Search Collection Guides

Papers (ca. 1890-2008, undated) of Vice Admiral Robert Lee Ghormley, a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1906, including correspondence, orders, diaries, memoirs, photographic prints and negatives, certificates and commissions, legal papers, printed forms, ephemera, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, maps, museum objects, broadsides and posters and publications related to his education, family and personal life, in Tacoma, Washington, Moscow, Idaho, and Washington, D.C.; his naval career; his life in retirement, 1946-1958; and also including genealogical and historical essays compiled by his son, Commander Robert Lee Ghormley, Jr. (U.S. Navy ret.). Vice Admiral Ghormley served in China, Nicaragua, World War I, and in Haiti. Between the world wars he had several appointments and also served as commander of the destroyer USS Sands and the battleship USS Nevada. During World War II, he saw service as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Special Naval Observer in Europe, August 1940-April 1942; as Commander, South Pacific Area and South Pacific Force, and the battle for Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands, April-October 1942; as Commander of the Fourteenth Naval District and the Hawaiian Sea Frontier, 1943-1944; and as Commander of United States Naval Forces in Europe, 1944-1945.

Records (1913-1931) including correspondence, financial records, clippings and photographs.

Included are five ca. 1950 black and white photographs of the exterior of Black Jack Free Will Baptist Church in Pitt County, North Carolina. The photographs show people standing outside the front and side of the building. Also included is a clipping about member Mrs. Ella Hudson's ninety-third birthday celebration.

Printed materials (1960-1990) received by Drs. Joseph and Lala Steelman related to the National Democratic Party and related organizations concerning social, environmental, and political issues (1969-1990). The collection also includes family files on Steelman and Edmisten families, plus large collection of familial correspondence. Records pertaining to the Steelmans' time at East Carolina are located in University Archives.

Genealogical material on Tyson Family of Pitt County, North Carolina, prepared in 1982 by Dr. Bruce C. Tyson, Jr.

This finding aid pertains to the transcript of an oral history conducted in 1953. The original audio format of this material is owned by Columbia University and is housed at the Oral History Research Office, Columbia University.

Papers (ca. 1942-1945) pertaining primarily to the 7th amphibious Force, Beach Party #5, in the Central Pacific during World War II, including personnel and operations file, terrain study handbooks, histories of the 7th amphibious Force, clippings, photographs, certificates and miscellany.

Papers from Wayne Williams while he was writing "Beginning of the School of Medicine at East Carolina University". Includes typescripts from interviews Williams conducted, newspaper articles about history of hospital, information on Pitt County Memorial Hospital (previously Vidant, now ECU Health) Board of Trustees and Foundation, general source material on nursing, and drafts of book.

This collection contains a seventeen-page letter from medical missionary Herbert P. Ramsey writing from Soochow, China, in 1924 about his experiences as surgeon at Soochow Hospital. Also included is a letter written in 1927 by his brother William H. Ramsey describing the recent escape of Herbert Ramsey and his family from Soochow in the face of anti-Western instigators.

Personal papers of Lieutenant Colonel Luther G. Williams, Jr. (1943-) of Greenville, North Carolina, documenting his childhood, family, education, military service, and Civil War research.

Donald Read Eglee Papers relating to his service in the United States Navy and Naval Reserve, 1943-1984, including correspondence, notes, photographs, official service records, printed materials, etc.

This collection contains the administrative records for the East Carolina African and African American Studies Program. Record types include annual reports, committee meeting minutes, curriculum and course proposals, correspondence, promotional materials for related programs and events, press releases, and newspaper clippings.

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.

Records (1925-1968) of U. S. Naval Academy Class of 1909 and 1910, including correspondence, class bulletins, class directories, day book, programs, reports, and clippings.