Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

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 Ben Lacy Rose papers #4439, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Ben L. Rose of Richmond, Va., in March 1986 (Acc. 86033), August 1987 (Acc. 87061), May 1996 (Acc. 96073), March 1999 (Acc. 98313), and February 2004 (Acc. 99716).

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: Connie Cartledge, March 1986; Pamela Dean, August 1987; Meg Phillips, September 1996; John Foster, October 2000; Laura Knodel, April 2004

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

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.

• Army Chaplain's School, Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
• Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company.
• Bar associations--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Clergy--Virginia--History--20th century.
• College students--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Davidson College--Students--History--20th century.
• Families--Southern States--Social life and customs.
• Fayetteville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Lawyers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Military chaplains--United States--History--20th century.
• Presbyterian Church in the U.S.--Clergy.
• Presbyterians--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Rose family.
• Rose, Anne Claiborne, 1941-
• Rose, Anne Thompson, 1918-
• Rose, Ben Lacy, 1914-
• Rose, Charles G. (Charles Grandison), 1880-1948.
• Rose, Irene Lacy.
• Seminarians--Virginia.
• Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.
• United States. Army--Chaplains--History--20th century.
• United States. Army--Military life--History.
• United States. Army. Cavalry Group, 113th.
• World War, 1939-1945--Chaplains.

Ben Lacy Rose was born in 1914 in Fayetteville, N.C., the son of attorney and state senator Charles Rose and Irene Lacy Rose. He attended Davidson College and Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He served as a chaplain during World War II with the 31st Infantry Division and the 113th Cavalry (Mechanized Group), composed of the 113th Calvary Squadron and the 125th Calvary Squadron. A Presbyterian minister, he joined the faculty of Union Theological Seminary in 1956. His wife, Anne Thompson Rose, is the daughter of Dr. W. T. Thompson of Union Theological Seminary in Virginia.

This collection consists primarily of correspondence between Ben Lacy Rose and his wife, Anne Thompson Rose, and father, Charles G. Rose, while Ben Lacy Rose was serving as a chaplain with the United States Army in Europe during World War II. Also included are letters to and from Rose while he was stationed at various army bases in the United States, letters from other family members and friends to his wife or parents that were then enclosed in their letters to Rose, and letters to Rose from friends. Rose wrote about the daily life of a soldier and about his duties as chaplain. His family's letters focus on the activities of his children, other family members, and friends of the family.

Photocopies of these letters were bound as Letters Home (1986) and Letters From Home (1987), and a limited number of copies were distributed to family members and libraries. Copies of both volumes are included in the collection.

The addition received in March 1999 consist of letters written by Ben Lacy Rose to Anne Thompson Rose, 1941-1943, during his period of domestic Army training. They are filed in folders 1a through 2b.

The addition of February 2004 contains correspondence, 1990-2001, which concerns the work and personal activities of Ben Lacy Rose. Most concerns activities in the Presbyterian Church, including teaching, writing, and lecturing.

Letters to Ben Lacy Rose, mainly from his parents, Charles Grandison Rose and Irene Lacy Rose of Fayetteville, N.C., while Ben was a student at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., and then from his father when Ben was a student at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va. These letters cover the years 1931-1936. Another batch of letters covering the years 1942 and 1943 includes mostly letters written to Ben Rose by his father and by his wife, Anne Thompson Rose (1918- ), while Ben was serving as an Army Chaplain with the 113th Cavalry (Mechanized Group) in Camp Blanding, Fla. and Camp Bowie, Tex., and while he attended the Army Chaplain's School at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. The collection includes Ben's letters back to his wife while he was at the Army Chaplain's School, but few other letters written by Ben himself.

Letters from his father while he was in school deal mostly with money, trips home, family and Fayetteville news, and fatherly advice about finding a calling, joining a fraternity, and religion. Letters from his father also report on the elder Rose's business as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., as an officer of the North Carolina Bar Association, and on his law practice. He describes legal work he did for the Presbyterian Church and for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company.

Letters from his wife include reports on her daily life with her parents in Richmond, Va., and the growth of their new baby, Anne Claiborne Rose (1941- ).

Correspondence relating to the work and personal activities of Ben Lacy Rose, 1990-2001, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1999 through 2001. Most of the correspondence concerns Rose's work with the Presbyterian Church. Rose led and participated in worship services, lectured, taught classes, wrote on religious subjects, and conducted other types of ministry. Rose corresponded with members of the churches in which he was involved, including the Union Theological Seminary, concerning daily church activities. He also maintained correspondence with Presbyterian churches throughout the southeast, most notably in Virginia and North Carolina, concerning Presbyterian Church activities. Correspondence with family and friends concerns personal and family affairs.