This LibGuide features the collection of former editor of the Daily Press, having served on its board of directors, and philanthropist of the greater Tidewater area, scholar, and activist Dorothy Rouse-Bottom. The collection, donated in 2012, is located on the 2nd of the Trible Library in the Summerville Reading Room.
In 1977 Dorothy Rouse-Bottom was asked to become Assistant Editor for the Daily Press, Inc., commuting between New York and Hampton while earning a Master's Degree from Columbia University in 16th-century English history. She became Editor of the Editorial Page in 1983, and served on the Daily Press, Inc. Board of Directors, until the paper, and cable companies were sold to the Tribune in 1986. During that time Dorothy and her husband, John Duffy, a noted musician and composer, purchased and restored two turn of the century homes in Hampton. After the sale of the family business, Dorothy put her energies into her love of community and history. She served on the Boards of many organizations devoted to preserving the unique history, culture, and environment of Hampton Roads, some of which include the Mariners' Museum, Christopher Newport University, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Hampton History Museum, the Rouse Bottom Foundation, the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Opera and the Virginia Symphony. Dorothy was a tireless advocate of Citizens for a Fort Monroe National Park. To commemorate Hampton's origins, Dorothy organized two conferences to mark the 400th anniversaries of the construction of Fort Algernoune at Old Point Comfort and the sacking of the Kecoughtan village.
Forever a lover of books, Dorothy was an avid collector of early Virginiana, most of which has been donated to CNU.
References
Dorothy Rouse-Bottom obituary. Daily Press Obituaries. 13 - 15 October 2011, online archives
(https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailypress/obituary.aspx?n=dorothy-rouse-bottom&pid=154055245)