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Collection Number: 05676

Collection Title: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate Papers, 1901-1905

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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Size 2.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 2000 items)
Abstract Courtship letters, 1901-1905, of Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou written while Etta Blanche Tate was a student in Greendale, Va., at Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Va., and employed as a teacher in various locations in Virginia. George Newton Ballou wrote from his home in Ashe County, N.C., from the Eastern Normal College in Front Royal, Va., and in various locations in Tennessee where he worked as a photographer. The collection also contains digital transcriptions of the letters and a small amount of related material.
Creator Ballou, George Newton

Tate, Etta Blanche
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Restrictions to Use
No usage restrictions.
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 George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate Papers #05676, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Mary Jane Ballou of St. Augustine, Fla., in February 2016 in honor of her parents George Tate Ballou and Joanna Ratliff Ballou and her paternal grandparents George Newton Ballou and Etta Tate Ballou.
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.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Alicia Melton and Jackie Dean, May 2016

Encoded by: Jackie Dean, May 2016

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse 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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Etta Blanche Tate (1878-1970) and George Newton Ballou (1891-1972) were married in 1905.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Correspondence, 1901-1905, of Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou (known as Newt) written during their courtship and engagement while Etta Blanche Tate was a student in Greendale, Va., at Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Va., and while she was employed as a teacher in various locations in Virginia. George Newton Ballou wrote from his home in Ashe County, N.C., from the Eastern Normal College in Front Royal, Va., and in various locations in Tennessee where he worked as a photographer. Their frequent correspondence describes day-to-day life including their schooling, Etta Blanche Tate's work as a teacher, George Newton Ballou's photography, the places they live, their families, and their engagement and wedding plans. There is also a letter from Etta Blanche Tate to George Newton Ballou written after their marriage, letters to the couple from other family members, and copies of their wedding announcement. The collection also contains digital transcriptions of the courtship letters, an inventory of the letters, a chronology of the Ballou's courtship, and other items relating to the letters. Finally, there is a digital transcription of George Newton Ballou's "Memorandum of My New River Trip," and a digitized photograph of the Ballous circa 1960, among other items.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou Correspondence and Related Materials, 1901-1908.

About 2000 items.

Correspondence, 1901-1905, of Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou (known as Newt) written during their courtship and engagement while Etta Blanche Tate was a student in Greendale, Va., at Martha Washington College in Abingdon, Va., and while she was employed as a teacher in various locations in Virginia. George Newton Ballou wrote from his home in Ashe County, N.C., from the Eastern Normal College in Front Royal, Va., and in various locations in Tennessee where he worked as a photographer. Their frequent correspondence describes day-to-day life including their schooling, Etta Blanche Tate's work as a teacher, George Newton Ballou's photography, the places they live, their families, and their engagement and wedding plans. There is also a letter from Etta Blanche Tate to George Newton Ballou written after their marriage, letters to the couple from other family members, and copies of their wedding announcement, among other items.

Transcriptions of the Etta Blanch Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, an inventory of the letters, a chronology of Etta Blanche Tate and George Netwon Ballou's courtship, and a listing of the geographic names mentioned in the correspondence can be found in Series 2.

Letters were arranged into chronological order by the donor and numbered consecutively. The numbering corresponds to the inventory provided with the collection found in Seris 2. However, some numbers appear to be missing.

Folder 1

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, May-October 1901

Folder 2

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, October-December 1901

Folder 3

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, January-May 1902

Folder 4

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, May-October 1902

Folder 5

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, October-December 1902

Folder 6

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, January-May 1903

Folder 7

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, June-July 1903

Folder 8

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, August-September 1903

Folder 9

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, September-November 1903

Folder 10

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, November-December 1903

Folder 11

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, January-February 1904

Folder 12

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, February-March 1904

Folder 13

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, March-May 1904

Folder 14

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, June-August 1904

Folder 15

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, August 1904

Folder 16

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, August-September 1904

Folder 17

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, September-October 1904

Folder 18

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, October-November 1904

Folder 19

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, November 1904

Folder 20-21

Folder 20

Folder 21

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, December 1904

Folder 22

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence, January, 1905

Folder 23

Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou wedding announcement, January 1905

Folder 24

Letter from Etta Blanche Tate to George Newton Ballou, November 1905

Folder 25

Undated Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou correspondence

Folder 26

Letters to Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou from family, 1905-1908

Folder 27

Other papers

Contains handwritten and typescript poems and essays and a receipt for a dental bridge for Etta Blanche Tate, 1904.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Digital Transcriptions and Related Materials, circa 2000.

59 items.

Digital files created by Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou's granddaughter Mary Jane Ballou including transcriptions of the courtship letters in Series 1, an inventory of the letters, a chronology of the Ballou's courtship, and other items relating to the letters. There is also a digital transcription of George Newton Ballou's "Memorandum of My New River Trip," a digitized photograph of the Ballous circa 1960, and other items.

Digital Folder DF-5676/1

Digital transcriptions: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate correspondence, 1901

Microsoft word files.

Digital Folder DF-5676/2

Digital transcriptions: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate correspondence, 1902

Microsoft word files.

Digital Folder DF-5676/3

Digital transcriptions: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate correspondence, 1903

Microsoft word files.

Digital Folder DF-5676/4

Digital transcriptions: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate correspondence, 1904

Microsoft word files.

Digital Folder DF-5676/5

Digital transcriptions: George Newton Ballou and Etta Blanche Tate correspondence, 1905

Microsoft word files.

Digital Folder DF-5676/6

Other materials

Contains an inventory of the Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou courtship letters provided by the donor, digital transcription (pdf file) of George Newton Ballou's "Memorandum of My New River Trip," a list of the geographical names mentioned in the letters, a digitized photograph of Etta Blanche Tate and George Newton Ballou circa 1960, and a digital photograph of their grave.

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