Armistead Boothe Papers (MS164)

Collection

Identifier: MS164

Staff Only

Content Description

These papers reflect Armistead Boothe's advocacy of civil rights legislation, and his political activity with such issues as public schools, transportation, segregation and other political issues in Virginia, especially during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Personal papers in this collection relate to family matters such as Gardner Boothe's courtship of Eleanor Carr and to Armistead Boothe's school and military experiences. The collection includes scrapbooks, journals, albums, memorabilia and other forms of personal papers from various family members. One scrapbook documents Joseph Armistead Carr's career and death as a Rough Rider (box 173B). Among the highlights of the business, legal, and financial papers in this collection are Captain William Boothe's ship logs. Genealogical papers relate to the Boothe, Carr, Harrison, and other families of Virginia and Alexandria.

Dates

1803-1990

Creator

Boothe, Armistead L. (Armistead Lloyd), 1907-1990 (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Armistead Boothe was an Alexandria lawyer and politician who got his start practicing law with his father, Gardner Lloyd Boothe (1872-1964). Armistead Boothe's law career in Alexandria lasted from 1929 to 1970 with a two year break while he served as special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General from 1934 to 1936 and 2 1/2 year stint in the U.S. Navy during World War on the second Hornet aircraft carrier. Boothe represented Alexandria in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1948-1956 and in the State Senate from 1959-1964, and served as City Attorney in the early 1940s. Boothe married Elizabeth (Bettie) Ravenel Peelle in 1934. Gardner Lloyd Boothe also featured prominently in Alexandria not only as an attorney, but as president of the First National Bank and the First and Citizens National Bank, as member of the Virginia Theological Seminary board of trustees from 1916 to 1956, and as vestryman of Christ Church from 1895 to 1956. He married Eleanor Harrison Carr (18811968) of Petersburg, Virginia, in 1906. They lived at 711 Prince Street in Alexandria. Gardner Boothe's parents, Captain William Boothe (1818-1894) and Mary Leadbeater Boothe (1839-1914), also figure in Alexandria history. Captain Boothe went to sea at an early age and worked up to ship captain. He later served as president of the Alexandria Water Company, vice-president of the First National Bank, and General Superintendent of the American Coal Company. Mary Boothe came from the Leadbeater Apothecary Shop family.