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Collection Number: 00659-z

Collection Title: Shelby and Hart Family Papers, 1775-1814; 1899-1900.

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.


This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; this finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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Size 30 items
Abstract Members of the Shelby family and the Hart family resided in Kentucky. Prominent family members include Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), a Revolutionary officer and the first governor of Kentucky, 1792-1796 and 1812-1816, and Nathaniel Hart (1734-1782), Revolutionary officer and pioneer. The collection includes biographical sketches, reminiscences, letters, and business papers involving Evan Shelby, Isaac Shelby, Nathaniel Hart, and their kin and associates, and clippings, 1899-1900. Many items concern lands claims and titles of members of the Hart family in Kentucky. Also included is a ten-page manuscript description by Isaac Shelby of the Battle of King's Mountain and other events of the Revolution in the South after 1780, and two related letters to him.
Creator Hart (Family : Hart, Nathaniel, 1734-1782)



Shelby (Family : Shelby, Isaac, 1750-1826)



Hart, Nathaniel, 1734-1782.



Shelby, Isaac, 1750-1826.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
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 Shelby and Hart Family Papers, #659-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Some Shelby papers published in the Journal of Southern History IV (Aug 1938), p. 367-377.
Acquisitions Information
Formerly the Isaac Shelby Papers (#659). Additional material transferred from the Evan Shelby Papers (#926), and received from Mrs. Archibald Henderson of Chapel Hill, N.C., March 1973.
Additional Descriptive Resources
A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, July 2010

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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expand/collapse 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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

The Shelby and Hart families resided in Kentucky. Prominent family members include Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), a Revolutionary officer and the first governor of Kentucky, 1792-1796 and 1812-1816, and Nathaniel Hart (1734-1782), Revolutionary officer and pioneer. Nathaniel Hart's daughter, Susanna, married Isaac Shelby in 1783.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes biographical sketches, reminiscences, letters, and business papers involving Evan Shelby, Isaac Shelby, Nathaniel Hart (1734-1782), and their kin and associates, and clippings 1899-1900. Many items concern lands claims and titles of members of the Hart family in Kentucky. Also included is a ten-page manuscript description by Isaac Shelby of the Battle of King's Mountain and other events of the Revolution in the South after 1780, and two related letters to him.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Shelby and Hart Family Papers, 1775-1814; 1899-1900 and undated.

Folder 1

Original finding aid

Biographical sketches

Includes typed biographical sketches of Evan Shelby and Isaac Shelby.

Folder 2

Papers, 1775-1780 and undated

Includes business items of Nathaniel Hart and an incomplete manuscript written by one of his sons, discussing life in Kentucky, especially conflicts with Native Americans circa 1782-1795.

Folder 3

Papers, 1785-1813

Includes correspondence, receipts, accounts, and personal bonds related to the affairs of Isaac Shelby, the Nathaniel Hart estate, Nathaniel Hart Junior, James and Lawrence Thompson, Thomas Hart, and others.

Folder 4

Papers, 1814; notes and copies

Includes two letters from Isaac Shelby and a narrative by him of the battle of Kings Mountain, S.C., and other events of the American Revolution.

Folder 5

Broadside and clippings

Includes clippings about "Spring Hill," home of the Hart family in Woodford County, Ky. There is also a broadside, 1791, which includes the text of a treaty with the Cherokee Nation.

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