Search Collection Guides

Collection (1950 - 2011), including correspondence, photographic prints, ephemera, subject files and published materials, relating to Democratic Party politics in North Carolina and Washington, DC, especially Leggett's activities as chief of staff for Robert B. Morgan, who was Attorney General of North Carolina and U. S. Senator, 1970-1980.

Advertisements for medicine, likely from between 1870 and 1910. The advertisements include patent medicine trade cards, blotter paper advertisements, broadside advertising sheets, booklets, and calendars. "Patent medicines" were often promoted as "cure-alls" for many parts of the body and their ingredient list (if any) was often inaccurate.

Papers (1941-1965) including photographs, clippings, certificates, memos, orders of U.S. Naval officer, USNA Class of 1941, official winners, luncheons, ceremonies, parties, interpreter and translator.

Letters (20 November 1862 – 20 January 1863) from two brothers -- Alfred Howard Kinsley of Co. H, of the 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Militia) and Thomas Kinsley, serving in Co. A, -- from Camp Amory on the Trent River, North Carolina, to Edward Wilkinson Kinsley, a Boston merchant, Abolitionist, Government agent and military recruiter, who was probably their relative, and primarily concerning their service in Brig. Gen. John G. Foster's Expedition to Goldsboro, NC, including the First Battle of Kinston and the Battle of Whitehall, NC, 13 – 14, 16 December 1862. Autograph letters signed.

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.

A pictorial history of the 33rd Special Naval Construction battalion (1945) and a photograph of Weber in uniform.

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.

Records (1948-1984) of the Redevelopment Commission of the City of Greenville, North Carolina, primarily for the Shore Drive Urban Renewal area, including appraisals, boundary description, demolition contracts, financial records, relocation files, acquisition records, reports property photographs, etc.

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

Papers (1942–1948) including naval campaign file for Solomon Island, photographs, citations, pamphlets, battle, pictures.

"A New and Correct Map of the Province of North Carolina by Edward Moseley, late surveyor general of the said province 1733," showing settlements, inhabitants, soil conditions, rivers, and principal products, with insets showing "Port Brunswick or Cape Fear Harbour," "Port Beaufort or Topsail Inlet," "Ocacock (Ocracoke) Inlet," "Explanation," and "Directions for Ocacock (Ocracoke) Inlet". Imperial folio sheets, pasted on linen backing (probably in 18th century) with some insect damage and repairs, and some loss of information. Framed dimensions: 50-1/4" x 62-1/2". Scale: 1" = 5 miles. Matted and framed. (On Display in Search Room)

Papers (1926-1983) including correspondence, land records, legal materials, financial records, photographs, pamphlets, speeches, editorials, and miscellaneous materials.

Papers (1913-1936, undated) including correspondence, notes, certificate, instruction book, a deed, letter during World War I, clippings showing illustrations of World War I.

The Edward Baxter Billingsley Collection (1817-1819, 1938–1999, undated) consists of historical research materials, drafts, and a typescript copy (643 pages) of One Destroyer and World War II: A History of the U. S. S. Emmons (DD457-DM22), by Edward Baxter Billingsley, that he later published as The Emmons Saga: A History of the U. S. S. Emmons (DD457 – DM22). Also included are photographic prints, photocopied naval documents, and microfilm reels concerning his research, and correspondence (1817-1819) related to his dissertation on Chilean and Peruvian wars of Independence.

Papers, 1861-2011 (bulk 1940-1992), undated, of Senator Robert Burren Morgan, an ECU alumnus and lawyer, who served the state of North Carolina in a variety of elected and appointed positions. His first elected position was clerk of court in Harnett County. He was elected to the State Senate, served as president pro tempore of the Senate, and was twice elected Attorney General of North Carolina. He served in this position until 1974, when he won the United States Senate seat vacated by Senator Samuel James "Sam" Ervin, Jr. Morgan served as United States Senator from 1975 to 1981. He returned to his law practice following an unsuccessful reelection campaign and later served as Director of the State Bureau of Investigation from 1985 until 1992. Morgan served as a member of the ECU Board of Trustees for fifteen years, including nine terms as chair in the 1960s. He helped the institution achieve university status and was instrumental in establishing the ECU School of Medicine. The collection includes series relating to Morgan's family and personal matters, North Carolina Senate Files, Attorney General Files, United States Senate Files, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Files, and Oversized Materials Files. It includes manuscripts, photographs, audio and video materials, electronic records, printed materials, and ephemera.