Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box #, folder #], Audie Scott Tilghman Papers, 1925-1930, SC 0011, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

Acquisition Information

Donated to Special Collections by Ann Tilghman Coulbourn Consolvo, grandniece of Audie Scott Tilghman, on June 17, 2013.

Processing Information

This collection arrived in no particular order. Undated letters were left in original order as found in folders. Letters were removed from envelopes and foldered individually with each envelope.

Bio/Historical Note

Audie Tilghman was born in 1909 in Lunenburg, Virginia to William and Eulee Tilghman, and lived most of her life in Norfolk, Virginia. She was an only child, graduated from Maury High School, and was a life-long member of Norfolk's Epworth Methodist church. She attended the State Teachers College in Harrisonburg, Virginia from 1926-1927 as a first year student. Audie did not return to school after her first year as her family's finances dwindled. She then returned to Norfolk and worked for a Sears Department Store and later as a dispatcher for a furniture moving company. While in Norfolk, she often played the piano at the Loew's movie theatre in downtown and was involved in her church. She married Henry Ottoway Holcombe in 1948, and died in 2001 in Portsmouth, Virginia.

Scope and Content

Audie writes letters to her home in Norfolk about her adventures and days at State Teachers College in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The letters are from her first year in 1926-1927. She writes to her family, her mother, Eulee Scott Tilghman, her father, William Clarence Tilghman, and her grandmother, "Big Momma." Some letters are addressed to all three family members, others to her mother and father, and some are addressed individually. She writes of her college life, her daily schedule, class schedule, reading and homework, grades, studying for exams, dorm life, friends, food in the dining hall, attending church, chapel and Sunday school, young men visiting campus, requesting items and money be sent from home, cost of school material, weather, trips, and sketches of her dorm, Wellington Hall, and of campus. Most letters are written by Audie, but there are some letters addressed to Audie from her mother, father, and friends. Some letters were enclosed in envelopes, other envelopes were empty.

Also in this collection are items from Audie, including hand drawn and purchased cards addressed to her and her mother and father, a financial letter addressed to her father in 1930 from The Mutual Building Association about late loan payments, a Warner's Renowned Remedies Company booklet, 1926 Loew's State Theatre in Norfolk Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Union Mission pamphlet, an undated newspaper clipping about Audie's election as President of the Young Progressive Club of Epworth M.E. Church, a 1926 bill statement to The J.M. Gwaltney Co., Inc., a 1926 bill to Mr. W.C. Tilghman, and a 1926 Epworth Methodist Episcopal Church bulletin. Also in this collection are two State Teachers College items, including a 1926-1927 student handbook and a State Teachers College pamphlet with images of campus, buildings, and Harrisonburg and general information about professional data, curricula, programs of health and physical education, and student activities.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically in six folders.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Greeting Cards
• Handbooks
• Invoices
• James Madison University
• James Madison University -- Students -- History
• Letters (correspondence)
• Newspaper clippings
• Pamphlets
• Printed Ephemera
• State Teachers College at Harrisonburg (Harrisonburg, Va.)
• State Teachers College at Harrisonburg (Harrisonburg, Va.) -- Alumni and alumnae
• State Teachers College at Harrisonburg (Harrisonburg, Va.) -- History
• State Teachers College at Harrisonburg (Harrisonburg, Va.) -- Students
• State Teachers College at Harrisonburg (Harrisonburg, Va.) -- Students -- Social life and customs
• Students
• Students -- Social life and customs
• Universities and colleges -- Alumni and alumnae
• Virginia -- Harrisonburg