Nannie Mae Tilley papers, 1938-1946

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Summary

Creator:
Tilley, Nannie M. (Nannie May), 1898-1998
Abstract:
Nannie Mae Tilley (1898-1988) was a historian and curator of the Manuscripts Department of Duke University. This collection contains correspondence and other materials collected by Tilley from servicemen in World War II, many of whom were former Duke University students who worked or studied with her. The letters from US servicemen reveal attitudes about military service, details on their training and participation in World War II, news and reflections on Duke University, and life and news from Durham, North Carolina, and the American South during the early 1940s. A small group of letters is from the John E. Bonsack family, and concerns Bonsack family genealogy.
Extent:
1.5 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Material in English.
Collection ID:
RL.01296

Background

Scope and content:

The Nannie Mae Tilley papers contain correspondence and other materials collected by Tilley from Duke-affiliated soldiers, airmen, and sailors serving in World War II, many who were former Duke Library student employees or other graduates she met while working and studying at Duke.

Correspondence dating from 1940-1946 is almost exclusively incoming materials from former Duke students serving in the US military during World War II, most writing to Tilley with news of their work and personal lives. She appears to have developed enduring mentorships and friendships with these men, and they address her as Dr. Tilley or Miss Tilley in deference to her. Most letters are friendly or gossipy, and at times familiar or profane, making them a unique snapshot into a select group's experiences in this period. The letters reveal the men's enthusiasm about military service, details of their training placements and deployments, their opinions about US politics and participation in World War II, and about Durham and Duke University. The letters from Frank H. Colley include postcards and letters following his capture and imprisonment as a German prisoner of war, and her efforts to send him mail and packages. Some outgoing drafts and copies from her give a sense of her activities and updates of library, campus, and family news, including her tobacco research and her farm. Some letters in the collection are examples of V-Mail, a process of microfilming and then re-enlarging letters introduced during the war. Along with war news, some letters contain some references to segregation, Southern American electoral politics, and racial tension and violence, including a description of a murder of an African American man in Portsmith, Virginia after he refused to sit at the back of a bus (Warren Pope to Tilley, 1942 August 18).

This collection also includes letters donated to Tilley's archive from others, including other Duke library employees and students. World War II-related correspondence and printed materials were turned over to her. She appears to have constructed her archive intentially (as the Duke Library's Manuscripts Archivist) to document the training and wartime experiences of US servicemen. It also appears that some of the correspondents were aware that their letters were going to be preserved by her for Duke. In one letter to Tilley, Paul Kingsberry Jones writes: "I can't help but feel abashed about being part of the Duke University manuscript collection--but trying to look at it objectively. I am sure that it would be a good thing for the library to have letters from flying cadets. They might be important to some historian someday to explain just why America did or did not defeat Hitler--at least in part. So you certainly have my permission to keep my letters if you want to" (Paul Jones to Tilley, 1941 March 8).

There is a small selection of printed materials saved by Tilley and Noma Lee Goodwin related to women in World War II, and the wartime activities of Durham.

A smaller subset of letters in the collection is from the John E. Bonsack family, and concerns Tilley's research into Bonsack family genealogy, particularly James E. Bonsack, inventor of cigarette rolling machine, and Jacob Bonsack, grandfather of John E. Bonsack, who owned a woolen mill at Good Intent, Virginia.

Biographical / historical:

Nannie Mae Tilley (1898-1988, also spelled Nannie May Tilley) was a historian and archivist originally from Bahama, North Carolina. She earned her doctorate in history at Duke University and also served as archivist in Duke University's Manuscripts Department from 1935-1947. She was a professor in Texas in the 1950s, then worked as a company historian for the R. J. Reynolds Company from 1959-1964. Tilley authored several works on tobacco history, including: The Bright-Tobacco Industry, 1860–1929 (1948), Federals on the Frontier: The Diary of Benjamin F. McIntyre, 1862–1864 (1963), and The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (1985).

Sources cited: https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/tilley-nannie-may.

Acquisition information:
The Nannie Mae Tilley papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift in 1969.
Processing information:

Processed by Rubenstein Library staff, 1995. Encoded by Jen Snow, June 2011.

Revised and rehoused with description updated by Meghan Lyon, February 2026.

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.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Nannie Mae Tilley papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1mt1h