Julia Oxrieder describes this Collection

in an Excerpt from a Letter in May 1999:

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Dear [Friend],

 

     For the past several years I've been copying Virginia Gazette articles that interested me. 

I now have over 800 neatly typed pages that are much easier to read than the microfilm, 

and I've also indexed them.   . . .  I have not looked at every single issue during this period, but I have looked enough for you to get the flavor of the era, the concerns of the community, the activities of the various women's groups, what Editor W. C. Johnston was for and against.   . . .

 

     The Gazette sold for a dollar a year, and there were special rates for mid-westeners who were considering a move to our area.  The Front Page might carry National, International, or Local News, or be mostly covered with liquor ads!  Patent Medicine Ads frequently appeared in the social column!  In the early years, items from present day Norge had a "Norway" dateline.   . . .   One contributor during this time was Lydia Wright, a Catholic (there weren't many in town then) and a suffragist who loved nothing better than to heckle Mr. Johnston.  

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     Mr. Johnston revived the Gazette in 1893. (The paper appeared only about a third of the time in the nineteenth century.)    . . .    I am fascinated by the paper of this time and the news from James City, Charles City, New Kent, York counties as well as Williamsburg. 

 

                                                                                   Sincerely,

                                                                                       Julia

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PS. The only birth [announcement] I found in all of these issues 

names the Father and Grandfather, but not the Mother.

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