Finding Aid for the College Museum Collection, 1712-1918
For reference questions, please contact university_manuscripts@uncg.edu.
The Historical Museum of the North Carolina College for Women (now UNCG) was established by the Department of History in 1915, in order to save important historical documents from loss or destruction, and to promote an interest in local history. A fire at the library where the collection was housed damaged or destroyed much of the collection in 1933.
The College Museum Collection dates from 1712 to 1918 and contains letters, broadsides, pamphlets, currency, stamps, land records, wills, tax receipts, and other miscellaneous legal documents, as well as a diary.
MSS 057
1 box, .4 linear feet
Collection is open for research.
Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
[Identification of item], College Museum Collection (MSS 057), University Archives and Manuscripts, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Items were part of the Historical Museum Collection; they were collected by the history department with the assistance of Colonel Fred Olds, starting in 1915.
The Historical Museum of the North Carolina College for Women (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro) was established by the Department of History in 1915, in order to "assist in the work of saving from loss or destruction those materials that have value in portraying the past life of our people, and to promote a livelier interest in the study of our own history." Colonel Fred Olds, collector for the Hall of History in Raleigh, presented the museum with several hundred items to begin the collection, and students, alumnae, and other friends of the college contributed more items over the years. Originally the collection was housed in the basement of the McIver building; it was later moved to the library, but unfortunately never attracted much attention there. A fire at the library in 1933 damaged or destroyed much of the collection, which was eventually disbanded.
The College Museum Collection dates from 1712 to 1918 and contains letters, broadsides, pamphlets, currency, stamps, land records, wills, tax receipts, and other miscellaneous legal documents, as well as a diary.
Folder 1: Broadsides and Pamphlets
Political campaign literature from the Populist and Democratic Parties, 1885-1894
Folder 2: Correspondence and Checklists
Folder 3: Currency and Stamps
North Carolina colonial currency, some printed by James Davis
Confederate stamps; Confederate currency
Foreign currency, 1915-1917 and undated
Folder 4: Forest, T.C. (Pardon by Andrew Johnson), 1865
Fragment only
Folder 5: Fort, Miss M. V.
Correspondence between Miss Fort and a Belgian soldier in a German prison, 1917-1918
Folder 6: Jefferson-Madison Document
Includes signatures of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson
Folder 7: Land Records
Deeds, grants, plats and surveys from Beaufort, Duplin, Greene, Randolph, Guilford and Rutherford counties, and Perquimans Province, 1712-1837
Folder 8: Legal Documents
Wills, tax receipts, notes, marriage bond and license, 1775-1868
Folder 9: Military Items
Passes, receipts for produce taken by military, and pamphlet, 1863-1865, 1915-1917
Description of sword made by Henry Blair of North Carolina in 1861
Folder 10: Miscellaneous Correspondence
Five personal letters, one written in New Bern and one mailed to Warren County, 1855-1864 Chiefly Civil War letters. Photocopy of letter (incomplete) describing the battle of the Monitor and Merrimac, March 12, 1862.
Folder 11: Paper Collection
Paper made in North Carolina during the Civil War
Folder 12: Raleigh Academy Certificates, circa 1810
Folder 13: Rector, William E. Letters
Five personal letters (1847-1868) dealing with family affairs. Rector apparently lived in Georgia. Two letters were written from North Carolina, including one describing the female school in Salem, North Carolina.
Folder 14: Speight, James P. Diary
Ten handwritten pages, two notes, 1845-1879. This is not a day-by-day diary, entries were apparently made on a yearly basis; however, the writer likely kept notes throughout the year to add to the diary. Subjects include the weather, success of crops and some personal items. Speight records his filing for the NC Senate race at Kinston, his election in 1852, and his defeats in 1866 and 1875. During the war he mentions skirmishes near his home and news of other battles. He records the death of various people and the wounding of others. In 1876, he tells of going to Kinston to hear Zebulon B. Vance.
Many of the surviving items in this collection were sent to other departments on campus, to the Greensboro Historical Museum, or to the State Archives in Raleigh when the College Museum was disbanded. Some items were also destroyed because they were too soiled or moth-eaten to be of further value.
See more UNCG manuscript collections related to the history of the university and general history.