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Collection (1883–1910) consisting of correspondence, eight Civil War pension application ledgers, 2 account books and church record book. The majority of the collection consists of claims for pensions by blacks who served in the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy during the Civil War. The claims request compensation for wounds and injuries received or diseases contracted by the applicants. Claims were submitted either by the veterans themselves or by their survivors. While the majority of claimants appear to have lived in the vicinity of New Bern and James City, North Carolina, many resided throughout the central portion of eastern North Carolina. The ledgers were once the property of Frederick Douglass, a black lawyer, minister, and teacher of New Bern who handled the claims.

The Mattamuskeet Lodge was originally built as a pumphouse to drain Lake Mattamuskeet in Hyde County, North Carolina, and was later converted to a hunting lodge. The collection spans 1915 to 2007 and includes photographs (1910s-1940s,undated) of the town of New Holland which was built in the drained lake bed, the New Holland Inn, and Lake Mattamuskeet. Scenes also include anglers at Lake Landing Canal, the Mattamuskeet Causeway, and carp barricades installed in the water control gates. A series of photographs from the 1990s show interior renovations being done on Mattamuskeet Lodge and gatherings by ECU student groups for retreats and public gatherings for special occasions. Two publications (2001, 2007) are from the period after the lodge was closed due to structural issues.

This collection contains a photocopy of a letter written by Thomas J. Jarvis of Greenville, North Carolina, on February 1, 1890, to Horace P. Gates in New York, New York, accepting Gates' invitation to meet with Civil War veterans of the Roanoke Island Campaign and describes his own service during the Civil War. Also included are many items related to Eastern North Carolina citizens relative to life during World War II such as ration books, application for appointment as an Aviation Cadet, farm allotments, and photographs of Basic Training Camp #10 in Greensboro. Unrelated items include photographs of Sycamore Hill Baptist Church in Greenville, North Carolina, on February 11, 1969, after it had burned presumably due to arson.

Issue No. LXXIX (1/13/1790) of the Gazette of the United States newspaper containing the announcement of the Adoption and Ratification of the Constitution of the United States by the State of North Carolina, signed in type by President George Washington, p.313-316, (4 p.), published by John Fenno, New York, and autographed "[Moses] Ogden."

This collection includes digital images of one albumen photograph of Confederate Fort Hatteras and one of Confederate Fort Clark in North Carolina. Based on the progress that had been made on U.S. modifications of the captured forts, the photographs were probably taken between November 1861 and May 1862 by a New Bern photographer.

Letter (June 22–23, 1840) from John and M. J. Atkins of Averasboro, North Carolina, to their cousin Caroline E. Turner in Montgomery, Alabama. The writers discuss family news, domestic activities such as dressmaking and preserving, local economic "hard times," and mention a forthcoming Whig political meeting in Averasboro.

This collection contains the New Map of Palestine (1845) based mainly on the maps and drawings of Robinson and Smith with corrections and additions by Rev. Dr. Robinson, the 1808 Price-Strother Map also known as the First Actual Survey of North Carolina, and Messenger Handbook for 1879, which includes Goldsboro Messenger Map of North Carolina.

This collection contains papers and publications produced or related to the administration of Cecil Staton. Material types include photographs, correspondence, speeches, newspaper articles, administrative records, and university publications. Topics include Greek Life Task Force, New Faculty Orientation, his installation, commencement, Brody School of Medicine, and the Board of Trustees.

Papers (1939-1943) include correspondence from a U.S. naval officer describing life on the minesweeper USS YMS-62 (1942-1943) during World War II while stationed in New Orleans and Burwood in Louisiana, at sea, and in Algeria. Lieutenant Commander Brown also records his impressions of Algeria in these letters.

Collection consists of essays written on September 12, 2001, by nineteen students as an assignment in East Carolina University Professor Karin L. Zipf's "Women in American History Class," describing their reactions to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center buildings in New York, NY, and the Pentagon in Arlington, VA.

Files (1969-1994) belonging to retired ECU Biology professor Dr. Vincent J. Bellis pertaining to the environmental impact of the Chicod Creek (North Carolina) channelization, the East Carolina University Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources, North Carolina Academy of Science, and material concerning the Sierra Club of NC and other environmental groups. Included are correspondence, affidavits, reports, notes, conference proceedings, environmental studies, and newsletters.

Collection (1800 – 1834; 1860 – 1861, 1880) consisting of a business ledger jointly compiled by the Jones, Harvey & Aitchison Co. and the McPherson & Old Co., 1800 - 1834, companies owned and operated by shareholders of the Dismal Swamp Canal Co. during the construction of the canal; also a day book compiled by William Bagley, 1860 – 1861, pertaining to operations of a general store in South Mills, NC, which also includes Elizabeth "Bettie" Bagley's private diary, January - December 1880.

This collection contains three letters (1933, 1940) written by Methodist Episcopal missionary Helen G. Moore who was stationed at Nagasaki, Japan, a Christmas card containing photographs of two unidentified Japanese children, and Japanese stamps. The letters were written as she traveled through Seoul, Korea, and Peking, China, in 1933, and from Nagasaki in 1940 when she described a recent visit to Shanghai, China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

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.