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 | About 600 items (1.5 linear feet) |
Abstract | Matthew Smart Davis was born in Warren County, N.C., in 1830. He was graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1855 and married Sarah Louisa Hill in 1856. He was principal of the Louisburg Male Academy, 1856-1881, and, for a number of years prior to 1880, he was also Franklin County superintendent of schools. From 1880 to 1896, he was chiefly involved in farming and serving as Franklin County treasurer. In 1896, he reorganized the Louisburg Female Academy (later Louisburg College) and served as its president until his death in 1906. The collections includes school, financial, legal, and other materials relating to 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 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. |
Creator | Davis, Matthew Smart, 1830-1906 |
Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
Language | English. |
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.
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.
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.
Back to TopThe 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.
Back to TopArrangement: by institution.
Chiefly materials relating to Louisburg College (the former Louisburg Female Academy and College) and to 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 sheets and term records.
Folder 1 |
Louisburg College |
Folder 2 |
Louisburg Male Academy |
Arrangement: by type.
Processing note: See also Additions of July and August 2001.
Accounting sheets, bills, receipts, account books, and other items relating chiefly to Matthew Smart Davis's farming activities. Also included are a few tuition bills for his daughters at the Louisburg Female Academy and records of other family expenditures.
Folder 3 |
Blacksmiths' accounts, 1861-1890 (about 10 items) |
Folder 4 |
Cotton sale records, 1860-1870s (about 30 items) |
Folder 5 |
Farm account book, 1883-1884 |
Folder 6 |
Insurance policies, 1870-1909 (6 items) |
Folder 7 |
Slave hirings, 1861-1862 (3 items) |
Folder 8 |
Store account book, 1880 |
Folder 9 |
Tuition bills, Louisburg Female Academy, 1860s-1870s (about 10 items) |
Folder 10-12
Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12 |
Miscellaneous financial materials, including accounts with various merchants, tax receipts, etc., 1850s-1890s (about 150 items) |
Folder 13-15
Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15 |
Miscellaneous account books, including one from the 1880s relating to tenant farmers, 1870s-1894 (3 items) |
Oversize Paper Folder OPF-04125/1 |
Accounts with various merchants, 1867-1870 |
Arrangement: by subject.
Materials relating to the 1879 Orange County, N.C., 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, including those of Daniel Shine Hill and Susan Irwin Toole Hill, his wife's father and mother; J. B. Mann; and W. H. Spencer. The Spencer materials include deeds and other financial items generated by Spencer during his lifetime and materials relating to the settlement of his estate. folders 24 and 25 contain materials relating to Spencer's duties as Franklin County, N.C., superior court clerk, including many bills for court charges and other services. Miscellaneous legal materials include an 1872 deed belonging to Davis.
Folder 16 |
Foote-Burwell libel suit, 1879 (about 50 items) |
Folder 17 |
Hill family estate papers, 1850s-1870s (about 20 items) |
Folder 18 |
J. B. Mann estate, 1865-1869 (1 item) |
Folder 19-25
Folder 19Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25 |
W. H. Spencer papers, 1860s-1892 (about 150 items) |
Folder 26 |
Miscellaneous legal papers |
Processing note: See also Additions of July and August 2001.
Processing note: 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.
Arrangement: by type.
Chiefly business and personal letters, receipts, bills, statements of account, and speeches of Matthew Smart Davis.
Arrangement: chronological.
Miscellaneous financial materials, including accounts and receipts from various merchants.
Folder 30 |
Accounts and receipts, 1857-1897 |
Arrangement: by type.
Primarily letters received by Matthew Smart Davis and speeches that he wrote. The speeches address various topics, including the Crimean war and the state of American politics in the 1850s. These works appear to have been written while Davis was a student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the donor suggests that they may have been delivered before the Dialectic and Philanthropic societies. The personal letters date from Davis's student days in the 1850s and are primarily concerned with university life. The family letters address matters of family history as well as financial arrangements. The business letters relate to Davis's long-term association with the Louisburg Male Academy and address topics such as student admissions, potential commencement speakers, and teaching methods.
Folder 31 |
Student speeches, 1850s |
Folder 32 |
Letters, 1851-1902 and undated |
Oversized papers in folder OPF-4125/1.
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