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 Matthew Smart Davis Papers #4125, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Provenance

Received from Sarah Davis of Louisburg, N.C., in April 1977, November 1994 (Acc. 94167), June 1995 (Acc. 95076), July and August 2001 (Acc. 99013, 99042, 99065), and October 2001 (Acc. 99097).

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.

The additions of July and August 2001 are arranged in the same way as, but have not been incorporated into, the original deposit of materials.

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.

• Agriculture--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Davis family.
• Davis, Matthew Smart, 1830-1906.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Libel and slander--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Louisburg Female College.
• Louisburg Male Academy.
• School principals--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Schools--North Carolina--History.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Slaves--Employment--North Carolina.
• Spencer, W. H.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.
• Warrenton (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Franklin County (N.C.)--Officials and employees--History--19th century.
• Franklin County(N.C.)--Social life and customs.

• Hill and Davis Family Papers (#4393);
• Marion Stuart Davis Papers (#5073);
• Daniel Shine Hill Papers (#4834).

Matthew Smart Davis, son of Edward and Rebecca Pitchford Davis, was born near Inez in Warren County, N.C., on 3 October 1830. In June 1856, he married Sarah Louisa Hill, with whom he had nine children, six of whom survived to adulthood: Edward Hill, lawyer and Methodist minister; Florence Madree, who married Eugene Allen; Mary Madeline, who married Ivey Allen and was president of Louisburg College, 1906-1918; Lula Pauline, who married Zollicoffer Egerton; Charles Weldon, who died at the age of 21; Mabel Irwin, Louisburg College teacher and librarian at the Warren County Public Library; and Marion Stuart, architect, of Louisburg.

Matthew Smart Davis received his A.B. degree from the University of North Carolina in 1855 and his A.M. in the early 1860s. In 1856, he began teaching at the Louisburg Male Academy, where he soon became principal. Davis held this position for 25 years. For several years prior to 1880, he served as Franklin County superintendent of schools. In 1880, he left teaching for farming at the Egerton plantation called Little Egypt and at Green Hill, Sarah Louisa Hill's family's plantation, southwest of Louisburg. During this time, he also served three terms as Franklin County treasurer. In 1896, he became president of Louisburg College, which his daughters had attended when it was Louisburg Female Academy. Davis died in office in 1906.

The collections includes school, financial, legal, and other materials relating to Matthew Smart Davis and his school and farming career. School materials include items relating to Louisburg College (the former Louisburg Female Academy and College) and to the Louisburg Male Academy. Louisburg College materials include fire insurance policies, 1897-1906; an art teacher's application for employment with recommendations attached, 1913; and a financial statement, 1914. Louisburg Male Academy materials include bills and receipts from bookstores, printers, and other merchants; a copy of the boarding house rules; a copy of the "Rules of Government of the Pupils"; closing exercises from the 1870s; and various grade books and assignment sheets. Financial materials relate chiefly to Davis's farming and family activities. Legal materials relate to the 1879 Orange County libel suit between H. A. Foote and Blair Burwell, for which Davis appears to have served as mediator, and to various estates that Davis administered, particularly that of W. H. Spencer. The Spencer materials are deeds and other financial items generated by W. H. Spencer during his lifetime and materials relating to the settlement of his estate, as well as materials relating to Spencer's duties as Franklin County, N.C., superior court clerk, including many bills for court charges and other services. Also included are letters, report cards, and other items relating to Davis's days at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and to his family in Warrenton, N.C., 1852-1856; Davis's appointment as principal, 1855, and exemption from military service, 1863; and his certificate of appointment as Franklin County justice of the peace, 1887.

Oversized papers in folder OPF-4125/1.