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Papers (1782-1956, undated) related to the John Gideon Taylor family of Pitt County, North Carolina, including correspondence, legal papers, estate papers, financial papers, post cards, photographs, newspapers, advertising ephemera, genealogy information, Bible records, and miscellany.

Collection (25 November – 21 December 1862) including holograph letters written by 1st Lt. Frank W. Adams, Company B, 51st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, to his sister Elizabeth in Massachusetts, describing in great detail on the regiment's departure from the Boston Harbor aboard the Steamer Merrimac, voyage to North Carolina, their arrival in Newbern [New Bern], N.C. their encounter with the 43rd Massachusetts and their participation in the Battles of Kinston and Whitehall (present day White Hall), North Carolina as part of General John G. Foster's Goldsborough [Goldsboro] Expedition; also transcript of the holograph letters and one additional letter; also folios that formerly contained the letters and transcripts. Note: the letter dated 10-21 December 1862 also contains an envelope containing remnants of the ribbons once used to bind the letters; the folder that held the transcripts is stamped inside the font cover: "Robert W. Adams Oct. 1, 1947".

Collection consists of a two volumes titled "Journal of a Cruise from Norfolk, Virginia to the Pacific Ocean in the United States Frigate United States, Isaac Hull, Esq'r, Commander" kept by Philadelphian midshipman Lawrence Penington from 4 December 1823, through 22 April 1827. United States was one of six frigates authorized to be constructed by the Naval Act of 1794 and it served as the flagship for Commodore Hull who was head of the American naval squadron on the Pacific Coast of South America. Penington documents navigation statistics, weather reports and daily ship life, along with the larger issues of interaction between the American naval squadron and British, Spanish, Chilean, Colombian and Peruvian naval and military counterparts.

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.

Collection of papers 1941-2005, undated (bulk 1943-1946), consisting primarily of letters from Pvt. Leon W. Jackson to his sister Lois (Claude E.) Dees and to her son Tony while he was serving in the U. S. Army in Georgia and Europe; also letters from Leon W. Jackson's friend, Pfc. Jerrold S. Robinson to Lois (Mrs. Claude E.) Dees and Leon W. Jackson; also dated photograph and album.

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.

This collection contains the life history of Lt. Commander Harold Stacey Burdick, who served in the Border War (1910s) and the Tampico Affair (1914), and World War I. It contains letters that he sent to his mother and father and a log journal detailing his accounts while on the USS Jouett. There are also news clippings and pictures of/about Harold Burdick as well as Annapolis and Naval ships like the USS Rhode Island. The collection also contains correspondence between his father, Daniel P. Burdick, and various associations and societies like Brown University, Columbia University and the U.S. Navy.

Collection (1936-1985, undated) of programs (the majority published by Playbill), librettos and souvenir pamphlets documenting plays, theatrical dance and musical productions performed in New York City and Stockholm. The publications are printed in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish languages.

The majority of the collection relates to Captain Leslie Avery Shaw's military service in the U.S. Army, especially during World War II when he served in the 11th AAA, 49th AAA Brigade, VII Corps, U.S. First Army in Europe. Included are maps and overlays concerning operations at Utah Beach at Normandy, orders, citations, reports, photographs, letters, postcards, military ribbons and insignia, and items from his personal military file. Additional items including many photographs document his personal life after the war. Photographs, printed material and memorabilia from the 1950s and early 1960s relate to the early years of his son Robert Avery Shaw's life in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

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.

This collection (1846-1903) contains correspondence between Ransom Respess of Ransomville, North Carolina, and other members of his family including his son, Reverend George Respess of Ransomville, N.C. Topics include family members, agriculture, an 1860 uprising of enslaved persons in Alabama, and the Civil War Battle of Manassas (1862). Among other items included is an 1846-1849 arithmetic cipher book.

The William Cobb Whitfield Papers consists of a class notebook, ephemera found in books belonging to Whitfield, and various other papers ranging from 1873 to 1936. Additionally, notes from a conversation between Miles J. Smith, donor of collection and great-nephew of Whitfield, and Ruth Moskop, from History Collections at Laupus Library.

This collection contains material documenting the life of James Long Newsom, Sr., (1914-2007) of Durham, North Carolina. A graduate of Duke University and Duke University Law School and attended Syracuse University Law School, he began practicing law in Durham in 1938. Correspondence (1931-1940) documents his post-high school education and courtship of his future wife Frances Martin whom he met at Syracuse. As a member of the United States Naval Reserve, he fought in the South Pacific for the years 1942-1945 during World War II and this experience is covered with extensive correspondence, photographs, souvenirs, programs and military newspapers. After the war, he returned to his law practice and continued his Naval Reserve career. Also included are diplomas, certificates, family-related photographs (back to the 1910s), clippings, and genealogy.

Papers (1858-1957) of Rev. John C. Wooten including correspondence, clippings, photographs, postcards, printed materials, and ephemera dealing with the American Civil War, telegraph operations, missionary experiences in Japan, Korea, and China, twentieth-century family life, and other topics.