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Size | 4.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2500 items) |
Abstract | Ellen Bruce Currie (1920- ) grew up in Raeford, N.C. Her maternal grandparents were Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon (1850-1928), a cousin of Jeb Stuart, and Melville Cox Gordon (1838-1892). Currie's father was lawyer James Wharey Currie (1879-1935), her mother was Ruth Pannill Gordon Currie (1885-1947), and her brother was James Gordon Currie (1919-1964). Currie worked for the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Veterans Administration in Richmond, Va., and then at Fort Bragg, N.C. The collection includes letters, biographical information, religious materials, family history materials, legal and financial papers, and photographs documenting Ellen Bruce Currie's life. The bulk is correspondence, including many letters to Currie from Melbourne Slade, a prolific writer whose letters describe his Vietnam War experiences and personal struggles after the war. Also included are love letters to Currie and letters from her brother James Gordon Currie to his family while he served in World War II and about his alcoholism after the war. Biographical information documents Ellen Bruce Currie's education, travel, and employment. Religious materials chiefly relate to the Presbyterian Church. Family history materials include Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon's reminiscences about General Jeb Stuart and items relating to the Currie, Gordon, and Pannill families. Legal papers document James Wharey Currie's career as a lawyer in Raeford, N.C. Included are items about land at Fort Bragg and material relating to a 1929 crime of seduction case. Financial papers consist chiefly of small ledgers kept by James Wharey Currie in the early 1930s. Photographs are of family members. The Addition of 2000 contains correspondence, financial documents, papers relating to Presbyterian church business, and photographs. Additions received after 2000 have been integrated into original deposits. |
Creator | Currie, Ellen Bruce, 1920- |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
Processed by: Caroline Weaver, July 1999
Encoded by: Caroline Weaver, July 1999
Additions received after 2000 have been integrated into the original deposits.
Finding aid updated in December 2005 by Nathalie Wheaton because of addition.
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.
Born 19 November 1920 in Fayetteville, N.C., Ellen Bruce Currie grew up in Raeford, N.C., and attended Hoke County schools. Her paternal grandparents were James Lauchlin Currie (1849-1894) and Violet Jane Womack Currie (1851-1926).Her maternal grandparents were Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon (1850-1928) and Melville Cox Gordon (1838-1892). Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon was a cousin of Jeb Stuart. Ellen Bruce Currie's father was lawyer James Wharey Currie (1879-1935), her mother was Ruth Pannill Gordon Currie (1885-1947), and her brother was James Gordon Currie (1919-1964).
Ellen Bruce Currie graduated from Peace College in 1940 and, in 1944, moved to Richmond, Va. In Richmond, she worked for the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Veterans Administration until 1952, when she returned to Raeford to care for Florence (Punch) Gordon (1883-1958), her aunt. Currie worked at Fort Bragg, N.C., from 1952 until her retirement in 1985. She died in 2004.
Back to TopLetters, biographical information, religious materials, family history materials, legal and financial papers, and photographs documenting Ellen Bruce Currie's life. The bulk of the collection is correspondence, including many letters to Currie from Melbourne Slade, a prolific writer whose letters describe his Vietnam War experiences and personal struggles after the war. Also included are love letters to Currie from Charles H. Hostetler, Luis Rodriguez, K. H. Desai, and Charles Olin Brackin. Other correspondence includes Currie's maternal grandfather Melville Cox Gordon's letter from Washington, D.C., at the time of the Rutherford B. Hayes inaugaration and letters from Ellen Bruce Currie's brother James Gordon Currie to his family while he served in World War II and about his alcoholism after the war.
Biographical information documents Ellen Bruce Currie's education, travel, and employment. Religious materials chiefly relate to the Presbyterian Church. Family history materials include Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon's reminiscences about her cousin General Jeb Stuart. There are also items relating to the Currie, Gordon, and Pannill families; to the Bruce Society; and to the Jamestowne Society. Legal papers document the career of Ellen Bruce Currie's father James Wharey Currie as a lawyer in Raeford, N.C. Legal papers include items relating to land at Fort Bragg; material about a 1929 crime of seduction case; and the constitution for the 9th Judicial District Bar Association. Financial papers consist chiefly of small ledgers kept by James Wharey Currie in the early 1930s. Photographs are of family members.
The Addition of 2000 primarily contains correspondence. It also includes financial documents, papers relating to Presbyterian church business, and photographs.
Back to TopArrangement: chronological.
Chiefly letters to Ellen Bruce Currie, but also correspondence relating to three generations of the Currie family. Letters of Currie's maternal grandmother Ruth Hairston Panill Gordon begin in 1868 and include courtship letters between her and Currie's grandfather Melville Cox Gordon, including a letter from Melville Cox Gordon in Washington, D.C., at the time of Rutherford B. Hayes's inauguration. From 1910 to 1928, there is correspondence relating to Currie's mother Ruth Pannill Gordon Currie, including letters and poems from Arthur D. Gore and letters of condolence on the death of her husband James Wharey Gordon in 1935. In 1943-1945, there are letters from Ellen Bruce Currie's brother James Gordon Currie to family members documenting his World War II experiences in the European Theatre.
In 1945, there are love letters to James Gordon Currie from "Gale" and, in 1946-1948, from Octavia D. McRae. McRae's letters document post-war life in rural North Carolina and chronicle her visits to New York and Washington, D.C.. In 1954-1958, there are letters about James Gordon Currie's alcoholism.
Other family letters relate to Ellen Bruce Currie's aunt Florence Gordon, 1910-1928; 1954-1958; 1959-1960; her aunt Helen Kilgore, 1954-1958; and her cousin Tish Currie, 1978-1979.
Letters of Ellen Bruce Currie include love letters from Charles H. Hostetler, ca. 1950-1951; letters from Luis Rodriguez, ca. 1954-1958; courtship and other letters from Indian pediatrician K. H. Desai, beginning ca. 1959 and continuing until around 1968; and from Charles Olin Brackin in the 1970s and 1981. Ellen Bruce Currie seems to have been engaged to Hostetler, a Raeford attorney, but they never married. While most of the letters pertain to personal relationships and friends, some letters include information about the locales from which they were written. Desai wrote from Ahmedabad and Bhilai M.P., India and described his attempts to move back to the United States. Currie eventually visited Desai on a trip around the world. Brackin was employed in the lumber business and often wrote from Central America.
Letters to Ellen Bruce Currie from Melbourne Slade, who served in the Vietnam War, begin in the early 1960s and document Slade's experiences in Vietnam and after the war. Slade's letters are forthright about his experiences and relationships. In a letter dated 1 January 1963, he wrote, "Americans are getting bumped off every day. You won't read about it because it's hush, hush!" In addition, Slade detailed his difficulties after the war with his ex-wife and children.
From 1978 to 1998, much of Currie's correspondence relates to her interest in genealogy and family history.
Folder 1 |
1868-1879 |
Folder 2 |
19th century letter fragments |
Folder 3 |
1910-1928 |
Folder 4 |
1935-1939 |
Folder 5-6
Folder 5Folder 6 |
1943-1944 |
Folder 7 |
1945 |
Folder 8-12
Folder 8Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11Folder 12 |
1946-December 1948 |
Folder 13 |
1949 |
Folder 14-16
Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16 |
1950-1951 |
Folder 17 |
1954-1958 |
Folder 18 |
1959-1960 |
Folder 19 |
1961-1962 |
Folder 20-24
Folder 20Folder 21Folder 22Folder 23Folder 24 |
1963 |
Folder 25 |
January-February 1964 |
Folder 26 |
March-August 1964 |
Folder 27-31
Folder 27Folder 28Folder 29Folder 30Folder 31 |
September 1964-June 1968 |
Folder 32-42
Folder 32Folder 33Folder 34Folder 35Folder 36Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41Folder 42 |
July 1968-June 1970 |
Folder 43 |
March-December 1971 |
Folder 44 |
1972 |
Folder 45 |
1973-1977 |
Folder 46 |
1978-1979 |
Folder 47-48
Folder 47Folder 48 |
1980-July 1981 |
Folder 49 |
August-December 1981 |
Folder 50-53
Folder 50Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53 |
1982-1998 |
Folder 54-55
Folder 54Folder 55 |
Undated correspondence |
Folder 56 |
Undated correspondence from K. H. Desai |
Folder 57-58
Folder 57Folder 58 |
Undated correspondence and letter fragments from Melbourne Slade |
Folder 59 |
Undated correspondence from Charles Olin Brackin |
Folder 60 |
Undated correspondence and letter fragments from Jean Johnson |
Folder 61 |
Letter fragments |
Arrangement: chronological.
Biographical information about Ellen Bruce Currie, including documentation of her education, travel, and employment.
Folder 62 |
Birth certificate, news clippings, memorabilia |
Folder 63 |
Resume and other items relating to employment |
Arrangement: chronological.
Materials reflecting Ellen Bruce Currie's interest in religion, particularly the Presbyterian faith. Most materials are from the Raeford Presbyterian Church. In 1983, there are items relating to the union of the Presbyterian Church.
Folder 64 |
Religious materials |
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.
Materials reflecting Ellen Bruce Currie's interest in genealogy. Currie investigated the Currie family and the related Gordon and Pannill families. Included are her application to the Jamestowne Society and mailings from both the Jamestowne Society and the Bruce Society. Currie saved newpaper clippings about her relatives in Davidson, N.C., including her father's brother Archibald Currie (1876-1942), his daughter Lucy Currie Johnston (1910-1979), her husband Frontis Withers Johnston (1908-1990), their daughter Letitia Dabney Johnston Kimbrough, and Achibald's other daughter Letitia Currie (1908- ). There are also materials relating to Currie's brother James Gordon Currie (1919-1964), including affidavits stating that his military experiences during World War II ultimately led to his death; to her father James Wharey Currie (1879-1935); and to her mother Ruth Pannill Gordon Currie (1885-1947).
Of particular interest is the reminiscence of Ellen Bruce Currie's maternal grandmother Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon about her cousin General Jeb Stuart.
Folder 65 |
Bruce Society |
Folder 66 |
Currie, James Gordon, his wife Constance Merle Currie, and daughter Barbara Pannill Currie |
Folder 67 |
Currie, James Wharey |
Folder 68 |
Currie, Ruth Pannill Gordon |
Folder 69 |
Currie and Johnston families |
Folder 70-72
Folder 70Folder 71Folder 72 |
Genealogical charts, records, notes, forms, newspaper clippings |
Folder 73 |
Gordon family |
Folder 74 |
Jamestowne Society |
Folder 75 |
Pannill family (compiled by Hunter Pannill) |
Folder 76 |
Scotland and the Highland Games in North Carolina |
Folder 77 |
Stuart, Jeb (Ruth Hairston Pannill Gordon's reminiscences) |
Arrangement: chronological.
Materials relating to early 20th century court cases of Ellen Bruce Currie's father James Wharey Currie, lawyer of Raeford, N.C. Included are disputes concerning the government's condemnation of land for use by Fort Bragg, 1910s; deeds for Hoke County, N.C., and Moore County, N.C., 1921-1927; a 1929 crime of seduction case; and an undated constitution for the 9th Judicial District Bar Association.
Folder 78-79
Folder 78Folder 79 |
1913-1918 |
Folder 80 |
1919-1920 |
Folder 81 |
1921-1927 |
Folder 82-83
Folder 82Folder 83 |
1929 |
Folder 84 |
1930-1935 |
Folder 85 |
Undated |
Arrangement: chronological.
Financial papers of James Wharey Currie and bills due after the death of his wife Ruth Pannill Gordon Currie in 1947.
Folder 86 |
Financial records |
Arrangement: chronological.
1870-2000.
Primarily letters and other correspondence. The letters cluster around various holidays and tend to deal with related matters. There are also financial documents, including one about the sale of a parcel of land in Orange County, N.C., by Archibald Currie, in 1870. There are also documents relating to Ellen Bruce Currie's financial position, the liquidation of her mother's estate, as well as papers about her purchase of shares in Engel Petroleum, Inc.. Other papers relate to Currie's attempts to move into the Presbyterian Home of High Point and to the embezzlement of a large sum of money from the Raeford Presbyterian Church by the Church's bookkeeper. There are also photographs, including one apparently depicting Ellen Bruce Currie receiving an award from General Norman Schwartzkopf, and photographs of Richard Thomas Gillespie, Jr., and Malcolm Worthington, that appear to date from the early twentieth century.
Folder 87-89
Folder 87Folder 88Folder 89 |
Correspondence, 1983-2000 and undated |
Folder 90 |
Biographical information, 1990-2000 |
Folder 91 |
Religious materials, 1955-1999 |
Folder 92 |
Legal papers, 1945-1991 |
Folder 93-94
Folder 93Folder 94 |
Financial papers, 1870-1990 |
Image Folder PF-4936/4 |
Pictures, 1904-1940s |
Items separated include pictures (P-4936/1-4).
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