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 processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Size | 5.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 50 items) |
Abstract | Diaries, scrapbooks, and other records of Niles, who practiced law for 46 years in Kosciusko, Miss., and served as a Republican U. S. representative from 1873-1875. The diaries, 34 V. (estimated 6,800 or more pages), cover Niles's early life and education in Vermont, 1831-1838; teaching school at several places in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848; residence in Mississippi, 1848-1890; and numerous trips: to Canada, 1864; Ohio and North Carolina, 1871; California, 1872; and Texas, 1873. The diaries are an unusually full and articulate record of the experiences and opinions of a New Englander residing in the South. Fifteen scrapbooks, 1847-1888, of clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and other items, contain material on Mississippi and national politics, particularly during Reconstruction, on Niles's New England literary interests, and on many other events and subjects. Also included are a diary and scrapbook, 1869- 1871, of Henry C. Niles, and a Kosciusko town school record, 1853-1854. |
Creator | Niles, Jason, 1814-1894. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, May 1996
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Updated by: Laura Hart, December 2021
Back to TopThe 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.
Jason Niles was born 19 December 1814 at Hatley, Quebec. He lived in the vicinity of Burlington, Vt., from 1831 to March 1838, attending the University of Vermont from 1834 until his graduation in 1837. He lived in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Tennessee from 1838 to 1848, teaching school. He married Harriet "Qu" McRee of Shelbyville, Tenn., on 15 August 1847.
Niles moved to Kosciusko, Miss., on 20 July 1848. Having started reading law in January, he was admitted to the bar in 1851 and practiced intermittently throughout his residence in Kosciusko. He was editor of the Kosciusko Chronicle, 1851-1853; a delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1851, 1865, and 1868; a member of the state House of Representatives in 1870; a circuit judge in 1871 and 1872; and Republican member of the United States Congress March 1873 to March 1875 (he was defeated in the 1874 election). Niles died at Kosciusko, Miss., on 7 July 1894.
Back to TopDiaries, scrapbooks, and other records of Niles, who practiced law for 46 years in Kosciusko, Miss., and served as a Republican U. S. representative from 1873-1875. The diaries, 34 V. (estimated 6,800 or more pages), cover Niles's early life and education in Vermont, 1831-1838; teaching school at several places in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848; residence in Mississippi, 1848-1890; and numerous trips: to Canada, 1864; Ohio and North Carolina, 1871; California, 1872; and Texas, 1873. The diaries are an unusually full and articulate record of the experiences and opinions of a New Englander residing in the South. Fifteen scrapbooks, 1847-1888, of clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and other items, contain material on Mississippi and national politics, particularly during Reconstruction, on Niles's New England literary interests, and on many other events and subjects. Also included are a diary and scrapbook, 1869- 1871, of Henry C. Niles, and a Kosciusko town school record, 1853-1854.
Back to TopArrangement: format.
Diaries of Jason Niles begin during his youth and college in Burlington, Vt., and continue through his teaching positions in Ohio and Tennessee, 1838-1848, and his business and political career in Kosciusko, Miss., 1848-1890. There are also accounts of trips to Canada in 1864, Ohio and New Orleans in 1871, California in 1872, and Texas in 1873.
Other volumes include commonplace books, a township school record, and a chapter of an unpublished history based upon material in Niles's diaries.
Fifteen scrapbooks of newspaper clippings belonging to Jason Niles and Henry Niles. These volumes contain clippings, pamphlets, broadsides, and ballot sheets pertaining to Republican Mississippi and national politics. There are also clippings on literary criticism with an emphasis on New England authors of the 1840s; items on American history; European political and literary affairs; celebrated murders, marriages and lynchings; and poetry, obituaries, and other clippings showing an interest in U. S. Grant, Wendell Phillips, Horace Greeley, Daniel Webster, Margaret Fuller, Emerson, Stoddard, and Blaine. Also included is material relating to Jason Niles's own political activities in Mississippi in the late 1860s.
Folder 1 |
Diary (Volume 1), 1831-1836150 pages. Niles while residing in Burlington, Vt., and environs. |
Folder 2 |
Diary (Volume 2), 1836-1838171 pages. Niles began in Burlington, Vt. |
Folder 3 |
Diary (Volume 3), 1838170 pages. Niles began at Haverhill, Mass., and continued at Tupper's Plains, Ohio. |
Folder 4 |
Diary (Volume 4), 1838-1839157 pages. Niles began while teaching in Zanesville, Ohio. |
Folder 5 |
Diary (Volume 5), 1839165 pages. Niles began while teaching in Middleton, Tenn. |
Folder 6 |
Diary (Volume 6), 1839-1841165 pages. Niles began while still teaching in Middleton, Tenn. |
Folder 7 |
Diary (Volume 7), 1841128 pages. Niles, probably still teaching in Middleton, Tenn. |
Folder 8 |
Diary (Volume 8), 1841-1842139 pages. Niles began at Athens, Ohio. |
Folder 9 |
Diary (Volume 9), 1842-1843130 pages. Niles began at Tupper's Plain, Ohio. |
Folder 10 |
Diary (Volume 10), 1843-1844136 pages. Niles began at Nashville, Tenn. Included is an account of a steamboat trip to Cairo, Illinois. |
Folder 11 |
Diary (Volume 11), 1844-1845147 pages. Niles while teaching in Tennessee. |
Folder 12 |
Diary (Volume 12), 1845-1846291 pages. Niles while in Tennessee. |
Folder 13 |
Diary (Volume 13), 1846147 pages. Niles while in Tennessee. |
Folder 14 |
Diary (Volume 14), 1846-1848153 pages. Niles while in Tennessee and Mississippi. Another diary notes his marriage to Harriet "Qu" McRee on 15 August 1847. |
Folder 15 |
Diary (Volume 15), 1850-1861250 pages. Niles while practicing law in Mississippi. |
Folder 16 |
Diary (Volume 16), 1862-1864182 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 17 |
Diary (Volume 17), 1864-1865180 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 18 |
Diary (Volume 18), 1865-1866176 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 19 |
Diary (Volume 19), 1867, 187050 pages. Niles, with a few entries about travels to Canada. |
Folder 20a |
Diary (Volume 20a), 1871100 pages. Niles on a trip from Kosciusko to Cincinnati and back. |
Folder 20b |
Diary (Volume 20b), 1872-1873100 pages. Niles on a trip through St. Louis, Texas, New Orleans, and back in 1873 and to California in 1872. |
Folder 21 |
Diary (Volume 21), 1873-1876336 pages. Niles at Kosciusko, Miss., and Washington, D.C. |
Folder 22 |
Diary (Volume 22), 1876164 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 23 |
Diary (Volume 23), 1876-1877170 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 24 |
Diary (Volume 24), 1871-1878222 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 25 |
Diary (Volume 25), 1878-1880216 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 26 |
Diary (Volume 26), 1880-1881216 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 27 |
Diary (Volume 27), 1881-1883192 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 28 |
Diary (Volume 28), 1883-1884136 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 29 |
Diary (Volume 29), 1884-1885197 pages. DNiles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 30 |
Diary (Volume 30), 1885-1886111 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 31 |
Diary (Volume 31), 1886-1887195 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 32 |
Diary (Volume 32), 1887-1889242 pages. Niles while in Mississippi |
Folder 33 |
Diary (Volume 33), 1889-1890150 pages. Niles while in Mississippi. |
Folder 34 |
Writings (Volume 34), 186150 pages. Collectanea with writings on history, classics, etc., written by Niles. |
Folder 35 |
School record (Volume 35), 1853-185450 pages. Township School Record, Kosciusko, Miss. |
Folder 36 |
Commonplace book (Volume 36), 1869-1871202 pages. Commonplace book of Henry C. Niles. |
Folder 37 |
Typescript (Volume 37), 1973 [1860-1870]61 pages. Photocopy of a typescript of Chapter 9, "The Fourth Decade, 1860-1870, Civil War and Military Rule" by James P. Coleman for his Choctaw County History. Coleman quoted extensively from Niles's diaries. |
Folder 38 |
Scrapbook (Volume 38), 1847-1868150 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about literature, history, travel, European affairs, and poetry. |
Oversize Volume SV-950/39 |
Scrapbook (Volume S-39), 1847-1859125 pages. Scrapbook with European affairs, Daniel Webster, poetry, etc. |
Folder 40 |
Scrapbook (Volume 40), 1848-1850300 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about local politics and events and general and literary matters. |
Folder 41 |
Scrapbook (Volume 41), 1849-1890542 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of local clippings, broadsides, and material on Jason Niles's political career (pasted over record of the thirty-sixth Congress, 1860). |
Folder 42 |
Scrapbook (Volume 42), 1848, 1867-1870125 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of obituaries, poems, and general feature articles. |
Folder 43 |
Scrapbook (Volume 43), 1868-1872100 pages. Henry Niles's scrapbook of newspaper clippings about Republican politics in Mississippi, poems, and information on Horace Greeley. |
Folder 44 |
Scrapbook (Volume 44), 1870-187285 pages. Scrapbook of miscellaneous newspaper clippings. |
Folder 45 |
Scrapbook (Volume 45), 1872100 pages. Scrapbook of clippings, pamphlets, and published speeches concerning the election and campaign, with U. S. Grant material. |
Folder 46 |
Scrapbook (Volume 46), 1872-187375 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about literature, history, and Washington information. |
Folder 47 |
Scrapbook (Volume 47), 1872-1882300 pages. Scrapbook of Jason Niles with newspaper clippings of poetry, literary criticism, public affairs, political issues and a few murders. |
Folder 48 |
Scrapbook (Volume 48), 1877-1882150 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings about politics, speeches, and miscellaneous topics. |
Folder 49 |
Scrapbook (Volume 49), 1878-1886425 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings of obituaries, biographical material on public and literary men, marriages, murder trials, and miscellaneous items. |
Folder 50 |
Scrapbook (Volume 50), 1879-1885370 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings. |
Folder 51 |
Scrapbook (Volume 51), 1879-188375 pages. Scrapbook of newspaper clippings dealing chiefly with the National Republican Convention of 1880 (pasted in a county school record of the 1860s). |
Folder 52 |
Scrapbook (Volume 52), 1885-1888370 pages. Scrapbook of obituaries and miscellaneous clippings. |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-950/1 |
Oversize paper with images, circa 1850-1890Small images of 20 unidentified white men pasted to a thin board. |
Reel M-950/1-5
M-950/1M-950/2M-950/3M-950/4M-950/5 |
Microfilm copy of portions of the collection, 1831-1890 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/1 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 1-2, 1831-1838 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/2 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 3-4, 1838-1839 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/3 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 5-7, 1839-1841 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/4 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 8-10, 1841-1844 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/5 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 11-12, 1844-1845 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/6 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 12-14, 1846-1847 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/7 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 14-15, 1848-1859 |
Transcription Volume TV-950/8 |
Transcriptions of selected portions of diary volumes 15-17, 1861-1864 |