Please note that all folder and item titles in this collection guide have been taken from card catalogs and other inventories created in the early 20th Century.
Search Results
Legal Papers Series, 1759-1874 and undated 10 folders
Series includes legal papers, mostly related to Burt's law practice, especially the management of estates of Confederate soldiers, and the Calhoun estate.
Insurance policies, deeds of trust, and land plats pertaining to Bellevue property and W.R. Abbot's property elsewhere in Virginia and in Kansas City; legal papers of Ellen Abbot's pre-Civil War residence in Georgetown; records of W.R. Abbot's partnership with J.P. Holcombe and his assumption of Bellevue subsequent to Holcombe's death; affidavits of family members recording receipt of inheritance; and original deeds of trust recording land grants made in Virginia to John B. Minor from Sir Thomas Carr of Topping Castle.
Charles L. Abernethy Sr. papers, 1713-1972, bulk 1907-1959 85 Linear Feet — 160 boxes; 2 oversize folders — Approximately 60,855 items
Correspondence and related materials, 1806-1904, undated 0.5 Linear Feet
Series contains letters to and from Amy Morris Bradley, related ephemera, notes and receipts, third-party correspondence about Bradley, and one folder of newspaper clippings. The majority of material relates to Bradley's time in Costa Rica, her work as a field nurse and for the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, and her time as an educator in Wilmington, N.C.
In addition to family letters, there are several letters with soldiers and their relatives thanking her for her service. Included is a petition from 1865 signed by 320 soldiers recommended to the Secretary of War that Bradley be commissioned to major in the U.S. Army for her service. Clippings relate primarily to the Tileston Normal School, although some are also about Mary Hemenway, a benefactress of Tileston. Later correspondence comes from parents of students in Wilmington and from former students, many of whom maintained a close friendship with Bradley over many years. Ephemera includes programs of events at Tileston.
Caleb Budlong physician's account books, 1817-1843, 1915 and undated 8 volumes and 1 folder
Correspondence, 1791-1907 and undated 8 folders
Business correspondence concerning the sale of cotton, including commercial problems during the War of 1812, and particularly in Charleston, South Carolina. Includes an 1872 letter from Iredell Jones concerning his trial as a member of the Klu Klux Klan. Also includes some personal correspondence, primarily with the individuals John Dawson, Ladson, H. Cunningham, and B. W. Martin, and an anonymous individual identitified only as I.H.L.
Scrapbook containing correspondence, newspaper clippings, biographical profiles, poems, photographs, copies of tombstone engravings, and postcards.
Financial, 1763 -1879 and undated 1 Linear Foot
Financial records of the Dismal Swamp Land Company, including bills of sale, monthly ledgers, insurance certificates, and dividends awarded to stockholders. A substantial portion of the series consists of receipts of payment to the company and its payments to various stockholders, vendors, and legal courts.
David Bullock Harris papers, 1789-1894 6.6 Linear Feet — 12 boxes, 5,075 items (including 9 volumes)
The papers begin in 1736, when John Hall (ca. 1717-1790) and his brothers Henry and William become actively engaged in tobacco planting. The letters open with a land indenture of 1745 and continue as business correspondence with London, Annapolis, Baltimore, and local merchants and factories. Comment is made on salt as a necessity for plantation life in 1778 and 1782. An overseer's contract in 1764 gives details of plantation management and enslavement.
A letter is signed by John Hall of "Vineyard" on June 11, 1778. As a member of the Maryland Assembly, he discusses the check and balance theory as it was working out in the "young government" of Maryland, he mentions violent contests, the quit rents and state revenue, militia service, and the role of the governor. In 1787 "Publicanus" addresses the people of Anne Arundel Co. on the topic of paper money.
The will of John Hall (made in 1787) gives his estate as "Bachelor's Choice," on West River, and names his children and their families. Enslaved people are listed as part of the estate. Many of the later letters are from the families of Hall sibilings to William Henry Hall, son of John Hall. A series of law suits occurs in the 1790s as William Henry Hall settles his father's estate.
A letter dated Oct. 3, 1796, to William Henry Hall describes the life of an American seaman impressed into the British navy. Samuel Hopkins, a young Maryland plantation overseer, and John Wilson of Cheraw, S. C., comment in letters to Hall from 1810-1813 on cotton planting in S. C. Hopkins describes on July 1, 1810, a plot by enslaved people to rise against enslavers in the Marlboro District of S. C. In 1813 he writes of hiring a substitute for himself if drafted in the War of 1812. Among W. H. Hall's correspondents were William, John, David, and John G. Weems of Anne Arundel Co., relatives of Mason Locke ("Parson") Weems.
The bills and receipts contain many an "acct. sale" of tobacco, listing custom duties, charges, etc., in tobacco shipping. Estate inventories for Major Henry Hall, 1758, Thos. Lane, 1790-98, John Hall, 1795, and Mrs. Ruth Hall, 1803, include enslaved people and list possessions. Many mercantile and household accounts are included.
There are 7 volumes dated 1765-1902. Six are account books, two that belonged to John Hall and 4 to William Henry Hall. There is one volume that belonged to Harriet Hall.
One letter from November 13, 1840, recently added to the original collection, was written from John Paup, Spring Hill Plantation, Hempstead county, Arkansas, to Edward Brodnax Hicks, his partner in the plantation and resident of Brunswick County, Virginia. His thee-page letter refers to the economics of enslaved labor and buying enslaved persons; illness and the deaths of enslaved persons on the plantation; the cotton crop, insurance, and prices; and the survey of the border between Arkansas and the Republic of Texas.
Edward Brodnax Hicks papers, 1800-1913 4 Linear Feet — 6 boxes; 7 volumes; approximately 3,516 items
Four items: a bond document; a sheet with receipts; a memorandum; and
The Letters and Manuscripts series is made up of letters from Eleanor Butler, Sarah Ponsonby and family, as well as poems written by the ladies, a biography by their neighbor Ch. L. West, and an album of a visitor to Llangollen.
The letters sub-series contains letters from Eleanor Butler, Sarah Ponsonby, and Sarah Ponsonby's family. The early letters are from the Fownes, Sir William and Lady Betty, who took in Sarah Ponsonby after her father died. After Sarah eloped with Eleanor Butler to Llangollen, she wrote to her cousin, Sarah Tighe. The majority of the letters are from Sarah Ponsonby to Mrs. Tighe, recounting daily life in Llangollen Vale.
The manuscripts sub-series includes poems and proverbs written by Sarah Ponsonby and Eleanor Butler, an account of the Ladies of Llangollen written by their neighbor Ch. L. West, and an album compiled by a visitor to Llangollen Vale.
Collection includes family correspondence consisting of letters from Kell to his mother, Marjory Spalding (Baillie) Kell; his wife , Julia Blanche (Munroe) Kell; and his sisters. Beginning in 1841, Kell's letters cover the period of his service in the U.S. Navy. Topics include accounts of cruises; social activities aboard ship and on land; Commodore Matthew C. Perry; the funeral of Commodore Alexander James Dallas; the countryside in the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa; descriptions of Montevideo and Uraguay; and references to President Carlos Antonio Lopez of Paraguay. After 1860, Kell's letters concern his duties with the Confederate Navy, including running the blockade on the C.S.S. SUMTER and the subsequent abandonment of the ship.
The collection also includes family papers of Nathan Campbell Munroe of Macon, Ga., his wife Tabitha Easter (Napier) Munroe, their daughter Julia Blanche (Munroe) Kell, and other members of the Munroe, McIntosh, and Napier families. Topics include Georgia and national politics, Henry Clay and the Bank of the United States; railroad construction in Ga.; Christ Church Episcopal Parish in Macon; Montpelier Institute, Salem Female Academy, and other educational institutions; temperance; the duel between Thomas Butler King, U.S. Rep. from Georgia, and Charles Spalding; town-gown relations at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa; riverboat transportation in Alabama; and the fight between the MONITOR and VIRGINIA as described by a Confederate naval officer.
Includes bills and receipts primarily of Nathan Campbell Munroe of Macon, Ga., and a few other members of the Munroe, McIntosh, and Napier families. There are also bills, receipts, and grade reports from Montpelier Institute, Salem Female Academy, and other educational institutions.
There are varied legal papers represented, including deeds, powers of attorney, warrants, land indentures, insurance policies, wills, and leases. Topics include assault; debts; land transfers, including the transfer of slaves with land; trusteeships for children; claims for damages; and administrator accounts for estates.
Correspondence, 1817-1895 and undated 1.5 Linear Feet — 3 boxes
Correspondence consists chiefly of business letters by John Knight and his partners and friends. However, there are also many letters by Knight family members and their relatives and friends. The correspondence begins in 1817 with letters from Mary (McCleery) Knight in Indiana to her sister Frances (McCleery) Beall, William M. Beall's wife. There is also correspondence between Fanny Knight, John and Frances Knight's daughter, and Thomas McDannold during their courtship. Correspondence also includes letters from friends and relatives while the Knights were traveling abroad. Many letters also mention John Knight's attempts at various cures for ill health, including water cures, hot springs, and baths.
Between 1830 and 1864, Knight's business correspondence with Enoch Pratt, a Baltimore banker in charge of Knight's finances, William Beall, and others, predominates. Topics include: the U.S. political and economic climate: the conflict between Henry Clay and Andrew Jackson; the cotton market; banking and bank failures; investment in cotton land in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas; the purchase and sale of slaves, with some bought by William Beall and sent to Knight in Mississippi; the treatment and medical care of slaves; the operation of Knight's plantations; piracy on the Mississippi River, 1841; cholera and yellow fever epidemics in New York and New Orleans in 1832, 1833, 1837, and 1841; the economic panic of 1857; education at the Frederick Female Academy, Frederick, Maryland; financial conditions in the United States during the Civil War; the relations between the United States and England during the war; and the course of the Civil War, especially the Union invasion of Maryland. One early letter from Roger Brooke Taney to William Murdock Beall explains his refusal of the vice-presidency and discussing his interest in the U.S. presidency.
Other smaller groups of correspondence were written by Frances "Fanny" Knight McDannold, the daughter of John and Frances Knight, her children Knight and Alexandra, and husband Thomas McDannold, and that family's acquaintances.
The correspondence ends with a much smaller series of letters, which include items to Frances S.Z. Knight from her grandchildren, and other correspondence reflecting her financial and legal activities as she managed her husband's large estate and the guardianship of her grandchildren even as she approached old age.
Some additional correspondence can be found in the Legal and Financial Papers series.
Legal Papers, 1784-1894 and undated 9 folders
Legal papers include lists of enslaved people of Hyde Park and Beverly Place plantations, and related documentation of purchases and expenses; travel documents and passports; the wills of John, Frances, and Fanny Knight and William M. Beall; land deeds, indentures and partnership papers, 1784-1859, including many related to the Beall family and business partners; and a certificate document from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Silas Weir Mitchell papers, 1809-1915 and undated 1.2 Linear Feet — 2 boxes; 1 oversize folder — 747 Items
Series contains tax receipts, warrants, election results, documents related to the purchase and sale of enslaved people, pages from account books, and general business and financial-related correspondence.
Receipts, bills of sale, and other materials related to the purchase and sale of enslaved people.
Pages from account book covering purchases from December 1815 to August 1830
Although most of the Writings and Speeches Series consists of sermons, class assignments, or debates, there is some printed material included if the items contained handwritten notes. The Brotherhood folder contains sermons and other items relating to race relations, mostly within the context of the Methodist church and its relationship with African Americans. The Sermons and Notes folder include several eulogies and many prayers by Mr. Stott and other ministers, which cover a wide range of topics from the scriptures. Some of these sermons have been transliterated into Japanese.
Most of the earliest items pertain to Mrs. Walton's family, the Bakers, who had settled in Hingham, Massachusetts at least by the eighteenth-century. Letters to Mrs. Walton comprise a major segment of this series, including those to her from her father, James Baker, 1880-1882. Included are courtship letters from George Walton, a physician who attended Eleanore Walton while she was convalescing near Deland, Florida. Most were written from 1891-1892, after she returned to her home in Chicago. Letters from George Walton after the marriage suggest financial hardship and indicate that the couple was frequently separated from the beginning of their marriage and during the early childhood of their son Loring. After 1895, there is a gap in the correspondence.
Also included is George Walton's 1896 diary of a trip via wagon from Indiana to Florida. Later material and correspondence in the series pertains to Eleanore Walton's work as a clubwoman and motion picture censor in Kansas City, Missouri from the 1920s to 1948, when she retired and moved to Durham, N.C. to live with her son Loring Baker Walton, who was on the faculty at Duke University.
The papers of Loring Baker Walton, make up a separate and larger series in this collection. An extensive series of correspondence between Eleanor and her son is located there.
Walton family papers, 1730-1980 and undated, bulk 1890-1975 4.5 Linear Feet — 9 boxes; 2 oversize folders — Approximately 1700 items — Approximately 1700 items
Thomas's assorted correspondence along with extensive notes, loose account pages, and other miscellaneous items are sorted chronologically by year into General Papers. There are also volumes with travel diaries for various business ventures and letterbooks with copies of his incoming and outgoing correspondence. This series documents his various businesses and investments, his Confederate service during the Civil War, his work as an Indian agent, and his family life and friendships. Additional material on his work with the Eastern Band of Cherokee can be found in the Cherokee Papers Series; additional contracts, reports, and petitions relating to railroads and turnpikes can be found in the Infrastructure Series.
Register of Reservations Under the Cherokee Treaty of 1817, undated Volume (boards); 21x26 cm; 72 pages
North Carolina and Tennessee. Alternative title: "Register of persons who wish reservations under the Treaty of July 8, 1817." Includes names and places of residence and occasionally other remarks such as "enrolled for Arkansas."
Scrapbook (150 pages) maintained by Chamberlin that documents her family history, and contains information on the various hotels run by Franklin Tenney. There are early legal documents for the Varnum family, as well as other documents for the Tenney and Chamberlin families. In addition, there are newspaper clippings, letters, broadsides, advertisements, photographs, and invitations. Many items have been laid or tipped in.
Iveson L. Brookes papers, 1817-1888 and undated 1.5 Linear Feet — 3 boxes, 720 items (inc. 11 volumes)
Contains documentation related to the settlement of the Estate of James B. Duke and is divided into four subseries: Correspondence, Legal Papers, Financial Papers, and Printed Material Subseries. Due to Item VI of Duke's will, which provided for a bequest of two million dollars to be divided among extended family members, the bulk of the Correspondence and Legal Papers Subseries consist of letters, legal and genealogical research, affidavits, and other documents related to Item VI claims. Also documented are bequests to various trusts, including the Duke Endowment and the Doris Duke Trust; accounts of James B. Duke's wealth and property at the time of his death; the income earned and taxes levied against ongoing investments and business concerns; and the costs of administering the Estate. Individuals represented in the Estate Papers Series include George G. Allen, Charles Caldwell, Clarence E. Case, Elizabeth Duke, Nanaline H. Duke, William P. Few, Forrest Hyde, C.E. Mapes, William R. Perkins, Alexander H. Sands, James E. Stagg, and Eugene L. Vaughan.
Includes records collected and notes and reports of findings made by Charles Caldwell during his pre-trial research; notes and legal research by executors and attorneys; genealogical charts and other sources of information on the Duke family; reports and correspondence from private investigators and handwriting and document experts; affidavits, completed questionnaires, and related correspondence submitted by claimants; court records including evidence; records for the distribution of the monies under Item VI of the will; and other legal records. The bulk of the court records are related to the Elizabeth Duke et al. (Texas) petition for an Item VI distribution. Inventories of Mr. Duke's personal properties are filed under Receipts for Legacy and Refunding Bonds, 1926. Receipts for specific bequests are filed alphabetically by recipient name.
Certified copies of census listings for Granville County, NC, Orange County, NC and Carroll County, GA, and correspondence with genealogists
The majority of the 136 letters in the series were composed by Benjamin Rush, and letters he wrote to Julia during the 1793 yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia form a substantial part of the series. Main topics in the letters include Rush family matters, medical treatments for a wide variety of medical issues, American politics, and the country's relations with European nations. Other topics include mental illness and its treatment, the medical department in the Continental Army, the impact of epidemics upon commerce internationally, reading habits, parenting, and capital punishment.
Among the prominent correspondents who wrote one or more personal or professional letters to Rush or his wife are Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and George Washington. Letters from others to Julia Rush seek to continue ties with her and the Rush family, and offer condolences following Benjamin's death. Included are several manuscript copies Benjamin Rush made of individual letters he penned.
Contains a medical case book and a fragment of an essay or lecture written by Benjamin Rush, along with his travel diary for a trip to meet with the Board of Trustees for Dickinson College in 178[4]. Other materials include Julia Rush's devotional journal and exercise book, as well as an undated presentation note written by Richard Rush.
Rush not only detailed her religious thoughts and practiced devotional exercises but also outlined her feelings regarding family matters, especially in regard to her bereavement following her husband's death. She requested intersession for family members, such as when her daughters emigrated to England and Canada and their later return, when they suffered serious illnesses, and blessings for the christenings of her grandchildren. She also noted her general physical and mental health as she aged. Entries are irregular, but often annually mark the New Year and her birthday on March 2nd.
Items relating to a variety of subjects, including architecture, automobiles, fashion, political cartoons and caricatures, and military conflicts, particularly the American Civil War but also the Revolutionary, Spanish-American, and World Wars.
Visual materials from a wide range of geographic locations separated into subseries by American state/territory or foreign country. More than half of the subseries and materials are of various U.S. states, mostly on the Eastern seaboard. The majority of the U.S. material comes from the assorted subseries of the southern states, the largest of which are Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Much of the North Carolina subseries features historical images of Durham.
Most of these pictures of historical or geographic locales do not include people, but there are a significant number of street scenes and the like with many unidentified individuals. Images in this series are mostly photographs and engravings , though there are lithographs, paper prints, clippings, albums, and postcards as well.
The People Series contains images of individuals and groups from many historical periods. The majority of the images depict prominent American and European (mostly British) white men, such as political and military leaders, clergymen, and nobility. A large portion of the American individuals portrayed in this series are Civil War officers, both Union and Confederate.
Individual portraits make up the vast majority of items in this series. While most are posed studio portraits, there is a significant number of informal images as well as large gatherings of unidentified people. Photographs and engravings make up the largest group of formats in the series, though there are also lithographs, clippings and other printed illustrations, tintypes, handbills, broadsides, sketches, and postcards.
The images in this series are listed alphabetically by name or assigned title. Physical files may retain original (and no longer used) labels such as "Negro" and "Indian."