Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Permission to publish material from the Lucy Dickinson Urquhart Papers must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred Citation

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Lucy Dickinson Urquhart Papers, Ms1987-046, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Acquisition Information

The Lucy Dickinson Urquhart Papers were donated to Special Collections in 1987.

Processing Information

The description of the Lucy Dickinson Urquhart Papers was completed in 1987. Additional processing, arrangement, and description was completed in February 2011.

Biographical Note

Lucy Dickinson Urquhart was born in 1881 in Marion, Virginia, to Dr. and Mrs. S.W. Dickinson. She attended Virginia Intermont and Vassar College, as well as Columbia University's Teacher College. She worked as an advertising copywriter in Lynchburg, Virginia, and was also heavily involved in the Smyth County Historical Society and the Marion Baptist Church. Lucy was married to George D. Urquhart, and had no children. She died in Roanoke on January 27, 1975.

Scope and Content note

The Lucy Dickinson Urquhart Papers contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and poetry and advertisements by Lucy Dickinson Urquhart. The collection also includes correspondence, papers, and other materials related to her family.

Various family announcements, including wedding invitations and funeral service programs from family members are present. Stories, poetry, and advertisements by Urquhart are also in the collection. Many of Urquhart's stories depict life in the South and are written in a Southern dialect. Beyond her and her family's papers, other notes on the Baptist Church, the Smyth County Museum, and Norfolk and Western information from the 1917 War Revenue Act are in the collection.

Of special note, the collection contains a letter from K. D. Urquhart dated from the Civil War asking for command of an all black regiment. There are comments, supposedly written by Lucy Urquhart, on the bottom suggesting the is a fake, as the name is spelled incorrectly. There is also correspondence between Lucy Urquhart and Time and Life Magazine in New York City surrounding the coverage of African Americans in Southern newspapers in the wake of Emmit Till's murder. Furthermore, a few published materials, including a 1911 VPI Student Handbook and a 1912 Spalding Catalogue are part of the collection.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into two series. Series I: Correspondence contains letters to and from Lucy Urquhart. Where possible, correspondence is organized by author and date. The last folder in the series is made up of correspondence from multiple authors. Much of it is condolence letters regarding the death of Lucy Urquhart's parents, but the file also includes correspondence that could not be otherwise identified.

Series II: Subject Files includes remainder of the collection is arranged in subject files. Material within each file in chronological order. The series also includes oversize materials.

Index Terms

Subjects:

• Local/Regional History and Appalachian South