The Wyndham Robertson Papers contains approximately 2,300 letters, 1,200 receipts and accounts, and 250 deeds and legal documents. It is housed in twelve manuscript boxes. The material is broken up into four categories, the Robertson family correspondence arranged chronologically, John Robertson Correspondence, the Loyal Company papers arranged chronologically (1 1/2 boxes), and miscellaneous bound material such as account books, the family register, and books and magazines used by Robertson in his historical researches.

The family papers written before 1815 largely consist of the correspondence of Wyndham Robertson's grandfather, Archibald Robertson, a factor on the James River, to his family in Glasgow. Family affairs were the main subject of the correspondence which was continued by Wyndham's father, William. An eighteenth century commonplace book and two diaries of travel dated 1776 and July, 1797, presumably of Wyndham's father, date from this period.

In 1815 the correspondence of Wyndham, himself, commences. His early letters are principally to his father and to three of his brothers, John Robertson, member of the

Virginia legislature, attorney general of the state in 1823 and congressman, 1834; to Thomas Bolling Robertson, governor of Louisiana; and Powhatan Robertson. After his sojourn at William and Mary College from 1819 to 1821, he wrote to many of the friends he made there. From the time of his marriage to Mary F. Trigg Smith in 1831 until the Civil War, which includes the period of his governorship (1836-1838) there is singularly little in the collection dealing with his political career. The letters are addressed to Wyndham and are largely from his family and are concerned with family affairs, although in the years before 1838 Wyndham was immersed in law and politics and after that date was concerned with several business ventures. The correspondence does, however, give numerous descriptions and insights into Southern ante-bellum society. Particularly interesting in this respect are the letters of Wyndham's nephew, Henry Skipwith, and his niece, Gay Bernard, during the latter's stay in the Washington society ruled by the Calhouns. There are also some letters and accounts concerning Wyndham's estate at Abingdon, part of his wife's dowry, his plantation of Bayou Black in Louisiana, and his land speculations in Arkansas. Although there is little of sustained correspondence on political matters, the following individual letters are of interest: the original of the letter of resignation of Governor Tazewell to Wyndham Robertson, March 30, 1836; over a dozen letters written by Nicholas P. Trist to Wyndham between the years 1830 and 1860; a letter from Nicholas Biddle to Wyndham, February 21, 1839.

Beginning with the convention of 1856 and continuing through the year 1870, the correspondence is rich in political matter of the Civil War both for the state of Virginia and, especially in 1860, at the national level. The tribulations of the family during the years of battle and the struggle to retrieve the family's shattered fortunes after the war are fully recorded in their papers and letters. Noteworthy are letters from Edward Bates and General Winfield Scott during the election crisis of 1860 and from Generals Curtis Lee, Robert E. Lee, and J.E.B. Stuart, and from Samuel J. Tilden during the war.

The papers of Wyndham Robertson from the end of the Civil War until his death in 1888, although containing scattered political correspondence, are principally concerned with his business interest in the Buena Vista Plaster Company managed by himself and his two sons, Frank and Wyndham, and his antiquarian studies in the history of Virginia, particularly work on his book, The Descendants of Pocahontas, which was undertaken even before the outbreak of the Civil War. Wyndham Robertson was particularly proud of his descent from Pocahontas (he named one of his children Pocahontas, and another Powhatan). His genealogical papers contain extensive early documentation of the history of the Boiling family.

During the last years of his life, Wyndham had an active correspondence with other famous Virginia historians of his day such as William Wirt Henry, Alexander Brown, Hugh B. Grigsby, Conway Robinson, and Phillip S. Slaughter. The papers from 1888 to 1925, the date of the sale of the Buena Vista Plaster Company, record the growth of the Company and its problems under Wyndham's sons, Frank and Wyndham. Some reminiscences of the younger Robertsons are also contained in this part of the collection.

Because of its unique political interest the correspondence between Wyndham and his elder brother, John, extending from 1818 to 1872 has been treated as a distinct series within the collection. John Robertson sent lengthy reports of the current Washington scene after his election to Congress in 1834.

The papers of the Loyal Company of Virginia, previously dispersed by date through the collection, comprise a third chronological series, bearing no relationship to the rest of the Robertson papers. Captain Francis Smith, Wyndham's father-in-law, was a leading member of the Loyal Company during its last years. Wyndham apparently acquired the papers when he became executor of Smith's estate in 1840. The papers date from the mid-eighteenth century and contain land surveys, receipts, land grants, accounts, and records of court litigations. Notable are a series of fourteen grants of land on parchment dated between 1785 and 1834 signed by the following governors of Virginia: Patrick Henry, Edmund Randolph, Beverly Randolph, Robert Brooke, James Wood, James Monroe, John Page, James Barbour, and Littleton W. Tazewell.

Three groups of papers comprise the fourth series, Miscellaneous Robertson Papers, at the end of the collection: Robertson's Library of Books and Magazines Used in his Historical Researches; Scrapbooks and Diaries; and Robertson's Research Papers on the Descendants of Pocahontas.