I’m trying to track down the location of some manuscripts that, it turns
out, were not accurately cited in a book published in 1987 by a responsible
author and a good university press. It happens.
Here are the published citations:

William Carr to [James] Russell, July 6, 1774, James Russell papers, bundle
2, Alderman Library, Univ. of Va., Charlottesville;
AND
Thomas Fisher to [James] Russell, August 27, 1774, ibid., bundle 6.
I’ve contacted the author, who is now practicing law not history and no
longer has access to working notes, etc.


I also sought help from the archivists at the University of Virgina. They
could find no such collection at UVA, see below, but did provide another
similar citation that may cite the collection more accurately - but in a
Australian journal not on hand here.

The archivist at UVA wrote, “Your letter has me stymied. I know of no James
Russell collection in the Special Collections department. In addition to the
research you did I also checked our old card catalog with no results. . . .
In desperation I actually tried googling and discovered a similar citation
to a James Russell letter in a "bundle." A letter from John Augustine
Washington to James Russell, 1774 August 15, was cited in F. H. Schmidt,
"Sold and driven: assignment of convicts in eighteenth century Virginia," p.
25 note 106 in The Push from the Bush: A Bulletin of Social History no. 23,
October 1986. [but] unfortunately "Push From the Bush" is an Australian
publication which we do not have at U. Va.

Can anyone shed light on the respository that holds the James Russell
collection ?

Thank you


Jon Kukla
________________
www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>

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