LibGuides: The Civil War: Women and the Homefront: Civil War Women: P-Y

Civil War Women: P-Y

This section of the guide covers collections with last names starting with P-Y. The links will take you to the catalog record for each collection for more information. Some collections also have finding aids (inventories) in their catalog records. The microfilm notations are explained in the box on the right.

Presley Carter Person Papers, 1767-1915. Louisburg, N.C.
Letter before and during the Civil War from Harriet Person Perry to her husband, as well as her 1869 diary, give and excellent picture of home life on the Texas frontier. Also includes a daybook kept by Thomas Person's wife during the war. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)
Hugh N. Ponton Papers, 1859-1864. Nelson Co., Va.
Correspondence during Civil War reflects the difficulties of a young wife left to manage farm and family. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)
Mrs. Charles C. Rainwater Papers, 1861-1865. St. Louis, Mo.
Reminiscences concerning friction between Union and Confederate sympathizers in Missouri, and Rainwater's journey to meet her wounded husband, who was a Confederate officer.
George Junkin Ramsey Papers, 1802-1918. Lynchburg, Va.
Letters, 1855-1871, from Sabra S. Tracy, a Vermont schoolteacher who married Ramsey, a Virginia minister, document their courtship, marriage, and life of a Northerner in the South during the Civil War. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)
William Young Ripley Papers, 1843-1933. Rutland Co., Vt.
Letters of a banker's wife to her sons stationed in the Vermont Infantry concern personal matters and document Mrs. Ripley's efforts to raise supplies for the U.S. Sanitary Commission and her activities in Centre Rutland, Vt. to support the war efforts. Contrast with letters home from Ripley's daughter while she was living in London, 1864-1873.
Daniel Ruggles Papers, 1845-1879. Fredricksburg, Va.
Includes letters from Confederate women offering supplies.
William C. Russel Papers, 1861-1865. New York, N.Y.
Russel moved his family from Massachusetts to Tennessee in 1864 to run a liberated plantation with ex-slaves. Letters from his daughter Lucy to her Aunt Ellen describe her experiences teaching blacks there.
Mary French Scott Papers, 1857-1904. Granville and Onslow Counties, N.C.
Correspondence, 1860-1865, relates to life and events during the Civil War and includes some legal and financial papers, passes, clippings, and miscellaneous items. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)
Whitefoord Smith Papers, 1807-1893. Charleston, S.C.
Civil War materials relating to gifts of the Spartanburg ladies to the soldiers.
M. J. Solomons Scrapbook, 1861-1863. Savannah, Ga.
Presumably kept by a woman, scrapbook is comprised of newspaper clippings documenting the first years of war and includes large selection of poems and various articles about women's role in the Confederacy, such as General Butler's controversial proclamation on (against) women in New Orleans and Confederate spy Rose O'Neal Greenhow.
Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth Papers, 1849-1901. Georgetown, D.C.
Literary correspondence with Robert Bonner, editor of the New York Ledger, concerning the publication of E.D.E.N. Southworth's stories; discusses Southworth's hatred of Confederates. Catalog listing of Southworth's books held at Duke.
Laura W. Stebbins Papers, 1852-1884. Springfield, Mass.
Personal correspondence of Stebbins who taught in Mississippi before and after the Civil War, and who also operated her own school in Springfield. Contains information on subjects taught, remuneration of teachers, merits of Northern and Southern teachers in Southern schools.
Nellie Stearns Papers, 1865. New Bern, N.C.
Letter from a Northern teacher in a Negro school describing the African Church in which she is teaching and the close observation of their activities by Southerners. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)
Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Diaries, 1848-1889. Augusta, Ga.
Lengthy and reflective diaries of Georgia plantation mistress detail relations between white men and Negro women, Civil War military activity, Union occupation of the South, the state of the Southern society after the war, labor and servant problems, financial losses and poverty. (Note: The diaries have been published in edited form as The Secret Eye.) (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/1)
Sarah E. Thompson Papers, 1855-1904. Greene Co., Tenn.
Correspondence contains testimonials of Thompson's services to the Federal government documenting her duty in hospitals where she nursed wounded soldiers, her spying activities during the Civil War, and her lectures after the war. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/2)
Tillinghast Family Papers, 1765-1971. Fayetteville, N.C.
Various Civil War experiences of the Tillinghast women. Journal, 1861, of Emily Tillinghast describes home life during the early months of the Confederacy. Long letter (56 pp.) of Sarah Ann Tillinghast describes making clothes for the local infantry and activities of the Union soldiers. An account by Robina Tillinghast gives her reaction to Sherman's march through Fayetteville.
Libbie Ward Papers, 1828-1913
Ward served with the U.S. Christian Commission in hospitals in Louisville, Ky., and Nashville, Tenn., from 1864 to 1865, where she worked in the kitchens and as a general aide to the soldiers who spent brief periods there.
George W. West Papers, 1785-1910. Polk Co., Ga.
Letters of Josephine West and her friends concern social life just before the Civil War and the difficulties of managing slaves during the Civil War. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/2)
Alice Williamson Diary, 1864. Gallatin, Tenn.
Diary of an opinionated 16 year old rebel farm girl near Gallatin, Tenn., describes the Yankee occupation of surrounding areas, projects to educate former slaves, her own school life and social visits. Read this diary online.
Elvira Withrow Papers, 1864. Banks Co., Ga.
Letters concerning the evacuation of women from Cass Station, Ga., to Atlanta, to Athens, and finally Banks Co. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/1)
Isabella Anna Roberts Woodruff Papers, 1768-1865. Charleston, S.C.
Correspondence between Woodruff and several other single self-supporting middle class women documenting the variety of teaching positions held by the women at schools and academies and with private families as well as the struggles of teaching during the Civil War. Also included are Civil War courtship letters which begin in 1865 and detail Sherman's march through S.C. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/1)
William B. Yonce Papers, 1827-1893. Wytheville, Va.
Letters written by the Yonce sisters show the reactions of Southern women to the war, particularly Sophia, who writes from Gladsboro, N.C., about how her whole life is affected by this 'wicked war' and how hard it is to keep up the farm without her husband. (Microfilm: SW&TF-H/3)

E.D.E.N. Southworth

Prolific writer Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth (1819-1899) was quite possibly the single most widely-read American novelist during the last half of the 19th century.

Collections on Microfilm

Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century (SW&TF)
Link to WorldCat record of worldwide holdings of this microfilm collection. Duke materials are in Series H.

A significant number of collections at Duke have been microfilmed in Series H of the Southern Women and Their Families in the 19th Century collection. If you see a note that says "SW&TF-H/1, 2 or 3" this means that collection is in section 1, 2, or 3 of Series H. We suggest that you ask at your local library about their availability via Interlibrary Loan. The links below may help with this process.