Charles L. Abernethy, Sr. (1872-1955) was a Democratic Congressman representing eastern North Carolina from 1922-1935. His professional papers consist chiefly of correspondence and records from his law practice and legal cases, with smaller amounts of writings and speeches, financial papers, printed materials, diaries, and some personal papers, including early deeds. There is also a large group of photographs, photo albums, and clippings scrapbooks chiefly documenting Abernethy's political career. One album from 1907 contains postcards of Beaufort, N.C.; another contains photographs of a three-month Congressional trip to Alaska, 1923, and includes images of President and Mrs. Harding and a diary transcript of the trip. Other items include some papers of his son, Charles Laban Abernethy, Jr., also a lawyer, and a volume of his poetry.

The collection principally comprises a large series of correspondence and legal records accumulated by North Carolina lawyer and politician Charles L. Abernethy, Sr. during his tenure as U.S. Congressman. There are papers relating to the senior Abernethy's law practice and business dealings in Beaufort and New Bern, N.C. (including legal papers concerning land development in Carteret County, Cape Lookout, and Horse Island maintained by both father and son).

Other materials include deeds and other early papers, political speeches, newspaper clippings and scrapbooks of Abernethy's political career, a diary, and the Abernethy coat-of-arms. There are also papers assembled by Abernethy's son, Charles L. Abernethy, Jr., a lawyer in his father's firm, and a volume of his poetry.

A lare group of photographs and albums includes a photograph album containing snapshots the elder Abernethy took during a congressional trip to Alaska for three months of 1923 (including photographs of President and Mrs. Harding), as well as a typescript of his diary from the trip; and an album containing postcards of Beaufort, N.C, in 1907, featuring a celebration of either the 200th anniversary of the town's founding or the opening of passenger and rail service to the town (or both).

The Asian Maps Collection comprises maps of Korea, China, and Japan, dated from 1771-1945. Several of the maps are full color, and include woodblock prints.

The Asian Maps Collection comprises maps of Korea, China, and Japan, dated from 1771-1945. Several of the maps are full color, and include woodblock prints. Several maps include information on military installments. A few maps include hand-written notations.

Correspondence, diaries and notebooks, financial papers, legal papers, genealogical documents, printed materials, and other materials pertain to the Knight family of Natchez, Mississippi and Frederick, Maryland. Materials in the collection date from 1784 to 1960, and the bulk date from the 1840s to the 1890s. The majority of the papers concern the personal, legal, and financial activities of John Knight (1806-1864), merchant, plantation owner, and investor; his wife Frances Z. S. (Beall) Knight (1813-1900); and their daughter Frances (Fanny) Beall Knight; as well as relatives, friends, and business partners, especially banker Enoch Pratt and William M. Beall. Significant topics include: life in Natchez, Mississippi and Frederick, Maryland; plantations, slaves, and slavery in Mississippi and other Southern states; 19th century economic conditions, especially concerning cotton, banking and bank failures; U.S. politics in the 1850s-1860s; the Civil War, especially in Maryland; cholera and yellow fever outbreaks; 19th century family life; and the family's travels to Europe, Russia, and other places from 1850 to 1864. Genealogies chiefly relate to the descendants of Elisha Beall of Maryland, and the McCleery, Pettit, and McLanahan families of Indiana and Maryland.

Collection contains correspondence, diaries and notebooks, financial papers, legal papers, genealogical documents, printed materials, and other items pertaining to the Knight family of Natchez, Mississippi and Frederick, Maryland. Materials in the collection date from 1784 to 1960, with the bulk of the papers dating from the 1840s to the 1890s. The majority concern the personal, legal, and financial activities of John Knight (1806-1864), merchant, plantation owner, lawyer, and investor; Frances Z. S. (Beall) Knight (1813-1900), his wife; and their daughter Frances (Fanny) Beall Knight; as well as relatives, friends, and business partners, especially banker Enoch Pratt and William Beall.

Significant topics include: life in Natchez, Mississippi and Frederick, Maryland; plantations, slaves, and slavery in Mississippi and other Southern states; 19th century economic conditions, especially concerning the cotton market; banking and bank failures; U.S. politics in the 1850s and 1860s; the Civil War, especially in Maryland; reports of cholera and yellow fever outbreaks; 19th century family life; and the Knights' travels to Europe, Egypt, Turkey, and Russia from 1850 to 1864.

Genealogies chiefly relate to the descendants of Elisha Beall of Maryland. There are also two late 19th century albumen photographs of homes in West Virginia (James and Lizzie Brown's "Kingswood") and Maryland ("Beallview," the house of Elisha Beall). A few other images of the Knights are found in the Rubenstein Library's Picture File Collection.

The papers of John Knight concern his business relations with the Beall family of Maryland; his plantations in Mississippi, Hyde Park and Beverly Place, and their management; the purchases, expenses, and medical care of the enslaved people who lived and worked on those plantations; investments in cotton land in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas; economic conditions in the United States, especially concerning the cotton market; the effects of the Civil War, especially in Maryland; and the family's trips to Europe. His notebooks keep careful track of expenses and income, as well as travel. The many land deeds, indentures, slave lists, bills of purchase, and other financial and legal documents in the collection, some dating to the 1700s, chiefly relate to his activities as an attorney and landholder. Many also relate to the legal and financial activities of the Beall family, particularly to William M. Beall. John Knight was also interested in medicine, so the collection holds memoranda books and other papers with prescriptions, receipts, and instructions for medicines treating ailments of the time.

Papers of his wife, Frances (Beall) Knight, include 21 diaries and some correspondence, as well as financial and legal papers. Her diaries describe in detail life in Natchez, Mississippi, religious life, family members, visits, the weather, and health. Of particular interest are her travel diaries, which document the family's travels to Europe, with side trips to Egypt, Turkey, Russia, and other places. Her later papers deal with her financial activities as a relatively young widow, and her role as guardian of her two grandchildren, Knight and Alexandra McDannold, who lived with her after the early deaths of their parents, Fanny Knight McDannold and Thomas McDannold.

The ten diaries of Frances (Fanny) Beall Knight, the daughter of John and Frances Knight, document in some detail their trips to Europe, and details of her father's death abroad in 1864; the collection also contains some of her school and family notebooks and correspondence. Later papers refer to her husband, Thomas Alexander McDannold, who may have been the author of at least one of the anonymous notebooks in the collection, and their two children, Alexandra and John.

20th century dates in the collection refer to a typed draft of a paper on 19th century packet ships, and an article from a Maryland history magazine.

Collection contains fourteen French documents written between the 18th century and the 20th century. The contents of these documents are broad in scope from sales accounts to personal letters to official government documents. Of note are several documents that refer to American cities such as Augusta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Savannah. Several of the documents are written by or are addressed to fairly prominent historical figures: British Ambassador Charles Stuart, Minister of the Interior Alexandre-Auguste Ledru Rollin, General Joseph Léopold Sigisbert (Hugo), and Cardinal Jean-Sifrein Maury.

Correspondence, legal papers, and financial records concerning Edmund Jennings Lee’s law practice, estate settlements, and personal family matters. Subjects include Confederate refugees in Canada, the formation of West Virginia as a state, conditions of Virginia in 1865, and bridge and turnpike construction and management. Includes family writings and diary entries from Henrietta Bedinger Lee, Edmund Jennings Lee III, and Edwin Gray Lee. Also includes bills, receipts, and financial ledgers from Edmund Jennings Lee’s law practice.

The Edmund Jennings Lee II Papers have been divided into four series: Correspondence, Personal Files, Legal Papers, and Financial Records. The majority of materials concern Lee’s legal practice and business interests in Shepherdstown, WV. Materials include letters between Lee and his brothers, Charles Henry Lee, Richard Henry Lee, and Cassius Francis Lee; letters concerning family matters; legal briefs, documents, land surveys, bill, receipts, and financial ledgers from Lee’s legal practice; and miscellaneous family papers and writings, including diaries from Henrietta Bedinger Lee, Edmund Jennings Lee III, and Edwin Gray Lee.

Collection of published clippings and journal/magazine excerpts related to the life and works of English writer Charles Lamb (1775-1834). Includes some of Lamb's writings, as well as literary criticism and biographical clippings.

This assembled collection of 47 documents, largely manuscript letters, covers nearly the entire span of British rule in India and is arranged in rough chronological order. The collection includes governmental reports, personal correspondence, and a printed map. Most of the documents are quite short though there are a few longer pieces and collections including a plan for opium sales, a series of reports on Indo-American trade, and a long letter on army discipline prior to the Vellore Revolution.

Miscellaneous items relating to the history of India, especially during the period of British rule, including a manuscript (12 pp.), 1798, by John Baird discussing a plan for increasing the opium trade in India; letters, 1799-1800, from Sir James Henry Craig, commander of a British division in Bengal, concerning the military situation in India; letters, 1801-1802, from John Chamier, chief secretary to the Madras government, pertaining to his desire for a seat on the Madras Council and future reforms; manuscripts, 1796-1805, discussing various aspects of the import and export trade between India and America, recording statistics and noting products involved; a map, 1820, of portions of Nagpur and Rewa provinces; and a letter, 1849, from Tomas Boaz requesting funds for a college to train Indian clergymen.

Other materials include a list, 1849, of goods purchased from Boston, Mass., merchants; letter, 1866, from Henry R. E. Wellesley, Madras 1st Light Cavalry, describing his duties and the climate in India, hunting trips, British politics, and the Sepoy army; letter, 1867, from Francis Napier, Tenth Baron Napier, governor of Madras, concerning the structure of the Indian government and his desire for a strong central government; letter, 1879, from General Frederick Sleigh Roberts, First Earl Roberts, discussing parts of his campaign in Afghanistan; letter, 1880, from Sir William Milbourne James criticizing British military ventures into Afghanistan; and a letter, 1882, from General Frederick Sleigh Roberts objecting to British policy of abandoning Kandahar and expressing fear of a Russian advance.

Additional items include a letter, 1883, from John Wodehouse, First Earl of Kimberley, secretary of state for India, concerning the Rajputana railway and the Egyptian telegraph; letters, 1886, from Sir Herbert Hope Risley discussing his work on a census glossary and on marriage customs in Bengal; letter, 1893, from Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary in India, discussing his book, Helen Trevelyan; letter, 1902, from Sir Evelyn Baring, First Earl of Cromer, pertaining to plans for the Indian railway; letter, 1915, from Sir Stephen George Sale reviewing the legal basis for viceroyalty in India; letter, 1930, from Sir William Malcolm Hailey criticizing English newspapers for using India as an issue against the Labour Party and discussing the Indian Congress Party; and a letter, 1947, of West Bengal, discussing some of the changes in India since Independence.

Assembled by the staff of the Duke University Medical Library, the History of Medicine Picture File holds thousands of small and large images organized into series for individuals, places, and subjects related to the history of medicine and medical practice. The great majority portray notable physicians, scientists, naturalists, philosophers, and other individuals with important links to medicine. Places featured include hospitals and other institutions of medicine, and scenes in specific locations related to events in medical history. The subject categories cover many topics, with the largest groups including advertising, anatomy, caricatures, cartoons, pediatrics, physicians, and surgery. Predominant formats are engravings, lithographs, print materials (such as posters, clippings, and postcards), and many modern photographic reproductions of older works; there are also albumen photographs, negatives, slide reproductions, and other image formats found throughout the files. Forms part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Assembled by the staff of the Duke University Medical Library, the History of Medicine Picture File offers thousands of images of individuals, places, and subjects dating from the 1500s to 2002, with the great majority portraying physicians, scientists, nurses, and other individuals related to the history or practice of medicine. Places featured include hospitals and other institutions of medicine, and scenes related to events in medical history. Subject categories include advertising, anatomy, books, caricature, childbirth, embryology, medical instruments, pediatrics, physicians, and surgery, among many others.

Most of the images measure in size under 10x12 inches, but there are approximately 500 larger pieces. The predominant formats are engravings, lithographs, cartoons, clippings from magazines and newspapers, and modern photographic prints, but there are also albumen photographs and other image formats found throughout the files. Items were acquired by the Duke Medical Library from various sources over many decades and functioned as a vertical file for library students and researchers.

The oversize items range in size from 11x15 to 23x30 inches, and offer a varied assemblage of portraits, caricatures, posters, broadsides, and reproductions of artwork, in black-and-white and in color. Items include portraits and scenes with notable physicians; illustrations of various medical practices, procedures, and instruments; anatomical views, some possibly as early as the 17th century; medical advertisements and promotional literature; depictions of events in medical history in Europe and North America; caricatures; 20th century illustrations for book covers; and many other topics.

Images and prints are often accompanied by reproduction negatives and slides created by Medical Center Library staff. Many of the images in this collection were also scanned by Medical Library staff and are available through the Medical Center Library & Archives Duke Medicine Digital Repository database. For more information, please contact the History of Medicine Curator at the Rubenstein Library.

Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

The sixty-three manuscript volumes in this collection range from 10 to 154 pages, and were created in Japan from about 1810 to 1849, chiefly by medical students. The notebooks usually take one of two forms: transcriptions of lectures and demonstrations, and bodies of knowledge written up as manuals by well-known Japanese physicians of the time, especially Hanaoka Seishū and Takenaka Bunpō. Topics covered include herbal medicines and other prescriptions; treatments for diseases of the eyes and other parts of the head; surgery, particularly for cancers, tumors, and fistulas; breast cancer; smallpox; scurvy; osteopathy; treatment of wounds; suturing; hematology; gynecology and obstetrics; and pediatric medicine. Some notebooks contain black-and-white and color hand-drawn illustrations - many full-page - of surgeries, close-ups of suturing, bandages and wrappings, osteopathic manipulations, and medicinal plants. In most cases, the author or copyist recorded details such the place and time of the lecture and the name of the medical school. There are references in the notes to at least a dozen other contemporary or earlier physicians, and to earlier dates for the work being copied - these range from 1677 to 1796. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

The sixty-three Japanese manuscript volumes in this collection were created from 1810 to 1849, chiefly by medical students, and document Japanese medical training and practice during the time also known as the Edo period, and the conjoining of Chinese-inspired materia medica with current Western medical practices introduced primarily by the Dutch. The notebooks range in length from 10 to 154 pages, and typically take the form of transcriptions of lectures and demonstrations; in many cases the writer recorded the place and time of the demonstration and the name of the medical school. There are also volumes which represent the collected knowledge of well-known Japanese physicians of the time, especially Hanaoka Seishū but also Takenaka Bunsuke (Nanpō). There are references in the notes to at least a dozen other contemporary or earlier physicians.

The copyists and note-takers signed their names at the end of the volumes; the name Yamanaka Shūsai Hideyuki appears most frequently; also appearing frequently are the names of editors and proofreaders, and corrections and later annotations in red ink are found in a number of the manuscripts. In addition to the contemporary dates, there are many references to the earlier manuscript versions being copied: these dates range from 1677 to 1796.

The topics covered by the volumes range widely, and include: herbal medicine and other prescriptions; treatments for diseases of the eye and other parts of the head; surgery, particularly on cancers, swellings, and fistulas; breast cancer; smallpox; scurvy; osteopathy; the treatment of wounds; hematology; gynecology and obstetrics; and pediatric medicine. There are several volumes containing illustrative drawings, some hand-colored and others are black-and-white; they include detailed images of surgical procedures and close-ups of suturing; examples of bandages and wrappings; osteopathic manipulations; and medicinal plants.

One volume in particular stands out above the rest, consisting of over ninety carefully drawn, full-page, hand-coloured illustrations, nine of which are double-page, displaying patients with dislocated limbs, skin cancer, or requiring sophisticated bandages, as well as illustrations of internal organs and one page with surgical instruments. One of the illustrations is a realistic portrait of Hanaoka Seishū, with a beard and spectacles (probably imported from Holland), showing him excising a cyst from a patient. At the end of the volume, two different explanatory texts in Kanbun (classical Chinese read in the Japanese manner) provide comments in the volume about the diseases and their treatment.

Each codex in the collection is composed of leaves of rice paper, with hand-sewn bindings and soft covers, and calligraphy in black and red ink. Some of the texts are written in Shino Japanese (Chinese reading style) using all Kanji characters, while other texts are in Shino Japanese written in 19th-century characters - the language of the educated class in Japan. At least one volume (Vol. 21) contains Dutch words for medicinal compounds. The script reads back to front; the script is laid out in vertical columns that are read from right to left across the page. In some cases, pages or sections and covers are missing, and some volumes bear traces of insect damage, but for the most part, the volumes are remarkably well-preserved.

All titles are taken when possible from the covers or from section headings; approximate translations in English provided by library staff and are in brackets. In the case of missing titles, a title was supplied from content by library staff. Titles and significant names are also given in Japanese characters, and some older calendar dates are also given in modern Western dates. Illegible or untranslatable text is indicated by blank lines.

Volumes are arranged in this collection guide in two series: sets of notebooks, and single volumes. The items in the sets are linked by common themes or bodies of knowledge, and range from two to eleven volumes. They include collections of works by one physician, as well as sets of manuals and lecture notes on topics such as obstetrics and gynecology, metallurgy, opthalmology, pox and skin diseases, and others. Single volumes are housed after the sets.

All titles are taken when possible from the covers or from section headings; approximate translations in English provided by library staff and are in brackets. Titles and significant names are also given in Japanese characters.

Each volume has been assigned a unique institutional identifier.

Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Alabama family whose members were instrumental in founding the Alabama School for the Deaf in Talladega. The Johnson family's papers chiefly contain letters (1927-1930) from Nellie Hall Johnson (wife of Joseph Henry Johnson Jr.), of Talladega, Alabama, to her son, Seaborn Johnson, while he was a student at Alabama Polytechnic Institute and elsewhere. Other papers represent three generations of the Johnson family in Alabama and Georgia, and include correspondence, some legal and financial papers, student papers from the University of Alabama, and printed material. Of particular interest is the 1861 muster roll of the Alabama Rifles, and items referring to the sale of slaves. Other topics in the family papers include life in Cave Spring, Georgia and the history of Hollins College. Persons represented include Abner Darden, Joseph Henry Johnson Jr., and the Asbury and Darden families.

The Johnson family's papers chiefly contain letters (1927-1930) from Nellie Hall Johnson (wife of Joseph Henry Johnson Jr.), of Talladega, Alabama, to her son, Seaborn Johnson, while he was a student at Alabama Polytechnic Institute and elsewhere. Other papers represent three generations of the Johnson family in Alabama and Georgia, and include correspondence, some legal and financial papers, student papers and writings from the University of Alabama, and miscellaneous printed material.

The legal papers contain several early land deeds and plats for Georgia and Alabama. Some of the deeds and bonds were Abner Darden's. Darden was the father-in-law of Joseph Henry Johnson. Other legal records are those of Mary E. Latimer as guardian of the minor heirs of Richard V. Asbury, will of Joseph H. Johnson, undated constitution and by-laws for the formation of the Cave Spring (Ga.) Mechanic's Aid Association or Joint-Stock Company to sell family groceries, and interrogations taken by Abner Darden for a lawsuit in Polk Co., Ga., relative to the financial condition of Woodland Female College. Among the financial records are those of Abner Darden, Richard V. Asbury, Mary E. Latimer, inventories of the sale of personal property of the late William Darden of Taliaferro Co., Georgia, on Nov. 10, 1842, and of the sale on Dec. 22, 1842, of his slaves, which includes prices.

Among the miscellaneous papers are a copy of the original muster roll of the Alabama Rifles (Alabama 1st Infantry Regiment, Company "D") Apr. 3, 1861, of which Joseph H. Johnson was captain, and a commission of Johnson as a representative of the Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Kentucky to the Grand Commandery of Alabama, May 28, 1870. Printed items include a list of Georgia officials, circa 1857, that shows that the state senators and representatives were either of the Democratic or American Party; a memorial article on Abner Darden by his lifelong friend Alexander H. Stephens, July 30, 1877; and the June 8, 1893, issue of The Messenger of Talladega printed on silk and devoted solely to the life, career, and death of Dr. Joseph H. Johnson.