Collection number: UA 6/6/1
Size:
(4 boxes)
(1.00 cu.ft.)
About Elizabeth Ann Virgil (1903-1991)
Elizabeth Ann Virgil (1903 Plymouth MA - 1991 Portsmouth NH) was a secondary school music teacher. She was the first Black woman to graduate from the University of New Hampshire (Class of 1926). After teaching in various schools in the southern US, she moved back to Portsmouth and worked at UNH until her retirement in 1973.
Her immediate family consisted of her father William C. Virgil (1875 Bermuda – 1924 Brockton MA), her mother Alberta Curry (1874 Virginia-1951 New Hampshire), and her sisters Henrietta Mayden Virgil (b. 8 Nov. 1904-?) and Melvina Curry Virgil (1907 - ?). Her parents were married in 1902 but separated in the 1920s. The family moved from Plymouth MA to Portsmouth NH in 1910.
Elizabeth Ann entered the New Hampshire College in 1922. She boarded with Mr. J.S. Chamberlain until 1925 before moving to Smith Hall for her senior year. She majored in Home Economics and was a cofounder of the Treble Clef Music Club as well as participating in the Glee Club, Home Economics Club, and the Y.W.C.A. Cabinet. After graduation she was unable to find a teaching position as a Black woman in the North. She traveled to the South and taught at the Normal School in Bowie Maryland from 1926-1930, the Johnston County Training School in Smithfield North Carolina from 1930 until an unknown date. Later jobs included the Industrial Institute in Petersburg Florida and the "UUTS" in Ettrick Virginia.
In about 1951 she returned to Portsmouth to help care for her mother Alberta. In New Hampshire she took several secretarial jobs before working for the Soil Conservation Service before her 1973 retirement. She also served on the UNH President's Council and established a scholarship in memory of her mother, the Alberta Curry Virgil Scholarship.
About the Elizabeth Virgil Collection
This collection contains family correspondence, cookbooks containing family recipe notes, pamphlets and miscellanious small items collected by Virgil. Her own correspondence is notable for its description of her experience as a Black woman from New Hampshire teaching in the South during the early 20th century. Letters written by her mother and sisters describe their own lives and struggles as Black women in the North during the early 20th century. Other items of interest include pamphlets for Black-owned organizations she may have been involved with in both the North and the South.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], [Box number], Elizabeth Ann Virgil Collection, 1917-1975, UA 6/6/2, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Donation, 2023
Separated Material
This collection represents only a tiny part of her original estate, but is the entirety of surviving material.
Collection Arrangement
- Arrangement is by type of material, then by writer.
Collection Contents
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 1-8 | Letters to Elizabeth Ann Virgil, 1926-1975 and undated | |
| Box 1, Folder 9 | Holiday cards to Elizabeth Ann Virgil, undated | |
| Box 2 | ||
| Box 2, Folder 1-2 | Holiday cards to Elizabeth Ann Virgil, undated | |
| Box 2, Folder 3 | Letters to Melvina Virgil, 1921-1931 | |
| Box 2, Folder 4 | Letters to Henrietta Virgil, 1923-1964 | |
| Box 2, Folder 5 | Letters to Alberta C. Virgil, 1917-1945 | |
| Box 2, Folder 6 | Letters to/from non-Virgils, 1929-1932 | |
| Box 2, Folder 7 | Empty envelopes, 1929-1960 | |
| Box 2, Folder 8 | Black-owned business leaflets and Religious Materials (including Camp Farweka for Colored Girls in Stepney, CT; Afro-American Life Insurance Company, Florida), 1931-1945 and undated | |
| Box 2, Folder 9 | Educational booklets, 1928-1932 and undated | |
| Box 3 | ||
| Box 3, Folder 1-3 | Cookbooks containing annotations and handwritten recipes by members of the Virgil family, 1920s-1950s | |
| Box 4 | ||
| Box 4, Item 1-7 | Misc. small items, undated
| |
