A Guide to the Papers of the Staige D. Blackford 1939(1942-1946)1949
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession Number 2170-a
Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryUniversity of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Special Collections Department
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions.
Use Restrictions
See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.
Preferred Citation
Papers of Staige D. Blackford, Accession #2170-a, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The collection was given to the University on September 17, 1975, by Mrs. Staige D. Blackford, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Biographical/Historical Information
Staige Davis Blackford was born December 28, 1898 in Alexandria, Virginia. His mother was Eliza Ambler Blackford, and his father, Dr. Launcelot Minor Blackford, was Headmaster of the Episcopal High School in Alexandria. Staige was educated at Episcopal High School and at the University of Virginia, where he received his B.S. degree in 1923, and his M.D. in 1925. Prior to attending the University Blackford served in the University of Virginia section of the Army Ambulance Service during World War I. While a student at the University he was Captain of the 1923 football team, President of the class of 1925, and a member of several fraternities and secret societies.
Following the completion of his medical studies Blackford joined the staff of the University of Virginia Medical School, where he made several noteworthy administrative and instructional changes in the interwar period. In August, 1927 he married Miss Lydia Fishburne, and they had two children: Staige D. Blackford, Jr., and Linda Harper (Blackford) Wells.
After the Eighth Evacuation Hospital was disbanded in 1945, Blackford returned to teaching at the University Medical School, where he remained until his death July 17, 1949. Among the professional organizations to which Blackford belonged were the Albemarle County Medical Society, the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Association, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the Board of Trustees of the Episcopal High School.
For further information, see the September 1949 issue of the University of Virginia Medical Alumni Newsletter .
Scope and Content Information
The correspondence and papers of Dr. Staige D. Blackford consist of ca. 800 items for the years 1939(1942-1946)1949 and include a variety of material relating to the Eighth Evacuation Hospital, which Blackford organized in 1942 and which was on active duty for the remainder of the Second World War.
The bulk of the collection is made up of Blackford's personal correspondence with his wife Lydia and children Staige, Jr. and Linda (Blackford) Wells, first from training camps in Pageland, South Carolina, and Ft. Benning, Georgia, and then from various locations in North Africa and Italy. Among the modest number of letters in the collection between Blackford and persons outside his family are letters from Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., and Virginia Governor Colgate Darden. Of particular interest from the North African period are Blackford's impressions of General George Patton, Jr., whom he treated for a temporary illness; his impressions of Casablanca and the North African landscape; his observations concerning French emigre politics are the local French, Jewish and Arab communities. The correspondence from the Italian period contains colorful descriptions of recently liberated areas, including Naples and Rome. Rigid censorship regulations prevented Blackford from describing military matters at all.
Many of the letters from both North Africa and Italy describe the problems of operating a mobile evacuation hospital; the work loads of nurses, medical doctors and surgeons; numbers and types of patients treated. Another recurring theme in the correspondence is Blackford's encouragement of his wife Lydia's active role in organizing blood donations and establishing a Blood Plasma Bank in Charlottesville.
Besides correspondence, the collection contains hospital newletters, newspaper clippings, propaganda leaflets, many Bill Mauldin cartoons, book jackets of Byrd Stuart Leavell's history of the Eighth Evacuation Hospital, a hospital personnel directory, and an edition of the University of Virginia Medical School and Hospital Bulletin. The latter contains an excellent brief history of the evacuation hospital and a copy of the citation for outstanding performance and duty which the hospital received from the Fifth Army. Of special interest in the collection are an account by Staige Blackford of impressions of liberated Russian prisoners of war, and a speech Blackford delivered following the war to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Arrangement
The correspondence of this collection has been arranged chronologically and is followed by miscellaneous items including newspaper clippings, newsletters and cartoons.
Contents List
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children 1942 July21 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children 1942 Aug2 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children; also his brothers and neighbors 1942 Sept22 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Oct10 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Nov7 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Dec9 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Jan12 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Feb13 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 March18 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 April15 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 May18 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 June16 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 July19 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Aug21 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Sept.14 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a V-Mail from Minor Blackford to Lydia 1943 Oct11 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Nov.15 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Dec20 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Jan18 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a memorandum of the 8th Evac. Commanding Officer to all personnel and a letter to SDb from Colgate Darden 1944 Feb13 items
- Box 1
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a letter from Edward Stettinius 1944 March21 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 April10 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 May11 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 June14 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also 2 letters to H. B. Mulholland from Staige D. Blackford 1944 July11 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Aug8 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also letter to Dr. E. H. Jordan 1944 Sept10 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Oct9 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Nov5 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Dec20 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Jan6 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Feb11 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 March7 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a letter from Randolph Blackford to his sister, Sarah 1945 April2 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 July2 items
- Box 2
Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Aug4 items
- Box 2
Flavia Della Gherardesca to Staige D. Blackford 1946 Oct1 item
- Box 2
Manuscript of speech Staige D. Blackford delivered to the United Daughters of the Confederacy n.d.1 item
- Box 2
An account, probably by Staige D. Blackford, of his experiences working with Russians from overrun German prison camps n.d.1 item
- Box 2
Card informing Staige D. Blackford of his election to the American College of Physicians 19371 item
- Box 2
Copy of Lydia Blackford's Will 1943 Oct. 291 item
- Box 2
Postcards from Italy, name placards n.d.8 items
- Box 2
Newspaper clippings concerning Staige D. Blackford and/or The 8th Evac. Hospital 1943-19454 items
- Box 2
Newspapers from the war period 1941-19435 items
important dates, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor
- Box 2
Propaganda sheets 1944 June3 items
one in German (written by the Nazis for their own soldiers); one in Italian (written by Allies to be dropped behind enemy lines); a "Message from FDR" for the French and Arabs in North Africa
- Box 2
19 Days , an account of the 5th Army taking northern Italy from the Nazis; two copies of the Albemarle County Red Cross Chapter News, an address by Pope Pius XII 19454 items
- Box 2
Bill Mauldin cartoons; 1944124 items; 1 booklet and numerous clippings from newspaper
- Box 2
"Information for Debarkees arriving at Boston Port of Embarkation" n.d.1 item
- Box 2
Edition of the "EvacuEighter" 19421 item
- Box 2
Publications on the 8th Evacuation Hospital: Book jackets, a Directory and an article in a Spring 1946 UVA Med School and Hospital Bulletin 19464 items
- Box 2
Christmas Newsletter 19461 item
- Box 2
Christmas Newsletter 19493 items