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Collection Number: 00060-z

Collection Title: Burwell Benson Papers, 1833-1914

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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Size 100 items
Abstract The collection is chiefly bills, receipts, and some family correspondence, chiefly 1853-1857, of members of the Benson family, farmers of Alamance County, N.C., Gentryville, Mo., and Arkansas. Also included are gubernatorial election returns for Orange County, N.C., 1838 and 1840.
Creator Benson, Burwell.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
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 Burwell Benson Papers #60-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.
Acquisitions Information
Received before 1940.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Rebecca Hollingsworth, August 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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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.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Correspondence, bills and receipts, accounts, and other papers of the Benson family of Alamance County, N.C., Dallas County, Ark., and Gentryville, Mo.

Correspondence consists mainly of letters to William Benson (fl. 1829-1884) from his brothers in Missouri and Arkansas. Letters, 1840-1857, discuss prices of land, livestock, and various crops; the appointment of an agent to sell land in North Carolina; and routine family matters, including the health of family members and visits from friends and relatives. Also included are a postcard, 1884, from William Benson to his son Burwell Stadler Benson, and a letter, 1914, from J. H. Vernon.

Financial and legal papers mostly pertain to William Benson and include bills, receipts, accounts, promissory notes, and other papers. Also included are tax receipts and scattered other papers, 1819-1850, of Edward Benson; the will of William McAdams, 1833, naming Edward Benson as executor and papers concerning the administration of McAdams's estate; and a few papers, 1859, pertaining to the affairs of Rachel Graham, for whom William Benson was trustee.

Miscellaneous items include abstracts of election results in Orange County, N.C., for 1838 and 1840; a price list, 1877, for the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company; and detailed instructions for processes such as curing tobacco.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Burwell Benson Papers, 1833-1914.

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