The New River Valley Collection 

In the Spring semester of 2021, the Digital Archives class began working with what we named the New River Valley Collection. This collection of letters is primarily from the late 1800s, and includes correspondence from folks in the areas surrounding Radford and other areas such as Hummelstown, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Spring semester class of 2021 primarily focused on the largest part of the collection which is a set of correspondence between Miss Lydia Conduff and Mr. Ell Bones. Miss Conduff resided in Floyd County, Virginia in a small community called Hylton, while Mr. Bones resided in Pulaski City, Virginia. As the letters progress through time, so does the love interest between the two. In the New River Valley Collection there are seventeen complete letters from Ell Bones to Lydia Conduff and one letter from Lydia Conduff to Ell Bones. Throughout the Spring semester we digitized, transcribed,  and archived these letters as well as researched people, places, and sayings associated with the correspondence. This website serves as a tool to show the work being completed within the course and the outcomes from the research completed this semester.