UVa Library Press Releases
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA LIBRARY ACQUIRES HISTORIC
CABELL PAPERS AND CREATES WEB SITE HIGHLIGHTING THE
COLLECTION
Contact: Melissa Cox Norris at (434) 924-4254 or mln4n@virginia.edu
April 22, 2002 - The University of Virginia Library
announces the acquisition of the papers of Joseph
Carrington Cabell, 19th century Board of Visitors
member and rector of the University of Virginia, as
well as a planter, political leader, and statesman
of Amherst (now Nelson) County.
The Cabell Papers come to the University Library partly
through purchase and partly through gift. In the early
20th century, Joseph Hartwell Cabell placed the Cabell
Papers in the library for safekeeping. From that time
until his death in 1948, he continued to deposit materials
relating to Joseph Carrington Cabell and the Cabell
family. The University recently purchased this unique
collection of 6,500 items held on deposit from the
estate of Joseph Hartwell Cabell. In addition, Robert
Self, great-grandson of Hartwell Cabell and administrator
of his estate, has given the library 4,200 items of
the correspondence of Joseph Carrington Cabell and
other family members.
"The Cabell Papers form one of the most comprehensive
looks at education, politics, economics, and social
and family life in 19th century Virginia and the United
States," said Michael Plunkett, director of the
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
The Cabell Papers (ca. 1731-1917) consist of correspondence,
diaries, account books, financial and legal papers,
and other material. They are chiefly the papers of
Joseph Carrington Cabell (1778-1856); however, there
is considerable material generated by other members
of the Cabell family, including William Cabell, William
D. Cabell, Nathaniel Francis Cabell, Mayo Cabell,
Joseph L. Cabell, and Philip B. Cabell.
The papers include documents regarding the founding
and early years of the University. Prominent correspondents
include John Quincy Adams, John Hartwell Cocke, Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Singleton
Mosby, Thomas Jefferson Randolph, and George Washington.
The papers shed light on life in 19th century Virginia
and on the politics of the period (Joseph C. Cabell
served in the state legislature for nearly 30 years).
In addition, they contain details about agriculture,
slavery, social life, travels in England, France,
Holland, and Italy from 1802-1806, and the Cabell
family itself.
The Cabell Papers are cataloged in VIRGO, the online
catalog of the University Library. They are available
for study in the Albert and Shirley Small Special
Collections Library and will move to the new Special
Collections building soon to be constructed.
Family member Randolph Cabell of Clarke County has
provided funds to establish an endowment that will
improve access to and help preserve the Cabell Family
Papers. The library is producing a guide to the collection
and a Web site that contains digitized images of selected
historical items from the papers. An ever-evolving
work in progress, the Web site, located at www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/cabell,
contains a database of bibliographic references of
Cabell holdings across the state, as well as biographical
and historical information about prominent members
of the Cabell family, including William Cabell, Mary
Cabell Horsley, Nicholas Cabell, and Joseph Carrington
Cabell.
Special Collections houses the University's many outstanding
collections of rare books and manuscripts. The primary
focus of these collections is American history and
literature - in particular, the Tracy W. McGregor
Library of American History, the Clifton Waller Barrett
Library of American Literature, and the Paul Mellon
Americana Collection. Among the treasures to be found
in Special Collections are: Thomas Jefferson papers
and his architectural drawings of the University of
Virginia, one of 25 known copies of the first printing
of the Declaration of Independence, and the largest
single collection of William Faulkner editions, manuscripts,
and personal papers. For more information, visit the
Web site: www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol
or call (434) 924-3025.
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