Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the William Nelson Page Papers, #1991, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Miss Mary Josephine Page, 1952

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton, and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Coal trade--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Industries--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Industries--Virginia--Rockbridge County--History--19th century.
• Industries--West Virginia--Fayette County--History--19th century.
• Industries--West Virginia--Greenbrier County--History--19th century.
• Industries--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Iron industry and trade--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Iron industry and trade--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Iron mines and mining--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Iron mines and mining--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Page, William Nelson, 1854-1889.
• Pittsburgh and Virginia Railroad Company.
• Railroads--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Railroads--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Real estate development--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Real estate development--West Virginia--History--19th century.
• Richmond (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Staunton (Va.)--Social life and customs.
• Virginia and Pittsburgh Land Association.

William Nelson Page (1854-1889) worked from 1880-1889 in the coal, iron, and railroad industries in West Virginia and Virginia. Page operated chiefly in Fayette and Greenbrier counties, W. Va., and Rockbridge County, Va. In 1881 he was superintendent of Hawks Nest Coal Co., a British owned company in Ansted, W.Va. That same year he became a financial agent of Iron and Steel Works Association of Virginia. He later held positions at Mount Garbor Coal Co., and the Pittsburgh and Virginia Railroad Co. He was also involved in the development of Glenmore Iron mines near White Sulpher Springs, W.Va. He was sometime president of the West Virgina Coal Exchange. He had family connections in Richmond and Staunton, Va., and married Miss Emma Gilham in 1882.

This collection contains business correspondence, almost entirely 1880-1889, of Page as superintendent, manager, and director of several coal and iron companies, of the Virginia and Pittsburgh Land Association (a land development company), and of the Pittsburgh and Virginia Railroad Company. The correspondence with other company officials, attorneys, geologists, bankers, and suppliers of equipment concerns organization, operation, and expansion of coal, iron, and related industries in the region. Also included is personal correspondence with relatives in Staunton and Richmond, Va.