massive hoard of hampton roads history needs a home
0 Comments | The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA, Jan 10, 2009 | by MIKE GRUSS
SOME NORFOLK postcards from the 1920s hang on the wall at the top of my stairs. They’re a set of three, showing the “new” Federal Building, a bustling Granby Street and the Custom House. They looked good. They were cheap. I bought them and put ‘em in a frame. Presto. Instant art.
They provide a sense of place and a bit of history.
From yellowed pictures to antique furniture with worn corners to boxes of dated knickknacks, most people have some way of tying themselves to the past. For me, it’s small. It’s the postcards.
And that’s why I was interested in Jack Hamilton. Hamilton aimed for something grander.
He was a Baptist minister in Newport News, and he was one of those people who could find a neighbor to greet in every shop and feast on a steady stream of hellos at Peninsula restaurants. His first hobby was collecting books. His personal library numbered an astonishing 30,000 volumes. Then he started stashing away Hampton Roads memorabilia.
Hamilton loved this region. He was raised here. He raised his family and five children here. He was fascinated by the evolution of local cities. He wondered at the way businesses turned over.
He worked at churches in Newport News for more than 40 years. The whole time, he was always looking for another piece for his collection – always looking for something that would one day end up in his closet or in his attic.
He gathered yearbooks from the Louise Obici School of Nursing, postcards of Norfolk buildings, Boy Scout flags, photos of the shipyards, humor books for Virginia judges, Christmas menus from the Navy and an autograph from Pat Nixon at a ship launch.
There were rare photographs from Hampton Institute – the precursor to Hampton University – exchanges between Richmond Times- Dispatch reporters, a Currier & Ives print of the sinking of the Civil War ship Cumberland and a book about the history of Norfolk County from 1902.
The items were uniquely Hampton Roads.
A sign for fresh crab meat. A recording of “Swing Low” by the Hampton Institute Quartet. Prints of tugboats motoring through the Elizabeth River.
In all, the collection is more than 7,000 items.
Hamilton died in July. He was 86. After loading up a moving van of his goods and buying folding tables at Costco, his son Jack is displaying the boxes, frames and dozens of binders in a building behind his home in Williamsburg.
“I knew he had a lot of stuff,” he said. “I didn’t know how much was there.”
To make room for the entire collection, Jack told me someone’s house would need a “Hampton Roads” room . A “Hampton Roads” wing might be more appropriate.
It could take months just to catalog.
Ideally, the material would go to a museum or a library or a historical society, but there are five siblings who have a stake. Jack put the collection on eBay last week.
The minimum bid is $62,500, a number based on Jack’s experience in the rare-book business. If it doesn’t sell, he’ll probably re- list it.
Hamilton didn’t have a master plan for his collection. He knew it was unrealistic that all of the items would stay together. He knew well from years of collecting that property changes hands.
And he knew that one day, someone else would appreciate the find.
Mike Gruss, (757) 446-2277, mike.gruss@pilotonline.com
Hamilton collection
More information on the collection can be found at www
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