Inventory of the Alamance Cotton Mill Records, 1839-1926

Collection Number 4


Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Online Catalog Headings
Biographical/Historical Note
Collection Overview
Items Separated
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Creator
Alamance Cotton Mill (Alamance County, N.C.)
Title
Alamance Cotton Mill Records, 1839-1926
Call Number
4
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: 130
Linear Feet: 4.0
Abstract
The Alamance Cotton Mill was established by Edwin Michael Holt and his brother-in-law, William A. Carrigan, in 1837, signalling the start of industrial development in Alamance County, N.C. The Alamance factory was located on Great Alamance Creek, site of Holt's father's grist mill. The plant was under Holt management for 89 years, during which time the Holt family controlled most of the county's cotton manufacture. The Alamance Cotton Mill operated under various names, including Holt and Carrigan, E.M. Holt and Company, E.M. Holt's Sons, and the L. Banks Holt Manufacturing Company.
Business records and scattered business correspondence of the Alamance Cotton Mill include production, shipping, and time records; store accounts; letter books; and other materials relating to manufacture and sales. Papers are chiefly dated 1838-1884, with a gap from 1853 to 1868.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Alternate Form of Material
Acquisitions Information
Received from the Alamance Factory and E. M. Holt and Sons, prior to 1940.
Processing Information
Processed by: SHC Staff, 1997
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Alamance Cotton Mill Records #4, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Alamance Cotton Mill (Alamance County, N.C.)
Alamance County (N.C.)--Commerce.
Carrigan, William A.
Cotton manufacture--North Carolina.
Holt, Edwin Michael, 1807-1884.
Textile industry--North Carolina.
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Biographical/Historical Note

Alamance Factory was built in 1837 by Edwin Michael Holt on Great Alamance Creek, the site of his father's grist mill. Though there were already perhaps two small mills in operation in Alamance County, this date may be considered the beginning of the industrial development of the county. Holt and his heirs dominated the industrial life of the county for the next century.

Alamance Factory continued under Holt management for 89 years; and twenty-four of the county's twenty-nine cotton mills were controlled by members of the Holt family for periods ranging from fourteen to eighty-nine mills, during the period of development.

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Collection Overview

Scattered business and miscellaneous papers, 1839-1926, and 34 volumes, 1844-1926, including 11 oversized volumes. The volumes include merchandise ledgers, store journals, shipping and production books, time books, letter books, invoice books, and other records relating to manufacture and sales.

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Arrangement of Collection

Series 1. Business and Miscellaneous Papers
Series 2. Volumes
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Items Separated

Volumes 4/S-2, S-7, S-9-11, S-13, S-15, S-22, S-23, S-28, S-34.

Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Business and Miscellaneous Papers, 1839-1926.

About 100 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Scattered business papers, 1839-1926.
Folder 1
1839-1884, 1899. Correspondence and accounts
Folder 2
1903. Store inventory.
Folder 3
1910-1926, Undated. Store accounts.

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2. Volumes, 1844-1925.

34 volumes.
Arrangement: chronological.
Merchandise ledgers, store journals, shipping and production books, time books, letter books, invoice books, and other records relating to manufacture and sales.
Folder 4
Volume 1. September 1844-July 1846. Holt general merchandise day book.
Folder 5
Volume S-2. 1845-1853. E. M. Holt & Co., merchandise ledger.
Folder 6
Volume 3. August 1846-July 1849. E. M. Holt & Co., Hillsboro, N. C., general merchandise day book.
Folder 7
Volume 3a. August 1849-September 1853. E. M. Holt & Co., Hillsboro, N. C., general merchandise day book.
Folder 8
Volume 4. 1868-1887. E. M. Holt's Sons, Alamance Mills, miscellaneous receipt book.
Folder 9
Volume 5. May 1883-May 1887. Day book, store account with family.
Folder 10
Volume 6. September 1885-June 1886. Shipping book.
Folder 11
Volume S-7. 1887-1899. E. M. Holt's Sons, Alamance Factory, store journal.
Folder 12
Volume 8. March-December 1889. Alamance Factory, ledger.
Folder 13
Volume S-9. 1890-1899. E. M. Holt's Sons, miscellaneous ledger.
Folder 14
Volume S-10. January 1890-January 1900. Alamance Factory, production book.
Folder 15
Volume S-11. January 1890-June 1901. Alamance Cotton Mills, time book.
Folder 16
Volume 12. June 1891-March 1898. Shipping book.
Folder 17
Volume S-13. February 1900-July 1908. Commercial National Bank account. 1910-1913. Inventory of Alamance Store.
Folder 18
Volume 14. February 1900-October 1922. Alamance Cotton Mills, production book.
Folder 19
Volume S-15. July 1900-October 1912. Alamance Cotton Mills, time book.
Folder 20
Volume 16. September 1902-February 1909. Alamance Cotton Mills, letter book.
Folder 21
Volume 17. December 1904-October 1906. Alamance Cotton Mills, letter book.
Folder 22
Volume 18. 1908. Mill record.
Folder 23
Volume 19. November 1905-August 1926. Alamance Cotton Mills, cotton book.
Folder 24
Volume 20. 1905-1915. Inventories, mill store.
Folder 25
Volume 21. 1908-1910. Alamance Cotton Mills, invoice book.
Folder 26
Volume S-22. September 1908-May 1920. Alamance Cotton Mills, rent book and mill accounts.
Folder 27
Volume S-23. September 1908-March 1926. Alamance Cotton Mills, cotton book.
Folder 28
Volume 24. September 1909-November 1926. Alamance Cotton Mills, cloth account.
Folder 29
Volume 25. June 1910-1912. Store ledger.
Folder 30
Volume 26. July 1910-March 1914. Invoice book.
Folder 31
Volume 27. 1911. Mill record.
Folder 32
Volume S-28. July 1912-May 1916. L. Banks Holt Mfg. Co., Alamance Cotton Mills, colored cotton register.
Folder 33
Volume 29. July 1912-March 1917. Bailing book.
Folder 34
Volume 30. August 1912-April 1914. Store ledger.
Folder 35
Volume 31. 1916. Weaving room cloth book.
Folder 36
Volume 32. July 1922-July 1925. Time book.
Folder 37
Volume 33. June 1924-June 1925. Production cost book.
Folder 38
Volume S-34. 1867-1885. E. M. Holt's Sons, general merchandise ledger.

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