Box 2
  Neve's editorials and poems in Southern Churchman 1905, 1929-1948, n.d.
  
  33 items
- Box 3
  Printed Material, 2 folders 1912-1980, n.d.
  
  19 items
- Box 3
  Printed Material re Neve 1918-1980
  
  6 items
- Box 3
  Frederick W. Neve- The House of God and the Child and Other Poems 1930
  
  1 item
- Box 3
  Reprints of Neve's editorials in Southern Churchman n.d.
  
  21 items
Subseries B: Miscellaneous
- Box 3
  Extracts from the Register of St. Paul's Parish, 1848-1936 (electrostatic copies) 1887-1928
  
  1 item
- Box 3
  Minutes of the Advisory Board of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge 1906
  
  2 items.
- Box 3
  Newspaper Clippings 1919-1972, n.d.
  
  26 items
- Box 3
  Miscellaneous, with unidentified poem 1919, 1979, n. d.
  
  7 items
- Box 3
  Miscellaneous, material re Tanner's Ridge Mission 1945, 1948, n.d.
  
  5 items
- Box 3
  Resolutions on the death of Archdeacon Neve, with related material ca. 1948, n. d.
  
  6 items
- Box 3
  Articles used in Ralph Davison's dissertation (electrostatic copies) 1970-1981
  
  4 items
- Box 3
  Miscellaneous material re Blue Ridge School n.d.
  
  10 items
Box 3
Series IV: Photographs and Prints
- Box 3
  Photographs scrapbook of the Archdeaconry of the Blue Ridge 1908-ca. 1930
  
  1 item
- Box 3
  Photographs: Miscellaneous (electrostatic copies) 1909-ca. 1979, n.d.
  
  18 items
- Box 3
  Photographs: Evelyn Carey, missionary worker (ca. 1910), Conference of Mountain Workers (1924), Sanatorium at Mission Home (n. d.), and West Yarmouth Church (n. d.) ca. 1910, 1924, n. d.
  
  5 items
- Box 3
  Photographs: Miscellaneous (electrostatic copies) 1909-ca. 1978, n. d.
  
  18 items
- Box 3
  Photographs: Archdeacon F. W. Neve and others 1921, 1931, n. d.
  
  7 items
- Box 3
  Photographs: Unidentified n.d.
  
  2 items.
- Box 3
  Photo and print: Archdeacon Neve with children in St. Paul's church n.d.
  
  2 items
Box 4
Series V: Bound Volumes
- Box 4
  Record book of St. Paul's Church and Emmanuel Church 1859-1876
  
  1 item
- Box 4
  Scrapbook of photos of the Blue Ridge Missions ca. 1898-ca. 1920
  
  1 item
- Box 4
  Minute Book of the Vestry of St. Paul's Church 1867-1947
  
  1 item
- Box 4
  Minutes of the Albemarle Convention 1897-1912
  
  1 item
Box 4
Series VI: Oversize
- Box 4
  Archdeacon Neve's certificates of ordination 1880 May 23
  
  1 item
- Box 4
  Map of Page County, Virginia 1947 Jul 1
  
  1 item
Box 4
Series VII: Motion Picture Films ca. 1929-1932

The three reels of 16 mm black-and-white film have been spliced together and duplicated on safety film, reel F-279.
- Box 4
  Reel 1.
  
  a. St. Anne's Preventorium, ca. 1932
  b. Mountain people, cabins, etc.
  c. School children
  d. Blue Ridge Industrial School
  e. First Chapel of Remembrance
  f. Mountain farming
- Box 4
  Reel 2.
  
  a. Mountain churches, Roy Mason, fiddler and children dancing
  b. Second Chapel of Remembrance, Pine Grove Hollow (construction)
  c. Tanner's Ridge (highest church in the Diocese)
  d. [Tanner's Ridge] School
  e. Mountain scenes and construction
- Box 4
  Reel 3.
  
  a. Neve, Mason, Mayo, etc. Blue Ridge Industrial School
  b. Mission House-Quiet day at Bris
  c. St. John the Baptist [Church] - 1st mission church, Holy Cross Clinic, Neve Hall, Good Shepherd, Red Hill, Blackwell Hollow Mission Home - the first mission settlement
  d. Mountain workers and children
  e. Deaconess Mary Sandys Hutton (crippled) and [Lucy or Mary] Gibson (daughter of R. A. Gibson)