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 Nathaniel Henry Rhodes Dawson Papers, #210, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Prior to 1940

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original finding aid 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.

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.

• Alabama--Politics and government--1861-1865.
• Alabama--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Alabama--Social life and customs.
• Bull Run, 1st Battle of, Va., 1861.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Military life.
• Confederate States of America. Army. Alabama Infantry Regiment, 4th.
• Dawson, Elodie Todd, 1844-1881.
• Dawson, Nathaniel Henry Rhodes, 1829-1895.
• Democratic Party (N.C.)--History.
• Education--United States--History.
• Families--Alabama--Social life and customs.
• Selma (Ala.)--Social life and customs.
• Todd family.
• University of Alabama--History.
• Washington (D.C.)--Social life and customs.

• Nathaniel Henry Rhodes Dawson Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University

Nathaniel Henry Rhodes Dawson was a Selma, Ala., lawyer and politician, Confederate officer, and United States commissioner of education.

The collection includes original items, 1861-1876, consisting of detailed and almost daily letters exchanged by Dawson and Elodie Todd (1844-1881), sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, while he was serving in the 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Confederate States of America, in camps in Virginia and elsewhere and she in Selma, 1861-1862; his letters to her after they were married and while a member of the Alabama legislature, 1863-1865; and his letters to her from Washington, D.C., late 1865. Topics include camp life, battles (particularly 1st Manassas), President Lincoln and the Todd family.

Microfilm items include some correspondence of Dawson as United States Commissioner of Education, 1886-1889; scattered family and Democratic political correspondence; correspondence as trustee of the University of Alabama; four scrapbooks; and a diary, 1887, recording weather and daily activities at Selma and Washington.

• Photographs (P-210/1-5) in image folder (PF-210/1)
• Microfilm (M-210/1-2)