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The Augusta County Historical Society has been actively collecting paper documents, photographs, and books pertaining to the history of Augusta County, Staunton, and Waynesboro since the society’s inception in 1964. The collection now includes a great deal of social, architectural, and genealogical material. The scope of the collection spans the time period from the first European settlement in Augusta County until the present. Although there are some 18th century manuscripts, the bulk of the collection is 19th and early 20th century. Included in the collection are numerous letters, financial ledgers, diaries, and other paper ephemera from private individuals, businesses, and the many past and present educational institutions in the area like the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind and Augusta Military Academy.
Within the collection are several thousand manuscripts and other paper documents, including locally published newspapers and magazines. The collection also contains a particularly rich photographic collection. There are numerous architectural and landscape photographs of the area, including an extensive collection of mill photographs. Hundreds of portraits are included in the collection of Margo Kent, a studio photographer who worked in Staunton during much of the 20th century. This portrait collection will be a rich resource to historians and genealogists in the next century. We have many family histories pertaining to local history and genealogy. Many of the books are rare and out of print. The entire set of WPA papers completed on Augusta County is in the collection as well as the architectural survey work done by Ann McCleary through Virginia Landmarks in the 1980s.
The finding guides on this page amount to about 25% of the materials accessioned in the entire collection. The Society’s collections comprises about one thousand accessioned entries. A number of large collections are presently being catalogued and processed, but they are not listed here. The guides below are the result of a generous grant from the Virginia Genealogical Society. As more guides are created, they will be posted on this site. For further information on contents, visit the historical society and see the staff.