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The Vertical File contains brochures, pamphlets, newsletters, and other printed ephemeral material pertaining to North Carolina people, organizations, places, history, and events. Files on a county, for example, typically include brochures / maps pertaining to natural or historic sites, cultural events, and local businesses.

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.

Papers of Gore Vidal (1984) documenting the life and literary career of the noted West Point, New York-born American novelist, playwright, and essayist consisting of bound uncorrected proofs for Lincoln: A Novel (1984), by Gore Vidal; also a publisher's newsletter advertising the publication.

Collection (1996-1997, undated) contains drafts, manuscripts, proofs and correspondence relating to Dracula in the Dark: The Dracula Film Adaptations, by James C. Holte, a professor in the English Department at East Carolina University.

Papers of Mark Smith (1967-1971) documenting the life and literary career of the noted Michigan-born American novelist and professor of English at the University of New Hampshire; consisting of a bound, paperback, proof of his novel The Middleman (1967); also an oversized periodical entitled Invisible City (1971).

The Louis Orr Collection contains a set of forty-eight prints of the original fifty-one print set (and one replacement print) made from etchings of North Carolina historical landmarks and architectural sites. The etchings were created from 1939 to 1952 by artist Louis Orr, a world-renown etcher, at the behest of North Carolina resident Robert Lee Humber who wanted to preserve North Carolina's heritage by providing the artwork to schools, colleges, public libraries and institutions throughout the state.

Papers (1975-2008, undated) of an organist and music professor at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, consisting of correspondence, doctoral thesis, seminar presentations, printed materials, handwritten research journal articles, clippings, and photographs and slides with images of medieval English Cathedrals, Abbeys, and Castles and depictions of musical instruments in them. The slides were taken during her six-month research sabbatical in Oxford, England, in 1982.

Collection (1955-1969) of minutes, agendas, notes, correspondence, reports, and newsletters related to the donor's activities as a board member of the Housing Authority of Greenville, North Carolina, and supporter of public housing.

Ledger (1846-1847) of accounts of individuals and organizations doing business with a leading Natick, MA, shoe manufacturer Henry Wilson. Wilson was also a newspaper publisher, Whig – Free Soil – Republican Party politician who served as Massachusetts State Representative, 1840- 1842; Massachusetts State Senator, 1843-1845, 1850; United States Senator, 1855-1872; and Vice President of the United States, 1872-1875, under President U. S. Grant. Ledger only relates to business dealings and personal accounts, not to political dealings.

Papers (1884-1912) consisting of correspondence and pamphlet

Papers of Anne Tyler (1980, 1983) documenting the life and literary career the noted Minneapolis, Minnesota-born American novelist and short story writer; consisting of loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection pertaining to The Best American Short Stories, edited by Anne Tyler (1983); also an oversized archival folder including a review by Anne Tyler of Toni Cade Bambara's novel, The Salt Eaters, in the Washington Post Book World (30 March 1980).