One of the McConnell Library’s Archives and Special Collections newest additions is the Virginia Deal Lawrence Scrapbook Collection. The collection is part of the Appalachian Collection, which seeks to document the history, culture, literature, music, and environment of the New River Valley, Southwest Virginia and Appalachia.
Virginia Deal Lawrence. This photo was taken sometime in the 1940s.
As a devoted historian and scrapbook collector Miss Lawrence compiled a large collection of newspaper clippings, photographs, and other materials during her lifetime. Donated to the university by the estate of Virginia Deal Lawrence, the collection consists of 123 scrapbooks, one photo album, a ledger book, loose newspaper clippings, miscellaneous documents, and a variety of other materials.
The Scrapbook collection is particularly valuable to researchers because it contains pre-1955 newspaper articles from the Southwest Virginia area. These newspaper clippings are difficult to find, since many searchable online newspaper archives do not contain materials from earlier than the mid 1950’s. Miss Lawrence’s collection helps fill this resource gap by providing newspaper clippings that date back to the early 1900’s. These articles hold information about local places, businesses, people, and events and are invaluable to anyone researching topics related to the New River Valley or the Appalachian region. The first 73 scrapbooks include mostly local stories about Southwest Virginia, while scrapbooks 74-109 cover national news stories. Scrapbooks 110-123 hold information about the Tri Sigma sorority, Auburn Schools, and the Auburn United Methodist Church.
A finding aid with more information about the collection is available here. A number of photographs and other items from the collections have been digitized and are available in RU Digital Collections.
Biography of Virginia Deal Lawrence
Auburn School Children, from the Virginia Deal Lawrence Scrapbook Collection.
Miss Virginia Deal Lawrence was born on February 28, 1909, in Riner, Virginia. She was the daughter of James Lewis Lawrence and Fannie Deal Smith Lawrence. She had one sibling, her sister, Mary Eileen Houston. Her father, James, operated C. Lawrence Store in Riner, a general merchandise store. After finishing secondary school Miss Lawrence attended Virginia Intermont College. She soon transferred to Radford College, where she received her degree on June 9, 1930. During her time at Radford College she became the first member of Sigma Sigma Sigma, the first sorority ever established at the school. One of her fondest memories was portraying the “Tri Sig Girl” at the 1931 Tri Sigma National Convention in Mackinac Island, MI and again in 1933, in Chicago. After graduation Miss Lawrence taught the fifth grade at Newport Elementary, located just outside of Blacksburg, for one year. From there she went on to teach at Riner Elementary for the next 42 years, teaching second graders. For 35 years she was the treasurer of the Alpha Lambda Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society, the International Honorary Society for Teachers in Giles and Montgomery Counties. In 1970 she appeared in the September edition of Outstanding Educators of America and received Montgomery County’s Outstanding Teacher Award.
Auburn Baseball Team, from the Virginia Deal Lawrence Scrapbook Collection.
Throughout her life Miss Lawrence was a devoted member of the Auburn United Methodist Church, in Riner. She taught the Kindergarten Sunday school class, served as the Church Historian, the Communion Steward, and the Treasurer of the Lord’s Acre. She was also a member of the Auburn United Methodist Women and served as the group’s treasurer for many years. Miss Lawrence wrote and published a booklet about the 100-year history of her church entitled, Auburn United Methodist Church, Riner, VA, 1885-1985 and also created a calendar for the church’s centennial celebration. During her lifetime she stayed active in her church and a number of other organizations listed above. She considered herself a local historian and kept scrapbooks as her primary hobby. By donating her life’s work to her alma mater, Miss Lawrence provided the archives with another treasured collection available for research. Virginia Deal Lawrence passed away on July 9, 2012, at the age of 103.
-Article by David Atkins, a 2012 Radford University graduate currently working on his graduate degree in Library Science from Florida State University. He worked as an Archival Intern in the Radford Archives during the Spring 2013 semester and processed the Virginia Deal Lawrence Scrapbook Collection as part of his internship.
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