Special Collections Department

HISTORY POST-1880

Selected Manuscript and Archival Resources

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George Handy Bates Samoan Papers

ca. 1869-1893, 328 items.
Papers of George Handy Bates (1845-1916), a Delaware attorney and Democratic official. Papers consist of documents, memoranda, correspondence, clippings, photographs, printed material, and other papers relating to Bates's tenure as investigator into Samoan affairs and as commissioner to the 1889 Berlin Conference on Samoan affairs.

Beebe, Anna, Papers

1913-1919, 219 items.
Personal correspondence directed to Anna Beebe, a young Lewes, Delaware, resident. Correspondence includes discussions of social and cultural activities, as well as comments on current events in Delaware, particularly in the Lewes and Wilmington areas.

Brayman, Harold H., Papers

1900-1988, 22 linear feet.
The papers of Harold H. Brayman, an author and journalist who was director of public relations for the DuPont Co. from 1942- 1965. Numerous scrapbooks document every facet of Brayman's journalism career during which he covered every national political convention from 1928-1940 and was elected President of the National Press Club (1938) and the Gridiron Club (1941). Extensive files of correspondence, texts of speeches, and other material document Brayman's pioneering work in the field of corporate public relations.

Bright, Robert Southall,. Papers

1792-1939, ca. 3.5 linear ft.
The papers of Robert Southall Bright ( 1872-1943), a Philadelphia attorney. Includes business and personal correspondence, miscellaneous family papers, photographs, and material relating to Bright's political activities, including examples of his speeches.

Coleman, Emily, Papers

1899-1974, ca. 37.5 linear ft.
Papers of the American expatriate writer. During the 1920s Coleman was associated with the group of writers in Paris who contributed to transition magazine; in the latter decades of her life she was active with Dorothy Day's Catholic Worker. In addition to Coleman's manuscripts, personal notebooks, diaries, family correspondence and memorabilia, the papers include extensive literary and personal correspondence.

Desegregation of Delaware Archives

1960-1982, ca. 6 linear ft.
Material relating to school desegregation in the state of Delaware. The collection includes published and unpublished reports, correspondence and memoranda, pamphlets and reports, newspaper clippings, and other material, the majority of which concerns Delaware's planning for the federally mandated desegregation program in the late 1970s.

Dunbar-Nelson, Alice, Papers

1875-1935, 8 linear ft.
Papers of the noted black author and activist, who resided in Wilmington, Delaware. Includes substantial personal, professional, and literary correspondence; manuscripts of Dunbar-Nelson's poetry, fiction, essays, and journalism; diaries and scrapbooks; and material relating to her work for the NAACP, the American Friends Service Committee, and other social and political organizations. Of particular note are the extensive correspondence between Dunbar-Nelson and her first husband, the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, and the detailed diaries Dunbar-Nelson maintained throughout most of her adult life.

Ernest, John Reynolds, Papers

1941-1944, 2 linear ft.
Papers relating to Ernest and other individuals in their official capacity with the United States Army Aircraft Warning Service and the Newark, Delaware, Council for Civilian Defense. Includes memoranda, reports, and other supporting documents pertaining to Civil Defense activities. Documents concern such issues as civil defense procedures and administration, including meetings, drills, fund raising, public relations, and various personnel issues. Also includes such materials as official civil defense armbands, an air raid helmet, rationbooks, logbooks, and personnel documents.

Federal Writers Project. Delaware. Records

1936-1941.
Original manuscripts and research materials for the WPA guide to Delaware. Bound into 48 volumes with a comprehensive name and subject index.

Frear, J. Allen, Jr., Papers

1903-1993, 80 linear ft.
The papers of J. Allen Frear, Jr., former United States Senator from Delaware, who served in the Senate from 1948-1960. The Frear Papers include extensive files of correspondence, memoranda, office files, reports, documents, photographs, and memorabilia documenting J. Allen Frear, Jr.'s senatorial career. Also includes papers relating to Frear's service with the SEC, 1961-1963, as well as early personal papers.

Gray, George, Papers

1870-1925, ca. 11 linear ft.
Papers of George Gray (1840-1925), former U.S. Senator from Delaware, who was also a judge and diplomat. Papers consist largely of materials relating to Gray's service as judge for the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Third District. Also includes material pertaining to arbitration decisions involving a 1902 coal strike; the North Atlantic Fisheries Arbitration, 1909-1910; Illinois Coal Operators Association and United Mine Workers; joint arbitration between U.S. and Mexico, 1911; 1903 Alabama coal strike; the U.S. versus E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 1912-1913, and other cases.

Harris, Mark, Papers

ca. 1937-1982, ca. 40 linear ft.
Papers of this American author documenting every facet of his life and career. Includes extensive literary correspondence and manuscript material, family papers, scrapbooks, and Mark Harris's personal journals which he has maintained daily from 1961- 1981. Although Harris is best known for his fiction, notably the novel Bang the Drum Slowly, he worked for many years as a journalist, and has also written numerous political and social essays. His papers include material documenting these interests.

Lewis, John Frederick, Correspondence

1885-1932, ca. 7 linear ft.
Business and personal correspondence of this Philadelphia attorney who lived from 1860-1932. Includes material relating to his activities as a member of the firm of Lewis, Adler & Laws; American Academy of Music; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Mercantile Library of Philadelphia; and the U.S. Shipping Board during World War I.

McCord, Howard, Papers

1964-1971, 753 items.
Papers of the American poet and editor. Primarily literary correspondence, however, correspondents discuss politics, the Vietnam War, and various other social and cultural issues.

Matthews, Elva de Pue, Papers

1917-1962, ca. 3 linear ft.
Correspondence, literary manuscripts, and papers of this American author. Although the bulk of the papers concern Matthews's literary activities, they include correspondence from a number of figures of political and historical interest, including Floyd Dell, Waldo Frank, Jacques Maritain, and others.

Maxwell, James R., Papers

ca. 1860-1922, ca. 4.5 linear ft.
Papers of a railroad civil engineer who resided in Newark, Delaware, and who worked on assignments in the Western United States and Latin America. Includes family and business correspondence, journals and diaries, photographs, account books, papers relating to Maxwell's engineering work, and an unpublished autobiography titled, "Incidents in an Engineer's Life in the Far West," [1866-1870], 235 pp.

Messersmith, George Strausser, Papers

1907-1961, ca. 4200 items.
Diplomatic and professional papers of George S. Messersmith (1883-1966). Includes correspondence, memoranda, and official dispatches written during Messersmith's tenure with the U.S. Department of State, as well as during his subsequent business career. 949 pages of typescript memoranda written for his unpublished memoirs are also present. The papers include extensive discussions of political and economic matters regarding Europe during the 1930s and Latin America in the 1940s and 1950s.

Oral History Collection

ca. 280 items.
Audiotapes of oral history interviews conducted under the direction of the University of Delaware History Department from 1966-1979. Topics include European immigrants in Delaware, rural life in Delaware, Delaware history, blacks in Delaware, University of Delaware faculty and administrators, and education in Delaware. The majority of the interviews are available in transcript form.

Parker, Jessica Southard, Journal

1899-1916, 9 volumes.
Personal diary of Jessica S. Parker (1873-?) of Belmont, Massachusetts. Entries relate primarily to family affairs, social activities, travel, literary and theatrical concerns, and current events. Includes numerous theatrical programs, photographs, and memorabilia.

Richardson, William, Papers

1919-1945, .3 linear ft.
The bulk of the papers consist of the correspondence between William Richardson, a Newark, Delaware, native, and his mother, Mrs. Orville Little, written during his military service in World War II. Also includes photographs, documents, and clippings.

Williams, John J., Papers

1947-1970, 150 linear ft.
The papers of John J. Williams (1904-1988), who served as United States Senator from Delaware from 1947-1970. The Williams Papers include extensive files of correspondence, memoranda, office files, reports, documents, photographs, and memorabilia documenting Williams's 24-year career as a United States Senator.

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