This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Size | 4.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 700 items) |
Abstract | Collection contains family and personal letters, articles, and volumes, chiefly dating from 1870, concerning the political and religious activities, travels, and careers of members of the white Mendenhall family and the white Hobbs family of Guilford County, N.C. The papers reflect the Quaker view of life and relate to several reform movements, including anti-slavery, women's health and education, and pacifism. Topics include the Mendenhall's aid to enslaved people attempting to self-emancipate from North Carolina to a free state in 1864; use of labor of imprisoned people by Western North Carolina Railroad in the 1870s; construction of an asylum in Morganton, N.C., for people with mental health problems in the 1870s; state appropriations for schools for Black students in North Carolina in 1891; a treatise on pregnancy and childbirth; travel in England, 1890-1891; service with a Quaker relief organization in France during World War I; student educational experience at Haverford College, 1870s; teaching at New Garden College, 1876-1884; and the college presidency at Guilford College, 1888-1915. Materials include correspondence, accounts books, scrapbooks, diaries, religious notebooks, and other notes. |
Creator | Hobbs (Family : Guilford County, N.C.)
Mendenhall (Family : Guilford County, N.C.) |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, February 1996
Encoded by: Eben Lehman, January 2007
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, January 2023
Conscious Editing Work by: Nancy Kaiser, October 2020. Updated abstract, subject headings, biographical note, scope and content note, and container list.
Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Back to TopThe 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.
Nereus Mendenhall (1819-1893), a white Quaker, graduated from Haverford College in 1839; received his medical degree from Jefferson College, Pa., in 1845; and abandoned his medical practice for health reasons. He taught in the New Garden Boarding School at Greensboro, N.C., and later became a civil engineer and surveyed many railroads in North Carolina. In 1860, he returned to the New Garden School as principal and kept it open during the Civil War, which he opposed along with secession and Reconstruction. He served two terms as a Democrat in the state legislature and, in 1876, was appointed to faculty of the Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. He helped with the construction of the state asylum at Morganton and the State Penitentiary. He was a learned and devout member of the Society of Friends. He married Oriana Wilson in 1851.
Mary Mendenhall Hobbs (1852-1930), daughter of Nereus and Oriana Mendenhall, was also a member of the Society of Friends. She married L. L. (Lewis Lyndon) Hobbs and with him dedicated her life to education in North Carolina, especially that of women. She held no official position at Guilford College, but was the third woman to receive a degree from the University of North Carolina. She wrote on many subjects and was prominent in aiding all efforts for peace. She and Lyndon Hobbs had five children: Lewis Lyndon, Richard Julius Mendenhall, Allen Wilson, Walter, and Gertrude. Richard served with a Quaker relief organization in France during the First World War.
Lewis Lyndon Hobbs (1849-1932), son of Lewis and Phoebe Cook Hobbs, was a member of the Society of Friends and graduated from Haverford College in 1876. He accepted an appointment to teach at the New Garden College from 1876 to 1884 and was elected president of Guilford College (as New Garden had then become) from 1888 to 1915. He helped to establish the first rural grade school in North Carolina.
Back to TopCollection contains family and personal letters, articles, and volumes, chiefly dating from 1870, concerning the political and religious activities, travels, and careers of members of the white Mendenhall family and the white Hobbs family of Guilford County, N.C. The papers reflect the Quaker view of life and relate to several reform movements, including anti-slavery, women's health and education, and pacifism. Topics include the Mendenhall's aid to enslaved people attempting to self-emancipate from North Carolina to a free state in 1864; use of labor of imprisoned people by Western North Carolina Railroad in the 1870s; construction of an asylum in Morganton, N.C., for people with mental health problems in the 1870s; state appropriations for schools for Black students in North Carolina in 1891; a treatise on pregnancy and childbirth; travel in England, 1890-1891; service with a Quaker relief organization in France during World War I; student educational experience at Haverford College, 1870s; teaching at New Garden College, 1876-1884; and the college presidency at Guilford College, 1888-1915. Materials include correspondence, accounts books, scrapbooks, diaries, religious notebooks, and other notes.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Primarily correspondence of both families, mainly concerning theological issues. Also included are a few deeds, plats, and indentures.
Extra Oversize Paper XOP-2493/1-8
XOP-2493/1XOP-2493/2XOP-2493/3XOP-2493/4XOP-2493/5XOP-2493/6XOP-2493/7XOP-2493/8 |
Oversize papers |
Folder 1 |
Correspondence, 1787-1799 |
Folder 2 |
Correspondence, 1804-1842 |
Folder 3 |
Correspondence, 1849-1868Included are letters regarding the Mendenhall's aid to people who were enslaved in North Carolina and attempting to self-emancipate to a free state in 1864. |
Folder 4 |
Correspondence, 1870-1881Included are letters concerning use of labor of imprisoned people by Western North Carolina Railroad and construction of an asylum in Morganton, N.C., for people with mental health problems. |
Folder 5 |
Correspondence, 1883-1889 |
Folder 6 |
Correspondence, 1890-1899Included are letters regarding North Carolina state appropriations for schools for Black students in 1891. |
Folder 7 |
Correspondence, 1900-1904 |
Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1905-1909 |
Folder 9 |
Correspondence, 1910-1917 |
Folder 10 |
Correspondence, 1869-1870 |
Folder 11 |
Correspondence, 1918 |
Folder 12 |
Correspondence, 1919-1921 |
Folder 13 |
Correspondence, 1922-1926 |
Folder 14 |
Correspondence, 1927-1929 |
Folder 15 |
Correspondence, 1930-1932 |
Folder 16 |
Undated letters and other material |
Includes a treatise on pregnancy and childbirth, religious sermons, educational articles, newspaper clippings, and some genealogical information collected by Mary and Lyndon Hobbs.
Folder 17 |
Articles of Mary Mendenhall Hobbs |
Folder 18 |
Papers of L. L. Hobbs |
Folder 19 |
Biographical sketches and genealogy |
Folder 20 |
Undated manuscripts |
Folder 21 |
Sketches |
Folder 22-25
Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
Articles |
Folder 26 |
Review of Drummond's Natural Law in the Spiritual World |
Folder 27-30
Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30 |
Miscellaneous articles |
Folder 31 |
Miscellaneous fragments |
Folder 32 |
Miscellaneous genealogical materials |
Folder 33 |
Nereus Mendenhall's treatise on pregnancy and childbirth (microfilm available) |
Reel M-2493/1 |
Microfilm: Nereus Mendenhall's treatise on pregnancy and childbirth |
Folder 34 |
Fragments |
Folder 35 |
Newspaper clippings about Gertrude W. Mendenhall |
Folder 36 |
Newspaper clippings about Nereus Mendenhall |
Arrangement: chronological.