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Collection Number: 00478

Collection Title: John Burgwyn MacRae Papers, 1866-1916, 1974

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 1.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 75 items)
Abstract John Burgwyn MacRae of Jackson, Northampton County, N.C., was a white lawyer, owner of a large Roanoke River plantation, and diarist. The collection includes MacRae's nine-volume daily diary, 1883-1916; letterpress copy books, 1886-1896, of MacRae; speeches by MacRae; and miscellaneous volumes and papers. The diary describes day-to-day life and events in Jackson, including including MacRae's sexual relationships with Black women, in particular one with whom he had fathered two children; his consumption of alcohol; his fishing expeditions; and his work as a steward in the State Penitentiary in Raleigh, N.C. Among others discussed in the diary are various members of the Burgwyn family and Matt Whitaker Ransom (1826-1904). Also included are letters, 1869-1870, from Kate MacRae to her father Cameron MacRae describing her travels in Europe; class notes from the University of North Carolina, 1886; a baseball club treasurer's book and constitution, 1883; an account book, 1880-1889, containing accounts for meat, corn, cotton, and other goods; and political speeches and addresses given by MacRae at Confederate reunions and Masonic, Episcopal Church, and other organization meetings. The Addition of March 2008 contains letters and related materials concerning the Scottish heritage of John Burgwyn MacRae as well as his land ownership in Northampton County, N.C. The Addition of September 2013 contains MacRae family genealogy memos and queries from various MacRae kin.
Creator MacRae, John Burgwyn, 1845-1916.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 John Burgwyn MacRae Papers #478, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Henry and Pollock Burgwyn prior to 1941. Additions given by the children of Mrs. T. W. M. Long (nee Maria Burgwyn) in 1959, 1977, and 1978, by John E. Tyler II in December 1993 (volumes 16-25), Mrs. John H. Randolph Jr. in August 2006 (Acc. 100739), and Tillman Webb Cooley in 2013 (Acc. 101921).
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Henry W. Lewis, Barbara Aschenbrenner, Roslyn Holdzkom, 1980, September 1993, March 1994, and March 2008

Encoded by: T. Mike Childs, February 2008, and Amy Roberson, March 2008.

Updated by: Amy Roberson, March 2008; Kathryn Michaelis, May 2010; Technical Services Staff, January 2019

Conscious Editing work by Nancy Kaiser, February 2022: abstract, biographical note, scope and content note, contents list.

Additions received after March 1994 have not been integrated into the original deposits. Researchers should always check additions to be sure they have identified all files of interest to them.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse 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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

John Burgwyn MacRae was born in 1845 to Julia Burgwyn MacRae and Rev. Cameron F. MacRae. He entered the University of North Carolina as a student in 1862, but left the following year to join the Confederate Army. He returned to school in 1865, but did not graduate. He and other members of the "war classes" received their degrees in 1911.

MacRae studied law in Fayetteville, N.C., and eventually settled in Jackson, N.C., to establish himself near the Occoneechee Neck plantations he and his sister Kate Burgwyn had inherited. His employment in law was inconsistent, and he eventually lost ownership of his plantation after failing to make mortgage payments. He never married.

For more contextual information about the extended family and the social geography of Jackson, N.C., see Folder 1, which includes an essay, written in 1980 by Henry W. Lewis, grandson of Dr. Henry Lewis, a Jackson contemporary of John B. MacRae, as an introduction to people and places mentioned in John Burgwyn MacRae's diaries. The essay served as the biographical note for this finding aid until March 2022.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection contains John MacRae's nine-volume daily diary, 1883-1916; letterpress copybooks, 1886-1896, of MacRae; speeches by MacRae; and miscellaneous volumes and papers. The diary describes day-to-day life and events in Jackson, including including MacRae's sexual relationships with Black women, in particular one with whom he had fathered two children; his consumption of alcohol; his fishing expeditions; and his work as a steward in the State Penitentiary in Raleigh, N.C. Among others discussed in the diary are various members of the Burgwyn family and Matt Whitaker Ransom (1826-1904). Also included are letters, 1869-1870, from Kate MacRae to her father, Cameron MacRae, describing her travels in Europe; class notes from the University of North Carolina, 1866; a baseball club treasurer's book and constitution, 1883; an account book, 1880-1889, containing accounts for meat, corn, cotton, and other goods; and political speeches and addresses given by MacRae at Confederate reunions and Masonic, Episcopal Church, and other organization meetings.

The Addition of August 2006 contains letters and related materials concerning the Scottish heritage of John Burgwyn MacRae as well as his land ownership in Northampton County, N.C.

The Addition of September 2013 contains MacRae family genealogy memos and queries from various MacRae kin.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1864-1896 and undated.

16 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Personal correspondence, primarily between MacRae family members; letterpress copybooks containing personal business letters of John B. MacRae.

Letter, 27 July 1864, H.L. Ryan, Chapel Hill, to [Mr.--probably Cameron, father of John Burgwyn] MacRae, thanking MacRae for a letter of sympathy for the death of Ryan's son Rob, who was mortally wounded at Spottsylvania.

Eleven letters, 1869-1870, and two letters, c. 1869, from Katherine MacRae to her father, Cameron MacRae, describing her travels in Europe with her aunt, Emily Burgwyn. Several of the letters are incomplete. Letter, [1870], from Emily Burgwyn to Cameron MacRae asking for additional money for their European trip.

Letter, undated, from Cameron MacRae to John Burgwyn MacRae announcing the birth of a brother; letter, undated, and short note, undated, both signed by John Burgwyn MacRae.

Two letterpress books, 1886-1896, containing copies of John Burgwyn MacRae's letters to business firms, banks, and relatives concerning orders of merchandise and books and magazines for personal use, payments for same, debt settlements, and other financial transactions.

John Burgwyn MacRae notes in his diary that he burnt all the letters he received from his father and various sweethearts, thus accounting for the lack of personal correspondence in the collection.

Folder consists of acquisition correspondence and notes that include extensive contextual information about the family.

Folder 1

Acquisitions information

Includes an essay that served as the biographical note until March 2022.

Folder 2

1864-1870

Folder 3

Folder number not used

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Volume 1

Letterpress copybook, 29 October 1886-10 June 1890 (498 pages)

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Volume 2

Letterpress copybook, 11 June 1890-26 March 1896 (287 pages)

Folder 4

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Diary, 1883-1916.

9 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

While MacRae's diary touches on plantation business, his legal work, politics, and Masonic events, these are peripheral to his descriptions of local personalities and daily occurrences in MacRae's life. John Burgwyn MacRae faithfully recorded weather information, his ailments and medical treatments, where and with whom he ate, correspondence received and sent, and various aspects of his social life. He devoted a fair amount of space to descriptions of individual Black and white women he encountered, both socially and sexually, and his various infatuations are a theme throughout the diaries. Much of Volume 6 is taken up with his relationship with a Black woman, with whom he had two children. He drank a good deal, off and on, periodically decreeing his intention to stop drinking so much. He also made periodic vows no longer to consort with women or use tobacco.

The early volumes recount MacRae's financial difficulties, eventually leading to the loss of his plantation and subsequent attempts to find employment (all of which he heartily hated). A seven-month stint as steward at the State Penitentiary is described in Volumes 5 and 6 (May 1899 through January 1900). After he loses the plantation, MacRae's fishing expeditions become regular themes, with the catch and conditions thoroughly recounted. Episcopal church services and sermons are described in some detail, as are concerts and plays, and various entertainments attended during out-of-town visits. MacRae's primary interest was in people and the daily social life of the Jackson community, and this is what is consistently commented upon throughout the diary.

Henry Lewis' introduction to the diary (see Biographical Note) provides much further context and identifies individuals discussed.

Folder 5

Volume 3

24 October 1883 - 24 August 1887, 561 pages

Folder 6

Volume 4

25 August 1887 - 10 December 1889, 358 pages

Folder 7

Folder number not used

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Volume 5

10 December 1889 - 20 October 1894, 679 pages

Folder 8

Volume 6

22 October 1894 - 20 January 1897, 304 pages

Folder 9-12

Folder 9

Folder 10

Folder 11

Folder 12

Folder numbers not used

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Volume 7

21 January 1897 - 16 October 1899, 300 pages

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Volume 8

15 October 1899 - 30 September 1903, 400 pages

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Volume 9

1 October 1903 - 19 March 1909, 502 pages

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Volume 10

20 March 1909 - 10 June 1911, 202 pages

Folder 13

Volume 11

10 June 1911 - 13 January 1916, 423 pages

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Other Volumes, 1852-1920s.

14 items.

Folder 14

Volume 12

1866, 107 pages. Lecture notes, reading notes and writings of John Burgwyn MacRae, in class of Professor A.D. Hepburn, University of North Carolina, 1866. Included are essays, compositions, and notes on Logic, Chemistry, Natural Science, and Law.

Folder 15

Volume 13

June-August 1883, 14 pages. Treasurer's book, Northampton Baseball Club, and constitution of the club.

Folder 16

Volume 14

August 1887, 159 pages. Scrapbook containing copies of poems and literary excerpts, with a few pictures.

Folder 17

Volume 15

1880-1889, 144 pages. Accounts for meat, corn cotton, etc. with various persons.

Folder 18

Volume 16

Cash accounts, 1852-1855; a few pages of short diary entries, 1872-1874, chiefly relating to religious matters; and a few copies of sentimental poems, circa 25 pages.

Folder 19

Volume 17

Account book with accounts relating to various persons, 1883-1890, circa 175 pages.

Folder 20-21

Folder 20

Folder 21

Folder numbers not used

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Volume 18

Ledger with accounts for meat and other goods, 1894-1897, circa 450 pages.

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Volume 19

Ledger with accounts for meat and other goods, 1896-1903, circa 400 pages.

Folder 22

Volume 20

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

Folder 23

Volume 21

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

Folder 24

Volume 22

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

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Volume 23

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

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Volume 24

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

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Volume 25

Scrapbook containing chiefly newspaper clippings of poems, Civil War stories, exotic news items, and pictures, 1860s-1920s.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Other Papers, 1866-1905, 1974, and undated.

11 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Miscellaneous loose items including an invitation list of ladies to be invited to (presumably University of North Carolina) commencement exercises, 1866, and extracts from various works in reference to the clan of MacRae, undated.

Handwritten versions of three speeches given by John Burgwyn MacRae: "The duties of the Laity, especially toward Diocesan Missions," 15 February 1887; speech given Masons on behalf of the Mason-founded orphanage in Oxford, N.C., 19 December 1887; speech given to the Henry K. Burgwyn chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, 17 August 1905. Handwritten versions of four political speeches given by John Burgwyn MacRae, undated, including a racist speech concerning "The Supremacy of the White Race over the Colored Race."

Maps of the town of Jackson circa 1900 and Northampton County in the 19th century, 1974.

Folder 28

Other papers

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 5. Additions

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 5.1A. Letters and Related Materials, 1883-1913 and undated (Addition of August 2006).

10 items.

Acquisitions Information: Acc. 100739.

Folder 29

Letters and related materials, 1883-1913 and undated.

Letters and related materials concerning the MacRae clan and the Scottish heritage of John Burgwyn MacRae as well as his land ownership in Northampton County, N.C.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 5.2A. MacRae Family History Papers, circa 1900s (Addition of September 2013).

Acquisitions Information: Acc. 101921.

Box 4

MacRae family papers

MacRae family genealogy memos and queries from various MacRae kin.

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