Sallie Southall Cotten papers, 1857-1929

Collection Number: 02613

Collection Title: Sallie Southall Cotten papers, 1857-1929

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.

Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size	2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2,000 items)
Abstract	Sallie Swepson Sims Southall Cotten (1846-1929) of Pitt County, N.C., was a writer and campaigner for women's issues. Cotten was a leader in both the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the National Congress of Mothers, through which she worked to advance the legal and educational status of women. She also published articles and poetry, most notably The White Doe (1901), a verse history of the Lost Colony. The collection consists primarily of letters from Sallie Southall Cotten to her son, Bruce Cotten, concerning family news, current events, and women's issues, including her work in various women's organizations and her lobbying activities in the North Carolina legislature. Also inlcuded is genealogical information on the Sims, Dromgoole, Walton, and Southall families; Sallie Southall Cotten's scrapbooks, 1885-1928, containing clippings, poems, pictures, and other memorabilia relating to her work with women's organizations, and to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893; four notebooks of reminiscences, 1913-1916, and a copy of The White Doe.
Creator	Cotten, Sallie Southall.
Curatorial Unit	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language	English

Expand/collapse Information For Users

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 Sallie Southall Cotten Papers #2613, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information: Received from Bruce Cotten of Baltimore, Md., and Sallie Cotten Wiggin of Winchester, Mass., in 1942.

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.

Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, March 1996

Encoded by: Joseph Nicholson, June 2006

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, July 2010

This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.

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

Elizabeth H. Cotten Papers (#1650)
Matt Ranson Papers (#2615)
Cotten Family Papers (#3589)

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Sallie Swepson Sims Southall Cotten (1846-1929) of Pitt County, N.C., was a writer and campaigner for women's issues. Cotten was a leader in both the North Carolina Federation of Women's Clubs and the National Congress of Mothers, through which she worked to advance the legal and educational status of women. She also published articles and poetry, most notably The White Doe (1901), a verse history of the Lost Colony.

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection primarily consists of letters from Sallie Southall Cotten to her son, Bruce Cotten, concerning family news; current events; and women's issues, including her work in various women's organizations and her lobbying activities in the North Carolina legislature. Also included is genealogical information on the Sims, Dromgoole, Walton, and Southall families; Sallie Southall Cotten's scrapbooks, 1885-1928, containing clippings, poems, pictures, and other memorabilia relating to her work with women's organizations, and to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893; four notebooks of reminiscences, 1913-1916; and a copy of The White Doe.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1891-1929.

About 500 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

The letters are chiefly to Bruce Cotten from his mother, Sallie S. Cotten, or to her friend General W.J. Le Duc with references to her work on women's issues, news, and current events. There are also several family letters from her son, Lyman A. Cotten (1874-1926), naval commander, describing his diplomatic service in Tokyo and letters addressed to Bruce Cotten.

Folder 1	1891-1900
Folder 2	1902-1904
Folder 3	1905-1909
Folder 4	1910-1913
Folder 5	1914-1919
Folder 6	1920-1921
Folder 7	1922
Folder 8	1923
Folder 9	1924-1925
Folder 10	1926-1928
Folder 11	1929

Expand/collapse Series 2. Genealogical Materials, Undated.

80 items.

Genealogical information collected by Sallie Cotten on the Southall, Sims, Dromgoole, and Walton Families.

Folder 12	Southall Family
Extra Oversize Paper XOP-2613/1	Genealogical chart of the Southall family
Folder 13	Sims, Dromgoole, and Walton Families

Expand/collapse Series 3. Volumes, 1885-1928.

12 items.