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Collection Number: 04507

Collection Title: Mena Webb Papers, 1860-1987

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 350 items (2.0 linear feet)
Abstract Mena Fuller Webb is a writer and creative writing teacher of Durham, N.C. The collection includes chiefly correspondence, printed material, typescripts and proofs, and pictures collected or produced by Mena Webb in the course of writing Jule Carr: General without an Army (1987), a biography of Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924), industrialist and philanthropist of Durham. Included are letters from members of the Carr family concerning recollections of Julian S. Carr, original letters from Carr to members of his family, photographs of Carr and of individuals and scenes associated with him, and the 1888 cornerstone box with contents from Carr's Durham home, Somerset Villa. Some items are photocopies with originals in private hands or at various repositories. The Addition of August 2002 contains transcripts of letters by Margaret Louise Cannon, a member of the Carr family, to her relatives in Concord, N.C., while she was on a trip to Europe in 1900. The Addition of January 2007 contains a scrapbook belonging to Lida M. Carr Flower, Julian Shakespeare Carr's daughter, containing genealogical materials pertaining to the Bickley, Borden, Carr, Norris, Parrish, and Ward families, as well as newspaper clippings pertaining to Lida Flower and her husband, banker Henry Corwin Flower, and excerpts of writings about Lida Flower by Mena Webb.
Creator Webb, Mena.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

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 Mena Webb Papers #4507, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Provenance
Received from Mena Webb of Durham, N.C., and Austin H. Carr of Winston-Salem, N.C., in November 1987. Addition of August 2002 (Acc. 99304) and addition of January 2007 (Acc. 100574) received from Mena Webb.
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 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

Mena Fuller Webb is a writer and creative writing teacher of Durham, N.C.

Between 1975 and 1986, Mena Webb undertook the writing of a biography on Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924). Carr, more than any other individual, was responsible for the striking growth experienced by the city of Durham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the growth of his business, Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco.

Webb's work was inspired by her own childhood recollections of "General" Carr, as he was known to everyone in his day, with whose grandchildren she had played at the Carr mansion, Somerset Villa. A good deal of Webb's research involved personal recollections of her childhood friends, with whom she conducted an extensive correspondence, collecting letters, clippings,and artifacts, in addition to memories. Jule Carr: General without an Army was published by the University of North Carolina Press in 1987.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes chiefly correspondence, printed material, typescripts and proofs, and pictures collected or produced by Mena Webb in the course of writing Jule Carr: General without an Army (1987), a biography of Julian Shakespeare Carr (1845-1924), industrialist and philanthropist of Durham. Included are letters from members of the Carr family concerning recollections of Julian S. Carr, original letters from Carr to members of his family, photographs of Carr and of individuals and scenes associated with him, and the 1888 cornerstone box with contents from Carr's Durham, N.C., home, Somerset Villa. Some items are photocopies with originals in private hands or at various repositories. The Addition of August 2002 contains transcripts of letters by Margaret Louise Cannon, a member of the Carr family, to her relatives in Concord, N.C., while she was on a trip to Europe in 1900. The Addition of January 2007 contains a scrapbook belonging to Lida M. Carr Flower, Julian Shakespeare Carr's daughter, containing genealogical materials pertaining to the Bickley, Borden, Carr, Norris, Parrish, and Ward families, as well as newspaper clippings pertaining to Lida Flower and her husband, banker Henry Corwin Flower, and excerpts of writings about Lida Flower by Mena Webb.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1975-1986.

About 220 items.

Arrangement: alphabetical.

Most of these letters were written to Mena Webb by members of the Carr family, often at her prompting, and cotnain personal recollections of Julian Shakespeare Carr, his wife, and his children. Also included is correspondence Webb collected through inquires to other sources, both individuals and institutions.

Folder 1

Carr, A. Marvin, Jr.

Folder 2

Carr, Austin H., Jr.

Folder 3

Carr, Claiborn, Jr.

Folder 4

Carr, Julian S., III

Folder 5

Carr, Rufus Tucker

Folder 6

Chapman, Laura Noell Carr

Folder 7

Dorman, J. Carr

Folder 8

English, J. Carr

Folder 9

Flower, Henry Corwin, Jr.

Folder 10

Kline, Ruth Patton

Folder 11

Lester, Ruth Flower

Folder 12

Quisenberry, Mary Evelyn Carr

Folder 13

Sanger, Mary Ann Carr

Folder 14

Letters to Carr family members from Webb

Folder 15

Miscellaneous letters from Carr family members

Folder 16

Miscellaneous non-Carr family letters

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Subject Files, 1890-1986.

About 130 items.

Arrangement: alphabetical.

Printed materials, copies of records, and business letters of Julian Shakespeare Carr, and other material relating to researching the various aspects of Carr's life. Some original Carr items, among them letters from him to family members, are included.

Folder 17

Blackwell, W. T.

Folder 18

Carr, J. S.: Copies of miscellaneous papers

Folder 19

Carr, J. S.: Original letters from him to family members

Folder 20

Chapman, Laura Noell Carr

Folder 21

Confederate records

Folder 22

Green, C. Sylvester, ed., General Julian S. Carr: Centennial Observance of his Birth (1946)

Folder 23

Miscellaneous

Folder 24

Newspaper clippings

Folder 25

Occoneechee and B. S. Skinner

Folder 26-27

Folder 26

Folder 27

Somerset Villa

Folder 28a

Sons of J. S. Carr: University of North Carolina scholarship records

Folder 28b

Soon(g), Charlie

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Typescript and Proofs for Jule Carr: General without an Army, 1986-1987.

3 items.

Galleys, page proofs, and a typescript of Jule Carr: General without an Army.

Folder 29-31

Folder 29

Folder 30

Folder 31

Typescript

Folder 32

Galley proofs

Folder 33

Page proofs

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4. Pictures, ca. 1860-1985.

61 items.

Photographs, except where otherwise noted.

Image P-4507/1

Julian Shakespeare Carr, ca. 1915

Image P-4507/2

Somerset Villa, Carr's manion, front view, undated

Image P-4507/3

Somerset Villa, side view, undated

Image P-4507/4

Cornerstone box from Somerset Villa, 1920s

Image P-4507/5a

Photograph of portrait of Carr, undated

Image P-4507/5b

Photograph of portrait of Carr: Taken by Rufus Tucker Carr, 1980s

Image P-4507/6

Hotel Carolina, undated

Image P-4507/7

Carr, Eliza Pannill Bullock: Carr's mother, undated

Image P-4507/8

Carr, Eliza Pannill, 13 July 1879

Image P-4507/9

Carr, John Wesley: Carr's father, March 1872

Image P-4507/10

Carr, Nannie Graham: Carr's wife, 1880s

Image P-4507/11

Carr, Eliza Morehead: Carr's daughter, August 1888

Image P-4507/12

Carr, Lallah Ruth: Carr's daughter, ca. 1888

Image P-4507/13

Carr, Julian Shakespeare, Jr., ca. 1888

Image P-4507/14

Carr, Albert Marvin: Carr's son, ca. 1888

Image P-4507/15

Carr, Claiborn Marcellus: Carr's son, ca. 1888

Image P-4507/16

Carr, ca. 1888

Image P-4507/17

Carr, Albert Gallatin: Carr's brother, June or July 1881

Image P-4507/18

Soon, Charles Jones (later Soong), 1880s

Image P-4507/19

Parrish, D. C., Colonel, undated

Image P-4507/20

Morehead, Eugene, undated

Image P-4507/21

Parrish, Edward J., 1880s

Image P-4507/22

Halcott, J. B.: Architect of Somerset Villa, 1880s

Image P-4507/23

Parrish, Lily Virginia, undated

Image P-4507/24a

Parrish, Rosa Bryan, undated

Image P-4507/24b

Lockhart, Emma A., winter 1887

Image P-4507/25

Heartt, E. A., undated

Image P-4507/26

Number not used

Image P-4507/27

Thurman, A. G., 1887

Image P-4507/28

Carr, Annie E., 20 July 1885

Image P-4507/29

Fuller, W. W., undated

Image P-4507/30

Fuller, T. B., 29 September 1888

Image P-4507/31

Snow, H. W., undated

Image P-4507/32

Bryan, Elwood W., undated

Image P-4507/33

Campbell, Bell, undated

Image P-4507/34

Halliburton, William, Mrs., undated

Image P-4507/35

Cunningham, J. A., Mrs., undated

Image P-4507/36

Lockhart, John S., undated

Image P-4507/37

Southgate, Jas, undated

Image P-4507/38

Vaughn, Emma, undated

Image P-4507/39

Carr, Mary Ella (Mrs. William Guthrie), ca. 1860

Image P-4507/40

Guthrie, Mr. and Mrs., and son William, undated

Image P-4507/41

Bain, W. C., undated

Image P-4507/42

Cleveland, Grover: Stevengraph, ca. 1885-1888

Image P-4507/43

Cleveland, Grover, Mrs.: Stevengraph, ca. 1885-1888

Image P-4507/44

Carrancho: Ranch in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., owned by Edward Parrish Carr, Carr's nephew, 4 April 1916

Image P-4507/45

Carrancho: Carr at Carrancho, spring 1916

Image P-4507/46

Carrancho: Carr and Edward Carr, Carrancho, spring 1916

Image P-4507/47

Carrancho: Carr in front of an orange tree in full bloom at Carrancho, spring 1916 (caption implies that Carr owned the orchard and Carrancho, but he did not; Carrancho belonged to his nephew, Edward Carr, whom Carr visited in the spring of 1916)

Image P-4507/48

Carrancho: Carr and Japanese neighbors of Edward Carr at Carrancho

Image P-4507/49

Carr standing under an arch somewhere in Pancho Villa'a territory, Mexico, spring 1916

Image P-4507/50

Carrancho: Carr "permoning mornng ablutions at the lavatory at Carrancho," spring 1916

Image P-4507/51

Carrancho: Edward Carr and Ortega at Carrancho, spring 1916

Image P-4507/52

Flower, Lida Morehead Carr, ca. 1910

Image P-4507/53

Shapshot of one of two urns given in gratitutde cy Charlie Soong to the Carr family, 1980s

Image P-4507/54

Postcard of Somerset Villa, undated

Image P-4507/55

Waverly Honor: Carr's first home, undated

Image P-4507/56

Clipping of original advertisement for Sitting Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco, undated

Image P-4507/57

Snapshot of an advertising broadside forBull Durham Smoking Tobacco: Photographed in an antiques store by J. Carr Dorman, 1985

Image P-4507/58-59

P-4507/58

P-4507/59

Postcards of an unidentified residence and gardens, presumably belonging to the Carr family, undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 5. Museum Item, 1888.

1 item.

Copper box placed ceremoniously into the cornerstone of Somerset Villa, 29 September 1888. After the mansion was torn down following Carr's death, the box mysteriously disappeared. It was found nearly half a century later in the attic of Laura Noell Carr Chapman. A list of the contents can be found in folder 27. The items checked on the photocopy of this list are those that arrived with the box when it was received at the Southern Historical Collection (among other things, the currency and coins were missing). The photographs have been placed in Series 4.

MU-4507/1: Cornerstone box from Somerset Villa

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Addition of August 2002 (Acc. 99304), 2001.

1 item.

One document containing the transcripts of fifteen letters and postcards from Margaret Louise Cannon, a member of the Carr family, to her relatives in Concord, N.C., while she was on a trip to Europe from July to November 1900.

Folder 34

Transcript of letters by Margaret Louise Cannon

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Addition of January 2007, 1904-1987 and undated.

1 item.

One disassembled scrapbook belonging to Lida M. Carr Flower, Julian Shakespeare Carr's daughter, containing genealogical materials pertaining to the Bickley, Borden, Carr, Norris, Parrish, and Ward families. Also included are newspaper clippings pertaining to Lida Flower and her husband, Henry Corwin Flower, and excerpts of writings about Lida Flower by Mena Webb.

Folder 35-36

Folder 35

Folder 36

Scrapbook

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Items Separated

Items separated include pictures (P-4507/1-59) and museum item (MU-4507/1).

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