Amy Morris Bradley was a nurse and agent of the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War as well as an educator in Maine, 1840s-1850s, and Wilmington, N.C., 1865-1890s. Collection comprises correspondence, diaries, record books, and photographs documenting Bradley's family life and teaching in Maine during the 1840s, her travels throughout the South and Costa Rica in the 1850s, her duties as a nurse at several U.S. Sanitary Commission convalescent camps during the Civil War, and her post-war work in Wilmington, N.C., where she founded free schools for white children in 1866 and 1872 under the auspices of the Soldiers' Memorial Society and worked as an administrator in the public school system until 1891. The collection includes two salted paper prints and several albumen photographs of Civil War relief camps, some by noted photographer Alexander Gardner.

Collection comprises correspondence, diaries, record books, and photographs documenting Bradley's family life and teaching in Maine during the 1840s, her travels throughout the South and Costa Rica in the 1850s, her duties as a nurse at several U.S. Sanitary Commission convalescent camps during the Civil War, and her post-war work in Wilmington, N.C., where she founded free schools for white children in 1866 and 1872 under the auspices of the Soldiers' Memorial Society and worked as an administrator in the public school system until 1891. The collection includes two salted paper prints and several albumen photographs of Civil War relief camps, some by noted photographer Alexander Gardner.

Includes correspondence (original and photocopied), writings, genealogy, pictures, and miscellaneous. Letters written by Thomas Swearington Hawley between 1861 and 1865 document his experiences as a surgeon with the 11th Missouri Infantry. Among his letters are many written shortly after the end of the Civil War from Demopolis, Alabama. Hawley's wife joined him in Alabama, and their letters to family members describe the attitudes and living conditions of the people of Alabama. In letters to each other in the early 1860's , the Hawley women wrote about domestic matters, occasionally referring to current events. Writings include a typed copy of Gideon Hawley's journal of his missionary service to Indians in Massachusetts and New York in 1794; 14-year-old Elizabeth Hawley's diary of her summer trip to visit her aunt in Delaware, Ohio in 1882; and Nelson J. Hawley's record of his experiences as a surgeon during World War I.

Miscellaneous volumes include two autograph books containing poetry and scraps; a scrapbook containing advertising trade cards; and a scrapbook containing printed and manuscript lyrics, most of them minstrel songs. Genealogical material on the Hawley and related families and a few family photographs are included.

Confederate soldier, member of the 55th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Co. K; and farmer, from Granville County, N.C. The papers of James King Wilkerson and his family date from 1820 to 1929, and consist of Civil War correspondence, a number of almanacs used as diaries, copybooks, and a few other miscellaneous papers, including a genealogical sketch. There is correspondence by Lillie Wilkerson and Luther Wilkerson, James' children, discussing social life and customs, illnesses and hospitals, employment, and personal matters; and several letters from a soldier in France during World War I. There are also two early issues of the Berea, N.C. Gazette, one from 1876, with comments on the Hayes-Tilden election, and one from shortly thereafter. The Civil War letters, written by James Wilkerson to his family, contain references to the C.S.S. Virginia, detailed descriptions of marches, comments on crop conditions as he moved from place to place, his Civil War service around Petersburg, Virginia, late in the war, and his stay in the General Hospital at Greensboro, N.C. in 1865.

The papers of James King Wilkerson (1842-1919) and his family date from 1820 to 1929, and consist of Civil War correspondence, a number of almanacs used as diaries, copybooks belonging to James when he was 16 and 17, and a few other miscellaneous papers, including a genealogical sketch. There is correspondence by Lillie Wilkerson (1877-1955) and Luther Wilkerson (1874-1942), James' children, discussing social life and customs, illnesses and hospitals, employment, and personal matters; and several letters from a soldier in France during World War I. There are also two early issues of the Berea, N.C. Gazette, one from 1876, with comments on the Hayes-Tilden election, and one from shortly thereafter.

The Civil War letters were all or nearly all written by James Wilkerson, who served in the Confederate Army, 55th North Carolina Regiment, Company K, from Aug. 1861 through spring of 1865. His letters to his family are significant for their references to the ironclad C.S.S. Virginia (the former U.S.S. Merrimac); detailed descriptions of marches, including references to orders dealing with men who couldn't keep up or fell during the march; comments on the condition of crops as he moved to different locales; and references to his Civil War service around Petersburg, Va. late in the war, and his stay in the General Hospital at Greensboro, N.C. in 1865. The collection is rounded out by a copy of The Spirit of Prayer (Nathaniel Vincent, 1840), owned by James K. Wilkerson during the Civil War.

Collection contains personal, professional and family correspondence of three generations of the Brodnax family, centering around John G. Brodnax. Pre-Civil War letters refer to the sale of slaves; wartime correspondence reflects the fear of the advancing Union forces. Postwar papers include Brodnax's appointment as assistant surgeon general of a North Carolina hospital at Petersburg, Va., overseeing the discharge of disabled Confederate soldiers, and his oath of allegiance to the United States. Also includes letters to his wife during her summer visits with relatives. Many papers concern Mrs. Brodnax's activities in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy; others relate to attendance of family members at various North Carolina and Virginia schools and colleges. There are also letters from Germany and Europe in the 1870s and 1880s and Mexico in 1910.

This collection contains family correspondence of three generations of the Brodnax family centering chiefly around John G. Brodnax (1829-1907), a Confederate surgeon and practicing physician.

Letters from 1857 to 1867, generally from Lynchburg, Virginia, refer to the sale of slaves and, during the war years, are concerned with the question of fleeing or remaining to face the advancing Federals. Included also are Brodnax's appointment as assistant surgeon general of the North Carolina Hospital at Petersburg, Virginia, and his oath of allegiance to the United States. Other items pertaining to Dr. Brodnax are letters to his wife, beginning in 1881, while she visited her relatives in summer, a speech against railroad taxation in 1879, a group of petitions in 1877 requesting that Brodnax be made superintendent of the North Carolina State Insane Asylum, and an undated article on optical surgery. Included also is genealogical material as well as other materials connected with the activities of Brodnax's wife in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

A number of letters were written from schools and colleges attended by members of the family, including Salem Female Academy, Salem, North Carolina, and St. Mary's College, Raleigh, North Carolina, during 1912; N. I. Smith's School in Leaksville during 1879 and 1880; Bingham School in Orange County during 1883; Bingham School in Asheville, and Old Point Comfort College, Virginia, after 1909.

Also included in the collectoon are letters from Mrs. Barr, an aunt of Mrs. Brodnax, and her children from 1877 to 1884 while traveling in Europe and studying music in Germany. There are letters from Mary (Brodnax) Glenn and her family while in Mexico, where her husband worked for a railroad company, a mining firm, and as secretary to the American consul general; letters of this period are filled with references to conditions in Mexico, especially concerning political upheavals around 1910. Included also are papers relative to the settlement of the estate of John Brodnax, Jr., after 1909, and a group of sermons delivered by James Kerr Burch, a Presbyterian minister and father-in-law of Dr. John G. Brodnax.

Ward served with the U.S. Christian Commission in hospitals in Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., from 1864 to 1865, where she worked in the kitchens and as a general aide to the soldiers who spent brief periods there. Mainly letters between Libbie Ward and her family and friends.

Mainly letters (106 items, 1828-1913) between Sarah Elisabeth "Libbie" Ward and her family and friends. There are letters from other hospital workers, United States Christian Commission administrators, and family members of soldiers Ward tended. The bulk of the letters date from Libbie's time working for the U.S. Christian Commission at Foundry Hospital. Topics include health and illness, religion, death, politics and the war, and family life. Ward refers to arguments with friends and co-workers about women's rights and race, and discusses her changing opinions of African-Americans due to her work with them in the South. She writes, "There are some very intelligent and fine-looking colored men here I tell you it makes one feel bad to see so many who can neither read or write, who have so unfairly been deprived of the privilege." Includes two diaries, one combined with an account book. The diary, which comprises regular entries from 21 Sept. 1864 to 1 Jan. 1865, describes her daily routines in the kitchen and on the wards at the Louisville hospital and contains her thoughts on her day-to-day struggles, often using religious language. She mentions the 1864 Battle of Franklin's aftermath several times and refers to seeing "the noted female soldier." There is an additional diary combined with an account book that includes financial details from 1865-1870, a poem, a Union election advertisement, a telegram, an essay on Intemperance, and what appears to be letter drafts. Some early letters to her father are included and letters she wrote and received in her later life (1913) to and from young relatives. (01-039).

Colonel, 2nd Maryland Eastern Shore Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army. Chiefly Civil War papers belonging to Colonel Robert Rodgers, including military correspondence; telegrams; muster rolls; rosters of officers and staff; lists of deserters, recruits, reenlistments, and voluntary enlistments; reports of sick, wounded, and convalescents; inventories of personal effects of the deceased; hospital and army paroles; morning reports; ordnance returns, invoices, requisitions, issues, and transfers; quartermaster papers; letter book containing routine military correspondence; and general and special orders. After 1863 there are references to African American contrabands. There is also a fragmentary account of the regiment's war experiences concerning the actions in Maryland in 1862 and 1863, including the battle between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia, and in Virginia and West Virginia in 1864. Also included in the collection are papers relating to the Rodgers family of Maryland, including Rodgers's son Robert Slidell Rodgers, practicing law in Missouri following the Civil War.

Chiefly Civil War military papers belonging to Colonel Robert Rodgers, including military correspondence; telegrams; muster rolls; rosters of officers and staff; lists of deserters, recruits, reenlistments, and voluntary enlistments; reports of sick, wounded, and convalescents; inventories of personal effects of the deceased; hospital and army paroles; morning reports; ordnance returns, invoices, requisitions, issues, and transfers; quartermaster papers; letter book containing routine military correspondence; and general and special orders. There are references after 1863 to treatment of and problems with contrabands. There is also a fragmentary account written by Rodgers of the regiment's war experiences concerning the actions in Maryland in 1862 and 1863, including the battle between the U.S.S. Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia, and in Virginia and West Virginia in 1864.

Scattered papers relate to other members of the Rodgers family, and include personal correspondence, letters relating to naval matters, estate papers, bills and receipts, and legal papers concerning land deeds and the manumission of a slave by Rodger's mother Minerva in the 1850s. There is an inventory of the property of Jerusha Denison at "Sion Hill" in 1856. Also included are materials for the study of navigation and a navigational logbook.

For many more details on the papers and the volumes in the collection, please ask a reference archivist to consult the main card file.