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This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 400 items) |
Abstract | Writer of Talladega County, Ala., who used the pen name "Betsy Hamilton." Scattered letters, 1882-1927, from editors, readers, and friends, and clippings of her newspaper series, "Backwoods Letters," and other humorous articles in the dialects of the backwoods of Alabama and of antebellum blacks. |
Creator | Moore, Idora McClellan, 1843-1929. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, September 1996
Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, January 2010
This collection was processed with support from the Randleigh Foundation Trust.
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.
Idora McClellan Plowman Moore, daughter of William B. McClellan of Alabama, was born in Talladega County, Ala., in 1843 and grew up on the plantation "Idlewood." She was married a few years after the Civil War to Albert W. Plowman, a lawyer of Talladega, and, some years after his death, married Captain Martin Van Buren Moore (1837-1900) in 1892.
Idora McClellan Moore's writing under the pseudonym "Betsy Hamilton" consisted of humorous articles written in dialect of the backwoods of Alabama or of freed slaves. "The Backwoods--Familiar Letters from Betsy Hamilton to her Cousin Saleny" was published as a series for several years in the Sunny South (Atlanta). She also published in Harper's Weekly and the Atlanta Constitution. She was know also for her readings in dialect, which were delivered at women's colleges and lyceums throughout the South. In her later years, Idora lived with her step-daughter, Julia Moore Smith, who edited Southern Character Sketches. She died in 1929.
Back to TopLetters, 1882-1898, to "Betsy Hamilton" primarily about business with editors or from fans; a copyright for her stories and letters, 1884; clippings, including a few relating to new editions of her writings, obituary notices, a tribute to her, and her public speeches; annotated clippings of "Backwoods Letters"; clippings of a series of "letters" written from the New Orleans exposition in 1885 and the Atlanta fair in 1887; more clippings of "Backwoods Letters," 1884; clippings of "Romance of Owl Hollow"; clippings from magazines with typescripts of more articles by Hamilton under the name "Pen Pictures of the Negro on the Oldtime Plantation and Life in the Southern Backwoods"; press notices of Betsy Hamilton's public readings; and clippings of writings from the Atlanta Constitution with more press notices of her readings.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Papers, 1882-1939 and undated |
Folder 2 |
"Backwoods Letters" |
Folder 3 |
"Backwoods Letters" |
Folder 4 |
Exposition Papers |
Folder 5 |
"Backwoods Letters," 1884 |
Folder 6 |
"Romance of Owl Hollow" |
Folder 7 |
"Pen Pictures" |
Folder 8 |
Press Notices |
Folder 9 |
Miscellaneous Writings |
Image Folder PF-3072/1 |
Two photographs of Moore, undated |
Reel M-3072/1 |
Microfilm |