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No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Lemuel Bannister Papers #4811-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Charles Apfelbaum, Dealer in Rare Manuscripts and Archives, of Watchung, N.J. in April 1996 (Acc. 96068).

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

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• African Americans--Employment--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Bannister, Lemuel.
• Bolton (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Cleveland (Ohio)--Social life and customs.
• Green Swamp (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Green Swamp Company.
• Kenyon, Frankie.
• Love-letters--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Lumber trade--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--North Carolina.
• Wilmington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.

Lemuel Bannister was president of the Green Swamp Company, a lumber business based in Wilmington and Bolton, N.C.

Twenty-seven letters from Lemuel Bannister to his fiancee, Frankie (Frances?) Kenyon of Cleveland, Ohio, written between June and November 1868, immediately after Bannister moved to Wilmington, N.C., to become president of the Green Swamp Company. Some letters describe Bannister's impressions of southern culture, his African American employees, the Green Swamp, and the state legislature of North Carolina. Those dated 24 and 27 June are particularly interesting for Bannister's impressions of North Carolina and the South. Most of the letters express his great love and longing for his fiancee. Letter, November 1868, are full of preparations for their wedding in Fulton, N.Y., near the end of the month. Also included is a small photograph in a copper frame, presumably of Lemuel Bannister.

• Photograph (P-4811/1)