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Collection Number: 03730-z

Collection Title: Bingham Military School Volumes, 1872-1876; 1890-1919

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.


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Size 2 items
Abstract The Bingham Military School (originally the Bingham School) was located near Mebane Station, N.C., 1865-1891, and moved to Asheville, N.C., in 1891. Robert Bingham was superintendent from 1873 to 1920. The collection includes a volume of minutes of weekly meetings, 9 February 1872-19 January 1877, of Bingham School's Polemic Society, a debating society, including roll calls, elections of members, announcements of debate topics, and membership and attendance lists, 1872-1876; and a ledger, 1891-1919, of the school's accounts with individual students, and other receipts and expenditures, under the superintendency of Robert Bingham (index included).
Creator Bingham Military School (Asheville, N.C.)
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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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 Bingham Military School Volumes #3730-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy of Volume 2 available.
  • Reel 1: Volume 2
Acquisitions Information
Received from Barry Bingham (grandson of Robert Bingham) of Louisville, Ky., in February 1966; purchased from Gallery Clinton Lindley, Ltd., Hillsborough, N.C., August 1977.
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.
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Processed by: Manuscripts Department Staff, 1966, 1978

Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, August 2006

Updated by: Nancy Kaiser, May 2021

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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.

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The Bingham Military School was established in 1793 as the Bingham School in Orange County, N.C., by the Reverend William Bingham (1754-1825). After the founder's death, the school was continued by his son William James Bingham (1802-1866), who moved it to Hillsborough and, in 1844, to the Oaks, also in Orange County. Colonel William J. Bingham's sons, Colonel William Bingham (1835-1873) and Robert Bingham (1838-1927), who had been associated with the school since 1857, took charge in 1864 when their father's health failed. They moved the school in 1864-1865 to near Mebane Station in Orange County, where it operated until 1891 when Robert Bingham moved to to Asheville, N.C. At some point, the school name changed to Bingham Military School. Robert Bingham was superintendent from 1873 to 1920.

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The collection includes two volumes of the Bingham Military School (originally Bingham School) in Orange County, N.C., and Asheville, N.C. One is a volume of minutes of weekly meetings, 9 February 1872-19 January 1877, of Bingham School's Polemic Society, a debating society, including roll calls, elections of members, announcements of debate topics, and membership and attendance lists, 1872-1876. The other is a ledger, 1891-1919, of the school's accounts with individual students, and other receipts and expenditures, under the superintendency of Robert Bingham (index included).

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Volumes, 1872-1876; 1890-1919.

1 items.

Oversize Volume SV-3730/1

Volume 1: Ledger, 1890-1919, 642 pages

The volume contains what appears to be a fairly complete index. There are accounts with teachers and others connected to the school (scattered on pages 1-124); a record of first mortgage bonds on school property (page 10); accounts, 1890-1900, with F. M. Cheek of Mebane, N.C., and Schoville Manufacturering Company, supplier of uniforms (pages 110-112); and the aid fund, 1881-1905 (pages 166-172). There is also a ledger with accounts for individual students, 1890-1919 (pages 261-599). The ledger was kept during the period when the school was located at Asheville, N.C., "two and a half miles from the city and beyond the French Broad River" (1897), with Robert Bingham as superintendent.

Folder 1

Volume 2: Polemic Society minute book, 1872-1877 (microfilm copy available)

The fly leaf is inscribed "W. W. Holland, Lexington, North Carolina" and "Polemic Soceity, Bingham School, North Carolina." The inside front cover contains the order of business for meetings of the debating and literary society, which met weekly during the school term. There are minutes of the weekly meetings, 9 Feburary 1872-19 January 1877. Each set of minutes has a roll call or list of absentees; election of new members; annoucnement of a debate topic for the next meeting; assignment of debaters for each side, declaimers, and orderlies; fines for misconduct or absence; and a debate. The debates are not described beyond comments on their caliber and the president's decisions. Business conducted at each meeting might include committee reports, election of officers, financial transactions, and resoluntins on the conduct of meetings. There are also occasional called business meetings, many related to the furnishing and maintenance of the society's hall. Following the minutes, there are membership and attendance rolls, 1872-1876, listing each member by last name only.

Reel M-3730/1

Microfilm: Volume 2

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