This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
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.
Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 130 items) |
Abstract | Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese twins, married sisters Sarah and Adelaide Yates in 1843 and established homes and families in Wilkes County and later Surry County, N.C. The collection includes correspondence, bills, and receipts, including slave bills of sale, of Siamese twins Chang and Eng Bunker relating to their North Carolina property, planting interests, family matters, and arrangements for exhibition tours. Also included are an account book, 1833-1839, showing income from public appearances and itinerary; clippings; photographs; articles about the twins by Worth B. Daniels and Jonathan Daniels and related material; and Joined at Birth, a 1998 videotape about the twins that was made by Advanced Medical Productions of Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Discovery Channel. The Addition of November 2011 is a ledger with entries presumably penned by Chang and Eng's business manager Charles Harris detailing the business-related and personal expenses of Chang and Eng during exhibition tours of Cuba, Europe, and the United States and for a period after they settled in North Carolina in 1839. |
Creator | Bunker, Chang, 1811-1874.
Bunker, Eng, 1811-1874. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Southern Historical Collection Staff, 1960s-1990s
Encoded by: Linda Sellars, September 1999
Updated because of addition by Jackie Dean, June 2012
Updated because of addition by Jodi Berkowitz, January 2019
Updated by: Laura Hart, July 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.
Chang and Eng Bunker (1811-1874), the original Siamese twins, were born in Meklong, Siam, and were brought from Bangkok to Boston in 1829. After extensive tours in North America and Europe, they settled in Wilkes County (later Surry County), N.C., were naturalized, and received the surname Bunker by act of the legislature.
In 1843, Chang and Eng Bunker married Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of David Yates of Wilkes County, N.C. Chang had ten children; Eng had nine children. They continued to make exhibition tours until about 1870.
Back to TopCorrespondence, bills, and receipts, including bills of sale for people claimed as property and enslaved, of Siamese twins Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker relating to their North Carolina property, planting interests, family matters, and arrangements for exhibition tours. Also included are a ledger, 1832-circa 1841, with entries detailing the business-related and personal expenses of Chang and Eng during exhibition tours and while they were settled in North Carolina; an account book, 1833-1839, showing income from public appearances and itinerary; clippings; photographs; articles about the twins by Worth B. Daniels and Jonathan Daniels and related material; and Joined at Birth, a 1998 videotape about the twins that was made by Advanced Medical Productions of Chapel Hill, N.C., for the Discovery Channel.
The Addition of November 2011 is a ledger with entries presumably penned by Chang and Eng's business manager Charles Harris detailing the business-related and personal expenses of Chang and Eng during exhibition tours of Cuba, Europe, and the United States and for a period after they settled in North Carolina in 1839.
Back to TopFolder 1 |
Account book, 1833-1839Record of amounts received by Chang and Eng, with date (3 July 1833-June 1839) and place of each amount. The record shows appearances in many cities and towns in the eastern United States; Canada; France and Belgium, 1835-1836; and Cuba, 1835. The account book documents long runs in New York (Peale's Museum) and Philadelphia and the twins' appearances in North Carolina in October 1834 and May-July 1839. |
Folder 2 |
Papers, 1840-1854 and undatedLetters; bills and receipts; incomplete copy or draft of a proposed contract for public appearances in 1849 to be managed by Edmund H. Doty of New York; and several items relating to the settlement of the estate of David Yates of Wilkes County, N.C., of which Eng was administrator. Included are bills of sale for people claimed as property and enslaved and other financial items about the twins' interests in Wilkes County and Surry County, N.C. Letters were written by Robert S. Gilmer and Elisha Banner at Mount Airy, N.C., concerning the twins' business and farming interests and giving news of home, crops, and neighborhood; by R. D. Martin of Philadelphia, 1848, requesting a letter of credit and mentioning Tom Thumb; by Edmund H. Doty about a contract, 1849; by William Rawley, 30 April 1849, giving the twins news of their homes and families; by Bunker & Co. of New York, 2 February 1850, including an account of merchandise being shipped to Raleigh by way of Petersburg; by P. A. Browne, 1850, requesting locks of hair for study; and by Chang and Eng Bunker, 19 March 1854, to their wives and children with news of themselves and of Kate and Chris, the children who were accompanying them. |
Folder 3 |
Papers, 1855-1874Letters, bills, and receipts. Letters include one, 10 December 1860, from Eng Bunker and child James in San Francisco to Eng's wife and children in Surry County, giving instructions about things at home and telling of their trip from New York; one, 17 October 1861, from William Soyars in the 50th Virginia Regiment, naming friends who were ill or dead; three, 1866, 1867, and 1870, from C-- M-- Bunker at Mount Airy, N.C., to her father, giving him news of family, home, and neighborhood; one from Robert S. Gilmer at Mount Airy to Chang and Eng concerning land purchased for them and other business and news of home; and a photocopy of a letter, 29 January 1874, to the widows of Chang and Eng, inquiring about purchasing the twins' body. |
Folder 4 |
ClippingsNine clippings, including one broadside advertising an appearance of the Siamese Twins. One clippings is dated as late as 1939, but most clippings are undated. |
Folder 5 |
"The Siamese Twins: Some observations on their life, last illness, and autopsy," by Worth B. Daniels, M.D., 1961Typescript of paper read to several medical groups in 1961 and 1962 and submitted for publication. (Offprint of article in the Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association, Vol 73, 1961/1962, p. lvii-lxv, was received from Daniels and transferred to the North Carolina Collection.) |
Folder 6 |
Worth Daniels's bibliography and notes |
Folder 7 |
Worth Daniels's correspondence, 1961-1965Correspondence in connection with preparation of article on Chang and Eng Bunker, includes correspondence with Jonathan Daniels, Joffre Bunker, librarians, curators, and others. |
Folder 8 |
Worth Daniels's copies of source materialsTyped copy of James W. Hale's Account, published in 1830; photocopies of letters, 19 January 1874 and 1 April 1874. |
Folder 9 |
Worth Daniels's clippings, 1933-1967 |
Folder 10 |
Article by Jonathan Daniels for American Heritage, 1962. |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-3761/1 |
Posters advertising appearances by the Siamese Twins |
Image Folder PF-3761/1-2
PF-3761/1PF-3761/2 |
Photographs of the twins, their relatives, and the houses where they lived. |
Image Folder PF-3761/3 |
Autopsy photographs. |
Videotape VT-3761/1 |
"Joined at Birth." Videotape, 1998Made for the Discovery Channel by Advanced Medical Productions of Chapel Hill, N.C. |
Folder 11 |
Ledger, 1832-1841Acquisitions information: Addition of 2011 (Acc. 101616). Formerly North Carolina Collection Gallery number: CK.413.2. Entries presumably penned by Chang and Eng's business manager Charles Harris detailing the business-related and personal expenses of Chang and Eng during exhibition tours of Cuba, Europe, and the United States and for a period after they settled in North Carolina in 1839. |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-3761/2 |
Land deed signed by Eng Bunker, 1863Acquisitions Information: Addition of 2013 (Acc. 101903) |
Reel M-3761/1-2
M-3761/1M-3761/2 |
Microfilm copy of collection materials, 1833-1839 |