Collection consists of papers of John Branch (1782-1863), governor of North Carolina, U.S. senator, and secretary of the navy, and of his nephews, Joseph Branch, lawyer, and Lawrence O' Bryan Branch (1820-1862), lawyer and brigadier general in the Confederate Army, concern political appointments in 1829-1830; land speculation, chiefly in Leon County, Florida; the legal practices of Joseph and Lawrence O' Bryan Branch in Florida and North Carolina; and Whig politics and Union sentiment in North Carolina. Volumes include a scrapbook and daybook, account books, a letter book, a notebook on public questions, and a list of political constituents supporting Lawrence O'Bryan Branch.

The letters of this prominent North Carolina family relate chiefly to business, legal practice, and politics. John Branch (1782-1863), Governor of North Carolina, U.S. Senator, and the Secretary of the Navy, has a few papers relating to appointments in 1829 and 1830. He became Governor of Florida Territory, 1843-1845.

Correspondence between 1840 and 1860 shows Governor Branch and his nephews, Joseph and Lawrence O'Bryan Branch, deeply involved in land speculation, chiefly in Leon County, Florida. Family, business, and political matters are mentioned throughout their correspondence.

Lawrence O'Bryan Branch (1820-1862) graduated from Princeton University and entered legal practice and politics in Tallahassee, Florida in 1841 and in North Carolina in 1848. He began to battle the Whig control of the State, with the result that he was elected to the Congress in 1855, serving until 1861. His correspondence reveals that by 1859 the question of disunion was deeply disturbing to many North Carolinians. Numerous letters show strong feelings of loyalty to the Union. Branch was also initially loyal, until following the fall of Fort Sumter. He joined the Confederacy in April 1861. Civil War correspondence is scant.

Legal papers in the collection center on cases in his law practice. The bulk of the volumes are from Lawrence O'Bryan Branch's political career, recording political questions and constituents in Eastern North Carolina. There are also volumes documenting John Branch's estate, and account books kept by Lawrence O'Bryan Branch's wife, Nannie Blount Branch.

Seven scrapbooks of clippings related largely to Greensboro Female College and Trinity College (both Randolph County, NC and Durham, NC). Also included is a volume which lists articles related to North Carolina history.

This collection contains 7 scrapbooks and one notebook listing articles. It is unclear as to which Peacock created them, as both Dred and Ella had strong ties to the main subjects: Greensboro Female College and Trinity College (now Duke University). The scrapbooks include the Ethel Carr Peacock Memorial bookplate and consists largely of clippings and event programs as they pertain to both colleges. There are also clippings related to topics such as the American Civil War and local news and dignitaries. These volumes are fragile and should be handled with care. The notebook contains a list of newspaper and magazine articles on North Carolina history compiled by Dred Peacock and at least one other individual, possibly Charles Lee Raper.

Family based in Morganton, North Carolina, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Collection includes family correspondence, miscellaneous receipts and financial documents, and an account ledger kept by Laura Pearson Ray detailing her financial expenses between 1899 and 1929. Subjects include courtship, family news and events, illnesses, the death and mourning of a child, World War I, and United Daughters of the Confederacy activities. Locations discussed or referenced include Morganton, Fayetteville, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and Clinton, South Carolina.

The collection has been arranged into series of Correspondence, Financial Materials, and Miscellaneous. The Correspondence series, the largest of the three, includes family correspondence that has been sorted by family member. Correspondents include Laura Pearson Ray, Donald Ray, Wilhelmina Tate, Sue Virginia Tate, Jennie Pearson Tate, Gordan Tate, and other smaller amounts of letters from various Pearsons and Tates. Topics range widely, but notable subjects include courtship, particularly between Laura Pearson and Neill W. Ray; Reconstruction conditions and North Carolina politics (Governor Zebulon Vance, the state's Reconstruction governor, was Laura's cousin); family health; condolence letters following the death of Jennie's son in 1902; travel, particularly Donald Ray's accounts of his trip through Europe in 1912; World War I, including letters from Gordon Tate while he served in France; and various financial matters.

The Financial Materials series contains miscellaneous receipts, again sorted by family member. Most notable in this series is the account ledger kept by Laura Pearson Ray following her husband's death in 1899, which includes entries about Cumberland County families, including Ray, Lilly, McKay, Monroe, Thornton, Broadfoot, Pearson, Hale, McRae, Haigh, Remsburge, and more. This series also includes a typescript copy of the ledger, for research purposes, which also details its known provenance.

The Miscellaneous Materials series contains several miscellaneous notes and receipts, including a bound constitution from the Ladies Memorial Association of Burke County. Also included are Laura Pearson Ray's sewing patterns and some fabric, and several newsclippings with Tate family obituaries.

The Slade family were white plantation owners and businessmen in Martin County, North Carolina. This collection (2781 items; dated 1751-1929) comprises family and business correspondence, account books, memoranda books, daybooks, time books, court records, and other papers of Jeremiah Slade, William Slade, and of several generations of the Slade family. The papers reflect the financial and family affairs of a plantation owning family in the antebellum South, and include student letters from the University of North Carolina, Trinity College, and the North Carolina State and Normal College (Greensboro); Mexican War and Civil War letters; legal papers and land deeds; plantation records, including lists of enslaved persons; and materials related to slavery and post-Civil War agricultural advances. Also contains materials relating to the forced removal of the Tuscarora Nation in the early 1800s and the leasing of their land through Jeremiah Slade.

This collection (2781 items; dated 1751-1929) comprises family and business correspondence, account books, memoranda books, daybooks, time books, court records, and other papers of Jeremiah Slade, Thomas Slade, William Slade, and of several generations of the Slade family. The papers reflect the financial and the family affairs of a plantation-owning family of the antebellum South, and include student letters from the University of North Carolina, Trinity College, and the North Carolina State and Normal College (Greensboro); Mexican War and Civil War letters; legal papers and land deeds, including correspondence and receipts with other N.C. politicians, judges, and officials such as Asa Biggs; plantation records, including lists of enslaved persons; and materials related to slavery and post-Civil War agricultural advances.

There is extensive correspondence between the women of the Slade family, reporting on local and family news as well as offering opinions and accounts of their various studies and activities. There is also a fair amount of business correspondence and account logs from the various Slade ventures, including fisheries, logging, hog farming, tobacco crops, cotton, and horse breeding.

Of note are the materials relating to the forced removal of the Tuscarora Nation in the early 1800s and the leasing of their land through Jeremiah Slade. There are also assorted accounts and receipts documenting guardianship, personal expenses, invoices, and other financial papers relating to the operation of plantations and large farms in North Carolina both before and after the Civil War.

William Kenneth Boyd (1879-1938) was a historian, professor, and director of the library at Duke University. During his career at Duke and Trinity College, he published widely and helped to collect and preserve personal papers and books about Southern and North Carolina history. The William Kenneth Boyd papers include correspondence, diaries, financial and legal materials, writings, notes, student papers, photographs (including tintypes), and other materials related to the personal and professional life of Boyd. Major correspondents include N. B. McDowell, Pat LeGrand, Marion Colley, and John Spencer Bassett. There are also letters from W. E. B. Du Bois and other prominent African Americans. English.

The William Kenneth Boyd papers include correspondence, diaries, financial and legal materials, writings, notes, student papers, photographs (including tintypes), and other materials related to the personal and professional life of Boyd. The collection is arranged into seven series.

The first series, Personal, includes family materials like diaries, financial and legal materials, and other family writings. The diaries were written by Boyd's first wife and his daughter. The second series, Correspondence, includes personal, History Department, and Library and Flowers Collection correspondence. Major personal correspondents include N.B. McDowell, Pat LeGrand, Marion Colley, and John Spencer Bassett. Of particular interest in the personal correspondence are some letters Boyd exchanged with prominent African-Americans, including W. E. B. Du Bois, in 1899. The History Department and Library and Flowers Collection correspondence discuss research and administrative activities in these two areas of Duke University.

The third series, Writings, includes published and unpublished articles and books by Boyd. The fourth series, Notes, includes research and lecture notes taken by Boyd. The topics of both Writings and Notes tend to be about Southern and specifically North Carolina history. The next series, Teaching, primarily includes student papers about Southern and North Carolina history. The Library series includes administrative papers from when Boyd directed the library at Duke. The last series, Photographs, features family photographs, most of which are tintypes in excellent condition.