Online Letters & Diaries

These letters and journals have been transcribed and made available online.

• Hargrove Bellamy Correspondence

  This correspondence is largely between Hargrove Bellamy and his parents during World War I, during which Bellamy left school at Chapel Hill to join the U.S. Army as a lieutenant. There are also some letters from Bellamy to his wife, from friends, and significant correspondence and telegrams between Bellamy's parents and the International Red Cross, Senator F. M. Simmons, and others in an attempt to have Hargrove Bellamy returned to the United States after he was captured and sent to a German POW camp on September 29, 1918. He was released in November of that year and returned to France after the end of the war; after returning to Wilmington he took over his father's firm, Robert R. Bellamy and Son, and was later elected mayor of Wilmington.

• Bethell Family Correspondence

  Mary and William Bethell rented rooms in their Wilmington home, sometimes called the "Chateau Bethell," to serviceman during World War II. This correspondence — between George Bethell (their son) and family; between Col. Donald J. Bailey, one of the Chateau Bethell's regular boarders, and the family; and between Maj. Murray D. Dougan, a regular visitor and sometime fiance of Mary Eloise, Mary and William's daughter, and the family — covers the years from 1943-1946.

• Julia Bowden Diary

  The diary of Julia Augusta Bowden (1859-1944) of Wilmington.

• Brown v. Board of Education: Oral Histories

  These transcriptions of six oral histories performed in 1995 detail the desegration of the New Hanover County school system from 1957-1971 from the viewpoints of six teachers and administrators.

• Hall Family Correspondence

  This series consists largely of correspondence written during the Civil War concerning camp life, family matters, and reports on some battles and situations. The correspondents include B.F. Hall and various relatives in the Confederate Army; most correspondence is addressed to family at home in Hallsville, Kenansville, and Wilmington. Some of the letters are contemporary or original while others are later copies.

• B. Frank Hall Memoirs

  Five memoirs by B. Frank Hall describing his life in North Carolina, from his rural childhood to his service in the Confederate Army to his time as a small businessman in Wilmington during and after reconstruction.

• Edward Hardin Correspondence

  Letters written by Lt. Edward Manning Hardin (1893-1930) to his parents John Haywood Hardin (1853-1932) and mother Jennie Haywood Hardin (1882-1950). These well-written letters home from France provide a vivid account of one young Wilmington officer's experience in World War I in France.

• Mary F. Sanders Civil War Notes

  A first-hand account of the Civil War as it affected Wilmington and the surrounding region.

• John Scott Correspondence

  This collection consists of letters received by John Scott of Tennessee, from two individuals between 1812 and 1833. Correspondence (17 letters) from Thomas H. Wright of Wilmington discusses business, economic, and family news from Wilmington, including details of economic depression and the fire of 1819. Correspondence (17 letters) from Christopher Dudley, Jr., Postmaster of Wilmington discusses sale of property and clearing titles as well as local business and family news.