Letter from Jean Bierman of the Washington College library, Chestertown, answering G. E. Valley Jr.'s questions about Thomas Charles Ringgold and the building of East and West Halls, with photocopied pages of Fred W. Dumschott's history of the college (summarized), GEV's question "So who was Mr W. Ringgold?", and a printed list of his VLCM computer files.

[Notebook p. 22. Typed letter from the Washington College library, Chestertown, Md. (Librarian's Office), pasted in. GEV's notes: "rec'd 18 July 86"; "see p 75, VLCM vol 3 of 26 Feb 86!"; at the foot, "originals in Ringgold Book".] July 14, 1986

George E. Valley, Jr. 607 Main Street Concord, MA 01742

Dear Dr. Valley:

I'm sending a copy of the pages in Washington College by Fred W. Dumschott, that talk about the planning and building of East and West Halls. They talk about W. Ringgold, rather than Thomas Charles Ringgold though.

Apparently, the buildings were designed by Mr. Elija Reynolds who presented several plans to the Board.

As you will read, Mr. Ringgold's plans altered the front of the buildings and the Board approved. To answer another of your questions, to some extent, some slaves were used in the construction as was the custom.

We do not have the information that we might have because of the fire in 1916 in which valuable records and historical papers were lost.

Sincerely Yours, [signed] Jean Bierman Jean Bierman Administrative Assistant

[Notebook pp. 23-24. Photocopied pages 68-71 of Fred W. Dumschott's history "Washington College", sent by the college library and pasted in sideways. Stamped "rec'd JUL 18 1986". Summarized, not copied.] The pages cover the college's 1854 campaign to raise money and build new halls. The Board planned new physical facilities in February 1854. Mr. Elija Reynolds presented plans for two buildings, one east and one west of the existing building. In the bidding that followed, the lowest bidder was "Mr. W. Ringgold of Millington, Maryland." He won the contract, and the board accepted his proposed changes to the fronts of the buildings. The pages also describe a brick-making machine bought from Mr. Smith of Baltimore that did not work out, with Ringgold among those negotiating the contract, and an engraving captioned "East, West, and Middle colleges, c. 1860".

[Same photocopied Dumschott pages, shot again with the facing page in view. See n029.]

[Notebook p. 25. GEV's note, and two printed computer disk directories pasted in.] There was no brother or uncle or son of Thomas Ringgold named William. So who was "Mr W. Ringgold"?

[Two printouts headed in GEV's hand "DK0: /date" and "DX0: /date", both dated 24-Jul-86, listing his word-processor files named VLCM04 through VLCMXX with their sizes and dates (17 May 1985 to 24 July 1986). The index calls this page the "VLCM file index".]