Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Robert Burton Anderson Papers, #21, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm.

Acquisitions Information

prior to 1940

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Jordan, March 2011; Nancy Kaiser, November 2020

This collection was processed with support from the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1993.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Anderson family.
• Anderson, Robert Burton, 1833?-1889.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Morganton (N.C.)--History.
• Presbyterians--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Sermons.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• South Carolina College.
• Statesville (N.C.)--History.
• Thornwell, James Henley, 1812-1862.
• Witherspoon, Robert, b. 1728.
• Women--Education--South Carolina.
• Yorkville Female College (Yorkville, S.C)

Robert Burton Anderson (1833?-1889) was a Presbyterian minister of Morganton, N.C.

The collection includes personal and family correspondence, sermons, and other items relating to Robert Burton Anderson and his teaching career at Yorkville (S.C.) Female College and ministerial duties at Statesville and Morganton, N.C. Also included are non-professional materials of Anderson's father-in-law, James Henley Thornwell (1812-1862), Presbyterian minister, president of South Carolina College, and professor at the Presbyterian Theological Seminary; and a copy of the narrative of Robert Witherspoon (1728-1788) on the history of his, and Anderson's, family.

Correspondence constitutes the bulk of the collection and covers a wide range of subjects. Chief correspondents include Anderson and his wife Jennie, Anderson's parents James and Eliza of Elderslie, N.C., Thornwell and his wife Nancy, and various children and relatives. Parishioners and friends are also represented. Many letters concern family members' schooling, in theology or medicine as well as military academies, travel, and illnesses. A few papers relate to the ownership and division of slaves by family members.