Inventory of the Theodore Bryant Kingsbury Papers, 1840-1915
Collection Number 403
Manuscripts Department, 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
- Kingsbury, Theodore Bryant, 1828-1913.
- Title
- Theodore Bryant Kingsbury Papers, 1840-1915
- Call Number
- 403
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
-
- Items: About 240
- Linear Feet: 0.5
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Administrative Information
- Acquisitions Information
- Received from the Misses Kingsbury of Wilmington, N.C., and Theodore Shackford of Lexington, Va.
- Processing Information
- Processed by: G. A. Wallace and Suzanne Ruffing, March 1996
- Encoded by: Bari Helms, March 2005
- This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Theodore Bryant Kingsbury Papers #403, 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.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Aycock, Charles B. (Charles Brantley), 1859-1912.
- Baptists--North Carolina.
- Barringer, Victor Clay, 1827-1896.
- Bassett, John Spencer, 1867-1928.
- Battle, Kemp P. (Kemp Plummer), 1831-1919.
- Clergy, Writings of.
- College students--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
- Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948.
- Gales, Seaton, 1828-1878.
- Guion, John A. (John Amos), 1816-1894.
- Journalists--North Carolina.
- Kingsbury family.
- Kingsbury, Theodore Bryant, 1828-1913.
- Kittrell family.
- Lovejoy's Military Academy (Raleigh, N.C.)
- Methodist Church--North Carolina--Clergy--History.
- Methodists--North Carolina.
- Newspaper editors--North Carolina.
- North Carolina--Intellectual life--19th century.
- Oxford (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Page, Walter Hines, 1855-1918.
- Raleigh (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
- Schools--North Carolina--History--19th century.
- Shepherd, Henry E. (Henry Elliot), 1844-1929.
- Southern States--Intellectual life--19th century.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--History.
- University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--History--19th century.
- Vance, Zebulon Baird, 1830-1894.
- Wiley, Calvin Henderon, 1819-1887.
- Wilmington (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
Biographical Note
Theodore Bryant Kingsbury, born in Raleigh, N.C., was the son of Russell and Mary Sumner Bryant Kingsbury. His father, a native of Connecticut, arrived in North Carolina between 1812 and 1815 to settle in Granville County, where he became a farmer and merchant. Kingsbury's mother was from Scotland Neck, N.C., and died in 1836, when he was only eight.
Kingsbury studied at the Oxford Male Academy and later at the Lovejoy Academy in Raleigh. In 1848-1849, he attended the University of North Carolina, but left without graduating despite his reputation as a skillful writer. After leaving the University, Kingsbury decided to enter the mercantile business, where he stayed for the next seven years.
On 1 May 1851, Kingsbury married Sallie Jones Atkinson, daughter of General Roger P. Atkinson of Virginia. The couple had nine children. One of their sons was Dr. Walter Russell Kingsbury.
Kingsbury worked as a newspaper editor, most notably for The Leisure Hour: A Literary and Family Journal, before he entered the Methodist ministry in 1859. About 1866, he left the Methodist Church to become a Baptist because of his changed views on baptism. From 1866 to 1869, he served as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Warrenton, N.C., where he also edited the weekly newspaper. In 1868, Wake Forest College awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of divinity in recognition of his services to the Baptist denomination.
In March 1869, Kingsbury left the ministry to become the associate editor of the Raleigh Sentinel. He left Raleigh in 1876 to become the editor of the Wilmington Morning Star, where he remained until becoming the editor of the Wilmington Messenger in 1888. After his retirement in 1902, Kingsbury continued to contribute to the newspaper community by writing weekly articles on a variety of subjects for the Raleigh News and Observer. Kingsbury was highly regarded as both an editor and a literary critic, and in 1888 the University of North Carolina granted him an honorary doctor of letters degree.
Kingsbury died at his home in Wilmington on the 4 June 1913.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The collection includes business and personal letters, editorials and other writings, and other materials of journalist, editor, Methodist minister, Baptist, and civic leader Theodore Bryant Kingsbury. Corresopndence, 1840-1849, is to him while a student in Oxford, N.C.; at Lovejoy's Military Academy in Raleigh, N.C.; and at the University of North Carolina from friends in Oxford and students at several schools and colleges. Later letters, beginning in 1858, are from educational, literary, and political leaders in North Carolina and elsewhere, including Josephus Daniels, Zebulon Baird Vance, Charles B. Aycock, Walter Hines Page, John Spencer Bassett, Kemp P. Battle, Henry E. Shepherd, John O. Guion, Calvin H. Wiley, Seaton Gales, V. C. Barringer, and members of the Kittrell and Kingsbury families. Some letters relate to University of North Carolina history. Also included are newspaper clippings and a letter book entitled "Some old letters of my boyhood," dating 1840-1849. There are also undated drafts and fragments of Kingsbury's writings.
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Detailed Description of the Collection
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