Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Randolph Family Papers, Ms2010-011, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Randolph Family Papers were donated to Special Collections in prior to 2005.

Processing Information

The processing, arrangement and description of the Randolph Family Papers commenced and was completed in March, 2010.

Biographical Information

The Randolph family is a prominent family of Virginia, with influential roots back to the mid-seventeenth century. James Innes Randolph, a congressional clerk in the Virginia House of Representatives married Susan Armistead Randolph in 1828. They had eight children together: Peyton, Innes, John, Robert, Mary, Wilton, Anne, and Sue Randolph. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between Sarah Randolph and her son, Peyton. Peyton Randolph graduated from Columbian College (now George Washington University) in Washington, D.C. Peyton became an engineering officer in the confederate army after beginning his career with an Alabama rifle unit. Peyton Randolph worked for several railroad companies before the war and was the General Manager of the Richmond & Danville railroad until his death.

Scope and Content

Represented in this collection are letters from James Innes Randolph, Susan Peyton Armistead and their children. James Randolph's correspondence includes a letter (1851) to Peyton Randolph about retaining his position with the House of Representatives, one from Mary Randolph (1862) about her husband and the state of the war, and one from John Randolph (1861) about obtaining a military position closer to home. The bulk of the collection contains 42 letters between Susan Armistead Randolph and son Peyton Randolph, spanning the years 1851-1865.

The collection also contains copies of some of the original handwritten family letters, a picture of the Randolph male children, some Railroad documents, Peyton Randolph's confederate military records, and pictures of the Armistead monument at Gettysburg. The poem "The Rebel" by Innes Randolph and selected civil war era items of John T. Harris are also included.

Arrangement

The collection is bound in the following arrangement: Part I: Letters, Part II: Related documents from the James Madison University Library Collection, and Part III: Related items not from the James Madison University Library Collection

Index Terms

Persons:

• Randolph, James
• Randolph, Peyton, 1833-1888
• Randolph, Susan Armistead, 1810-1884

Subjects:

• Civil War
• Local/Regional History and Appalachian South
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Diaries

Adjunct Descriptive Data

The collection contains transcriptions and photocopies of original documents found in the John T. Harris Papers (SC # 2025) housed in Special Collections at James Madison University. The finding aid for that collection can be found at http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaead/published/jmu/vihart00028.xml.frame