Dorothy Bodell speaking at a memorial service honoring the Confederate soldiers buried at the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs marker and monument, on May 22, 1994.

Introduction:

Dorothy Heavener Bodell is a resident of Blacksburg, Virginia, and the author of Montgomery White Sulphur Springs: A History of the Resort, Hospital, Cemeteries, Markers, and Monuments, published by Pocahontas Press of Blacksburg in 1993.

Montgomery White Sulphur Springs was a Montgomery County, Virginia, natural mineral springs resort, established in the early 1850s, that quickly became one of the Virginia's most popular spas. During the Civil War the resort served as a major hospital for Confederate wounded, tended by nuns supplied by the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy in Charleston, South Carolina. After the war the resort returned to its former glory, and was visited by wealthy and notable people of the region and the state. By 1890 Montgomery White Sulphur Springs began to decline in popularity, and the property was sold in 1904.

A marker and monument commemorating, and a cemetery of, the Confederate dead who died during the Civil War at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs lays on the property, and is maintained by the Dr. Harvey Black chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Scope and Content:

The collection consists primarily of newspaper clippings, correspondence, research notes, photocopies of historical documents, and files Bodell compiled while writing her book. The collection also includes an audiotape (1992) of an interview of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Cox about Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, photographs of the cemetery where the Confederate dead were buried, and information about Bodell's 40th reunion of the class of 1948 from Blacksburg High School.

Provenance:

The materials about Dorothy H. Bodell's 40th high school reunion were originally donated in 1988. Additions of materials concerning her research about Montgomery White Sulphur Springs were donated by her in 1994 and 1996. The collection was organized in February and June 1998 by Kris Borgesen, student assistant, and Laura Katz Smith, Manuscripts Curator, Special Collections Department.

Contents List:

Box 1

• Folder 1: Photcopies of research files about Montgomery White Sulphur Springs (MWSS) from 1850 to 1960
• Folder 2: Photocopy of an Act of Assembly incorporating MWSS, 1855-56
• Folder 3: Photocopies of newspapers clippings about MWSS, 1855-1932
• Folder 4: Photocopies of articles describing MWSS during the Civil War, 1860s, including a list of Confederate soldier deaths
• Folder 5: Photocopies of Sister Mary De Sales Brennan's letters to Bishop Patrick Lynch in Charleston, South Carolina, 1861-64
• Folder 6: Photocopies of research files with information about MWSS during the Civil War, 1861-65
• Folder 7: Miscellaneous research files, 1866-1886
• Folder 8: Photocopies of writings about MWSS in the 1870s
• Folder 9: Photocopies and research files, 1886-89
• Folder 10: Photocopies and research files, 1890-1904
• Folder 11: Photocopies and research files, 1904-1992
• Folder 12: Photocopy of "Bishop England's Sisterhood, 1881-1929," written by Sister M. Anne Francis Campbell, in 1968, with other research files
• Folder 13: Information about the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, 1981-92
• Folder 14: Blacksburg [Virginia] High School class of 1948 reunion information, 1988, with a paper prepared by Bodell about how life in Blacksburg has changed in 40 years
• Folder 15: Information about the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, 1992
• Folder 16: Audiotape of an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Cox about MWSS, 1992
• Folder 17: Photocopies and research files, 1992-1993

Box 2

• Folder 1: Photographs of MWSS Cemetery, 1993-94
• Folder 2: Typewritten and revised draft of Montgomery White Sulphur Springs: A History of the Resort, Hospital, Cemeteries, Markers, and Monuments, ca. 1993
• Folder 3: Published copies of Montgomery White Sulphur Springs: A History of the Resort, Hospital, Cemeteries, Markers, and Monuments, published by Pocahontas Press of Blacksburg in 1993
• Folder 4 Information about Bodell's search for a Civil War era painting of MWSS, 1993-94
• Folder 5: Photocopies and research files, 1993-95
• Folder 6: Information about "A Memorial Service for the Confederate Soldiers Buried at the Montgomery White Sulphur Springs," given on May 22, 1994.
• Folder 7: Newspaper clippings about MWSS, the SMART Road, and Bodell, 1994
• Folder 8: Letters to Bodell about MWSS and her book, 1994-1996
• Folder 9: Manuscript notes taken of passages in History of the Confederated Memorial Associations of the South, n.d.
• Folder 10: Information about Catholic churches, n.d.
• Folder 11: Microfilm reel from the National Archives of hospital rolls information
• Folder 12: Photographs of the MWSS, n.d.

Return to:
Guide to the Manuscript Collections in the University Libraries
Manuscript sources for Montgomery County, Virginia, History
Manuscript sources for Appalachian History
Manuscript sources for Women's History Research
Manuscript sources for Civil War Research