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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.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 33.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 26,800 items) |
| Abstract | Liddell, Pickens, and related Hall, Forgey, and Battle family members lived chiefly in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The collection includes correspondence of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle and her daughter, Vinton Liddell Pickens, and other papers of members of the related Liddell, Pickens, Battle, and Hall families. Letters are from Vinton Liddell (Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle's first husband) to his mother, Anna Amelia Brubaker Liddell, from Europe and Palestine; letters to daughter Vinton Liddell (later Pickens) from schoolmates in Europe during World War I; letters from Madelon Battle Hancock at the front during World War I; and letters from Anna Forbes Liddell about women's suffrage in North Carolina and from Germany in the 1930s. Pickens family correspondence includes letters from journalist Robert Sylvester Pickens (husband of Vinton Liddell Pickens) in China in 1927, letters from Vinton Liddell Pickens in China in the early 1930s, Dorothy Pike's letters about conditions in England and Ireland in the 1940s, and Cornelia Pickens Suhler's letters about diplomatic service in Germany in the 1950s. Also included are Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle's recollections of the years 1864-1949. The addition of 2002 includes many letters relating to World War II both of soldiers in the field and on the homefront; it also includes typed transcriptions of many of the items in the collection as well as year-by-year detailed narratives describing family activities through 1952. The addition of 2005 contains Pickens family correspondence from 1911 to 1992, correspondence transcriptions, and family diaries, writings, and clippings. |
| Creator | Liddell family.
Pickens family. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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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.
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Biographical Information
Jane Hyde Hall Liddle Battle (1866-1952) was the daughter of John Geary Hall and Eliza Hyde Hall of Ridgway, Penn. Her sister was Susan Esther Hall. Her first husband was Vinton Liddell (1859-1915) of Charlotte, N.C., son of Anna Amelia Brubaker Liddell and Walter James Forbes Liddell (Eva Liddell was their daughter). Jane Hyde Hall Liddle Battle and Vinton Liddell's daughter was also named Vinton Liddell (b. 1900) until her marriage to Robert Sylvester Pickens in 1924. Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle's second husband was Samuel Westray Battle (1854-1927), physician of Asheville, N.C., whom she married on 7 February 1918. Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle died in Ashville on 20 January 1952.
Robert Sylvester Pickens was the son of Emma Watts Pickens and Cornelius Miller Pickens, a Methodist minister of Charlotte and elsewhere in North Carolina. Robert Sylvester Pickens was a journalist who worked in China and other countries as well as in Washington, D.C. Jane Liddle Pickens Church (b. 23 February 1925 in Hickory, N.C.), who married Herbert Matthew Church on 27 April 1946, and Cornelia Stanton Pickens Suhler (b. 19 February 1926 in Statesville, N.C.), who married Sidney Vernon Suhler on 29 July 1950, were daughters of Roberts Sylvester Pickens and Vinton Liddell Pickens.
Other family members and friends included Madelon Battle Hancock, who was known as "Glory". Mrs. Mortimer J. Hancock was his daughter; her son was Westray Battle Hancock. Maud Battle (Mrs. Octave Battle) was the sister-in-law of Samuel Westray Battle; Helen and Betty were her daughters. Westray Battle Boyce was later Mrs. William Leslie, then, after Leslie's death, Mrs. Wiley Long. Harriet Teal was a contemporary and friend of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle and Susan Esther Hall.
James Forbes's daughter was Isabella Forbes Liddell. Forbes Liddell was the son of Walter James Forbes Liddell and Amelia Brubaker Liddell. His wife was Myra Ravenscroft Liddell. M. J. Liddell was probably Mark John Liddell (listed as John Liddell in some genealogies). He was the half-brother of Walter James Forbes Liddell. Harry Alvan Hall was the youngest son of Benjamin McDowell Hall, only four years older than his niece, Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle.
Talitha White Pickens was the third wife of Robert Wesley Pickens. Susan Miller Forgey Pickens was the second wife of Robert Wesley Pickens. Cornelius Miller Pickens, son of Robert Wesley Pickens and his second wife Susan Forgey, was known as Neal. His wife was Emma Watts Pickens. Wiley Miller Pickens was Cornelius Miller Pickens's brother. Caroline Bickley Pickens was Robert Wesley Pickens's first wife.
Note that genealogical information, including family trees, may be found in folders 1 and 2.
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Scope and Content
The collection includes correspondence of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle and her daughter, Vinton Liddell Pickens, and other papers of members of the related Liddell, Pickens, Battle, Forgey, and Hall families. Letters are from Vinton Liddell (Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle's first husband) to his mother, Anna Amelia Brubaker Liddell, from Europe and Palestine; letters to daughter Vinton Liddell (later Pickens) from schoolmates in Europe during World War I; letters from Madelon Battle Hancock at the front during World War I; and letters from Anna Forbes Liddell about women's suffrage in North Carolina and from Germany in the 1930s. Pickens family correspondence includes letters from journalist Robert Sylvester Pickens (husband of Vinton Liddell Pickens) in China in 1927, letters from Vinton Liddell Pickens in China in the early 1930s, Dorothy Pike's letters about conditions in England and Ireland in the 1940s, and Cornelia Pickens Suhler's letters about diplomatic service in Germany in the 1950s. Also included are Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle's recollections of the years 1864-1949.
Note that there is much overlap among the series. The addition of 2002 includes many letters relating to World War II both of soldiers in the field and on the homefront; it also includes typed transcriptions of many of the items in the collection as well as year-by-year detailed narratives describing family activities through 1952. The addition of 2005 contains Pickens family correspondence from 1911 to 1992, correspondence transcriptions, and family diaries, writings, and clippings.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Hall-Liddell-Battle Papers, 1820-1976 and undated.
Arrangement: original order created by the donor maintained.
Family papers of the Hall and Liddell families of Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Included are correspondence of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle; her first husband, Vinton Liddell; their daugter Vinton, who married journalist Robert Sylvester Pickens in 1924; Jane's second husband, Samuel Westray Battle, physician of Ashville, N.C. There are also letters of Anna Forbes Liddell and family and of Walter Liddell Hill and family; diaries of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle and Vinton Liddell Pickens; and memoirs of Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle, including an inventory of her home in Asheville.
Included are Vinton Liddell's letters to his mother, Anna Amelia Brubaker Liddell, from Europe and Palestine; letters to Vinton Liddell Pickens from schoolmates during World War I; Vinton Liddell's corersopndence about obtaining a patent; and letters from Anna Forbes Liddell about women's suffrage in North Carolina and from Germany during the 1930s.
Principal correspondents are Jane Hyde Hall Liddell Battle, Vinton Liddell, Samuel Westray Battle, Anna Brubaker Liddell, Walter Scott Liddell, Helen Ogden Liddell, Susan Esther Hall, Harriet Teal, Rebecca Hill Peck, Anna Forbes Liddell, Madelon Battle Hancock, and Vinton Liddell Pickens.
Note that original file folder order and titles have, for the most part, been retained. Note, however, that some women are consistently identified by their final married names in an attempt to more clearly identify these individuals over time.
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Series 2. Pickens-Forgey Papers, 1858-1951 and undated.
Arrangement: original order created by the donor maintained.
Includes 19th century papers of the Pickens and Forgey families; correspondence of journalist Robert Sylvester Pickens and Vinton Liddell Pickens of Ashburn, Va., and elsewhere; and correspondence of their daughters Jane Liddell Pickens Church and Cornelia Stanton Pickens Suhler. Included are Robert Sylvester Pickens's correspondence about The Reviewer; his 1927 letters from China; Cornelius M. Pickens's corerspondnece about the trial of Methodist minister Dr. Chappell; Vinton Liddell Pickens's letters from the Far East in the early 1930s; Dorothy Pike's letters about conditions in England and Ireland in the 1940s; and Cornelia Stanton Pickens Suhler's letters about life in the diplomatic service in Germany in the early 1950s.
Principal correspondents are Vinton Liddell Pickens, Robert Sylvester Pickens, Cornelius M. Pickens, Stanton Watts Pickens, Wiley Millerj Pickens, Marshall Ivey Pickens, Philip Smith, Jane Liddell Pickens Church, Herbert Church, Jr., and Cornelia Stanton Pickens Suhler.
Note that original file folder titles and order have, for the most part, been retained.
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Additions
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Addition of May 1979 (Acc. 79108), 1881-1952 and undated.
Arrangement: by series, then chronological.
Materials relating to Series 1 and 2 (formerly A and B).
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Additions 1988-1997 (Acc. 88072, 88083, 89015, 89076, 89101, 90068, 81143, 92031,
92050, 97078), 1900s-1980s and undated.
Arrangement: chiefly chronological.
Materials arranged by Jane Pickens Church. They are chiefly letters among Battle, Church, Liddell, and Pickens family members. Indexes identifying and locating senders and recipients were created by Church; they are filed before the letters for each year.
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Addition of August 2002 (Acc. 99352), 1896-1952, 1996 and undated.
Arrangement: chiefly chronological.
Original materials are chiefly family correspondence and related items, many relating to World War II both to soldiers in the field and those on the homefront. Also included are typed transcriptions of many of the items in the collection. These transcriptions have been maintained in the original order created by the donor, which is primarily a unified chronological run of correspondence with transcribed diaries and other materials filed outside the chronology. At the beginning of the files for most years, there is a folder with a detailed narrative describing family activities during particular year through 1952. Before the 1924 folders, there are several folders relating to Pickens family history, 1697-1923. The arrangement of the transcriptions should make it relatively easy to determine whether or not there is a typed transcription of a particular original item.
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Addition of August 2005 (Acc. 100160), 1853-1992 and undated.
Chiefly the family correspondence of Vinton Liddell Pickens, Jane Pickens Church, Robert S. Pickens, and Cornelia Pickens Suhler. Correspondence is arranged chronologically. Much of the correspondence regards the news of family and friends. Correspondence from the 1920s is mainly between Vinton and Robert ("Bobby"), and discusses their courtship, marriage, the births of their children, financial difficulties, and Robert's travels to China as a journalist. The 1930s correspondence also contains discussion of Robert's international travels, including those with the president of the United States. There is also correspondence between Vinton and her mother, Jane Hyde Hall Liddell. In the 1940s, Robert continued to travel abroad, including to North Africa and England, to report on World War II. Stanton W. Pickens, a relative, also wrote to Vinton describing the war in Italy. Following her graduation from college in 1947, Cornelia took a year long trip through Europe and sent lively letters home to her mother. 1950s correspondence includes letters between Vinton and her mother Jane, then letters discussing Jane's death. There are also letters from daughters Cornelia and Jane to Vinton. In the 1960s, Vinton and Robert celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary and received many cards and letters from well-wishers. There is also correspondence about Vinton's book, Serendipity. There is no correspondence from 1968 and 1969. Most of the 1970s correspondence is between Jane Pickens Church and Herbert Church. The couple divorced in the early 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s correspondence belongs equally to Jane and Vinton. Topics include Vinton and Jane's social activism, monetary donations, and travels. Also discussed is Jane's interest in bird watching and bird banding. There is no correspondence from late 1981 or 1982.
Also included in this addition are transcriptions of correspondence from 1873 to 1911 and 1934. Other materials in this addition are family materials such as diaries, writings, and clippings, mostly belonging to individual family members. These are arranged in alphabetical order.
Processed by: Manuscripts Department Staff, 1970s-1980s
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, January 2005
Series 1 and 2 (formerly Series A and B) have been maintained in the order created by the donor, Vinton Liddell Pickens.
Finding aid updated in October 2005 by Valerie Gillispie because of addition.
Additions received after 1976 have not been integrated into the original deposits. Researchers should always check additions to be sure they have identified all files of interest to them.
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