Abbot family papers, 1733-1999 and n.d. (bulk 1860-1910)

ArchivalResource

Abbot family. Abbot family papers, 1733-1999 and n.d. (bulk 1860-1910)

Abbot family papers, 1733-1999 and n.d. (bulk 1860-1910)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/78138386

The papers of the Abbot family consist mainly of correspondence, but also include financial and legal papers, diaries, a letter-book, clippings, printed material, speeches and photographs (several of them cartes-de-visite). The papers date from 1733 to 1999, the bulk ranging from 1860-1910. A significant portion of the correspondence comprises of personal letters exchanged during the Civil War between William Richardson Abbot, who became headmaster of Bellevue High School, and his wife, Lucy Minor Abbot (daughter of educator Dr. Charles Minor and niece of prominent legal scholar John Minor). Bellevue High School was a preparatory school which sent many of its graduates to the University of Virginia. The collection contains printed material documenting Abbot's continuing relationship with the University as an alumnus. Abbot's letters mention battles and political events of the Civil War. They also recount Abbot's experience of active service in the field as an officer in the First Regiment of the Engineers Troops (Army of Virginia). Other correspondence from the nineteenth century includes exchanges between W.R. Abbot and his immediate family, both during and after the Civil War, as well as numerous letters to Abbot from parents of boys attending Bellevue High School. The collection also includes materials from the lives of the children and grandchildren of William and Lucy Abbot, ranging from the late-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Letters from the children of William and Lucy Abbot consist of personal exchanges, including accounts of extended tours through and stays in turn-of-the-century Europe, as well as experiences of higher study in the German university system of the time. Also included is a brief memoir by Ann Minor, Lucy's sister, documenting childhood experiences in Virginia during the Civil War. The Abbot family papers also extend to materials belonging to the Minors of Charlottesville (Va.), and include correspondence of Charles and John Minor. The Abbot Family papers are particularly rich in their documentation of military and civilian life during the Civil War; boys' secondary education in the liberal arts during Reconstruction; and the romantic and social conventions of the American South in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century.

7000 items.

Duke University Libraries, Duke University Library; Perkins Library