A Guide to the Papers of the Staige D. Blackford 1939(1942-1946)1949 Blackford, Staige D., Papers of 2170-a

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


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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

Repository
Special Collections, University of Virginia Library
Accession number
2170-a
Title
Papers of Staige D. Blackford 1939(1942-1946)1949
Physical Characteristics
This collection consists of ca. 800 items.
Collector
Steve White
Language
English

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

Correspondence
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children 1942 July
    21 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children 1942 Aug
    2 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his wife and children; also his brothers and neighbors 1942 Sept
    22 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Oct
    10 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Nov
    7 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1942 Dec
    9 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Jan
    12 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Feb
    13 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 March
    18 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 April
    15 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 May
    18 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 June
    16 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 July
    19 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Aug
    21 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 Oct
    11 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Nov.
    15 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1943 Dec
    20 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Jan
    18 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 Feb
    13 items
  • Box 1
    Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a letter from Edward Stettinius 1944 March
    21 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 April
    10 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 May
    11 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 June
    14 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family; also 2 letters to H. B. Mulholland from Staige D. Blackford 1944 July
    11 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Aug
    8 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family; also letter to Dr. E. H. Jordan 1944 Sept
    10 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Oct
    9 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Nov
    5 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1944 Dec
    20 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Jan
    6 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Feb
    11 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 March
    7 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family; also a letter from Randolph Blackford to his sister, Sarah 1945 April
    2 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 July
    2 items
  • Box 2
    Staige D. Blackford with his family 1945 Aug
    4 items
  • Box 2
    Flavia Della Gherardesca to Staige D. Blackford 1946 Oct
    1 item
Miscellaneous
  • 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 1937
    1 item
  • Box 2
    Copy of Lydia Blackford's Will 1943 Oct. 29
    1 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 1943-1945
    4 items
  • Box 2
    Newspapers from the war period 1941-1943
    5 items

    important dates, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor

  • Box 2
    Propaganda sheets 1944 June
    3 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 1945
    4 items
  • Box 2
    Bill Mauldin cartoons; 1944
    124 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" 1942
    1 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 1946
    4 items
  • Box 2
    Christmas Newsletter 1946
    1 item
  • Box 2
    Christmas Newsletter 1949
    3 items