Introducing Six Triple Eight’s Madeleine Coleman Roach

Posted on by
Reply

This post, by Manuscripts and Archives Processor Ellen Welch, introduces a new acquisition: the Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869), documenting the service of a twenty-three-year-old African American woman, Madeleine Coleman, in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the United States Women’s Army Corps during the Second World War.  

The 6888th Battalion was an all-female mostly Black military unit that has been made famous by several books and movies—most recently in a 2024 film, Six Triple Eight, directed by Tyler Perry and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and the United Kingdom (available on Netflix). The 6888th accomplished the near impossible feat of clearing a huge backlog of mail addressed to service members abroad. The women systematically sorted and routed an estimated backlog of 17 million items to over seven million service members in record time, which significantly uplifted the morale of service members in the war. The collection contains photographs, diaries, a memory book, a prayer book, certificates, newsletters, telegrams, menus, and ephemera belonging to Corporal Madeleine Coleman. Watch Six Triple Eight and then visit the Special Collections Library to meet Corporal Coleman and the extraordinary women in this collection.   

Madeleine Coleman Roach 

Madeleine Coleman, originally from Milstead, Alabama, and Atlanta, Georgia, moved to New York and enlisted in the Army on January 1, 1943, following the enlistment of her boyfriend and future husband, John Roach, also from New York. She entered active service in September and was promoted to corporal, the same rank as Roach. Coleman was determined to follow him abroad and to achieve equal military rank. She trained in Fort Des Moines, Iowa; Fort Devens, Massachusetts; and Camp Sibert, Alabama, before heading overseas in 1945. John Roach trained at several locations in Texas and was also stationed overseas. They both trained as stenographers and corresponded with each other throughout the war until they married in 1946 in Roen, France.  

The 6888th Battalion 

Newspaper clipping with two photos of the 6888th Battalion, shown working as switchboard operators and interacting with a bulletin board.

The 6888th Battalion at work. Corporal Coleman was one of 855 African American and Hispanic women (one from Puerto Rico and one from Mexico) in the 6888th who served overseas in Birmingham, England and Roen, and Paris, France.  Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

One page of a newsletter entitled “Special Delivery” featuring an illustration of an overflowing mail bag in its header.

The 6888th wrote a camp newsletter entitled “Special Delivery.” Two complete issues and four partial issues are in the Madeleine Coleman Roach papers (MSS 16869).

African American women were selected from the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WAC), the Army Service Forces, and the Army Air Forces to form the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, nicknamed “Six Triple Eight.” First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights leader Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune successfully advocated for the admittance of African American women as enlisted personnel and officers in the WAC. The response was the creation of the 6888th, a unit assigned to clear the significant backlog of mail for service members abroad. (2) General Eisenhower wanted this mail to be delivered as a means of helping with the morale of the troops. (1) Major Charity Edna Adams Early was selected to command the battalion. She was proud of the work her unit did, performing their tasks in record time. The women were trained to identify enemy aircraft, ships, and weapons and to be prepared mentally and physically for full military operations. In Birmingham, England, and in Roen and Paris, France, they found warehouses stacked to the ceilings with mailbags and rooms filled with packages of spoiled food and gifts, along with rodents. (3) The 6888th tracked individual service members by maintaining about seven million information cards, including serial numbers to distinguish different individuals with the same name. Recently recorded oral history interviews with two surviving 6888th members—Fannie Griffin McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson —provide first-person accounts of their work. 

The Assignment

The assignment for the 6888th was to expedite a two-year backlog (17 million letters and packages) of mail to the seven million World War II American service members, government personnel, and Red Cross workers stationed in England and France. (2)  

Warehouse with hundreds of bags of mail.

“Bags and bags of mail. Mission Accomplished.” Courtesy of National Archives via National Museum of United States Army.   

Many pieces of mail and packages from home failed to reach service members because the military units moved quickly to new locations or because names and addresses were incomplete. Some mail had been sitting in bags for two to three years. With no encouragement or news from home, morale became very low. The 6888th Battalion sailed for two weeks from the U.S. to Glasgow, Scotland, on the ship Ile de France amidst threats from nearby German U-boats.  Arriving by train in Birmingham, England, in February 1945, they worked in poorly maintained buildings such as the King Edwards School or airplane hangar warehouses, described as a “cold, dark, dirty warehouse” with broken windows, infested with rats and with mold growing on the mail. They fixed up the school and cleared the mail backlog in 90 days (half of the expected six months). They worked around the clock in three consecutive eight-hour shifts, seven days a week, and learned to become detectives searching envelopes for clues to determine the intended recipient. (3) Their filing system and efficiency made them so successful that they were asked to clear up the Army mail in Roen and Paris, France, which they did in five months. Their motto was “No Mail, Low Morale.” (2)  

Discrimination 

Initially the women of the 6888th recognized that the assignment was considered secondary to war efforts performed by white men and women. Despite the discrimination and racism of white officers and fellow soldiers, the women of the 6888th are now recognized for their achievement with awards, monuments, and praise. Their work is valued as being an important component of the World War II military effort. “They fired no shots, and they fought no battles … And yet, their courage and their dedication achieved a different kind of victory. Almost 80 years later, the 6888th continues to stand as a testament to the outstanding achievements of Black women Soldiers throughout U.S. Army history.” (3)  

September 4 diary entry.

Coleman describes being forced into a segregated unit in Camp Sibert, Alabama. Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

Coleman often wrote in her diary about the racial discrimination she and her fellow battalion members faced during training and from fellow Americans serving overseas. She described experiences of racism at Camp Sibert, Alabama, particularly from white women or, as she called them, “Southern crackers.” She wrote about segregation and “the appalling lack of democracy and equality in the United States.”   

She also mentioned discrimination against women in the service. According to an article by Melissa Thaxton and Jennifer Dubin, “It is estimated that 150,000 women served in the WAAC/WAC during the war, about 4% of whom were African American.” Segregation practices required African American women in the Army Corps to remain at 10% of the overall force. Even after receiving full military training and extensive education for skilled positions in medicine or education, they would be placed in clerical positions or as manual laborers. While white men in America had served in military combat since the Revolutionary War, no women were allowed to enter military service until 1901 (and only then, as nurses). The military did not accept African American women until World War II—and then only in limited roles. The women in the 6888th were the first female African American unit to serve in World War II. They were successful despite the discrimination they faced. In 2022 they were recognized for their service with the Congressional Gold Medal “…not only for their successful completion of their mission at the end of World War II, but for their sustained collective pursuit of racial and sex equality in the face of significant social and political barriers.” (3)  

Retired Colonel Edna W. Cummings declared, “The Congressional Gold Medal is the nation’s gratitude for the 6888th Battalion and the thousands of African American women who served in the Army during World War II. Their service will never be forgotten as soldiers and trailblazers for gender and racial equality.” (3)  

Alyce Dixon, a former corporal in the 6888th expressed her feelings about her service, “We’re all human — whether Black, white, red or brown, and we all have something to offer.” (3)  

Elaine Bennett explained that she joined the WAC “because I wanted to prove to myself, and maybe to the world, that we [African Americans] would give what we had back to the United States as a confirmation that we were full-fledged citizens.” These pioneer women who had limited opportunities for employment at home sought a life of adventure and patriotism amidst adversity and made a difference in the world. (3)  

Madeleine Coleman’s Diary

Madeleine Coleman in uniform.

Corporal Coleman had an active social life at dances at the service club. Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

Coleman’s diary, written before her service overseas, features excerpts from her daily life of training, marching, drilling, and working in the office and field in the Army from 1943-1944. She wrote about her exhaustion from work, her anxieties about army inspections, and her private thoughts on the harsh treatment against African Americans and women in the Corps, especially at Camp Sibert, Alabama. She often encouraged herself with positive messages, such as “what’s next for you little girl.” She also described her social experiences, with dates and dances at the service club. Her diary entries reflect her commitment to John Roach while she compares him with other men that she dated.  

 

Of interest are diary entries which exhibit straightforward curiosity when she learned about women in lesbian relationships for the first time. 

September 10 diary entry.

Coleman describes her surprise that her friend is a lesbian. Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

Photographs  

There are about 35 photos in the collection depicting Coleman’s service and showing women in uniform, many in Rouen and at the French Riviera. Included is a photograph of her commanding officer, Major Charity Adams Early, who was a popular leader and one of the highest-ranking African American female officers in the nation. There are also documents of John Roach’s military service in Texas, Italy, and Army bases in the South Pacific.  

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Notebook open to a spread: "Impressions of Places I Have Seen Overseas."

Coleman’s “Memory Book” highlights the various places she lived and worked during the war. It includes signatures and messages from fellow soldiers. Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

After the War

Postcard featuring Cunard White Star Liner "Queen Mary" at sea.

Sailing home. Madeleine Coleman Roach Papers (MSS 16869)

After the war, Madeleine Coleman Roach became a secretary at the Woodrow Wilson Vocational School (August Martin High School) in New York City. She graduated from York College with honors in African American Studies in the early 1980s. Part of the college library is named for her. John Roach was employed with the postal service. They had two daughters, Rouena and Phoebe, and lived in South Ozone Park, New York.  Madeleine Roach died in 1984 at the age of 65 following the death of her beloved husband, John Roach, in 1983.  

 With an origin story that started with discrimination and segregation as part of the WAC, the  6888th was a precursor to the Civil Rights movement in America.   

 “The Six Triple Eight’s achievements are remarkable considering the fraught social and political climate of the time. Indeed, the women of the 6888th Postal Directory Battalion proved to be pioneers in military service during an era when racial segregation was law, and few opportunities were available to women to work outside the domestic sphere.” (3) 

 The current celebration of the 6888th Battalion in films and documentaries as well as in books and archives is well-deserved and long overdue.  

Sources  

  1. Chamberlain, J. “African American Women in the Military During World War II” Posted in African American History, Films, Military, Motion Pictures, U. S. Army. The Unwritten Record. National Archives. 12 March, 2020. https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2020/03/12/african-american-women-in-the-military-during-wwii/  
  2. Fargey, Kathleen. “Women of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion” 14 February, 2014. Buffalo Soldier Educational and Historical Committee. Accessed 3/21/25. https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/the-6888th 
  3. Thaxton, Melissa and Dubina, Jennifer. “A Different Kind of Victory: The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.” National Museum of United States Army. Accessed 3/21/25. https://www.thenmusa.org/articles/a-different-kind-of-victory-the-6888th-central-postal-directory-battalion/ 

For More Information 

Rose, Naeisha. “Remembering a 6888 Veteran”. Queens Chronicle. Queens New York. 13 February 2025. Accessed 2/25/25
https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/remembering-a-6888-veteran/article_0ef47078-4275-5df5-ae74-4fb5f9c1e9f3.html 

Lauria-Blum, Julia. “No Mail, Low Morale, The Six-Triple-Eight Delivered” Metropolitan Airport News. 1 February 2025. “No Mail, Low Morale” The Six-Triple-Eight Delivered! 

Perry, Tyler, “Triple Six Eight: Everything you need to know. Tudum by Netflix. Accessed 3/17/2025 https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/tyler-perry-new-netflix-movie-six-triple-eight

Treating the Zoological Keepsake: Borrowing a Textile Conservation Approach for a Book Covered in Silk 

Posted on by
Reply

By: Sue Donovan, Conservator for Special Collections

A wonderful opportunity for collaboration took place recently in Shannon Library’s Special Collections Conservation Lab. As part of our Orange Flag Workflow, or the process by which rare book catalogers and archivists alert us to preservation issues, a book entitled The Zoological Keepsake came to my bench. Published in 1830 in London, the book had its original boards which were covered in silk. It was purchased as part of the History of Childhood collection, and it is described as “a child’s miscellany of facts, literature, and prose on animals” (from The National Library of Australia’s catalog). The cataloger had flagged it because the silk was quite damaged and even missing in some parts. I had never worked with a book bound in silk before, so I knew it was time to reach out to a colleague in textile conservation, Claudia Walpole.  

Claudia cautioned against using any kind of adhesive to reattach or stabilize the silk since it could cause discoloration of the silk. Instead, she suggested using bobbinet tulle (“bobbinet” is the term for tulle that is machine-made in the UK) sewn around the book. Since any covering would have to be made to allow the boards to open independently, the first thought that came to my mind was to use the bobbinet like a dust jacket wrapper. The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library has one of the largest collections of dust jackets, so I am familiar with the kinds of wrappers that go around brittle paper, but I couldn’t use the same kind of wrapper with The Zoological Keepsake because it would create static that could damage the silk further.  

Creating a wrapper with bobbinet in the style of a dust jacket wrapper seemed to have potential, so I set to work experimenting with how to adapt a conservation textile to library and archives conservation.  

Nylon bobbinet was smooth and blended in well with the original silk, and I found out that I could weld two pieces together on the ultrasonic encapsulator, a piece of equipment that we use frequently to make reversible plastic enclosures for unbound sheets of paper, drawings, and maps.  

I molded nylon bobbinet around the book cover by welding a top seam with the encapsulator and using a heated spatula to create a crisply-creased bottom seam.

 Then I needed to fold a flap of the wrapper around each board to keep the wrapper in place. I experimented with using heat alone to attach the nylon to itself, but all my attempts failed, so I ended up using strips of heat-activated mending paper to tack the side flaps to the top and bottom flaps to hold everything in place.  

Image of the inside of a book: the turn-ins are a light pink and the paste-down is a cream-colored paper. The nylon bobbinet is wrapped around the cover, and two pieces of rectangular mending paper hold together the top and bottom flaps to the side flap.

Inside the front board of The Zoological Keepsake, showing the heat-activated mending paper.

Once in place, the bobbinet does a good job of protecting the original silk of the binding. All of the damaged silk is enclosed and protected from further damage. However, the bobbinet does make the book feel more slippery in the hands, so I thought it would be better to limit handling by placing the book itself in a drop-spine box. 

I made a custom box for the volume and included an image of the verso of the book inside the box itself so that anyone curious about the back wouldn’t have to handle the book to see the design.  

Image of The Zoological Keepsake shown inside a blue drop-spine box with the bobbinet wrapper in place. A printed-out image of the back cover is inserted into a mylar sleeve on the inside tray of the box with the following note reading: “Please refer to the attached pictures of the back cover before removing the book from its protective box. Thank you!”

Image of The Zoological Keepsake shown inside a drop-spine box with the bobbinet wrapper in place.

Overall, this was a great project to work on. It involved collaboration with a conservator in a different field and the adoption of a little-used material in library and archives conservation. I am pleased with the result, and I learned a lot! Two conservators have already reached out to me about the material and the process, so I think it will be helpful to other conservators if they encounter a similar item in the future.  

 

We’re Hiring a Reparative Collections Conservator!

Posted on by
Reply

"We're Hiring. Reparative Collections Conservator. 2-Year Term. For more information, search R0068758 on Careers at UVA." QR code and UVA Library logo below text.

We’re thrilled to announce that UVA Library is seeking a Reparative Collections Conservator in the Preservation Services department of Special Collections and Preservation Unit for a two-year position beginning in September 2025. The position is aimed at early career conservators, especially those entering the job market for the first time in fall/summer 2025.

The successful candidate in this position recognizes the importance of reparative work in this field and strives to create equitable and thoughtful practices within cultural heritage conservation. More information about the position and details about how to apply can be found via the job posting.

Identifying Arsenical Books in the Library’s Collections

Posted on by
1
Cover of a book entitled "Gift of Love" with gold text set against a bright green circle.

A book with arsenical emerald green inlay. Rufus W. Griswold, Gift of Love. New York: Leavitt and Allen, 1850. (PN6110.E5 G7 1850)

This post was written by Charlie Webb, a fourth-year student majoring in art history and working with our conservator Sue Donovan through the University Museums Internship. Charlie enjoys historical costuming and craft and can be found practicing viola as a member of the Charlottesville Symphony, fencing with the Virginia Fencing Club, or attempting to climb the hills of Charlottesville on an ancient mountain bike.

In mid-19th century England, France, and the U.S., a new trend arose across fields of textile and paper artisanship. Chemists discovered that, by including arsenic and copper in their dyes, they could achieve a range of incredibly vibrant green pigments. From approximately 1830 to 1870, arsenical pigments were used in many decorative effects, from bright green cloth binding to powdery green inlays and inks for colored engravings. Today, the Winterthur Library in Delaware has developed the Poison Book Project, which includes a list of books that have been tested to include the specific combination of arsenic and copper that produces a poisonous-looking color—arsenical “emerald green” bookcloth (Marcoon, 2021). The interest in arsenical books lies in concerns of safety, as pigments containing arsenic can flake off and be unintentionally ingested by those handling the books. With frequent exposure, or in large amounts, these arsenical pigments can cause skin and lung irritation, skin lesions, and even cancer of the skin and lungs (Arsenic, 2024).

Cover of a book entitled "A Winter Wreath of Summer Flowers" with gold floral and architectural decorations and bright red and green highlights.

This ornate book cover features floral and architectural designs with arsenical green inlay. Samuel Griswold Goodrich, A Winter Wreath of Summer Flowers. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1855. (PZ9.G625 W55 1855)

The Poison Book Project works to identify books that contain this chemical combination in order to safely house them for future research and, eventually, add them into the larger list of known arsenical books. In Special Collections conservation, our process for analyzing potentially arsenical books broadly follows the structure outlined above. After cross-referencing the arsenical book database provided by Winterthur with the UVA Library’s collections, we searched the library stacks for those books that had previously been tested by Winterthur—most of which were found in the Special Collections library. In analyzing “emerald green” bookcloth and decoration, it was necessary for us to visually identify the book as potentially containing arsenic before continuing with elemental analysis. Because of the variations in the 19th-century publishing industry, books from the same edition could be bound very differently, so many of the volumes on the Poison Book Project list that were in UVA’s collections were not bound in green cloth at all.

Cover of a book with gold floral and architectural decorations and bright red, green, and blue highlights.

This book, bound by the same publisher as that of the previous book, features similar decoration. Samuel Griswold Goodrich, The Wanderers by Sea and Land: With Other Tales. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1855. (PZ9.G625 W27 1855)

Once a book was visually identified by its vibrant green color, we tested it using an XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectrometer, a tool that identifies the elements composing a material by analyzing the unique peaks each element gives off when excited by X-rays. For those books that contained any amount of arsenic, especially in combination with copper and iron, we enclosed them in inert plastic bags along with a Poison Book Project slip explaining the hazards of handling the book and replaced them on the shelf. Throughout this entire process, we took great care not to touch potentially arsenical objects with bare hands and designated one person to handle the books while the other wrote slips and recorded notes, in order to minimize potential contamination. Additionally, while we focused our analysis on those books already confirmed by the Winterthur study, we took note of those areas of the stacks that housed many books with the characteristic arsenical green color for later analysis.

Cover of a book with a light green paper cover entitled "Earthly Care, a Heavenly Discipline" by H. B. Stowe.

Despite its unassuming minty color and size, the paper covers of this book contained over 24 ppm (parts per million) of arsenic—the highest concentration of arsenic we encountered during the project! Harriet Beecher Stowe, Earthly Care: A Heavenly Discipline. Boston: Boston: John P. Jewett and Co.; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington, 1854. (PS2954.E3 1854)

Eventually, the goal of the Poison Book Project is to safely house arsenical books so that they can be studied without the dangers that come with handling arsenic. Fortunately, such limited handling of these books does not restrict the information within. Most of the arsenical books that we have identified have duplicates elsewhere in UVA’s collections, and the arsenical copies can still be handled in the Special Collections reading room with the necessary protective equipment. The information that we have collected about the arsenical books at UVA will be shared with Winterthur to be added to their compiled list of “emerald green” arsenical books. And, as we begin to analyze previously untested books, we hope to be able to add new information about these books to the Poison Book Project’s database.

Citations

Arsenic. (n.d.). World Health Organization. Retrieved December 16, 2024, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/arsenic

IDing Arsenic Bookbindings. (n.d.). Poison Book Project. https://sites.udel.edu/poisonbookproject/arsenic-bookbindings/

Marcoon, A. (2021, December 29). Uncovering Undercover Toxins. Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. https://www.winterthur.org/uncovering-undercover-toxins/

We’re Hiring! Informational Webinar for Processing Archivist

Posted on by
Reply

Image with text stating that the University of Virginia Library is hiring a processing archivist for a 3 year term and an informational webinar will be held December 18 at noon Eastern Time. Register for the webinar on our blog.

Join us for a virtual information session on Wednesday, December 18, 2024 at noon ET to learn details of an open position in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library: Project Processing Archivist (3-year term)

Register for the webinar (or to receive a recording of the webinar if you can’t join at the scheduled time): https://virginia.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Gud9Vr8CS9-u9zZgc1EYww 

Processing Archivist (3-year term)
Apply online in Workday; apply by January 12, 2025 for priority consideration
Reporting to the Head of Technical Services, the Processing Archivist facilitates acquisition, processing, discoverability, and access for the rare and unique holdings of Small Special Collections. This position will primarily be responsible for arrangement and description of University Archives and manuscript collections relating to Virginia history and politics. The archivist will utilize ArchivesSpace to create finding aids for online publication to full national standards and will serve a regular reference desk shift.

About the Small Special Collections Library:

Staff in the Small Special Collections Library steward an extraordinary collection documenting American history, particularly early American; American and English literature; bibliography, book history, and book arts; African American studies; the built environment; history of the state of Virginia and the University of Virginia; and material culture. As significant as our collections are, we recognize that there are silences and gaps in the documentary record. The ideal candidates for these positions are intellectually curious and eager to learn the stories revealed in our collections, to build upon them, and to share them widely.

Thank you for your interest!

Thwarted in Texas: A Confederate Family versus a Union Naval Blockade

Posted on by
1

This post by Ervin “EJ” Jordan Jr., Research Archivist & Associate Professor at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, concerns a recent acquisition, “Isabella, Jumain, Miriam and Rosa Letter,” March 7, 1865 (MSS 16853)

This document of historical rarity on a unique maritime aspect of the American Civil War was recently acquired by the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. It consists of March 7, 1865 letters of an anonymous family of four Confederate women Isabella and her daughters Jumain, Miriam, and Rosa (their surname unknown) to their husband/father in Havana, Cuba. Trapped by the Union Navy’s blockade of Galveston, Texas, their anxious departure attempts were a backdrop of Southern blockade-running activities (‘running the blockade’). Postal supply shortages and costs necessitated these letters’ single sheet of blue stationery; its 160-year survival implies receipt by the husband/father, interception by federal blockaders or never having been mailed. (Its cover envelope is missing). Extant letters by blockade runners’ civilian passengers are rare as mail confiscated by Union blockaders was usually destroyed.

Building a Blockade: Team Union Navy Blockaders

The Federal government imposed a naval blockade (April 1861-May 1865) of Southern seaports during the Civil War, patrolling 3,550 miles of coastline with a blockading fleet of 400 ships assigned to six geographically-based squadrons: Atlantic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Gulf, East Gulf and West Gulf. Captured blockade runners were taken to federal-held ports as war prizes, their cargo’s cash value shared among ships’ crews as prize money. Several seized vessels were commissioned for Union naval service. The blockade gave notice that foreign nations trading with the Confederate South risked confrontation with the United States. Although the smaller Confederate Navy (100 ships) never seriously challenged the Union Navy (700 ships) nor imposed its own blockade, Southern commerce raiders attacked Northern merchant vessels and whaling fleets in the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans, decimating trade and increasing shipping insurance rates.

Breaking the Blockade: Team Confederate Blockade Runners

Southern blockade runners, privately or government-owned, were specially-built seagoing steamships constructed or purchased in Britian, Scotland and Ireland with large cargo holds and comfortable cabins. Known as “greyhounds of the sea” for their gray paint and swiftness, many bore colorful names like Let Her Rip, Rattlesnake, Banshee, and Vulture. One Confederate government-owned vessel, the Fingal (later the ironclad CSS Atlanta), returned from Europe in late 1861 with 10,000 rifles, 400 barrels of gunpowder, and a million bullets.

Blockade runners exported cotton for British textile industries, tobacco, sugar and rice to Europe in exchange for munitions, shoes, blankets, meat, coffee, medicines, and Bibles. They also carried civilian passengers and private and diplomatic mail to and from Europe and the South’s Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports (usually as night runs to avoid detection): Fernandina and St. Augustine, Florida; Beaufort and Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans, Louisiana; Galveston and Brazos Island, Texas. Favored foreign ports included Liverpool (Great Britain), Bermuda, the Bahamas (Nassau), Halifax, (Nova Scotia, Canada), Tampico, Matamoras and Vera Cruz (Mexico), and Havana, Cuba. European nations were officially neutral but vessels owned or crewed by their citizens dominated blockade-running. After the war international arbitration (the Alabama Claims, 1869-1872) resulted in Britain’s compensating the United States $15.5 million for ‘damages’ caused by British-built Confederate ships.

Blockade-running was a business often financed by joint stock ventures euphemistically known as ‘exporting and importing companies’ whose investors reaped profits ten times their cargoes’ original value. Such voyages were inherently perilous–1,500 ships were run aground, captured or sunk, drowning crews and passengers. “King Cotton” exports slumped by 95 percent; the Confederate South’s cotton embargo strategy to pressure European intervention in the war failed, contributing to its ruined economy.

The golden age of blockade-running ended by the early spring of 1865 as the Union army and navy increasingly captured Confederate seaports; though blockaded, only Galveston remained under Southern control. Ironically, blockade runners’ successes may have helped strangle the blockaded Confederacy by increasingly trafficking extortionately-priced luxury goods like silks and champagne while Confederate armies suffered shortages of badly-needed military supplies.

The Letter(s): “We have had some adventures”

In the first of this anonymous family’s four March 7, 1865 Galveston letters, “Isabella” writes to her unidentified husband of her frustrated attempts to join him in Cuba via Matamoras, Mexico—a regular route for self-exiled Confederates. Several tries by an unnamed blockade runner [paddle steamer CSS Lark?] on which she and their three daughters booked passage, had been thwarted by Union ships [the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, 990 miles of the Gulf of Mexico coastline from St. Andrews Bay, Florida, to Texas-Mexico border] “since last Saturday night” (March 4). Their misfortunes (“We have had some adventures, without any Success or Advantages”) were compounded by seasickness, “loss of Sleep and great fatigue,” their ship’s running aground and frequent engine trouble, barely avoiding seizure. An incoming schooner, Charles Russel, was turned away because of “Yankees firing at her in great rate.” Isabella provides a clue of the family as Texans, remarking “when we arrived here 21 years ago” [1844] and concludes: “I must close now the Children want to add some[.] I wish you farewell again with the hope of Your Health and Happiness.”

First page of a handwritten letter in cursive from "Isabella" to her unidentified husband, March 7, 1865.

First page of a handwritten letter in cursive from "Isabella" to her unidentified husband, March 7, 1865.

The second letter, “Jumain” [eldest daughter?] to “Dear father,” offers sentiments similar to her mother’s. She relates another sailing attempt Sunday night (March 5) that only traveled a few hundred yards, stopped by engine troubles a half mile from the Yankees, forcing a return to Galveston. Another attempt was planned for that night (March 7) but she concedes the “Yanks blockade outside very effective, and no doubt we will have some trouble getting out.” She hopes for gainful employment in Havana “as this loafing about don’t Pay” and concludes “Bad news today if it comes true about Charleston having been taken.” [Confederates evacuated this South Carolina city in February 1865; Union troops subsequently burned it.]

Third page of a handwritten letter in cursive—this section includes a second letter from Jumain ("eldest daughter") to her "Dear father."

The third letter, “Miriam” [middle daughter?] to “Dear father,” complains: “We have not as yet departed for one reason or another, but if we do not get out tonight we will probably have to stay until next moon.” She says because “Mother” (Isabella) had already written about “our proceedings” it would only trouble him to repeat them.

The fourth and last letter, “Rosa” [youngest daughter?] to “my dear father” in childlike handwriting, is the briefest: “I bid You good bye again.” In a penciled postscript her mother Isabella reports interrupting Rosa’s initial use of ink because it was in short supply. (The first seven letters “my dear f” are in ink.) Isabella made her use a pencil “fearing she would [turn] the ink over” but Rosa apparently pouted at being denied an ink pen: “She does not like [using] the Pencil and therefore only bid you good Bye.”

Fourth page of a handwritten letter, containing two notes: first, “Miriam” [middle daughter?] to “Dear father" dated March 7th, 1865; the second, from “Rosa” [youngest daughter?] to “my dear father.”

The Confederacy never lifted the Union blockade, and the war ended a month after the family’s last known breakout attempt; subsequent efforts, if any, are unknown. On May 24, 1865, the South’s last blockade runner, CSS Lark (built in England for the Confederate government), departed Galveston for Havana. Three weeks later, June 19, 1865, during its postwar Union military occupation, Galveston became the birthplace of Juneteenth.

Select Bibliography

Dead Confederates, A Civil War Era Blog,“Builder’s Drawing of Wren and Lark.”

Heidler, David and Heidler, Jeanne, eds. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000.

Mr. Edwin W. Hemphill, University of Virginia Library “Bibles from Britain for the Blockaded Confederacy,” 29 May 1949, MSS 3224, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.

Isabella, Jumain, Miriam and Rosa Letter, 1865, MSS 16853, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.

The New York Times, February 2, 1865: “Correspondence of the Associated Press/HAVANA, Saturday, Jan. 28.”

U.S. Naval War Records Office, Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion Series 1, vol. 22. Washington: GPO, 1894-1922.

Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia: “CSS Lark”; “Danish West Indies”; “History of Galveston, Texas”; “List of ships built by Cammell Laird”; “Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States.”

Wilson, Paula. St. Croix Landmarks Society, 2007, https://www.stcroixlandmarks.org/history/transfer-day/

Staff Spotlight: Jacquelyn Kim, Exhibitions Coordinator

Posted on by
1

A photo of Jacquelyn standing outdoors in front of a Christmas tree.

Jacquelyn Kim, Exhibitions Coordinator

Welcome back to our staff spotlight series! Over the next few weeks, we’ll catch up on featuring recent hires and new roles of staff in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library here at the University of Virginia.

As the exhibitions coordinator, Jacquelyn (she/they) helps to produce exhibitions that showcase the Library’s collections and assists with community engagement. She previously worked at Special Collections as the exhibitions assistant for two years and recently graduated from UVA with highest distinction in American studies and global development studies. Beyond the library, Jacquelyn enjoys cooking, foraging, and making pottery, and they plan to start an MLIS program in the near future.

What was your first ever job with books or libraries?

As a high school student, I volunteered at a local library branch to tutor kids in math and English. During my third year as an undergraduate student at UVA, I began working at Special Collections as a Wolfe Fellow, helping with social media and gaining hands-on experience working in an archive and with archival materials—and clearly I couldn’t get enough!

What was the first thing you collected as a child? What do you collect now? (oh, c’mon, admit it).

As a child, I had an impressive collection of Pokémon cards and erasers in odd shapes like animals, food, and flowers that I’ve since gifted and passed on to younger family members. Now, my apartment is full of books, CDs, and zines! A friend recently gifted me a beautiful zine about the history of mahjong, and that’s one of my new favorites.

Hopefully you’ve been roaming Grounds and Charlottesville a bit since your arrival. What’s your favorite new discovery other than Special Collections?

I’ve been in Charlottesville/at UVA for over 5 years now, but a couple of my favorite spots are The Beautiful Idea, a bookstore and community center on the Downtown Mall, and La Flor Michoacana, an ice cream shop! Around campus, the fruit trees in the gardens of the Academical Village are a hidden gem.

Tell us what excites you about your job?

I love how I get to do a deep dive into a new topic with every exhibition—I’m constantly learning something new! I’ve also been so grateful for opportunities to engage directly with community members who are assisting with curation and/or have contributed materials to our collections. Getting to hear firsthand the stories about objects included in our exhibitions and collections has been incredibly grounding.

If you could be locked in any library or museum for a weekend, with the freedom to roam, enjoy, and study to your heart’s content, which one would you choose?

I lived in Seoul for a bit and loved the many different collections at the National Museum of Korea, particularly of ceramics! I also recently learned about the Interference Archive based in New York, and I’d love to explore their collections of items related to social movements around the world.

Staff Spotlight: K Lighty, Digital Archivist

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome back to our staff spotlight series! Over the next few weeks, we’ll catch up on featuring recent hires and new roles of staff in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library here at the University of Virginia.

K Lighty is the Digital Archivist in Special Collections’ Technical Services division. They began their position in June of this year. Read more about them in their own words below.

I have a BA in English from the University of Texas at Arlington, a MS In Women’s and Gender Studies from Minnesota State University and my MLIS from the University of Arizona. I’ve lived all over the US and I love traveling and meeting new people. I also love trying new foods and playing board games of all varieties.

What was your first ever job with books or libraries?

My first library job was when I was working as a graduate assistant for my MLIS, but my first book/print related job was working as a copyeditor for the school newspaper during my undergraduate studies. Between that and my English studies, I spent a lot of time reading the stories other people were creating. Either way, I’ve always loved books, reading, and stories. All of these things, combined with a love of computers and internet culture are what lead me to pursue a career in digital archives!

What was the first thing you collected as a child? What do you collect now? (oh, c’mon, admit it).

The two things that come to mind are rocks (like completely normal everyday rocks you’d pick up off the ground) and Pokemon cards. I’ve continued to collect trading card game cards over the years, but have also an unhealthy amount of dice these days. They don’t see a lot of use because a lot of my D&D and other tabletop games are played online these days, but they sure are fun to attempt to stack. There’s nothing like seeing a 20 dice-high tower come falling down.

Hopefully you’ve been roaming Grounds and Charlottesville a bit since your arrival. What’s your favorite new discovery other than Special Collections?

Special Collections is great though! That being said, I think my favorite thing is just the climate in general. After spending five years in the desert (which was beautiful, don’t get me wrong), I’m just glad to be living somewhere with actual grass and trees and flowers. We haven’t quite made it to fall yet, but I’m really looking forward to all of the autumn colors and it not being 90 degrees in November! (If you ever visit Arizona, I recommend going in January).

Tell us what excites you about your job?

Everything, but to be more specific, I’m really excited by the focus on reparative archival work being done in  Special Collections. Archives and other historical records have a long legacy of being centered and written by and for dominant cultures and socio-economic groups, so doing work to create records that acknowledge this legacy and attempt to mitigate the harm done by past records is something that I find really important. I am always overjoyed to hear about the work the other members of special collections have been doing in this area!

Tell us something about Special Collections or UVA that is different from what you expected.

So many hills. Every University I’ve worked or studied at has been on pretty flat land. It’s definitely taken some getting used to when walking anywhere! I’ve also been surprised (in a good way) by just how welcoming and kind everyone has been here at UVA. I’m not saying that there has been a lack of goodwill at any previous place I’ve worked or studied, but there is just an overabundance here and it has been so refreshing. I’m also looking forward to project weeks, as they sound like a really awesome initiative that is different from anything I’ve seen elsewhere. 

If you could be locked in any library or museum for a weekend, with the freedom to roam, enjoy, and study to your heart’s content, which one would you choose?

Probably the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian! I’ve always had a fascination with outer space ever since I was a child, and the opportunity to be able to explore the history of our exploration of the cosmos would be the ultimate indulgence.  With how close Charlottesville is to Washington, D.C., I’m hoping to have the chance to take a weekend to explore the space museum and many of the other Smithsonian museums.

Staff Spotlight: Veronica McGurrin, Reference and Instruction Librarian/Archivist

Posted on by
Reply

Photo of Veronica in a white coat pointing to a building sign which reads, "No, I'm a Veronica"

Veronica McGurrin, Reference and Instruction Librarian/Archivist

Welcome back to our staff spotlight series! Over the next few weeks, we’ll catch up on featuring recent hires and new roles of staff in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library here at the University of Virginia. 

Veronica McGurrin (she/her) recently joined the Small Special Collections Library as a Reference and Instruction Librarian/Archivist in Public Services. Previously, she was the Librarian for Art and Art History at UNC Chapel Hill, where she received her Dual Master’s Degree in Art History and Library Science. Outside the library, you can find Veronica reading outside on her porch with her cat, Morty, and beagle, Woody.

What was your first ever job with books or libraries?
I started volunteering at my local library when I was 12 and pretty much never left! I volunteered with the children’s department, then worked at circulation through high school and college before starting my MLS degree at UNC. 

What was the first thing you collected as a child? What do you collect now? (oh, c’mon, admit it).
I think I am horribly boring and will say that books are really the only thing that I collected when I was younger (besides rocks + shells from the beach). My house is overflowing with books, and my partner and I have begun a (modest) record collection as well. I’ve had to restrict myself, but I’m thinking that zines are going to worm their way in as a new collection. 

Hopefully you’ve been roaming Grounds and Charlottesville a bit since your arrival. What’s your favorite new discovery other than Special Collections?
Carter Mountain! One of our first stops after the frantic haze of unpacking was to go to Carter Mountain for some peaches and a peach milkshake. 

Tell us what excites you about your job?
Currently, it’s just being able to explore the depth of the collection here.You could be working and staring at your computer for a few hours, and then pop down into the stacks and pick out a first edition Little Women or Gone with the Wind off the shelf. I’m currently scheduling the instruction sessions for the fall semester, so I am really excited to get started working with students in their exploration of the collection. 

Tell us something about Special Collections or UVA that is different from what you expected.
It is so much colder than I thought it would be!! Remember to bring your cardigan when coming to the Reading Room, even in the dead heat of the summer. 

If you could be locked in any library or museum for a weekend, with the freedom to roam, enjoy, and study to your heart’s content, which one would you choose?
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston! Ever since I was a kid, it has been my absolute favorite museum. For those who don’t know, Gardner imported a Venetian palace into Boston and turned her home into this magnificent museum, open to the public. Her portrait, by John Singer Sargent, is stunning! 

Staff Spotlight: Rosalind Calhoun, Processing Archivist

Posted on by
Reply

Welcome back to our staff spotlight series! Over the next few weeks, we’ll catch up on featuring recent hires and new roles of staff in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library here at the University of Virginia. Let’s go!

Photo of Rosalind Calhoun

Rosalind Calhoun, Processing Archivist at the Small Special Collections Library

As a Processing Archivist, Rosalind Calhoun works with the Patrick Oliphant Artwork and Papers, documents the history of enslavement at UVA for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded project On These Grounds, edits and revises the Inclusion and Reparative Action Plan for Special Collections Technical Services, and improves discovery of collections. Previously, she was the Librarian and Archivist of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum. She has a MLIS from the University of Maryland and a MSc in Book History and Material Culture from the University of Edinburgh. Her interests include art, history, travel, and her Rottweiler, Gumbo (@gumbotherottie).


What was your first ever job with books or libraries?
Working in Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Maryland’s Hornbake Library as a graduate student. While I was there I was fortunate enough to work with several books from the Kelmscott Press, which inspired my love for all things William Morris.

What was the first thing you collected as a child? What do you collect now?
As a child of the late-90s and early-2000s: Beanie Babies. Now I collect antique wax seals, Japanese netsukes, stirrup cups, Hermès silk scarves, Christmas ornaments, taxidermy, oddities, and curiosities.

Hopefully you’ve been roaming Grounds and Charlottesville a bit since your arrival. What’s your favorite new discovery other than Special Collections?
I’ve lived in Charlottesville since 2020, and my husband and I love the North American Sake Brewery. We enjoy eating on their patio next to Ix Art Park with our Rottweiler, Gumbo. There are also so many fantastic places in the area to go antiquing!

Tell us what excites you about your job?
All the wonderful things in the collections I get to see and the histories I get to help make discoverable and accessible, so we can share that knowledge and wonder with the world. 

Tell us something about Special Collections or UVA that is different from what you expected.
I am surprised that the atmosphere in Special Collections is so down-to-earth. It makes being here a lot less intimidating! Everyone has been kind and welcoming.

If you could be locked in any library or museum for a weekend, with the freedom to roam, enjoy, and study to your heart’s content, which one would you choose?
The Morgan Library and Museum in New York. I think the East Room is one of the most beautiful library spaces in the world, and their collections are amazing. I would love to see the Black Hours in person.