Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000
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Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar Guides to Manuscript Collections Search Our Collections 2001 0703: Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000 Marshall University Special Collections Follow this and additional works at: https://mds.marshall.edu/sc_finding_aids Part of the Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000, Accession No. 2001/2006.0703, Special Collections Department, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. This Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by the Search Our Collections at Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Guides to Manuscript Collections by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Marshall University Marshall Digital Scholar Guides to Manuscript Collections Search Our Collections 2001 0703: Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000 Marshall University Special Collections Follow this and additional works at: https://mds.marshall.edu/sc_finding_aids Part of the Military and Veterans Studies Commons, Military History Commons, Political History Commons, Public History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000, Accession No. 2001/2006.0703, Special Collections Department, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. This Finding Aid is brought to you for free and open access by the Search Our Collections at Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Guides to Manuscript Collections by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Rosanna A. Blake Collection, 1818-2000 (Rosanna Blake Library) Acc # 2001.0703 Merged with 2001.0703: Acc # 2006.0703 Acc # 1979/06.0267 Acc # 1988/01.0469 Acc # 1997/06.0659 Acc # 2008/08.0766 Finding Aid Jack L. Dickinson Special Collections Department James E. Morrow Library Marshall University Huntington, W.Va. 2019 1 Rosanna A. Blake Collection Summary: Title: Rosanna A. Blake Collection Span Dates: 1818 – 2000, bulk 1861-1870 Creator: Various Repository: Marshall University Special Collections, Morrow Library (Huntington,WV) Accession numbers: Acc # 2001.0703 is the primary accession number for the Rosanna A. Blake Collection. Acc # 2006.0703 is the primary accession number for materials donated by Dr. John O'Brien. Merged Collections: Acc # 1988/01.0469 was the Rosanna A. Blake Papers, 1818-1991 Acc # 1979/06.0267 was the Marian Alexander Blake Papers, 1929-1971 Acc # 1997/06.0659 was the R. F. Vinson Letter, 1861 Acc # 2008/08.0766 was the Betty Colker Collection, 1864-1865 Access to Collection: Open Biographical Notes: Rosanna Alexander Blake was born July 16, 1912. She graduated summa cum laude from Marshall University in 1934. She received her law degree from University of Kentucky in 1945. She became a respected labor lawyer and judge in Washington. She retired in 1968. She spent her lifetime collecting Robert E. Lee and Confederate materials. Upon her death in 1987, the collection came to Marshall under the terms of her will. At that time, it was judged to be one of the top five collections of Confederate and southern materials in private hands. Since then, the collection has been expanded to house general Civil War sources. Rosanna Blake died January 16, 1987. Preferred Citation: Rosanna A. Blake Collection, Special Collections Department, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. Access and Use: For more information or to use any collection, contact: Special Collections, Morrow Library Marshall University One John Marshall Drive Huntington, WV 25755 (304)696-2343 [email protected] 2 Rosanna A. Blake (1912 – 1987) Rosanna Blake was born July 16, 1912, in Proctorville, Ohio, the daughter of Marian A. and Merrill Clifford Blake. Due to Rosanna’s frail health, her mother home-schooled her for a few years. The family later moved to Huntington, West Virginia, where Rosanna’s father became circuit clerk for Cabell County. Rosanna graduated from Huntington High School in 1930. She was an honors graduate (summa cum laude) of Marshall College, (now Marshall University,) in the Class of 1934. Her mother also graduated from Marshall College. In 1938 Rosanna received a Master of Arts Degree from the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio. From 1938 to 1942, Rosanna taught history and government at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina. During those years she accumulated enough money to be able to attend law school. She received her law degree from the College of Law at the University of Kentucky in 1945. She also taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in political science at the University of Kentucky prior to 1945. From 1945 to 1948, Dr. Blake was employed by the court review branch of the Office of the General Counsel in Washington, DC. She first was an associate attorney in the Office of Price Administration, which was dissolved soon after the end of World War II. Dr. Blake was employed as a trial attorney in the appellate court branch of the Office of the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) starting in 1948. From 1958 to 1960, she served as special assistant to the Associate General Counsel. Before her retirement in 1968, Dr. Blake served as an administrative law judge. In June of 1965, Marshall University conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on Rosanna Blake. She passed away on Jan. 16, 1987 in Washington. During her life, Dr. Blake assembled one of the finest private collections of Confederate and Southern history materials and books in the United States. Southern historians B. A. Botkin and Francis Lord stated in 1965, that the collection was the best single collection of Confederate History materials in private hands, then in existence. The collection came to Marshall University’s Special Collection Dept. in 1987 under the terms of her will. Since its arrival at Marshall, it has been expanded to include non-Confederate materials. For more information on Rosanna Blake and the collection, see the book: “Civil War Paper Items,” by Jack Dickinson. In Marshall’s catalog: E484.D53 2005. 3 Organization: Series I: Artifacts, firearms, edged weapons, and accoutrements Series II: Periodicals and serial publications (1828-2013) Series III: Imprints (Parrish & Willingham numbered*) & Pamphlets (Wright numbered**) Series IV: Sheet music, maps, and newspapers Series V: Photos & images of all types (including lithographic & photographic prints, & CDV’s) Series VI: Materials donated by Dr. John O’Brien (Acc # 2006.0703) Series VII: Manuscript materials, letters, rosters, diaries Series VIII: Rosanna Blake’s personal papers (Acc # 1988/01.0469) Series IX: Misc. Non-Confederate Items Series X: Additional Accessions Note 1: Items with note “See Special Collections staff member,” signify it is an item not on display in the Blake Room. * Note 2: The imprints (Series III) are arranged according to T. Michael Parrish and Robert M. Willingham, Confederate Imprints: A Bibliography of Southern Publications from Secession to Surrender. (Austin, TX: Jenkins Publishing Co.; and Katonah, NY: Gary A. Foster, n.d.) ** Note 3: Pamphlets (Series III) are numbered according to John H. Wright, Compendium of the Confederacy, an annotated bibliography, Vol I & II, (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing Co., 1989) Note 4: Books and other monographs housed in the Blake Library are not listed in this finding aid. They can be found in Marshall’s online catalog: https://mulibiiidb.marshall.edu/ Note 5: Sheet music (Series IV) is numbered using Parrish & Willingham numbers. (See Note 2, above) 4 Series I: Artifacts, firearms, edged weapons, accoutrements Firearms: On display: Virginia Manufactory smoothbore, single shot .69 caliber percussion musket, converted from flintlock in 1861. Richmond, Va. Not on Display: (See Special Collections staff member.) Eli Whitney .58 caliber smoothbore percussion musket, single shot. Mfg by Whitney Arms Company, New Haven, Conn., ca. 1858-1863. Burnside carbine, .54 caliber, single shot, dropping block breech loader, ca. 1864. Mfg by Burnside Rifle Co., Providence, RI. Frank Wesson single-shot rifle, .38 caliber, ca. 1862-1865, early breech loading, metallic cartridge rifle. Tower Enfield Cavalry Carbine, pattern of 1856, .577 caliber, single shot, percussion cavalry carbine. Mfg in England. Colt Police percussion revolver, 1862 model, .36 caliber, 5 shot percussion revolver. Pepperbox percussion revolver, .36 caliber, six barrels, Mfg by Allen & Thurber, Worcester, Mass., ca. 1850’s. Percussion horse pistol, .58 caliber, single shot. Converted from flintlock by A. Waters. 1837. Spanish boot percussion pistol, .38 caliber, single shot. Heavily engraved. Ca 1840’s. Richmond Armory Musket, .58 caliber percussion, single shot, muzzle-loader. Richmond, Va.,1863 Danzig .69 caliber smoothbore, single shot, percussion musket, Mfg in Danzig, Poland, 1830’s. Colt Police Special, .38 Special caliber, 6 shot revolver. Nickle plated, pearl handles, some flaking. Ca. 1905. Reproduction Colt Navy revolver, Percussion, black powder, 6-shot, .44 caliber revolver, reproduction of Colt Navy model. Reproduction of Colt New Police with 5.5 in barrel, percussion, black powder, 6-shot, .36 caliber revolver, reproduction of Colt New Police or Colt Army. Reproduction of Colt New Police,