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William Weaver was the owner of the Bath Iron Works (Buffalo Forge, Va.), which made use of enslaved laborers. Collections includes correspondence and business papers documenting the iron industry in antebellum Virginia; the use of enslaved laborers, including lists of enslaved persons; life among laborers; the supply of iron to the Confederate government; the iron industry in the Confederacy; and industrial conditions in Virginia during Reconstruction. Personal correspondence discusses the progress of the Civil War in Virginia and Confederate politics.

W. Duke, Sons & Co. was a tobacco manufacturer founded by Washington Duke in 1881. His son, James B. Duke, later became president of the American Tobacco Company. Collection comprises a volume containing meeting minutes for shareholders and the Board of Directors, 1885-1891, along with a volume of company costs and expenses, 1909-1953. There are also advertising materials dated 1876-1904, including trading cards, albums, and other advertising collectibles from the W. Duke Sons & Co., Liggett & Myers, American Tobacco, and other tobacco companies.

WDBS was Duke University's campus radio station from 1950-1983. It initially broadcast on AM by carrier current, a system in which radio signals were fed into the university's electrical system. In 1971, WDBS began broadcasting on FM 107.1 as a commercial, non-profit station. AM broadcasts ceased in the early 1970s. WDBS was sold in 1983 to repay debts the station owed Duke University. Collection includes annual reports, correspondence, proposals, newspaper clippings, advertising, program guides, record company photographs and press releases, and other materials related to the operation of WDBS. There are also reel-to-reel sound recordings of broadcasts from the 1960s and 1970s, including speeches by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokeley Carmichael, Douglas Knight, Samuel Dubois Cook, Charles Goodell, Robert Shelton, Spiro Agnew, Julian Bond, Birch Bayh, William Kunstler, Floyd McKissick, Richard Kleindienst, and Terry Sanford. News events and other subjects represented on tape include the 1968 Vigil, the 1969 takeover of the Allen Building by the Afro-American Society, racial unrest in Durham, anti-war activism, the 1971 USA Pan-Africa track meet, the 1972 Republican National Convention, the dedication of the William R. Perkins Library, and the Duke Symposium. Musical recordings include an organ recital, the Concert Band, and the Glee Club. English.

The Benjamin and Julia Stockton Rush papers include letters, writings, financial records, a few legal documents and one educational record. Benjamin Rush's personal and professional outgoing letters, with some incoming letters, cover a wide variety of topics, but focus primarily on medical concerns, particularly the 1793 and other yellow fever epidemics in Philadelphia, as well as mental illness and its treatment, and the medical department of the Continental Army. There are a few letters from others to Julia Stockton Rush that seek to continue ties with her and the Rush family or offer condolences following Benjamin's death. Collection also contains a medical case book and a fragment of an essay or lecture written by Benjamin Rush, along with his travel diary for a trip to meet with the Board of Trustees for Dickinson College in 178[4]; other writings include Julia Rush's devotional journal and exercise book. The financial records include a few statements and receipts, but primarily contain two account books, one maintained by Benjamin Rush, the other by Rush with his wife. These account books provide a complete picture of the family finances from the period before the couple married, almost to Julia's death. Legal documents include a sworn statement and a land patent, and there is an educational record for one of Rush's students.

Pioneering African American surgeon who was chief of surgery at Lincoln Hospital, clinical professor of surgery at Duke University, founder of Lincoln Community Health Center, director of student health at North Carolina Central University, and vice president and medical director for North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, all in Durham, N.C. Spanning the period of 1917 to 2004, the Charles DeWitt Watts Papers contain files related to Watts's education, family, community activities, centered in Durham, N.C., and his career as a surgeon, administrator, and trustee on several boards. There is material on the formation in 1901 of Lincoln Hospital, a medical care facility for African Americans in Durham, N.C.. and other items on the early 20th century history of Durham, but the bulk of the papers relate to the later half of the 20th century. Formats primarily consist of correspondence, reports, notes, speeches, photographs, and print materials. It is organized into the following series: Community Relations, Personal Files, Photographic Materials, and Professional Files. Material in the Medical Records Series have been separated and are currently closed to use. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture.

ALS to his sister, Helen, and her husband, Henry F. Jones, in which he describes his legal career and life in New Orleans. He refers to epidemics of yellow fever and cholera and notes that the climate is considered to be beneficial to tuberculosis patients.

Richard L. Watson, Jr. served as Professor of History at Duke University (1939-1984), Chair of the Department of History (1960-1967), Chair of the Academic Council (1964-1966, 1975-1977), and associate editor of the South Atlantic Quarterly (1974-1987). Papers include correspondence, notes, committee minutes and reports, course evaluations, research files, and manuscript drafts of chapters, and involve Watson's work with the Army Air Force Historical Office, the History Department, Duke University, professional organizations, research and writings in American history and historiography, and personal materials. English.

Henry Watson, Jr. (1810-1891) was a plantation owner, enslaver, and lawyer of Greensboro, Alabama. Collection includes letters, diaries, business correspondence, and papers (chiefly 1828-1869) relating to Watson's career in law, his planting activities, his accumulation of property (including enslaved persons), establishment of the Planter's Insurance Company, farming conditions in antebellum Alabama, politics in Alabama before the Civil War, activities of the Watson family, the migration of Watson's family and relatives to various places in the West, secession in Alabama, Watson's removal to Germany during the Civil War, his return to the U.S. after the war, and his postwar career in Connecticut and Alabama. Also includes correspondence with his partner, John Erwin, a Whig leader; land grants to Edwin Peck signed by Martin Van Buren; letters from Confederate soldiers imprisoned at Johnson's Island, Ohio; letters from Henry Bernard; and early letters from Elisha Stanley describing Pittsburgh, Pa., Cincinnati, Ohio, and Kentucky, the mercantile business during the War of 1812, the martial spirit and activities of the Kentuckians during the War of 1812, and the disastrous effects of peace on mercantile pursuits. Also in the collection are letters and papers of John Watson (d. 1824), including fragments, complete literary manuscripts, and papers relating to the settlement of his estate; and letters and diaries of Henry Watson's brother, Sereno.

Louanne K. Watley is a photographer and artist based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The core of the collection consists of portraits of aging Catholic nuns in convents and abbeys in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia, taken by Watley chiefly from 2002-2003. There are also a few images of Buddhist and Trappist monks and their communities. Watley's images, almost all black-and-white contact prints, often feature close-ups of the nuns' faces, hands, and feet; some are further enhanced using a variety of artistic techniques. Collection also includes digital versions of Watley's photographs, audio recordings of interviews with nuns, exhibit image panels, and professional papers, chiefly drafts of artist's statements, informational material, and correspondence related to the religious communities Watley visited and to exhibits of Watley's work. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.