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Collection Number: 01493

Collection Title: Cupola House Papers, 1695-1884

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 processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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Size 5 reels of microfilm
Abstract Microfilm of papers, 1695-1884, in the Cupola House, Edenton, N.C., including land papers, wills, deeds, accounts, and other business and miscellaneous papers of persons in the Edenton, N.C., area, relating to local government and institutions, military affairs, especially during the War of 1812, shipping and mercantile activities, and estate settlements and guardianships. Included are papers of the Baptist Meeting House, the mercantile firm of Collins, Allen, & Dickinson, the Edenton Academy, Edmund Hoskins, and the Roberts and Rombough families. Also included is an original 1948 photograph of Cupola House.
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 Cupola House Papers #1493, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Microfilm made from papers owned by the Cupola House Association and in the custody of the Shepherd-Pruden Memorial Library, Edenton, N.C.
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: Suzanne Ruffing, August 1996

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

The papers in this collection are held in the Cupola House on Broad Street in Edenton, N.C., one of the oldest residences in the town. The house was built around 1725 by Colonel Richard Sanderson, though not in its present form. In 1756, the house was bought by Francis Corbin, an agent for the Lords Proprietors, and used as his official residence. The house is believed to have been renovated by Corbin in 1758. Prior to the acquisition of the building by the Cupola House Association, its owner, a member of the Bond family, sold some of the interior woodwork and paneling to the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Restoration, to a large degree, was made to the building which is now used to house the Shepherd-Pruden Memorial Library, and a museum containing manuscripts, costumes, china, furniture, and pictures.

The papers have been assembled over time through gifts of personal papers from the Chowan County Court House by county officials and from gifts or loans by families and individuals. Most of the papers which deal chiefly with affairs of the town of Edenton were arranged around 1926 by Mark F. Boyd, M.D., then temporarily living in Edenton as director of experimental work for the International Health Division of the Rockefeller Foundation. During filming, some other papers were added to the sequence though the typed calendar complied by Boyd has been included in the film. The papers were filmed both at UNC and at the Cupola House. Difficulty in arrangement of the groups arose not only from trying to coordinate the two filming sites, but also from their diverse nature of the materials.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Microfilm of papers, 1695-1884, in the Cupola House, Edenton, N.C., including land papers, wills, deeds, accounts, and other business and miscellaneous papers of persons in the Edenton, N.C., area, relating to local government and institutions, military affairs, especially during the War of 1812, shipping and mercantile activities, and estate settlements and guardianships. Included are papers of the Baptist Meeting House, the mercantile firm of Collins, Allen, & Dickinson, the Edenton Academy, Edmund Hoskins, and the Roberts and Rombough families. Also included is an original 1948 photograph of Cupola House.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Microfilm, 1695-1884.

5 reels.
Folder M-1493/1

General Miscellaneous, 1695-1884: Wills, inventories of estates, accounts, agreements, claims, notes, deeds, accounts, receipts for quit rents, a few letters, plats of lands. There is correspondence, 1832, about cholera in New York City.

Folder M-1493/2

War of 1812, 1812-1815: References to aliens and British prisoners. There are a number of papers dealing with prize ships and settlements of prizes.

Corbinton Plan for Organization, n.d.: Plan for organization of the town of Corbinton, an early name for Hillsboro, N.C. (mentioned as such in Colonial Records, 28 May 1768 and others).

Indians, n.d.: An account for expenses of Indians with the cost of shoes, etc., but with no date or identification of tribe.

Jail at Edenton, 1779-1787: Petitions for a new jail in Edenton, papers referring to the building, other references.

Edenton Academy, 1770; 1787-1807: Typed statement of the charter of Edenton Academy, 1770. There are also references to its construction, accounts for lotteries held to raise funds for that purpose, correspondence about teachers, and receipts for tuition. There is a letter, 8 January 1787, from John Witherspoon, Princeton, N.J., to James Iredell, recommending a teacher for "Hillsboro Academy," and apparently a draft of a letter from Iredell in reply.

Baptist Meeting House, 1811 and n.d.: Papers concerning the construction of the Baptist meeting House in Edenton from 1811 and other undated papers.

Military Papers, 1779 and n.d.: Subscriptions listed for the purpose of sending an expedition against the Row Galley Arnold, 1779, and a list of a company commanded by John Vail in Colonel Francis Corbin's regiment, n.d.

Collins, Allen, & Dickinson, circa 1790-1794: Chiefly accounts, some correspondence, relative to business conducted by this firm about both shipments of merchandise and that which was sold locally.

Shipping, 1750-1859: Shipping accounts and correspondence with domestic and foreign traders about repairs on boats, barrels of tar, shipments, etc. There is also correspondence, 1780, from Robert Morris, Philadelphia.

Pamphlets, 1821: "The Memorial of the Citizens of the Borough of Norfolk to the Congress of the United States against certain acts concerning Navigation," printed by T. G. Broughton, Norfolk, 1821.

"The Memorial of the Citizens of the Town of Fayetteville, N.C., in Protest of an Unfair Navigation Embargo to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States," signed by John D. Toomer, Louis H. Henry, Benjamin Robinson, Committee in Fayetteville, 26 January 1821.

Memoir of Edenton, n.d.: By Mrs. Anne M. Tunstall of Statesville, N.C., who was born in Edenton in 1845. Typed copy, 1 page.

Town of Edenton Papers, 1786-1798: Typed calendar of papers by Dr. Mark F. Boyd. There is an undated plat of Edenton, n.d., and papers referring chiefly to affairs connected with the management of the town.

Folder M-1493/3

Town of Edenton Papers, 1799-1860: Papers referring chiefly to affairs connected with the management of the town and there are reports of the Town Guard in 1822. There are papers from the police courts and fire company in 1823; sanitary and safety measures; town elections, bonds, accounts, minutes of commissioner's meetings, and a large number of permits for slaves to work on town improvements and receipts for payment of the same, 1821-1830. There are also papers about streets, courts, dogs, and nuisances.

Miscellaneous Papers from the Edenton Museum, n.d.: Photographs of scenes or earlier dated collected for Edentonia written by H. H. McMullen (SHC #1495); an early map of Carolina in Dutch, n.d.; photographs and pictures of Joseph Hewes, Horniblow's Tavern, Edenton Tea Party, a plat of the town of Edenton, an a naval engagement in Albemarle Sound on 5 May 1864, in which the ram Albemarle took part; courts-of arms for the Hoskins, Smethwycke, Lovick, Ellis, and Johnstone families; shipping papers as well as duties collected for the Port of Roanoke (an early name for Edenton); a treaty with the Tuscarora Indians, n.d.; a grant, 1720, from Lord Carteret to William Spaight; a settlement of estate, 1768, of Francis Corbin; and an early map of North Carolina.

Folder M-1493/4

Miscellaneous Papers, Hoskins, 1729-1811: Chiefly mercantile papers and papers pertaining to the settlement of debts and some court papers, warrants, etc., as well as tax lists and receipts. A large number of the papers are of Edmund Hoskins, merchant, importer, deputy marshall, collector of revenues, sheriff od Chowan County, Treasurer of the Wardens of the Poor, and Guardian for several persons and families.

Folder M-1493/5

Miscellaneous Papers, Hoskins, 1811-1868 and undated: See above description for reel 4.

Roberts Family, 1790-1814: Papers relating to members of the Roberts family, a number of them being accounts of Charles Roberts as guardian for the family of James Roberts, deceased.

Rombough Family, 1772-1811: Papers, chiefly business affairs, of persons named Rombough.

Shipping and Vessels, 1803-1851: Including a Nixonton item, 20 December 1815, an extensive bill of goods shipped to Nixonton on Little River, Perquimans County, N.C., the site of a shipyard and customs house at one time.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Pictures, 1864-1948.

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