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Collection Overview
| Size | 28.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 8000 items) |
| Abstract | Ker family and related Baker and other families of Mississippi and Louisiana, including John Ker (1789-1850) of Natchez, Miss., and Concordia Parish, La., who was a surgeon, planter, 1830s Louisiana state senator, and vice president of the American Colonization Society; his wife Mary Baker Ker (d. 1862); their daughter schoolteacher Mary Susan Ker (1838-1923), who taught at the Natchez Institute; and two grandnieces whom Mary Susan raised: Matilda Ralston (Tillie) Dunbar (fl. 1890s-1960s), who clerked in a Fayette, Miss., bank, and Catharine Dunbar Brown (d. 1959), who first taught at the Natchez Institute and later owned a rare book and antiques store. Topics discussed in materials, 1800-1960s, include medicine; Louisiana and Mississippi plantation affairs; slavery; Presbyterian church activities; local, state, and national politics, including the conduct of the 1813-1814 Creek War and the War of 1812 (note an 1814 Andrew Jackson letter about the defense of Louisiana); men's and women's education, chiefly at the Natchez Institute and Oakland College, Miss.; and travel, especially Mary Susan Ker's 1886 European tour. There are also materials relating to Mary Susan's and Catharine Dunbar Brown's teaching at the Natchez Institute; to Tillie Dunbar's bank clerking in Fayette, Miss.; and to Catharine's Ye Olde Booke Shoppe in Natchez. Also included are estate papers, bills and receipts, property inventories, wills and indentures, slave lists, account books, and other items documenting antebellum plantation and land holdings and postwar plantation and personal finances. There are also a few diaries, clippings, 19th- and early 20th-century pedagogical materials, and family photographs. Other papers include scattered records of John Ker's work with the American Colonization Society and extensive records of the Natchez branches of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1924-1968, and the Colonial Dames of America, 1941-1967, in which both Tillie and Catharine were active, and letters and Mardi Gras invitations to Sue Percy Ker Hyams and other materials related to her. |
| Creator | Ker family. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
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Biographical Information
Dr. John Ker (1789-1850) studied medicine in Philadelphia; served as a surgeon in the Creek War; became a cotton planter in Natchez, Miss., and Concordia Parish, La.; and served in the Louisiana Senate in the 1830s. He also served as vice-president of the American Colonization Society and vice-president of the Mississippi Colonization Society. Ker married Mary Kenard Baker of Kentucky in 1820. Mary Ker's father, Joshua Baker (fl. 1800-1814), was a colonel in the army and a planter in Fort Adams, Miss. Her brother Isaac L. Baker (fl. 1820s-1840s) was a planter in Attakapas, La.
John and Mary Ker had five children: Sarah Evelina, who married Richard Butler, of Terrebonne Parish, La.; David (1825-1884), a lawyer and sugar planter who married Elizabeth Brownson of New York; John, Jr. (1826-1902), lawyer and cotton planter; Lewis (1831-1894), a planter who married first Jane Percy and second, Susan Percy, and took over his father's interests; Mary Susan (1838-1923), a teacher in Natchez, Miss.; and William Henry (1841-1902), a cotton planter and later a teacher and principal in Port Gibson, Miss., and in Natchez, who served as president of the State Board of Education. William married Josephine (Josie) Chamberlain.
Lewis Ker's first wife died during the Civil War, and he sent his two daughters Mamie and Nellie to live with his sister Mary Susan, who became their guardian in 1867. To support her wards, she turned to teaching, receiving a certificate in 1874. In 1886, Mary Susan went to Europe as a traveling companion to her cousin, Amelia Metcalfe Choppin. She later returned to teaching to raise two of Mamie's children, Matilda Ralston (Tillie) Dunbar and Catharine Shields Dunbar, when Mamie died in 1894. Mary Susan taught at the Natchez Institute from 1897 to 1907 and at the Shield's Lane School in Adams County, Miss., from 1907 to 1915. Catharine and Tillie lived with Mary Susan in a rented home in Natchez until 1917, when Tillie bought a house.
Tillie Dunbar graduated from Stanton College in Natchez in 1904 and went to work as a clerk in a local store, Baker and McDowell. In 1912, she left her job there to become a stenographer for the law firm of Truly and Ratliffe and, in 1918, became a clerk in the Jefferson County Bank, which Truly owned, in Fayette, Miss. She boarded there and returned home on weekends.
Catharine Dunbar graduated from Natchez Institute in 1905 and attended the University of Mississippi at Oxford, completing her studies in 1908. She then began teaching at the Natchez Institute, where she remained until 1918. She left that position to work in the Britton & Koontz Bank in Natchez and later operated a rare book and curio shop in Natchez. She married Frederick Brown. Both Tillie and Catharine were active in civic affairs in Natchez and were officers of the Natchez chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames of America.
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Scope and Content
This addition contains mostly family and social letters to members of the Ker and Dunbar families, especially John Ker, Mary S. Ker, Matilda (Tillie) Ralston Dunbar, Catherine Dunbar Brown, and Sue Percy Ker Hyams. There is also some financial and legal material produced by the Dunbar and Ker families, including wills, deeds of land sale, bills and receipts, stock certificates, and personal and business account books. There are many applications to genealogical organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames, along with materials documenting family history and qualifications for joining these organizations. Tillie Dunbar and Catherine Dunbar Brown were both very active in the D.A.R. and Colonial Dames, and this addition includes much material related to the organizations' administration and activities. Other material in this addition includes schoolwork done by members of the Ker and Dunbar families, and scrapbooks and commonplace books kept by various family members in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Much of this material is very similar to the papers in Series 1 and 2 of the collection. For most topics, researchers should look in those series as well as in the addition.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Nineteenth-Century Papers, 1800-1899 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence, financial and legal, and other papers of the Ker and Baker families of Mississippi and Louisiana and of scattered Hunt, Robinson, and Butler relatives.
See Series 4, 5, and 9 for additional 19th-century papers.
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Subseries 1.1. Correspondence, 1800-1899 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly antebellum and postwar correspondence of the Ker family of Greenville and Natchez, Miss., and their Baker, Hunt, and other relatives of Fort Adams, Miss.; Attakapas, La.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Subseries 1.1.1., 1800-1820
Chiefly correspondence of John Ker of Natchez, Miss., in the years prior to and months immediately following his marriage in 1820, with substantial correspondence of his brother David Ker of Greenville, Miss., his father-in-law Joshua Baker of Fort Adams, Miss., and his brother-in-law Isaac L. Baker, of Attakapas, La. Additional scattered letters belong primarily to Ker's fiancee Mary Kenard Baker, his mother Mary Boggs Ker, and his Hunt relatives of Philadelphia and Cincinnati.
Early letters, 1800-1811, mostly discuss the finances and military service of Joshua and Isaac Baker and the financial affairs of Abijah Hunt. An item of interest is a letter, dated 10 December 1814, from General Andrew Jackson to Joshua Baker concerning the appointment of Baker's son to West Point and the defense of Louisiana against the British (A-4656/1).
Later letters, especially those exchanged by John and David Ker, comment frequently on local and national politics, including the Embargo of 1807 and mob actions; the Creek War, 1813-1814; the War of 1812, 1814-1815; and the practice of medicine and law on the Mississippi frontier. Of note are two letters, 27 January 1815 and 17 October 1817, discussing medical philosophy and the relationship between the mind and body, and a letter dated 30 October 1816, describing a trip down the Mississippi River. Remaining family letters reveal details of the social activities, education, finances, travel, health, and slaves of various Ker, Baker, Porter, and Nutt relatives in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Kentucky.
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Subseries 1.1.2., 1821-1849.
Correspondence of John Ker, with substantial correspondence of Mary Baker Ker, Sarah Robinson of Natchez, and David Hunt of Lexington, Ky. There are also occasional items addressed to Isaac L. Baker; James and Sarah Metcalfe; several of the Ker children, including Sarah, Mary Susan, John, and David; and miscellaneous others.
John Ker's most frequent correspondents were his wife, sons David and John, associates Stephen Duncan and George Potts, and Judge A. W. Porter, Jr. John and Mary exchanged numerous letters, 1828-1845, while John served in the state Senate in New Orleans or was away on business. They discussed politics and Senate business; plantation and religious affairs in Natchez; their finances; and the education, rearing, and health of their children. David and John wrote their father frequently from Oakland College, 1841-1843, describing their material and academic life, and later from Houma, Miss., and other locations concerning their travels and work.
Letters, 1823-1849, from Stephen Duncan, who managed many of Ker's financial affairs, discuss business and occasionally medicine and politics. George Potts, a Presbyterian minister who left Natchez for a new post in New York, wrote, 1835-1849, discussing his replacement, his New York ministry, Ker's management of his financial affairs, and antislavery sentiment in the North. Judge A. W. Porter, Jr., wrote, 1831-1837, from New Orleans and Washington City discussing Louisiana and national politics, frequently criticizing President Jackson's policies. Scattered letters from others also discuss politics. A few letters, 1831-1835, mention Ker's role in the American Colonization Society.
Mary Ker's correspondence, besides that with her husband, is mostly with her brother Isaac, 1821-1829; her sister Sarah Metcalfe; her niece Anne Porter; and, after 1840, her children. Letters discuss plantation and Presbyterian church affairs, the welfare and education of her children, and other family news. Of note is an 1828 letter from her brother Joshua discussing the sudden death of their brother Lewis Baker. Also of interest is a letter Mary Ker wrote to Rev. John B. Warren of New Orleans in 1839 discussing the case of a Presbyterian minister charged with preaching "improper doctrine."
Letters to Sarah Robinson, scattered between 1822 and 1839, and those to David Hunt of Lexington, Ky., scattered between 1828 and 1857, as well as letters to miscellaneous others, discuss mostly business and plantation affairs and family news.
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Subseries 1.1.3. 1850-1858, 1850-1851, 1853-1856, 1858..
Chiefly letters received by Mary Kenard Baker from her daughters, Sarah Evelina Ker Butler and Mary Susan Ker. There are also scattered letters from her sons, John and David; her brother, Joshua Baker, Jr.; and other Baker, Nutt, Henderson, and Butler relatives.
Sarah wrote frequently from Terrebonne Parish, La., giving news of her plantation affairs and children, her travels, and her Butler relations. Of note are letters, dated May 1850 and 10 July 1855, opposing her sister Lizzie's and her sister Mary Susan's marriage plans. Mary Susan's letters, all written between July and September 1855, describe a prolonged visit to Brownson and other relatives in Kentucky and New York.
Letters from David and John discuss mostly their health, travels, and conflicts over the settlement of their father's estate. Other letters of interest are one in 1851 from Mrs. E. M. Hart Baker describing a trip to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and one in 1855 from Heloise de Mailly concerning Mary Susan's education. A letter dated 25 February 1850 lists an inventory of Mary Baker Ker's property.
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Subseries 1.1.4., 1860-1899.
Mostly Mary Susan Ker's correspondence, 1860-1898, with family and friends, and scattered letters of the William H. Ker family. Many of the letters to Mary Susan are from her niece Mamie S. Dunbar, who wrote from Marathon Plantation discussing her children, and from her friends Ysobel Boyd and Lou Conner. There are also letters from various other Butler and Ker relatives, including Mary Susan's brother David, her brother-in-law Richard Butler, and her brother Lewis B. Ker. Of note are an August 1867 letter from David expressing his views on her financial situation and an 1899 letter from Lewis describing his life as a blacksmith and carpenter at Ingleside. Many of the letters discuss beaus and weddings, financial difficulties, children, and crops. Several letters Mary Susan wrote in 1886 to friends describe a trip she took to Germany, Italy, and France.
Seven letters belonging to the William H. Ker family discuss the death of two of their children, 1888 and 1899; their daughter Pamelia's life at school in Port Gibson, Miss., 1890 and 1897; and her winning a scholarship to Stanton College in Natchez, 1899.
| Folder 39 |
1860-1861, 1866-1869, 1877-1878 #04656, Subseries: "1.1.4., 1860-1899." Folder 39 |
| Folder 40 |
1880, 1884-1890, 1893-1894, 1897-1899 #04656, Subseries: "1.1.4., 1860-1899." Folder 40 |
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Subseries 1.1.5. Undated.
Scattered correspondence, mostly of John and Mary Baker Ker, with a few letters of their sons John and David, their daughters, Mary Susan and Sarah Evelina, and other relatives, including Lewis Baker, Sarah Baker Metcalfe, Mamie S. Dunbar, and Albert (Bertie) Dunbar. Most of the letters are from Stephen Duncan to John Ker about business affairs and medicine. Topics in the other letters are mostly business, family, and social affairs of the Ker, Baker, and Dunbar families.
| Folder 41 |
Undated #04656, Subseries: "1.1.5. Undated." Folder 41 |
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Subseries 1.2. Financial and Legal Papers, 1776-1893 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Mostly antebellum papers of John Ker, his family, and his Baker and other relatives, documenting plantation and household finances and settlement of relatives' estates, with additional postwar papers pertaining principally to the farming and personal accounts of Ker's son William H. and his daughter Mary Susan Ker. Included are estate papers of Everard Green, Lewis Baker, Anthony Baker, Mary Boggs Ker, and Sarah Robinson. A few items pertain to John and Sarah Ewing of Port Gibson, Miss., and Albert W. Dunbar. There are only three Civil War items, and only scattered items relate to Ker's involvement with the American Colonization Society and other social projects.
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Subseries 1.2.1. Antebellum, 1776-1857.
Papers of John Ker, primarily plantation and household accounts for Linden, his Natchez plantation, and for his Franklin, La., plantations. Also included are records for estates Ker administered, with scattered items of Baker (especially Joshua and Isaac Baker) and other relatives. Included are bills and receipts from dry goods and hardware merchants, grocers, and livestock dealers; deeds and indentures; and check stubs. There is also an 1840 "schedule of property" for John Ker. Estate papers are for Everard Green, Lewis Baker, and Anthony Baker, with a few items pertaining to Sarah Robinson (including her will manumitting a slave) and Mary Boggs Ker.
Scattered items document John Ker's work with the American Colonization Society, 1837, 1842, 1847-1848; the Natchez Orphan Asylum, 1849; and Oakland College, 1837. One ledger, kept by John and Sarah Ewing, lists accounts of groceries and dry goods sold in Grand Gulf, Miss., and at unidentified locations, 1833-1857; watch and clock repair work done in Port Gibson, Miss., 1840-1845; and cotton picked and monies paid out, 1851 and 1855, on an unidentified plantation.
Also included is a 1776 bill of lading for Messrs. Campbell and Dunbar for foodstuffs shipped from Jamaica up the Mississippi River.
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Subseries 1.2.2. Civil War and Postwar, 1862-1893 and undated.
Postwar papers, primarily plantation and personal accounts, are of William H. Ker and Mary Susan Ker of Elba Plantation, 1866-1870. There are also several items relating to Albert W. Dunbar and to other Ker family members. Other materials relating to Mary Susan Ker include an 1861 bill from a Natchez grocer and an 1887-1888 account book, documenting her expenditures on a trip abroad to France, Italy, and England, and inventorying household items found at the Vicksburg, Miss., plantation where she was a governess in 1888.
Included in the materials relating to Albert Dunbar are a plantation account book, 1858-1877, containing scattered property and tax inventories and slave lists for Glenwood, Lake Washington, Tensas, and Marathon plantations, as well as a copy of a letter and deed related to the property of G. B. Shields. There are also photocopies of Dunbar's Civil War pardon, 1866. Additional items pertain to Mamie S. Ker and Pamelia Ker.
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Subseries 1.3. Other Family Papers, 1806-1898 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological by type.
Scattered items mostly documenting Ker family history, the political career of John Ker, the education of his sons David and John at Oakland College, the political interests and teaching career of his son William H. in Port Gibson, and the family and social activities of his daughters Sarah Evelina and Mary Susan. Included are some short diaries; school essays; public addresses; poems, drawings, and etchings; and political broadsides.
Items of note are an 1842 description of a doctor's treatment of tetanus, the 1878 "Howard Association of New Orleans Rules for Treatment of Yellow Fever," and a list by Mamie S. Ker entitled "What I Can Remember having read before I was 10." There is also an 1806 muster order of Ker's father-in-law Joshua Baker.
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Series 2. Twentieth-Century Papers, 1881-1994 and undated.
Arrangement: By type.
Personal, teaching, financial and legal, business, and other papers of Mary Susan Ker, her grandnieces Tillie and Catharine Dunbar, and other relatives. Also included are records kept by Tillie and Catharine of the Natchez chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, of which they were officers.
See Series 4-9 for additional 20th-century papers.
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Subseries 2.1. Individual Family Members, 1881-1994 and undated.
Personal, business, and other papers of Mary Susan Ker, Tillie Dunbar, Catharine Dunbar Brown, and other relatives, including Mary Dunbar Cocke, Mary Dunbar, Emily Dunbar, Sue Ker Hyams, Rene Villere, and Josephine (Josie) Chamberlain Ker.
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Subseries 2.1.1. Mary Susan Ker, 1881-1923 and undated.
Chiefly items related to Mary Susan's financial and legal affairs and clippings she saved from newspapers. There are also a significant amount of personal correspondence and scattered teaching and other materials. See also the Mary Susan Ker Papers (#1467).
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Subseries 2.1.1.1. Correspondence, 1908-1923 and undated.
Letters received by Mary Susan, mostly from Tillie and Catharine and from her sister-in-law Josie C. Ker. There are also letters from other Ker, Dunbar, and Butler relatives and from friends in New Orleans and Lake Providence, La., San Antonio, Tex., Portland, Ore., Memphis, Tenn., and various Mississippi locations. The bulk of the letters are from the 1920s and chiefly discuss family news. Three letters, circa 1916-1918, describing the English homefront during World War I, are from Mary Susan's friend Ysobel Forrester in England. Other letters of interest are one, dated 12 December 1912, from a student of Mary Susan's, and two in 1915 from unidentified sisters aboard the U.S.S. Rotterdam.
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Subseries 2.1.1.2. Financial and Legal Papers, 1888-1920.
Arrangement: chronological.
Mostly bills, receipts, and account books of household and personal expenses. Also of interest are scattered estate papers, 1888-1914, for Mary Susan's brother Lewis B. Ker.
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Subseries 2.1.1.3. Clippings, 1880s-1923 and undated.
Newspaper clippings, principally related to religious matters, including missionary work in Africa, and to Mississippi history, politics, and education. Folder 114 contains clippings of wedding and death announcements and articles on family members' activities.
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Subseries 2.1.1.4. Teaching Materials, 1898-1905 and undated.
Chiefly papers and grade books for students Mary Susan taught at Natchez Institute, 1898-1905. There are also a few undated lesson plan books.
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Subseries 2.1.1.5. Other Papers and Volumes, 1897-1922 and undated.
Scattered items, including an address book and recipe book for Mary Susan, and a book of meeting minutes for the Natchez Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. (See Subseries 2.2.1 and Series 6 for additional D.A.R. material.) Miscellaneous items include poems; materials related to Flora McDonald College in Red Springs, N.C.; and a few loose diary entries.
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Subseries 2.1.2. Matilda Ralston (Tillie) Dunbar, 1894-1969 and undated.
Personal correspondence, business papers, and other materials of Tillie Dunbar of Natchez and Fayette, Miss. There are also scattered personal letters of her employer Judge Jeff Truly, and business items related to the bank he operated in Fayette (where she worked). Included are letters of Ker family relatives; correspondence and other business items documenting Tillie's personal and household finances, the settlement of the estates of Emily Dunbar and Catharine Dunbar Brown, and the affairs of Mary Duncan, an employee of Catharine's; and miscellaneous items relating to Tillie's club memberships and social activities.
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Subseries 2.1.2.1. Correspondence, 1906-1969 and undated.
Chiefly personal letters received from Ker, Dunbar, Butler, Pearl, and Cocke relatives, with scattered items from friends. Most early letters are from Mary Susan Ker, 1906-1923, and Tillie's beau Butler Reber, 1919-1920, who wrote often from Natchez after Tillie moved to Fayette. Scattered early letters also appear from Catharine Dunbar and from various relatives, including Genevieve, Josie Ker, Laura Butler, and Lizzie Cade.
Frequent topics of discussion are family health, finances, travels, and social activities and local events and acquaintances in Natchez. In 1937, there are letters from Catharine while she was being treated for liver problems in San Antonio, Tex. Beginning in the 1930s, a significant number of letters are from Mary Dunbar Cocke in Memphis, Tenn., and from Laura Butler. Many later letters from friends concern Tillie's organizational activities. A few, 1961-1962, discuss Catharine's death and the settlement of her estate. Undated letters are mostly from the later period.
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Subseries 2.1.2.2. Business Papers, 1895-1966.
Arrangement: chronological.
Papers documenting the work and financial life of Tillie Dunbar and that of her employer Judge Jeff Truly. Items related to Tillie's finances and employment include checkbooks, bills and receipts for personal and household accounts, tax returns, and records of insurance she sold. Items for Jeff Truly include contracts, deeds, business and personal correspondence, bank accounts, advertisements and public relations materials for the Jefferson County Bank, and clippings on the banking industry. Much of Truly's personal correspondence concerns his genealogical interests. A few items in both Tillie's and Truly's papers relate to the finances of Mary Duncan and, in 1946, her ward Rebecca Hawkins. There are also estate papers for Emily Dunbar and Catharine.
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Subseries 2.1.2.3. Other Papers, 1894-1956 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Personal files Tillie maintained on clubs and organizations to which she belonged, including the Business Women's Circle, the Natchez Historical Society, the Pilgrimage Garden Club, and the Colonial Dames of America. Also included are scattered personal items, including a postcard album, newspaper clippings, address books, recipes, poems, and pamphlets, and a few items relating to Ker family history. Of interest in the printed materials is a June 1921 issue of the magazine "Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang."
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Subseries 2.1.3. Catharine Shields Dunbar Brown, 1893-1959 and undated.
Personal correspondence, business, teaching, and other papers of Catharine Dunbar Brown. Included are letters exchanged with Ker and Dunbar relatives; financial and legal papers documenting her personal and household finances, her management of the business affairs of Alice Jenkins, Roberta Turpin, Mary Dunbar, and others, and management of her Natchez book and curio shop (Ye Olde Booke Shoppe); roll books, lesson plans, and other materials she used as a teacher at Natchez Institute; and miscellaneous items, including postcard albums, a photo album (PA-4656/1), a diary, and writings on Prohibition.
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Subseries 2.1.3.1. Correspondence, 1905-1959 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Scattered letters received mostly from Dunbar and Ker relatives and friends. Frequent correspondents include Percy and Lulie Dunbar in San Antonio, Tillie Dunbar, and David Ker. There are also scattered letters from Katharine Ker, Laura Butler, and others. Letters discuss mostly family news. A number of items in 1916 concern the dedication of a monument by the D.A.R. to Revolutionary War General John Willis. Many of the later letters are addressed to Catharine and "Doc," Catharine's husband Frederick Brown. These are mostly from their friends, many of whom shared Catharine's interest in genealogy and Natchez history.
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Subseries 2.1.3.2. Business Papers, 1911-1953 and undated.
Arrangement: by type.
One chronological and two alphabetical files maintained by Catharine documenting her household, business, and social affairs. The chronological file, 1911-1953, contains correspondence, bills and receipts, deeds, wills, account books, a telephone/address book, and clippings relating chiefly to properties Catharine owned, her household expenses, and individuals whose financial affairs she managed, including Alice Jenkins, 1927-1929, and Roberta Turpin, 1933-1934.
The first alphabetical file, 1922-1938, chiefly contains items related to Catharine's business affairs, with additional materials similar to those in the chronological file, including correspondence about the finances of Alice Jenkins and Mary Duncan. The second alphabetical file, 1931-1935, chiefly contains correspondence concerning books and antiques to be sold at Ye Olde Booke Shoppe. There are also four other folders containing accounts, receipts, financial statements, and miscellaneous items relating to Ye Olde Booke Shoppe.
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Subseries 2.1.3.3. Teaching Materials, 1893-1914 and undated.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Teaching materials, including lesson plans, roll books, and miscellaneous student papers kept by Catharine from her tenure at the Natchez Institute, along with class notes she took as a student at the University of Mississippi and texts she used for teaching Sunday School.
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Subseries 2.1.3.4. Other Papers, 1906-1955 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Two albums of early 20th-century postcards, many with messages; a photo album containing mostly photographs of the Dunbar and Ker families; clippings about and a paper Catharine wrote on Prohibition; a household inventory book with scattered entries; and a diary with short entries describing daily events, 1951-1955.
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Subseries 2.2. Organizational Records, 1924-1968 and undated.
Arrangement: by organization.
Files and account books maintained by Catharine Dunbar Brown and Tillie Ralston Dunbar documenting the Natchez Chapters of the D.A.R. and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Included are letters; financial, legal, and other organizational records; and guide service accounts for Rosalie and Evansview, antebellum houses owned by the organizations.
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Subseries 2.2.1. Daughters of the American Revolution, 1924-1968 and undated.
Arrangement: by type.
Correspondence, general files, and account books maintained by Catharine Dunbar Brown in her capacity as treasurer and regent of the Natchez Chapter of the D.A.R. and curator of Rosalie, the antebellum home restored and opened to tourists by the Chapter.
For addition D.A.R. material, see Series 6.
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Subseries 2.2.1.1. General Files, 1924-1968 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chronological files, mostly 1940s, containing correspondence; meeting materials, including agendas and programs; legal papers concerning the acquisition of Rosalie; clippings; membership lists; resolutions; by-laws; financial records; and scattered D.A.R. publications.
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Subseries 2.2.1.2. Alphabetical File, 1939-1945.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Alphabetical correspondence file of Catharine Dunbar Brown with fellow D.A.R. officers and others. Letters chiefly discuss Rosalie, organizational finances and business, conferences, membership, and the Natchez Pilgrimage.
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Subseries 2.2.1.3. Rosalie, 1948-1968.
Accounts of visitors to and expenditures for the decoration and repair of Rosalie, the antebellum home restored and opened to tourists by the Chapter.
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Subseries 2.2.2. Colonial Dames of America, 1941-1967 and undated.
Arrangement: by type.
Correspondence, office files, and visitors' calendars maintained by Catharine Dunbar Brown and Tillie Ralston Dunbar for the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Calendars contain accounts for Evansview.
For addition Colonial Dames material, see Series 6.
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Subseries 2.2.2.1. Correspondence, 1941-1967 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence files maintained by Catharine and, after Catharine's death in 1960, by Tillie, concerning the activities of the Natchez Chapter of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Letters scattered through the 1940s and 1950s are addressed to Tillie. They chiefly discuss her role as chair of the Historic Activities Committee. A few committee reports and other miscellaneous items are interspersed with the correspondence.
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Subseries 2.2.2.2. Evansview, 1962-1966.
Arrangement: chronological.
Calendar of visitors to and expenditures for Evansview (formerly Bontura), the Natchez, Miss., antebellum home owned by and opened to tourists by the Colonial Dames.
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Subseries 2.2.2.3. Other Material, 1945-1967 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Meeting materials, including minutes, agendas, and programs; financial records; membership lists; by-laws; scattered publications; clippings; and resolutions of the Natchez Chapter of the Colonial Dames. Most of the materials, 1966-1967, are financial records for Evansview.
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Series 3. Pictures, 1875-1951 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological by type.
Mostly 19th-century portraits, including many childhood portraits, and other photographs of Ker, Dunbar, Butler, Forrester, Metcalfe, Choppin, Cade, Boyd, and other family members. There are also photographs of sports teams, school classes, and other group portraits, and photographs of scenes in and around Natchez, Miss., and abroad. None are in color. Unless otherwise noted, pictures are from the late 19th or early 20th century.
Included are four tintypes (SF-4656/1-4), and several colorized photos (P-4656/Folder 28). An album of photos (PA-4656/1) of family and friends compiled by Catharine Dunbar and two albums of postcards (folders 256-257), many bearing pictures, are filed in Series 2.1.3.4. Two additional postcard albums are filed in Series 2.1.2.3 (folders 195-196).
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ADDITION OF NOVEMBER 1996 (Acc. 96076, 96175)
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Series 4. Letters, 1803-1996.
Arrangement: chronological.
Personal and business letters of members of the Ker, Dunbar, and Hyams families. The letters from 1803 through the 1860s are mainly to John Ker. Letters of particular interest include that of 1803 to Jonathan Dayton, which discusses the imminent transfer of New Orleans to the United States and predicts that it will become one of the nation's most important ports. There is an 1831 letter to John Ker from Mr. Thomas of Alexandria discussing the desirability of getting the free blacks out of the United States. A letter of 26 May 1850 mentions the writer, Adam Kleffort's, fears of persecution by doctors and their "mesmeric thought stealing." There is also a letter to John Ker from General John Quitman. There are also many letters to Mary S. Ker.
From 1894 through the 1950s, the majority of the letters are to Matilda (Tillie) Ralston Dunbar and her sister Catherine Dunbar Brown. Correspondents include Tillie and Catherine Dunbar, their sister Mary and brother Albert, their Aunts Mamie and Josie Ker, and relatives Laura and Pierce Butler. Letters mainly discuss family news. In the 1950s through the 1990s, most of the letters are addressed to Sue Percy Ker Hyams, but there continue to be many letters to and from Tillie Dunbar and Catherine Dunbar Brown. These later letters discuss family and social news, Daughters of the American Revolution business, Robert P. Hyams's barge and towing business, the bankruptcy of Pierce Butler in the 1930s, and Sue Percy Ker Hyams's work in historic preservation.
See also Series 1 and Series 2.
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Series 5. Financial and Legal Material, 1839-1991.
Arrangement: by type of material.
Contains various financial and legal records of the Ker, Dunbar, and related families. The nineteenth-century legal material includes, among other documents, wills of Margaret Dunlop and Helen and Annette Smith, deeds of conveyance for land; nineteenth-century bills and receipts mainly of Mary S. Ker, with a few of John Ker and others. Twentieth-century legal material includes wills of Tillie Dunbar, powers of attorney, deeds of conveyance for land, and others. Other financial material in the series includes various documents and notes related to settling the estate of Tillie Dunbar, and many bank and account books kept by Emily Dunbar, Tillie Dunbar, Catherine Dunbar Brown, Dr. Ambrose Storck, and Sue Percy Ker Hyams (to whom the records of fabric purchased probably belonged.) There are also stock certificates, mainly for individual boats run by Robert P. Hyams barge and towing business, which were received in mostly blank books of stock certificates.
See also financial and legal papers in Series 1 and Series 2.
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Series 6. Genealogical Organizations and Related Material, 1905-1994.
Arrangement: by organization and subject.
Various materials related to the genealogical research done by many members of the Ker and Dunbar families, especially Tillie and Catherine Dunbar and Sue Percy Ker Hyams, including their documentation of lines of descent to gain membership in such organizations as the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Colonial Dames, and many others. Because the genealogical research these women did for their own interest, for qualification to join the genealogical organizations, and the activities of those organizations are all so closely related, they are combined in this series. There are many letters in the Letters series which relate to their genealogical research as well. This series includes administrative information produced by the D.A.R. and the Colonial Dames, in which both Tillie and Catherine Dunbar held office, and especially material related to the management of the historic Natchez houses, "Rosalie," "Evansview" and "Bontura," restored and opened to the public by these organizations. The other genealogical organizations to which Sue Percy Ker Hyams and her family applied for membership include the Order of the First Families of Mississippi, The Society of the Sons and Daughters of the Pilgrims, the Society of the Cincinnati of the State of South Carolina, and many others. Material for these other societies consists mainly of application forms showing the appropriate descent.
Other papers related to the D.A.R. and the Colonial Dames may be found in Series 2.2.
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Series 7. Schoolwork, Teaching and Related Materials, 1865-1950s.
Arrangement: by originator of materials and type of materials, roughly chronological.
School assignments, notebooks, and report cards of Tillie and Catherine Dunbar produced mainly in the early twentieth century. Also includes Tillie Dunbar's books and assignments from The George H. Powell System of Advertising Instruction correspondence course. There are two grade books kept by Mary S. Ker when she was a teacher in the 1890s. Other nineteenth-century material includes two composition books kept by Matilda B. Ralston in which English sentences are translated into French, and Charles Dorrance Stuart's 1865 copy book which begins with the statement, "A reward of a gun for copying this speech. Speech on the Force Bill." Other school-related material includes various school bulletins and Mary S. Ker's teaching license and contracts.
See also Series 2.1 for additional teaching materials.
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Series 9. Miscellaneous Material, 1839-1994.
Arrangement: none.
Scrapbooks and other materials, including six scrapbooks, some of which contain advertising and other pictures and some of which contain newspaper clippings. Also in this series are a number of other volumes, especially commonplace books in which the women of the Ker and Dunbar families wrote poems, song lyrics, aphorisms, and a few journal-like entries. Documentation of Robert P. Hyams's barge and towing business and of the individual tug boats he owned are also included. (See also the Stocks folder in the Financial and Legal series for stocks issued in these boats.) There are several drafts of a National Geographic article about New Orleans, for which Sue Percy Ker Hyams was interviewed and in which she appears as a character. Other materials document the Natchez Pilgrimage and other social and historical activities. The story of Mr. Cosgrove is a 48-page typewritten story told from the point of view of a child's teddy bear, Mr. Cosgrove.
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Series 10. Pictures, 1860s-1980s.
Arrangement: into groups of family, friends, and unidentified people.
Large series of photographs. Photographs of numerous individuals who are represented in the papers of this collection. Many excellent photographs of men, women, and children in late 19th century and early 20th century costume.
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Items Separated
Processed by: Jill Snider, July 1995; Meg Phillips, December 1997; Jennifer Rawlings, September 1998
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
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