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 Mary F. Henderson papers #4395, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Sara W. Stevens of Chapel Hill, N.C., in December 1984.

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.

• Democratic Party (N.C.)--History.
• Episcopal Church--North Carolina--History.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Henderson, Mary F. (Mary Ferrand), 1887-1965.
• Social register of North Carolina.
• Social registers--North Carolina.
• Women--North Carolina--Social life and customs.

• Archibald Henderson Papers (#3650): Henderson was Mary F. Henderson's brother
• Lyman Atkinson Cotten Papers (#182): Cotten was her brother-in-law
• John Steele Henderson Papers (#327): Henderson was her father
• John Henderson Cotten Papers (#1505): Cotten was her nephew

Mary Ferrand Henderson, daughter of Elizabeth Brownrigg Cain and John Steele Henderson of Salisbury, N.C., lived much of her adult life in Chapel Hill, N.C., with her sister, Elizabeth Brownrigg Cotten. Henderson served as vice-chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party, 1922-1930. She also was a member of the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill and active in affairs of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and in a number of lineage societies. In the mid-1930s, she served as editor of the "Social Register of North Carolina," which was published in 1936.

These papers were arranged during processing in one series of subject files, as listed below. They were selected from material found in 1984 in the attic of a Chapel Hill home once occupied by Henderson. Material discarded during processing consisted of routine and duplicate items, most relating to the Social Register of North Carolina. It should be noted that only a few items concern Henderson's political activities.