Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4632
EMMA PAULINE NICHOLSON ALEXANDER PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Chiefly letters, 1856-1870, to Emma Pauline
Nicholson Alexander of Enfield, N.C., wife of Sydenham Benoni
Alexander (1840-1921), from friends and relatives,
particularly cousins, in various locations in North Carolina,
including Tarboro, Hillsboro, Warrenton, and New Bern, and in
Richmond, Va., Galveston, Tex., and Demopolis, Ala. Many of
these letters are from friends who attended school with Emma
either at the Salem Female Academy or at boarding school in
Hillsboro, N.C. Writers of these letters tend to reminisce
about school events, discuss classmates, or give news of their
activities since leaving school. There are also many letters
from Emma's cousins and other relatives. These letters
chiefly discuss routine family affairs. There are a few
letters that relate to the Civil War, including two 1864
letters Emma's brother Edward A. T. Nicholson, who served as
aide to Brigadier General Robert D. Johnston and was killed in
the charge on Fort Stedman in 1864, about the conduct of the
war and about an expedition into the Valley of Virginia; a
letter, 8 November 1864, from Eugene B. Wiggins at Camp Manly
to his cousin Emma; a 4 March 1865 letter from former
classmate Mary H. Whitaker in Tarboro about rumors of Northern
troops in the vicinity; and a 7 July 1865 letter to Emma about
the death of her brothers. Also included are Emma's scrapbook
containing poems, some of them clipped from newspapers and
other handwritten, 1850s-1874 about fallen heros of the Civil
War and the virtues of women, a few printed tracts, and other
items.
Online Catalog Terms:
Alexander, Emma Pauline Nicholson, d. 1880.
Confederate States of America--Social conditions.
Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Correspondence.
Demopolis (Ala.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Enfield (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
Galveston (Tex.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Hillsboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
New Bern (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Nicholson, Edward A. T., d. 1864.
Nicholson family.
Richmond (Va.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Salem Female Academy--Students--History--19th century.
Scrapbooks.
Tarboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Warrenton (N.C.)--Social life and customs--19th century.
Women--Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.
Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs--19th century.
Size: About 55 items (0.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Billy Howell, Jr., of Charlotte, N.C.,
in October 1992 (Acc. 92156).
Processing Note: Three letters originally included in the Mary E.
Grattan Papers (#2975) and appearing on the
microfilm version of that collection were
transferred to the Emma Pauline Nicholson
Alexander Papers in November 1992.
Access: No restrictions.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright
law.
Related Collection: Mary E. Grattan Papers (#2975).
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1828; 1856-1870. About 50 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters to Emma Pauline Nicholson Alexander from friends
and relatives, particularly cousins, in various locations in North
Carolina, including Tarboro, Fairmont, Hillsboro, Warrenton, and
New Bern, and in Richmond, Va., Galveston, Tex., and Demopolis,
Ala. Most of the letters were addressed to Emma Pauline Nicholson
at her home in Enfield, N.C. There are, however, a few letters
addressed to other family members and a small number of bills and
receipts for goods and services scattered among the materials.
The earliest item is an 1828 letter from Martha Mary Nicholson
at school in Salem, N.C., to her father, Guilford Nicholson.
Letters to Emma start in 1856 and continue through 1870. Many of
these letters are from friends who attended school with Emma either
at the Salem Female Academy or at Nash and Pollock's Select
Boarding and Day School in Hillsboro, N.C. Writers of these
letters tend to reminisce about school events, discuss classmates,
or give news of their activities since leaving school. There are
also many letters from Emma's cousins and other relatives. These
letters chiefly discuss routine family affairs. In 1866, there are
a few letters from a young female relative in Galveston, Tex.,
about her social life there.
There are a few letters that relate to the Civil War. These
include two letters, 16 June and 23 August 1864, from Emma's
brother Edward A. T. Nicholson, who served as aide to Brigadier
General Robert D. Johnston and was killed in the charge on Fort
Stedman in 1864, about the conduct of the war and about an
expedition into the Valley of Virginia; a letter, 8 November 1864,
from Eugene B. Wiggins at Camp Manly to his cousin Emma; a 4 March
1865 letter from former classmate Mary H. Whitaker in Tarboro about
rumors of Northern troops in the vicinity; and a 7 July 1865 letter
to Emma about the death of her brothers.
Folder 1 1828; 1856-1865
2 1866
3 1867-1870
4 Undated
Series 2. Other Papers
1850s-1935. 5 items.
Folder 5 Scrapbook belonging to Emma Pauline Nicholson,
containing chiefly poems, some of them clipped from newspapers and
others handwritten, 1850s-1874. Some of the poems deal
with fallen heros of the Civil War, while others detail the
virtues of women.
Folder 6 Miscellaneous papers, including two printed, undated
tracts-"I Am An Infidel!" and "Sunday: or the Sabbath a
Delight"; a handwritten, unascribed, poem entitled, "I Know Not
Why I Love Thee"; and a memorial leaflet for Sydenham B. Alexander
(1877-1935), "Southern representative, Compton & Knowles Loom
Works