Archives

The Augusta County Historical Society has been actively collecting paper documents, photographs, and books pertaining to the history of Augusta County, Staunton, and Waynesboro since the society’s inception in 1964. The collection now includes a great deal of social, architectural, and genealogical material. The scope of the collection spans the time period from the first European settlement in Augusta County until the present. Although there are some 18th century manuscripts, the bulk of the collection is 19th and early 20th century. Included in the collection are numerous letters, financial ledgers, diaries, and other paper ephemera from private individuals, businesses, and the many past and present educational institutions in the area like the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and Augusta Military Academy.

Within the collection are several thousand manuscripts and other paper documents, including locally published newspapers and magazines. The archives also contains a particularly rich photographic collection. There are numerous architectural and landscape photographs of the area, including an extensive collection of mill photographs. Hundreds of portraits are included in the collection of Margo Kent, a studio photographer who worked in Staunton during much of the 20th century. This portrait collection will be a rich resource to historians and genealogists in the next century.

The archives also contains approximately 200 books and family histories pertaining to local history and genealogy. Many of the books are rare and out of print. The entire set of WPA papers completed on Augusta County is in the collection as well as the architectural survey work done by Ann McCleary through Virginia Landmarks in the 1980s.

The finding guides on this page represent a fraction of the materials found in the collection. The guides are the result of a generous grant from the Virginia Genealogical Society. As more guides are created, they will be posted on this site.

Our Archives

Click on a collection name to view the official finding guide for the specific Society's collection.
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Collection

Acc #

Dates

Size

Arbor Hill Church of the Brethren

762

1916-1972

1 brochure

Archibald Gerard Robertson

7

2 March 1874

1 folder (3 items)

Augusta County Currency

2

25 May 1862

1 folder (4 items)

Charles Catlett Collection

297

1923-1942

10 folders

Eidson Family History

35

1765-1894

9 pages

Fitzhugh Elder Photograph

25

1964

one photograph

Glebe Burying Ground

32

1934

1 pamphlet

Guy Fisher Collection

Acc. # 150

1862-1932 [bulk 1873-1931]

0.45 cubic feet (1 legal Hollinger box)

J.R. Hildebrand

282

c. 1950s

1 cubic ft. (2 legal Hollinger boxes)

Hines, John: A man of the Bullpasture

43

1742-1814 (1966)

1 folder

James H. Skinner

354

1861-1984

1 folder

James M. Stout

331a

1835-1941

40 cubic feet

Jefferson Kinney

237

1829-1868

2 inches (3 folders)

King's Daughters' Hospital

312

1928-1957

3 inches

McCutchen Family Descendants

16

Compiled 1965 for 1750-1964

one 48-page manuscript

Percy C. Manley Estate

331b

1773-1875

3 folders

Robert E. Lee High School Drama

313

1937-1946

5 inches (12 folders)

S. Moore Provence

35

1864-1868

1 folder

James M. Stout

331a

1835-1941

40 cubic feet

Swoope Family Collection

Acc. # 108

1802-1874

2 folders

Trimble Family

29

1966

2 folders

Vanpelt Papers

5

1790, 1823

1 folder (3 items)

Virginia Hodge Armentrout Cohron Collection

Acc. # 127

1824-1954 [bulk 1824-1879]

7 folders (approximately .10 cubic feet)

William Henry Harman letters

3

1862-1863

1 folder (3 items)

William Kinney letters

9

1839, 1842

1 folder (2 items)

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