Finding Aid to the James M. Elson Collection

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 Memorial Avenue
Lynchburg, Virginia 24501
(434) 846-0501
JAMES M. ELSON COLLECTION
The collection includes papers, pamphlets, clippings, notes, and other research
materials used in the writing of Lynchburg, Virginia: The First Two Hundred Years,
1786-1986, and is intended to amplify the sources used in the book. The material is
arranged by chapters and cameos as they appear in the book.
[Detailed finding guide available with the collection.]

MS1277

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 Memorial Avenue
Lynchburg, Virginia 24501
(434) 846-0501
JAMES M. ELSON COLLECTION
The collection includes papers, pamphlets, clippings, notes, and other research
materials used in the writing of Lynchburg, Virginia: The First Two Hundred Years,
1786-1986, and is intended to amplify the sources used in the book. The material is
arranged by chapters and cameos as they appear in the book.
BOX 1

1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7
1-8
1-9
1-10
1-11
1-12
1-13
1-14
1-15
1-16
1-17
1-18
1-19
1-20
1-21
1-22
1-23

BOX 2

2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4

Prologue; Cameo: Lynching
Chap. 1: Quakers and John Lynch
Chap. 2: Founding; Cameos: Patrick Henry, Cabells
Chap. 3: Tobacco
Chap. 4: Peculiar institutions, free blacks, Elijah Fletcher
Chap. 5: Seat of Satan’s Kingdom, Cemetery
Chap. 6: Mrs. Royal; Chap. 7: Cameo: Hanging
Chap. 8: Canal; Cameo: Buzzard, Packet boats
Chap. 9: March of Progress; Cameo: Dueling editors
Chap. 10: Eye of Civil War; Cameo: Old Lynchburg College
Chap. 11: War, Manassas to Lynchburg; Chap. 12: Hospital
Cameos: Dr. Terrell, Chaplains
Chap. 13: Civil War, Lynchburg, Appomattox
Cameo and Lynchburg Foundry article: Samuel Miller
Chap. 14: Reconstruction; Cameos: Hyena Club, Jacob and Adon
Yoder
Chap. 15: Lost cause; Cameos: Jubal Early, John W. Daniel
Chap. 16: To Centennial; Cameos: Newspapers/Railroads
Resources and Advantages of Lynchburg (Walker, 1872)
Chap. 17: African-Americans, 1870-1902
Chap. 18: Boom and Bust in the Burg; Cameo: 3 colleges
Chap. 19: The New Century; Cameo: Jewish community
Chap. 20: Lynchburg in 1913
Chap. 20: Cameo: Carter Glass
Chap. 20: Cameo: Emma Adams
Chap. 21: When Lynchburg was Lunchburg; Cameo:
Lynchburgers who Fought
Chap. 21: Cameo: Piedmont Automobile
Chap. 22: African-Americans in early 20th century; Cameo:
Seminary, Vernon Johns
“Blacks in Lynchburg, Virginia, 1933-1945” (Camm, 1971)
(Continued)
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JAMES M. ELSON COLLECTION, Continued
BOX 2

2-5
2-6
2-7
2-8
2-9
2-10
2-11
2-12
2-13
2-14
2-15
2-16
2-17

Chap. 22: Cameo: Anne Spencer
Chap. 22: Cameo: Otta Benga
Chap. 23: Roaring twenties
Chap. 23: Cameos: Billy Sunday, Lynchburg women
Chap. 24: Intoxicated Lynchburg
Chap. 24: Cameo: Sex and the Hill City, Fourth Street
Chap. 25: 1930s; Cameo: Sesquicentennial, E.C. & Meta Glass
Chap. 26: Fighting forties
Chap. 26: Cameos: Desmond Doss, Chauncey Spencer
Chap. 27: Second Northern Invasion
Chap. 27: Cameos: Baseball, Calvin Falwell
Chap. 28: Civic Rights for Civic Wrongs
Chap. 28: Cameos: Dunbar, Dr. Johnson, C.W. Seay

BOX 3

3-1
3-2
3-3
3-4
3-5
3-6

Chap. 29: Annexation and Preservation; Cameos: Cosby, Stewart
Chap. 30: Bicentennial
Epilogue: List of 20th Century Events
Appendix: Gutmann, Fisher, Stovall
Appendix: Abbot, Massie, Van de Graf, Daura
Picture credits

BOX 4

4-1
4-2
4-3
4-4
4-5
4-6
4-7
4-8
4-9

Miscellaneous photographs used in Lynchburg history
Sphex Club papers (by Elson) (Sphex Club – First 100 years)
Speech – 2 Mar 2000 (Sphex Club)
Speech – 2 Oct 2002 (Sphex Club)
Speech – 24 Jun 2005 (Legacy Museum)
Speech – 13 Oct 2005 (Sphex Club)
Speech – 11 Oct 2007 (Sphex Club)
Speech – 5 Oct 2010 (Sphex Club)
Speech – 15 Nov 2012 (Sphex Club)

Also included is a collection of books and pamphlets used by Elson in writing the history.

MS1277

JONES MEMORIAL LIBRARY
2311 Memorial Avenue
Lynchburg, Virginia 24501
(434) 846-0501
JAMES M. ELSON
Born in New York City, James M. Elson grew up in Tennessee. He was graduated
from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and also holds a Masters Degree in Music
from the Julliard School in New York and a doctorate in vocal and choral music from
West Virginia University. He also studied in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar. In 1984,
he became the executive director for the Academy of Music renovation project. In 1988,
he became executive vice president of the Red Hill Patrick Henry National Memorial in
Charlotte County, Virginia.
Dr. Elson retired as executive vice-president emeritus from Red Hill in 2000 and
became editor (2000-2005) of Lynch’s Ferry, a magazine of local history, published in
Lynchburg. He has written numerous articles for the publication. In 2004, he completed
and published a volume of Lynchburg history, Lynchburg, Virginia, the First Two
Hundred Years 1786-1986.
["About the Author," James M. Elson, Academy of Music, Lynchburg, Virginia: The Golden Age of Live
Performance (Lynchburg: Lynchburg Historical Foundation, 1993), p. 52; Letter, Elson to Rhodes,
“Information for files of James M. Elson…,” 18 Oct. 2007.]

MS1277