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 William D. Pruden Papers, #1909, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Additional Descriptive Resources

Original finding aid is filed in folder 1a.

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.

• Lawyers--North Carolina--History.
• Norfolk and Southern Railroad.
• North Carolina--Boundaries--Virginia.
• North Carolina--Economic conditions.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• North Carolina--Social conditions.
• North Carolina. Commissioner on the Boundary Line (1886-1888)
• Prohibition.
• Pruden family.
• Pruden, William D., 1847-1918.
• Railroads--Southern States--History.
• Virginia--Boundaries--North Carolina.

William Dossey Pruden, of Edenton, N.C., was a lawyer, an active Democrat, and the North Carolina member of the commission deciding the boundary between northeast North Carolina and southeast Virginia in 1886-1888.

Chiefly correspondence, 1880-1919, of Pruden with friends and legal colleagues relating to personal matters, national and state politics, business trends, social conditions, and other matters. Prohibition is mentioned frequently as is the Norfolk and Southern Railroad, for which Pruden was attorney. Much of the correspondence deals with Pruden's name being mentioned for possible positions as state and federal judge, North Carolina Supreme Court justice and Attorney General, and congratulations on his reelection as president of the North Carolina Bar Association. Of particular interest are 116 letters, received by Pruden from 1886-1888, about the work of the Virginia and North Carolina Boundary Commission. Also included is a book of personal accounts, 1867-1869, that contains an eight-page family history.

• Microfilm (Reel 1)