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 Hobbs and Mendenhall Family Papers #2493, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy of Nereus Mendenhall's treatise on pregnancy and childbirth (folder 33) available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from A. W. Hobbs of Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1943.

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.

• Childbirth.
• College presidents--North Carolina.
• College students--United States--Social life and customs.
• College teachers--North Carolina.
• Diaries.
• Education (Higher)--North Carolina.
• England--Description and travel.
• Guilford College.
• Haverford College--Students--History--19th century.
• Hobbs family.
• Hobbs, L. L. (Lewis Lyndon), 1849-1932.
• Hobbs, Mary Mendenhall, 1852-1930.
• Hobbs, Richard, 1888-1967.
• Mendenhall family.
• Mendenhall, Nereus, 1810-1893.
• New Garden School (Greensboro, N.C.)
• Pregnancy.
• Psychiatric hospitals--North Carolina.
• Quaker women--United States--Political activity.
• Quakers--North Carolina.
• Quakers--United States--Political activity.
• Schools--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Travelers--Diaries.
• World War, 1914-1918--Society of Friends.
• World War, 1914-1918--War work--France.

Nereus Mendenhall (1819-1893) graduated from Haverford College in 1839; received his medical degree from Jefferson College, Pa., in 1845; and abandoned his medical practice because of delicate health. He taught in the New Garden Boarding School at Greensboro, N.C., and later became a civil engineer and surveyed many railroads in North Carolina. In 1860, he returned to the New Garden School as principal and kept it open during the Civil War, which he opposed along with secession and Reconstruction. He served two terms as a Democrat in the state legislature and, in 1876, was appointed to faculty of the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He helped with the construction of the insane asylum at Morganton and the State Penitentiary. He was a learned and devout member of the Society of Friends and married Oriana Wilson in 1851.

Mary Mendenhall Hobbs (1852-1930), daughter of Nereus and Oriana Mendenhall, was also a member of the Society of Friends. She married L. L. (Lewis Lyndon) Hobbs and with him dedicated her life to education in North Carolina, especially that of women. She held no official position at Guilford College, but was the third woman to receive a degree from the University of North Carolina. She wrote on many subjects and was prominent in aiding all efforts for peace. She and Lyndon Hobbs had five children: Lewis Lyndon, Richard Julius Mendenhall, Allen Wilson, Walter, and Gertrude. Richard served with a Quaker relief organization in France during the First World War.

Lewis Lyndon Hobbs (1849-1932), son of Lewis and Phoebe Cook Hobbs, was a member of the Society of Friends and graduated from Haverford College in 1876. He accepted an appointment to teach at the New Garden College from 1876 to 1884 and was elected president of Guilford College (as New Garden had then become) from 1888 to 1915. He helped to establish the first rural grade school in North Carolina.

Collection contains family and personal letters, chiefly from 1870, concerning the political and religious activities, travels, and careers of members of the Mendenhall family and the Hobbs family of Guilford County, N.C. The papers reflect the Quaker view of life and relate to several reform movements. Included are letters, 1914-1919, from Richard Hobbs, son of Lewis Hobbs and Mary Hobbs, written while he was in France serving with a Quaker relief organization. Volumes, 1797-1923, include students' notebooks, particularly of L. L. Hobbs at Haverford College, 1870s; accounts; scrapbooks; diaries of Nereus Mendenhall, 1851, and L. L. Hobbs during a tour of England, 1890-1891; religious notebooks; and notes by Hobbs of his activities and his college experience, both as a student and as college president.

• Oversize papers (OP-2493/1-8)