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Papers (1772, 1816-1927) including correspondence, legal papers, deeds and estate papers, financial papers, speeches, stories and poems, clippings, photographs, ledgers, medical bills, services rendered, charges and payments, etc.

Collection (1821-2000, undated [bulk: 1989-2000]) of correspondence, family histories, genealogical charts, copies of deeds, cemetery records, Bible records, miscellany and oversized materials relating to Christopher DeGraffenried, also known as Baron Christoph von Graffenried, who established a colony of Swiss and Palatine emigrants at New Bern, North Carolina, in 1710; and also relating to his ancestors and descendants and the DeGraffenried Association, of Gulfport, Mississippi and San Antonio, Texas, which was established to preserve the family history and to maintain contact between family members; in English, German, Italian, and French language.

This candid and detailed World War I diary (April 25, 1918-March 12, 1919) was kept by Carl Whittlesey of Barton County, MO, during his service with the 313 Engineers 88th Division. He kept detailed entries regarding his training at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa, his participation in the Alsace Campaign in France, and his involvement in developing the war ravaged areas in Europe.

Oral history interview with prominent African American businessman and political leader of Greenville, North Carolina, named Denison D. "D.D." Garrett, Sr. He discusses his background, education, business pursuits, and political involvement including race relations in Greenville and Pitt County, especially during the Civil Rights era.

Papers (2/23/1862 - 12/26/1868) consisting of a pocket notebook belonging to James H. Mills, Sergeant of Company I, 44th Regiment North Carolina Troops, the "Eastern Tigers," a unit recruited in Pitt County, including orders, inventories, muster and supplies lists related to the Civil War and a few post-war account records.

This collection contains the records (1873-2010) of the fraternal secret society Knights of Pythias Grand Lodge, Domain of North Carolina. Records include biennial and annual reports of local lodges, the Records of Proceedings for the annual sessions of the Grand Lodge, financial records, minute book, constitutions and bylaws, publications and items such as the 1909 Pythian Service Book.

This collection contains 8" x 10" photographs taken by Edwin A. Martin when he was a professor in the Philosophy Department at North Carolina State University and Curator of Photography at the North Carolina State University Visual Arts Center in the 1990s. The tobacco images cover a season of tobacco farming in the Wendell, North Carolina, area from planting through auction. The images of Harkers Island, North Carolina, document the daily life of the local fishing population. A 1998 publication Hope for a Good Season containing some of these Harkers Island photographs is also included.

Papers (1908 – 1986, undated [bulk: 1964 – 1986]) of John Porter East, including biographical, genealogical, and historical materials relating to his life (b. 5 May 1931 – 29 June 1986) ; his marriage to Priscilla Sherk East and their children; his service as an officer in the U. S. Marine Corps; his battle against poliomyelitis and the paralysis it caused; his graduate studies in political science and as a professor of Political Science at East Carolina University, 1964 – 1980, including his teaching files for each of his classes, his academic and professional publications, speeches, interviews; and also his conservative Republican political beliefs and affiliations and political career, including his several unsuccessful attempts to win political office in North Carolina, 1966 – 1976, culminating in his successful campaign for and election to the United States Senate in 1980; but the bulk of the collection focuses on his service in the Senate, where he was aligned with Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) and a member of Helms' political organization, the Congressional Club; including his mailing lists, correspondence and constituent cases and projects files; his office and staff files, including files of this administrative assistants, press secretaries and legislative assistants; his political patronage and nomination files, committee and legislative activities; his voting records, newsletters, voluminous clipping files, press and public relations files, including publications, audio and video of interviews, speeches, and political events; his frequent bouts of ill health due to poliomyelitis, hyperthyroidism, urinary tract blockages, and depression, and their side effects which may have contributed to his death by suicide; also including photographic prints and negatives, microfilm of committee records, correspondence, case and general files, voter registration files; and also oversized materials, 1981 – 1986, undated.

This collection contains nine cased daguerreotypes and ambrotypes (and one ambrotype missing the case) of images that come from the White family of White's Mill and then later nearby Spartanburg, South Carolina. Images are probably from the 1850s and 1860s and include individual images of young boys, young girls, a woman, two images of the same woman, and an enslaved or formerly enslaved African American woman holding a white baby. The images were found among the effects of John Hamlin "Hamp" White (deceased November 23, 1949), son of Alexander Lawrence White (1860-1942). Hamp White was married to Mary Erwin, the aunt of the donor.

The collection includes papers and publications produced or related to the administration of John Decatur Messick. Materials include biographical records, correspondence, articles, newspaper clippings, administrative records, and other miscellaneous items.

This collection spans W. Keats Sparrow's career at ECU, being comprised of materials from projects to which he contributed, in his roles as English professor, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs, and president of Phi Kappa Phi.

Papers (1895-1956) of the Tapp-Jenkins Tobacco Warehouse, consisting of correspondence, bills, receipts, tobacco invoices, tobacco shipping papers, tobacco warehouse records, ledgers, pamphlets, publications, newspaper articles, political files and miscellaneous.

A collection of Lt. Richard Norman Tetlie's military service records (1943-1946) and the official records of the USS New York's lengthy service in the U.S. Navy (1914-1948). As an officer during World War II, Lt. Tetlie trained recruits at the Ship-to-Shore Division of the Fort Emory Detachment, Landing Craft School, Coronado, CA, in the fundamentals of the amphibious ship-to-shore maneuver. He then served as the USS New York's public relations officer and official historian (1946). As a result this collection contains documents, photographs, newsletters, and newspaper clippings from the USS New York during her service.

Papers (1830 – 2010, undated) [Bulk: 1940-1970] documenting the life of Robert Lee Humber, Jr., who was born 30 May 1898 – and died 10 November 1970, in Greenville, North Carolina; after attending local schools he earned a BA from Wake Forest College, 1921; he then attended Oxford University in the United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar, 1921-1923; he then earned a MA from Harvard University in 1936; he moved to Paris, France, in 1926, where he married and served as an American Field Service fellow, 1926-1928, and subsequently earned a fortune as an international lawyer, art dealer, and businessman, 1930-1940, until the Fall of France, in 1940, when he, his wife, and their two sons, John and Marcel, fled the German invasion - his infant daughter Eileen died during their escape - and he returned to North Carolina, where he purchased a farm on Davis Island, established a legal career, and devoted himself to public service and to a wide range of philanthropic causes, as an educator, civic, cultural, political and religious leader; beginning in 1940, he became well-known nationally and internationally for establishing and leading the World Federation movement as a way to promote lasting world peace through international law; statewide for persuading the General Assembly and the Kress Foundation of New York to fund and establish the North Carolina Museum which opened in 1956; also as an art collector and patron of local and regional volunteer organizations; as a Democratic state senator from Pitt County, 1958-1964; as an educator who led the effort to create Pitt Technical Institute (later Pitt Community College); as a leader in the Southern Baptist denomination becoming a member of the Board of Trustees of Wake Forest College and other Baptist institutions; and as an attorney and business leader and developer; additionally, the collection includes historical files documenting the history of the World Federation in the United States, compiled by his son, John Leslie Humber.