Collection (1852-1945) including correspondence, legal papers, copies of speeches, a diary, a map, etc., relating to the political careers of Charles W. McClammy and his son Herbert McClammy, who served as US congressman (D-NC).
The McClammy family was residing in the South prior to the American Revolution (see biographical sketch of Charles W. McClammy in collection). The papers relate primarily to the career of C. W. McClammy (1839-1896) and his son, attorney Herbert McClammy, both of whom were prominent in political affairs in Pender and New Hanover counties, N.C. Charles W. McClammy served in both houses of the state legislature as Democratic elector in 1884 for the Third Congressional District and as Congressman from that district (1887-1891). Herbert McClammy, father of the donor, Celeste McClammy Logan, was a prominent attorney in Wilmington, N.C.
Correspondence in the collection relates largely to political activities. A letter (1886) to Charles W. McClammy congratulates him on his candidacy as Congressman from the Third Congressional district and comments on both North Carolina and Tennessee politics. An 1894 letter from U. S. Senator Matt W. Ransom urges McClammy to come once more to the aid of his party by running for the state legislature. Correspondence relating to the political career of Herbert McClammy includes unsigned drafts of letters to newspapers supporting the Wilson administration and reform in the New Hanover County courts, and criticizing World War I rent controls.
Other letters contain a biographical sketch of Charles W. McClammy (1898); a promotional map of the Wilmington, N. C., area (1927), showing the remains of blockade runners, forts, and other historical points; and condolences from U. S. Senator Clyde R. Hoey to Mrs. Herbert McClammy upon her husband's death in 1945. Also included is a letter (1862) from Luke L. McClammy to the president of Randolph-Macon College concerning a scholarship. A certificate attesting to this scholarship is included in the legal papers.
Legal papers include Charles W. McClammy's credentials as Democratic elector in the election of 1884, Herbert McClammy's law license from the State of North Carolina, a copy dated 1859 of a 1736 grant from George II to Henry Bishop, an 1857 copy of an 1835 deed transferring three enslaved persons and a horse from their previous enslaver to their new enslaver, and a deed (1866) to Charles W. McClammy from his father, Luke S. McClammy.
Speeches in the collection are by Herbert McClammy and include eulogies, a pro-prohibition speech introducing former Indiana governor J. Frank Hanly (undated), a Confederate Memorial Day address (1888), a plea to a jury and a white supremacy campaign speech contesting the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
A volume in the collection contains a diary (1876) by Mary Louise McClammy and another (1881) by Margaret Fennell McClammy, sister and mother, respectively, to Herbert McClammy. The volume also has a farm account ledger (1881-1882). Comments in Mrs. McClammy's diary include those on the death of President Garfield, the sighting of a comet and a characteristic account of rural life in coastal North Carolina for the late nineteenth century.
Other miscellaneous material includes a poem by Herbert McClammy; a card to a reception for the President in Wilmington, N.C., in 1909; a complimentary ticket to the N.C. State Fair in 1877; and a pair of campaign badges for Grover Cleveland and Thomas A. Hendricks. One newspaper is in the collection, the Wilmington (N.C.) Weekly Star, Nov. 3, 1876.
Gift of Mrs. Celeste M. Logan
Processed by T. Sloan, September 1968
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.