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The Powell family—Julius Carlyle Powell, his wife Rosa Powell, and their daughter Mary Hester Powell—was a family of Southern Baptist missionaries who served in Nigeria from 1920 till 1962. The Powell Family Papers include materials related to their missionary work in Nigeria.

Author and professor at the University of Florida. Published works include Edisto, A Woman Named Drown, Typical, Mrs. Hollingsworth's Men, and The Interrogative Mood: A Novel?. Collection includes writings and drafts of Powell's early novels, including Edisto and A Woman Named Drown, as well as essays, short stories, and articles for popular magazines and literary anthologies. Some of these appear in Typical, a collection of Powell's short stories. The collection also includes correspondence, publishing contracts, reviews, interviews, and travel files, many relating to the publication of Edisto.

Alfred Playfair Powelson (1851-1916) was a Methodist minister who served in Ohio and in Tacoma, Washington. Powelson founded and served as principal of the non-denominational Tacoma Academy (1889-1898) and later served as president of the College of the City of Tacoma (1898-1905). Collection includes 18 manuscript sermons of Methodist minister Alfred Playfair Powelson, dated 1883 to 1888. Each sermon is loosely tied with original string and three have printed cover sheets. Some sermons are title with only a book, chapter and verse, while Powelson supplied titles for others. Powelson often recorded the location and date that he preached each sermon. The bulk of the sermons in the collection were given at Woodbury, Conn. or Tacoma, Wash. Also included is Powelson's original minister's license from the State of Ohio, dated 1875.

ALS. Power received letters from F.T. Bennett, on the relics of Everard Home; from Harvey Cushing, on the reception of Cushing's biography of William Osler; from George Mckay, inquiring about the Regimen sanitatis salerni; from Humphry Davy Rolleston, on Cushing's last days, as related to Rolleston by F.L. Pleadwell; and from Osler, regarding lectures by Morris Jastrow.

James T. Powers was a well-known comic actor, songwriter, playwright, and vaudeville entertainer based in New York City. The materials in the collection cover the entirety of his career, from the 1880s to the 1930s, when he retired. There are also items relating to the acting career and family of his wife, Rachel Booth Powers. The materials are arranged into the following series: Correspondence, Financial and Legal Papers, Photographs and Other Images, Print Materials, Rachel Booth Powers Papers, Sheet Music, Volumes, and Other Writings. The collection contains over 260 images, including tintypes, several lithographs, gelatin silver photographs, and albumen prints, dating from approximately 1860 to the early 1940s. The rest of the collection includes scrapbooks, autograph albums, a diary by Rachel Booth Powers, many clippings, drafts of scripts and reminiscences, sheet music, notebooks, and other professional papers. Taken as a whole, the collection provides a rich look at the society and culture of vaudeville theater in New York City during Rachel and James T. Powers' careers.

Reverend Doctor Jeanne Audrey Powers is a retired prominent activist clergywoman who was one of the first women to be ordained in the United Methodist Church. She is a longtime advocate for ecumenism and inclusiveness within the church. She was the highest-ranking UM church official to come out as gay in 1995. The collection contains materials documenting Reverend Doctor Powers’ personal and professional lives including correspondence, writings, family history, education, committee work, sermons, travels and activism.

ANS and a calling card, with mss, unsigned. Regarding social engagements.

Ella Fountain Keesler Pratt (1914-2008) was a Duke University employee for almost thirty years. Ms. Pratt was also a patron of the arts and community organizer in Durham, North Carolina. This collection contains documents, records, photographs, and notes that document her life as a Duke employee and Durham arts organizer. Items include personal notebooks, photographs of family and events, art exhibition catalogs, and audio recordings of performances at Duke University. The collection materials range in date from circa 1850 to 2008.

Pratt joined the psychology department at Duke in 1937 as an instructor and a member of the staff of parapsychology where he served for nearly 30 years. Contains two drafts of a manuscript entitled, The Benign Revolution: An Insider's View of Parapsychology. This was published by Doubleday in 1964 under the title Parapsychology: An insider's view of ESP.

Minnie Bruce Pratt was born in Selma, Alabama in 1946 and raised in nearby Centreville. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and a doctorate in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An award-winning poet, Pratt has published collections of both poetry and essays. Pratt began teaching and grass roots organizing in North Carolina in the 1970s, and has continued her work as a professor and activist through 2008, the time of this writing. Pratt frequently makes speaking appearances at conferences and universities across the United States. Pratt has two sons, Ransom Weaver and Ben Weaver, from her marriage (1966-1975). As of 2008, Pratt resides with longtime partner, transgender activist and author Leslie Feinberg. The collection dates primarily between 1975 and 2005 and focuses on women's studies, sexual and gender identity, sexuality, and Pratt's fight against racism, sexism, imperialism and other forms of intolerance. A Writing Series comprises drafts, proofs, and galleys related to Pratt's major works through 2003, as well as materials related to shorter pieces by Pratt, reviews, print interviews, materials related to Pratt's editorial work, and personal journals. The series also contains materials pertaining to the outside funding from grants and speaking appearances that Pratt obtained to support herself as a writer. Major works represented are Pratt's poetry and essay collections The Sound of One Fork, We Say We Love Each Other, Crime Against Nature, Rebellion: Essays 1980-1991, S/HE, Walking Back Up Depot Street, and The Dirt She Ate. Other series in the collection are Correspondence; Family, consisting of early correspondence, mementos, photographs, and genealogical information; Activism, files of newspaper clippings, fliers, and correspondence related to Pratt's grass roots organizing; Teaching, Financial, Photographs, Audiovisual Material, Printed Material, and Ephemera. Notable correspondents include Mumia Abu-Jamal, Dorothy Allison, Judith Arcana, Elly Bulkin, Chrystos, Holly Hughes, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and Mab Segrest.