Scope and Content Note
The diaries of Edmund Ruffin (1794-1865) span the years 1856-1865. The collection details Ruffin's activities and opinions as an experimentalist in agriculture, anti-Unionist and slavery advocate, and describes plantation life in his Virginia estates at Marlbourne and Beechwood. Other subjects include the activities of county and state agriculture societies; travels and social gossip relating to the area between Amelia County and Richmond, Virginia, as well as theatrical and other entertainments in Richmond; observations on religion, including Calvinism and Unitarianism; Ruffin's views on state, county, and Confederate and Union politics; and battles and skirmishes, particularly at Charleston and Fort Sumter, South Carolina, and Manassas, Virginia. Included in the diaries are copies of letters, holograph maps, pamphlets, clippings, and fragmentary essays.