Finding Aids Archive - Page 64 of 81 - The Filson Historical Society

Plato Family Papers, 1924-1967

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Plato family

Title: Papers, 1924-1967

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.

Size of Collection: .33 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A P718

Scope and Content Note

Papers from Samuel Plato’s business as an architect and personal letters from his family members in Alabama and his accountant. Letters continue after his death with correspondence with his widow Elnora. Plato was an African-American architect who designed buildings such as Post Offices and churches in many parts of the country.

Biographical Note

Samuel M. Plato (1882-1957) was a prominent African American architect and builder who not only made important contributions to the African American community in Louisville but also achieved national recognition for his imaginative designs elsewhere in the country. He completed his education and began his career at a time when segregation and racism were major obstacles for African Americans who sought to pursue professional careers such as architecture. When Plato graduated from State University Normal School in Louisville in 1902 and completed his mail-order program in architecture with International Correspondence Schools, he became part of a small group of pioneering African American architects who made their mark early in the Twentieth Century.

Like other pioneers, Plato struggled against racism, helping pave the way for those who followed in his footsteps. During his early years in Marion, Indiana, he was successful in his fight to open up the building trade unions to African American workers. He was the first African American to be awarded a contract to build a post office, and he was one of only a few African American contractors to build federal government defense housing projects during World War II. Plato was successful because of his persistent efforts and because his reputation for quality and integrity could not be ignored.

Among the basic tenets of Plato’s life was his belief in helping others to help themselves and devotion to his family, which was always at the center of his life. In 1939 he devised a plan to move his sister and her family off the old homestead in Waugh, Alabama, and into a new home nearby. Samuel and Elnora Plato helped to put several nieces and nephews through college and graduate school and Plato employed some of them on jobs in Louisville and Washington, D.C. Elnora Plato (1891-1975), his second wife, was his constant traveling companion and business manager. She had built her own successful dressmaking business before their marriage, and she used her own funds from this enterprise to help make Plato’s dreams possible. She funded the cost of his sister’s new house in Waugh and , on more than one occasion, she was able to keep their company from going bankrupt.

Plato designed and/or built a wide variety of buildings, including Greek Revival and Craftsman-style houses, elegant mansions, post offices, banks, churches, schools, office buildings, theaters and government housing projects. Eight of his buildings are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Broadway Temple A.M.E. Zion Church in Louisville.

During his career he was in demand as a speaker at the Louisville Urban League, Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute. He was honored posthumously in 1960 by the Howard University School of Engineering and Architecture. He was admired and respected by everyone. Perhaps Elnora Plato summed it up best when she wrote”…he was a pioneer for years and he wanted his business to live. Then, too, he wanted to inspire young engineers.”

Folder List

Folder 1: Personal Correspondence, 1924 – 1942

Folder 2: Personal Correspondence, 1943 – 1947

Folder 3: Personal Correspondence, 1949 – 1954

Folder 4: Personal Correspondence, 1955 – 1956

Folder 5: Personal Correspondence, 1957 – 1958

Folder 6: Personal Correspondence, 1959 – 1962

Folder 7: Personal Correspondence, 1963 – 1967

Folder 8: Business Records, 1926-1953

Folder 9: Simmons University Brochure, 1925

Folder 10: Plat Map: Wagh, Alabama, 1941

Folder 11: Green Street Baptist Church Blueprints, 1928

Folder 12: Miscellaneous

Matthews Family Papers, 1912-1941

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Matthews family

Title: Papers, 1912-1941

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: .33 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A M439

Scope and Content Note

Collection consists of letters, pamphlets, essays, advertising and fund raising cards, centering on the career, civic and personal interests of William B. Matthews, the principal of Louisville’s Central High School from 1911 to 1934. The letters concern African-American school affairs, in particular, Central High School, as well as civic, church, and YMCA activities. The collection gives an overview of African-American aspirations and involvement for and in the Louisville area in the early years of the twentieth century. The majority of this collection has been digitized. To view PDF scans, click on the links provided in the folder list below

Folder 1 includes business and personal correspondence of William B. Matthews, as well as his wife and daughter; includes correspondence to Mrs. Matthews from Hattie Bishop Speed.

Folder 2 includes reports titled, “Report of Findings Committee of State Inter-Racial Conference Held on the Call of Governor Morrow in Louisville, July 23-24, 1920,” and “Report: Woman’s Section, Commission on Interracial Cooperation: Study of Negro Homes” circa 1920s.

Folder 3 includes undated manuscripts titled, “The American Citizen and the American Race,” and “Preamble to Constitution of the Crispus Attucks Chapter of the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution” (along with handwritten notes in “Kentucky Society, Sons of the American Revolution January 1916” Annual Report)

Folder 4 includes invitation to reception for Matthews, 24 September 1912; program, Mammoth Field and Track Meet, Central High School Athletic Association, 30 May 1914; program, dedication exercises of Central Colored High School, 9 March 1917; payment record of salaries at Central Colored High School, 23 December 1926; program, commencement exercises, Central Colored High School, 14 June 1934; paper on Orphans’ Home Exposition, undated.

Folder 5 includes brochure on Louisville Free Public Library’s holdings on Oliver Hazard Perry and the Battle of Lake Erie, June 1913; program for Louisville Teachers’ Institute, 12 May 1917 (held at Central High School); Announcement of Courses of Study and Faculty of Louisville Summer Normal, Summer 1920 (held at Central High School); advertisement for Memorial Auditorium Bonds, circa 1920; invitation to Bon Vivant Club dance, 6 January 1922; Proceedings of the Kentucky Negro Educational Association, April 1922 (held in Louisville); program for the Presentation of Rev. A. L. Gaines as the Baltimore A. M. E. Conference Candidate for the Bishopric at the General Conference, Louisville, May 1924; program, the Municipal College Players, “The Whole Town’s Talking” 23 May 1933 (held at Central High School); program, Bazaar benefiting Madison Relief Fund, Madison Junior High School, November 1933; Kentucky Negro Educational Association Programs, April 1934 and 1936; Poetic Memories by J. W. Tamblyn.

Folder 6 includes Miscellaneous material includes advertisement cards, contest cards for church fundraisers, programs for various events, YMCA-Colored Branch information, and Red Cross Hospital for Colored Patients information.

Additional Resources:

William B. Matthews Collection, 1881-1932, the Atlanta University Center, Robert W. Woodruff Library Archives and Special Collections

William B. Matthews Papers, 1899-1925, the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History, Atlanta

Biographical Note

William B. Matthews (1864-1940)

William Baxter Matthews was born on 31 July 1864 to William B. and Annie Head Matthews in Powerville, Georgia. He graduated from Lewis High School in Macon, Georgia in 1883, and went on to graduate from Atlanta University (A.B.) in 1890; he received an additional A.B. from Columbia University in 1915. From 1890 through 1911, Matthews was the principal of Gate City School, which became the Houston Street School, in Atlanta, Georgia. He relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in 1912 to become principal of Central Colored High School, a position he held until his retirement in 1934. Under Matthews’ leadership, Central High School underwent several structural changes, including a move in 1913 to Ninth and Chestnut Streets to a building once occupied to Louisville’s Male High School, as well as an expansion in 1923, which allowed for the school’s first library. The school added home economics and industrial shops, business training, an orchestra, a physical training program, and school publications (a newspaper and yearbook).

In addition to his work as an educator, Matthews was a state agent with the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and proprietor of the Negro Business Directory and Advertising Agency which published The Negro Business Directory and Commercial Guide of Atlanta in 1911. He was active in the community as a member of the Atlanta and Louisville branch of the YMCA, the N.A.A.C.P., fraternal organizations, and the Negro Young People’s Christian and Educational Congress.

Matthews was elected president of the Atlanta University Alumni Association in 1895, and was a trustee of Atlanta University from 1902-1929. He compiled the Negro Business Directory of Atlanta in 1909. In Louisville, he taught Sunday School at Plymouth Congregational Church.

Matthews married Josephine O. “Ophelia” Beale on 1 January 1895; he had one daughter, Florida Louise, born circa 1898. Matthews died on 8 January 1940 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sources:

Finding Aid for the William B. Matthews Collection at the Atlanta University Center (http://findingaids.auctr.edu/repositories/2/resources/68)

Mather, Frank Lincoln (ed.), Who’s who of the colored race: a general biographical dictionary of men and women of African descent, Volume 1, 1915: 186.

Folder List

Folder 1: Correspondence, 1912-1941 (click to access PDF)

Folder 2: Reports, circa 1920s (click to access PDF)

Folder 3: Writings, undated (click to access PDF)

Folder 4: Central High School materials, 1912-1934, undated (click to access PDF)

Folder 5: Brochures and Pamphlets, 1913-1939 (click to access PDF)

Folder 6: Miscellaneous, 1911-1928, undated (click to access PDF)

Subject Headings

Afro-Americans – Education – Kentucky – Louisville

Afro-Americans – Kentucky – Louisville

Kentucky Commission on Interracial Relations

Louisville (Ky.) – Race relations

Matthews, William B.

Morrow, Edwin Porch, 1877-1932

Red Cross Hospital (Louisville, Ky.)

Rosenwald, Julius, 1862-1932

Sons of the American Revolution. Kentucky Society

World War, 1914-1918 – African-American participation

Young Men’s Christian Associations

Lynam-Potts Family Papers, 1847-1948

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Lynam-Potts family

Title: Papers, 1847-1948

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: 1.0 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A L987

Scope and Content Note

Papers of a Newburg, Kentucky farming family in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Papers document daily work on a Jefferson County farm, and show expenses and profits for farm related activities. Twentieth century papers include sermons, materials related to local schooling, and Lynam, Potts, and King family genealogies.

Volumes one and two are diaries of William David Lynam, 1879-1891. Entries consist of a few lines describing work on the farm, weather, and occasional notes that Lyman went to town or to church. Family members and other members of the community are occasionally named, but entries do not go into great detail.

Volumes three, four, and five contain similar diary entries, as well as daily lists of expenses and receipts for various goods and services Lynam utilized. Dates range from: 1898-1909.

Volume six contains a list of receipts and expenses incurred by the Lyman family from 1847-1873. Entries are arranged by the name of the person or institution the family was doing business with. Near the end of the volume is a family record listing birth dates for members of the Lynam family.

Volume seven contains a daily list of receipts and expenses incurred by the Lyman and Potts families from 1919-1923.

Volume eight is a school trustees’ record book from District No. 8 of Jefferson County, circa 1900. The record book contains an annual census and enrollment of students (including names of children, names of parents or guardians, age of children, and date of enrollment), teacher contracts, records of levy and tax, records of meetings of trustees, and results of district elections.

Volume nine contains one or two undated sermons or speeches, possibly related to promoting Christianity in Japan and China.

Folder ten contains newspaper clippings circa 1930s. Clippings cover taxes, health, and general information concerning the Louisville, Kentucky area.

Volume eleven contains funeral plans for Mrs. Virginia (Lynam) Potts and names of those calling at the funeral or visitation. Brief genealogies of the King, Potts, and Lynam families are included at the back of the volume.

Folder twelve contains miscellaneous correspondence, bills, sermons, and material related to children’s education dated 1900-1925 and undated.

Biographical Notes

Lynam

The Lynams were a farming family in Newburg, Kentucky. Newburg was annexed by Louisville in 2003.

David Lynam (1807-1887) married Sarah Ann Augustus (1817-1892) on 18 April 1833. Their children were John Thomas Lynam (born 23 May 1836), Mary Jane Lynam (born 2 February 1839), Marthy (possibly Martha) Ann Lynam (born 16 December 1841), Nancy Elizabeth Lynam (born 21 November 1843), Sarah Lynam (14 May 1846), Arabella Lynam (born 27 April 1848), Sabina Lynam (born 5 August 1850), and William David Lynam (born 28 November 1856). The 1860 Federal Slave Schedule shows David Lynam as owning five slaves (their names are not provided on the schedule).

Potts

Virginia Lynam (1880-1948), daughter of William D. Lynam (1856-1934) and Leila King (1854-1929), married Jesse T. Potts (1880-1967) on 24 October 1912.

Folder List

Volume 1: Diary of William David Lynam, 1879-1881

Volume 2: Diary of William David Lynam, 1883-1891

Volume 3: Diary and Expenses and Receipts of William David Lynam, 1898-1902

Volume 4: Diary and Expenses and Receipts of William David Lynam, 1903-1909

Volume 5: Diary and Expenses and Receipts of William David Lynam, 1909

Volume 6: Expenses and Receipts of John Lynam, 1847-1873, Lynam Family Record

Volume 7: Expenses and Receipts of William David Lynam, 1919-1923

Volume 8: School Trustees’ Record Book, District No. 8, Jefferson County, circa 1900

Volume 9: Sermons, undated

Folder 10: Newspaper Clippings, circa 1930s

Volume 11: Genealogies and Funeral Plans, 1933, 1948

Folder 12: Miscellaneous 1900-1925, undated

Subject Headings

Education – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Farm life – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Jefferson County Public Schools.

King family

Newburg (Ky.)

Potts family

Prices – Kentucky – Jefferson County

School children – Kentucky – Jefferson County

School taxes – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Sermons – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Slaveholders – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Speeches, addresses, etc.

Wages – Kentucky – Jefferson County

Little, Isaac (1834-1907) Papers, 1862-1900

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Little, Isaac, 1834-1907

Title: Papers, 1862-1900

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: .66 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A L778

Scope and Content Note

The collection, comprising approximately 140 letters, consists primarily of correspondence from Sgt. Isaac Little, 84^th Indiana Inf. Regt., to his second wife, Sally Coats Little, during the Civil War. Little was stationed primarily in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia, seeing action in the Battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain, as well as the Tullahoma, Tenn., and Atlanta Campaigns. In addition to descriptions of battles and battlefields, the letters include detailed accounts of acts of confiscation, destruction, and pillage committed by Union and Confederate forces, as well as numerous entrepreneurial methods of supplementing his army pay and other aspects of daily military life.. Additional post-war materials include letters concerning the settlement of a Little relative’s estate, an application for a military pension and an invitation to an 1892 reunion of the 84^th Regiment. To read a detailed inventory of the Little Papers, please click here to view a PDF.

Approximately 50 photographs of Isaac Little’s descendants are contained in the Little – Bockhofer – Canaday Family Photograph Collection, 013PC3, in the Filson’s Photographic Collection.

Some of the folders in this collection have been digitized. See PDF scans linked in the folder list below.

Biographical Note

Isaac Little was born March 4, 1834, in Randolph Co., Indiana, the oldest child of David and Nancy Little. In 1855 he married Nancy Ann Coffin, with whom he had three daughters. Nancy died in 1859 and in 1862 he married Sally Coats. Together they had six children, the eldest of whom, Alistus, is frequently mentioned in the letters. Sally died in 1872. Isaac married Elizabeth Millet in 1874. They had no children together. In August 1862 Isaac enlisted as a private in Company H, 84^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment,. After the regiment was mustered in at Richmond, Ind., he was stationed in northern Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. He spent the winter of 1862-63 in eastern Kentucky, southeastern Ohio, and western Virginia. In February 1863 he was promoted to corporal. He saw action in several skirmishes and battles in Tennessee, from Nashville to Chattanooga. He participated in several engagements in the Atlanta Campaign in the summer and fall of 1864. He was promoted to sergeant in March 1865 and was mustered out June 14, 1865. After the war, he returned to Randolph County and resumed farming. He died April 18, 1907, at the age of 73, at Cox’s Mill, Wayne Co., Ind., where his son, Alistus, was the miller.

Folder List

Box 1

Folder 1: Correspondence, Aug.-Sept. 1862, 21 items

Folder 2: Correspondence, Oct. 1862, 21 items

Folder 3: Correspondence, Nov. 1862, 19 items (includes 5 pp. photocopies)

Folder 4: Correspondence, Dec. 1862, 22 items

Folder 5: Correspondence, Jan.-Feb. 1863, 31 items (click to view PDF)

Folder 6: Correspondence, March 1863, 21 items (includes 2 pp. photocopies) (click to view PDF)

Folder 7: Correspondence, April-June 1863, 27 items (click to view PDF)

Folder 8: Correspondence, July-Sept. 1863, 30 items

Folder 9: Correspondence, Oct. 1863-Jan. 1864, 23 items

Folder 10: Correspondence, April-July 1864, 26 items (includes 2 pp. photocopies)

Folder 11: Correspondence, Aug.-Dec. 1864, 27 items (click to view PDF)

Folder 12: Correspondence, Jan.-March 1865, 23 items

Folder 13: Correspondence, April-June 1865, 18 items

Folder 14: Correspondence, 1880-1900, undated printed documents, 9 items

Subject Headings

Atlanta (Ga.) – Description and travel.

Atlanta (Ga.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Atlanta Campaign, 1864.

Black Brigade of Cincinnati.

Broadsides – United States.

Chattanooga (Tenn.), Battle of, 1863.

Chickamauga (Ga.), Battle of, 1863.

Cincinnati (Ohio) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Claims against decedent’s estates – Indiana.

Confederate States of America – History, Military – Desertions.

Copperhead movement.

Dallas (Ga.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Desertion – Military – United States.

Entrepreneurship – United States.

Fort Mitchell (Ky.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Franklin (Tenn.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Franklin, Battle of, Franklin, Tenn., 1864.

Georgia – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Granger, Gordon, 1822-1876.

Guyandotte (W.Va.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Indiana – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Kentucky – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 – Assassination.

Lookout Mountain, (Tenn.), Battle of, 1863.

Military discipline – United States.

Military pensions – United States.

Military railroads – United States.

Morgan, John Hunt, 1825-1864.

Morton, Oliver P. (Oliver Perry), 1823-1877.

Nashville, Battle of, Nashville, Tenn., 1864.

Nashville (Tenn.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Presidents–United States – Election –1864.

Quakers – Indiana.

Railroad accidents – United States.

Richmond, (Ind.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Rosecrans, William S. (William Starke), 1819-1898.

Society of Friends – Indiana.

Sutlers – United States

Tennessee – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Thompson’s Station, Battle of, Thompson’s Station, Tenn., 1863.

Traitors – United States.

Tullahoma (Tenn.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – African Americans.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Communications.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Confiscations and contributions.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Desertions.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Destruction and pillage.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Equipment and supplies.

United States – History –Civil War, 1861-1865 – Health aspects.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Hospitals.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Participation, African American.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Prisoners and prisons.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Underground movements.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Transportation.

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Veterans – Indiana.

United States. Army – African American troops.

United States. Army – Barracks and quarters.

United States. Army – Communications systems.

United States. Army – Firearms.

United States. Army – Leaves and furloughs.

United States. Army – Military life.

United States. Army – Pay, allowances, etc.

United States. Army – Promotions.

United States. Army – Religious life.

United States. Army – Supplies and stores.

United States. Army – Transportation.

United States. Army – Uniforms.

United States. Army. Indiana Infantry Regiment, 84^th, 1862-1865.

United States. Army. Ohio Infantry Regiment, 40^th, 1861-1864.

United States. Army. 2^nd Brigade, 3^rd Division, Army of Kentucky.

Virginia – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

West Virginia – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Inter-State Investment Company Records, 1887-1927

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Inter-State Investment Company

Title: Records, 1887-1927

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: 3.0 cu. ft. and 1 Oversize Map

Location Number: Mss. BB I61

Scope and Content Note

Records of the Inter-State Investment Company, a land speculation company formed by Charles T. Ballard; his family and friends acted as stockholders and officers. With R. C. Ballard Thruston acting as purchasing agent the company bought lands in Harlan County, Kentucky, and Lee County, Virginia. The company then leased or sold the land at a profit. The records document shareholder meetings, lands purchased and legal claims to those lands, flora and fauna on the lands, and business activities of the company.

Volume one contains a seven page history of the Inter-State Investment Company written by R. C. Ballard Thruston and notes for shareholder meetings for 26 February 1889 through 8 March 1927. A few pages of hand written notes, apparently used in preparing the chronologies in this volume, are also included.

Volume two contains minutes for shareholder meetings from 1887-1927. Typed reports concerning stock and bond values are occasionally inserted in the volume. One of these reports is typed on paper with the letterhead of Ballard & Ballard Co., Manufacturers of the Obelisk Flour.

Volumes three through seven contain typed transcripts of titles for lands in Harlan County, Kentucky, typed transcripts of court documents when the ownership of the property was in dispute, and topographical maps and maps showing property lines of the area drawn by Thruston. The survey notes often mention local flora.

Volume eight is an index to what appears to be a company filing system. The envelopes and other records this volume refers to are not located at the Filson, although some or all of the information they contained may be available in other volumes.

Volume nine is an index to abstracts of titles contained in volumes three through seven and ten through twelve of this collection. This index refers to specific pages and volumes; however, the volumes referred to in this index are not numbered the same as the volume numbers assigned by this finding aid. Instead volumes are described as, for example, Kentucky volume 2.

Volumes ten through twelve contain typed transcripts of titles for lands in Lee County, Virginia, typed transcripts of court documents when the ownership of the property was in dispute, and topographical maps and maps showing property lines of the area drawn by Thruston. The survey notes often mention local flora.

Volume thirteen contains abstracts of titles, reports on forestry, birds, and coal in the Black Mountain, Kentucky and Crab Orchard, Virginia regions, and reports on possession of lands in Harlan County, Kentucky, and Lee County, Virginia. Some photographs of forests and coal seams are also included.

Volume fourteen contains abstracts of titles containing general data such as articles of incorporation, leases, mortgages, consolidation and deeds of release to property formerly owned by the Inter-State Investment Company.

Volumes fifteen and sixteen contain abstracts of titles and reports of and letters relating to surveys.

Roll 17 is oversized material and consists of three copies of a topographical map showing the Inter-State Investment Company’s holdings of timber on the Clover Fork River in Harlan County Kentucky.

Historical Note

The Inter-State Investment Company was formed by Charles T. Ballard (1850-1918) in response to a boom in land prices in 1886-1887. R. C. Ballard Thruston left his position at the Kentucky Geological Survey to act as a purchasing agent for the company based on his knowledge of coal and timber lands in the Virginia and Kentucky region.

Initial stockholders in the company included Charles T. Ballard, S. Thruston Ballard, Mrs. Fanny T. Ballard, R. C. Ballard Thruston, John Churchill, Judge Alford T. Pope, Mr. S. Zorn, Mr. A. V. Lafayette, Mr. W. N. Culp, and others. Charles T. Ballard served as president, and A. V. Lafayette as secretary.

The majority of the property purchased was in Harlan County, Kentucky, with additional property in Lee County, Virginia, and Wise County, Virginia (including property which became the town of Big Stone Gap, Virginia). The company continued to purchase land, and in 1894, J. F. Bullitt was hired to go over titles and correct any errors.

The company sold the last of its land in 1909, the last of its timber rights in 1927 (effectively ending the active business affairs of the company), and retired the last of its bonds in 1942.

Source: History of the Inter-State Investment Company by R. C. Ballard Thruston

Folder List

Volume 1: History of the Inter-State Investment Company by R. C. Ballard Thruston

Volume 2: Minute Book, 1887-1927

Volume 3: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Harlan County, Kentucky, vol. 1

Volume 4: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Harlan County, Kentucky, vol. 2

Volume 5: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Harlan County, Kentucky, vol. 3

Volume 6: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Harlan County, Kentucky, vol. 4

Volume 7: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Harlan County, Kentucky, vol. 5

Volume 8: Index to Unknown Volume

Volume 9: Index to Abstracts of Title Made for Inter-State Investment Company

Volume 10: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Lee County, Virginia, vol. 1

Volume 11: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Lee County, Virginia, vol. 2

Volume 12: Abstracts of Titles to Lands Lying In Lee County, Virginia, vol. 3

Volume 13: Abstracts of Titles with Reports on Forestry, Ornithology, Coal and Possession of Lands in Harlan County, Kentucky, and Lee County, Virginia, Miscellaneous vol. 1

Volume 14: Abstracts of Titles Containing General Data Such as Articles of Incorporation, Leases, Mortgages, Consolidation and Deeds of Release to Property Formerly Owned by the Inter-State Investment Company, Miscellaneous vol. 2

Volume 15: Abstracts of Titles, Reports of and Letters Relating to Surveys, vol. 1

Volume 16: Abstracts of Titles, Reports of and Letters Relating to Surveys, vol. 2

Roll 17 (ovsz): Three Topographical Maps of Kentucky Property on Which Timber was Reserved

Subject Headings

Ballard, Charles T., 1850-1918

Birds – Kentucky – Black Mountain

Birds – Virginia – Crab Orchard

Coal – Kentucky – Harlan County

Coal – Virginia – Lee County

Forests and forestry – Kentucky – Black Mountain

Forests and forestry – Virginia – Lee County

Kentucky – Black Mountain – Photographs

Kentucky – Harlan County – Maps

Keokee Coal and Coke Company (Keokee, Va.)

Land speculation – Kentucky – Harlan County

Land speculation – Virginia – Lee County

Letterheads

Mines and mineral resources – Kentucky – Harlan County

Mines and mineral resources – Virginia – Lee County

Natural resources – Kentucky – Harlan County

Natural resources – Virginia – Lee County

Ornithology – Kentucky – Black Mountain

Ornithology – Virginia – Crab Orchard

Real estate investment – Kentucky – Harlan County

Real estate investment – Virginia – Lee County

Thruston, R. C. Ballard

Virginia – Lee County – Maps

Virginia – Lee County – Photographs

Carner, Anthony Wayne (1826-1893) Papers, 1857-1889

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Carner, Anthony Wayne, 1826-1893

Title: Papers, 1857-1889

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: .66 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A C289

Scope and Content Note

The Anthony Wayne Carner papers consist of financial records related to Carner’s activities as a steamboat captain on the Ohio River Valley in the latter half of the nineteenth century. These records document the financial transactions related to operating a steamboat on the Ohio River Valley.

Volume one, Account Book and Diary, has both financial accounts (showing a date, name or good, and dollar amount) and scattered, brief entries discussing travel, weather, and significant events in Carner’s life for 1857-1858.

Volumes two, three, and four, Account Books, show a date, name, type of good or service, and bill payable or money received for 1876-1889.

Volumes five and six, Cash Books, show expenditures for Carner’s business dealings. Volume five lists a date, name or item, and dollar amount for 1858-1859. Volume six shows a name or item and dollar amount, with expenses broken down by category (balance, freight, passage, and sundries on the left hand page and fuel, wages, stores, expenses, and sundries on the right hand page) for 1861-1880.

Volumes seven, eight, and nine, Freight Books, show shippers, residence, consignee, destination, marks, description of freight, weight, rate, amount, charges, and cash (payment) for 1858-1863.

Volumes ten and eleven, Receipt Books, show a location, date, received of, amount, type of goods (often coal or wood), and signature for 1861-1864.

Volume twelve, the Passage Book, shows names of passengers, their point of embarkation, destination, the amount they were charged, and the amount they paid in cash for 1858-1859.

Volume thirteen, the Cabin Register, lists names of cabin passengers, their city of embarkation, destination, and the amount they paid for 1861-1864.

Volume fourteen, the Portage Book, shows names, occupations, time of service, number of days of service, rate of pay for month, rate of pay per day, total amount of wages, memo of payments on account, folio, amount paid, the signature of the employee showing they received their wages, the signature of a witness, and remarks for 1863-1864.

Folder fifteen is Business Correspondence, 1860-1880, and undated.

Photos in the collection were separated to the Filson photo collection (012PC60). The booklet A Brief History of Russell Kentucky discusses Carner’s contributions to the town, and was transferred to the Filson library.

Biographical Note

Anthony Wayne Carner was born in 1826 in Olean, New York. Carner operated a number of steamboats in the Ohio River Valley, including the Victor, Victor No. 2, and the Jessie, and was one of the early settlers of Russell, Kentucky. He was married to Henrietta R. Kittles, and the 1870 census shows they were the parents of Alice, Alonzo, Nellie, Calvin, Lizzie, and Eveline Carner. Anthony Carner died in February of 1893.

Folder List

Note: Volumes 1-4, 10-11, and folder 15 are boxed. Volumes 5-9 and 12-14 are wrapped.

Volume 1: Account Book and Diary, 12 November 1857-1 July 1858

Volume 2: Account Books, 1876-1877

Volume 3: Account Books, 1 November 1886-27 May 1887

Volume 4: Account books, 1888-1889

Volume 5: Cash book, 25 August 1858-5 December 1859

Volume 6: Cash book, 1861-1880

Volume 7: Freight book, 13 September 1858-1 October 1859

Volume 8: Freight book, 8 May 1861-18 September 1861

Volume 9: Freight book, 13 December 1861-19 January 1863

Volume 10: Receipt Book, 16 February 1861-29 May 1879

Volume 11: Receipt Book, 14 December 1861-19 December 1864

Volume 12: Passage Book, 14 September 1858-19 July 1859

Volume 13: Cabin Register, 25 December 1861-7 January 1864

Volume 14: Portage Book, 23 December 1863-2 October 1864

Folder 15: Business Correspondence, 1860-1880, undated

Subject Headings

Big Sandy River (Ky. and W. Va.)

Freight and freightage – Rates – Ohio River Valley

Letterheads

Ohio River Valley

Prices – Ohio River Valley

Rivers – Kentucky

Rivers – Ohio

Rivers – West Virginia

Shipping companies (Marine transportation) – Ohio River Valley

Steamboat lines – Passenger lists

Steamboats – Ohio River Valley

Transportation

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Transportation

Voyages and travels

Wages – Inland water transportation – Ohio River Valley

Buchanan, Ezra (1840-1875) Papers, 1862-1916

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Ezra Buchanan, 1840-1875

Title: Papers, 1862-1916

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: .33 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A B918

Scope and Content Note

This collection, comprising approximately 75 letters, consists primarily of letters written by Sgt. Ezra Buchanan, 79^th Indiana Infantry Regiment, to his wife Nancy Alice Buchanan, during the Civil War. In addition to describing several battlefields and military engagements that his regiment participated in while stationed in Tennessee and Georgia, he includes many details of daily military life. Detailed descriptions of southern cities and people are included in several letters. Many of the letters are remarkable for their romantic tone, since he frequently endeavors to assure her of his faithfulness, love and devotion to her, despite constant temptations around him.

A smaller collection of six letters written by Sgt. Buchanan can be found in the Ezra Buchanan Miscellaneous Letters, Mss. C B.

Biographical Note

Ezra F. Buchanan was born January 15, 1840, in Warren, Marion Co., Indiana, the eldest son of Joseph and Ester Buchanan. He married Nancy Alice Vansicle (Van Sickle) ca. 1861. Their first child, Frankie, was born Nov. 1861 and died April, 1864. Additional children included Horace, born ca. 1866, Mary, born ca. 1869 and Wallace, born ca. 1873. Ezra enlisted as a sergeant in Co. D, 79^th Indiana infantry regiment on August 7, 1862. He was stationed in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama and saw action in the Battles of Chattanooga, Chickamauga, Franklin (Tenn.), and the Atlanta Campaign. In April 1863, he was appointed chief of Gen. Samuel Beatty’s escort. In March 1865, he was promoted to 1^st lieutenant. He was mustered out on June 7, 1865 in Indianapolis. Shortly after he returned home, he and Nancy moved to Ralls Co., Missouri where he worked as a carpenter. He died November 24, 1875 and was buried in Ralls County. Following Ezra’s death, Nancy returned to Marion Co., Indiana where she lived with her father and two surviving children. She died November 12, 1918 in Marion Co.

Folder List

Folder 1: Correspondence, April 1862-March 1863

Folder 2: Correspondence, April-June 1863

Folder 3: Correspondence, July-Sept. 1863

Folder 4: Correspondence, Oct.1863-Jan. 1864 (includes 4 pp. photocopies)

Folder 5: Correspondence, April-June 1864

Folder 6: Correspondence, Aug.-Nov. 1864 (includes 8 pp. photocopies)

Folder 7: Correspondence, Dec. 1864-Feb. 1865 (includes 1 p. photocopy)

Folder 8: Correspondence, March 1865-1887

Folder 9: Miscellaneous envelopes, receipts, notes, song text

Subject Headings

Atlanta (Ga.) – Description and travel

Atlanta Campaign, 1864

Ballads, American

Chattanooga (Tenn.), Battle of, 1863

Chickamauga (Ga.), Battle of, 1863

Claims against decedent’s estates – Indiana

Confederate States of America – History, Military

Copperhead movement

Desertion, Military – Confederate States of America

Franklin (Tenn.), Battle of, 1864

Georgia – History – Civil War, 1861-1865

Indiana – History – Civil War, 1861-1865

Infants – Death

Knoxville (Tenn.) – History – Civil War, 19^th century

Love-letters – United States

McMinnville (Tenn.) – History – 19^th century

Military engineers – United States

Military pensions – United States

Stones River, Battle of, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1862-1863

Tennessee – History – Civil War, 1861-1865

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1864 – African Americans

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Casualties

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Confiscations and contributions

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Destruction and pillage

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Engineering and construction

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Equipment and supplies

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Health aspects

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Hospitals

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – Transportation

United States – History – War of 1812 – Songs and music – Texts

United States. Army – Barracks and quarters

United States. Army – Military life

United States. Army – Promotions

United States. Army – Transportation

United States. Army – Uniforms

United States. Army. Indiana Infantry Regiment, 79^th, 1862-1865

Boyer-Castleman Family Papers, 1837-1901

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Boyer-Castleman family

Title: Papers, 1837-1901

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: .66 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. A B791

Scope and Content Note

The Boyer-Castleman family portion of this collection covers the years 1837 to 1870. The earliest papers in the collection, which date from 1837 to 1849, document the business activities of Alfred Z. Boyer, Sr. and matters related to his estate. Subsequent letters to his widow, Zerelda, contain consolations on the death of her husband, family news and brief references to family slaves, the funeral of President Andrew Jackson and the Mexican War. These early papers also include an 1837 letter from Sarah Taylor Castleman to her mother.

The bulk of the collection consists of letters received by Martha Peyton Castleman of Lexington from family and friends. One of her most colorful correspondents is Reuben Oliver of Louisville, who wrote lively accounts of his interest in politics, literature and the theater. However, the majority of these items are courtship letters she received from Alfred Zeler Boyer, Jr. between 1857 and 1864. Boyer’s letters touch on a multitude of subjects, including but not limited to, social life in Frankfort and Louisville, Ky., his business activities and travels, church going, the theater, health and his great affection for Peyton. With the outbreak of the Civil War, his letters reveal his transition from a Union man to a Southern sympathizer. An officer in Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s Confederate cavalry, Boyer’s 1863 letters concern his capture in Louisville and confinement in the Louisville Military Prison upon charges of being a spy. Following his 1864 release, which was facilitated by President Lincoln, Boyer writes about his return to business pursuits in Kentucky. Also present are letters to both Peyton and her father from her brother, Bushrod T. “Bush” Castleman, a Confederate soldier who writes about his 1862 capture at Fort Donelson, Tenn. and his subsequent capture during Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s 1863 Ohio raid. Miscellany in the collection consists of: an undated medical prescription, an invitation to an 1859 ball, a clothing invoice and a family record listing the names and dates of birth of A. Z. and Peyton’s children.

The remainder of the collection consists of the papers of the Gleason family of Claremont, New Hampshire which cover the years 1861 to 1901. No connection between these families could be determined beyond the fact that their papers were deposited in the same collection and members of both families resided in Jacksonville, Florida. The collection includes the 1861 marriage record of Timothy A. Gleason (1839-1884) to Cleora A. Tribou, as well as correspondence related to his tenure as a local postmaster in the early 1870s. Also present are the letters of his brother Charles Wistar Gleason (1826-1875) to their mother, Elizabeth Putnam Gleason. Written in late 1874-early 1875, these letters discuss Charles’ plans to sell his business in Centerville, California and travel to Mexico, Hawaii, and Japan. Also present are the papers of Timothy Gleason’s daughter, Hattie Gertrude Gleason (1863-1939). Following her marriage to Charles Davies circa 1892, she moved to Jacksonville, Florida where she was employed as a music teacher. In addition to music program materials and a recipe book, her papers include a 1901 letter from Mabelle W. Blackman Hudson, the postmistress of Pago Pago, Samoa.

Biographical Note

The son of Alfred Zeler Boyer, Sr. and Zerelda McCoy Boyer (1816-1855), A. Z. Boyer, Jr. was born in Lexington, Ky. in 1836. His father, a boot and shoe merchant, subsequently moved to Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, where he died in 1846. Two years later Zerelda married Robert C. McKee. A. Z., his brothers, Henry, James, and John as well as their sister, Isabella “Belle” were afterwards raised by their mother and step-father in the capital.

About the year 1857, A. Z. began to correspond with Martha Peyton Castleman (1836-1900), the daughter of Charles W. Castleman (ca. 1809-1881) and Sarah Elizabeth Taylor Castleman (ca. 1809-1895) of Lexington, Ky. A brother, Bushrod Taylor “Bush” Castleman (1839-1918) was a Confederate officer in Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s command during the Civil War. After a lengthy courtship, A. Z., who also served as an officer in Morgan’s cavalry, married Peyton in 1864. They afterwards raised a family in Lexington where A. Z. was employed in the Insurance business. The family relocated to Louisville, Ky. by 1880 and prior to 1890 moved to Jacksonville, Florida. Following their deaths in Florida, A. Z. and Peyton were buried in the Lexington, Ky. Cemetery.

Beyond their mutual residence in Jacksonville, Florida there is no other apparent connection between the Gleason-Davies and the Boyer-Castleman families. The son of Timothy S. Gleason (1789-1843) and Elizabeth Putnam Gleason (1804-1877) of Claremont, New Hampshire, Charles Wistar Gleason (1826-1875) was a merchant who died and is buried in Centerville, California. His brother Timothy A. Gleason (1839-1884) married Cleora A. Tribou (1845-1896) in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1861. A daughter Hattie Gertrude Gleason (1863-1939) married Charles Davies circa 1892. They subsequently made their home in Jacksonville, Florida where she was employed as a music teacher.

Folder List

Folder 1: Correspondence, 1837-1847.

Folder 2: Correspondence, 1848-1855.

Folder 3: Correspondence, 1857.

Folder 4: Correspondence, Jan.-June, 1858.

Folder 5: Correspondence, July-Dec., 1858.

Folder 6: Correspondence, Jan.-June, 1859.

Folder 7: Correspondence, July-Sept., 1859.

Folder 8: Correspondence, Oct.-Dec., 1859.

Folder 9: Correspondence, Jan.-March, 1860.

Folder 10: Correspondence, April-June, 1860.

Folder 11: Correspondence, July-Sept., 1860.

Folder 12: Correspondence, Oct.-Dec., 1860.

Folder 13: Correspondence, Jan.-June, 1861.

Folder 14: Correspondence, July-Sept., 1861; Feb.-April, 1862.

Folder 15: Correspondence, March-Aug., 1863.

Folder 16: Correspondence, Sept.-Nov. 1863.

Folder 17: Correspondence, Jan.-April; Aug., 1864.

Folder 18: Correspondence, Undated.

Folder 19: Miscellaneous, 1859-1870.

Folder 20: Miscellaneous Envelopes.

Folder 21: Gleason-Davies Family Correspondence, 1874-1901.

Folder 22: Gleason-Davies Family Miscellaneous, 1861, Undated.

Subject Headings

Abolitionists – United States.

African Americans – Religion.

African Americans – Social life and customs.

American literature – 19^th century.

Anderson, Robert, 1805-1871.

Baltimore (Md.) – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Bell, J. F. (Joshua Fry), 1811-1870.

Bowles, James William, 1837-1921.

Boyer, Alfred Zeler, Sr. d. 1846

Boyer, Alfred Zeler, 1836-1892.

Boyer, Martha Peyton Castleman, 1836-1900.

Breckinridge, John C. (John Cabell), 1821-1875.

Bremer, Frederika, 1801-1865.

Brewster, Benjamin Harris, 1816-1888.

Buckner, Simon Bolivar, 1823-1914.

Business enterprises – Kentucky – Louisville.

Castleman family.

Clothing and dress – Missouri – St. Louis

Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, 2^nd

Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Cavalry Regiment, 8th.

Confederate States of America. Army. Kentucky Infantry Regiment, 2nd.

Courtship – Kentucky.

Cowell, Sam, 1820-1864.

Crab Orchard (Ky.)

Cragin, Aaron H., 1821-1898.

Craik, James, 1806-1882.

Crimean War, 1853-1856.

Crittenden, Elizabeth Moss, 1805-1873.

Cushing, Caleb, 1800-1879.

Dean, Julia, 1830-1868.

Death – Social aspects – United States.

Delaware – History – Civil War, 1861-1865.

Ellsworth, E. E. (Elmer Ephraim), 1837-1861.

English literature – 19^th century.

Fort Donelson, battle of, Tenn.1862.

Frankfort (Ky.) – Social life and customs.

Gleason family.

Gleason, Charles Wistar, 1826-1875.

Beckham Bird Club Added Records, 1995-2012

October 17, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Beckham Bird Club

Title: Added Records, 1995-2012

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: 1 cu. ft.

Location Number: Mss. BK B396a

Scope and Content Note

This addition to the records of the Beckham Bird Club consists of birding field trip reports; minutes and agendas of monthly club meetings ranging from 1995 to 2012; and monthly newsletters. The addition also contains newspaper clippings related to the club’s dedication of a historical marker in honor of Charles Wickliffe Beckham and photocopies of Beckham-related publications. Nine photographs have been removed from the collection to be housed separately in the Filson Historical Society photograph collection.

Related Collections

Beckham Bird Club, Records, 1934-2006, Mss. BK B396

Historical Note

The Beckham Bird Club was founded in 1935 as the Louisville chapter of the Kentucky Ornithological Society and is named after early Kentucky ornithologist Charles Wickliffe Beckham (1856-1888). The Club conducts regular birding field trips throughout Kentucky and Indiana, as well as trips outside the region; participates in bird counts; and holds monthly meetings membership and board meetings in which guests are sometimes invited to give lectures relevant to birds or conservation. Members of the club participate in various social and environmental activities. Club members are often very active in various conservation movements in the Louisville area. For example, members have established various wildlife sanctuaries, aided in the wildlife-friendly development of the waterfront, and worked to reduce pollution and increase recycling.

Folder List

Folder 1: Notes and Agendas, 1995-2005

Folder 2: Minutes and The Observer, 2001

Folder 3: Minutes and The Observer, 2002

Folder 4: Minutes and The Observer, 2003

Folder 5: Minutes and The Observer, 2004

Folder 6: Minutes and The Observer, 2005

Folder 7: Minutes and The Observer, 2006

Folder 8: Minutes and The Observer, 2007

Folder 9: Minutes and The Observer, 2008

Folder 10: Minutes and The Observer, 2009

Folder 11: The Observer, 2010-2012

Folder 12: Birding – Barkley & Kentucky Dams

Folder 13: Birding – Bernheim Forest

Folder 14: Birding – Blackacre Nature Preserve

Folder 15: Birding – Brown Park, St. Matthews

Folder 16: Birding – Buttermilk Falls, Brandenburg, Kentucky

Folder 17: Birding – Cave Hill Cemetery

Folder 18: Birding – Charlestown State Park, Indiana

Folder 19: Birding – Coates Farm

Folder 20: Birding – Crane Creek State Park, Ohio

Folder 21: Birding – Deam Lake, Indiana

Folder 22: Birding – E. P. Tom Sawyer State Park

Folder 23: Birding – Falls of the Ohio

Folder 24: Birding – Floyds Fork Park

Folder 25: Birding – Garvin Brown

Folder 26: Birding – Ohio River Levee

Folder 27: Birding – Iroquois Park

Folder 28: Birding – Jefferson Memorial Forest

Folder 29: Birding – Joe Creason Park and Beargrass Nature Preserve

Folder 30: Birding – Mammoth Cave National Park

Folder 31: Birding – Mount Saint Francis, Indiana

Folder 32: Birding – Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, Indiana

Folder 33: Birding – Nettlebroth Sanctuary, Cherokee Park

Folder 34: Birding – Ohio River

Folder 35: Birding – Patoka Lake, Indiana

Folder 36: Birding – Peabody Wilderness Management Area / Ohio County Strip Mines

Folder 37: Birding – Red River Gorge

Folder 38: Birding – River Road

Folder 39: Birding – Shawnee Park

Folder 40: Birding – Slough Wilderness Management Area

Folder 41: Birding – Tioga Falls

Folder 42: Birding – Miscellaneaous, Kentuckiana

Folder 43: Birding – Miscellaneous, Other Areas

Folder 44: Historic Marker & 150th Anniversary

Folder 45: Charles Beckham Research Materials

Subject Headings

Beckham, Charles Wickliffe, 1856-1888.

Bernheim Forest (Nelson County, Ky.)

Bird watching.

Birds – Societies, etc.

Cave Hill Cemetery (Louisville, Ky.)

Cherokee Park (Louisville, Ky.)

Clubs – Kentucky – Louisville.

Conservationists – Kentucky – Louisville.

E. P. Tom Sawyer State Park (Louisville, Ky.)

Floyds Fork Park (Ky.)

Iroquois Park (Louisville, Ky.)

Nature conservation.

Ornithology – Societies, etc.

Shawnee Park (Louisville, Ky.)

White, Novia James (1919-2013) Papers, 1916-2012

September 30, 2014

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: White, Novia James, 1919-2013

Title: Papers, 1916-2012 (bulk: 1936-1946)

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: 2 cu. ft. and 1 oversize folder

Location Number: Mss. A W586b

Scope and Content Note

The Novia J. White Papers contain letters and ephemera relating to the life and military service of Novia J. White, a navigator on a B-29 Bomber during World War II who served in the South Pacific. The collection contains letters between himself and his wife, Nannette von Siebenthal, before they were married in 1939 and after they married while he served overseas. The collection contains some of his workbooks and manuals from navigation school and as well as documents related to his military service. There are also veteran newsletters and other military ephemera in the collection which document his post-active duty connection to the military and his former comrades. The collection also documents White’s education, such as a yearbook from duPont Manual High School in 1937 along with his schedules and information from his college career.

Folders 1 through 15 contain letters between White and his then fiancée, Nannette von Siebenthal. The letters date from July 1936 through June 1938 when White was living in Los Angeles, California and Nannette was living in Louisville, Kentucky.

Folders 16 through 28 contain letters between White and his wife Nannette while he was training and then serving in the military during World War II. The letters date from August 1943 through August 1946 while White was stationed in the South Pacific and Nanette was in Pennsylvania.

Folder 29 contains information about White’s education, such as report cards, a yearbook, and programs for the commencement ceremony in 1937 from duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky. The folder also contains a program from the 55 year reunion for the class of 1937.

Folder 30 contains documents from White’s training as a navigator. The folder also contains programs from his graduation from navigation school in 1945, pocket-sized manuals and handbooks, and some of the songs used as cadences for the Army Air Corps.

Folders 31 through 33 contain White’s training manuals and handbooks from navigation school. Some of these books are the instruction manuals the Army supplied and others are White’s notebooks where he worked on his equations and charts, etc.

Folder 34 contains documents and items from White’s active duty service during the war and his post-war work abroad. These documents include flight logs, his official power of attorney signed by himself and his wife, documents about White’s work on the bases, and some Filipino and Japanese currency.

Folder 35 contains White’s post-war ephemera such as images of the B-29 Bomber, articles about veterans and Hiroshima, and a short biography of White. There is also a roster and list of deceased members of the 40^th Bomb Group Association that was current until October 2008.

Folder 36 contains several veteran newsletters from the 20^th Air Force dated from 1999 to the winter of 2003-2004. The folder also contains newsletters from the 40^th Bomb Group Association from the summer of 2004 and the spring of 2005.

Folder 37 contains printed scans of photographs showing White and his flight crew in front of their B-29 Bomber, images of B-29 Bombers in flight, the landscape they flew over, and other images of White’s fellow crew members [original photos have been separated; see Separate Note].

Folder 38 contains programs from the church services White attended while he was in the service. They are dated October 1943 through August 1946 and are from his training bases and his overseas stations. [Additional church programs and bulletins are located throughout White’s correspondence.]

Folder 39 contains miscellaneous items such as a tax return from 1942, newspaper clippings, and two of White’s letters of resignation, one to a newspaper in Atlanta and the second to Independent Life Insurance. There is also a newsletter than mentions White and his wife’s golden anniversary. The folder dates from 1916 through 1984 and some of the items are undated.

Folder 40 (Oversized) contains oversized maps and aeronautical charts White used during his training and active duty during World War II. There are cloth items that detail how to survive after bailing out of a plane over water, cloth maps, and some large paper maps.

Separation Note

Photographs have been separated to the Novia James White Photograph Collection, 013PC53.

Biographical Note

Novia James White was born in 1919 in Lebanon, Kentucky to parents Bird C. and Elizabeth White. He graduated from duPont Manual High School in Louisville, Kentucky in 1937 and then attended the University of Wisconsin for one year before he transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles. After one semester at UCLA, White dropped out to get a job in the newspaper industry, delivering papers and collecting bills. Shortly after he dropped out of college, his fiancée, Nannette von Siebenthal came out to Los Angeles; they married in the summer of 1939. Together they had three children, one of which was born before the war. He worked in newspapers until he enlisted in the air cadets in the Army Air Corps in 1943.

He trained as a navigator for a B-24 Liberator and then transferred to the B-29 Bomber, called the Superfortress, before he was sent to the South Pacific. He was part of the 40^th Bomb Group, 58^th Bomb Wing, 20^th Air Force. He was stationed on Tinian, an island in the northern part of the Mariana Islands, where he flew three missions before the official surrender of the Japanese Army. Following the Japanese surrender, White was stationed on Tinian and then transferred to the Philippines, where he served as a mess officer, earning an Army commendation for his work. He was honorably discharged in October 1946. After the war, White worked in newspapers in Philadelphia and Atlanta before he joined the Independent Life and Accident Insurance Company. He retired from there as Vice President in 1984. White passed away in May of 2013.

Folder List

Folder 1: Correspondence, July 1936-November 1937

Folder 2: Correspondence, January 1938-June 1938

Folder 3: Correspondence, July 1938

Folder 4: Correspondence, August 1-15, 1938

Folder 5: Correspondence, August 17-31, 1938

Folder 6: Correspondence, September 1938

Folder 7: Correspondence, October 1938

Folder 8: Correspondence, November 1938

Folder 9: Correspondence, December 1938

Folder 10: Correspondence, January 1939

Folder 11: Correspondence, February 1939

Folder 12: Correspondence, March 1939

Folder 13: Correspondence, April 1939

Folder 14: Correspondence, May 1939

Folder 15: Correspondence, June 1939

Folder 16: Correspondence, August 1943-October 1944

Folder 17: Correspondence, August 1945

Folder 18: Correspondence, September 1945

Folder 19: Correspondence, October 1945

Folder 20: Correspondence, November 1945

Folder 21: Correspondence, December 1945

Folder 22: Correspondence, January 1946

Folder 23: Correspondence, February 1946

Folder 24: Correspondence, March 1946

Folder 25: Correspondence, April 1946

Folder 26: Correspondence, May 1946

Folder 27: Correspondence, June 1946

Folder 28: Correspondence, July-August 1946

Folder 29: Education, 1935-1938

Folder 30: Military Training, August 1943-June 1945

Folder 31: Military Training: Notes and Workbook, 1944

Folder 32: Military Training: Manuals/Handbooks, 1943-1944, undated

Folder 33: Military Training: Workbooks, 1944, undated

Folder 34: Military Active Duty and Post-war Service, 1945-1946

Folder 35: Post-war Military Ephemera, 2008-2012, undated

Folder 36: Veteran Newsletters, 1999-2005

Folder 37: Printed Photograph Scans, 1945-1946

Folder 38: Church Bulletins/Religious Service Programs, October 1943 – August 1946

Folder 39: Miscellaneous, 1916-1984, undated

Folder 40 (Oversized): Oversize Maps, Aeronautical Charts, and Cloth Items, 1943-1945

Subject Headings

20^th Air Force Association (U.S.)

United States. Army Air Forces. Bombardment Group (VH), 40^th.

Aeronautical charts.

Aids to air navigation.

B-29 (Bomber)

Church bulletins.

Churchill Downs (Louisville, Ky. : Racetrack)

Courtship.

DuPont Manual High School (Louisville, Ky.)

Florida – Description and travel.

Los Angeles (Calif.) – Social life and customs.

Louisville (Ky.) – Social life and customs.

Love letters.

Mariana Islands.

Military life.

Military maps.

Navigation – Study and teaching.

Newspapers.

Officers’ clubs.

Philippines – History – 1898-1946.

Philippines – Manila.

Post cards.

Santa Anita Park (Arcadia, Calif.)

Santa Catalina Island (Calif.)

Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands)

United States. Army Air Forces – Commissariat.

University of California, Los Angeles.

University of Wisconsin – Madison.

United Service Organization (U.S.)

Weddings.

White, Nannette von Siebenthal, 1921-

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945 – Aerial operations, American.

World War, 1939-1945 – Maps.

World War, 1939-1945 – Pacific Area.

World War, 1939-1945 – Veterans.

Plato Family Papers, 1924-1967

Matthews Family Papers, 1912-1941

Lynam-Potts Family Papers, 1847-1948

Little, Isaac (1834-1907) Papers, 1862-1900

Inter-State Investment Company Records, 1887-1927

Carner, Anthony Wayne (1826-1893) Papers, 1857-1889

Buchanan, Ezra (1840-1875) Papers, 1862-1916

Boyer-Castleman Family Papers, 1837-1901

Beckham Bird Club Added Records, 1995-2012

White, Novia James (1919-2013) Papers, 1916-2012

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