Timeline extended for launch of Wilson Library facilities work.

Collection Number: 01545

Collection Title: Alfred Chapman Papers, 1779-1876 (bulk 1845-1869)

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 and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 250 items)
Abstract Alfred Chapman (1813-1876), native of Orange County, Va., was an official of the United States and Confederate war departments. The collection includes scattered family and professional papers, chiefly 1845-1869, of Alfred Chapman. Included are early papers of Chapman's ancestors in Orange County, Va.; payrolls of Virginia militia units during the Revolutionary War; family and business correspondence of Chapman at Staunton, Va.; about 40 letters from Chapman to his wife, Mary Edmunds Kinney Chapman, 1850-1852, while he was in Washington, D.C., working in the pension and Indian offices, about family matters, his work, and other topics. Among the letters is a brief recommendation letter, 23 June 1851, written by Daniel Webster on behalf of his former slave Paul Jennings, whom he had freed in 1847. Jennings had originally been owned by President James Madison. There are also very scattered papers pertaining to Chapman's appointment in the Confederate government and to its operations; and letters, 1876, to Mrs. Bedford Brown, Alexandria, Va., from her son.
Creator Chapman, Alfred, 1813-1876.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
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 Alfred Chapman Papers, #1545, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Bedford Brown of Arlington, Va., November 1948.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.
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.
Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, July 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

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.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Related Collections

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Alfred Chapman (1813-1876), native of Orange County, Va., was an official of the United States and Confederate war departments. Before the Civil War, Chapman practiced law at Staunton, Va.; and was employed as a clerk in the United States Pension Bureau and the United States Office of Indian Affairs. In 1861 he began working for the government of the Confederate States of America.

Back to Top

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes scattered family and professional papers, chiefly 1845-1869, of Alfred Chapman. Included are early papers of Chapman's ancestors in Orange County, Va.; payrolls of Virginia militia units during the Revolutionary War; family and business correspondence of Chapman at Staunton, Va.; about 40 letters from Chapman to his wife, Mary Edmunds Kinney Chapman, 1850-1852, while he was in Washington, D.C., working in the pension and Indian offices, about family matters, his work, and other topics. Among the letters is a brief recommendation letter, 23 June 1851, written by Daniel Webster on behalf of his former slave Paul Jennings, whom he had freed in 1847. Jennings had originally been owned by President James Madison. There are also very scattered papers pertaining to Chapman's appointment in the Confederate government and its operations, and letters, 1876, to Mrs. Bedford Brown, Alexandria, Va., from her son.

Back to Top

Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Alfred Chapman Papers, 1779-1876 and undated.

Folder 1a

Original finding aid

Folder 1

1779-1823

Folder 2

1824-1850

Folder 3

1851

Includes a brief recommendation letter (23 June 1851) written by Daniel Webster on behalf of Paul Jennings, his former slave. Jennings had been raised a slave under the ownership of President James Madison. He was later sold to Webster, from whom he purchased his freedom in 1847.

Folder 4

1852

Folder 5

1853-1861

Folder 6

1862-1876 and undated

Folder 7

Miscellaneous papers

Back to Top