Restrictions to Access

Materials roughly sorted, but usable.

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 Weil Family Papers #4696, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Louis and Allen Weil, Goldsboro, N.C., in May 1994 (Acc 94069). Addition received from Elizabeth M. Fisher in September 2022 (20220930.4).

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.

Processed by: Lu Ann Jones, July 1994; Roslyn Holdzkom, October 1995

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, August 2010; Davia Webb and Laura Smith, October 2023

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--20th century.
• Department stores--North Carolina.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Fertilizer industry--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Foundations--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Goldsboro (N.C.)--Economic conditions.
• Goldsboro (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• H. Weil & Bros. (Goldsboro, N.C.)
• Jewish families--North Carolina.
• Jews--North Carolina.
• Lumber trade--North Carolina--History.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Merchants--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Pension trusts--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Real property--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina (1793-1962)--Students--Social life and customs.
• University of North Carolina (System)--History.
• Weil family.
• Weil's Department Store (Goldsboro, N.C.)

Weil family members included Herman Weil (1842-1914), who emigrated from Stuttgart, Germany, in 1858, and brothers Henry (d. 1878) and Solomon (1860-1914). In 1865, the brothers formed H. Weil & Bros., which operated a store in Goldsboro, N.C. Joe Rosenthal (d. 1927), Henry's brother-in-law, joined the firm in 1892, and, in 1910, Henry's son Leslie (d. 1943) and Sol's son Lionel (1877-1948) entered the family businesses, which included the store, a brick yard, and an ice plant. In 1930, agriculturalist G. Frank Seymour was added to the firm, and, in 1932, Weil Fertilizer Works was started to market plant hormones and other compounds that Frank and Lionel developed. In 1941, Leslie's sons Abram and Henry and Lionel's son Lionel S. became partners. In 1942, the partners established the Weil Employees' Trust Fund, a profit sharing plan. When the Weil Deparment Store burned in 1948, brother Herman Weil (1882-1961) was instrumental in rebuilding the facility. Members of the Weil family were active in the University of North Carolina System, Goldsboro community affairs, and in Jewish life in North Carolina and the nation.

Papers document the activities, circa 1865-1982, of businesses owned by the Weil family, including H. Weil & Bros.; Weil's Inc., the department store; fertilizer, building, real estate, lumber, transportation, oil, farming, banking, and other enterprises; the Weil Employees' Trust Fund; and the Wayne Foundation. Also included are family papers, circa 1893-1968, most relating to Leslie and Hilda Einstein Weil, who married in 1900; Leslie's mother Mina (d. 1941); and their children Abram, Hilda, Henry, Margaret, and Marian. Many letters in the 1890s detail Leslie's experiences as a student at UNC to Hilda in New York City, Chicago, and other locations. Some letters relate to UNC affairs, particularly in the 1930s during the first consolidation of the University and, in 1941, when Leslie, on the Board of Trustees, received an honorary degree. Also included are some materials relating to Jewish activities; a few household account and commonplace books; genealogical materials; and pictures of Weil family members and their businesses. There are only a few items that relate to Leslie's sister Gertrude Weil (1879-1971), women's suffrage and social welfare activist.

• Oversize volumes (SV-4696/1-23)
• Image folders (PF-4696/1-14)
• Special Format Images (SF-4696/1)
• Films (F-4696/1-8)
• Audiodisc (D-4696/1)