John Emory Bryant papers, 1851-1955 and undated

Using These Materials Teaser

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
More about accessing and using these materials...

Summary

Creator:
Bryant, John Emory, 1836-1900
Abstract:
Born in Union, Maine, John Emory Bryant (1836-1900) was an abolitionist, teacher, Union officer with the 8th Maine Volunteers, agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, newspaper editor and publisher, lawyer, and Republican politician in Georgia. The collection includes letters, journals, scrapbooks, writings, speeches, and printed materials related to the lives of John Emory Bryant (JEB), his wife Emma Spaulding Bryant, their daughter Emma Alice Zeller and her husband Julius Zeller and their descendants, and William Anderson Pledger who was a Republican contemporary of JEB. The bulk of the collection falls into four main divisions: the early years in Maine (1851-1860), during the American-Civil War (1861-1865), during Reconstruction in Georgia, and the later years in New York (1888-1900). Some of the materials are not original and are copies or typescripts. Of note are materials regarding Georgian Republican politics; conditions for Radical Republicans and African-Americans during Reconstruction, including correspondence with Henry McNeal Turner; historical views about the differences between the North and the South; Ku Klux Klan activity in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; and a particularly passionate exchange between Emma Spaulding Bryant and her husband regarding her visits to a doctor about "uterine difficulties" (these 10 letters from Emma Bryant have been digitized and are available online).
Extent:
11 Linear Feet
Language:
English.
Collection ID:
RL.00167

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes letters, journals, scrapbooks, writings, speeches, and printed materials related to the lives of John Emory Bryant (JEB), his wife Emma Spaulding Bryant, their daughter Emma Alice Zeller and her husband Julius Zeller and their descendants, and William Anderson Pledger who was a Republican contemporary of JEB. The bulk of the collection falls into four main divisions: the early years in Maine (1851-1860), during the American-Civil War (1861-1865), during Reconstruction in Georgia and after (1865-1887), and the later years in New York (1888-1900). Some of the materials are not original and are copies or typescripts. Of note are materials regarding Georgian Republican politics; conditions for Radical Republicans and African-Americans during Reconstruction, including correspondence with Henry McNeal Turner; historical views about the differences between the North and the South; Ku Klux Klan activity in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama; and a particularly passionate exchange between Emma Spaulding Bryant and her husband regarding her visits to a doctor about "uterine difficulties." These 10 letters from Emma Bryant have been digitized and are available online at: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/spauldingbryant

Biographical / historical:

Born in Union, Maine, John Emory Bryant (1836-1900) was an abolitionist, teacher, Union officer with the 8th Maine Volunteers, agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, newspaper editor and publisher, lawyer, and Republican politician in Georgia. During the American Civil War Bryant served in the Department of the South, in the Sea Island of Georgia and South Carolina. There he worked with General Rufus Saxton and commanded African-American troops, leading raids to free slaves from nearby plantations. In 1864 Bryant married Emma Frances Spaulding (1844-1901), who was born in Buckfield, Maine. They had two children together, a son who died in infancy and a daughter Alice. After the war, Bryant returned to Georgia and was heavily involved in Georgian Republican politics, serving as a congressman for one term and as state party chairman from 1876-1880. Bryant was involved in many organizations including the Georgia Equal Rights Association, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Southern Advance Association, and the Sons of Temperance.

William Anderson Pledger (1852-1904) was an editor of the Atlanta Blade newspaper, teacher, prominent Black Republican politician in Georgia, and friend of John Emory Bryant. In 1880 Pledger was elected chairman of the Republican state committee in Georgia, the first Black man to serve in that office. Pledger helped organize the Afro-American League (which later became the Afro-American Council) in 1890 in Chicago and served as vice president in 1898.

Biographical note adapted from American National Biography:

https://doi-org.proxy.lib.duke.edu/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0401189

https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1500551

Acquisition information:
The John Emory Bryant Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1968 and 2002.
Processing information:

Processed by Rubenstein Library staff; Joshua A. Kaiser

Completed November 7, 2002

Encoded by Joshua A. Kaiser

Reprocessed by Laurin Penland, June 2019.

Arrangement:

Arranged according to the following series: Correspondence; Legal and Financial; Writings, Journals, and Scrapbooks; Printed Materials and Ephemera; William Anderson Pledger.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Before you visit:
Please consult our up-to-date information for visitors page, as our services and guidelines periodically change.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], John Emory Bryant Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1kc70