Eastern Shore Public Library Digital Archives

Voting Register

“List of Colored Voters Registered at Temperanceville Precinct in Atlantic Magisterial District.”   Registrations date from 1902 to the 1950’s in Temperanceville Precinct, Atlantic Magisterial District, Accomack County.

The Callahan Photography Collection

The Doran S. Callahan collection of Eastern Shore photographs was donated to the Eastern Shore Public Library by Mrs. Doran S. Callahan (Ruby I.) on May 5, 1974. The photographs were collected by Doran Callahan’s father, Griffin Clay Callahan, and complement a collection of printed historical materials donated to the Onancock High School library and later transferred to the Eastern Shore Public Library. The photographic images represent a variety of scenes from Accomack and Northampton Counties. Subjects include homes, churches, courthouses and other buildings, landmarks, and gravestones. Some of the buildings depicted no longer exist.

The Countryside Transformed

The Countryside Transformed: The Eastern Shore of Virginia, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Creation of a Modern Landscape.

Article from the journal Southern Spaces, published July 31, 2007.

The Countryside Transformed: The Railroad and the Eastern Shore of Virginia, 1870-1935.

This digital archive is a joint project of the Eastern Shore Public Library and of the Virginia Center for Digital History at the University of Virginia.

ESPL is a FamilySearch Affiliate Libary

Bring your laptop or sign in to FamilySearch from one of the public computers at any of our four ESPL library locations: Chincoteague, Accomac, Nassawadox, or Cape Charles.  Signing in to FamilySearch at ESPL allows access to additional records that are only available at Affiliate libraries.

ancestry.com

Access Ancestry Library Edition on any of the public computers at one of our four ESPL library locations: Chincoteague, Accomac, Nassawadox, or Cape Charles.  In library use only.

Eastern Shore Museum Network

Explore member museums in Accomack and Northampton counties in the Eastern Shore Museum Network Brochure

Profiles of Honor 

The Virginia WWI and WWII Commemoration Commission and the Library of Virginia partnered to create a state-wide online collection of original World War I and World War II manuscripts that still remain in private hands.  The scanning project visited Nassawadox on April 12, 2019 and Parksley on April 13 – 14, 2019 to scan and digitally preserve wartime letters, photographs and more.  The digital images of items will be stored by the Library of Virginia and be available through both the Commission and the Library of Virginia web sites.

Highlights from the Eastern Shore visits can be found here (Nassawadox) and here (Parksley).

World War I Questionnaires

After the conclusion of World War I, the Virginia War History Commission conducted a survey of veterans in Virginia through the use of a printed questionnaire. Everything from family life, to training and promotions, to reflections about war is covered in the questionnaire. Photographs in uniform were also requested. Help the Library of Virginia transcribe these WWI Questionnaires for glimpse into the lives of WWI veterans:

Accomack County: https://fromthepage.com/lva/accomack-county-va

Northampton County: coming soon!  The originals can also be accessed by searching the Library of Virginia catalog here: http://lva1.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/F/?func=file&file_name=find-b-clas13&local_base=CLAS13

Yearbooks

Yearbooks from Accomack and Northampton County up to 1999. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia and Internet Archive, and with thanks to Cape Charles Museum for allowing us to use their scans of Cape Charles yearbooks.

This project is ongoing.  Have a yearbook to donate?  Contact us at espl@espl.org.

CBBT study

A study of the socio-economic effects of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel upon the Eastern Shore of Virginia, by Littleton W. Simpson and Patrick A. Rush, published by the Virginia Council of Highway Investigation and Research, June 1965.