Conditions Governing Use

The materials from Washington and Lee University Special Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used should be fully credited with the source. Permission for publication of this material, in part or in full, must be secured with the Head of Special Collections.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Baer Family Papers, WLU Coll. 0155, Special Collections and Archives, James G. Leyburn Library, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA.

In some cases the citation format may vary. Please contact Special Collections staff to verify the appropriate format.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collected by Ethelyn B. Goodman. Gift of her estate, 1974.

Biographical / Historical

The Baer family were German immigrants, who settled in Panther Gap area of Rockbridge Co., Virginia.

Scope and Contents

This collection in comprised principally business and family correspondence and general papers of the Baer family of the Panther Gap vicinity of Rockbridge County, Va. with a concentration of papers relative to the family's land holdings such as maps, indentures, and wills. Other highlights are a group of twenty-one manuscript weaving drafts for making household textiles, a family Bible in German(l744), local militia fines, genealogical materials, some relating to the Decker and Hite (Heyt) families, and two farming account books of Joseph Baer, 1853-1859.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Account books
• Agriculture
• Business records
• Correspondence
• Decker family
• Genealogy
• Germans
• Goodman, Ethelyn B.
• Hand weaving -- Patterns
• Hite family
• Immigrants
• Indentures
• Maps
• Promissory notes
• Receipts (Acknowledgments)
• Textile crafts
• Virginia -- Goshen
• Virginia -- Panther Gap
• Virginia. Militia
• Wills

General

Folders 5, 12, and 21 will be on loan for exhibition June 1, 2024-May 31, 2025.