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Women's History Manuscript Collections at the Rubenstein Library

19th Century Collections

19th century girl applying make up

Frances Walker Yates Aglionby Papers, 1821-1933
Charles Town, WV. Family letters kept by Aglionby and her daughter, Jeanette, describe travels in Virginia, West Virginia, Philadelphia, Maine, England and Ireland; the Virginia Female Institute at Staunton; crops, slaves, neighbors and relatives.

Joseph Allred Papers, 1819-1864
Randolph Co., NC. Business papers and personal correspondence of Allred contains a letter dated August 29, 1857 from Violet Lester, a slave formerly owned by Allred to "My Loving Miss Patsy." The letter is a passionate plea to hear news of other family members owned by Allred and to enlist help in trying to locate Lester's daughter so that they can be reunited.

Recipe and home remedy book, ca. 1896.
Recipes for cakes, candy, breads, liquors, and other items as well as medical and veterinary remedies.

John Backhouse Papers, 1740-1956
London, England. Large collection of family papers include the papers of George Backhouse, who was a Commissary Judge at Havana in the 1850s as a part of an Anglo-Spanish commission that handles cases involving the suppression of the slave trade. Letters and diaries of Backhouse and his wife include references to the slave trade and give a description of the Backhouses' daily lives in Havana. Other family correspondence includes letters among the women in the family as well as estate settlements and inventories which involve these women.

Elizabeth J. Holmes Blanks Papers, 1832-1888
Fayetteville, NC. Personal and business correspondence of family of planters and lawyers includes considerable correspondence among the women of the family. Topics include personal affairs, religious discussions, prophecy, stories of hardships and anxieties related to the Civil War.

Margaret Boxer Diary and Memorandom Book, 1875, Feb.-1876
England. Entries describe moves of Boxer and her husband to various places in England, including London, Hastings, and the Isle of Wight. She speaks of visiting Sir Frances Hincks, formerly Canadian finance minister and writes about the birth of her child.

Harriette H. Branham Diary, 1861-1863
Louisa County, VA. Branham, was a member of a well-to-do farming family in Louisa County, VA. Ellen A. Branham, is mentioned often in the diary. The diary includes a running account of the Civil War, social life, and various accounts of her experiences with the troops passing through the area.

Huldah Annie (Fain) Briant Papers, 1846-1888; (bulk 1861-1865)
Santa Luca (Gilmer County), GA. Legal correspondence of Ebenezer Fain and war correspondence of his daughter, Huldah A. (Fain) Briant, chiefly from M.C. Briant, whom she married in 1864. Included also are letters from other members of the family. The letters contain accounts of the Battle of Manassas, 1861; enthusiasm for the confederacy in Texas; impressment of a local Jew's merchandise for the army by women; and refugee families from Georgia.

Rhoda S. Briggs Correspondence, 1852-1874
Elsworth, NY. Chiefly letters to Briggs from friends and relatives, mostly women, in Bloomington, Illinois, Rochester, New York, and elsewhere discussing social and family matters and containing Northern reactions to the Civil War.

John Grammar Brodnax Papers, 1830-1929; (bulk 1856-1919)
Greensboro, NC. Personal, professional and family correspondence of three generations of the Brodnax family, include letters, 1857-1867, from "Mother" in Lynchburg, Va. and also later letters from his daughters. Many papers concern Mrs. Brodnax's activities in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy; others relate to attendance of family members at various North Carolina and Virginia schools and colleges including Salem Female Academy and St. Mary's College. Also included are letters from Mrs. Barr, an aunt of Mrs. Brodnax, and her children from 1877 to 1884 while traveling in Europe and studying music in Germany. Letters from Mary Brodnax Gelnn and her family while in Mexico, where her husband worked for a railroad company, are filled with references to conditions in Mexico, especially concerning political upheavals around 1910.

John Emory Bryant Papers, 1851-1855 and undated
GA and Union, ME. Family collection, chiefly centered around the activities of Northerners in the South during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Includes intimate correspondence from Emma Bryant to her husband while he was away on business, and two of her journals (1866, 1876) which contain descriptions of Negro activities especially in relation to the Freedman's Bureau in Augusta, Georgia. Also included are daughter Alice Zeller's autobiographical writings and scrapbooks which contain information on Grant Memorial University, temperance, and the position of women.

Augusta A. and Etheline Burnham Correspondence, 1841-1854
Middlesex Co., MA. Family correspondence containing information on Lowell Institute, local mills, and rural life.

Valeria G. Burroughs Album and Commonplace Books, 1830-1872
Savannah, GA. An album containing copies of poems; a commonplace book, 1831-1841, with poems, religious comments and references to family deaths; and a commonplace book, 1844-1872, including the minutes, correspondences and constitution of the Female Seaman's Friend Society of Savannah, and household accounts, lists and recipes, 1866-1872.

Campbell Family Papers, 1731-1969
Abingdon, VA. Large collection of family papers including the letters (early 1800s) of Maria Hamilton Campbell, wife of governor David Campbell, three letters of house servant (slave) Hannah Valentine (1838-9), and the letters (1840s) of daughter Virginia Tabitha Jane Campbell Shelton. Letters contain a vast amount of information on household economy, dress, slavery, methods of transportation, literary works, political campaigns, and conditions in colleges where Shelton and her husband taught. Also included are the letters of Margaret Hamilton Campbell which comment on family affairs and Methodism, and the letters (1850s-1880s) of Amanda Harris Kelley and Mary Owen Campbell Kelley, which document missionary work in China.

Mary M. Carr Diary, 1860-1865
Bastrop, LA. Concerned with the day to day life on a cotton plantation and the relationship of the Carrs with friends and neighbors.

Mary Jane Cook Chadick Diary, 1862-1865
Huntsville, AL. Typed copy of a diary of Mary Chadick, wife of William Davidson Chadick, describing Federal raids on and occupation of Huntsville; and commenting on local people and trouble with slaves occasioned by the presence of Federal troops.

Clement Claiborne Clay Papers, 1811-1925; (bulk 1821-1915)
Huntsville, AL. Family collection containing the correspondence, writings, diaries, and scrapbooks of prominent Southerner Virginia Tunstall Clay, which document her publishing efforts and speaking engagements as well as personal and family relationships.

Rebecca F. Clayton Papers, 1889-1903
Jackson, TN. Record of religious feelings and daily family activities, especially interaction with her children.

Ann Raney Thomas Coleman Papers, 1846-1892
Pointe Coupee Parish, LA and Port Lavaca, TX. Personal and family letters and a typescript reminiscence describing her early life in England, the immigration of her family to the United States and her subsequent life in Louisiana and Texas. Included are accounts of her marriage to a wealthy landowner, their efforts to operate a plantation in Louisiana, her second marriage and later divorce, and her efforts to support herself.

Harvey Bernard Craven Letterbook, 1893-1898
Trinity, NC. Contains chiefly letters from Craven's mother, Nannie Craven, written while her son was at college. Recently widowed, Mrs. Craven wrote about financial struggles, the education of her five sons, women's politics, liquor, football, tobacco, and the Ku Klux Klan.

Cronly Family Papers, 1806-1944
Wilmington, NC. Large collection of family papers include fragments of a diary kept by Jane Cronly and her mother during the Civil War and an unpublished novel and short stories of Jane Cronly which focus on the social life, religious attitudes, and racial climate in Wilmington in the late 19th century. Two small volumes dealing with the Wilmington race riot of 1898 appear to have been written by Jane and are highly critical of the white residents of the town.

Julia Roxie Davis Papers, 1817-1898
Westminister, NC. Personal correspondence of Davis, a Quaker, concerning domestic life, quilting parties, yearly meetings, crops, recipes, patterns, and New Garden Seminary.

Lois Wright Richardson Davis Papers, 1851-1915
Lowell, MA. Chiefly letters to Davis, of Massachusetts, from her children by her first husband, including daughters in Mobile, AL. The family was divided during the war, with two daughters supporting the South and the sons serving in the Union Army. After the war, daughter Eunice, whose husband died in the service of the Confederacy, remarried to William S. Connolly, a black West Indian ship captain and moved with him to Grand Caymen Island. Her letters, 1870-1875, describe her life there.

Eleanor Hall Douglas Correspondence, 1798-1845
Staunton, VA. Collection of family papers contains correspondence describing recently purchased farmland, progress of spinning and weaving, and birth and growth of children. Documents medical practices and social and economic conditions of the time period.

Samuel Smith Downey Papers, 1762-1965; (bulk 1800-1900)
Granville County, NC. The papers of Samuel S. Downey concern his administration of the estate of John G. Smith and the many suits involving the estate, the management of plantations in Mississippi and North Carolina including correspondence and legal papers dealing with hiring slaves, and a record book of slave births and deaths. The record book (1828-1874) occasionally notes the cause of death and the number of children born to each mother.

Sylvia D. Dymond Papers, 1898
England. Chiefly a memoir (1898, Feb.-Aug., 101 p.) documenting travel with Dymond's sisters Isabel and Evelyn and their mother across France; in the Italian departments of Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria, Latium, Emilia, Lonbardy, and Piedmont; and in the Swiss cantons of Vallais and Vaud. Illustrated by 86 photographs taken in Italy and Switzerland mostly by the Dymonds. Also an undated greeting card and note about travel in the Alps.

Kate Edmond Papers, 1835-1886; (bulk 1881-1883)
Selma, AL. Chiefly letters from former student Carrie McCord to Edmond detailing an extended family trip to Brazil, family health, tutoring her younger sister, and people and places in Alabama.

Annie Englar Diary, 1861-1865
Carroll Co., MD. Manuscript diary containing numerous references to the Civil War.

Englishwoman's Travel Diary and Poem, 1863-1868 and n.d.
England. The unidentified woman who kept the diary recorded her daily activities and described various locations, including Hastings, Sidmouth, Brighton, and Burgess Hill. During some of the period covered by the diary, she apparently was acting as a paid companion to an invalid uncle.

Emma J. Fasold Papers, 1871-1920
Sunbury, Northumberland Co., PA. Correspondence of a farmer's daughter with her sister, brother, niece, and other family and friends.

Lady Cecilia Feilding Diary, 1885 Dec. 3-1886 May 3
Denbigh, England. Entries detailing her voyage to India are followed by a newcomer's account of life in British India near Poona. Includes information relating to local customs and visits to ancient temples. Also includes a typewritten transcription of the diary

Lucy Muse Walton Fletcher Papers, 1816-1968
Broadway, VA. Family letters, clippings, poetry and diaries, 1829-1870, which reflect Fletcher's childhood in Alexandria, VA.; her education at the School of Catherine Beecher in Hartford, Connecticut; social life in Virginia; travels to New England and Washington, DC.; marriage and life as a minister's wife; Civil War hardships; care of the sick and wounded; Negro soldiers and freedmen; and economic difficulties after the war.

Eliza Burden Fludd Papers, 1865-1868
Charleston, SC. Letters from Eliza Fludd to her friend, Mrs. Jolliffe, reveal her to be a well educated, deeply religious, and intelligent witness to the political and social events during the Civil War era.

Kate D. Foster Diary, 1863-1872
Adams Co., MS. Daughter of plantation owner. Entries concern Civil War and Foster's opinion about the righteousness of the Southern cause and the effect of the war on her home, as well as personal matters.

Mrs. Franklin Diary, 1899-1907

Handwritten diary containing an African-American woman's religious and philosophical reflections, inspirational clippings, and lists of books she read along with her opinions of them. Also contains references to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and the Central State Hospital for the Colored Insane.

Amanda E. Edney Gardner Papers, 1833-1892
Cahaba, AL. Personal and family letters containing comments on social life and customs in the antebellum South, descriptions of the Florida countryside with references to danger from Indians, and the education at the Presbyterian Female Collegiate Institute.

Emma Simpson Glover Papers, 1862-1953 and undated; (bulk 1862-1914)
Nelson Co., VA. Correspondence, legal and financial papers, photographs, a memoir, and other papers concerning Simpson and family members. Letters, ca. 1890s-1901 consist chiefly of letters to Emma or her sisters discussing family news and their lives in Midway Mills, Nelson, Co., VA. Correspondence 1910-1914 consists of courtship and early marriage letters between Emma and her husband.

Katherine V. Gridley Diary, 1899
Photocopy of a diary entitled "Diary of a Southern trip which began March 9, 1899." Diarist visited Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, DC.

Margaret Davidson Gwyn Diary and daybook, 1854-1864
Irving College, TN. Farmer's wife. Diary, chiefly 1862-1864, describes how the Civil War disrupted life on a large farm and makes numerous references to Confederate and Union troops who visited the farm. Accounts appear to concern a general store operated by Mr. Gwyn.

Asenath Ellen Cox Hancock Papers, 1880-1936
Ashboro, NC. Asenath was born in 1866 and married a sawmiller in 1898. Collection is largely comprised of family correspondence and includes letters from Hancock's father, sisters, brother, and children - most of which were farmers in rural North Carolina and Indiana.

David Bulloch Harris Papers, 1789-1894
Frederickshall, VA. Business and family papers of a tobacco exporter and confederate general includes anonymous diary (1854-1867) of a female family member which records her feelings and change of lifestyle after her husband of 20 years deserted her.

Elizabeth A. F. Harris Diary, 1866
New Orleans, LA. Diary kept by Southern woman on a trip to Canada where she met with many unreconstructed Confederates. Included are accounts of travels through St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and New York.

Elizabeth Baldwin Wiley Harris Papers, 1858-1958; (bulk 1862-1893)
Sparta, GA. Diary, letters, and genealogy of the mistress of a substantial plantation.

Elizabeth Johnson Harris Memoir, ca. 1922
Augusta, GA. Memoirs of a slave descendent mentions her early upbringing, education, church attendance, marriage, housekeeping chores, travels to Boston and family anecdotes from slavery days.

Susan L. Hathorn Papers, 1855
Richmond, ME. Records Hathorn's activities of cleaning, handiwork, bookkeeping, and reading done aboard her husband's ship during the first six months of their marriage.

Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick Papers, 1848-1893
Chapel Hill, NC. Personal and business correspondence of Benjamin Sherwood Hedrick, professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1854-56, and examiner in the Patent Office, Washington, DC, 1861-1886, who was expelled from the University for his attitude on slavery and was forced to leave the state in 1856. Includes courtship letters with his future wife, Mary Ellen Thompson. After their marriage she writes valuable letters describing the state of affairs in Chapel Hill, and the activities of various black women during Reconstruction. Throughout the collection are observations about black and women's activities vis-a-vis politics, suffrage, the KKK, and the Republican Party.

Miss Hilton Diary, 1867 June 14 - 1868 Feb. 21
Uxbridge, England. Manuscript diary of an unidentified young English woman of Uxbridge. Entries chiefly relate to social and family life.

Mary J. Horton Albums, 1880-1882
Card album and scrapbook containing greeting cards and stickers, including cards for Christmas, the New Year, Easter, and Valentine's Day.

Josephine Napoleon Leary Papers, 1873-1987
Edenton, NC. Correspondence, legal and financial papers, maps and architectural drawings, photographs, newspapers, and miscellaneous papers of Josephine Napoleon Leary (1856?-1923), an African American resident of Edenton, NC; her daughter Clara Ryan; and other family members.

Julia Lord Loveland Papers, 1855-1965
Wilkes-Barre, PA. Included is a diary kept by Loveland describing two trips through the South with her cousin. The Richmond trip is well documented and includes many references to the religious practices and general condition of blacks in Richmond. Other entries make reference to short trips to the resort of Magnolia, Florida, Saint Augustine, Palatka, and Hibernia. There are also personal letters, clippings, obituaries, and poems.

Sarah Manning Papers, 1863-1920 and n.d.; (bulk 1863)
Boston, MA. Chiefly love letters from Manning to Capt. John Partridge, her fiance, while he was stationed at St. Augustine, FL, with the Union Army.

Baroness Lucy Maria Butler Massy Papers, 1828-1860
Dublin, Ireland. Letters, mainly in French, to Massy from her cousin Anne Butler, describing the social and cultural life of Dublin. The collection also contains an incomplete, anonymous manuscript discussing the role of the mother in the family.

Inez Alexandria Stephens MacKinnon Papers, 1821-1953
Marianna, FL. Correspondence with her sister, husband, other family members and friends, (ca. 1920s-1950s); letters and papers of her parents (late 19th and early 20th centuries); and papers of her father's family, the Stephens family (ca. 1820s-1880s). Also includes diaries, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Munford-Ellis Family Papers, 1777-1942
Richmond and Lynchburg, VA. Letters of the women in an extended Virginia family contain information of the details of household economy and general social conditions. A scrapbook, 1861-1871, of Lizzie Ellis Munford contains Confederate verse and momentoes. Letters of Margaret Nimmo Ellis span from 1840-1877 and contain accounts of war activities and social changes resulting from the Civil War.

Susan Butterworth Murdoch Papers, 1894-1912 and undated
Mainesville, OH. Diary of a Quaker homemaker discusses daily routines, family concerns, elections and women voting, and medical home remedies.

Eliza Wright Murphy Papers, 1847-1927; (bulk 1880-1927)
Atkinson Co., NC. Correspondence, school essays, poetry, receipts, printed materials, reports, and photographs comprise the personal papers of Eliza Murphy and her brothers, and document Eliza and friends personal life, education, work with literary societies and the Presbyterian Church.

Maria W. Murray Letters, 1842-1845
New York, NY. Chiefly letters by Maria Murray to her husband, Robert Murray, who was captain of the Avalanche. The letters focus on her life as a lonely wife waiting for her husband to return from the sea. All but one of the letters is posted from New York City.

William S. Nicholson Papers, 1852-1853
Brewerville, Sumter Co., AL. Letters from Nicholson's sister, Louisa Nicholson Gibbs, a teacher in Talladega Co., AL, reflecting marital discord involving financial matters and the ownership of land and slaves, and alleged alcoholism and abuse of a wife by her husband.

North India Diary, 1861 May 1-1865 Mar. 29
Diary kept by the wife of an officer serving with the British Army in North India and what is now Pakistan, detailing the day-to-day life in both garrison and in traveling. Illustrated with sketches.

Lady Charlotte Francoise Augusta Gisberte Oakeley Autograph album, 1830-1841
France. Noblewoman. Album contains mostly French and English poetry, prose, and a song, contributed by various persons in France, Belgium, and England. Includes poem addressed to Lady Oakley by Lord Byron, as well as autographs and personal messages.

Margaret Paton Diaries, 1849-1872
Montrose, Scotland. Sixteen diaries beginning seven months after her marriage and continuing with little interruption for 23 years. She chiefly records her thoughts and moods, how she spends her days, and various events such as the marriages and deaths of persons she knows.

Person Family Papers, 1754-1971 and undated; (bulk 1829-1897)
Louisburg, NC. This collection includes letters from Harriet Person Perry who was in Texas during the Civil War; letters from various family members while attending Raleigh Female Classical Institute in 1835 and the Warrenton Female Academy in 1860; and an 1869 diary of Harriet Perry.

Lady Emily Georgiana Elise Benyon Pigot Diary, 1849 Feb. 25-1870 June 19
England. Begun shortly before her marriage in 1850, the diary is a mixture of passionate narrative, meditation, plans, and longings. Entries during the mid to late 1850s reflect her obsession with a lover and at the same time her feelings of guilt. Her lover was killed in India in 1858 and later entries chronicle a wearisome existence with a husband she did not love.

Josephine Pollard Papers, 1862-1897
Poet and author of children's books. Letters and poetry to Pollard's brother, a soldier.

Huge N. Ponton Papers, 1859-1864
Nelson Co., VA. Correspondence of Ponton and his wife Frances Thompson Ponton during the Civil War show the difficulties of a young wife left to manage a farm and family.

Louisa Bouknight Poppenheim and Mary Barnett Poppenheim Correspondence, 1871-1955
Charleston, SC. Correspondence relating to their education and their leadership in women's social organizations. Includes information on the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, social life in Charleston. Volumes are primarily penmanship and spelling exercise books of the four Poppenheim daughters during their early education in Charleston.

Abner Pyles Papers, 1842
Newberry Co., SC. Autobiography of Pyles describing his education and other events in his life; but focussing largely on his four marriages. Includes a photocopy of the testimony of Dr. J. H. Davis during the lawsuit between Pyles and his fourth wife.

Sarah Jane Clopton Pulliam Account Book, 1859-1861    
Possibly a resident of Richmond, VA. Housekeeping accounts.

Richer Family Diary, 1871
Shelby Co., IL. Manuscript pocket diary of Christian and Martha Richer. Entries alternate between husband and wife.

William Y. Ripley Papers, 1843-1933
Centre Rutland, VT. Correspondence and other papers of Ripley (b. 1797) and his family, including his daughters, Mary Ripley Fisher and Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr. Letters of a his wife to her sons stationed in the Vermont Infantry concern personal matters and document Mrs. Ramsey's efforts to raise supplies for the U.S. Sanitary Commission. Also includes letters home from Ripley's daughter while she was in London, 1864-1873.

John Rutherfoord Papers, 1754-1931; (bulk 1781-1855)
Richmond, VA. Family, business, personal and political correspondence of Rutherfoord, who was governor of Virginia, and his family. Includes domestic letters of the women in the family including Jane Rutherfoord Meade, Sarah Coles Stevenson, and especially Anne Seddon Roy Rutherfoord (courtship letters and letters among family and friends discussing treatment of and loyalty to slaves and hardships during the war).

Ann Louisa Salmond Papers, 1870-1912
Camden, SC. Diary, cards, poems, photograph, and the constitution, membership list, and minutes of the Ladies Sewing Society of the Presbyterian Church in Camden, 1870-1872. Volume is an address delivered by a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Mary French Scott Papers, 1857-1904 and updated; (bulk 1860-1865)
Granville Co. and Onslow Co., NC. Chiefly correspondence, 1860-1865, of family and friends of Scott and her husband. Letters relate to life and events during the Civil War and includes some legal and financial papers, passes, clippings, and miscellaneous items.

Sheet Music Collection ca. 1820-1940
United States. Sheet music of various musical styles the majority of which have cover illustrations. Many of the illustrations reflect a full range of stereotypical popular culture and include images of women from mothers and mammies to "jezebels" and "vamps."

Washington M. Smith Papers, 1831-1916
Selma, AL. Personal, legal, and financial papers of Washington M. Smith (d. 1869), lawyer, banking specialist, slave owner, and planter. Included are personal correspondence between Smith and his wife, Susan Parker Smith, relating to the family life and running the plantation. After Smith's death in 1869, the papers chiefly relate Susan Smith's efforts to educate their seven children at various schools and academies; to a family quarrel between Smith and her children over disposal of the property in Minnesota; and to the children's efforts at various occupations.

Sir James Carmichael Smyth Papers, 1785-1952
Nutwood, Surrey, England. Papers of a British army officer and governor of the Bahamas (1825-1833) include the diary of Lady Carmichael-Smyth which records her activities and life in the Bahamas. Collection also includes latter diaries (through the 1860s) and a memoir (55 pp.) which focuses on the Lady's life through 1810.

Mrs. Charles Spalding Recipe Book, 1871
Sapelo Island, GA. Contains recipes of traditional Georgian coastal cuisine along with medical home remedies.

Stereographic Card Collection, 1860-1928
Stereoscope and view cards produced by various companies depicting a wide range of geographic, subject, and comic series, includes images of Victorian domestic life.

Viscountess Emily Anne Beaufort Smyth Strangford Journal and Letter, 1859-1860
England. Journal (1859-1860) covers trip made to Lebanon, starting in Smyrna, with much of the travel made on horseback. Contains descriptions of social life and customs of the Lebanese people. Journal (1860) describes her trip to Greece and Turkey. Illustrated with a few drawings as a well as several items laid in including a photograph of herself.

William Eliza Rhodes Terrell Papers, 1838-1866, and n.d.
Letters to Eliza Rhodes from her friend, Mary Telfair of Savannah, GA, which contain much gossip about mutual friends, including the scandalous conduct and lesbian tendencies of one of Telfair's relatives.

Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Papers, 1848-1906 and undated
Augusta, GA. Restricted. Detailed descriptions of Thomas' readings; studies at the Macon Female College; class reunions; her conversion to Methodism; clothing and dress of friends; gossip and social life; concerts, lectures, and entertainment; courtship and marriage; plantation life; relations between white men and Negro women; Civil War military activity; the state of the Southern society after the war; labor and servant problems; financial losses and poverty.

Kate Thomson Autograph Album, 1876-1880
"Bonnywood," Hampton Co., SC. Autographs of friends and relatives, with verses conveying sentiments of affection; and small pictures of flowers and birds pasted in.

Tillinghast Family Papers, 1763-1971
Fayetteville, NC. Large collection of family papers include the 1861 journal of Emily Tillinghast, which describes homelife during the early months of the Confederacy. A long letter (56 p.) of Sarah Ann Tillinghast describes making clothes for the local infantry. An account by Robina Tillinghast gives her reaction to Sherman's march through Fayetteville. Papers prior to 1850 document the lives of Jane Norwood and Robina Norwood, both wives of Samuel Tillinghast. Papers after 1900 are primarily those of Anne Wetmore Tillinghast and her daughter and pertain to public schools and education in N.C. and nursing with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during WWI.

Manchester Ward Weld Papers, 1847-[187-]
New York, NY. Volume contains a compendium of lawsuits and cases aired before agents of the Freedmen's Bureau, 1865-1868. Disputes include wages and several involve the efforts of black men to recover their wives from white owners who refused to set them free. Also listed is the amount of rations given both to poor whites and ex-slaves.

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.

Annie H. Wetherell Diary, 1887-1919; (bulk 1887-1893)
MA. Accounts of pleasure trips taken throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states including Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and Canada. Extensive descriptions of Civil War sites, Luray Caverns, and Indian school in Carlisle PA, and the funeral of General Samuel Armstrong, founder of the Hampton Institute.

Maria Dyer Davies Wightman Diary, 1850-1856
Macon, MS. Detailed chronicle of Davies' life from ages 17 to 22 on her brother-in-law's plantation describing personal feelings; family, social, and Methodist life in Macon; trips to Mobile, Alabama; attitudes towards marriage; plantation life; reading habits; Centenary Institute in Summerfield; Macon Female Institute. Formerly known as the Maria Dyer Davies Diary.

Margaret Bradley Willard Papers, 1856-1907; (bulk 1860-1870)
Madison, New Haven County, CT. Letters to Margaret from her family and friends - mostly rural farmers - reveal family relationships, especially the devotion of the Bradley children to their mother. After Margaret's husband's death, she is encouraged to go into the business of selling patent medicine. Legal papers such as wills, deeds and insurance policies, document Margaret's financial survival.

Eliza Wilson Diary, 1854-1860
Liverpool, England. Diary of Wilson while a companion to General and Mrs. Cragie and their two daughters during their travels to Egypt and India reflects British social life, local schools and politics, and customs and manners of the Indian people.

Jemima Lea Wilson Diary, 1812 Dec. 31-1865 Mar. 4
England. Written in Beckenham, Kent, England, entries are closely written, melancholy, and introspective in tone, describing death and illness of family members and reflect religious convictions.

Elvira Withrow Letters, 1864
Banks Co., GA. Letters concerning the evacuation of women from Cass Station, Ga., to Atlanta, to Athens, and finally Banks Co. during the Civil War.

Mrs. Thomas Woodforde Diary, 1839, Jan. 1 - June 28
Plymouth, England. Records social and family life of Mrs. Woodforde and her daughters at Plymouth, England, within upper class society including visiting, concerts, theater, games, etc.

Rebecca Woodring Diary, 1872-1873
Flint Rock, NC. Diary of a young girl containing information on social life and customs, religious life, and the weather.

William B. Yonce Correspondence, 1827-1893; (bulk 1848-1870)
Wytheville, VA. Personal and family correspondence of Yonce include Civil War letters, many of which were written by his sisters, showing the reaction of Southern white women to the war.

Julia Nash Young Journal, 1830-1832
LA. Chronicle of a young wife's religious and social life.