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Biographical Sketch: Bruce Cotten, the fifth child of Robert Randolph Cotten and Sally Sims Southall Cotten, was born in Wilson, North Carolina on March 3, 1873. He attended the Horner Military School in Oxford, N. C. before enrolling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he spent the 1891-92 school year. Following a brief attempt at business and a year in Alaska during the gold rush, Cotten returned to the states and volunteered for the Spanish-American War (1898). After becoming a member of the regular army, he participated in the suppression of the Boxer Uprising in China (1900) and the Philippine Insurrection (1901-02). In 1901 he received a commission as first lieutenant. He was chief of military intelligence of the second military intelligence division of the general staff during the First World War and held the rank of major at the time of his discharge from the Army.
In 1910, Cotten married Edith Johns, widow of Jesse Tyson of Baltimore, Maryland. The Cottens resided in Baltimore at their mansion, Cylburn, now a city park and garden center. Cotten died in 1954.
Collection Description: Inspired by his mother in the 1890's, Cotten began to collect books about North Carolina. The collection became a life-long passion. By the time of his death, Cotten had assembled the largest private collection of North Caroliniana in the world, including a small number of prints and photographs.
Provenance: Cotten bequeathed his collection to the University of North Carolina Library where it forms an important part of the North Carolina Collection. Subsequently, other iconographic materials were purchased for the Cotten Collection.
Clingman, Thomas Lanier (1812-1897)
Craige, F. Burton (1811-1875)
Gilmer, John Adams (1805-1868)
Graffenreid, Christopher (1661-1743), and John Lawson ( -1712). Capture by Indians.
Jackson, Andrew (1808-1875)
Jones, John Paul (1747-1792)
Scales, Alfred Moore (1827-1892)
Teach, Edward 'Blackbeard' ( -1718)
Tryon, William, and the Regulators. Colored engraving.
Winfield (a man)
Winslow, Warren (1810-1862)
Cottendale Farm? - Lake or stream.
"A Tar River Landing"
"Streamer 'Tar River' Lying at Centre Bluff, N.C."
"View of the central part of Elizabeth City." Colored engraving.
"Carolina Parrot or Parrakeet"
"Carolina Turtle Dove"
"The Wreck of the Steam Boat Home, Off Ocracoke, on Monday, October 9th 1837. Lithograph by H. R. Robinson.
"U.S. Ship North Carolina, 102 Guns." Lithograph by Nathaniel Currier.
"Character Sketches in North Carolina." Colored engraving. Harpers Weekly, December 6, 1873.
"The Bombardment and Capture of Fort Fisher, N.C. Jany 15th 1865." Lithograph by Currier and Ives.
"Capture of Fort Fisher," January 15, 1865. Lithograph by Kurz and Allison, 1890.
"The War in America: Interior of Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, During the Second Bombardment." Colored engraving.
"The last of the 'Albemarle,' Confederate Ram, by Steam Launch No. 7."
"North Carolina," Watercolor painting of the log cabin of an African American. Painted by J. H. MacNaughton.
"North Carolina," Watercolor painting of an African American man on a wagon pulled by oxen. Painted by J. H. MacNaughton.
"Saw Whet Owl in Cedar," by Bob Timberlake. Print no. 804 of 1000, signed.
"For the Conquest of the Air." By Lupin, Paris, 1908.
"Dismal Swamp, North Carolina." Colored engraving.
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