Manuscript and Archival Collections

Annie Alexander was born in Mecklenberg County, NC in 1864 and graduated from Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia in 1884. She returned to North Carolina in 1887 as the first woman to practice medicine in the South. The collection includes letters she wrote to her father, Dr. John Brevard Alexander, while a student and intern at the Women's Medical College in Philadelphia (1884-85); patient records; financial accounts; essays on medical topics; and newspaper clippings.

Papers of a Mecklenburg County physician. Includes account books, medical journals, correspondence, memorabilia, and writings. Also documents his services as a surgeon in the 37th North Carolina Regiment of the Confederate Army, as well as his general interest in the Civil War.

The collection consists primarily of personal letters written between John A. Alexander and Evelyn G. Galloway while Alexander served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

This collection contains materials from the Alexander Family and the Alexander Funeral Home. Alexander Family Material contains documents generated by the patriarch of the family, Zechariah Alexander, primarily in his duties as an officer in the Free Masons and the Shriners organizations. The Alexander Funeral Home subseries contains documents dealing with the operation of the Alexander Funeral Home, currently the oldest continuously operating African-American owned funeral business in the city of Charlotte.

Papers of William Tasse Alexander and his descendants in the Mallard Creek area of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Consists primarily of records relating to the operation of the family plantation, including deeds and other legal papers, financial accounts, and information on cotton production and slaves. Also includes correspondence, an 1882 school register, genealogical material, clippings, photographs, and early twentieth century postcards of Charlotte.

Chiefly correspondence (1860s-1870s) of William Davidson Alexander (1840-1927) of Mecklenburg County; of his wife, Susan Amelia Ramsey Alexander (1843-90); and of her father, James Gettys McGready Ramsey (1797-1884), physician, historian, and entrepreneur of Knoxville.

Primarily material about Hezekiah Alexander (1728-1801). Includes transcriptions and photocopies of his will, estate inventory, and survey map of his property; material relating to the preservation of his home, built in 1774 and the oldest surviving building in Mecklenburg County; and genealogical information.

Primarily papers (1932-34) of Julian H. Little relating to his guardianship of Grace Carpenter of Statesville and including correspondence about the management of the Grace Hotel in Statesville.

Papers of several generations of a family active in the Presbyterian Church.

The collection consists of photocopies of documents pertaining to two prominent families in Charlotte, NC: the Belks and the Everetts. Most of the collection consists of correspondence with Herschel Hill Everett, his daughter, Ann, and her husband, Henderson Belk.

The Bisaner-Rankin Families papers consist of a wide variety of materials, though the majority of the collection consists of letters to and from various members of the Bisaner, and later the Rankin families, in Gaston County, NC and Marietta, GA, since the mid nineteenth century.

The collection contains primarily the papers and photographs of I.D. and Herman Blumenthal and also records from the Radiator Specialty Company, and the Blumenthal Foundation. Other papers concern Judaism, Israel, Wildacres Conference Center and Retreat, the Blumenthal Jewish Home an Fair Oaks Assisted Living Facility, during the twentieth century.

Biographical and genealogical material about the Boggs family and collateral lines, including the Alexander, Calhoun, Garner, Livingston, and Prince families. Also includes photographs of Charlotte (ca. 1890-ca. 1910).

Primarily photocopies of articles published in the Mecklenburg Gazette, Mooresville Tribune, and Lake Norman Magazine about the history of North Mecklenburg and the Lake Norman area. Includes a nine-part article based on the Civil War letters of Joseph and Margaret Brawley Lipe of Iredell County.

Papers of the Caldwell and Davidson families of Rosedale plantation in Mecklenburg County, N.C. Includes medical account books (1824-47) of Dr. David Thomas Caldwell; land records and surveys (1833-1942); journal (1837) of Sarah Frew Davidson; correspondence (1861-1984); plantation account books (1869-85); and photographs of family members and of Rosedale, including images of the latter by Frances Benjamin Johnston and Bayard Wootten.

The collection contains photographs of Isaac Pearson Caldwell, and Samuel Craighead Caldwell V, and a video program by Kate Pearson Caldwell Gilreath concerning her family's genealogy.

The collection consists of papers of the Carpenter family, relating primarily to their farming activities in Lincoln and Gaston counties from 1834 to 1935.

The William Gueston Carter, Jr., Papers contains primarily diaries that Carter recorded from 1975 to 1998, documenting in minute detail everything that he did, as well as the weather conditions in Cornelius, North Carolina, where he lived.

Five autograph books of children in nineteenth century Charlotte, NC.

This collection contains family papers and material about Charlotte, as well as pamphlets about history and politics of Charlotte and North Carolina, patriotic societies, and alcoholism and prohibition.

Material relating to the theory that Abraham Lincoln was the illegitimate son of Abraham Enloe of Rutherford County, N.C.

The collection consists mostly of land indentures, promissory notes, chattel mortgages and receipts for consumer goods concerning primarily the Cochran family in eastern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, dating from 1823 to 1889.

Typed transcriptions of the diaries of John Hamilton Cornish, an Episcopal minister in Aiken, South Carolina, from 1833 to 1877.

The collection contains a small assortment of papers generated by the Cuthbertson family, of Monroe, North Carolina. Most of the papers concern the administration of the estate of Thomas Lee Cuthbertson, who died in 1884; and the administration of the estates of his children in the late nineteenth century.

Twenty-one items (including essays, newspaper clippings and magazine articles) concerning primarily the parentage of Abraham Lincoln. Other material includes an essay by Daniels concerning the social history of Fremont, NC and Aycock family genealogy.

Single folder collection of three Battle of Charlotte DAR chapter yearbooks.

Contains minutes, correspondence, programs, and financial material but no membership applications. Also includes 15 scrapbooks documenting local history and the activities of the chapter.

Records of the first DAR chapter in North Carolina, founded in 1898. Contains membership applications; minutes of chapter and executive board meetings; histories of the chapter and the state organization.

Records of a DAR chapter founded in 1912 by descendents of the signers of the disputed Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. Includes membership applications, minutes, yearbooks, and financial records.

The records of the Jane Parks McDowell chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution contains records and scrapbooks documenting the history and activities of the chapter from its founding in 1960 to 2001.

Papers of the Davidson family of Rural Hill Plantation in northern Mecklenburg County, N.C., and of the related families Alexander, Barry, Hampton, Montieth, and Wilson. Includes correspondence, family Bibles, financial records, land records, newspaper clippings, photographs, and plantation records for Rural Hill, as well as Dickson (Dixon) in Gaston County, N.C.

This small collection includes papers on the history of the Denny, Horne, and McMillan families of North Carolina, compiled by Mrs. Jo B. Horne, of Red Springs, N.C. in 2002.

Primarily photocopies and transcripts of the antebellum and Civil War papers of William Leonidas Faulkner, who served in Company I, 17th South Carolina Volunteers and died in a Union prison camp.

Typewritten travel diary describing a group trip from Charlotte to London, Scandinavia, and the Soviet Union in July, 1972. Sixteen of the eighteen participants were Charlotteans.

The collection contains an assortment of papers and photographs from the Folger family and Tillett family. The bulk of the materials concern Charles Walter Tillett, a lawyer and Duncan Tillett, a banker; both of Charlotte in the early twentieth century.

Material relating to the authenticity of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, including a letter (1916) from Fries, an archivist and editor, to Stephen B. Weeks, North Carolina collector and historian, concerning Traugott Bagge's report that "the County of Mecklenburg declared itself free and independent of England" in 1775.

Primarily photographs of Mecklenburg County scenes, including the family and the family business.

Thirty-page typescript transcription of the Civil War memoirs of Nicholas Biddle Gibbon, written between 1861 and 1866, and describing his service in North Carolina and Virginia as a drill master and commissary in the 1st and 28th North Carolina Regiments.

Three drafts of a love letter to Goodwin from David R. Autry, a Confederate soldier stationed at Camp Holmes in Raleigh; two poems, presumably by Goodwin; photographs; and genealogical/biographical information.

Papers of a prominent Charlotte family, primarily consisting of photographs and records regarding the commemoration of a bust donated to the U.S. Naval Academy museum in honor of Admiral Halsey.

Manuscript autobiographies of William Bernard Harrell (1823-1906), songwriter, physician, and Baptist minister, and of his son, William Peyton Harrell (b. 1868), a conductor on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and a bank clerk in Norfolk, Va.

Primarily material relating to her book, Early Charlotte and Mecklenburg County for Children (1968). Also includes clippings and notes on local history.

The collection contains a wide variety of materials, including a slave bill-of-sale, letters, land conveyancing papers for land for the Andrew Jackson historic site, DAR papers for the Mecklenburg Chapter, and obituaries for Henderson family members.

Personal, family, and professional papers of one of Charlotte's first psychologists, who established the Psychological Service Center in 1946. Includes correspondence, financial and legal records, speeches, notes, copies of his newspaper columns and other writings, transcriptions of radio broadcasts, and photographs.

Papers of the Powell, Poole, O’Rorke, and Claney families of Charlotte, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New York City, concerning various aspects of their entertainment careers.

Abridged transcription of a diary of a native of Amenia, N.Y., who moved to Raleigh in 1815 to teach school. Describes her journey to Raleigh by sea and stagecoach, social events in Raleigh, and subsequent travels and teaching (1822-41) in Augusta, Ga., Amenia, Salisbury, N.C., and Charlotte.

Photocopied papers of the Caldwell family of Charlotte, N.C., and the Hutchison family of York District (Rock Hill), S.C. Contains a diary by Adeline Caldwell, the second wife of Dr. D.T. Caldwell of Rosedale Plantation in Charlotte, N.C.

The Irwin Family Papers is a small manuscript collection, consisting mostly of letters, bills of sale (including bills of sale for slaves), real estate deeds and genealogical notes of a family of Charlotte, North Carolina, primarily during the nineteenth century.

Papers related to the William Abram Jenkins family, including photographs, survey maps of the family farm, and biographical information.

A small collection of papers generated primarily by William Howard Jetton and his sister, Sarah Elizabeth Jetton, from 1908 to 2007.

The collection primarily concerns William Howard and Sarah Elizabeth Jetton, but is entitled the "Ruth Jetton-Oliver papers" in recognition of the donor, and to distinguish this collection from the Jetton family papers and the William Howard and Sarah Elizabeth Jetton papers.

Papers of the Jetton and related families since the mid-eighteenth century; including mostly real estate surveys and indentures, correspondence, genealogical notes, estate records, documentation on the Civil War and Reconstruction, and receipts for consumer goods.

Collection consists of a scrapbook and a small collection of organizational records from the Charlotte, North Carolina, Junior DAR chapter.

Account book for a general goods store on North Tryon Street in Charlotte operated by James Kirk and Edwin Alexander, a son of Maj. Thomas Alexander. Entries begin on July 28, 1819 and go through March 28, 1821.

The Knox family papers is a small collection generated by the Knox and related families (including the Dunlap, Lowrie, and Porter families) documenting much of their daily activities, mostly from the mid nineteenth to early twentieth centuries. Includes the ownership of slaves and events during the Civil War.

Family tree (copy) drawn in the shape of a tree by Katie S. Goodman of Woodleaf, N.C. in June, 1914.

Letters written to James Latta, his wife Jane, and their daughter Nancy. Writers are Robert Latta, William A. Latta, and Eliza Dilworth Latta, who are writing from their home in Yorkville, S.C., to Robert’s parents and sister at their Mecklenburg County home.

Papers relating to the family of Walter J. F. and Anna Brubaker Liddell, who moved to Charlotte from Wisconsin in 1875. Includes photographs, postcards depicting scenes in Charlotte and both Carolinas in the early 20th century, and photocopies of letters (1854-64) between members of the related Little and Myers families.

Includes correspondence with Ralph Ellison and others, notes, articles, and information on Ellison's South Carolina ancestors. Also includes material from Lillard's 1989 Charlotte city council campaign and political campaign materials from the Charlotte area.

Diaries of a worker in Charlotte’s Louise Cotton Mill. Topics mentioned include textile mills, religion, the weather, activities of family and friends, and public events from local to the international.

This collection contains papers and photographs generated by the McCoy and related families in Mecklenburg County, NC from 1796 to 2001. Includes The letters, papers and photographs that the McCoys generated and accumulated during WWI.

Four page typescript essay (1963), "Granpa Elam's Spring," by granddaughter of Elam Cochran, former owner of land on which UNC Charlotte is located.

Collection of unrelated manuscripts, containing letters from Edwin Arlington Robinson (1922) and James Boyd (1926) and a bill of sale (1835) for a slave in Pasquotank County, N.C.

The Moore family (Lynford Lardner Moore, his wife, Mary Torrance Moore, his son, Wilson Wallace Moore, and daughter, Eliza Gaston Moore, and other relatives, including Nicholas G. Moore and John Wallace Moore) were Christian missionaries in China and Japan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The collection contains sermons, religious tracts, correspondence with family members overseas, and a selection of family photographs.

Deeds, surveyors' statements, and other records collected for a title search in the 1850s relating to property in Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties in the vicinity of Rocky River, Mallard, Buffalo, and Coddle Creeks.

Assorted papers of the family, particularly those of Leon B. Newell, a Charlotte physician. Includes certificates, correspondence, genealogical materials, a household inventory (1916), newspaper clippings, photographs, notes and miscellaneous receipts.

Microfilm copies of county records preserved in the North Carolina State Archives. There are deeds, wills, inventories, land papers, bills of sale, headrights grants, petitions, etc. for various North Carolina counties.

Papers of the Patterson family of northern Mecklenburg County, mainly concerning their business activities, real estate purchases, wills, and family correspondence. Also includes papers from several related families, especially their Cumming, Hodges, Potts, and Sloan connections.

Primarily letters to Miles Pinckney Pegram, Sr. from his sons Miles, Jr., and Tom.

Papers documenting the Peoples family of Providence Township in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina with a particular focus on material generated by Richard Peoples (1790-1870). Contains deeds, purchase lists, estate appraisals, letters, subscriptions, obituaries, newspaper articles and genealogical materials.

Mostly letters written by a native of Lebanon, Tennessee, while a student (1865-66) at Ogontz Seminary for Young Ladies in Philadelphia and prior to and during her marriage (1869-76) to Charles A. Perry, a businessman of Weston, Missouri.

This collection contains the papers of various members of the Pharr and Walker families of Mecklenburg County. Both families were active as ministers and laymen in the Presbyterian Church, and some of the earliest papers relate to the careers of the Rev. Samuel C. Pharr and the Rev. James McCullough Walker.

Small collection from a line of families in the early twentieth century; all from the Steele Creek Township in southwestern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. The papers include documentation concerning real estate transactions, receipts for taxes and consumer goods, promissory notes, letters to and from various family members, and documentation concerning slaves.

The Rankin Family papers consist of a wide variety of materials, though the majority of the collection concerns this family’s ownership and stewardship of the land that they have owned in Gaston County, NC, since the late eighteenth century.

Papers of a mayor of Charlotte (1927-29) and judge of the Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court (1935-49). Includes speeches, arguments of Redd as a defense attorney in murder cases, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and material on the United Confederate Veterans Reunion in Charlotte (1929). Also includes papers of Redd's wife, Bessie Flowe Redd, and her father, J. Lee Flowe, a grocer. Her papers include material about the DAR Liberty Hall chapter of Charlotte and an autographed photograph of evangelist Billy Sunday.

Photocopies of indentures and surveys relating to land in northern Mecklenburg County along the Catawba River owned by the Sample Family.

Primarily papers of Ella Hargrove Sayre Sullivan Robinson, a Montgomery, AL, native who married Walter Bernard Sullivan, co-owner of The Columbia Record and The Charlotte Observer. Includes business records and family papers.

Bound volume of typescripts of 112 letters written to his parents in Salem, N.C., while a student at Nazareth Hall, a Moravian boarding school in Pennsylvania (1858-60); a Confederate Army soldier in eastern North Carolina and Virginia (1863-65); a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania (1865-67); and a student and traveler in Europe (1867-69).

Photocopies of correspondence, memoirs, genealogical material, and clippings relating to the descendants of Thomas Spratt, one of the first white settlers in Mecklenburg County.

Papers of the Springs family of Mecklenburg County, N.C. and of York County, S.C.

Handwritten letter by an unidentified woman named Sydney [no last name given] to her "family" in which she informs them that she, her husband Walter, and their daughter Heather, have joined a commune of people who travel around the country in transformed school buses.

Personal and family papers of a Charlotte native who moved to New York City in the 1930s to pursue an operatic career.

Primarily papers of Sarah Wilson Tate (1892-1978), including travel diaries, correspondence, financial records, and reminiscences of Christmas-time visits to Coldstream plantation in Sumter County, S.C.

Papers of the editor and publisher of The Photo-Miniature (1899-1935), an early photography magazine.

Papers of Hugh Torrance and his descendants, including, his son, James Galbraith Torrance, and his grandson Richard Allison Torrance. Includes account books, Revolutionary War service records, family correspondence, land and estate records, information on slaves, and contracts with overseers.

Papers of four generations of the Van Landingham family of Charlotte and of the Harwood family of New England and Atlanta. Includes correspondence, records of household expenses and investments, genealogical information, photographs, and blueprints of the family home in Charlotte.

Papers of Kenneth Wilson Whitsett, a Charlotte historian, artist, and co-founder of Pictorial Engraving Co. Also includes World War I correspondence of Whitsett and his brother.

This collection primarily contains property deeds, for plots of land in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, dating from 1860 to 1947.

Papers of a family that settled in Charlotte in the 1850s. Contains extensive records involving the purchase and operations of gold mines, mills, and other businesses owned by the family and by their Renwick and Smedberg relations in North Carolina and South Carolina beginning in the 1820s.

Papers of Williams as a teenager, college student, wife, and mother in Charlotte in the first half of the 20th century. Includes her diaries (1910-1916) and letters (1917-1938) to her from her husband, John F. Williams.

Original handwritten and typed copies of essays written by Charlotte senior citizens in courses sponsored by the Shepherd's Center and Central Piedmont Community College and taught by Margaret Bigger in 1992-94. These are personal accounts of growing up during the Prohibition era and the Depression and of life during World War II.