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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).

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

Francis P. Corbin (1801-1867) was a white plantation owner and resident of Paris, France, who married Agnes Rebecca Hamilton in 1825. Collection consists of financial and legal materials and correspondence related to Francis P. Corbin, his family, and the Couper and Hamilton families. Financial and legal papers include deeds, indentures, land grants, and surveys related to land in Virginia, Georgia, and Louisiana owned by the Corbin, Couper, and Hamilton families. Slavery papers in the collection document the enumeration, buying, and selling of enslaved people owned by the Corbin, Hamilton, and Couper families. Correspondence between members of the three families covers a variety of topics, including social and family matters, political discussions, plantation and business updates, race horses, theater and opera in Paris, the estate of James Hamilton, and railroad bonds.

Papers concerned with Tilghman's law practice in Chestertown, Md., and his service in the Maryland legislature (1788-1793). Includes genealogical information about Maryland's Eastern Shore, information about economic and agricultural conditions in Maryland in the late 18th century, Tilghman's vicissitudes because of his Loyalist sympathies during the Revolution, his efforts to advance the interests of his constituents while he served in the legislature, and the Tilghman family. Volumes include a digest of legal cases in which Tilghman participated, legal notes, court dockets, and a summary of estate laws in Maryland. Includes three letters from Henry Pearce. Two of these letters are to James Tilghman, William's father, regarding the purchase of Pearce land, slaves, stock, etc.

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.

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.

Jonathan and Hannah Chapman Backhouse were members of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in England in the mid-1800s. Their son, Edmund Backhouse, married Juliet Fox in 1848. This collection contains personal correspondence between members of the different connected Quaker families based in England, as well as some diaries, genealogical notes, and other printed ephemera from the family. Forms part of the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection in the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.

The Wesley Works Editorial Project, founded in 1960, is an international and inter denominational consortium of scholars that is producing a complete critical edition of the works of John Wesley, the 18th century Church of England clergyman who was a primary founder of Methodism. The Wesley Works Archive, dating from 1676 to 1996, with the bulk ranging from 1724-1791 and 1960-1996, forms part of the working papers of the Wesley Works Editorial Project (WWEP). The collection consists of that portion of the project's documents gathered by Frank Baker during almost four decades of service as the WWEP's editor and main bibliographer, and consists of the correspondence, writings, research, printed materials, photocopied manuscripts, proofs, and other materials produced by Baker and the many other historians, theologians, and clergy, who have participated in the Project. There is much information not only about the founding and early history of the Methodist and Wesleyan Methodist Churches, but also about the history of religious thought and dissent in 18th century England, the Evangelical Revival, and the history of publishing; materials in the collection also throw light on such topics as scholarly publishing and textual criticism.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

William Helfand is a scholar of pharmaceutical history and art, and collector of ephemera and art related to medicine. The William H. Helfand Collection of Medical Prints and Posters consists of 34 prints and posters realted to the history of medicine and pharmacology, dating from 1695 to 1991, with the bulk of the prints dating from 19th century. Paris, France is the provenance for many of the posters, but several hail from England and the United States. The posters are represented in two formats: lithographs and engravings, some of which are hand colored. Ranging in size from 5"x8" to 19"x23", the prints include caricatures, political satire, comics and advertisements, dealing with a range of subjects from quacks, alchemy, charlatans and cheats, to pastoral and hospital scenes. George Cruikshank and Honoré Daumier are represented amongst the artists. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collections at Duke University.

Rebecca West was a British writer and critic. The Rebecca West note consists of a single autograph manuscript note to an unknown correspondent reading, "With Miss Rebecca West's compliments." On letterhead stationery: 15, Orchard Court. Portman Square.W.1., Welbeck 3606.