Subject Files, 1853-1891 (bulk 1870-1889) and undated

Extent:

33 containers; 14.5 lin. ft.

Scope and content:

The Subject File series is arranged alphabetically and primarily relates to Mahone's political and business interests. Many of the topical headings are further subdivided. Politics comprises the bulk of the series and includes the following major subdivisions:

Appointments, 1870-1890. Includes recommendations, requests, and petitions for people to be assigned to various governmental offices, the most extensive file of which pertains to local post-office positions in Virginia. Other offices and departments represented in this file include the Government Printing Office, the Norfolk Navy Yard and Navy Department, the Treasury Department, the Interior Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and judicial appointments.

Canvassing, 1880-1889. Contains lists of canvassers, groups to be canvassed, the number of registered voters by political party and often by race, the number of people who voted in previous elections, and the number of people who were delinquent in paying their head tax. This information is usually quite detailed and broken down to the precinct level.

Elections, 1879-1889. Includes lists of county and city electoral officials, information about election frauds, and election returns, the majority of the material being from 1889 when Mahone ran for governor.

Financial Papers, 1880-1890. Includes records of campaign expenses for several elections.

Virginia state conventions, lists of delegates to the state, Conservative (1877), Readjuster (1880, 1881) and Republican (1886, 1892) conventions.

Printed Material, 1867-1894. Primarily pamphlets and broadsides. Usually the broadsides relate to a particular candidate, meeting, or campaign issue, while the pamphlets concern a variety of issues. Highlighted in the pamphlets is information about the Republican national, state, and district conventions; tariff duties on various items such as sugar and woolens; the Virginia state debt; and the Readjuster movement.

Another major topic is Railroads. Included is information on several railroads in which Mahone had a financial interest. Among them are the Norfolk and Petersburg, the Orange and Alexandria, and the Virginia and Tennessee railroads. However, the bulk of these files concerns the Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio (AMandO) Railroad which Mahone created in 1870. There are extensive files relating to the financial and legal issues surrounding the railroad which suffered an economic setback after the panic of 1873 and went into receivership about 1879. (The railroad was later sold and became known as the Norfolk and Western Railroad.) These files also contain maps of the routes of several railroads and other miscellaneous items pertaining to railroads in general.

Other topics found in the Subject Files include the Civil War (commissary papers from Mahone's Brigade, 1863 Jan. - Dec.); the Danville Riot, 1883; Richmond Whig (financial records, 1875-1885); the Virginia Military Institute, 1865-1881; the Roanoke Navigation Company, 1880-1892; the American Reduction Company, 1887-1888; and the Carolina Oil and Creosote Company, 1886-1890.

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