Southern Sources

The latest group of updated and encoded legacy finding aids has just been posted online. Some of the notable collections in this group are:

J. L. M. Curry Papers, #197-z

J. L. M. Curry (1825-1922) was a Southern educator. The collection includes two letters from Grover Cleveland, and one each from James Bryce and Wade Hampton, to Curry concerning Curry’s work with the Slater Fund for the education of freedmen. Also included are a description of an incident in the Confederate Congress, written by Curry, and a hymn written for his memorial service. This collection has been digitized and is available through the collection’s finding aid, which is linked above.

William B. Burke Papers, #105

William B. Burke (1864-1947) was a Methodist missionary in Shanghai, China. The collection includes letters to Burke and his wife Addie from his mother and his father, John William Burke, publisher and stationer of Macon, Ga. Topics discussed include the yellow fever epidemic in Florida, 1888; American politics and immigration legislation affecting the Chinese, 1890; and the business depression in the United States, 1891. Volumes are a handwritten sketch of the life of John William Burke, by George G. Smith, and two scrapbooks of a newspaper column, “Life’s Reflections.”

H. C. Kendrick Papers, #397-z

H. C. Kendrick (died 1863) was a Confederate soldier who served in the 8th Georgia Infantry Regiment, Army of Northern Virginia. The collection includes letters from H. C. Kendick to his parents, brothers, and sister while serving in the Civil War. Letters were written from camps at or near the following locations: Daleville, Va.; Winchester, Va.; Manassas, Va.; Centerville, Va.; Camp Sam Jones; Savannah, Ga.; Gordonsville, Va.; Fredericksburg, Va.; Richmond, Va.; and Suffolk, Va. Kendrick’s letters contain little discussion of major battles. They give excellent views of camp life, food, sickness among the troops, rapid marches, and other aspects of military life, including troop morale, the importance of mail from home, hatred of Yankees, drills, the superiority of southern soldiers, patriotism, kindness of the local populace (particularly the ladies of Virginia), scenery, northern degeneracy, and homesickness. Some minor skirmishes are described. A final letter is from Kendrick’s commanding officer to Kendrick’s parents describing Kendrick’s death at Gettysburg.

Caroline O’Reilly Nicholson Papers, #537-z

Caroline O’Reilly Nicholson (born circa 1812) was the wife of A. O. P. Nicholson (1808-1876), United States senator and chief justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court. The collection contains “Reminiscences of an Octogenarian (Mrs. A. O. P. Nicholson),” typescript (43 pages), written circa 1894, by Caroline O’Reilly Nicholson, and one letter. The reminiscences cover social activities, religious life, and town events in Columbia, Tenn., and Nashville, Tenn., 1820s-1840s; politics and elections in Tennessee, 1830s-1840s; social life in Washington, D.C., 1840s; and A. O. P. Nicholson’s political activities, including his personal and political friendship with James K. Polk.

Waddy Thompson Papers, #718-z

Waddy Thompson was a South Carolina politician and United States minister to Mexico. The collection is chiefly correspondence of Thompson while he was United States minister to Mexico, 1842-1844, including letters to his wife, Emmala Butler Thompson, and letters received from American political friends in the United States, the Republic of Texas, and Mexico, concerning yellow fever epidemics and general living and working conditions in Mexico, and diplomatic relations among Mexico, Great Britain, and the United States. Also included are some business papers related to sugar and cotton planting and the slave trade in Alabama and South Carolina.

A complete list of all updated and encoded finding aids can be found here.

The latest group of updated and encoded finding aids has just been posted online. Some of the notable collections in this group are:

Edwin Björkman Papers, #3070

Edwin Björkman (1866-1951) was a Swedish-American literary critic, translator, newspaperman, and author, and, from 1925, a resident of North Carolina. The collection includes literary, personal, and business correspondence, chiefly from 1907, writings and collected writings, of Edwin Björkman. His correspondence is divided into two series: Professional (literary), and Personal. The Professional series includes letters from many significant twentieth century authors, including Zoe Akins, Van Wyck Brooks, James Branch Cabell, Olive Tilford Dargan, John Galsworthy, Francis Grierson, Archibald Henderson, Henry Goddard Leach, William Lyon Phelps, Upton Sinclair, Freeman Tilden, and Allan Eugene Updegraff. Topics include Björkman’s work as a translator of Swedish literature and drama, his World War I experiences in Sweden as an employee of the British Department of Information and the American Committee on Public Information, and his work in North Carolina as literary editor of the Asheville Times newspaper and, after 1935, as director of the North Carolina Federal Writers’ Project. The Personal series consists of correspondence of and writings of Björkman’s family, including his four wives.

Thomas F. Hickerson Papers, #3809

Thomas F. (Thomas Felix) Hickerson was a professor of civil engineering and applied mathematics at the University of North Carolina and an expert in highway design. The collection includes professional and technical correspondence related to Hickerson’s work as professor at the University of North Carolina; papers, photographs, and genealogical and other data connected with the writing of his two books about the history and families of the Happy Valley area in Wilkes county and Caldwell county, N.C.; and about fifty items concerning the slaying of William C. Falkner (great-grandfather of the novelist William Faulkner) at Ripley, Miss., in 1889.

William Calk Diary, #131-z

William Calk (fl. 1775) traveled from Prince William County, Va., to Boone’s Fort on the Kentucky River in 1775. The collection is a typescript copy of a daily journal, 13 March 1775-2 May 1775, kept by Calk while on this trip.

A complete list of all updated and posted legacy finding aids can be found here.

The latest group of legacy finding aids has just been posted online. Some of the notable collections in this group are:

Carolina Central Railway Company Records, #4278

In 1873, the Wilmington, Charlotte, and Rutherfordton Railroad was reorganized as the Carolina Central Railway Company. In 1875, the company completed a line to Shelby, N.C. The collection includes correspondence, financial and legal material, and other records, of the railroad and its officials in Wilmington, N.C., and New York, N.Y., particularly Charles H. Roberts (born 1821), president. Principally consisting of intra-company correspondence, the records chiefly relate to railroad management, financial matters, and bond sales.

James Crawford Biggs Papers, #4299

James Crawford Biggs was an attorney in various North Carolina locations, 1894-1933 and 1935-1950; solicitor general of the United States, 1933-1935; and federally-appointed trustee for the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad Company. Correspondence, chiefly 1915-1924 and 1933-1939; organizational records and financial and legal material relating to the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway; notes for court cases; speeches and other writings on law, politics, and North Carolina history; miscellaneous financial and legal material; and photographs of Biggs and friends from the 1930s and 1940s.

Adelaide Walters Papers, #4293

Adelaide Walters (1907-1981) of Chapel Hill, N.C., was a local political activist, volunteer, civic leader, and Democratic Party officer. The collection includes correspondence, writings, clippings, and other papers of Adelaide Walters. These papers are mostly political correspondence and records relating to various organizations, especially the Chapel Hill Board of Aldermen, the Community Church of Chapel Hill, and the Chapel Hill Interfaith Council for Social Service. They treat such topics as civil rights of African Americans in Chapel Hill, the North Carolina Democratic Party, women in politics, and urban and regional planning.

E. E. Moffitt Papers, #519

E. E. Moffitt was the daughter of North Carolina governor Jonathan Worth. She married first Samuel Spencer Jackson (died 1875), second Samuel Walker (died 1877), and third Eli Needham Moffitt (died 1886). The collection includes correspondence, club records, scrapbooks, and other papers, chiefly 1878-1930, of Elvira Evelyna (Worth) Moffitt, concerning her club work and civic, cultural, and historical projects in Raleigh, N.C., and Richmond, Va. Organizations represented include the Raleigh Woman’s Club, North Carolina Peace Society, Women’s Association for the Betterment of Public Schools, Matthew Fontaine Maury Memorial Association, Daughters of the American Revolution, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Colonial Dames, and Roanoke Colony Memorial Association.

A complete list of all updated and posted legacy finding aids can be found here.