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Robert Ryves (later Rives) is traces back to 1465 France. His family eventually settled in North Carolina in the mid 1700's. Robert Ryves descendant John Gaston Rives Jr was born on June 24, 1854 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. This collection spans 1818-1957, 2007 and contains three pages removed from the Rives family Bible, containing birth, death, and marriage records dating between 1818 and 1957, genealogy of the Rives family back to 1465 France, and a photograph of John Gaston Rives Jr. The strength of this collection is the genealogical records.

Collection includes a photograph album kept by three men as they travelled from Ohio to Warren County, North Carolina, (November 16-30, 1917) as they accompanied a train car load of cattle. Included are images of trains, train bridges, the farm ("plantation") belonging to N. A. Connell at Norlina and Warren Plains, North Carolina, Connell family members, farm equipment, and the process of cotton production (being picked, cotton gin, spinning cotton).

Set of 132 photographic prints on stereoscopic cards, arranged in alphabetical order by skin disease. Explanatory text on verso of each card. "Copyright 1910 by Dr. S. I. Rainforth N.Y." at the foot of each card.

Papers (1914-1988, undated) of David Balcombe, an enlisted man in the 1st Battalion, 4th Queen's West Surrey Territorial Regiment (Reserve) in India during World War I, 1914-1917; he later served as an instrument mechanic in India and Egypt in the Royal Flying Corps, 1917-1918. Consists primarily of correspondence (1914-1919) from David Balcombe to his parents in South Norwood, Surrey, England, plus clippings, ephemera, and photographs of India. Also included are letters (1928-1935) from Walter George Courtice to his sister Ruby R. Courtice, during his residency in Durban, South Africa.

Diary (Sept. 1943-Dec. 1944) of Joseph John Valinsky, a sailor aboard the USS Monterey, kept during World War II duty in the Pacific, along with correspondence, certificates, and military service identification cards.

Papers of father and son physicians Zebulon M. Caveness and William F. Caveness. The papers consist mainly of books of medical school notes; medical correspondence, certificates, and documents; a patient ledger from Zebulon M. Caveness; and a Curriculum Vitae from William F. Caveness.

This collection consists of a single photo album that documents, housing, local life and customs, cremation ceremonies, animals, and Seventh Day Adventist Missions in various Southern Pacific Locations.

This collection (1913, 1926, undated) of notes, correspondence, and reports were found in a book titled A City Plan for Raleigh : Being a Report to the Civic Department of the Woman's Club of Raleigh, N. C. / by Charles Mulford Robinson published in 1913. Included are a report related to the civic beautification plan for Raleigh, North Carolina (ca. 1913); a letter (1926) from E. B. Jeffress, mayor of Greensboro, NC, describing recent civic improvements; and a 1926 Report of Conditions on Newbern Ave. and Hillsboro Street in Raleigh, by T. L. Mulford for the North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

This collection contains fifty-seven ca. 1920 photographs of Greenville, North Carolina, and of East Carolina Teachers Training School (now East Carolina University). Pictured are churches, businesses, tobacco warehouses, municipal buildings, schools, residences and Training School buildings. Many buildings in these images no longer exist. The photographer is unknown.

Personal Correspondence (December 30, 1861-September 16, 1862; April 1863) written by William Wilberforce Douglas to his family members during his service in the Fifth Rhode Island Volunteers and in General Ambrose Burnside's Expeditionary Corps in North Carolina. Letters, copied by his mother, Sarah Sawyer Douglas, from originals into a single bound journal, include references to his time at the battles of Roanoke Island, New Bern, and Fort Macon. Additionally, the journal includes newspaper clippings accounting his exploits in the war.

George Vernon Holloman was born in Rich Square, North Carolina on September 17, 1902. This collection deals with the last years of his career in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1945-1946. He was a colonel and very involved in developing advanced technologies related to automatic landing and flying systems in the Air Technical Service Command (ATSC) at Wright Field. While on duty with the 20th Air Force in Guam as deputy chief of staff, he died in a plane crash over Formosa. Included are clippings, photographs and a postcard.

Private journals/ships' logs (October 1860 - July 1878) of Benjamin Thompson, master of the brigs Progressive Age and T. A. Darrell, and the ships Sportsman, and Harrisburg (v. 1, 1860-1865), commander of the ship Columbia (v. 2, 1865-1870), master of the ship Peruvian (v. 3, 1870-1872), and captain of the clipper ship Great Admiral (v. 4, 1874-1878), illustrating his career aboard sailing ships trading between England, the east and west coasts of America, Southeast Asia (Singapore, Manila, and Hong Kong), and Tokyo, Japan, including highly detailed and dramatic accounts of shipboard life and commercial operations.

Printed materials (1960-1990) received by Drs. Joseph and Lala Steelman related to the National Democratic Party and related organizations concerning social, environmental, and political issues (1969-1990). The collection also includes family files on Steelman and Edmisten families, plus large collection of familial correspondence. Records pertaining to the Steelmans' time at East Carolina are located in University Archives.

The bulk of this donation is photographs relating to the Hertford County, North Carolina, Crawford and Riddick family ancestors of William Crawford Woods. He was the son of Louise Russell Crawford and Arthur R. Woods, Jr. and the grandson of Kate Wallace Riddick and Louis Russell Crawford. The Wallace side of the family is from Norfolk County, Virginia. Additionally, there are personal items, including correspondence, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, school notes, publications, and some legal records. The items included date back to the late 1800s up through the mid-1900s.

Papers (1930-1990) of U.S. Navy admiral, U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1933, including correspondence, diaries, photographs, reports, orders, speeches, programs, and miscellany.