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 O. Webb Letters #5358-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Historical Collectible Auctions, Burlington, N.C., in October 2007 (Acc. 100783)

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.

• Carpenters--Alabama--History--19th century.
• Carpenters--Mississippi--History--19th century.
• Columbus (Miss.)--History.
• Mobile (Ala.)--History.
• Slave trade--Alabama.
• Slave trade--Mississippi.
• Slavery--Alabama.
• Slavery--Mississippi.
• Webb, William O.

William O. Webb worked as a carpenter in Columbus, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., in 1836 and 1837 while Captain John Overstreet, recipient of the letters, lived in Norfolk, Va.

The collection contains four letters, April 1836-April 1837, from William O. Webb, a carpenter in Columbus, Miss., and Mobile, Ala., to Captain John Overstreet of Norfolk, Va. Topics include the cost of slaves in Vicksburg, Miss., and Mobile; land speculation, crops, and slavery in the Deep South; feelings towards northerners vacationing in the South; wages for carpenters; and daily happenings in Columbus and Mobile.