Dates: 1920-1986
Collection Number: MS 444
Physical Location: Archive Room Shelves
Extent: 2 archival boxes (1.5 linear ft.)
Creators/Collectors:
- George Gilmer
- Ruth Dettor Gilmer
- Betsy Gilmer Tremain
Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research
User Restrictions: No restrictions
Preferred Citation: Gilmer Family Memorabilia Collection, MS 444, Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society (ACHS), Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information: This collection was donated by Betsy Gilmer Tremain, daughter of George Gilmer and Ruth Dettor Gilmer, in several installments since 2002.
Biographical/Historical Information:
George Gilmer was born in Charlottesville, Va. April 13, 1888. He graduated from the University of Virginia Law School in 1910. Mr. Gilmer practiced Law in Charlottesville all his life. He was Commonwealth Attorney from 1917-1918 and was president of the Charlottesville Albemarle Bar Association, Commissioner in Chancery and Assistant Commissioner for Account of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. He was an active member of the UVA Alumni Association, The Lawn Society, the Red Land Club, the Board of Trustees of UVA Medical School Foundation, the American Hemerocallis Society and the Men’s Garden Club of Charlottesville. He died February 16, 1977.
Ruth Dettor Gilmer, wife of George Gilmer was born in Charlottesville on March 26, 1891. She was very active in Charlottesville local affairs. She was member and co-founder of the Virginia Ceramics Society, the Civic League, the Albemarle County Historical Society, Albemarle Arts Associations, Arts Group A.A.U.W., the Lawn Society of Virginia, Farmington Country Club, Blue Pencil Club and Appalachian Trail Club. She died November 30, 1983.
Betsy Gilmer Tremain was born in Charlottesville December 21, 1922. She attended Lane High School and was a 1942 graduate of Sweet Briar College. She graduated from Lane High School in 1938 and from Sweet Briar College in 1942. In 1943 as member of the United States Navy Waves, she received the rank of Ensign. She married Myron B. Tremain in 1943. Mrs. Tremain was member of the Rivanna Garden Club, the Colonial Dames, The University League and Farmington Country Club. She died June 9, 2009.
Scope and Content: The Gilmer Family Memorabilia Collection consists of personal correspondence, memoranda, notes, genealogical research, postcards, photographs, and some museum items. In 2023, ACHS merged all installments in one single collection. [It seems that there are many objects that were donated or “on loan” by Mrs. Gilmer in 1972. See: Accession folder]
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged alphabetically.
Box 1
f. 1: Accession folder
f. 2: Coombs, Elizabeth Fontaine Maury to Ruth Gilmer – correspondence, 1924-1955
f. 3: Gilmer Family Memorabilia, undated
f. 4: Gilmer Family Memorabilia – notes, receipts, advertisements, newspaper clippings, 1927-1977
f. 5: Gilmer Family – memorabilia related to friendship with Virginia Governor Lindsay Almond, 1949-1986
f. 6: Gilmer, Francis Walker – copied transcript of correspondence, 1824 (unknown provenance)
f. 7: Gilmer, George Ancestral Sketch by Betsy Gilmer Tremain, photocopy, 1991
f. 8: Gilmer, George – Iris and Hemerocallis Society, and related “flower subjects,” 1935-1979
f. 9: Gilmer, George – memorabilia, 1920-1974
f. 10: Gilmer, George Honorable Military Discharge and letter from Homan Walsh about the war, 1918-1919
f. 11: Gilmer, George – medical identifications, 1938-1976 (restricted file)
f. 12: Gilmer, George – miscellaneous correspondence, 1920-1962, undated
f. 13: Gilmer, George – miscellaneous memorabilia, 1919, 1951
f. 14: Gilmer, George – University of Virginia memorabilia. Includes minutes of UVA Medical School Foundation Board of Trustees (1974-1975) and other alumni memorabilia, 1969-1975
f. 15: Gilmer, Ruth D. – correspondence re ACHS Memorial Book, 1967
f. 16: Gilmer, Ruth D. – correspondence re demobilization of armed forces (1946-1948); correspondence re local affairs related to Charlottesville, 1970-1972
f. 17: Gilmer, Ruth D. – incoming personal correspondence, 1918-1970
f. 18: Gilmer, Ruth D. – letters, notes, thoughts, drafts, 1955-1971
f. 19: Gilmer, Ruth D. – handwritten letters, notes, thoughts, related to the City of Charlottesville, 1959-1975, undated
f. 20: Gilmer, Ruth D. – correspondence related to the William Writ portrait, 1967-1968
f. 21: Gilmer, Ruth D. – handwritten thoughts and notes, 1960s – 1977, undated
f. 22-23: Gilmer, Ruth D. – personal memorabilia, 1962-1977 (2 folders)
f. 24: Gilmer, Ruth D. – miscellaneous correspondence, 1932-1976, undated
Box 2
f. 1: Gilmer, Ruth D. – Notes “to assist Edmund Campbell in placing Period furniture in Edgar Allan Poe room” at University of Virginia, undated
f. 2: Gilmer, Ruth D. – Notes on Pen Park, undated
f. 3: Lazenby, Richard D. to Betsy Gilmer – correspondence, 1941-1943
f. 4: Lewis Family History – copy of manuscript, provenance unknown, undated
f. 5: Miscellaneous photocopies, handwritten notes, typescripts, invitations related to Pen Park cemetery, Gilmer Hall, Gilmer genealogy, etc., [1927-1970]
f. 6: Photographs and blueprint:
1. Midway School (until 1939), n.d.
2. St. Anne’s School, n.d.
3. Preston Court Apartments, n.d.
4. (White House) in Fry Springs Rd. corner with Cleveland Ave., n.d.
5. Unknown house, n.d.
6. House on Jefferson & 4th St., n.d.
7. Platt of Slayden Tract, 1940 (blueprint)
f. 7: Smith, Lemuel Franklin Memorial by John S. Battle – copy of the Virginia Bar Association print, 1957
f. 8-10: Tremain, Betsy Gilmer – incoming personal correspondence, 1943-1980 (3 folders)
f. 11: Tremain, Betsy Gilmer to her mother Ruth D. Gilmer – correspondence, 1943
f. 12: Tremain, Betsy Gilmer – military file documents, 1942-1945
f. 13: Tremain, Betsy Gilmer memorabilia – postcards, photographs of Charlottesville buildings ca. 1920, Lane’s Chain Edition of 1938, 1920 – 1977
f.14: Tremain, Betsy Gilmer wedding memorabilia, 1943
Other materials:
Photocopy of Gilmer Family Photographs
Family tree
Printed materials:
Virginia Place Name Society, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Occasional Paper No. 14, June 1960
Charlottesville 1792- 1962. 200th Anniversary Celebration
Captain Jack Juett, Junior. American Revolutionary War Hero 1754-1822. Reprinted and Distributed by Jack Jouett Chapter. National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, 1966
Persons:
- Coombs, Elizabeth Fontaine Maury
- Gilmer, George
- Gilmer, Ruth Dettor
- Lazenby, Richard D.
- Tremain, Betsy Gilmer
Family Names: Gilmer family
Subjects:
- Albemarle County (Va.) -- History
- Charlottesville (Va.) -- History
- Letters (Correspondence)
- Genealogy
Geographical Names:
- Virginia – Albemarle County
- Virginia – Charlottesville
Record Types:
- Correspondence
- Memorabilia
- Photographs
Related Collections: MSS 05-3 - The Papers of George Gilmer,1936-1977 (virginia.edu)
