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Harry L. and Mary K. Dalton collected art, rare books, and manuscripts, and made many contributions to art museums and libraries, most notably the Duke University Library, the Mint Museum, and the library of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The Dalton Collection is comprised of sub-collections acquired by Harry L. and Mary K. Dalton.

Holograph document, signed. Deed for a grant of land. On verso, a receipt for quit rent due on the granted, dated 1739, and a certificate of entry in the Office for Recording of Deeds, dated 1755.

The East India Company was an English joint-stock company formed in 1600 that ruled portions of South Asia until 1858. This collection contains over 55 documents including miscellaneous legal papers, correspondence, receipts, and extracts largely relating to the East India Company's operations and employees; three documents relating to Muhammad Ali Khan Wallajah, the Nabob of Arcot (1745-1795); manuscripts relating to Sir Robert Chambers (1737-1803), who traveled to India in 1774 as one of the first justices of the Supreme Court at Calcutta; and a petition written by the wife of Almas Ali Khan, an important administrator in Awadh and one of the key figures in the trial of Warren Hastings. These manuscripts seem to have formerly been part of Sir Thomas Phillipps noted collection.

Rhodes scholar and lawyer of Asheville, N.C. Collection is divided into the following categories: Correspondence (1815-1969, some transcribed); Writings (1682-1965); Speeches (1896-1965); Miscellany (ca. 1908); Clippings (1792-1975); Printed materials (1865-1977); Volumes (1886-1954); Pictures, late 19th and early 20th centuries; and an Alphabetical file (1787-1977), arranged by topic. Most of the material spans the years 1900-1960. Included are personal correspondence and materials relating to Cocke's political and civic interests; family correspondence and photographs; clippings; and scrapbooks. Cocke's many correspondents include Sam Ervin, B. Everett Jordan, and Terry Sanford. Correspondence topics include the Democratic Party; life as an American law student in England; English law compared to American law; and travels in Europe. Some letters refer to Thomas Wolfe, whom Cocke knew.

Papers of militia officer and customs collector Joseph Jones of Petersburg, Va., and of his children and grandchildren, including business, personal, and military correspondence, deeds, Virginia militia records, general orders, Treasury Dept. circulars, lists of licensed vessels, letters regarding western lands, and papers relating to the port of Petersburg, Va. Correspondents include John Adams, William H. Crawford, Albert Gallatin, Richard Bland Lee, James Madison, Timothy Pickering, John Randolph, and John Tyler.

Kilby and his son, Wilbur John Kilby (1850-1907), were both lawyers of Suffolk, Virginia, and of members of the Riddick family. Correspondence and legal and other papers of Kilby and of his son, Wilbur John Kilby (1850-1907), both lawyers, of Suffolk, Va., and of members of the Riddick family. The bulk of the collection concerns such legal activities of the Kilbys as administration of estates, collection of bills, and adjustments of property. The collection is important in part for its early records of families and references to politics and social conditions of Nansemond County, Virginia, but also for its references to slavery, the American Colonization Society and conditions in Liberia, and for its slave lists from the Riddick and Glazebrook families. There are many wills, one of which refers to the manumission of slaves. Other items refer to the legal affairs of the Riddick family, Richard H. Riddick, merchant of Pantego, N.C., and agent of the Albemarle Swamp Land Company; pro-Civil War activities of the Methodist Episcopal Church; Southampton Insurrection of 1831; Civil War action near Shepherdstown and Fredericksburg; African American soldiers during Reconstruction; the Negro Reformatory Association of Virginia; the gold rush of Pike's Peak, Colorado; a Suffolk, Va. cholera epidemic; and the Panic of 1857.

King Charles II of England (1630-1685) did not have any official heirs. He did, though, have many children by a number of mistresses. For the children born to these other women that the King acknowledged, most were given titles of nobility within a few years of their birth (along with most of their mothers). The names of seven of these children appear in this collection. This collection contains royal warrants or decrees issued during the reign of King Charles II of England. Of the seven documents, four are written on behalf of the King, two are 'certification of armes' the remaining item is a listing of possible heraldic figures. The names listed in the warrants are sons and daughters of the King and three of his mistresses.

Richard Wharton was a prominent Boston merchant, land proprietor, attorney, and political figure. Collection comprises a 1671 slave trade contract committing Boston merchant Richard Wharton to acquire slaves for Jonathan Sybury of Maryland in return for tobacco. This contract specifies that prior to the last day of July, 1671, Wharton will "Send forth and Imploy A vessel to Some one or more Islands of America where Negroes are ordinarily to be Sold wch sd vessell shall bee loadon wth a sufficient Cargoe for obtayning and purchasing ten or more healthy & sound Negroes halfe Males and halfe females none exceeding ye age of forty years and not more than two the age of thirty five years" and that the vessel "shall...Carry and Transport to Wye River in Maryland The sd Negroes..." The contract further stipulates that within seven days after the arrival of the vessel in the Wye River, Sybury "will show present and Deliver at some [?] convenient shipping place...the quantity of Three Thousand six hundred and Eighty pounds of bright and large Tobacco without ground leaves or seconds." Failing such payment, Sybury is required to pay with bills of exchange redeemable in London. Much of the contract reckons with various circumstances that might arise and the terms specific to these. The document is signed by Wharton on the lower right and by witnesses John Walley and Georg Young on the lower left.

Holograph document. A bill presented for "writings made and business done for Mr. Michael Harvey and Mr. William Harvey his brother."

William Thomas Laprade was Professor of History at Trinity College (now Duke University) from 1909 to 1953 and Chair of the Department of History from 1938 to 1952. Papers contain personal and professional correspondence, notes, reports, printed materials, manuscript materials, photographs, diplomas, memorabilia, clippings, student papers, and letters from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Major subjects include William Thomas Laprade, history of Trinity College, Trinity College Press, Duke University Press, Duke University Department of History, Duke University libraries, The South Atlantic Quarterly, the American Association of University Professors, study and teaching of European history, American Historical Association, the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Kiwanis Club of Durham, and Phi Beta Kappa. Major subjects of correspondence include family life, the Great Depression, World War I, and World War II. Materials range in date from 1660-1975 (bulk 1898-1975).