How has your SCRC processing team been beating the extended Northern Virginia heatwave? Why preparing another group of new and updated finding aids, of course! As usual, all of the following collections are available for use in the Special Collections Research Center and the finding aids are available on our website (or use the links included below).
Letter from historian Charles A. Beard to economist Louis Domeratzky, C0439
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Letter from historian Charles A. Beard to economist Louis Domeratzky regarding Beard’s book The Open Door at Home; A Trial Philosophy of National Interest. Best known for his work as a historian, Charles A. Beard (1874-1948) joined New York’s Columbia University as lecturer in 1904 and worked there until resigning in 1917 to focus on writing and selling history books and textbooks. Louis Domeratzky (1881-1967) immigrated with his family to the United States in 1897 and is best known for his work as an economist with the United States Department of Commerce from the early to mid-twentieth century, advising many American politicians including President Herbert Hoover. He also wrote extensively about foreign trade and economies, including trade relations, practices, and restrictions, as well as economic policies and individual national economies. The letter appears to be written in response to an April 17, 1933 letter from Domeratzky and explains both Beard’s inclusion of some economic ideas of Domeratzky in the book by “hiding” them under his own and his choice in the book to present the groundwork for a new economic policy.
Front cover of “A Quarter of a Century in Medicine” by Dr. J.W.C. Cuddy handwritten manuscript, C0437
“A Quarter of a Century in Medicine” by Dr. J.W.C. Cuddy handwritten manuscript, C0437
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Dr. John W. C. Cuddy was born on April 7, 1840 in Monkton, Maryland. In 1887, he joined the faculty of the Baltimore School of Medicine (which operated from 1884-1905) as Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, as well as serving as chief of clinic and lecturer on principles and practice of medicine. An active member of the medical community, Dr. Cuddy presented papers at meetings of both the Baltimore Medical Society and the American Medical Society, presenting his “The Present Status of Materia Medica and Therapeutics” at the latter’s 1891 meeting. Dr. Cuddy lived and worked in Baltimore, Maryland until he passed away on May 14, 1908 at the age of 68. He is buried in Baltimore’s Loudon Park Cemetery.
This 56 page handwritten manuscript titled “A Quarter of a Century in Medicine” by Dr. J.W.C. Cuddy, Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Baltimore University School of Medicine was read before the Baltimore Medical Society on March 12, 1888. It details the lessons Cuddy learned while serving as a doctor in the Civil War, lessons regarding rural medicine, the many advances that have taken place in the medical profession over the course of his career such as new medicines, germ theory, and the thermometer, and concludes by discussing the problems arising from the growing trend of specialization among doctors.
Women and Gender Studies Center records, R0090
Additional processing completed and finding aid updated by Maegan Jankowski and Robert Vay
Conceived in 1989 as a complement to George Mason University’s newly created Women’s Studies Program, the Women and Gender Studies Center (formerly called the Women’s Studies Research and Resource Center) serves both George Mason faculty and students. George Mason University’s Women’s Studies Program began during the Spring 1990 semester as an undergraduate interdisciplinary minor. Today the program offers undergraduate and graduate opportunities with concentrations in Women Studies in both the Bachelor of Arts in Integrative Studies and Master of Arts in Individualized Studies. The Women’s Studies Research and Resource Center opened in 1990 in a small office located on the first floor of Student Union Building I. It was tasked with providing academic programming on women and gender-related issues, supporting faculty and student research, and promoting outreach to students. In 1994 the Center moved to the 2nd Floor of the George W. Johnson Center and remains there to this day.
The records primarily document the Women’s Studies Program (WSP) and, to a lesser extent, the Women and Gender Studies Center (WGSC) from 1990-2009. Records are arranged in the following series: Series 1: Administrative correspondence and memoranda, Series 2: Records pertaining to Affiliate Professors application to a membership in the WSP (1997-2009), Series 3: Materials documenting WSP courses and WGSC activities and events, Series 4: Photographs of events and programs sponsored by the WGSC, and Series 5: Scrapbook containing narratives of former staff detailing the history of the WGSC.
Cover of United Negro and Allied Veterans pamphlet, C0436
United Negro and Allied Veterans of America pamphlet, C0436
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Small illustrated pamphlet used to promote awareness of and membership in the United Negro and Allied Veterans of America (UNAVA). Cover includes an illustrated portrait of Honorary National Commander Joe Louis and a quote attributed to Louis reading “Is America going to fulfill its promises to us? We say America must! That is why we are organizing.” Pamphlet is small, measuring approximately 5.25″ x 4″ and consists of 16 pages of text and black and white illustrations. The last two interior pages include blank forms to be used to become a member of UNAVA and to form a local chapter if none already exists. The back cover includes a blank form to be used to forward the pamphlet to another veteran. Pamphlet originally included a UNAVA eagle pin that is missing.
UNAVA was organized by African American soldiers upon their return to the United States following World War II circa 1945-1946. The organization was in part formed in response to the refusal of the Veterans Administration to grant the claims of African American veterans or provide the same access to the G.I. Bill benefits as white veterans. Membership in UNAVA was aimed at both African American veterans and white veterans who had served with African Americans in desegregated units. The organization of UNAVA, like the NAACP, represented an early development in the formal Civil Rights movement of the 1950s-1960s.
Frederick Douglass New Jersey State Opera World Premiere poster, C0438
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
Frederick Douglass is a three-act opera with music composed by Ulysses Kay (1917-1995) and a libretto written by Donald Dorr. Work on the opera began in 1979 after Kay and Dorr received a National Endowment for the Arts grant the previous year. The opera’s story focuses on the final year in the life of abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass after the marriage to his second wife Helen Pitts Douglass. The opera was completed in 1985, but did not premiere until over 5 years later. The opera’s world premiere was directed by Louis Johnson, conducted by Alfredo Silipigni, starred Kevin Maynor as Frederick Douglass and Klara Barlow as Helen Pitts Douglass, and took place on April 12, 1991 at Newark Symphony Hall performed by the New Jersey State Opera. This poster for that world premiere production measures approximately 26.5” x 19” and features a painting by Jamaica artist and illustrator Donald L. Miller (1923-1993) depicting a large reproduction of the 1879 portrait of Douglass and two vignettes from the opera. Miller is best known for his large painted mural in Washington, D.C.’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library which depicts Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other activists and events during the Civil Rights movement.
“Norfolk and Western Railway Time Tables” interior map, C0440
“Norfolk and Western Railway Time Tables” No. 3, C0440
Collection processed by Meghan Glasbrenner
“Norfolk and Western Railway Time Tables” No. 3, July 4, 1943 edition. Center stapled booklet that can be folded one additional time to display two identical covers, which include illustrations of a character in the style of the “Uncle Sam” cartoon, pointing forward with the words “Live Safely – Avoid Accidents. Work for Victory” underneath. When unfolded, the opposite side contains a full page advertisement for ways to assist in the World War II effort, such as buying War Bonds, underneath an illustration of a young soldier. The interior features two-column text that includes time tables for the trains, as well as contact information for the railway representatives in major cities served, and a centerfold system map detailing rail lines and connections from Norfolk, Virginia to Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W) was a US Class I railroad, headquartered primarily in Roanoke, Virginia. For most of its operation, N&W was best known as a coal transporter and for manufacturing its own steam locomotives, becoming the last major Class I railroad to use steam locomotives after 1960, with the last remaining not being retired until 1961. Formed by over 200 railroad mergers between 1838-1982, it began as the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), which was established in 1870 by William Mahone (1826-1895) following the merger of three existing “trunk lines” across the southern tier of Virginia and extending west. In 1881, the AM&O was renamed Norfolk and Western following a reorganization. Frederick J. Kimball was named its first Vice President, and would later go on to serve as President from 1883-1895, overseeing continued westward expansion of the lines, eventually extending across the Ohio River to Columbus, Ohio. By 1903, the railroad had assumed the basic structure and function it would use for the next over 60 years.
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