Arrangement: chronological.

Personal and business correspondence and other items of Franklin Harper Elmore. Included is a letter, dated 1 June 1843, from Hugh Swinton Legare about a successful application made by Elmore (possibly for appointment of a son to West Point) and his own appointment as secretary of state. Also included is a letter, dated 9 May 1844, from Dixon H. Lewis to Elmore (or some other member of the family) about the political situation, the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination, and the views of John C. Calhoun and his friends.

In 1848 there are seven letters to Elmore from Collman and Stoltrefaht, cotton merchants of Liverpool, England, about marketing cotton. Also included is a five page leaflet entitled Report of the Bank, in Relation to Committing the Government of the Bank to Six Persons with Salaries , F.H. Elmore, president, dated 5 December 1848.

In 1849 and 1850, there are several letters to Franklin Harper Elmore Junior, who was away at school, about his clothes and family activities, from his sister, Sally Canty Elmore, his mother, and his father. Also in 1849, there are three letters from James L. Petigru about a controversy in the South Carolina legislature over Elmore's management of the bank. There is a copy of an 1850 letter from Elmore to Governor Whitmarsh B. Seabrook about Elmore's appointment to the United States Senate, as well as other correspondence on the subject. Also included in 1850 is a brief letter from Andrew Pickens Butler to Elmore about political conditions and the southern group in Congress.

In 1862, there is a letter to Captain R.C. Morgan from Maxcy Gregg, asking for help for William Taylor, who wanted to move the body of his brother, who was killed at Cold Harbor or at least to visit his grave. In 1865, there is a letter to Harriet Chesnut Taylor Elmore from Caldwell, Blakely, and Co., asking her to pay at least a portion of her debt to them. Also included in this series is an undated engraving of Franklin H. Elmore.

Newspaper clippings regarding the life, work, and death of Franklin Harper Elmore.

Records, reminiscences, and memoirs of Sally Canty Elmore Taylor, who was the daughter of Franklin H. Elmore and wife of Thomas Taylor, and "Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy," by Lawrence W. Taylor.

Included are both the original handwritten manuscript and a typed transcription of "Records of the Taylor Family and Reminiscences of My Own Life," by Sally Canty Elmore Taylor, circa 1908 (5 typed pages). Mrs. Taylor was descended through her mother from the Taylor family and married a Taylor cousin. A second, untitled and undated manuscript, also present in both the original handwritten version and typed transcription and presumably also by Mrs. Taylor, continues the family record and also describes life in Washington during the time her father was a member of Congress (15 typed pages). References are made to Angelica Singleton, John Van Buren, and Dixon H. Lewis.

Also included is a typed version of a much larger (196 pages) memoir written in 1908-1910 by Sally Canty Elmore Taylor. It also contains Elmore family history. It also includes a description of Sally's life in Washington, D.C., 1835-1840, and a description of her time spent in Charleston, South Carolina, and the South Carolina upcountry in the summers, 1840-1850. She married in 1856 and thereafter lived in Columbia or just outside it. Also included are copies of letters Sally wrote from Washington, D.C., in 1848. Included in 1849 are a tribute to Captain James Stuart, Mexican War hero, and a description of the dinner given in his honor in Charleston. There are also recollections of the Civil War and of Reconstruction in South Carolina.

Finally, there is a typescript entitled, "Boy Soldiers of the Confederacy," written by Lawrence W. Taylor in 1914 for the M.C. Butler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (8 pages). Taylor was a captain and served in Company K of the "Bonham Guards," Third Regiment of South Carolina State Troops, which was composed of young men who enlisted late in the war. He described his experiences at Grahamville, at James Island, and on the march to Fayetteville and Raleigh and back to Columbia in Hardee's Corps. References are made to Wade Hampton and Iredell Jones.

Genealogical material, including copies of letters about the history of the Elmores written in 1936. Also included is a biographical sketch of Albert Rhett Elmore, son of Franklin H. Elmore, and one of William Augustus Elmore, half brother of Franklin H. Elmore. There is data on the Taylor family of South Carolina, which was related to the Elmore family. There are also notes referring to the Nesbitt, Martin, and Marshall families. Also included is a letter from Richard L. Irving to Grace Elmore, enclosing a copy of the 1746 will of Thomas Elmore of New Kent County, Virginia. There is a photocopy of a newspaper clipping on John Archer Elmore and his descendants.

Photocopies of items in the Franklin Harper Elmore Papers at the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.

These are almost entirely family letters of Franklin Harper Elmore, his wife Harriet Chesnut Taylor Elmore, and their numerous children. Many of the letters were written to Ellen S. Elmore, one of the older daughters, by her parents and siblings. Many letters were written by Harriet to Franklin when she was at home with the children and he was elsewhere. The letters were written primarily from Charleston and Columbia, with some written by Franklin Elmore from Washington, D.C. In addition to the family letters, the series includes several non-family items as noted below.

In 1819, Harriet wrote to her mother Sarah Taylor. In 1826 and 1827, Franklin Elmore corresponded with Harriet Taylor and her father John Taylor about Elmore's engagement to Harriet. Included in 1829 is a poem that Franklin copied for Harriet.

In a letter dated 22 April 1838, Chasteen Scott of Kentucky inquired about a family connection. In a letter dated 19 February 1843 from Fort Hill, John C. Calhoun wrote to Elmore telling him he was enclosing a letter of introduction to the president. In a letter dated 4 April 1850, from the Charleston Hotel, P. Calhoun wrote asking for permission to call. The remainder of the items between 1838 and 1853 are family letters. After Elmore's death in May 1850, there are letters from Harriet to Ellen and the other children.

In 1860 there are letters to Ellen S. Elmore from her mother, Harriet Elmore. In 1861 and 1862, Albert Elmore wrote two letters from South Carolina army camps. Several letters were written in 1865 and 1866 by family and friends. In a letter dated 28 November 1877, J.B. Gordon wrote from Washington, D.C., to Grace Elmore, thanking the women of Columbia for their tribute to him and a silver salver.