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Wilbur Wright was born on April 16, 1867 near Millville, Indiana and his brother Orville was born in 1871. The boys owned a bicycle shop before using their experience, tools, and equipment to experiment with flight. The collection is circa 1920 and includes a pamphlet titled Essais de Wilbur Wright, Le Mans - 1908: La Conquete de l'Air / Wilbur Wright's Trial: The Conquest of the Air. The strength of this collection is the introduction and postcards detailing Wilbur Wright and his 1908 experimental and demonstration flights in Le Mans, France.

Records (1903-1954, undated) of the Leggett (NC) general store.

Papers (1941-1991) including U. S. Navy service records, citations, correspondence, personnel and retirement records, photographs and printed materials pertaining to the U. S. Naval Academy Class of 1941, USS NORTH CAROLINA (BB-55), Transport Divisions 14 and 10, USS SAVANNAH (CL-42), USS MISSISSIPPI (AG-128), USS OREGON CITY (CA-123), USS LEWIS HANCOCK (DD-675), USS HUSE (DE-145), USS BROWNSON (DD-868), Carrier Division 14, 17th Naval District, Kodiak, AK, and the First Naval District Intelligence Office, Boston.

Collection contains receipts from Nowell's Drug Store in Wendell, North Carolina. The receipts are from ordering medicinal and general supplies between 1915 and 1937.

Includes written and typed correspondence related to North Carolina and Pennsylvania artist Francis Speight's paintings, especially "Winter Scene." Also included is a presentation given by Claiborne T. Smith about Francis Speight.

Records (1948-1972) of Wilson, NC tobacco warehouse, including poundage sheets, sales records, ledger sheets, daily summary journals, correction sheets, and other financial records.

This collection consists of a WWII diary (October 5, 1942-March 9, 1943) kept by Lt. Thomas M. Clement during his service aboard the USS Philadelphia, newspaper clippings concerning the Philadelphia, citations of service for Clement, leave passes, morning orders, and the Sixth Birthday Edition of the History of the Philadelphia (September 23, 1943) which was printed aboard ship. Clement's diary documents the Philadelphia's service during the Invasion of North Africa, especially the assault on Safi and Casablanca.

Diary (1862-1863) including photocopy, camp life, burning of boat, etc.

Included are the records (1961-2020) of the Dilettante Book Club of Greenville, North Carolina. Members of the ECC (East Carolina College) Faculty Wives Club met in September 1961 to start the book club and established the name Dilettante Book Club at their October 1961 meeting.

Papers of Peter Hillsman Taylor (1908-1995, undated) documenting the life and literary career of the noted American short story writer, novelist, biographer, and playwright, who specialized in subjects related to the Upper South, including manuscript materials and correspondence, especially his World War II letters to his wife, Eleanor Ross Taylor; proofs of published materials; loose manuscripts from the Stuart Wright Book Collection; and oversized materials, by or about Peter Hillsman Taylor, Madison Smartt Bell, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty, and others, in English and French language.

Papers of U.S. Navy enlisted man (1863-1864) aboard the US sloop of War Powhatan, including a private log book (Nov. 1863 - Aug. 1864), correspondence, a manuscript entitled " The Attack on Charleston," and a daguerreotype of a Civil War sailor (presumably Thomas).

This pocket diary was kept by Union soldier James F. Shapleigh of 43rd Massachusetts Volunteers, Co. D, from January 1, 1863, through July 20, 1863. He was mustered out at the end of July 1863. During this period the 43rd Massachusetts Volunteers served in North Carolina with the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 18th Army Corps. Camp Rogers in New Bern, was home base. Included in the diary are good details related to the Battle of Washington, North Carolina, that covers March 30 to April 19, 1863, as well as everyday life for soldiers. Later scattered entries in the diary go through January 1864.

Collection (1899-2004) of printed materials compiled for the centennial of the Orville & Wilbur Wright's first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina; including an article written by the Wright brothers on their flight experiments with various airplanes coupled with printed copies of photographs and a printed reproduction of the article; also copies of Monthly Weather Review magazines from August-September 1899; and a copy of the North Carolina Literary Review dedicated to commemorating the centennial of the first flight complete with poetry and interviews; also two calendars illustrated with images of the Wright brothers flight experiments.

Papers of R. L. [Russell Lee] Jones (1941) consisting of Happy Days at Hurdle Mills [ca. 1908 – 1941] Typescript & Photographic prints. Bound hard cover. Note: Includes 15 pages of photographic prints tipped in; historical account of the Hurdle Mills Game Club, in Hurdle Mills, North Carolina, which provided winter hunting for northerners; includes photographic prints of local buildings and people; R. L. Jones was elected first vice president of the club (1908); Stuart Wright note inside front cover: "Charles (Charlie) Lawson was my maternal grandmother's brother, Person County, NC."

The collection consists of a letter (1/8/1863) containing a description of Brig. Gen. John G. Foster's expedition from New Bern to Kinston and Goldsboro NC and back, 11-20 December 1862, including accounts of engagements at Kinston (14 Dec.), Whitehall (16 Dec.) and Goldsboro Bridge (17 Dec.), from George [?], a soldier in Company B of the 5th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, to his Aunt Maria. Other items include a draft report (12/22/1862) by Colonel Charles R. Codman, 45th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Cadet Regiment), of engagements at Kinston and White Hall, NC, (12/14 through 12/16/1862), and items related to Colonel Codman.