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William Clair Turner, Jr. earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University in 1971, his M.Div. from Duke Divinity School in 1974, and his Ph.D. in religion in 1984. He has held several administrative positions at Duke, including Assistant Provost and Dean of Black Affairs and Acting Director of the Afro-American Studies program. In 1982 he became a full-time faculty member in the Divinity School, directing the Office of Black Church Affairs before being appointed Professor of the Practice of Homiletics. He has pastored several churches, including his current position at Mt. Level Baptist Church and was previously ordained in the United Holy Church of America, Inc. denomination. The collection documents Turner's academic and personal activities. Materials include personal and administrative correspondence regarding Turner's roles as pastor and administrator, manuscripts of lectures and sermons, syllabi and notes for courses taught, notes from classes taken while a student, subject files, and records of the United Holy Church of America. The collection also includes VHS, CD, and DVD recordings of some of his sermons.

General merchant, Pittsylvania Co., Va. Correspondence, account books, daybooks, fee books, invoices, ledgers, memoranda books, records of sales, inventories, and letterpress copybooks, chiefly 1800-1869, of three generations of general merchants of Pittsylvania Co., Va. Business interests included a general store, a tavern, a blacksmith shop, a simplified type of banking, and the keeping of a post office. Large amounts of tobacco were bought and sold before the Civil War. Post-war records indicate a large volume of trade in Peruvian guano and commercial fertilizers. Partners in the firm included Philip L. Grasty and other members of the Grasty family, John F. Rison and Samuel Pannill. Includes letters (1849-1867) of John S. Grasty, a Presbyterian minister, referring to North Carolina agriculture, slave hiring, Unionist sympathy among the Dutch population of Botetourt Co., Va., and the devastation of Fincastle, Va., during the war.