Search Collection Guides

This collection contains materials (1940s-2013) related to the interests and activities of Holley Mack Bell II and Clara Bond Bell of Windsor and Eden House in Bertie County, N.C. Mr. Bell served in World War II, worked on several newspapers including the Charlotte News, Bertie Ledger-Advance, and the Greensboro Daily News; and was employed by the U.S. Information Agency as a press attaché at several American embassies in South America. Mrs. Bell worked as a social worker, in Public Welfare, and also with social service organizations while they lived in various South American countries. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bell were active in historic preservation, especially with the Historic Hope Foundation, Friends of Hope Committee, Preservation North Carolina, the Museum of the Albemarle, and the Historic Albemarle Tour (HAT), and were active in the Episcopal Church. Included are Bertie Ledger-Advance newspapers, correspondence, publications, photographs, clippings, pamphlets, notes, and brochures.

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.

Record (1902-1967) consisting of correspondence, tobacco records, financial and business papers, ledger, etc.

Collection (1901-1926) of correspondence received by Maud Smith (née Tyson) and her husband Walter Edward "Edd" Smith, from family and friends. Collection includes letters to Maud Tyson, while she attended Littleton Female College, letters from Carl Tyson, during World War I, from the Headquarters of the 81st Division, at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, between May and November, 1918, and several other letters, as well as a list of transcripts and typed transcripts of all letters in the collection.

Papers (1890-1974) consisting of correspondence, reports, pamphlets, speeches, conference records, minutes, publications, newspapers, agenda, photographs, and tapes related to the career of John A. Lang, Jr. He served as president of the National Student Federation of America (1933-1935), Assistant Director of Education Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (1935-1938), director of the N.C. National Youth Administration (1938-1942), and administrative assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force (1964-1971) among other positions.

This collection includes materials related to George Sutton (b. November 1757 – d. 1827) of Durant's Neck, North Carolina, and his family. Included is a King James Version Family Bible printed in 1752, with written genealogical records of the Sutton family.

Included are a Brake Family History; a survey (1984) and history of the Brake Family Cemetery located near the corner of Cokey Road and Calhoun Road in Rocky Mount, North Carolina; a deed and a marriage license; genealogy information; Brake, Burges and Fly family photographs; documents (1957-1980) related to the West Edgecombe Volunteer Fire Department which included volunteer firefighter Robert Earl Brake; tobacco sale bills (1926-1933, undated) from several warehouses in Rocky Mount; and a 1931-1932 Faculty and Student Directory for N.C. State.

Collection contains World War II maps previously belonging to CPL Kirby Singleton of the 71st Armored Field Artillery Battalion. Included are maps of the movements of the 71st Armored F.A.B. and Battery "B" of the 387th AA (AW) Battalion for July 28, 1944, through May 9, 1945; map showing the advance of the 5th Armored "Victory Division" from the Rhine River to the Elbe River March 31 through April 23, 1945; and a portion of the 5th Armored Division map (undated) showing movements in France, Luxembourg, and Germany.

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 (ca. 1899-2011, undated) documenting the history of Pepsi-Cola in New Bern, N.C.; the involvement of the Minges family in the soft drink business, 1923-1992, in Greenville, Tarboro, and Rocky Mount, N.C.; and the Minges Bottling Group, Inc., of Ayden, N.C. Materials include clippings, correspondence, contracts and financial records, advertising materials, photographic prints and compact discs, printing plates, printed materials, trademark registration certificates, video recordings, ephemera,etc. Digital files document the history of the Minges family of Catawba and Pitt Counties, North Carolina, and the history of the Minges Bottling Group.

Records (1903-1954, undated) of the Leggett (NC) general store.

Collection (1863-1865) related to the American Civil War and Andrew Giddings of Company E, 3rd North Carolina infantry. Includes Oath of Allegiance to the United States signed by Andrew Giddings on November 6, 1865 [Following the American Civil War, Confederate officials, veterans and prisoners of war were obliged to sign an "oath of allegiance" to regain their civil rights under the U. S. Constitution.]. The collection also includes a note concerning the capture of Washington Rose, a member of Company C, 6th Louisiana Regiment at the Battle of the Wilderness. Most significantly, the collection contains Andrew Giddings' leather-bound diary and ledger of income and expenses, which includes eyewitness accounts of the engagements in which he participated, including Gettysburg, Cold Harbor, Sharpsburg, Malvern Hill, 2nd Winchester, Chancellorsville, and Wilderness. It also includes descriptions of his capture and imprisonment in a Union prisoner of war camp. The collection also includes an envelope that held the diary with "Granddad Giddings Diary" written on it.

Destroyer Leaders 1999-2001, a history of the frigate USS WILLIS A. LEE (DL-4) compiled for the reunion at San Diego, California (4-7 November 1999), by Harold R. Andrus, Jr. ("pAr") Typescript, 6 p.; Cleveland (OH) Harborfest (11-15 July 2001) "The Tall Ships Challenge" media kit, including correspondence, brochures, news releases, original art, photographs, and printed materials. 24 p.; Miscellaneous material including Cleveland (OH) American Accordionists Association Accordion Festival (11-15 July 2001) printed materials and notes in English and Ukrainian.

This collection contains a logbook (1891-1929) kept by William Hadlock Gooding (b. June 1, 1856, d. September 7, 1936), the purser for the barkentine Olive Thurlow. During this time, Olive Thurlow, which operated out of Philadelphia, travelled to New York, Boston, Savannah, Washington, Port Royal, Barbadoes, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo. Other entries in the logbook refer to the settling of accounts in Boston by Gooding for his time with the bark Grace Deering (1901-1902); and accounts (1906-1909, 1925-1929) related to his life in Yarmouth, Cumberland County, Maine.