]
]
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.
Expand/collapse
Collection Overview
| Size | 6.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1550 items) |
| Abstract | The Ragland Family Papers document a white, multi-generational family of Salisbury, N.C., and Raleigh, N.C., from the 1890s through the 1950s. It consists primarily of correspondence between W. H. Trent Ragland Sr. and Alice McKenzie Ragland and between W. Trent Ragland Jr. and his parents and later with Anna Wood Ragland. W. H. Trent Ragland Sr.'s letters describe his experience serving in the United States Army in World War I. W. Trent Ragland Jr.'s letters describe his experiences in summer camp, boarding school, college, and while serving in the United States Navy during World War II, and his feelings and plans for the future with Anna Wood Ragland. Also included are letters from various correspondents concerning family matters and social news. |
| Creator | Ragland (Family : Ragland, William Trent, 1894-1959) |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
Expand/collapse
Information For Users
Expand/collapse
Processing Information
Processed by: Jennifer Thompson, February 2009
Encoded by: Jennifer Thompson, February 2009
Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, Laura Hart, and Amy Morgan, July 2018
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Subject Headings
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.
Expand/collapse
Related Collections
Expand/collapse
Biographical Information
W.H. Trent Ragland Sr. (1894-1959), son of W.H. and Madge Urquart Ragland, was born in Little Rock, Ark. His parents moved to Salisbury, N.C., when he and his brother, Edmond Urquart Ragland, were young. He graduated from the University of North Carolina and later served in the United States Army during World War I. In 1919, W.H. Trent Ragland married Alice Mckenzie of Salisbury, N.C. He and his brother formed the Superior Stone Company in 1939. W. Trent Ragland Jr. was born in Salisbury, N.C., on 12 August 1920, and he was raised in Raleigh, N.C. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1941. W. Trent Ragland Jr. joined the United States Navy and served during World War II. He later graduated from the Post Graduate School at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He married Anna Wood of Edenton, N.C., in July 1944, and they had three children: Anna, Alice McKenzie, and Trent Ragland III. In 1954, W. Trent Ragland Jr. became president of Superior Stone Company.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Scope and Content
The collection documents the Raglands, a white, multi-generational family of Salisbury, N.C., and Raleigh, N.C. It consists primarily of correspondence between W.H. Trent Ragland Sr. and Alice McKenzie Ragland and between W. Trent Ragland Jr. and his parents and later with Anna Wood Ragland. W.H. Trent Ragland Sr.'s letters describe his experience serving in the United States Army in World War I. W. Trent Ragland Jr.'s letters describe his experiences in summer camp, boarding school, college, and while serving in the United States Navy during World War II, and his feelings and plans for the future with Anna Wood Ragland. Also included are letters from various correspondents concerning family matters and social news.
Other materials include three small photographs from the 1930s of Ragland family members, picture post cards, secondary school materials, dance cards, postmarked stamps, and a printed copy of testimony about James C. Johnston's 1863 will and his land holdings including Hayes Plantation.
Back to Top
Expand/collapse
Series Quick Links
Expand/collapse
Series 1. Correspondence, 1894-1959 (Original Deposit).
Arrangement: chronological.
The original deposit contains correspondence, 1894-1959, relating to the Ragland family of Salisbury, N.C., and Raleigh, N.C. It consists primarily of correspondence between W.H. Trent Ragland Sr. and Alice McKenzie Ragland and between W. Trent Ragland Jr. and Anna Wood Ragland. W.H. Trent Ragland Sr.'s letters describe his experience serving in the United States Army in World War I. W. Trent Ragland Jr.'s letters describe his experience serving in the United States Navy during World War II. Also included are letters from various correspondents concerning family matters and social news.
Expand/collapse
Series 1A. Correspondence and Other Materials, 1897-1959 (Addition of March 2018).
Arrangement: chronological.
Acquisitions Information: Accession 103323.
Letters sent and received in the 1930s and 1940s by W. Trent Ragland, Jr. (Trent) document a young white man's experience in summer camp, boarding school, college, and the military. Ragland wrote his parents, family, and friends from Camp Sapphire in Brevard, N.C., the World's Fair in Chicago (1933), Woodberry Forest School in Virginia (circa 1935-1937), Virginia Military Institute (circa 1938-1939), University of North Carolina (1940-1941), naval bases in San Francisco and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1942-1945) where he served on Admiral Chester Nimitz's staff, and the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where he did post graduate work. He received letters from family members, particularly his mother Alice McKenzie Ragland, friends, early love interests, and his wife Anna Wood Ragland whom he married in 1944. Trent's correspondents wrote from Raleigh, N.C., Salisbury, N.C., Edenton, N.C., Little Rock, Ark., military bases, and other locations. Correspondence with his mother concerns extracurricular activities, friends, sports, and travel. His letters to Anna describe his feelings and plans for their future.
Additional correspondence includes letters Anna Wood Ragland received and wrote as a child from Camp Alleghany in Greenbrier County, W.V., as a young adult at St. Mary's School in Raleigh, N.C., and as an adult. Correspondents were her parents, friends, husband Trent, and in-laws, particularly Alice McKenzie Ragland. Anna wrote several letters in the early 1940s to Trent and Alice from the Wood family home on Hayes Plantation in Edenton, N.C.
Correspondence dated 1897 through the 1920s is scattered and composed chiefly of letters received and sent by Alice McKenzie Ragland and by W.H. Trent Ragland, Sr., to family members, including a copy of a 1918 letter he wrote to his parents during his military service in the First World War.
Other materials include three small photographs from the 1930s of Ragland family members, picture post cards, secondary school materials, dance cards, postmarked stamps, and a printed copy of testimony about James C. Johnston's 1863 will and his land holdings including Hayes Plantation.
| Box 3 |
Letters, 1897-1933 |
| Box 4 |
Letters, 1934-April 1936 |
| Box 5 |
Letters, May 1936-October 1936 |
| Box 6 |
Letters, November 1936-June 1937 |
| Box 7 |
Letters, September 1937-September 1939 |
| Box 8 |
Letters, October 1939-February 1940 |
| Box 9 |
Letters, March 1940-August 1942 |
| Box 10 |
Letters, September 1942-April 1943 |
| Box 11 |
Letters, May 1943-December 1943 |
| Box 12 |
Letters, January 1944-August 1945 |
| Box 13 |
Letters, September 1945-1959 and undated |
Other papers, 1911-1944 and undated |
|
| Image Folder PF-05412/1 |
W. Trent Ragland, Jr., and others, 1933 and undated3 images. Black-and-white prints. One image may depict cadets at the Virginia Military Institute, circa 1938. One image depicts Trent Ragland at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, and the other depicts W. Trent Ragland, Sr., Alice Ragland, and their two children Billy and Trent, circa 1930. |
Expand/collapse
Items Separated