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Correspondence, circulars, and advertisements documenting the career of William Pell Fife of Thomasville, N.C., as a stock salesman for western oil and mining companies. Many items are lengthy printed "Personal Letters" from Fife to prospective purchasers of stock, extolling the bargains he had available. Companies Fife represented included the Sunset Gold and Mining Company, Denver, Colo. and the Great Western Gold Company, Ingot, Calif., and St. Louis, Mo.

William King Smith, Confederate soldier and farmer of South Carolina and Georgia, son of Sidney Smith (1805-1856), physician of Brighton, S.C., and grandson of William Smith (1764-1843), of South Carolina.

W. Horace Carter (1921- ) of Tabor City, N.C., was a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who was editor of the "Tabor City Tribune" and writer of books and articles on fresh-water fishing and deer and duck hunting.

Letters, chiefly 1866-1869, written mostly by S. C. Painter of western Virginia to members of his immediate family. Letters discuss the economic difficulties Painter experienced during Reconstruction while pursuing farming in North Carolina and Virginia and, later, a retail business in Virginia. Of particular interest is a letter, 1 December 1867, in which Painter included an illustration of his "crooked" toothbrush. Only one letter, 2 May 1861, relates to the Civil War. In it, Painter described public support for the war and told how unprepared Richmond was to receive the thousands of soldiers who gathered there in May 1861. Also included is a letter, 12 December 1867, from T. L. Painter (relation to S. C. Painter unknown) describing student life at an unspecified medical school.

Letters of Alexander Rose (1738-1807), John McAden Rose (1815- 1895), Duncan Rose (1855-1955), and other members of the Rose family of Fayetteville, N.C., chiefly concerning family affairs. A few letters relate to family history. Also included are copies of the farewell addresses of Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston to their troops at the end of the Civil War.

Robert Newton Page, member of Congress from Aberdeen, N.C., 1903-1917.

Legal complaint of Eleazar Cumming, the administrator of the estate of William Garrett, a Wilkinson County, Ga., planter who died intestate. Attached exhibits include an inventory and an appraisal of the estate.

Diary, 35 pages, July 1862-July 1863, of Whyte, a native of Kentucky, kept while he was serving as an officer of the 31st Louisiana Regiment in the vicinity of Jackson and Vicksburg, Miss.; and miscellaneous papers, including a photograph of Whyte. Entries in the diary chiefly describe military activities including enemy engagements, troop movements, and war news.

Primarily Civil War letters from Robert Stuart Finley to his fiancee, Mary A. Cabeen, and miscellaneous military and other papers. Finley was a member of the 30th Illinois Infantry, serving in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Georgia. The letters give full descriptions of his activities and surroundings. Places mentioned include Fort Donelson and Jackson, Tenn.; Camp Logan, La.; Vicksburg, Miss., Athens, Atlanta, Big Shanty, and East Point, Ga.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Pocotaligo and Beaufort, S.C. Finley participated in the Atlanta Campaign and in Sherman's March through the Carolinas. Also included are two letters concerning Richard H. Cabeen (d. 1864), one telling of military actions near Dalton, Ga., and the other informing his father of his death. Postwar items include papers relating to Finley's military service, his marriage license, and biographical information about him.

Carbon copies of two letters from Williams, a New York banker, to ex-president Harry S. Truman, whom he admired, enclosing cartoons he thought the president might enjoy; four replies from Truman, including comments on mutual friend Harry Jobes; a note from Truman's secretary; and carbon copy of a letter from Williams to Harry C. Jobes.