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     MANUSCRIPTS and ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Bruce family papers

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 16876

Content Description

This collection includes several additions such as (MSS 2889) the papers regarding Philip Alexander Bruce's historical writings and personal correspondence, including correspondence with A. Henderson, 1917 July and 15 January 1925, Dunbar Rowland, 18 March 1933, and Carter Woodson, 3 February, 1921 and 15 January, 1940. Included is a brief letter of thanks from Woodrow Wilson, 1912 July 23.(Boxes 1-2)

Another addition MSS 38-207 contains the typescript... of his history of the University of Virginia together with some chapters from his writings on Thomas Jefferson and on the education of African-Americans. (Boxes 3-12)

In a recent addition, (ViU-2024-0136) (Boxes 13-14) is a baby book of the Bruce family documenting the first years of Philippa Alexander Bruce Shepperson and her daughter, Philippa Alexander "Sandra" Bruce Shepperson [Armstrong]. The baby book is a commercially produced hard-cover album titled "The Baby's Biography by A.O. Kaplan Illustrations Frances Brundage". It contains illustrations and printed pages to note significant milestones in a baby's first year. The book containing many tipped-in photographs, and compiled in 1897 and 1951, chronicles the development of Philippa Alexander Bruce Shepperson (born 1897) and later her daughter, Philippa "Sandra" Alexander Bruce Shepperson [Armstrong] (born 1934). It documents the Bruce family in early twentieth-century Charlottesville, Virginia. The family lived at Staunton Hill and abroad.

Philip Alexander Bruce (1856-1933), the father of Philippa Bruce, was a historian specializing in Virginia history. He attended the University of Virginia, on which he would write five volumes recounting the first century of its existence. Also included in the collection is Major Calvin Hood of Kansas and University of Virginia 1917 Alum Reverend Arthur Barksdale Kinsolving III and the University of Virginia inner circle.

His wife, Elizabeth "Bettie" Tunstall Taylor Newton Bruce (1856-1940), created the baby book that documented the childhood of her daughter, Philippa Bruce Shepperson in this baby book. Photographs and book entries include family portraits, printed illustrations, descriptions of Philippa's formative life events, including "Progressive Record of Autographs" by Philippa, and documentation of their living abroad and international travels.

When her daughter became a mother, she used the verso of the baby book to document her daughter Sandra Shepperson [Armstrong's] early life, mirroring the printed markers in the book. She pasted envelopes containing photographs, invitations, written accounts, and lockets of hair.

Of note are visual and written notes of Amanda Hobson (b.1831), a Black woman who served as a nanny for Philippa and whom the family called "Mammy." There are several photographs of Amanda within the book, and some entries refer to her travel with them internationally, as well as her decision not to travel due to her age and her desire to be close to her children in Richmond.

Due to the book's condition, some materials were removed from their original envelopes and housed separately in folders. Materials are well-labeled and the scrapbook and removed materials should be viewed together.

The most recent addition (ViU-2025-0012) to this collection contains eight manuscripts and published materials by Philip Alexander Bruce (1856-1933) and three scrapbooks (1906-1933) created by his daughter, Philippa Alexander Bruce Shepperson (1897-1972). There are pictures of President Calvin Coolidge. (Boxes 15-17)

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Dates

  • Creation: 1880-1951

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

The baby album contains photographs and gloves should be worn for handling these photographs. The scrapbook in Box 1 and the removed contents in Box 2 should be viewed together.

Biographical / Historical

Philip A. Bruce (1856-1933) was a historian, essayist, and poet of Scotch descent. The son of Charles and Sarah Seddon Bruce, Philip spent his youth at Staunton Hall Plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia. Deeply influenced by the social and cultural life of the plantation, Bruce received a good education from various tutors. Later, he attended Norwood Academy; and then the University of Virginia from 1873 to 1875. He obtained a Bachelor of Law... degree from Harvard in 1879.

Bruce's career was varied and colorful. His first position as editorial writer for The Richmond Times brought him recognition as a promising writer. As corresponding secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, Bruce played a major role editing its quarterly publication. Bruce never taught, but devoted his full creative energies to writing. In 1896 his major work The Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century appeared. Bruce spent time in England to research colonial Virginia records. He published a social and institutional history of Virginia and a History of the University of Virginia (5 vols.) in 1921. For additional biographical information, see Darrett B. Rutman, "Philip Alexander Bruce: A Divided Mind of the South" Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, LXVIII (Oct. 1960), pp. 387-408.

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Extent

10.6 Cubic Feet (2 legal size document boxes in Series 1. 10 legal document boxes in Series 2. One letter document box and one small flat box in Series 3. One legal document box and one small flat box in Series 4.) : These are not all housed together in the stacks.

Language of Materials

English

Metadata Rights Declarations

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