Taft Family Papers

1860s-1890s
Manuscript Collection #784
Portions of this collection are digitized (12 items)
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Creator(s)
Taft family
Physical description
0.25 Cubic Feet, 24 items , photographs, daguerreotypes, tintype, family histories, autograph album and printed materials
Preferred Citation
Taft Family Papers (#784), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions

Papers of Greenville, NC family (ca. 1860s - 1890s) including civil war era photographs, daguerreotypes, a tintype, family histories, an autograph album, a marriage certificate, a school song, and a clipping. (0.25 cf)

Biographical/historical information

The Taft family is well-established in Pitt County, North Carolina, the first Taft having arrived in Greenville from Uxbridge, Massachusetts before 1811. They were merchants and landowners. For more details on the Taft Family history, see the included written histories.

Scope and arrangement

The collection consists mainly of photographs of the Taft and Hoover families, of Pitt County, North Carolina. They date from the Civil War-era through the 1890s. The bulk of the photographs are of family members, taken 1865-1900. One photograph is of J.T.B. Hoover in his Confederate uniform. Others subjects include Adelaide Taft, Alice Hoover Taft, and other family members. There are also a few papers from the Taft family in the collection, mainly personal items such as an autograph book, a marriage certificate, and other family-related papers. Included are two family histories, one written by Adelaide Taft Sigmon and the other a record of a Taft family meeting held in Uxbridge, Massachusetts in 1874. See container list for more details.

Administrative information
Custodial History

August 10, 1999, 24 items; Papers of Greenville, NC family, including photographs, daguerreotypes, a tintype, family histories, an autograph album, a marriage certificate, a school song, and a clipping. Donor: Mrs. Frances Taft Palmer.

Source of acquisition

Gift of Mrs. Frances Taft Palmer

Processing information

Encoded by Apex Data Services

Processed by Jessica Carter April 2004

Copyright notice

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

Metadata Rights Declaration
Key terms
Family Names
Hoover family
Taft family
Places
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Veterans
Container list
Box 1a Folder g Photo of Adelaide Taft as a baby. Photo #784/7
Box 1a Folder h Photo of Winstead [male]. Photo #784/8
Box 1a Folder i Photo of Winstead [male]. Photo #784/9
Box 1a Folder j Photo of unidentified male; [photo on silver, case opens/shuts but hinges broken] on folder: "nothing written inside case. Still sealed." Photo #784/10
Box 1a Folder k Photo of unidentified female. Photo #784/11
Box 1a Folder l Photo of Alice Hoover Taft with friends. Photo #784/12
Box 1a Folder m Photo of Joe Taft, Florence Blount, Frances Taft-Palmer, Louise Taft; [modern photograph taken in last 20 years or so]. Photo #784/13
Box 1a Folder o Metal photograph frames
Box 1b Folder p Autograph book of Mary Alice Hoover; note inside: "Presented to Mary Alice Hoover by her aunt, Mrs. R.H. Hoover, 1880". Wedding invitation inside book for Mary Alice Hoover to A.H. Taft. [book falling apart at seams]
Box 1b Folder q Photo of Frances Taft as baby. Photo #784/15
Box 1b Folder t Photo of two seated women; photo badly bent and ripped. Photo #784/18
Box 1b Folder v Taft family history written by Adelaide Taft (undated); Proceedings of Taft Family Meeting, 1874