Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4368
FRANCIS PRESTON VENABLE PAPERS
Inventory
Abstract: Francis P. Venable, son of Charles Scott Venable,
aid-de-camp to General Robert E. Lee, 1862-1865, and
professor of mathematics, University of Virginia,
1865-1896, was born 17 November 1856 in Farmville, Va.
In 1893 Venable identified calcium carbide, thereby
laying the foundation for the success of the Union
Carbide Corporation--but was never financially
rewarded for this discovery. From 1900-1914 he served
as president of the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. In 1930 Venable retired from teaching
and four years later on 17 March 1934, Venable died.
Correspondence, writings, pictures, and other
material of Francis Preston Venable, professor of
chemistry at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill, 1880-1930, and president of the
University, 1900-1914. Professional writings and
personal correspondence of members of the Venable
family constitute the bulk of these papers.
Online Catalog Terms:
Acetylene.
Calcium carbide.
Chemists--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
Chemistry, Inorganic.
Europe--Description and travel--1800-1918.
Family--Charlottesville (Va.)--Social life and customs.
Family--North Carolina--Chapel Hill.
Hazing--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Union Carbide Corporation.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Maps.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Tennessee
Theater--Maps.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Venable, Charles Scott, 1827-1900.
Venable, Sallie Manning, fl. 1850s-1930s.
Venable family.
Size: About 2300 items (4.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Received from Francis Venable (Mrs. Leo) Gardiner,
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in November, 1983.
Access: No restrictions.
Related Collections: CHARLES SCOTT VENABLE PAPERS (# 2213).
C.S. Venable was F.P. Venable's father.
JAMES MCDOWELL PAPERS (#3459).
McDowell was the father of F.P. Venable's
mother, Margaret Cantey McDowell.
WILLIAM CHAMBERS COKER PAPERS (#3220).
W.C. Coker's wife, Louise Venable Coker,
was F.P. Venable's daughter.
University of North Carolina Archives,
University Papers (see especially
1900-1914).
Copyright: Retained by heirs of the writers of items in these
papers, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Acetylene Gas/Union Carbide Material
Series 3. Research Club Minutes
Series 4. Writings
Series 5. Biographical Material
Series 6. Miscellaneous Papers
Series 7. Volumes
Series 8. Pictures
Shelf List
Additions after 1992
INTRODUCTION
Biographical Note
Francis Preston Venable
1856 Born November 17, in Farmville, Virginia, son of Charles
Scott Venable, aid-de-camp to General Robert E. Lee,
1862-1865, and professor of mathematics, University of
Virginia, 1865-1896.
1877 Graduated from the University of Virginia with a major
in Chemistry; taught high school in New Orleans after
graduation.
1879 Earned an MA degree in Chemistry, University of
Virginia.
1880 Offered chair in chemistry at the University of North
Carolina.
1881 Earned Ph.D. degree in chemistry, University of
Gottigen, Germany; elected fellow of the Chemical
Society in London.
1883 Co-founder and first president of the Elisha Mitchell
Scientific Society; published A Course in Qualitative
Chemical Analysis.
1884 Married Sallie Charlton Manning, daughter of University
of North Carolina law professor John Manning. They
had five children.
1889 Attended lectures for four months at the University of
Berlin.
1893 Occupied the first endowed chair at the University of
North Carolina, the Mary Ann Smith Professorship;
identified calcium carbide, thereby laying the
foundation for the success of the Union Carbide
Corporation--but never financially rewarded for this
discovery.
1894 Published A Short History of Chemistry.
1896 Published The Development of the Periodic Law.
1898 Published Inorganic Chemistry.
1899 Elected vice-president of the chemistry section of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
1900 Appointed president of the University of North Carolina.
1903 Nominated president of the Southern Educational
Association.
1904 Co-authored The Study of the Atom.
1905 Elected president of the American Chemical Society.
1909 Served as president of the Southern Association of
Schools and Colleges.
1914 Resigned as president of the University of North
Carolina, and returned to teaching and research.
1917 Co-authored A Brief Account of Radio-activity.
1918 Appointed Kenan Professor.
1922 Published Zirconium and its Compounds.
1925 Dedication of the new chemistry building, Venable Hall,
at the University of North Carolina.
1930 Retired from teaching.
1934 Died March 17.
Collection Overview
There is some documentation in these papers for virtually all
aspects of the life of Francis Preston Venable. Venable's family
life is best documented, beginning with letters from his
childhood and college years, and continuing with letters sent
from Germany to his mother, letters to his parents from
Charlottesville, and including a steady flow of correspondence
between Venable and his wife and children from 1884 to 1930.
Other family materials include brief memoirs and reminiscences by
Venable, personal and family financial records, and family
photographs. Personal experiences of Venable also are recorded in
his memoirs, travel diaries, and other autobiographical writings,
by biographical sketches of him, and by miscellaneous items.
Venable's professional activities are documented in corre-
spondence with professional colleagues and publishing houses and
in numerous essays and articles by Venable on chemical topics.
His role in the discovery and identification of acetylene gas,
leading to the founding of the Union Carbide Corporation, is
evidenced by legal documents and correspondence.
There is relatively less coverage in these papers of Venable's
presidency of the University of North Carolina. About sixty
letters from the period 1900-1914 do relate to Venable's
activities as university president. Beyond these items,
researchers can consult pertinent records in the University of
North Carolina Archives.
This collection contains several noteworthy items not
suggested by its title. Among them are a Confederate map of the
Kentucky-Tennessee theater in 1862; a few Civil War letters from
Venable's father, Charles Scott Venable, aid-de-camp to General
Robert E. Lee; and an account by William Campbell Preston, FPV's
maternal grandfather, of travels in Europe, 1812-1819. Another
unusual item is a rare photograph, ca. 1890, of the Chapel Hill
campus.
The F.P. Venable Papers remained for decades in the home of
Venable's daughter, Louise Venable (Mrs. W.C.) Coker. In 1983,
they were given to the Southern Historical Collection by another
daughter, Francis Venable (Mrs. Leo) Gardiner. Since the papers
as received had no particular arrangement, the following scheme
was imposed:
Series 1. General Correspondence: 1700 items, 1861-1946
Series 2. Acetylene Gas/Union Carbide Material
(correspondence, legal documents, patents,
and printed material): 28 items, 1893-1941
Series 3. Research Club Material (minutes of meetings):
4 items, 1914-1921
Series 4. Writings: 150 items, 1880-1930
Subseries 4:1. Writings on Chemistry by F.P. Venable
Subseries 4:2. Writings on Non-chemical Topics
(writings on educational, religious,
and miscellaneous topics, Civil War
memoirs, and notes and fragments, all
by F.P. Venable; autobiographical
writings of William Campbell Preston;
and biographical sketches and
memorials)
Series 5. Biographical Material (genealogies, memorials,
obituaries, etc.): 40 items, 1896-1975
Series 6. Miscellaneous Papers (bills and receipts,
insurance policies, honors and appointments,
Confederate bonds, maps and other material):
250 items, 1843-1934
Series 7. Volumes (class and laboratory notebooks,
financial records, travel accounts, etc.):
38 items, 1872-1930
Series 8. Pictures: 104 items, 1870-1945
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. General Correspondence
1861-1946. About 1700 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Family and professional correspondence of Francis Preston
Venable (1856-1934), professor of chemistry at the University of
North Carolina 1880-1930, and president of the University,
1900-1914. About two-thirds of the correspondence is between
family members. The remaining letters are chiefly professional
correspondence. A few letters relate to personal business
matters.
Most of the correspondence from 1861 to Venable's marriage in
1884 consists of letters from members of his family: sisters
Mary, Natalie, Cantey, his mother and stepmother, and his father.
These letters relate mainly to family matters and daily life in
Charlottesville, Virginia. There are a few letters dating from
the Civil War period from his father, Charles Scott Venable,
offering fatherly advice but telling very little about the war or
its participants. Several letters, October-December 1879, are
from Venable to his stepmother, describing his studies in Germany
and giving his impressions of life there.
After Venable's marriage in 1884, personal letters between him
and his wife, Sallie Manning Venable, and in time, their
children, predominate. Professional correspondence with
scientific colleagues and letters concerning publishing begin to
appear, as do items relating to personal business, real estate,
and bonds.
The correspondence from 1900 to 1914 includes few items
relating to Venable's tenure as president of the University of
North Carolina. An exception is a group of over fifty letters,
from autumn, 1912, concerning a hazing incident in which a
student died. Correspondents concerned with the hazing incident
include W.B. Phillips, James Sprunt, and W.H.S. Burgwyn. Another
item of note during this period is a letter from W.R. Kenan, 27
May 1907, concerning Union Carbide legal matters.
After 1913, there is a gradual decline in numbers of letters
from family members and an increase in professional
correspondence. In 1914, there are several letters from the
Bureau of Mines relating to Venable's research in radioactive
metals, a few personal letters from James Sprunt, and a letter
from R.D.W. Connor accepting Venable's resignation as president
of the university on behalf of the board of trustees. In a
letter dated 6 September 1918 Venable was notified of his
appointment as "consulting chemist" to the War Department. A few
letters concerning the disposition of the estate of Venable's
stepmother (Mary Southall Venable) appear in April 1920.
Other letters of interest from the 1920s include: a letter
from Louis Round Wilson 22 April 1922 on raising money to build a
new library; rejection letters 25 October 1923 and 10 April
1924, from publishers; May 1924 letters concerning the illness of
James Sprunt; a 24 June 1924 letter about the atomic weight of
zirconium, an important research project of Venable's; a letter
to George Washington Carver, 14 February 1925, discussing
Carver's work with sweet potatoes (unmailed?); a letter from
Archibald Henderson, 27 December 1926, on Venable Hall; and a
letter from E.A. Alderman, 20 June 1928, concerning a six million
dollar gift by an anonymous donor to the University of Virginia.
After 1929, the volume of correspondence diminishes rapidly,
with the chief subjects being Venable's retirement in 1930 and
his death in 1934. An item of special interest in this period is
a letter from Frank Porter Graham, 1 February 1930, asking
Venable to endorse a statement "To the people of North Carolina"
urging the acceptance of social change brought about by
industrialization. There are several letters from Venable's
half-brother, Charles S. Venable, to his mother, 1943-1945.
The last four folders in the series contain undated letters
that are almost entirely between family members.
Folder 1 1861
2 1862
3 1863-1864
4 1865
5 1866
6 1867
7 1868
8 1869
9 1870
10 1871-1872
11 1873
12 1874
13 1875
14 1876
15 January-July 1877
16 August-December 1877
17 1878
18 January-October 1879
19 November-December 1879
20 January-March 1880
21 April-June 1880
22 July-December 1880
23 January-March 1881
24 April-July 1881
25 August-December 1881
26 1882
27 1883
28 1884
29 1885
30 January-April 15, 1886
31 April 16-December 1886
32 1887
33 1888-1889
34 1890
35 1891
36 1892
37 1893
38 1894
39 1895
40 1896
41 1897
42 1898
43 January-August 1899
44 September-December 1899
45 1900
46 1901
47 1902
48 1903
49 1904
50 1905
51 1906
52 1907
53 1908
54 1909
55 1910
56 1911
57 1912
58 1913
59 January-June 1914
60 July-December 1914
61 1915
62 January-June 1916
63 July-September 1916
64 October-December 1916
65 January-May 1917
66 June-September 1917
67 October-December 1917
68 January-May 1918
69 June-July 1918
70 August-December 1918
71 1919
72 1920
73 1921
74 January-April 1922
75 May-August 1922
76 September-December 1922
77 January 1923
78 February-December 1923
79 January-April 1924
80 May-June 1924
81 July-December 1924
82 1925
83 1926
84 1927-1928
85 1929
86 1930
87 1931-1933
88 1934-1935
89 1936-1943
90 1944-1945
91 1946
92-95 Undated
Series 2. Acetylene Gas/Union Carbide Material
1893-1941. About 28 items.
Correspondence, 1893-1941, legal documents, patents, and
printed material concerning the discovery of calcium carbide and
acetylene gas and their commercial uses, and the formation of the
Union Carbide Corporation.
Noteworthy items include a "Memorandum of agreement," 27 March
1893, between F.P. Venable, Thomas L. Willson, and W.R. Walker to
organize "a company for the manufacture, application and
introduction of calcium and similar carbides" (folder 97), and a
letter, 9 September 1921(?), from Venable to John Motley
Morehead, claiming that Venable had been promised seventeen
percent of the stock in said company as a reward for his role in
identifying calcium carbide and acetylene gas (folder 96).
Two items of interest among the printed material (folder 98)
are Calcium Carbide and the Process of Manufacture (1940?) by
William R. Kenan, Jr., and "Some of the Properties of Calcium
Carbide" (1895) by F.P. Venable and Thomas Clarke.
Folder 96 Correspondence
97 Legal Documents
98 Printed Material
99 Patents
Series 3. Research Club Material
1914-1920. 4 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
These are the minutes of four "annual" meetings of the
"Research Club," a social organization of Chapel Hill professors
that periodically poked fun at academic research. Included in
its membership were Venable, Edward Kidder Graham, J. G.
deRoulhac Hamilton, W. C. Coker, W. M. Dey, C. S. Mangum, and
others. The club met at least six times: in 1914, 1915, 1916,
1917, 1920, and 1921. The minutes of all but the 1916 and 1921
gatherings are in this series. A complete set of minutes is in
the University of North Carolina Archives.
In addition to farcical parliamentary preliminaries, each set
of minutes includes a tongue-in-cheek "paper" by each member.
Topics of Venable's papers included "The Ontological Basis of the
Atomic Theory of Darwinism in Relation to the Cosmological Basis
of the Electron Theory of Modern Dances" (1914), and Chapter IV
of The Laundry Ticket: A Story of Love and Adventure.
Folder 100 1914
101 1915
102 1917
103 1920
Series 4. Writings
ca. 1880-1930. About 150 items.
Except where otherwise noted, these writings are by, or
presumed to be by, F.P. Venable.
Subseries 4.1. Writings on Chemistry by F. P. Venable
ca. 1880-1930. About 75 items.
Printed articles, drafts of articles, the manuscript of a
textbook, and miscellaneous notes and fragments. Folders 104-111
contain typed drafts of chapters for a basic chemistry textbook.
Other writings include printed versions and handwritten drafts of
articles on various topics, including the atomic weight of
zirconium and the periodic system.
Folder 104 Textbook chapters 1-4
105 Textbook chapters 5-8
106 Textbook chapters 9-12
107 Textbook chapters 13-17
108 Textbook chapters 18-21
109 Textbook chapters 22-26
110 Textbook chapters 27-28, and a bibliography
111 Handwritten draft of textbook (fragment)
112 "Affinity--the Atomic Binding Force"
113 "The Alchemists"
114 "Atomic Weight of Zirconium" (3 drafts)
115 "Chemical Force"
"Chemistry--its meaning and its service to
humanity"
"Contributions to Physical Science"
116 "The Present Status of the Periodic System"
"Radium Production Studies"
"Reaction of Methane and of Acetylene Upon
Zirconium Tetrachloride"
117 "Richter and the Periodic System"
"Some Early Notices of Food Adulteration"
118 Fragment of an essay on a chemical topic
119 Untitled essays (2)
120 Miscellaneous chemistry notes
121 Notes and fragments
122 F.P. Venable's Ph.D. dissertation "Uber einige
Derivate Heptans aus Pinus Sabiniana"
123 Printed articles on chemistry topics by Venable
1887-1895
124 Printed articles on chemistry topics by Venable
1896-1899
125 Printed articles on chemistry topics by Venable
1900-1920
126 Printed articles on chemistry topics by Venable
1921-1929
127 Printed articles on chemistry topics by Venable
no date
Subseries 4.2. Writings on non-chemistry topics
ca. 1900-1928. About 75 items.
Arranged in seven sub-categories.
On Education
Arranged alphabetically by title. Includes commencement
addresses, speeches and essays on teaching, the place of
athletics in education, the "responsibility of the college-bred
man," etc. Most items are typescripts, some with annotations.
Folder 128 "Acceptance of the Monument"
"Address before Washington and Lee University"
Address of President Venable
"Choosing a Profession"
"The College and Scholarship" mss. (two)
[commencement address] (two)
129 [Davidson College Anniversary]
"The Deeper Vision"
"The Duty Owed by the Educated Man to his
Country"
"The Educated Man [and the State]"
"The Educational Value of College Athletics"
130 [Hazing 1912]
"The History of the University and of the State"
"How the Public Schools Promote Higher Education"
"Introduction of Woodrow Wilson: Commencement
1912"
"Is a College Education Worth While [sic]"?
"The Mission of the Teacher"
131 "Presidential Address Before the Southern
Educational Assoc."
"The Question as to the Best Method of Teaching"
"A Question of Morals"
"Responsibility of the College-Bred Man." (two)
132 "The Task of the Teacher"
"The Teaching of Chemistry in Secondary Schools"
[Teaching]
"To What Extent Should Non-Athletic Activities Be
Encouranged"?
[Tulane University Address]
"Universities and Secondary Schools"
"The University and the State"
[The University of N.C.: A Historical Sketch]
"University Research"
133 "The Value of Research"
"What Factors Shall Mold Higher Education in the
U.S."
"What of the A.B. Degree?"
Biographical Sketches and Memorials
Folder 134 Eben Alexander
Dr. [Kemp Plummer?] Battle (fragment)
Henry Carrington Bolton
Robert Brown ["The Brownian Movement"]
Joseph Caldwell
Joshua Walker Gore
James McDowell
James McDowell
Charles D. McIver
John William Mallett
Walter Hines Page
Edgar Fahs Smith
Justus von Liebig
Religious Writings
Folder 135 "Building the Universe"
"God and His Universe"
"The Mission of Christ"
"My Idea of God"
"The One Thing Needful"
[Presentation of a Church]
"The Source of Authority"
136 "Notes for Sunday School Talks"
Civil War and Family Memoirs
Folder 137 Civil War Memoirs
138 Remembrances of his parents by Francis P. Venable
Autobiographical Writings of William Campbell Preston
Various versions of an autobiographical account of William
Campbell Preston's travels in Europe 1812-1819. Preston was
FPV's maternal grandfather. Venable edited this material and
submitted it, apparently unsuccessfully, for publication.
Folder 139 "The Educational Travels of a Young Southerner a
Century Ago" (49 pp.) )
140 "Sketches from an Old Diary" (51 pp.)
141 Transcript or manuscript (?) of Preston's
Journal (fragment)
142 "A Sketch of William Campbell Preston"
Miscellaneous Topics
Folder 143 "Age" (2 manuscripts, 1 typescript)
"Birmingham"
"The Confession of a Scientific Man"
"A Cruise on Lake Ponchartrain"
"The Economic Condition of the Negro in North
Carolina"
144 "Historical Sketch of the Elisha Mitchell
Scientific Society"
"Love's Dear Memory" (poem)
"My Garden in the Cool of the Day"
"The People and their Board of Health"
"The Reconstruction of a State"
"A Struggle and a Victory"
145 "Temperament"
"An Unfinished Business"
"United Daughters of the Confederacy"
"The Value of Human Life"
"...with Apologies to Leeacavello"
"The World's Waste"
Notes and Fragments
Folder 146 Notes and Fragments
Series 5. Biographical Materials
ca. 1896-1975. About 40 items.
Pamphlets, genealogies, newspaper clippings, and other items
concerning Venable and members of his family, including
ancestors.
Folder 147 Pamphlets
148 Newspaper clippings
149 Memorials, obituaries, and genealogies
Series 6. Miscellaneous Papers
ca. 1843-1934. About 250 items.
Arrangement: chronological.
Bills and receipts, invitations, calling cards, programs,
insurance policies, honors and appointments, stocks, Confederate
bonds, research reports, maps, and other items.
Two of the Confederate bonds were issued by the state of North
Carolina in 1862 and signed by Governor Zebulon Baird Vance;
another Confederate bond was issued by the Confederate government
in Richmond in 1864 (folder 158).
The two maps (folder 161) are of special interest. One map
(probably hand-drawn by Confederates) depicts the
Kentucky-Tennessee area in 1862, with railroad lines and
distances between towns marked in. Another map, printed by C.
Crozet, shows "the Internal Improvements of Virginia According to
the Resolutions of the Assembly of April 7, 1838."
Other items of interest are two research reports to the
Secretary of the Interior on problems related to gas warfare,
1917-1918 (folder 162), and two poems (folder 162) "written by
moonlight" in 1932 in Chapel Hill, by James Asa Johnson.
Folder 150 Bills and Receipts: domestic 1872-1895.
151 Bills and Receipts: domestic 1896.
152 Bills and Receipts: domestic 1897.
153 Bills and Receipts: domestic 1898-1918, and
no date.
154 Bills and Receipts: foreign 1880-1897, and no
date.
155 Invitations, calling cards, programs,
ca. 1880-1934.
156 Insurance policies, 1896-1904.
157 Honors and appointments, 1880-1912.
158 Confederate bonds, 1862-1864.
159 Stocks
160 Research reports on gas warfare, 1917-1918
161 Maps
162 Other items
Series 7. Volumes
1872-1930. 38 items.
Class and laboratory notebooks, financial records, calendars
of outgoing letters, travel accounts, and other volumes. Most of
the nineteen class and laboratory notebooks date from 1879 to
1881 and 1889, and were compiled by Venable when he was a student
in Germany. The seven financial record books include bank
account books, records kept by Venable as administrator of an
estate, records of personal expenses and income, and "Purchases
for U.N.C., 1889," (incomplete). The travel accounts document
travel in Italy, Germany, and the United States in 1880-81, 1908,
and 1910. Particularly notable is a 34-page travelog of a trip
on the steamer Konig Albert in March 1908 from Germany to New
York City (volume 30). Two calendars of outgoing letters list
the names and addresses of persons to whom Venable sent letters
between 1923 and 1927 and between 1929 and 1931. The other
volumes include a class register and grade book, 1881, a North
Carolina Geological Survey field book, 1915, "A List of
Addresses, Papers and Other Publications [by] F.P. Venable,
1879--" (volume 38), and other items.
Volumes 1-19. Class and lab notes, ca. 1872-1890
Volumes 20-27. Financial records, ca. 1881-1927
Volumes 28-30. Travel accounts, ca. 1880-1910
Volumes 31-32. Calendars of outgoing letters,
1923-1927, 1929-1930
Volumes 33-38. Other volumes, ca. 1879-1915
Series 8. Pictures
P-4368/1-11. Francis Preston Venable, ca. 1872-1930.
P-4368/12-14. FPV and relatives, ca. 1910-1930.
P-4368/15-25. Unidentified friends and relations of
FPV, ca. 1870s.
P-4368/26. Col. C.S. Venable, ca. 1870.
P-4368/27. Charles Scott Venable III, ca. 1890.
P-4368/28. Charles Scott Venable, ca. 1905.
Info. on verso: "Charles S. Venable (son
of F.P. Venable)."
P-4368/29. Charles Scott Venable, 1910.
P-4368/30. Charles Scott Venable, ca. 1950.
Caption at bottom of image: "C.S. Venable,
M.D., F.A.C.S., San Antonio, Texas,
Seventy-Ninth President, State Medical
Association of Texas."
P-4368/3l. Frank P. Venable, 1876.
P-4368/32. J. Manning Venable, ca. 19--.
P-4368/33. Natalie Venable Minor, ca. 19--.
Information on attached card: "?Aunt Nat;
Natalie Venable Minor; Mrs. Raleigh Minor,
U-Va, Charlottesville, Va."
P-4368/34. Florence Birdsall Venable, wife of
J.J.M. Venable, ca. 1925.
P-4368/35. Cantey Venable Sutton, ca. 19--.
P-4368/36 Cantey V. Sutton in wedding gown, ca. 19--.
P-4368/37. Louis Sutton, 1927.
P-4368/38 Lewis Sutton, ca. 1930-1950.
P-4368/39. Louis Sutton, Jr., around one year old,
ca. 1920.
P-4368/40. Louis Sutton, Jr., in Navy uniform,
ca. 1941-1945.
P-4368/41. Sarah Tomlinson, around seven years old,
1927.
P-4368/42. Sarah Tomlinson, around age 25, ca. 1945.
P-4368/43. Louis Sutton, Jr., and Sarah, ca. 1910.
P-4368/44. Louis, Cantey, and Sarah Sutton, ca. 1920s.
P-4368/45. Cantey and Louise [Venable?], ca. 19--.
P-4368/46. Lucy and Mary Minor, 1903.
Inscription on verso: "Lucy Landon(?) Minor
at 10, Asheville, NC, May 1903."
Note: P-4368/47-63 are identified and unidentified classmates
and friends of FPV from the University of Virginia.
P-4368/47. John H. Barnes, classmate of FPV at the
University of Virginia, 1875-76.
Inscription on verso: "Truly your
friend, Jno. H. Barnes, Session 1875-6."
P-4368/48. Joseph H. Bryan, classmate of FPV at the
University of Virginia, 1875-76.
Inscription on verso: "Jos. H. Bryan,
Univ. of Va, Session 1875-76."
P-4368/49. Edward H. Clarke, classmate of FPV at the
University of Virginia, 1876.
Inscription on verso: "Your friend Edward
H. Clarke, Ky., Univ. Va., June 1876."
P-4368/50. Wynsham R. Meredith, classmate of FPV at
the University of Virginia, 1877.
Inscription on verso: "Yours in A.K.E.,
Wynsham R. Meredith, June 16th, 1877."
P-4368/51. D.B. Merryman, classmate of FPV at the
University of Virginia, 1876.
Inscription on verso: "Truly your friend,
D.B. Merryman, Cockeysville, Ma., Univ of
Va, June, 1876."
P-4368/52-63. Unidentified classmates and friends of
FPV, University of Virginia, ca. 1876-77.
P-4368/64. Charles Baskerville, Jr., age 3 1/2,
September, 1899.
P-4368/65. William D. Carmichael, Jr., ca. 1900.
Image is autographed by Carmichael.
P-4368/66. George Graham, ca. 18--.
P-4368/67. J. Joherlied(?), ca. 18--.
Inscription on verso: "J. Joherlied(?)
To his ami able obs(?) Venable."
P-4368/68. E.R. Moritz(?) and home, ca. 19--.
P-4368/69. Professor William B. Phillips, ca. 18--.
P-4368/70. Sam White, William R. Webb, Jr., and others
at a reunion of the class of 1896, ca. 19--.
Inscription on verso: "Reunion class of
1896," "Mr. Sam White of Mebane, N.C., and
William R. Webb, Jr., Bell Bucker, Tenn."
P-4368/71. Possibly law school class in front of
"Battle Cottage," University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, ca. 1880.
P-4368/72. Professor George Howe and Mrs. Howe,
ca. 1900.
P-4368/73. Campus scene, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, with Playmakers Theatre in
foreground and Old East, Old West, the
YMCA, and South Building in background,
ca. 1890.
P-4368/74-83. Unidentified teachers and associates of
FPV, ca. 1870-1880.
P-4368/84-101. Unidentified individuals, ca. 1870-1930.
P-4368/102-106. Unidentified groups of persons, ca. 19--.
P-4368/107. Large log cabin in the woods, ca. 19--.
P-4368/108. Outdoor scene of students taking notes,
ca. 1920s.
Inscription on verso: "The Senior Lodge on
a Sunday afternoon."
P-4368/109. Sketch of a garden wall and door.
Artist: Antoinette Rhett.
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Series 1: Correspondence, 1861-1910 (folders 1-55)
Box 2 Series 1: Correspondence, 1911-1946,
and undated (folders 56-94)
Box 3 Series 2: Acetylene Gas/Union
Carbide Material (folders 95-99)
Series 3: Research Club Proceedings (folders 100-103)
Series 4: Writings (folders 104-135)
Box 4 Series 4: Writings (folders 136-146)
Series 5: Biographical Material (folders 147-149)
Series 7: Miscellaneous Papers (folders 150-162)
Series 8: Volumes
Items separated:
Series 6: Pictures (6 folders)
Oversize Papers (1 folder)
ADDITIONS AFTER 1992
Addition of November 1992 (Acc. 92175)
Size: 5 items.
Dates: 1905-1920.
Provenance: Unknown.
Access: No restrictions.
Description: Diplomas and other items relating to Francis and
Louise Venable.
Filed in OP.