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Book (1827-1860) including correspondence, account book, expenses, notation on hiring of Black individuals, enslaved persons etc. 1 Volume. The Hiring-out system allowed a hirer to temporarily lease an enslaved person from an enslaver, generating revenue for the enslaver through the labor of the enslaved people completing the work

The largest portion (1911-1947) of this collection (1837-1993) contains correspondence, photographs, publications and ephemera related to the extensive charitable interests of Mary Estelle Crawford Fry, her husband James Woods Fry and son Gilbert Crawford Fry, all of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The charities include the Bethel Mission operating out of Hong Kong at the time of this correspondence (1938) due to war in China, the San Miao Orphanage in Saratsi (Suiyuan Province) of Northern China [later became part of Nei (Inner) Mongolia], the China International Famine Relief Commission, missions dealing with French and Belgian orphans of WWI, and the International Students' House conducted by the Christian Assoc. of the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier correspondence (1837-1869), unrelated to the above mentioned charities, is mainly written between Mrs. Mary M. Crawford of Boston, MA, Mrs. Addie A. Stien of Norristown, PA, and Sower family members in Boston and Norristown. Also included are family photographs and family history information related to the Chitty, Stroup (Strup, Strupe, Strub), and Ruede families of Forsyth Co., NC.

Papers (1911-1967) consisting of correspondence, magazine, scrapbooks, pamphlets, clippings and miscellaneous.

Papers (1898-1903, 1953-1984, undated) including photographs, clippings, biographical sketch, and photocopy of pages from "A Documentary History of The Negro People in the United States" concerning Alex L. Manly (1866-1944), African-American newspaper editor of The Daily Record in Wilmington, North Carolina, during the Wilmington massacre of 1898. Additional materials include typed transcriptions of nine letters (November 19, 1953-November 9, 1955) written by Caroline "Carrie" Sadgwar Manly (widow of Alex L. Manly) to her sons Milo A. Manly and Lewin R. Manly. The transcriptions were done by Milo A. Manly (1903-1991) and given by him to the donor, Professor Charles Hardy III. Also included is a photocopy of the transcription of an interview done with Milo A. Manly by the donor on September 11, 1984. The original interview is held at Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky.

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.

Papers (1830-2011, undated [bulk 1830-1973]) relating to the Young – Spicer family of Fredericks Hall, Louisa County, Virginia and related families living in Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana, including correspondence relating to the civil war, businesses, taxes & family matters; journals, photographic prints; genealogical and historical files and a listing of the gravestones in the Young-Spicer Cemetery at the family home, "Locust Grove" at Fredericks Hall, Virginia. Photocopies and original documents.

Papers of Eudora Welty (1909-1986 [Bulk: 1930-1980], undated) documenting the life and literary career of the noted Jackson, Mississippi-born American short story writer, novelist, journalist, photographer, and educator, who wrote about the American South; including correspondence; manuscripts, original art, photographic prints, proofs of published materials, audio recordings, printed material, and loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection, by or about Eudora Welty, Donald Davie, Richard Ghormley Eberhart, Shelby Foote, Ross Macdonald, Katherine Anne Porter, George William Russell, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and others; in English & French language.

Papers (1941-1968) including correspondence, orders, briefings, speeches, printed material, photographs and miscellaneous items.

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.

Records (May 1940-November 1945) include mainly correspondence between Thomas William Linder of Raleigh, North Carolina, and his girlfriend (later wife) Evelyn Doris Hill of Cayce, South Carolina. Mr. Linder worked for the railroad and later in life was an engineer with Amtrak. The letters from April 1942 through August 1945 document his service in the U.S. Army with the 816th Engineer Aviation Battalion during World War II. He was promoted to corporal in September 1942. Other items include two photographs, holiday cards, a pay stub and a poem.

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.

The bulk of the Raymond J. Kragness Papers (1943-1946, 2000, 2004) pertains to Mr. Kragness's service in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theatre in World War II aboard the USS Escambia. Personal items include rites of passage membership cards (such as crossing the Equator), draft board notification, photographs, post cards of San Francisco Bay, course certificates, separation from service records and a brief family history. The remaining items pertain to his service on the USS Escambia, a fleet oiler. Included are the ship's history and directory, newsletter "Eighty Times," a list of ships fuled by the USS Escambia, plans of the day, congratulatory messages from Admiral Halsey, and invitations and tickets for commissioning and decommissioning ceremonies.

This collection (1937-2015) is related to Edith Doughtie Warren's personal life and to her time as the representative for the 8th District (composed of Martin County and part of Pitt County) in the North Carolina House of Representatives (January 1, 1999-January 1, 2013). Included are six binders related to her political career containing correspondence, photographs, speeches, committee material, clippings, campaign ephemera, and also materials related to the "Fried Chicken Caucuses" held 2001 to 2007. Five more binders document Edith Warren's long career as an educator and her family history, particularly concerning the Doughtie Family of Bethel and Mayo's Crossroads areas of Pitt and Edgecombe Counties. Also represented are photographs and documents concerning her husband Billy N. Warren's family, and Billy and Edith Warren's family together.

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.

Collection contains a World War II diary (1943-1944) kept by a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps while participating in bombing missions over Germany.