Charles E. Flowers Sr. Papers

1913-1953
The Country Doctor Museum Manuscript Collection, CD 01.20
Creator(s)
Flowers, Charles E., 1889-1962
Physical description
0.881 Cubic Feet
Preferred Citation
Charles E. Flowers Sr. Papers (CD 01.13), The Country Doctor Museum, at The William E. Laupus Health Sciences Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
Laupus Library History Collections
Access
No restrictions

Papers (1913 – 1953, and undated) of physician Charles E. Flowers, Sr. (1889-1962). The papers consist mainly of World War I correspondence to and from Charles E. Flowers (1917-1919). Some were written while he was in the 29th Division, 7th Army Corps, and American Expeditionary Forces. The papers also contain photographs and Flowers' medical school yearbook (1913-1917, 1940-1953).


Biographical/historical information

Charles E. Flowers, Sr. (1889 – 1962) attended the University of North Carolina from 1906-1911, first on a general course and then studying medicine. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia with an M.D. degree in 1913. He started his professional career at St. Vincent's Hospital in Norfolk Virginia, as a student assistant before starting his own independent practice. Flowers worked with another doctor to establish the Virginia-Carolina Sanatorium in 1916 to treat mild mental and drug cases. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant of the Medical Corps of the Virginia National Guard in May 3, 1917 and assigned to the 115th Ambulance Company of the 104th Sanitary Train, 29th Division in September 1917. He became a member of the American Expeditionary Forces in 1918. He was promoted to captain in 1919 and discharged at Camp Lee in Petersburg, Virginia on June 23, 1919. That same year he opened a medical office in Zebulon, NC; he was in general practice but specialized in obstetrics and gynecology. He worked in this office until 1953 when he became the medical Director of North Carolina State Prison. He worked at the North Carolina State Prison until he died in 1962. He married Carmen Ersell Poole on July 12, 1916, and had a son, Charles Ely Jr., born in 1920. After Carmen's death in 1952, Flowers remarried to Martha Fay Watkins in 1956.


Scope and arrangement

Papers (1915 – 1919 and undated) of physician Charles E. Flowers, Sr. (1889-1962). The papers consist mainly of World War I correspondence to and from Charles E. Flowers (1917-1919), some with envelopes. It also contains one receipt and one list. Most of the correspondence is from Dr. Flowers to his wife, Carmen Poole Flowers, most of it begins "Somewhere in France". Some were written while he was in the 29th Division, 7th Army Corps, American Expeditionary Forces. The collection also contains many photographs from various times in Flowers' life, including his work at the Virginia-Carolina Sanatorium in Norfolk in 1916, his Zebulon office, and the North Carolina State Prison. Flowers' medical school yearbook from Medical College of Virginia in 1913 is included as well.


Administrative information
Custodial History

Donated between 1967 and 2001; Papers of physician Charles E. Flowers, Sr., consisting of correspondence (1917 – 1919), 1 receipt, and 1 list. Donor unknown. Donor information unknown. 2021, June 18: Letters, photographs, and yearbook. Gift of Charles E. Flowers.

Source of acquisition

Donor information unknown.

Gift of Charles E. Flowers.

Processing information

Initial inventory prepared by Christina Lugo, 2011. Processed by Melissa Nasea, 2015 Updated by Abby Brown, 2021.

Copyright notice

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


Language of material

English

Key terms
Topical
World War, 1914-1918

Container list
Box 1 Folder 1 Receipt, 1915
CD01.20.00.02.01 World War I Letter, 1917 March 25
CD01.20.00.03.01 World War I Letter, 1918 July 14
CD01.20.00.04.01 World War I Letter, 1918 August 5
CD01.20.00.04.02 World War I Letter, 1918 August 28
CD01.20.00.05.01 World War I Letter, 1918 September 1
CD01.20.00.05.02 World War I Letter, 1918 September 9
CD01.20.00.05.03 World War I Letter, 1918 September 11
CD01.20.00.05.04 World War I Letter, 1918 September 12
CD01.20.00.05.05 World War I Letter, 1918 September 13
CD01.20.00.05.06 World War I Letter, 1918 September 15
CD01.20.00.06.01 World War I Letter, 1918 October 27
CD01.20.00.06.02 World War I Letter, 1918 October 28
CD01.20.00.06.03 World War I Letter, 1918 October 31
CD01.20.00.07.01 World War I Letter, 1918 November 2
CD01.20.00.07.02 World War I Letter, 1918 November 6
CD01.20.00.07.03 World War I Letter, 1918 November 14
CD01.20.00.08.01 World War I Letter, 1918 December 7
CD01.20.00.08.02 World War I Letter, 1918 December 10
Box 1 Folder 10 Correspondence, January 1919
CD01.20.00.11.01 World War I Letter, 1919 February 28
CD01.20.00.12.01 World War I Letter, 1919 March 16
CD01.20.00.12.02 World War I Letter, 1919 April 8
CD01.20.00.13.01 29th Division World War I Engagements, 1919 April 8
Box 2 Folder 4 Photos from Scrapbook Pt. 1, 1916-1917
Box 2 Folder 5 Photos from Scrapbook Pt. 2, 1916-1917
Box 2 Folder 6 Miscellaneous Photos, Circa 1940-1953
Box 2 Folder 7 Annual Yearbook from Med College of Virginia, 1913
Oversize Folder 1 Oversize Photos, 1913, Undated