Inventory of the W. C. Ervin Papers, 1780-1992
Collection Number 845
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Contact Information:
- Manuscripts Department
- CB#3926, Wilson Library
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
- Phone: 919/962-1345
- Fax: 919/962-3594
- Email: mss@email.unc.edu
- URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
- Ervin, W. C. (William Carson), 1860-1943.
- Title
- W. C. Ervin Papers, 1780-1992
- Call Number
- 845
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 400
- Linear Feet: 1.0
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Administrative Information
- Acquisitions Information
- Received from Julia Coburn of Morganton, N.C., in October 1943, and from William A. Harbison III of Charlotte, N.C., in June 2004 (Acc. 99808).
- Processing Information
- Processed by: SHC staff and Jodi Berkowitz, July 1962 and July 2006
- Encoded by: Jodi Berkowitz, July 2006
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Additional Descriptive Resources
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the W. C. Ervin Papers #845, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Copyright Notice
- Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Avery, Isaac Thomas, 1785-1864.
- Bankers--North Carolina--History.
- Burke County (N.C.)--History.
- Caldwell County (N.C.)--History.
- Democratic Party (N.C.)--History.
- Editors--North Carolina--History.
- Ervin, W. C. (William Carson), 1860-1943.
- Land companies--North Carolina.
- Lawyers--North Carolina--History.
- Lenoir (N.C.)--History.
- Lenoir (N.C.)--Newspapers.
- Linville and Morganton Land and Improvement Company (N.C.).
- Morganton and Shelby Railroad (N.C.).
- Morganton Chamber of Commerce (N.C.)
- Morganton (N.C.)--History.
- Morganton (N.C.)--Newspapers.
- Newspaper editors--North Carolina.
- North Carolina--Newspapers.
- Railroads--North Carolina--History.
- Valdese (N.C.)--History.
- Waldenses--North Carolina.
Biographical Note
Lawyer, banker, newspaper editor, and industrialist William Carson Ervin (1860-1943) attended the University of North Carolina, 1879-1880, where he studied law. He was a practicing attorney in the firm of Avery and Ervin in Morganton, N.C., and was a director and trust officer of the First National Bank of Morganton. Ervin served as mayor of Lenoir, N.C., 1888-1889, and as editor of the Lenoir Topic and the Morganton Mountaineer-Herald, 1890-1896. He helped found the Waldensian colony in the 1890s, organized Catawba Valley Light Company, and was attorney for or director of many businesses and industrial enterprises in Burke County and western North Carolina. Ervin was also an active Democrat.
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The collection includes correspondence and other materials of lawyer, banker, newspaper editor, and industrialist W. C. Ervin of Morganton, N.C., and Lenoir, N.C. About half of the papers concern financing, chartering, promotion, and construction of railroads, chiefly 1895-1905. Also included are correspondence of Ervin and his partner Isaac T. Avery with politicians and state officials; correspondence related to an article written by Ervin on Grace Greenlee, 1915; papers relating to lands, including a letterpress copybook of the Linville and Morganton Land and Improvement Company; items relating to the establishment of the Waldenses at Valdese, N.C. in the 1890s; a legal fee book; stockholders minutes of the Morganton and Shelby Railroad, 1895-1898; and minutes book of the Morganton Chamber of Commerce, 1919-1920.
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Detailed Description of the Collection
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