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 William Allan Papers, #2764, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. William Allan of Chapel Hill, N.C., 1943. Additional material received from Anna Brooke Allan of Chapel Hill, N.C., November 1985 (Acc. 85143) and August 1990 (Acc. 90108).

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

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: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, October 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.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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.

• Allan family.
• Allan, Elizabeth Preston, b. 1848.
• Allan, Thomas, 1802-1873.
• Allan, William, 1837-1889.
• Bull Run, 2nd Battle of, Va., 1862.
• College teachers--Virginia--History--19th century.
• Confederate States of America. Army--Officers--Biography.
• Diaries.
• Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
• McDonogh School--History.
• Preston family.
• Schools--Maryland--Baltimore--History--19th century.
• Scottish Americans--Virginia--History--19th century.
• United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Personal narratives, Confederate.
• Washington College (Lexington, Va.)--Faculty--History.
• Winchester (Va.)--History--19th century.
• Women--Virginia--Social life and customs.

William Allan (1837-1889) was a Confederate military officer and an educator.

The collection contains letters, deeds, estate papers, business papers, diaries, reminiscences, and other material documenting the life of William Allan (1837-1889) and of members of his family. Allan's volumes include reminiscences, written in the 1880s, of his early life and of the Civil War, during which he served as a colonel and chief ordnance officer for generals Jackson, Ewell, and Early in the Army of Northern Virginia; notes on the 2nd Battle of Bull Run; notes on his conversations with General Robert E. Lee, 1867-1870 (typed transcriptions); and Allan's diaries, 1872-1873, while a professor at Washington College, Va., and 1882-1888, while principal of the McDonogh School, Baltimore, Md. Other volumes include the reminiscences of his wife, Elizabeth Randolph (Preston) Allan (1848-1933), published in Richmond, Va., in 1938; and the reminiscences (microfilm of typed transcriptions) of his father, Thomas Allan (1802-1873), who emigrated from Scotland in the 1830s and became a nurseryman and dairy farmer at Winchester, Va. Also included are copies of items relating to Preston and Allan family history.

• Photographs (PF-2764/1)