Collections

The 12th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was a Union Army regiment active between 1861 and 1865 in the American Civil War. This collection consists of two ledgers, a Clothing Book and a volume titled Morning Reports, which record daily activities, particularly attendance and absense for members of the 12th Connecticut Infantry, Company D, as well as their annual allotments of clothing and equipment.

Thirty-four audio WAV files made from source digital audio tapes of interviews, primarily with participants in the Mississippi Freedom Project, from volunteers to organization leaders.

The Center for Documentary Studies opened in January 1990 and is an outgrowth of and replacement for the Center for Documentary Photography (1980-1990). The Center combines traditions of documentary photography and film, writing, oral history, and scholarly analysis in seeking to capture life experiences. The 25 Under 25 project showcases twenty-five of America's most promising photographers, all twenty-five years old or younger. This collection contains 21 prints from an exhibit celebrating the project's initial publication, 25 Under 25: Up-And-Coming American Photographers, a Lyndhurst Book published by powerHouse and the Center for Documentary Studies in 2003.

The 28th Maine Infantry Regiment was mustered in October 1862 in Augusta, Maine, and served until August 1863 in the Union Army during the American Civil War. This collection contains four volumes of regimental descriptive and order books documenting the company's activities and enlisted men.

A. A. (Alfred A.) Parker was a Black stock sales agent for the National Negro Life Insurance Company, a Tuskegee-based firm founded by president Ernest T. Attwell and vice president Booker T. Washington, Jr., in 1916. Collection comprises nine letters to A. A. Parker, plus three blank subscription forms with receipts for insurance stock.

Letter (ALS) to Mrs. Burr informing her that Benjamin Rush, uninformed that she is already taking hemlock for her illness, advises the same. Includes transcription.

This collection includes two scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, letters, receipts, family photographs, and the written memories of Jewish, Lithuanian-American merchant A. Michael Barker (1886-1943) of Wilson, North Carolina. Topics represented in the scrapbooks include family life, relief efforts for Jewish victims of World War I in Europe, the Zionist movement, Nazi atrocities against Jews in Europe, and the speeches of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Barker's approximately 49 pages of memories (circa 1942-1943) detail his financial troubles, family updates, and feelings on the treatment of Jews in Germany.

Aaron Siskind (1903-1991) was an American photographer and faculty member of the Chicago Institute of Design and Rhode Island School of Design. Collection consists of 28 black-and-white signed 11x14 inch prints, documenting life in New York City's Harlem neighborhoods from about 1932 to 1940. The images originate from two projects by Siskind: "Harlem Document" and "The Most Crowded Block in the World." Subjects include African American men, women, and children at home and in the streets; scenes from the Apollo and New Lafayette theaters, a nightclub, and a church; and the interiors and exteriors of tenement buildings. Acquired as part of the Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University.

The papers of the Abbot family consist mainly of correspondence, but also include financial and legal papers, diaries, a letter-book, clippings, printed material, speeches and photographs (including cartes-de-visite, and some cyanotypes and tintypes). The materials date from 1733 to 1999, the bulk ranging from 1860-1910. A significant portion of the correspondence comprises of personal letters exchanged during the Civil War between William Richardson Abbot, headmaster of Bellevue High School, and his wife, Lucy Minor Abbot. Abbot's letters mention battles and political events of the Civil War, including his experience as an officer in the First Regiment of the Engineers Troops (Army of Virginia). Other correspondence includes exchanges between W.R. Abbot and his immediate family, both during and after the Civil War, as well as numerous letters to Abbot from parents of boys attending Bellevue High School. The collection also includes materials from the lives of the children and grandchildren of William and Lucy Abbot. Letters from the Abbot children consist of personal exchanges, accounts of travel in turn-of-the-century Europe, as well as experiences in the German university system. Also included is a brief memoir by Ann Minor, Lucy's sister, documenting childhood experiences in Virginia during the Civil War. There are also papers belonging to the Minors of Charlottesville (Va.), such as correspondence of Charles and John Minor.

Abel Beach Nichols (1796/7-1868) was a merchant, farmer, slave owner and dealer from Bedford County, Virginia. The collection includes a small account book A. B. (Abel Beach) Nichols used to record financial transactions that occurred in Alabama from 1835 to 1836. Nine pages contain handwriting and several pages near the front and back of the book have been removed. Of particular interest are two pages with the heading, A list of the sales of negroes in the State of Alabama in 1835 & 1836, followed by a tabular listing of the number of slaves, their names, from whom purchased, cost, date, to whom sold, time, and amount. In all, Nichols bought and sold 42 slaves for a profit of $21,430.58. Headings such as A list of bonds bought in Alabama ... and Bond on ... in Alabama for articles sold are found on subsequent pages. Also included in the collection are two letters addressed to A. B. Nichols. The 1846 letter, from Pollard Hopkins & Co., describes efforts regarding the sell or hire of Nichols' slave, Henry, and the writer's intention to buy Henry a horse and dray, thereby giving him the means to eventually buy his freedom. The 1850 letter, from Henry, respectfully explains arrangements for acquiring the title to himself.