Search Collection Guides

The over eleven cubic feet of papers (1857-2021) in this collection compiled by local historian Edward Ellis are related to the history of Havelock and New Bern, N.C., the Civil War (especially New Bern and Eastern North Carolina), Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, Sir Henry Havelock and Ellis's publications. Items included are aerial photographs (1938/1939, 1950) of Craven, Pamlico and Carteret counties, N.C.; New Bern Civil War-related items; two issues of The New York Times (1862) related to the Civil War in New Bern; 1857 issues of The Illustrated London News, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Harper's Weekly and The New York Times related to Sir Henry Havelock and the war in India; ephemera, engravings, prints and an image on glass related to Sir Henry Havelock; Havelock Tobacco caddy labels; Havelock Progress newspaper negatives (1981-1983); photographs used in Ellis's book Historic Images of Havelock and Cherry Point (2010); manuscripts for Ellis's books In This Small Place (2005), and New Bern History 101 (2009); and four cubic feet of historical files relating to Havelock and New Bern, N.C., Cherry Point, the Civil War, genealogy and other historical topics. Also included are a short history of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing, and ninety-seven photographs (1941) with corresponding indexes and map documenting property adjoining Havelock, N.C. prior to demolition of buildings for construction of Cherry Point Marine Air Station. The photographs include scenes of farm houses, barns, outbuildings, fishing camps, fields, roads, and waterways.

The Nathaniel Pettit Joy Collection (1913-1919 [Bulk: 1918-1919], undated) consists primarily of letters he and his wife Mary received from two New Jersey soldiers and two New Jersey sailors written to Nathaniel Pettit Joy and his wife Mary of Groveville, New Jersey. The soldiers, Raymond "Bud" Danley and William "Bill" Inman were privates in the Headquarters Company of the 309th Infantry Infantry, 78th Division of the American Expeditionary Force; they wrote from England, France and Fort Dix (New Jersey); the sailors were A. C. Griffiths sailor aboard the battleship USS ARIZONA in 1918-1919; and Cousin Edwin, who served aboard the USS SIBONEY, a hospital ship, 1918-1919; the collection also includes several miscellaneous items, including French postcards, photographs of unidentified soldiers and sailors, and a letter written from a Cpl. Walter P. Rogers, who was a guard at a Russian prisoner of war camp in Chemnitz, Germany early in 1919.

Papers (1862-1865) consisting of diaries of activities of camping, horses, etc.

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.

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

Papers (1942-1985) of U.S. Navy Captain including correspondence, citations, certificates, programs, clippings, photographs, and miscellaneous items. Ruder served in World War II on the USS Phelps and in submarines during and after World War II.

"An Accurate Map of North and South Carolina with Their Indian Frontiers" by Henry Mouzon, first published in 1775. Created from detailed surveys conducted by Mouzon and others, the map offers a comprehensive depiction of the geographical and political landscape of the Carolinas prior to the American Revolution. It includes natural features such as mountains, rivers, swamps, and coastal soundings, along with manmade elements like roads, Indian paths, townships, and provincial boundaries. Widely regarded as one of the most authoritative maps of the region during the period, it was used extensively by both British and American forces during the Revolutionary War.

Copy of "A Journey into the past with Anecdotes, Recollection and reflections, 1921-1994" by Commander William Richard Chester, USN (Ret).

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".

Interview with Roper, NC, native, who attended East Carolina Teachers College during World War II, 1938-1942, pertaining to her childhood on the family tobacco farm, student years, teaching in Colerain, NC, becoming an air traffic controller in West Palm Beach, FL, the Washington, DC sniper case, marriages, move to California, return to Greenville, Class assignment for Professor Lu Ann Jones' Fall 2002 History 5960 Class. Received 10/28/2003. Interviewer: Rose Kiefer. Interview date: 10/24/2002.

Collection (1848-2002) of Pace family papers, including documents; photograph and postcard albums; scrapbooks; loose photographs, deeds, legal documents, and newspaper clippings; printed yearbooks, catalogs, textbooks, and newspapers; genealogical charts, postcards, brochures, World War I Army Medical Corps documents, and ephemera relating to physician Dr. Karl Busbee Pace, Sr. and his sons, Dr. Karl B. Pace, Jr., Charles Taylor Pace, and J. T. W."Tommy" Pace and their families in Robeson, Chatham and Pitt counties, NC.

Papers (1968, undated) consisting newspapers - The American Traveler, monthly magazine - TET Forward, TET, photographs of aftermath of a battle, and leaflets related to the Vietnam War.

Reminiscences (1999) of Capt. Walter P. Murphy, Jr. (US Navy ret.) a member of the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1941, of his service (1941-1944) as a junior naval officer during World War II, including among other topics the incident of the submarine USS Sailfish sinking the Japanese carrier Chuyo.