Correspondence, 1908

The Correspondence Series consists of ten boxes of materials arranged chronologically with special day cards, sympathy cards, and letters on Judge Shackelford's death in 1936 arranged alphabetically at the end of the series. Much of the earlier correspondence consists primarily of letters Shackelford received from his Central University classmates and Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers, Richmond acquaintances, and parents. A small portion of the correspondence concerns business matters, but the majority is of a personal nature. Interesting glimpses of Richmond educational, social, and cultural life is found in the correspondence along with discussions on local, state, and national political issues, especially the watershed 1896 presidential election between William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley and the Spanish American War. Correspondence of the 1920s and 1930s is largely between family members when daughters Keen and Field attended college and between the daughters and their college and Richmond friends. Of particular interest is correspondence among family members in 1931 when Judge Shackelford sought the Democratic party gubernatorial nomination. The 1940s correspondence is mostly addressed to Mrs. Shackelford and is of business nature concerning the Shackelford estate. Correspondence of the 1950s and 1960s is primarily that of Dr. Harvey C. Blanton, Field's husband and local physician.