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 George Wolfe Bruce Papers #5225-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchased from Historical Collectible Auctions of North Carolina in 2005 (Acc. 100117).

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: Brian Dietz, September 2005

Encoded by: Brian Dietz, October 2005

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.

• Alabama--Description and travel.
• Bruce, George Wolfe.
• Bruce, George, 1781-1866.
• Business travel--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Chattahoochee River--Description and travel.
• Florida--Description and travel.
• Georgia--Description and travel.
• Louisiana--Description and travel.
• Mississippi River--Description and travel.
• Slave-trade--Alabama.
• Slavery--Alabama.
• Southern States--Description and travel.
• Southern States--Social life and customs.
• Steamboats--Southern States--History--19th century.
• Travelers--Southern States.

George Wolfe Bruce of New York was the son of George Bruce, co-founder and co-owner of Bruce Type Foundry, New York, and the brother of David Wolfe Bruce, Matilda Bruce, and Catherine Bruce.

The collection consists of letters written by George Wolfe Bruce of New York in 1853 to 1854 to his sisters Matilda Bruce and Catherine Bruce, and to his mother, while traveling on business through Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, and along the Mississippi River and the Chattahoochee River, possibly checking on accounts for his father, George Bruce, co-founder and co-owner of Bruce Type Foundry, New York. The letters describe the difficulties of traveling in the region; a trip on the steamship  Eclipse; the southern landscape; town features and townspeople's customs; and the quality of lodgings, including judgments on proprietors and staff. Bruce also discussed witnessing a slave auction in Abbeville, Ala., and reflected on the effects of slavery on slaves. Also included is Bruce's calling card.