Conditions Governing Use:

Before reproducing or quoting from any materials, in whole or in part, permission must be obtained from the Special Collections Research Center, and the holder of the copyright, if not Swem Library.

Conditions Governing Access:

Permission is required for use of portions of this collection, namely the folder of material relating to Elizabeth Jean Acker Bristow's career at Wayne State University. Consult a staff member for details. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, such as the Virginia Public Records Act (Code of Virginia. § 42.1-76-91); and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (Code of Virginia § 2.2-3705.5). Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. If sensitive material is found in this collection, please contact a staff member immediately. The disclosure of personally identifiable information pertaining to a living individual may have legal consequences for which the College of William and Mary assumes no responsibility.

Preferred Citation:

Bristow Family Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Swem Library, College of William and Mary

Processing Information:

Accessioned and minimally processed by Benjamin Bromley in September 2011. Processing and finding aid completed by Lauren Wallace SCRC Staff in September 2011.

Biographical Information:

Further information about this individual or organization may be available in the Special Collections Research Center Wiki: .

Scope and Contents

Papers, circa the 1930s and the 1960s-1970s, of the Bristow Family of Middlesex County, Virginia. The collection includes letters written to Joseph Christian Bristow, Jr., while at the University of Richmond and letters written to him while serving in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. The primary correspondent is Kitty Major, of Stormont, Virginia, who seems to be in a relationship with Bristow for most of their correspondence. Topics include Major's daily activities, events happening in Stormont and Urbanna, marriages, local gossip, and Bristow's lack of communication with Major, among other items. Other correspondents include Kitty Major's sister, Deborah Major, Bristow's parents, people with whom Bristow went to the University of Richmond, and other soldiers, among others. Included is a card mentioning the protests against the war in Vietnam.

There are also photographs, news clippings, and material relating to the graduate education of Joseph Bristow, Jr., and Elizabeth Jean Acker Bristow at Wayne State University, as well as two scrapbooks of Mabel Irby. One scrapbook is a poetry assignment and the other a travel scrapbook of the western United States in 1939. Irby is the maiden name of Katherine Bristow, the mother of Joseph Christian Bristow, Jr.

Arrangement of Materials:

Organized into three series: Series 1: Correspondence; Series 2: Personal Materials; Series 3: Scrapbooks.

Related Material

Artifacts were transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03): Red and White Striped Cloth Fragment (2011.566.01) and Rust Colored Cloth Fragment (2011.566.02)

Separated Material

Artifacts were transferred to the Manuscripts Artifact Collection (Mss. 1.03): Red and White Striped Cloth Fragment (2011.566.01) and Rust Colored Cloth Fragment (2011.566.02)

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Letters (correspondence)
• Middlesex County (Va.)--History
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975
• Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--United States