Library volunteer Ramon Colorado has been working with a unique portion of our archival collections - ledgers. These oversized volumes contain a wide variety historical information and were used to record important data by organizations as varied as an early 19th century local milita (the Norfolk Blues), a late 19th century liquor store, and an early 20th century police Sargeant's in Norfolk. Ramon jotted down a few thoughts about some of the information our volunteers have come across while catagorizing, organizing, and preserving the ledgers in our archives. Ramon writes:
"Did you know that the Norfolk Sheriff of 1882 was wounded aboard the C.S.S. Virginia during the Civil War? Or, that bottles of Budweiser beer were being shipped into the area as early as the 1880’s. The next time you’re driving around town you might notice street names such as Corprew, Llewellyn, Nimmo or Colley. These are not just random names given by the city planners but instead modest memorials to our area’s founding citizens. While researching information at the Jean Outland Chrysler Library we’ve discovered many such links between past and present.
Researching with archives - often consisting of unread or rarely read materials of American history - may seem boring to many. However, opening up a 200 year old roster of a volunteer military unit (the Norfolk Light Artillery Blues) that served in the Virginia militia, the Confederate Army, and the United States military, and finding a pressed rose from the 1840’s and a letter to one’s sweetheart brings this history alive. Each book researched is a treasure chest of knowledge and each page turned a potential academic goldmine of information. "
Interested in learning more? Stop by the Library and take a look at ledgers on display in the Reading Room.
No comments:
Post a Comment