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 Hill and Grosvenor Family Papers #4191, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Kate Stokes Born of Winfield, Alabama, in September 1979. Received from Rev. Jacek Kowal in January 2018 (Acc. 103322).

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: Enola Guthrie and Gina Overcash, December 1988; Nancy Kaiser and Patrick Cullom, March 2018.

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Dawne Howard Lucas, December 2021

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.

• Chihuahua (Chihuahua, Mexico)--Maps.
• College students--Southern States--History.
• Diaries.
• El Paso (Tex.)--Social life and customs.
• Evans, Marion G.
• Evans, Phoebe Airey.
• Evans, Phoebe Grosvenor, 1886-1963.
• Families--Tennessee.
• Garland, Hamlin, 1860-1940.
• Georgia School of Technology--Students--History--20th century.
• Grosvenor family.
• Grosvenor, Charles Niles, 1850-1931.
• Grosvenor, Charles Niles, Jr., 1890-1930.
• Grosvenor, Napoleon Hill, 1888-1968.
• Grosvenor, Olivia Polk Hill, 1861-1934.
• Hill family.
• Hill, Frank F.
• Hill, Mary Martin Wood, 1835-1922.
• Hill, Napoleon, 1830-1909.
• Love-letters--19th century.
• Love-letters--20th century.
• Love-letters.
• Memphis (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.
• Military education--United States--History.
• Mines and mineral resources--Mexico--Maps.
• Petree, Jack.
• Tennessee--Social life and customs.
• United States. Army Air Forces--History--World War, 1939-1945.
• University of the South--Students--History--19th century.
• Washington and Lee University--Students--History--20th century.
• Women--Tennessee--Social life and customs.

The Hill and Grosvenor families were wealthy and prominent residents of Memphis, Tennessee. These two families were joined by the marriage of Olivia Polk Hill (1861-1934) and Charles Niles Grosvenor (1850-1931) in December 1885. Olivia Polk Hill Grosvenor's father, Napoleon Hill (1830-1909), made his fortune during the California gold rush, spending 1850-1857 in California. Upon his return to Memphis, he married Mary Martin Wood (1835-1922), daughter of Benigna Polk Wood (1816-1887) and William H. Wood (1814-1888), a large planter. Hill then established a series of firms in Memphis, culminating in the formation, with Nolan Fontaine, of Hill Fontaine and Co., a large inland cotton house. During the 1880s, Hill also purchased interests in Alabama coal lands.

Charles Niles Grosvenor was a business partner of John Overton in Memphis. In 1897, he and his wife Olivia moved to El Paso, Texas, for his health. The three Grosvenor children, Phoebe Olivia (1886-1963), Charles Niles, Jr. (1890-1930), and Napoleon Hill (1888-1968), remained in Memphis. Apparently in 1902, Olivia Hill Grosvenor moved back to Memphis, followed by her husband in 1903. Grosvenor then entered business for himself.

The Grosvenors spent much of their later years in Pass Christian, Miss.

This collection consists primarily of correspondence between members of the Hill and Grosvenor families and their friends. Also included is documentation relating to their financial and legal activities, social and civic activities, writings, and education. The correspondence series contains numerous love letters between Olivia Hill and Charles Niles Grosvenor; Phoebe Olivia Grosvenor and Marion G. Evans; and Phoebe Airey Evans and Jack Petree. Subseries 3.4 contains notes and other material by and about Jack Petree when he was in aviation training at Maxwell Field, Alabama, in 1942. Subseries 3.6 contains three maps showing ore deposits and mining shafts in Chihuahua, Mexico. Pictures consist of portraits of identified and unidentified Grosvenor, Hill, Evans, Polk, Petree, Beard, and other family members; two photograph albums containing snapshots and informal portraits at family gatherings; and other images depicting travel in the western United States, Mississippi, Arizona, Toronto; camp in El Paso, Tex.; and unidentified buildings and locations.

Formats include cabinet cards, albumen prints, platinum prints, and photograph albums.

Records of the James S. Robinson Drugstore, received with this collection, were placed in MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS (#517), as Unit 50.

• Oversize papers (OP-04191/1-6)
• Photographs (P-04191/1-109; OP-P-4191/5B, 81B, 85-86, 103; PA-04191/1-2; IB-04191/2-3)
• Oversize volumes (SV-04191/43)