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 E. J. Hale #300, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from E. J. Hale of Fayetteville, N.C., in 1936; from Lucy Seawell Costen of Gatesville, N.C., in 1966; from Charles B. Overman of Falls Church, Va., in May 1968.

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: Suzanne Ruffing, March 1996

Encoded by: Rachel Canada, May 2004

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, November 2020

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.

• Canals--England--History.
• Canals--North Carolina--History.
• Costa Rica--Foreign relations--United States.
• Depression--1929--United States.
• Diplomatic and consular service, American
• Diplomats--United States--Biography.
• England--Foreign relations--United States.
• Family--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Hale, E. J. (Edward Joseph), 1839-1922.
• Hale, Frederick Toomer.
• Hale, Thomas Hill.
• North Carolina--Politics and government--1865-1950.
• Panama Canal (Panama)--History.
• United States--Foreign relations--Costa Rica.
• United States--Foreign relations--England.
• United States--Politics and government--1865-1933.
• Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924.

Edward Joseph Hale, son of Edward Jones Hale and Sarah Jane Walker, was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1860 as valedictorian. He worked briefly for his father, who was founding editor of the Fayetteville Observer, before enlisting in the Confederate Army. He achieved the rank of major in the Confederate army and remained in service until his surrender with Lane's Brigade at Appomattox. Because of the Observer's support of the Confederacy, Sherman had destroyed its printing presses, which put a temporary end to the enterprise. After the war, Hale entered a mercantile house in New York, where he eventually became a partner. He moved back to North Carolina in 1875 and, in 1882, reestablished the Fayetteville Observer.

Hale was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention in 1884 for which he drafted a tariff plank for its platform. The following year, he was appointed to the position of consul to Manchester, England, a key post because of extensive cotton trade between the South and the manufacturing interests in that city. After his consulship, Hale became the confidential financial agent of the North England Trust Company and was sent to India to investigate the indigo industry and make investments. From 1890 to 1891, he lived in New York as commissioner of the Manchester Ship Canal in North America.

Hale returned to North Carolina in 1892 and resumed the editorship of the Observer and his position in state politics. In 1894, he was again a member of the North Carolina Democratic Convention, drawing up the National part of the State Platform. He served again in 1896, 1900, 1904 and 1906.

The collection includes correspondence and other papers of E. J. Hale and Hale family members. Included is official and personal correspondence with Woodrow Wilson and with Hale's sons, Thomas Hill Hale and Frederick Toomer Hale, concerning family business and the Depression, 1928-1936. Much of the correspondence while Hale was consul to England relates to immigration to the United States, the Manchester Ship Canal, the indigo industry of India, the 1916 coup d'etat in Mexico, and trade laws. Other papers include special passports and certificates from his consul position, recommendations and endorsements, speeches and articles from both abroad and in North Carolina, newspaper clippings, and some biographical information.

Pictures (PF-300/1)

Oversize papers (XOPF-300/1)