Continuing our series on local museums, we present information on three Mathews County treasures which are under management by the Mathews County Historical Society. The Mathews County Historical Society partners with Mathews Memorial Library to maintain the Mathews Archives. Two hundred eighteen separate collections with 8,600+ items are housed in the library, located on Main Street and are accessible during library hours. Researchers can surf the collections on the library’s website, mathewslibrary.org, by linking to the Library Catalog. Many substantive documents and items of interest are also available in Digital Collections.

Housed in the Mathews Archives are several original letters of the Lane family. Shown is the July 20, 1864, letter from Gen. James H. Lane to his mother, describing the death of his brother and aide Lt. Oscar Lane on July 17, who was mortally wounded in battle. Included in the letter is a lock of hair obtained by Gen. Lane at the Officer’s Hospital. Sue Boru...