Isabel Sue Nelson Collection

1894-2008, undated
Manuscript Collection #1134
Creator(s)
Nelson, Isabel Sue
Physical description
0.007 Cubic Feet, 15 items
Preferred Citation
Isabel Sue Nelson Collection (#1134), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
Access to audiovisual and digital media is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.

Isabel Sue Nelson was born on January 30, 1914 in Littleton, North Carolina. She worked in Washington, North Carolina and the Office of Warren County, North Carolina Clerk of the Court. The Collection spans 1894-2008 and includes correspondences, photographs, and newspaper articles. The strength of the collection is documents relating to Littleton, North Carolina Female College Students.


Biographical/historical information

Isabel Sue Nelson was born on January 30, 1914 in Littleton, NC to parents Maynardeé and Sue Johnston Nelson. She was raised in the Ravenwood neighborhood and graduated from Littleton High School. After her father died in 1929, her mother opened their home for boarders, including many local teachers. She attended Peace College for two years and later graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in the mid-1930s. She worked in Washington, NC and the Office of Warren County, NC Clerk of the Court, and held other seasonal jobs. Throughout her life, Nelson maintained a close friendship with Frances Sessoms Rives, who lived with Nelson and her mother while they had business in Littleton. The bulk of the collection contains correspondences and cards between the Rives family and Nelson and photographs of Nelson's family. Today, Nelson resides in Suffolk, Virginia.


Scope and arrangement

The collection contains correspondences, photographs, and newspaper articles. The earliest dated correspondence is a 1929 letter from the former President of Littleton College James M. Rhodes sending his condolences to Isabel regarding Maynardeé Nelson's passing. There are Christmas cards and letters shared between the Rives family and Nelson. There is a 1960 newspaper article sharing photos of the Rives' family home in Wilmington. In addition, there is also an article related to Littleton Female College, as well as an article and an advertisement card of the Panacea Springs resort and hotel. Finally, the collection contains undated photographs of a woman named Mammy, Sue Johnston Nelson, Frances Sessoms Rives, and Isabel.


Administrative information
Custodial History

April 29, 2008, 15 items, 0.007 cubic feet; Isabel Sue Nelson Collection Collection (1894-2008, undated) including correspondence, notes, clippings, ephemera, and photographic prints relating to Littleton, North Carolina, the donor's friends and family, especially with Frances Sessoms Rives, Littleton College, and Panacea Springs Company, NC. See preliminary inventory attached. Note: Received through the courtesy of Ralph Hardee Rives, Enfield, NC. Donor: Miss Isabel Sue Nelson

Source of acquisition

Gift of Miss Isabel Sue Nelson

Processing information

Encoded by Jonathan Dembo, September 18, 2008

Processed by Aleck Tan, February 2020

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Personal Names
Nelson, Isabel Sue
Rives, Frances Sessoms--Correspondence
Corporate Names
Littleton Female College
Panacea Springs and Hotel Company (Oxford, N.C.)
Topical
Women's colleges--North Carolina--Littleton
Places
Littleton (N.C.)--History

Container list
Box 1 Folder a Item 1 Isabel Sue Nelson biography, courtesy of Ralph Hardee Rives, dated April 18, 2008, 2008
Box 1 Folder a Item 2 Christmas card to Ralph Hardee Rives from Nelson, dated December 22, 2007, 2007
Box 1 Folder a Item 3 Christmas card to Nelson from Ralph Hardee Rives, dated Christmas 2003, 2003
Box 1 Folder a Item 4 Notes to Nelson from Frances Sessoms and Ben Long Rives, one note undated and one note dated October 1965, undated, 1965
Box 1 Folder a Item 5 Letter to Nelson from J.M. Rhodes, dated July 27, 1929, 1929
Box 1 Folder a Item 6 Christmas card to Nelson from Frances Sessoms and Ben Long Rives, dated December 19, 1961, 1961
Box 1 Folder a Item 7 Photography of Mammy, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 8 Photograph of Littleton Female College, dated April 20, 1894, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 9 Photograph of Frances Sessoms, undated, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 10 Photograph of Frances Sessoms and Nelson outside of their Littleton, NC home, undated, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 11 Card advertising Panacea Springs Company and resort near Littleton, NC, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 12 Littleton Observer newspaper article, entitled "Trades of Marion E. Newsom Told of in 1909 Writing", undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 13 Littleton Observer newspaper article about Panacea Springs water and resort, dated December 1, 1974, 1974
Box 1 Folder a Item 14 Newspaper photograph of Virginia Cole Sessoms, Sue Johnston Nelson and Hele Perkinds Browning at Panacea Springs, undated, undated
Box 1 Folder a Item 15 Newspaper article with photographs of Frances Sessoms and Ben Long Rives' Wilmington, NC house, dated May 22, 1960, 1960