Inventory of the W. R. Gwaltney Papers, 1862-1948

Collection Number 1636

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27515-8890
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
Gwaltney, W. R. (William Robert), 1835-1907.
Title
W. R. Gwaltney Papers, 1862-1948
Call Number
1636
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: 13
Linear Feet: 0.5
Abstract
William Robert Gwaltney (1835-1907) was born near Taylorsville, N.C. During the Civil War, Gwaltney served as colporteur and chaplain with the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia. In 1863, he was ordained a Baptist minister. Gwaltney married Amelia Ellen Staley in 1866, and the following year he received his diploma from Wake Forest College. For the next four decades, Gwaltney lived, preached, and built churches in various counties around the state, including Orange, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Catawba counties.
Gwaltney's diary, 1862-1875, chiefly concerns his religious and educational activities among the soldiers of the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia from 1862 to 1864. Also included are three notebooks, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous other items.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy (filmed 2005-2006) available.
Reel 1: Entire collection
Alternate Form of Material
Handwritten transcription of parts of the diary are available.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mrs. K. C. Menzies and Mrs. Paula G. Love of Hickory, N.C., in August 1949.
Processing Information
Processed by: SHC Staff, 1950
Encoded by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2005
Funding from the Watson-Brown Foundation, Inc., supported the encoding of this finding aid and microfilming of this collection.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the W. R. Gwaltney Papers #1636, Southern Historical Collection, 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.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Baptists--Clergy--Diaries.
Bible--Publication and distribution--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
Confederate States of America. Army--Chaplains.
Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 1st.
Diaries.
Gwaltney, W. R. (William Robert), 1835-1907.
Soldiers--Religious life--Confederate States of America.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Chaplains.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
Virginia--History--Civil War, 1861-1865.
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Biographical Note

William Robert Gwaltney (1835-1907) was born near Taylorsville, N.C. During the Civil War, Gwaltney served as colporteur and chaplain with the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia. In 1863, he was ordained a Baptist minister. Gwaltney married Amelia Ellen Staley in 1866, and the following year he received his diploma from Wake Forest College. For the next four decades, Gwaltney lived, preached, and built churches in various counties around the state, including Orange, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth and Catawba counties. William and Amelia Gwaltney had nine children.

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Collection Overview

Diary, 1862-1875, of William Robert Gwaltney (1835-1907), a Baptist minister of Taylorsville, N.C., who served as a colporteur and chaplain with the 1st North Carolina Infantry Regiment in Virginia during the Civil War. The diary chiefly concerns Gwaltney's religious and educational activities among the soldiers, but also includes a brief summary of his life in the decade after the Civil War. Also included are three notebooks, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous other items.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Papers, 1862-1948.
13 items.
Folder 1
Volume 1: Diary, 25 June 1863-6 March 1864
Folder 2
Volume 2: Diary, 12 November 1862-31 July 1863, 1 April-1 May 1864
Includes text for a marriage ceremony
Folder 3
Volume 3: Diary, 2 May 1864-1 January 1865 (chiefly May-December 1864)
Includes description of deserters in Alexander County, N.C., and brief summary of Gwaltney's life from 1865 to 1875
Folder 4
Handwritten transcriptions of parts of volumes 1, 2, 3
Folder 5
Miscellaneous material, 1862-1907, 1933
Includes an 1862 military pass, newspaper clippings, and family history materials
Folder 6
Volume 4: Notebook, ca. 1948
Folder 7
Volume 5: Notebook, ca. 1948
Folder 8
Volume 6: Notebook, undated

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